“I’ll be miserable without you wherever I am.”
The tears began again, and he couldn’t stand it. “Don’t cry, sweetheart,” he insisted, pulling her into his arms. “We’ll be happy, I promise.”
Her arms held him as much as he held her, and it filled his heart with joy. “You know how I realized things were different with you? Other than the fact that I couldn’t keep my hands off you? You couldn’t keep your hands off me, either.” He grinned and lowered his head for a kiss.
“That’s why I have to leave.”
He’d begun to believe he’d convinced her. Until those words.
Sobering, he said, “I think you’d better explain yourself.”
Instead, she buried her head in his shirt and shook her head no.
“B.J., I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You’ve got to tell me what the problem is.”
Finally she whispered, “Toby.”
Jake frowned and pushed her back against the bed. “Toby? You think he’s a problem?” His heart ached again as he considered her meaning. “He doesn’t want me as a daddy?”
“Of course he wants you as a daddy,” B.J. protested before a sob escaped. “But a real daddy. Not—not—”
“Not what? What are you talking about?”
“I don’t want him to be second-best, Jake! I couldn’t stand it!”
Completely confused, Jake shook his head. “Second-best to what?”
“Any children we might have. Any real children.”
Jake sat back, stunned. Finally he said, “Dear God, B.J., is that what your refusal was for? Because you thought I couldn’t love Toby as much as any other children we’d have?”
She nodded.
“I ought to pull you over my knees and paddle your behind! Except I might get distracted by your cute little rear before I got very far. Come here.” He suited his actions to words, pulling her back into his embrace.
“But, Jake—” she protested, tears still falling.
“B.J., Toby and I already love each other. If you’ll let me, I’ll adopt him. Then he’ll be a Randall in name. But he’s already a Randall in my heart.”
“Are you sure, Jake? He won’t have your blood.”
“Neither do you, sweetheart, but do you think that makes any difference about how I feel about you?”
A shining light was in her eyes, drying up her tears, and her hands slid around his neck. “Are you sure?”
“Very sure. And I’m ready to show you. How perfect that you’re already in bed.”
“But Toby—”
“I closed the door. And Toby has to learn that his daddy can’t always be available.” He covered her mouth with his and immediately felt his control slipping. She did that to him. “Especially when the distraction is his mommy.”
“Oh, Jake, I was hurting so,” she murmured as she surrendered to his kiss.
“Me too, Barbara Jo,” he assured her huskily, “but nothing is going to come between us ever again. The three of us. We’re a family, the Randall family.”
She closed her eyes and hugged him tightly.
“And I’ll never let you go,” they both promised together.
Epilogue
Jake pulled his truck to a halt. He’d run into town to pick up some last-minute purchases B.J. insisted she needed.
Toby came flying out of the house, running in his direction, his hat sitting snugly on his head.
Jake grinned. About time for another trip to town. B.J. was right. The boy had outgrown his birthday gift in about a year. Today was only three days away from Halloween. And it was his and Toby’s birthday.
Opening the door, he got out and caught Toby as he launched himself at him. If the boy got much bigger, he’d knock him over.
“Daddy! You’re back.”
“I am, son. How’s Mom?”
“Fine. ’Cept Anna says the baby’s coming.”
“What?” Jake roared. He tucked Toby under one arm and ran for the house.
“Anna won’t let me watch,” Toby complained, his voice bouncing as much as his body.
As soon as he got inside, Jake set Toby down. “You stay here,” he ordered, and rushed up the stairs.
He entered their bedroom, finding it full of people. Mildred, Anna and Doc were around the bed. He ignored them all, falling to his knees beside B.J. “Barbara Jo, how dare you start without me.”
“I knew you’d get back in time,” she whispered, a smile on her beautiful lips. “But it’s a good thing you didn’t take any longer. This baby is getting—” She broke off to gasp as a pain seized her.
Stroking back her hair, he attempted to finish her sentence. “Impatient?”
“Yeah,” she said after the pain passed.
And she was right. Within minutes, as he watched and held B.J.’s hand, his precious daughter entered the world. When her frail cry signaled her protest, he buried his face in B.J.’s hair, hiding the tears.
“Well, well, well,” Doc said, a smile in his voice, “you have a baby girl, B.J. A beautiful baby girl.”
“Is she all right?” B.J. asked, her eyes following Doc as he handed the baby to Anna.
Jake raised his head as Mildred, Anna and Doc all replied at once, “She’s beautiful.”
“Just like her mama,” Jake assured everyone, a beaming smile on his face.
TWO WEEKS LATER, after he’d held his tiny daughter in his arms for the dedication service at church, Jake greeted his family and neighbors in the big living room on the Randall ranch.
“I’m not much for speech making, but as you all know, a lot of things have changed in the past couple of years.”
His gaze turned to his wife, sitting in a nearby chair, holding Caroline in her arms as Toby leaned against the chair. “Two years ago, we were a bunch of bachelors living a pretty dull existence. Everyone teased me about my matchmaking, but it was the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”
“Here, here!” Chad called, drawing laughter from the group.
“Now B.J. and I have been blessed, not only with the love we share, but also with two wonderful children. Janie and Pete have their twins, Chad and Megan have Elizabeth. Only Brett and Anna haven’t— Yes, Brett?”
Brett had waved a hand at his brother, halting his speech. “Actually that’s not true, Jake. Anna and I are expecting our own Randall in about seven months.”
Anna’s cheeks turned bright pink amid all the congratulations. B.J. reached out and squeezed her hand, and Janie and Megan came over to kiss her cheek.
“Hey, how about me?” Brett protested. “I had something to do with this baby, too.” The Randall women laughed and kissed his cheek.
“Well, it looks like we’re celebrating more than Caroline. I guess that only leaves Mildred and Red. Got an announcement for us, Red?” Everyone broke into delighted laughter, and Mildred chastised Jake for his teasing.
Red, however, spoke up. “Me and Mildred will take care of the grandparenting, boy. You young ones just keep producing them.”
“Yeah,” Toby spoke up. “Next time we want a boy so I can have a brother.”
“Next time?” B.J. asked faintly, but Jake heard her. He smiled, his heart full. In spite of her protest, he knew she’d welcome as many more children as God blessed them with.
Ben Turnbull called out, “Yeah, next time, B.J. You know how important it is to keep the Randall line going.”
Jake nodded at his friend. “Yeah, I always thought keeping the Randall line going was important. But I’ve discovered something more important.” He paused and smiled at his wife again. “I’ve discovered that the most important thing in the world is love. Love between friends, love between brothers, love between a father and his children—” he smiled specially at Toby, who glowed “—and most of all, love between a man and his wife.”
He lifted his glass. “Here’s to the happiness we’ve found.”
Bending down, he briefly kissed B.J., Toby and Caroline, then raised his glass again befor
e taking a deep, long drink, as his brothers did.
The Randalls had a lot to celebrate.
eISBN 978-14592-6742-8
COWBOY SURRENDER
Copyright © 1997 by Judy Christenberry.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utllization 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, Canada M3B 3K9.
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.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books SA
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Printed in U.S.A.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Dear Reader
Title Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
Copyright
brides for brothers 04 - cowboy surrender Page 18