A Sweet Life-kindle

by Andre, Bella

  “Somebody should’ve told him an hour ago,” Rebecca said.

  Conner walked over, absolutely gorgeous in his tux. Delaney told herself to remember that this was the same man who’d lugged her suitcases into the ranch wearing such an angry expression, the man who’d refused to acknowledge her for weeks, the man who was still treating her indifferently. She had to remember all this, so he’d never have the power to break her heart. But after what she’d done to him, his behavior was all too forgivable, and she ended up thinking instead about the way his hands had felt when they’d touched her that night in Boise.

  “You ready to go?” he asked.

  “It’s about time you got over here,” Rebecca said before Delaney could answer.

  “Rebecca!” she cried.

  Rebecca gave Conner a dirty look and hugged Delaney goodbye. “Well, he should have,” she said. “And if he’s not good to you, I swear I’m going to—”

  “Stop it,” Delaney said, but she couldn’t help smiling as she led Conner away.

  “Rebecca is certainly...her own person,” Conner murmured after they’d said their goodbyes to Aunt Millie, Uncle Ralph, his mother and his grandfather, and were heading out to the truck.

  “Don’t say anything bad about her around me,” Delaney said.

  Conner laughed. “Calm down. I think I like her. That’s the crazy thing. Nothing here in Dundee is turning out the way I thought it would the day I pulled into town.”

  “I could say the same thing,” she said.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I SAW MY UNCLE STEPHEN talking to you at the luncheon. What did he say?” Conner asked, keeping his eyes on the road so he wouldn’t stare at his lovely bride and swerve into a ditch.

  Delaney considered him. “You really want to know?”

  Conner shrugged. “I can probably guess, but let me have it.”

  “He said not to get too comfortable at the ranch, that you never stick with anything.”

  Quickly masking the anger that flared inside him, Conner told himself not to worry about Stephen. The ranch belonged to him now. At least he had a fighting chance. “Nice of him to wish us well, don’t you think?”

  “This must be the man you thought had put me up to seducing you in Boise.”

  “That’d be him.”

  “He’s part of the reason you married me, though, isn’t he?”

  Conner didn’t know what to say. Stephen had been part of the reason, but only because he’d insisted on magnifying Conner’s flaws. The truth of the matter was that Conner had actually been trying to escape his own reputation. Except, he didn’t want to think about that because then he’d have to admit he had some culpability in everything that had happened between them. Delaney might have tried to get pregnant in Boise, but he wouldn’t have felt marriage was his only option if he’d led a good life up until that point. In a sense, he’d trapped himself.

  “I married you because I thought it would be best,” he said.

  “Right.” She stroked the smooth white satin of her dress, then gazed out the window. Conner allowed himself a quick glance at her. She’d taken off her high heels. Her feet and ankles, covered in sheer white nylons, peeked out from the hem of the gown. He wondered if she wore a garter belt with those nylons—maybe a lacy number that rode low on her hips. The contradiction of his small-town librarian, who’d never known a man until she offered him her virginity just over four months ago, wearing something so wanton made Conner’s pulse race.

  He opened the window to cool down. “Are you tired?” he asked. They’d talked about a honeymoon and decided to use his family’s short stay as an excuse to avoid one, but Conner wasn’t so sure he still agreed with that decision. She was his wife. She was carrying his baby. And he wanted to find out about that garter belt...

  “I’m not tired,” she said. “How’s the morning sickness?”

  “It’s gone.”

  The arch at the entrance to the Running Y came up on their right. Conner slowed, but then he remembered that garter belt and the gifts she’d received at the bridal shower and thought maybe he could convince her to share them with him, after all.

  “Where are we going?” Delaney asked in surprise when he kept driving.

  “There’s a string of cabins outside Blackfoot. My mother thought that might be a nice place to take you—”

  “Your mother’s a wonderful person. And I appreciate the way she’s looking out for me, but I’m fine,” Delaney said. “There’s no need to change our plans.”

  “There’s not?”

  “No. I knew what I was getting into,” she said. “And what exactly is that?”

  “An arrangement.”

  An arrangement. Conner nodded and tried not to let his disappointment show. “Okay,” he said, and turned the truck around.

  DELANEY’S SMILE became more and more difficult to maintain. As soon as they returned to the house, they changed out of their bridal wear. Then Conner disappeared into his office with his grandfather and his uncles, leaving Delaney in the living room with Vivian and the two dogs. Delaney suspected Vivian would have joined the men, but she was too protective of Delaney to leave her alone on her wedding day and seemed determined to make up for Conner’s neglect.

  “What do you think you’ll name the baby?” Vivian asked, glancing surreptitiously down the hall.

  “I haven’t decided yet. I need to get a book and look at my options,” Delaney said. But she was thinking about using Vivian’s name, if it was a girl. The older woman moved with such grace, such refinement. Delaney already admired her.

  “That friend I met—?”

  “Rebecca?” Delaney asked, petting Champ when he came to rest his muzzle in her lap.

  “That’s the one. She’s colorful, isn’t she. I liked her right away.”

  Delaney smiled. Vivian would. Vivian would see the diamond beneath the rough.

  “She said she’s getting married,” Vivian went on.

  “She’s marrying a computer technician who lives in Nebraska in another month.”

  “Is her fiancé´ moving here?”

  “No, they’ll be living in Nebraska.”

  “You must hate the thought of her leaving.”

  Sundance nudged Champ aside and gave a little whine, obviously hoping for his share of her attention. “I do. We grew up down the street from each other. I can’t remember a time in my life when Rebecca wasn’t there.”

  Delaney heard her voice wobble and struggled to hold it steady. She might be pregnant and emotional, but she wouldn’t feel sorry for herself. She would keep her head high and—

  Vivian moved closer to her on the couch and placed a hand over hers as both dogs watched with what seemed like curious eyes. “I know how you feel,” she said. “But I don’t think Rebecca will go anywhere. She’s obviously taken with that other man at the reception. What was his name? Josh Something?”

  The surprise that jolted Delaney eased the lump in her throat. “You noticed? You’re a complete stranger, and you noticed?”

  Vivian raised her eyebrows. “I noticed that he was looking at her, too, and I found the chemistry between them pretty hard to ignore. I thought maybe they had a history.”

  “They have a history, all right. That’s part of the problem.”

  Conner’s mother turned to check the hallway again, as though she didn’t want anyone to come in on them unawares. “Delaney, I know that Conner’s not an easy man to get along with. I know he’s probably not as sensitive and open as he should be. And I—” she hesitated “—I know that your relationship is none of my business. I won’t intrude other than to say I hope you won’t give up on him too easily.”

  “Viv— Mom, maybe there’s something you should know,” Delaney started to say, ready to spill everything, but Vivian squeezed her hand.

  “I don’t want to know,” she said. “I can tell you love him. And that’s all that matters to me. The rest will work itself out. Now let’s get the others and open all thes
e lovely wedding gifts.”

  QUILTS PULLED TO HER CHIN, Delaney sat propped up in bed, staring miserably at the digital clock on her nightstand. She’d watched the numbers slowly flip from one to the next for more than two hours. Now it was midnight, and the lack of noise in the house told her everyone had finally retired. So where was Conner?

  He must have gone to bed in his own room, she decided. He certainly hadn’t come to hers. After they’d opened their wedding gifts, he’d returned to his study. His mother had helped her address thank-you cards until bedtime, and then they’d said good-night. But the book Delaney had been reading now lay discarded on her nightstand next to the blasted clock. Nothing, not even a gripping thriller, had the power to engross her tonight. It was her wedding night, and from the look of things, her new husband wasn’t sufficiently interested in her to come and say good-night.

  With a heartfelt sigh, she mashed down her pillows and told herself to quit worrying and get some sleep. But she kept thinking about her old life; she missed Rebecca and their house and her job and her good reputation. So much had changed—nothing would ever be the same again. And she’d brought it on herself.

  A tear slipped from the corner of her eye as she called herself a fool for believing she could have a baby on her own without destroying her life and everyone else’s, but then a small knock sounded on her door.

  “Delaney? You awake?”

  Conner! Delaney tensed and wiped the tears away as the door cracked open. He stepped into the room, his profile revealed in the moonlight filtering through the blinds on her window, but Delaney would have known him even with her eyes closed. After working for him for almost two months, she could easily single out his footfalls from the others, easily identify his outdoorsy scent, his breathing, his aura. His proximity never failed to make her more aware of everything around her.

  “Delaney?”

  She didn’t answer. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pretended to sleep, hoping he’d go away and at the same time she was hoping he’d stay. She didn’t want him coming to her out of the sense of obligation that had led him to marry her in the first place. She didn’t want him coming to her because his mother had shamed him into it. Which was why she’d refused to go to the cabin. She wanted him in her bed only if he wanted to be there.

  When she showed no sign of consciousness, he moved closer and leaned over her, lightly skimming her cheek with one finger.

  She opened her eyes to see him wearing—again—nothing but a pair of blue jeans.

  “Sorry to wake you,” he murmured, as a shiver of excitement crawled slowly down her spine to twist and swirl somewhere in the vicinity of her stomach.

  “Is something wrong?” she whispered in deference to the quiet that surrounded them.

  “No, I was...” His words fell off, and Delaney waited. “You were what?”

  “I was trying to stay in my own room, but...I didn’t want to start out this way.”

  “What way?”

  “Sleeping apart.” He straightened, shoved his hands in his pockets and spoke calmly, unemotionally. “I don’t think it sets a good precedent.”

  Precedent? He wanted to sleep with her to create a precedent? “That is a big concern,” she said, but couldn’t tell if he recognized the sarcasm in her response. His face was inscrutable in the darkness, his eyes shiny dark pools.

  He glanced reluctantly at the door. “You’d rather sleep alone, then?”

  She considered how she’d feel if he walked away, and how she’d feel if he didn’t, and knew she wanted him here. But pride demanded she establish some standards. “Stay only if you want to, not because you think it’s best or want to mollify your mother or—”

  “I want to,” he said, his eyes meeting hers.

  Delaney’s breath caught as his gaze lowered to her shoulders, fixing on the ivory material of her negligee. “You’re wearing it,” he breathed. “Can I see?”

  She lay perfectly still as he folded back the covers. He looked at her for several seconds, then smiled and ran a hand over the small bulge that was finally providing visual proof of her pregnancy. “Hi, baby,” he said, bending down to brush a kiss across her abdomen.

  Smiling in spite of herself, Delaney cupped his cheek and held him against their baby for a moment longer. It felt so right to have him close again—at last.

  When she let go, his eyes swept over her negligee as one hand outlined the curve of her waist. “You make me crazy, Laney. There isn’t any question about that.”

  Delaney already knew she made him crazy. Any questions she had didn’t revolve around that, but she didn’t want to think about questions right now. Somehow her need for answers abandoned her the moment Conner’s hands started sliding over her skin, caressing her, exploring every sensitive spot he could find while watching the expressions on her face change as she responded to him.

  “Pretty,” he said, teasing her nipples with his thumbs through the fabric. Then he slid the straps off her shoulders and buried his face in the valley between her breasts, and Delaney felt her body go boneless.

  “Come to bed,” she murmured, as he lifted his head to kiss her. Unlike the brief kiss he’d given her at the altar, this one held enough promise to curl her toes.

  “Careful, Laney. I might actually think you want me,” he said.

  “I do,” she admitted.

  Grinning, he stood and stripped off his jeans, and she couldn’t help admiring the changes in his body since she’d first seen it. He’d been muscular and firm from the beginning, but he was slightly thinner now and even more defined from the physical nature of his work.

  “Somehow it doesn’t feel real that we could be married, does it?” she whispered.

  He tossed his jeans aside as though he couldn’t be less self-conscious, and his teeth flashed in a grin. “It’s going to feel very real in a minute,” he said. Then he climbed into bed with her and the warmth of his bare skin surrounded her as he drew her into his arms.

  Delaney didn’t get a moment’s sleep all night. Yet she woke feeling more satisfied and refreshed than she’d felt since...Boise.

  THE NEXT WEEK PASSED QUICKLY, and for the most part, Delaney’s days were no different than they’d been before the wedding. She helped Dottie cook and clean, do the grocery shopping, feed the animals and run errands in town. But once the sun went down and the stars came out, things were different. She’d moved into Conner’s room the day after the wedding. He always gave her plenty of attention at night, and she did her best to make sure he’d be too tired to work the next morning. But he never was. He always got up early and closed himself in his office or headed outside to ready the horses. She helped make breakfast for Grady, Isaiah, Ben and Roy, who still grinned broadly every time they caught her eye, even though she’d been married a whole week.

  “Roy, how long is it going to take before you stop with all the silly smiling?” she said in mock exasperation when she noticed him grinning at her again.

  He chuckled. “How’s that bun in the oven?”

  Delaney wasn’t sure, but she thought the flutter she’d been experiencing low in her belly just might be the baby moving. Then again, being around Conner seemed to cause the same sensation, even during the day, when he didn’t show any interest in her at all.

  “The baby’s growing,” she said. “I think I can feel it move.”

  “Did someone say ‘baby’?” Dottie asked, and started right in on a retelling of her own granddaughter’s birth.

  As she rambled on about how marvelous it had been to participate in the process, Delaney let her mind drift—as usual—to Conner. She loved it when he held her and made love to her and slept in her arms. His presence in her life fulfilled her like nothing she’d ever experienced, far more than being a single parent ever could, she thought. Sometimes she’d just sit and daydream about the way he smelled. And the way he moved. And the way his eyes closed and his lips parted when she—

  “Earth to Delaney,” Isaiah said, interrupting her rev
erie.

  Delaney blinked and looked over at him.

  “How long is it going to take before you stop with all the silly smiling?” he asked, and the others laughed.

  “I was thinking about the baby,” she lied. She stood up to rinse the dishes so she could hide her blush, but Conner came in at that moment and any embarrassment she felt was instantly lost in the hope that today would be the day he acknowledged her outside the bedroom. Just a smile or a meaningful glance or a quick kiss on the temple... Anything to tell her he cared about her, that the relationship developing between them wasn’t just sexual.

  She dried her hands and made him a plate of scrambled eggs, ham and toast. Her heart was in her throat when she gave it to him. But he didn’t even look up. He spoke to Roy about some missing cattle, took a chair at the table and ate. Then he told the cowboys he’d meet them outside and started toward the back door.

  “Conner?” Delaney said, catching him before he could leave.

  He turned and Delaney felt everyone else’s eyes on her, too. She suddenly wished she’d kept her mouth shut. It was stupid to push him for more than he was willing to give. But now that she’d drawn his attention, she had to say something. “I—I have a doctor’s appointment later. I thought maybe you’d like to go with me and meet him.”

  “Sorry,” he said with scarcely a pause. “I can’t make it today.” He went outside and the door banged shut behind him.

  Isaiah met Delaney’s eyes, his expression one of empathy, and she hated that he understood the hurt Conner had so carelessly inflicted. She wanted to leave and avoid the awkward silence that had settled over the room, but she refused to be that much of a coward. Keeping her back straight and her head high, she accepted each cowboy’s dirty plate with a smile and wished them all a good day as they filed out.

  But Isaiah didn’t go. He lagged behind, and when Dottie—whistling obliviously to herself, probably thinking about her new grandbaby—went into the pantry, he touched her arm.