The Marriage Command

by Susan Fox

  Kiki seemed to lose interest right away, which was hardly a surprise. She’d obviously come over to find out what was going on, and now that she thought she knew, she might be eager to spread the news. And there was always the chance that the idea of Logan marrying for love had squashed whatever romantic hopes the woman had, so she might be just as eager to come to grips with that in private.

  As Logan walked Kiki to the front door, Claire trailed along carrying Cody. She hadn’t heard Logan agree to go to the barbecue and apparently Kiki had been too distracted by Cody and the love affair Logan had hinted at to remember that the barbecue had been part of her excuse to show up here so early.

  Logan had just closed the door behind their nosy neighbor when he turned to Claire and plucked Cody out of her arms to stand him on the floor. He took off his Stetson and tossed it to the table in the entryway.

  “We were interrupted just before I was about to be rewarded for being wonderful and misunderstood, and whatever other qualities you were about to name.”

  Claire adored the way his eyes glittered as he said that and his stern mouth curved with a male arrogance that suggested he was more than ready to bask in the glow of whatever praise he might have coming. And the curve of his handsome mouth showed he also expected the kiss he’d missed getting on the way to the house.

  “Oh my. A little praise certainly went to your head, didn’t it?” Claire crooked her finger to get him to bend down a little. He obliged, and she reached up to pull him closer.

  “In case I didn’t make it plain enough earlier, I’m so, so thrilled about what you did for me this morning,” she said, then gave him a cheeky grin. “You’re not quite the horrendous jerk I was afraid you were, so I want to give you a big kiss.”

  Claire urged him down that last couple of inches, but instead of kissing his mouth, she landed a big kiss on his lean cheek then drew back playfully to wait for his reaction.

  Logan’s arms came around her and briefly lifted her off her feet, but it was Claire who kissed him. The kiss immediately became something far too fiery to go unnoticed by the little boy who started hollering and clapping his hands.

  “Mommy’s kissing Unco! Mommy’s kissing Unco!”

  Logan’s response was to break off the kiss then lean down and catch up the child. Cody giggled as Logan sandwiched him between them, but when Claire supplied a flurry of kisses to the little boy’s face, he began to shriek with happy laughter.

  The rest of the day seemed a portent of good things to come. They took Cody with them as Logan drove them around the ranch, then stayed in during the heat of the day. While Cody had his nap, Logan retreated to the den to do paperwork. Elsa showed Claire where things were in the kitchen and pantry to prepare for her days off, since Claire would do the cooking on Sunday.

  That evening after Cody was bathed and read to and put to bed, Claire got out Cody’s baby book and the journal she’d kept. Logan seemed to enjoy looking at them, and that pleased her.

  Later, they’d gone to bed, and Claire was relieved that things were still restrained between them. The kisses were a little less sweet and a bit more carnal, but nothing more happened and she again had the unexpected pleasure of lying next to him.

  That next day they tried one of the churches in the area, and afterward, Logan decided they might as well go on to San Antonio so they’d be ready to deal with settling her job on Monday.

  It was a relief that Logan couldn’t spend enough time in San Antonio this week to both deal with her work and take care of everything in her apartment. For now, they’d pack up as many personal things as they could to take to the ranch, but it was reassuring to Claire to know she’d have some time to adjust to what would be yet another radical change in her life.

  Though Claire’s apartment was hardly a something out of a decorating magazine, it was tasteful and attractive and pleasant. Once they’d got to San Antonio and carried in the things they’d brought along, Logan had walked through looking everything over.

  Claire had also been looking around, thinking about how long the place had been home, and how much she’d enjoyed the modest but interesting things she’d acquired and how much she hated to give them up.

  Very few of the things she’d been able to afford would look right in Logan’s expensively furnished home, but Claire was deeply sentimental about it all. And getting rid of everything suddenly wouldn’t have allowed her much time to come to terms with it.

  Logan came into her bedroom as she was standing in front of the closet, contemplating the job ahead of her. She looked his way as he picked up a little knick-knack angel on her dresser. He studied the delicate face a moment then set it down and glanced around the room.

  It was a feminine room, with small roses trailing on the wallpaper, and a white bedspread with embroidered roses on the center and around the edges.

  “I’ll go out and get some boxes while you get started,” he said. “If there’s more than we can get into the SUV, we’ll look into hiring a trailer.”

  Later when Logan returned with a thick stack of flattened boxes, they set to work, assembling the boxes then filling them with things out of closets and drawers until it was time for Claire to cook supper.

  On Monday and Tuesday, Claire took care of her work, giving notice to the doctors’ offices she did transcription work for. Two of her friends from church, who also did medical transcriptions, were able to divide her clients between them, and the offices were satisfied with the new arrangement. Logan reserved a trailer for the belongings they’d be taking back to the ranch on Wednesday.

  Over that two days, Claire felt their relationship deepen. Cody thrived on Logan’s attention and gentle discipline. Claire felt increasingly comfortable and began to truly enjoy being married to him.

  Nights caused the only real tension between them, and all of the tension was sexual. On their first night in San Antonio they’d come precariously close to intimacy, but Claire’s unspoken wariness of that caused Logan to confine things to a few kisses, both day and night. Claire had grown impatient with his restraint, and that surprised her.

  But then, the heartless dictator Logan had been seemed to have faded away leaving in his place a good man with a gentle touch and a sense of humor.

  The fact that she’d fallen completely in love with this new man had become stunningly evident as time had gone on, and Claire was still a little in shock. The runaway train that was their marriage had pulled into that particular station hundreds of miles sooner than she ever would have guessed it could, and she’d spent most of that time trying to talk herself out of it.

  And yet she couldn’t seem to help it. Going by how he was with Cody and also with her, Logan Pierce had more wonderful instincts and qualities than he even knew about. It was a distinct pleasure to watch each one of them drawn into the open in such a short space of time. She couldn’t have resisted loving him now if she’d tried.

  Her brain was still stunned by how suddenly it had happened. After all, they’d only been together a hectic six days, and only a day less than that as husband and wife. And yet falling in love with Logan this quickly felt natural and right.

  Loving him so soon was easily the biggest risk she’d ever taken, and all she could do now was hope for the best. On the other hand, how long did it take for love to happen? Wasn’t there usually one significant moment when the heart recognized something special and made its decision?

  It had just happened far sooner than Claire had ever dreamed it could. And as Logan had grown more companionable than domineering, Claire’s natural optimism seemed to enable her to see past the inevitable bumpy spots ahead to the time when the road would even out and things would go even more smoothly between them.

  Their last night in San Antonio, they settled in front of the television after supper while Cody watched a video. They gave Cody his bath and let him sit up with them playing while they watched an old Humphrey Bogart film on cable.

  By the time Logan carried the soundly sleeping bo
y to bed, Claire was more than ready for a shower and some sleep. All went well as they took turns in the bathroom, and once they were settled in Claire’s bed and the light was off, Logan leaned over to kiss her. Before the kiss could get out of control, Claire pressed against his chest and he eased back.

  “I appreciate that you’re giving me time to let go of this apartment,” she said quietly. “I’m not sure I completely believe that you have to get back to the ranch tomorrow, and it’s sweet of you to give me time to adjust to the idea of giving up this place.”

  Logan’s low voice had an appealing gruffness. “Are you one of those folks who are happy all the time and only see good things in others?”

  Claire giggled a little. “Hardly. People like that are annoying. In fact, I had quite a low opinion of you at first, as you know. But you’re a big rough, tough fake, Mr. Pierce. I’m not sure why you work so hard to hide your gentle side. You’ve a very kind and thoughtful man when you take off your crown and ask rather than issue decrees.”

  “You are a Pollyanna.” That had come out in a growl. “Either that or you’re working me.”

  Claire clearly heard the mistrust in that and was disappointed. She’d relaxed so much with him these past few days, and he’d seemed to take her at her word. She’d thought her forthrightness had earned as much trust from him as his gallant treatment had earned from her, so she couldn’t allow him to mistake this.

  “Perhaps I need to elaborate a little,” she said. “I didn’t want this marriage, and I’ve been worried about it. I might worry about it again tomorrow or next week, but I like what’s happened the past few days. It all seems good to me. Very good. Since we’re married, we might as well be happy. For Cody’s sake first, but also for us.”

  Logan didn’t say anything to that, and she again got a fleeting sense of mistrust. But then he covered the back of her hand with his to lift it. Claire couldn’t help the warm shiver when he pressed a lingering kiss into her palm. She must have been mistaken about the mistrust.

  And then his tenderness struck her as she felt him lean down and softly, so softly, kiss her. His lips were expert, very expert. His kiss was different tonight, and Claire was so suddenly overwhelmed by the sensual magic of his lips and then his hands, that her brain ceased to function rationally.

  She couldn’t seem to find the will to resist him this time, or to even temper her response, and all too soon she was caught up in the sensual give and take of all the things he lavished on her. More of that, and she became an almost wholly physical creature, dominated by sensation and instinct and the relentlessly advancing sexual power of a man who knew exactly what to do. Any reserve she’d had in the past and any scruples against full intimacy, made brief, fleeting impressions before they fell, one by one, like a row of dominoes.

  Her initial misgivings and worries and shocks over a marriage that had started as poorly as this one, were so absent now it was as if they’d never existed. Female was bonding with male at a level so primal that everything else had become little more than dry leaves blown away by a warm spring wind.

  From there, it was a short distance to the next things. Her nightgown somehow vanished and was forgotten about, and her body went wild as warm flesh met warm flesh. At some point, her awareness of anything but her body and his drifted out of her consciousness, and they ceased to be separate beings as they soared away together to some lofty place of bliss and delight.

  Just when it became too wonderful to bear, the soft explosion of more, both splintered her into pieces then brought her back together, forever changed. Too soon, they fell toward earth, landing in each other’s arms in the darkened room.

  Claire lay beneath him trembling as what they’d done gradually began to impact her. As mistakes went, it was a doozy, but the wonder of it wrapped her in a gauzy cocoon of rightness. The runaway train that masqueraded as their marriage had just rocketed into another distant station.

  They’d consummated their marriage, but their relationship was less than a week old. The feeling that her life was again going completely out of control caused a small, quick panic, and the fact that she’d just gone so completely out of control gave her another fleeting taste of panic.

  Her chaste life was well and truly gone, and the man she’d given her chastity to hadn’t said a single word that even hinted at love. That was the panic that showed up next, but that was the one that lingered.

  Then she remembered that she’d been anything but silent. Had she truly said, “I love you” to Logan? More than once? Oh, surely not! The fact that she couldn’t be certain brought a cold trickle of worry.

  Ironically, from Logan’s point of view, it apparently hadn’t been too soon for him to seduce her, but she knew right away that it had been too soon for her to confess love to him. He either wouldn’t believe her, or he’d feel pressured to confess some sort of affection for her.

  And of course he wouldn’t do that. The man who’d told her love wasn’t a requirement was a man too cynical to believe in the possibility that either of them could feel it this soon, in spite of whatever spectacular sexual thing had just happened between them.

  Claire tried not to be disturbed by the silence between them as they lay in the dark bedroom. Eventually, the heavy drowsiness that gripped her body smothered her worries and she slept deeply.

  He’d had the bad luck to marry a woman who was too emotional and expressive to keep her emotions and expressions to herself. Logan had known that already, and he should have been prepared for a sexual novice to come out with unguarded words in the heat of passion.

  A woman more jaded by experience would never have said them, but Claire was anything but jaded. Still, he would have bet money that pride alone would keep her from making that kind of declaration.

  On second thought, a woman who’d never given herself to a man might need to convince herself that she was in love before she allowed sex. Claire had been persnickety longer than most, so it made sense that she might confuse what her body felt for love.

  His conscience calmed a little at the idea. And anyway, hadn’t he decided it was all right for her to love him as long as she didn’t expect him to feel the same for her?

  If there was one thing he’d learned about Claire, it was that she was generous with her affection. Cody was the prime recipient of that generosity, but she’d evidently decided her husband was deserving of it, too.

  A woman like Claire would be generous with everyone, so her generosity in raising her stepsister’s son and then giving him and this marriage a fair chance wasn’t that unusual for her or especially significant. She’d likely allowed sex tonight because it fit with her notion of a marriage commitment. And since a woman like her wouldn’t have sex without feeling love first, she’d needed to believe she was in love whether she really was or not.

  Relieved to see that, Logan pulled her a little more snugly against him, enjoying the sweetness of her warm, satiny skin against his.

  The tenderness he felt for her now troubled him. Though it wasn’t love—it could never be love—he’d need to be on his guard. Claire was more exciting than he’d expected, much more. It was safe to like her, safe to be fond of her, but love gave a woman too much power, particularly one as bright as Claire. Years before he’d chosen her, he’d made up his mind not to succumb to that kind of foolishness. It hadn’t taken long last Thursday to realize that a woman like her could twist him up like a pretzel if she even half tried. But only if he was crazy enough to fall for her.

  Certain he was immune to whatever manipulation his clever and bewitching little wife might want to try on him, Logan closed his eyes. But he couldn’t sleep.

  Claire was grateful to wake up before Logan and make it to the sanctuary of the bathroom before he opened his eyes. Though they’d been intimate, she felt uncharacteristically shy about facing him that morning.

  Other than a mouth that looked as if it had been kissed, there was no sign that she was any different on the outside. Inside, she felt warm
and prickly, and her body was yearning for more of the things that she couldn’t have imagined this time yesterday.

  She’d considered herself well-informed, but nothing could have truly prepared her for what it had been like last night when Logan had made love to her.

  Made love? Her heart sank a little. She was well aware that a man could have sex without involving his heart, but she wasn’t wired that way. Surely Logan couldn’t stay married to her and not allow himself to love her at some point if he at least liked her now. For all his apparent cynicism, he’d have to be as heartless as she’d first taken him to be if he couldn’t eventually develop strong feelings for a wife he lived with day in and day out.

  Particularly when the wife he’d slept with last night wasn’t on the pill. A wife who, judging by the calendar, just might have conceived his child last night.

  A worry she’d never had and had never imagined having, given her conservative lifestyle, began to pick at her. It amazed her that she’d not given a single thought to birth control last night. Logan hadn’t seemed to give birth control a thought either, but now that she was remembering his mention of children, she doubted very much that he’d planned to do anything about it, even if she brought up the subject.

  Well, there was no way she wanted to rocket into yet another distant train station, particularly not that one. And she’d never want to if Logan didn’t—or proved he couldn’t—love her.

  Rattled, Claire finished in the bathroom and got dressed, then slipped out of the bathroom to rush to the kitchen to put on the coffee. When she finished, she stood over the sink, gripping the edge of the counter as she debated whether to mention the birth control problem. Her more immediate worry was what to say and how to behave when she finally had to face Logan.

  In the end, she needn’t have worried. The minute she saw Logan’s stony expression and sensed his aloofness, she knew it was better to stay silent and match that aloofness. At least until she could think of a way to breach the uneasy distance between them.