by Sara Orwig
She cried herself to sleep at night, and her work began to suffer. She wasn’t paying attention. She had lost her drive and her focus. Even her mother seemed to be worried about her. Tracie even surprised her by asking if Maddie had ever considered going back to Texas.
Gabe flew to see them the next weekend, and they had a whirlwind visit filled with laughter and family time during the day and nights of loving that held a sense of desperation for her. She loved him and didn’t want to tell him goodbye, but deep down, she couldn’t help but fear their long-distance arrangement would eventually come down to them parting ways.
They would marry, and Gabe would fly back and forth until he grew tired of it. Then there would be longer and longer gaps when they wouldn’t see each other.
If only she didn’t feel so isolated out on the ranch…she still felt strongly that she couldn’t bear to live out there.
Their wedding was planned for mid-September, but with no date set. It was not as soon as Gabe wanted, but the first they could work out a time likely to work for both of them.
She would marry him for the reasons he had been so insistent on: for Rebecca’s sake, to give her the Benton name and her real daddy.
Maddie could only hope the rest would fall into place.
Gabe had a project he was involved in that took him to Chicago, and he couldn’t fly to Florida. He talked to Maddie and Rebecca, but two weeks passed without seeing them, and he had a feeling he was facing what his future would be like. How long would it be until one or the other of them ended the long-distance marriage?
He missed them more than ever and each phone conversation made him long to be with them until he was completely distracted. He was to the point of worrying about handling business deals, about how long it would be before he made a colossal mistake that cost him. He could understand now why Jake had been so befuddled when he had fallen in love with Caitlin.
There had to be a way to see them more often.
Suddenly he remembered remarks that Maddie had made about cities, about her life…? She liked Dallas, and both Maddie and her mother still had friends there.
Could he give up living on the ranch and move to Dallas? He thought he could, if it meant having Maddie and Rebecca in his life.
Jake would take him back into the family business at any time. And he’d been wanting to expand…? It occurred to Gabe that he could live in Dallas and deal in his investments full-time.
He’d be giving up the ranch, but not Texas. Maddie would be giving up Florida, but not city life.
He had dreamed, since he was a boy, about being a cowboy, living and working on the ranch.
Could he give up that dream for the love of his life?
Eleven
On Friday, Gabe intended to fly to Florida. He had worked in the Benton offices on Thursday and he was delayed leaving, finally closing his laptop and placing it in his backpack on the way out when his phone rang. Security at the front door told him he had a visitor waiting in the lobby, though the guard didn’t get the name.
Gabe said he would be right down. He closed up so he could go on to his car without returning to the office and then he took the elevator downstairs.
In the lobby, he stepped out of the elevator bank and turned the corner for the reception desk.
Maddie stood waiting. Her blond hair was tied behind her head with a red scarf and she wore red slacks and a matching shirt. His heart thudded and he walked faster. Excitement swamped him, and he couldn’t overcome the urge to grab her and kiss her, to make sure she wasn’t an illusion, a figment of his wishful imagination.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed away her hello. When he finally released her, he said, “I’m shocked. This is a big surprise. Did you bring Rebecca?”
“No, she’s with Mom.”
“If you don’t want to be thoroughly kissed in such a public place, we better go outside right now.”
She smiled at him, and they walked outside and around the corner of the building where he pulled her into his arms to kiss her long and leisurely. She held him tightly, kissing him in return.
“Let’s go to the condo,” he said gruffly, and she nodded.
“I came in a cab. I don’t have any transportation. I’m with you.”
“Yes, you are,” he said, taking her arm and heading to his car. “This is a surprise, Maddie. I’m scheduled to fly to Florida tomorrow, so what brought this on? And without you telling me?”
“Are you complaining?” she teased.
“Hell, no,” he said as he drove.
“Gabe, slow down before you get a ticket.”
“I want to be alone with you.”
“That’s what I wanted, too. I’ll fly back to Florida with you tomorrow. This is an extra day.”
He didn’t believe that was her whole reason, but he accepted it. He didn’t care, because he wanted to make love to her and hold her in his arms. His condo had never seemed as far from his office as it did right then.
When they finally stepped inside, he shut the door and pulled her to him.
It was almost nine that night before Gabe asked her if she wanted dinner and Maddie accepted. They had made love since Gabe had closed the door behind them that afternoon. They had showered, and he wore jeans. He’d given Maddie one of his robes.
They both went to the kitchen. As she watched him move around fixing sandwiches for them, she took a deep breath, but he cut off what she was about to say.
“I’m glad you’re here and that there’s only the two of us, because I want to talk to you,” he said, cutting thin slices from tender roast beef.
“That’s why I came,” she said. “To talk to you.”
His eyes narrowed. He stopped what he was doing to study her. He put down his knife, wiped his hands on a towel and walked over to place his hands on her shoulders.
“I want you and Rebecca in my life full-time, Maddie. I’ve been thinking about our future.”
“So have I. I’ve been miserable, Gabe.”
“Maddie, I’ve thought it over. Now listen and hear me out. I think I’ve found a compromise. If I opened an investment office in Dallas and we had a Dallas home, could you tear yourself out of Florida? I know you said you had some friends and contacts, there, even a job offer. It’s a big city and you’ve—”
“Gabe!” she cried, throwing her arms around him to hug him.
He caught her, his arms tightening around her.
“Hey!”
“That’s why I’m here,” she cried, feeling as if a crushing weight had lifted from her heart. “I was going to ask you if you could live in Dallas and commute to the ranch. I can get a job in Dallas.”
He smiled. “I don’t want to go through life with a long-distance marriage. I want you in my arms every night—or at least nearly every night. Jake asks me about every six months if I’d think about doing consulting for him. I’ll have to travel some. I have some real estate investments to check on.”
“I don’t care, Gabe. That sounds great. I love you and Rebecca needs you,” she said, the words tumbling out while she laughed and tears of joy filled her eyes.
“What about your family?”
“Rebecca will adjust. Children always do. My mom will probably come see us often. She may even move to Dallas herself.”
“I have enough money I can get her a house of her own, and she can come and go when she wants. Or, we can build a big enough house that there will be room for your mother and your grandparents to come stay whenever and however long they want,” he said. “Heck, they can live with us all the time! I just want us to be together, Maddie.”
“That’s what I want, too,” she said, crying and smiling at the same time.
“You came here to ask me this same thing?” he asked.
“Yes,” she cried.
“Stop crying,” he said, kissing her. She held him tightly, her heart beating with joy that they had finally worked out a way to have part of their dreams and still be together. She leaned awa
y, framing his face with her hands. “You really would work in Dallas? You can give up being a full-time cowboy?”
“I retired and moved to the ranch because I was unhappy after you left. I just didn’t know why I felt so dissatisfied. I was a cowboy, but that didn’t wipe out the empty feeling I had or the restlessness I couldn’t shake. I just didn’t recognize the depths of my feelings for you. I won’t completely give up the ranch, but I don’t have to live there.”
“Gabe,” she said, hugging him.
“We can go to the ranch some weekends. You and Rebecca can go with me. Will you do that?”
“Yes. Oh, yes. Gabe, I’m so happy,” she said. “So, so happy you wanted to do this before I even asked you.”
“I was going to lay out the plan this weekend. Maddie, this will make things better. If I have you and Rebecca in my life, everything else will be okay.”
“I love you, Gabe.”
He pulled her to him, holding her tightly as he kissed her and her heart beat wildly with joy.
He paused to look at her again. “Maddie, get a definite date set for our wedding. You might want to rethink again how big it will be. Now that we’ve worked this out, we may need a Texas-size wedding.”
She smiled at him. “I think you’re right.”
Epilogue
Maddie’s throat had a knot and tears of joy stung her eyes as Rebecca walked down the aisle, dropping rose petals along the way. Rebecca wore a deep blue dress that matched those of the six bridesmaids.
Maddie’s white-silk strapless dress was tailored, clinging to her figure with a full cathedral train. While trumpets played, she walked down the aisle on her grandfather’s arm. She paused to give her mother and grandmother roses and turned to give Gabe’s mother a rose. His father smiled at her and both of Gabe’s parents had made her feel welcome in their family. Then she looked into Gabe’s eyes, and her heart raced with happiness.
Gabe stood tall, handsome and smiling at her, love showing in his blue eyes as her grandfather placed her hand in Gabe’s warm, firm grasp. Looking handsome, Jake was Gabe’s best man and Caitlin was a bridesmaid.
Maddie looked at the other groomsmen, who were Gabe’s lifelong friends. And then her attention returned to her tall fiancé.
Gabe and Maddie stepped forward to repeat their vows.
Half an hour later they were introduced to the guests as Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Benton, and then she hurried back up the aisle on Gabe’s arm.
Later, at the country club reception, Maddie stood talking with her new sister-in-law. “We’ll see a lot of each other,” Caitlin said. “Jake and Gabe are close.”
“I’m glad they are. Gabe’s family has welcomed me, but then I’ve known all of you for most of my life.”
“I’m glad for Jake and Gabe. I never had any such relationship with my half brother, Will.”
“I really didn’t know your brother. He was older.”
“We don’t keep in touch. Here comes Tony’s wife, Isabelle, with Grace, Nick’s wife.”
“Caitlin, thank you again for the photographs you took of Rebecca and my bridal picture. I love them. You’re very talented.”
“Thanks. I was glad to do them. Rebecca is a doll, and she was great about posing. Jake’s parents are so thrilled with her. When our baby is born, I’ll have a million questions for you about baby care.”
Maddie laughed. “I doubt if I’ll remember. That was five years ago.”
Isabelle Ryder and Grace Rafford joined them. “Maddie, you’re a beautiful bride.”
“Thank you,” she said. “Here’s who you should ask. Grace’s Michael and Emily are younger than Rebecca.”
“Ask me what?” Grace inquired, smiling at them.
“About babies,” Caitlin said. “Maddie said it’s been so long she doesn’t remember.”
Grace laughed, her green eyes twinkling. “I suspect it will come back to you fast enough.”
“Not yet,” Maddie said, smiling and glancing across the room at her handsome husband. She was ready to escape with him. He stood with close friends and his brother, but with the way he was looking at her, she guessed he wanted to get away as soon as they could, too.
“Jake, it finally happened,” Nick said, grinning broadly. “You got your little brother married off.” He turned to Gabe. “We never thought you’d do it and you didn’t even have to be pushed into it by your dad.”
“You became a dad before I did, too,” Jake said.
“Which makes him the favorite with your folks,” Nick added with good-natured teasing. “At least until you and Caitlin have your baby. Then you’ll be the favorite son again.”
“I doubt it,” Jake said.
“Now that we’re all married, we should take a weekend to get together and let our wives get to know each other better,” Tony said. Jake agreed.
“You plan something, Tony,” Nick said. “We’ll have to work around football or wait until the first part of December for a fun getaway.”
“Sounds good to me,” Nick said.
“Y’all can plan away. Right now I have my own getaway to make. I’m going to collect my bride and see if we can’t depart the premises,” Gabe announced.
“Good luck,” Tony said. “She’ll want to stay for hours to be nice to the guests.”
“He’s right. Want to wager on how soon you get out of here?” Jake asked in fun, and they all laughed.
“Do what you want, I’m gone,” Gabe said, walking away from them to get to Maddie. He saw her talking to his friends’ wives. She was breathtakingly beautiful, but he couldn’t wait to get her out of that stunning wedding gown, to take down her hair and make love to her all night.
He walked up to join the group for a few minutes. “Ladies, I’m going to steal my wife away now,” he said, smiling at all of them. “If you’ll excuse us. I want a dance.”
They all politely agreed as he took Maddie’s arm to walk toward the dance floor.
“Let’s find Rebecca and our folks, tell them goodbye and get out of here,” he said to her. “We can dance again on our honeymoon.”
“You know we should stay for another couple of hours.”
“Is that what you want to do?”
She smiled broadly. “Let’s go.”
They told their families goodbye, and Gabe picked up Rebecca to hold her.
“I’ll miss you, Daddy,” she said, smiling at him.
“I’ll miss you, too, but then we’ll all three go somewhere fun where you can see princesses and ride fun rides.”
“I’ll like that,” she said.
“We’ll all like it. Be a good girl,” he said, kissing her cheek and setting her down.
“Bye, Tracie. Call us if you need anything,” he said.
“I will,” she said, smiling at him.
They left, rushing out to the waiting limo that whisked them away before the crowd caught up with them.
As the limo drove through the Dallas streets and headed to the airport, Gabe pulled her into his arms. “I love you, Maddie. You and Rebecca are my life.”
“I love you. I’ve always loved you,” she said, wrapping her arms around him to kiss him.
When his fingers went to the buttons of her wedding dress, she caught his hands.
“Slow down, cowboy. We’re still out in public.”
“Not too public in here,” he replied, removing a pin from her hair to let a curl fall free.
“Gabe, I have everything I could possibly dream of. We’re married. We have Rebecca. Mom is moving back to Dallas. I was really surprised when my grandparents said they would move, too. I don’t think they want to be away from any of us. There’s only one more thing I can think of that I want,” she said, twisting her fingers in her husband’s thick brown hair.
“What’s that? If I can give it to you, I will. I would give you the world, Maddie,” he said, nuzzling her neck.
“Gabe, if we have another baby, it would be wonderful, and this time you would be…”
He kissed her hard, holding her tightly against him while desire flamed, and she kissed him in return.
They reached the airport before he released her. She straightened her dress. “Gabe, I will be a sight.”
“Yes, you will. You’ll turn heads everywhere you go.”
“I’m so glad you have a private jet. As soon as we board the plane, I’m shedding this wedding dress.”
“Fine with me. I’ll unfasten the buttons.”
“How kind of you,” she said, smiling at him.
On the flight to their villa in the Caymans, Gabe took her hand. As soon as they were airborne and could unbuckle their seat belts, he said, “Come here and we’ll get you out of your wedding dress.”
He took her to the luxurious bedroom and pulled her into his arms.
“I love you with all my heart,” he said.
“Gabe, this is truly paradise. I’ve dreamed of this moment for too many years and then believed I had to give up my dream. But now it’s come true.”
“Maddie, I will try to make it up to you,” he whispered as he showered kisses on her throat.
“You’ve already made it up to me,” she replied. She framed his face with her hands. “You never answered me—do you want a baby?”
“Yes,” he said. “That would be another dream come true for all of us.”
“Then we’ll work on getting one,” she said, smiling at him.
He smiled in return as he lowered his head to kiss her.
She held him tightly, certain this was the happiest day of her life and expecting many more to come. She loved her handsome husband with all her heart, and now they would spend a lifetime together.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1219-0
WILD WESTERN NIGHTS
Copyright © 2011 by Sara Orwig
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.