by Marin Thomas
Marsha entered first, then stopped in the middle of the room and twirled in a slow circle. “It’s lovely.”
Will shut the door and flipped the lock, then allowed himself to look his fill at Marsha—the beautiful woman who was once the young girl he’d taken to the prom. She was a real-life fantasy—his fantasy—and the men in California were idiots for allowing her to remain single.
This afternoon Will hoped to change that.
“I’m not sure this is a wise place for us to have a talk.” Her gaze swung to the bed.
“I don’t want things to end the way they did between us.”
“I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. I—”
“Wait.” He closed the distance between them and gently tugged a strand of hair. “Did you enjoy my kisses?”
Her gaze softened. “Of course.”
He’d known that, but he wanted to hear her admit it out loud. He brushed his mouth over hers in a slow caress. “Did you like the way I touched you?”
Her body shivered. “Yes.”
“And you agree that we’re compatible in bed?”
She clasped his face between her hands and rose on tiptoe, initiating the next kiss. “Maybe you could save whatever’s on your mind until later.” She nibbled on his chin.
Oh, man. He hadn’t thought his plan through very well when he’d decided to bring Marsha to the cabin to propose.
Her mouth skimmed his throat and he decided marry me could wait until after they made love. He swung Marsha into his arms and carried her to the bed, then set her on her feet and tossed aside the cowboy quilt.
Their gazes locked, she unbuttoned her blouse, revealing a red lace bra. His mouth went dry. “Do your panties match that bra?”
“Yes.” She placed his hands against her belt buckle and Will needed no further urging. In a matter of seconds her belt was on the floor and he was shoving her jeans over her hips. She fell against the mattress, giggling as he tugged off her boots and socks. Wearing nothing but sexy red lace, she crooked her finger. “Your turn.”
Once she had him naked, he spent the next five minutes exploring her silky skin with his mouth and hands. When her lace bra and panties landed on his pile of clothes, he asked, “Are you sure?”
“I’m always sure with you.”
Will had dreamed of making love to Marsha slowly, caressing every square inch of her body and learning her sweet spots. He buried his face against her neck, inhaling her scent—perfume and sweet, sexy Marsha. When he lowered his mouth to her breasts, her breathing grew faster and she reached between their bodies, caressing him with an urgency she’d never shown before.
Marsha pressed Will onto his back and crawled over him. With a sassy smile she rolled a condom on him then took him inside her—so much for his plan to go slow. They shot off like a couple of bottle rockets toward the heavens.
A short while later, the sound of birds chirping penetrated Will’s consciousness and Marsha snuggled closer to his side, sliding her thigh between his legs.
“Mmm...that was nice,” she whispered.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen when I brought you into the cabin,” he said.
Marsha toyed with his nipple. “We’re both adults. We can have sex if we want.”
Will wanted it to be more than sex. He leaned across Marsha’s body and scooped his jeans off the floor, then rummaged through his pocket and removed the ring.
“Marsha,” he said. “Our relationship back in high school didn’t get off to a great start.”
“It didn’t get off to any start.”
“I let you down when I told you to get an abortion, but I hope you’ve forgiven me for that.”
“There’s nothing to forgive, Will. You were as young and scared as I was.”
“And had you told me you hadn’t aborted Ryan, I would have helped you financially,” he said.
“I’m sorry, too. I never should have kept our son a secret from you.”
“I want to let go of the past and start over. I want the three of us—you, me and Ryan—to be a family.”
“In a sense we’re already a family,” she said.
“Then let’s make it legal. I want to be your husband, and I want you to be my wife and together we’ll be Ryan’s parents.”
“What are you saying?”
He opened his fingers to reveal the diamond solitaire resting on his palm. “Marry me.”
Instead of happy tears, she clutched the sheet to her breasts and sat up in bed. Not the reaction he’d hoped for. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes.” His heart thudded painfully—could she hear the muscle pounding through his chest wall?
“I realize this is happening fast, but we’ve already lost fourteen years as a family and I don’t want to play it safe. Take a leap of faith with me, Marsha.”
Her eyes swung between the ring in Will’s hand and his face. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“The timing.... It’s...all wrong.”
“Forget about the timing. I love you, Marsha. I think I fell in love with you the night we went to the prom.” He reached for the ring finger, intending to slide the diamond on, but she curled her fingers into her palm. Shocked, he stared at her fist.
“My father’s battling cancer and—”
“I’m going to prove to your father that I’m worthy of you. I promise. I won’t let you down.”
“His health is a major concern right now. I don’t want to upset him,” she said.
Will opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. “You can’t understand how badly I disappointed him when I became pregnant out of wedlock.”
“Then wouldn’t he be relieved we’re making our relationship legal?”
“It’s not that simple,” she said. “He doesn’t believe you’re good enough for me or Ryan.”
So her father had gotten to her, too. Now he knew the reason she’d pulled away from him. “Your father’s looked down his nose at the Cash family for years. So what? He’ll get over his prejudice when he sees I’m a good husband and father.”
“The emotional drama may be too much for him right now. I want to make his last days stress free.”
Although he sympathized with the tightrope Marsha walked with her father, Will sensed she wasn’t being completely truthful with him. “There’s more to you wanting to put our relationship on hold than pleasing your father, isn’t there?”
The starkness in her gaze sent a jolt of panic through Will. “There’s no sense denying we’re compatible in bed and we’ll always be connected because of Ryan, but you can’t deny we’ve gone different ways since graduation.”
“We were going different ways before we graduated high school, Marsha. What does that have to do with the three of us becoming a family?” She didn’t answer him. “Does my lack of education bother you?”
Her silence shot through his heart like a bullet.
“You may know more about chemistry and scientific formulas, but we share the same beliefs about the things that really matter.” He smiled. “You saw how important family is to me when you spent the day at the farm.”
“Yes, but—” her gaze skirted his face “—Dad brought up a good point. I’ve been working hard in hopes of obtaining a teaching position at a major university and—”
“I’d never interfere with your career plans. I get how important teaching is to you,” he said.
“That’s easy to say now, but will you be as supportive after you see the long hours I work? Between teaching and tutoring and Ryan’s after-school clubs we’re hardly home.”
“C’mon, Marsha. Have I given you any reason to believe I’m the kind of man who needs a woman’s undivided attention 24/7?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer. “When two people love each other,
they find a way to carve out time to be together. I’m not concerned about that.”
“Ryan and I live in California. Your roots run deep in Stagecoach and you’ve never been apart from your siblings.”
He hated that this conversation was stressing her out. He leaned in and kissed her, trying to calm her fears. “As much as I love my brothers and sister, you and Ryan are my family now.”
“What about my mother? After Dad’s gone, she’ll need someone to take care of her. She’s never worked outside the church and because of Dad’s medical expenses, their retirement savings have shrunk and she might need financial help down the road.”
“Your mother is always welcome to live with us.”
“I won’t have money for a down payment on a new home until I pay off my student loans.”
Will frowned. “I don’t expect you to support me. I’ll work construction jobs in California like I do here.”
“But it may take a while for you to find one.”
Will wasn’t sure what to say. She was offering excuse after excuse—had he misjudged her feelings for him? With a queasy stomach, he got out of bed and took his clothes into the bathroom to dress. When he came out ten minutes later, Marsha was still in bed. It took all his strength not to strip down again and remind her how good they were together.
“You know what?” he said. “I think you’re hiding behind your father’s illness, because you’re not sure how you feel about me.” When his statement didn’t provoke a response from her, he said, “Do you love me, Marsha?”
She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.
Her silence might as well have been a fist to the gut because the air in his lungs froze, and his chest threatened to crack wide open. He’d gotten it all wrong. Feeling like an ass because Marsha didn’t love him enough to put their relationship first, he stuffed his feet into his boots, all the while praying she’d try to stop him from walking out of the cabin.
No such luck.
His bruised and battered ego felt like it had gone twelve rounds with a heavyweight champion.
“I’ll be waiting for Ryan in the cantina.” He shut the door quietly, resisting the urge to slam it hard enough to break the hinges.
How the heck had a surprise marriage proposal turned into the nail that sealed his coffin?
* * *
“HEY, DAD!” RYAN RACED toward Will, Mack right behind him.
Will smiled at the excitement in his son’s voice. No matter what happened between him and Marsha, he’d always be grateful to her for giving him the gift of his son.
Ryan skidded to a stop. “I made a friend. Her name’s Amanda and she’s going to be an astronaut one day.”
“That’s impressive. Sounds like you enjoyed horseback riding.”
“It was okay,” Ryan said.
Will caught Mack’s eye roll.
“Amanda’s friending me on Facebook and we’re gonna keep in touch. She’s from California, too, and we might work on a science project together and enter it into the Science Expo in Los Angeles next summer.”
“Great,” Will said.
“Where’s Marsha?” Mack asked.
“She’s talking to one of the guests inside the cantina.” Marsha had entered the restaurant an hour after Will had vacated the cabin. He’d bought her an iced tea, then excused himself and had waited outside, afraid if he sat with her, he’d beg her to reconsider his marriage proposal.
“Ryan, why don’t you tell your mom we’re ready to go,” Will said.
The teen ran off then stopped suddenly. “Thanks, Uncle Mack.”
“From now on call me Mr. Cupid.” Mack grinned.
When Ryan was out of earshot, Will said, “Thanks for making the afternoon special for him.”
“Don’t leave me hanging. Did Marsha accept your proposal?”
“No.”
Mack winced. “What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Will wanted to open up to his brother, but he held everything inside, because he still hadn’t digested all that had happened.
When Ryan and Marsha walked out of the cantina, Will said, “Thanks again for the invite today. Ryan hasn’t been this excited all summer. I owe you one.” He handed his brother the cabin key.
“Thank you, Mack,” Marsha said, avoiding eye contact with Will. “Ryan had fun on the trail today.”
“You two are welcome anytime.” He clasped Ryan’s shoulder. “Thank you for entertaining Amanda. She was bored to death until you showed up.”
Ryan’s cheeks reddened and Will came to his rescue. “We’d better get going.”
Marsha and Ryan waved, then hopped into the pickup. As Will skirted the hood, Mack called out.
“You’ve got my number. Use it.”
“If you’ve got time to waste talking to your brother then you need a girlfriend.” Will hopped behind the wheel and shut the door on Mack’s laughter. As he drove along the road to the highway, Will was grateful for Ryan’s nonstop chatter about Amanda. As long as his son kept talking, he could ignore the tension between him and Marsha.
An hour later, Will turned onto the road leading to Pastor Bugler’s home. The day couldn’t end soon enough.
“Hey, Dad,” Ryan said. “Can I spend the night at the farm? I want to work on the rocket. I told Amanda I’d post a Facebook photo of it.”
“Honey, your father has things to do and—”
“Not really,” Will said. Maybe Marsha didn’t want to be with him, but his son did. “You’re welcome to stay at the farm, Ryan.” Will shifted into Park in the front driveway. “As a matter of fact, I’d like to show you the journal I’ve been keeping on my reading.”
“Cool. I’ll go pack my bag.” Once Ryan went inside, Will and Marsha faced off.
“You don’t have to do this,” Marsha said.
“I enjoy being with Ryan.”
“Will you bring him to work with you tomorrow morning?”
“That’s up to him. He may want to sleep in past 5:00 a.m.”
“I suppose I could drive out to the farm after I finish my tutoring session.”
“Whatever works.”
“When do you think you’ll be done with the classroom wing?”
Why? Was she suddenly uncomfortable with him working under her nose? “Two weeks. Then Ben will do a walk-through with your father and they’ll come up with a punch list of small fixes and we’ll knock those out in a couple of days.”
Will nodded. “Here comes Ryan.” He saw a shadow in the doorway and assumed it was Marsha’s father. He didn’t care if the pastor wasn’t happy that his grandson chose to be with his father—Marsha could deal with the man.
“Mind your manners, Ryan.” She got out of the truck.
“Bye, Mom.”
Will smothered a smile behind a pretend cough when Ryan shut the door on Marsha before she’d given him a hug.
“Thanks for letting me stay the night, because I really need to talk to you about some stuff that I can’t talk to Mom or Grandpa about.”
“What kind of stuff?” he asked, driving off.
“Girl stuff.”
“You and Amanda really hit it off, huh?”
“She’s smart and super cool.”
Maybe his son would have better luck with his lady love than Will was having with Marsha.
“I’ve never had a girlfriend before,” Ryan said.
“You’re young. You’ve got plenty of time for girls if you’d rather focus on school.”
“How old were you when you got your first girlfriend?”
Will kept a straight face and said, “Eight. Her name was Jenny and the sun rose and set on her red braids and freckled face.”
Ryan laughed. “Why’d you like her?�
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“She shoved a boy on the playground after the kid made fun of my name.”
“Kids teased you when you were little?”
“Willie Nelson Cash is a name that draws a lot of attention.” He grinned. “I thought Jenny was the bravest girl in the world when she stood up to that bully.”
“Did the bully push her?”
“Nope, he peed his pants and ran off. It was true love until the next recess and Jenny decided she liked Brent Dillinger better, because he could throw a baseball farther than me.”
“When did you get your first serious crush?”
Will wasn’t sure how to answer his son. “I dated a lot of girls on and off in high school, but there was never one I really fell hard for.” Except your mother, and I didn’t know that until it was too late.
“Did you...never mind.”
“We haven’t known each other long, but I hope you know you can always be open with me. The guy stuff we talk about stays between you and me,” Will said.
“You won’t tell my mom?”
“Nope. Not unless you ask me to intervene on your behalf.”
“How old are most kids when they have sex?”
Will choked on his spit and coughed.
“You won’t tell Mom I asked that question, will you?”
“No. Before I answer...have you kissed Amanda?”
“Amanda kissed me when Uncle Mack let us rest while he took the horses to get a drink.”
How thoughtful of Mack to give teenagers with raging hormones privacy. “Was that your first kiss?”
“Yeah.” Ryan blushed. “It was awesome.”
Will chuckled. “First kisses usually are pretty awesome.” He cleared his throat. “Take things slow with Amanda. If it’s meant to be between you two it will work out.”
If only Will could take his own advice, but Marsha hadn’t given him a bit of hope that things would work out for them.
Chapter Fourteen
Two weeks had passed since Will had taken Marsha and Ryan to the Black Jack Mountain Dude Ranch. She’d managed to avoid Will during the week but not on Sunday mornings when he showed up for church services and took a seat next to her and Ryan in the pew. Her father had grudgingly accepted Will’s presence in his church as well as Ryan going with Will to the farm to work on the rocket.