Husband for Keeps

by Kate Little

  He laughed and kissed the tip of her nose. “The back of my truck, huh? That could get a little uncomfortable. Especially after nightfall, honey,” he added with a grin. He slid over to lie on his side, his head propped up by his hand. “And I sure as hell don’t like the idea of you giving your inheritance to Burkett.”

  “But he’ll drag us through court. It may take years, cost a fortune, and we’ll probably lose, anyway. Besides, the place didn’t mean a thing to me without you.”

  “But he can’t win in court if you have married a man of good character, right?” Luke asked. His long finger snagged a golden-brown lock and toyed with it. Without waiting for her to answer, he continued. “You see, I settled everything with Emily. She’s going to let Tyler stay with me for the rest of the summer and grant me shared custody. She said she’s also willing to help us out in court if it becomes necessary, to testify about the real reason I got in that bar brawl.”

  “She is? But how? I mean, why?” Carey sat up, feeling dazed and amazed, then suspicious. “What did you have to promise her in return, Luke?”

  Luke shrugged. “For once in her life she wasn’t playing The Price Is Right. She said she had a lot of time to think, after I took Tyler. She knew it was wrong to call in the police, especially after what she’d done to me, and she was only using that card as a threat. She’d been angry at first when I’d threatened her back, saying I would report her to Social Services for endangering a child. But then she had to face the fact that she wasn’t such a great mother to our son. And that maybe I could take him away from her, if I really tried to.”

  “But you’d never do that.”

  “It would be hard to go through with it. It would end up hurting Tyler a great deal.” Luke sighed, his dark gaze getting a far-off look. Carey felt her mouth go dry. She didn’t know what to say and didn’t want to interrupt him.

  “She told me that no matter what, Tyler is precious to her. Not just a pawn in a game between her and me. And it took losing him for a few weeks for her to understand what I’ve been through all these years, when she wouldn’t let me see him….” He took a deep breath, as if to tamp down his anger. “Well, all that’s water under the bridge now. We talked for a long time. About a lot of things. It was long overdue, and it was painful most of the time, but we put some ghosts to rest,” he added thoughtfully. “And the main thing is I don’t think Burkett can cause any real trouble now for you because of me, Carey. I want you to fight him. I think you’ll win. I don’t want you to lose this place without even fighting for it and maybe someday end up regretting it.”

  And heaven forbid, blaming me for it, Carey thought he was going to add. He didn’t, but he didn’t have to. The unspoken sentiment was clear for her to read in his eyes.

  She quietly regarded him. “So you think we should fight Burkett?”

  “Absolutely,” he vowed.

  “That means we’ll have to stay married,” she reminded him, “and a lawsuit like that…well, it could drag on for years.”

  “For pity’s sake, woman—lawsuit or not, I’m in this deal for a lifetime,” he replied with mock indignation. “I thought you knew that now.”

  “Just checking,” she replied with a grin.

  He grinned back, his fingertip moving lightly over the edge of the sheet she held to her breasts. “And if we win, do you still want to live in the back of my truck?”

  “Maybe,” she teased back. “How about staying right here and running this ranch together?”

  “Do you really want to do that, Carey?” he asked in a serious tone. “I haven’t forgotten what you told me about growing up here, your bad memories. If you still feel that way, I’d never want you to stay here just for me you know.”

  She gazed into his eyes, feeling the total connection that had marked their relationship as being so very special from the first. She could see he was sincere, and she knew he would never allow her to live in a place that made her unhappy.

  His hand had come to rest on her breast, and she covered it with her own. “I feel differently about it now. I really do. Because of having you and Tyler here, I guess,” she confessed.

  “You really mean that, don’t you?”

  “My whole life is changed because of you, Luke. You are my whole life,” she confessed.

  He smiled down tenderly at her, his dark eyes growing bright. As if he might cry, she realized. Luke? Moved to tears? Over her? Suddenly she felt as if she might start crying herself.

  “And you are mine, sweet Carey,” he whispered in a thick voice as he lowered his face toward hers for a kiss.

  As his warm lips tenderly met hers, she felt his hand move over her breast in a loving caress. She felt her body ease back into the pillows, totally relaxed and uninhibited as the waves of pure bliss and deep need washed over her, his lovemaking once again sweeping her away to their own private world.

  Epilogue

  “Hey, what happened in there?” Carey called into the kitchen. “Did you guys take off on me?”

  The door connecting the dining room to the kitchen swung open. Tyler poked his head through the doorway and stared at her, looking exasperated. Globs of pink and yellow frosting dotted his face and T-shirt, Carey noticed. There was even some in his hair.

  “We’re almost ready. Just stay there, okay?”

  He disappeared again, and Carey shifted in her chair. Her back hurt a little, but she was too tired to rub it. And she was certainly too tired to get up and check on the delay. A hugely pregnant belly sure slowed a person down, she thought with a small grin as she rubbed it through her cotton dress.

  “You look as if you’re about to burst, child,” Ophelia had said to her that morning as she’d waddled into the kitchen for breakfast. “Looks like it’s going to be anyday now.”

  She and Luke had thought the same, even though the baby wasn’t due for another month. Luke had bet her that the child would arrive on her birthday, which, as it happened, was the very day after their second wedding anniversary. It would have certainly been convenient, since in years to come they could celebrate three of their family occasions in one bang-up party per year. But here it was, the night of her birthday and no baby yet.

  Just as well, Carey thought as the door burst opened and she caught sight of her birthday cake. A two-layer chocolate cake with white icing, pink and yellow trim, plastic horses, baby dolls, flaming sparklers and a model dinosaur stuck on top for good measure, which Carey hoped was not a comment on her advanced age. Carey knew the cake would taste as spectacular as it looked, since Ophelia had baked it. She wouldn’t want to miss a delicious bite, not even for a ride to the hospital.

  After a rousing round of “Happy Birthday,” Carey blew out her candles and made a wish.

  Tyler hugged her first and kissed her cheek, and then Ophelia and Willie offered their blessings and loving embrace. Luke’s dark gaze glowed with adoration as he bent to give her a resounding kiss.

  “What did you wish for, honey?” he asked.

  “I can’t tell you…it won’t come true,” she replied, and her serious tone made everyone laugh.

  “Well, I’ll tell you what I’m wishing,” Willie piped up. “I’m wishing someone would cut that dang cake. My mouth is watering.”

  Laughing, Carey cut the first piece and ceremoniously gave it to Willie, and then served the rest of the slices.

  Surrounded by her family and dear friends, Carey felt utterly at peace. She ate two slices of cake with a cold glass of milk and then opened her gifts.

  When it seemed that she could barely keep her eyes open, Luke helped her up to bed.

  As she lay in the darkness, waiting for her husband to join her, Carey thought back to the day two years ago, when she’d met first met Luke and married him.

  She’d truly believed for a while that he had left her and she would never see him again. The morning she found him in her bed had marked the happiest day of her life.

  Just as her attorney had predicted, her cousin had talked t
ough but had given up without much fight when he was offered a settlement. Once she and Luke took full possession of the ranch, they worked side by side to improve the place, and with Luke’s considerable knowledge, shifted their primary interests from cattle to purebred horses.

  The ranch had come a long way in the past two years. And so had Tyler. He’d grown tall and strong, resembling his father more and more every day, Carey thought. He was not only an able rider now, but even helped Luke break and train the horses.

  Emily had kept her promise about the custody arrangement, and Tyler spent many weekends on the ranch and most school vacations, including the entire summer. He was looking forward to having a baby sister or brother and was already planning how he would teach the baby to ride.

  Everyone was looking forward to this baby, Carey reflected. She thought that if it was a boy she might name him Jonah after her father. For after all was said and done, the past two years had taught her something about her father’s love for her, and about forgiveness.

  She heard Luke enter the room and sat up. She turned on the light as he sat on the edge of the bed next to her. He reached out and slipped his hand behind her hair to stroke her nape.

  “Still awake? I thought you were beat.”

  “I am. I think I ate too much to sleep, though,” Carey confessed as she rubbed her belly. She’d been feeling uncomfortable cramps in her abdomen and an aching in her back for hours now. But she didn’t want to spoil the party by complaining.

  “Can you help me up? I think it would help if I walked around a little.”

  Luke’s eyebrows popped up, and his concerned gaze swept over her. “You’re sure it’s just indigestion, Carey? Maybe it’s the baby.”

  She gratefully leaned on his strong arm as she maneuvered herself out of the bed. “No, not yet,” she assured him. “I really don’t think it’s the—”

  A powerful, sharp pain knifed through her lower body, and she nearly doubled over. Thankfully, Luke had his arm around her waist, and he hugged her close to support her.

  “Honey?” she said in a small voice.

  “Yes?” he answered nervously.

  “I stand corrected….”

  “You mean…?” His voice trailed off as he bent his head to stare straight into her eyes.

  She nodded. “You might still win that bet we had going….”

  Jonah William Redstone was born three hours later, weighing in at eight pounds and two ounces. As Carey cuddled the newborn with Luke’s arms around her shoulders, she felt her eyes wet with tears of joy.

  “Just what I wished for on my birthday cake,” she confided to Luke. “A healthy baby, perfect in every way.”

  “Just like his mother,” Luke said softly as he kissed her temple and then nuzzled the baby’s dark, downy head.

  “He’s got your hair,” she corrected.

  “He’s got your eyes,” he countered. “And I’ve got everything I’ve ever wished for and more,” he added in a solemn voice. He raised Carey’s free hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her palm.

  “So do I,” she whispered, meeting his loving gaze. “So do I.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-1335-7

  HUSBAND FOR KEEPS

  Copyright © 2000 by Anne Canadeo

  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 editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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