Spur-Of-The-Moment Marriage

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Gillian didn’t love him.

  For a time she had needed him, to give her a new identity and a permanent home and family on the ranch, but now that need did not even remain. Because the McKendricks were not going to desert her, any more than they had deserted him.

  “What are you trying to tell me?” Gillian demanded, coming closer. She. released a long, impatient breath. “That you no longer want your inheritance from Max?”

  Cisco turned to Gillian and regarded her quietly. He wished he still did not find her so beautiful, with her wildly curling auburn hair, fair skin and dark green eyes. He wished he still did not want to make love to her with every fiber of his being. But he did, and he sensed that would never change, either, no matter how long—or how far—they were apart.

  Nevertheless, he had to be practical.

  He had to end the hurt, and crushed dreams, and get past her guilt over hurting him, and help them both move on to greener pastures.

  “My inheritance I figure I’ve earned,” he told Gillian gruffly. “But as for the rest of it…” He shrugged. “Like you said earlier, it was a nice romance while it lasted, but that’s all it ever was or will be, so I suggest we do ourselves a favor, and just call it quits as soon as our forty-eight hours together are over.”

  Gillian stared at him, behaving as if she could hardly believe her ears. “Fine,” she said quietly, holding her hands in a gesture of surrender, letting him know in a glance it was over between them as far as she was concerned, too. “If that’s what you want,” she finished coldly, “then that’s what we’ll do.”

  “I THOUGHT I USED TO BE all business before Susannah came back into my life, but this really takes the cake. I can’t believe you’re sitting here doing paperwork when you and Gillian are both going to be officially declared McKendricks in a few hours,” Trace told Cisco when he and Susannah had dropped by the cottage to check on them and see how they were doing.

  Cisco shrugged. “Gillian has decided to keep the false name she’s been going by for the past ten years, and just add the McKendrick on at the end. That means there are papers to be filled out. Fortunately, the judge Max asked to preside over the wedding ceremony is a personal friend of mine, and after hearing the extenuating circumstances, he has agreed to rule on our petition to have Gillian legally change her name to Gillian Taylor McKendrick and revert back to the Social Security number she was assigned at birth, at the same time Max officially adopts me as his son.”

  Trace settled in a wing chair next to the living room fireplace. “Bet straightening that out with the Social Security Administration and the IRS won’t be easy,” he commiserated with Cisco ruefully.

  And yet it had to be easier than leaving her, Cisco thought. Because even knowing what he did about Gillian, and the way she had run out on him the first chance she got, he was sorely tempted—though not foolish enough—to give her a second chance. There were, after all, only so many times a man could put his heart and soul on the line and set himself up for rejection.

  “I’m sure it can be taken care of,” Cisco replied smoothly as he finished typing the documents on the laptop computer he had retrieved from his office before heading out to the cottage. Satisfied all was as it should be, he copied the documents onto a diskette for safekeeping.

  “What about the rest of it?” Trace asked.

  Cisco typed in a command, and reached over to turn his portable ink-jet printer on.

  “The important part,” Trace continued. “Your relationship with Gillian.”

  “We’re working things out on a businesslike level,” Cisco said.

  “Businesslike!” Trace echoed, incredulous.

  Cisco nodded and continued matter-of-factly. “We’ve agreed to stay married and under the same roof as long as Max deems suitable to collect our inheritances. But that’s as far as it goes.”

  Trace looked all the more upset. “Cisco, you can’t run a marriage like a business deal.” He leaned forward earnestly. “It doesn’t work. That’s why Susannah and I got divorced the first time around.”

  Cisco removed the printed pages from the laser-jet, examined them for accuracy, then switched off the printer. “Your situation was different. You and Susannah loved each other.”

  “From what I saw earlier, when you were half out of your mind with worry over Gillian, when she struck out on her own and put her own life in danger rather than continue to put you at risk, you two loved each other, too,” Trace said meaningfully.

  Cisco pushed aside his deep disappointment as he cut the power to his computer with a decisive snap. “Appearances can be deceiving.”

  “Meaning?”

  Cisco unplugged both his printer and computer. He met Trace’s glance, man-to-man. “I know Gillian never meant to hurt me. That goes without saying. But I need someone in my life I can count on. Someone I know won’t run away, no matter how rough the going gets.” And sad to say, Cisco thought wearily, that just wasn’t Gillian.

  Trace sighed, looking very much like the older brother he had become to Cisco. “Your mind’s made up, then?” Trace queried, clearly disappointed in the way things were working out for the last of Max’s heirs. “You won’t give her a second chance?”

  Cisco shrugged, aware he’d never felt more disillusioned or letdown in his entire life. He’d tried to be everything Gillian needed in a husband and a lover and he’d failed miserably, otherwise she wouldn’t have left. Determined to cut his losses while he still could, he shrugged dispiritedly. “What would be the point?”

  “YOU PUT ME through agony this morning, running off that way,” Susannah said, sitting opposite Gillian in the cottage kitchen. “When Trace and I got word from Cisco…well, let’s just say we both nearly went out of our mind with worry. And what we felt was nothing to what Cisco was going through.”

  “I’m sorry I upset all of you,” Gillian said. She took one set of blueberry muffins out of the oven, and put in a batch of bittersweet chocolate brownies. Gillian straightened and wiped her brow, continuing numbly, “I’m sorry I upset everyone.”

  Including Cisco. Especially Cisco. She should have known he wouldn’t forgive her for lying to him and trying to handle everything alone. But she had to confront her past…alone.

  “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the party Max is throwing for the two of you this evening?” Susannah asked.

  Gillian shrugged. Although she was happy Cisco’s adoption was going to be made official that evening, as was her legal name change, the way she looked for the important family gathering was the last thing on her mind. Besides, she’d already had a long shower and washed her hair. “I’ve got plenty of time yet.” She began preparing another batch of dough.

  Susannah studied her thoughtfully. “Oh, no, Gillian. Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts about continuing your marriage to Cisco.”

  “Okay, I won’t tell you.”

  Susannah’s eyes widened. “Gillian!” she reprimanded.

  Gillian, not about to be swayed by any sentimental arguments, held up a flour-dusted palm, staving off further lectures on the subject of her soon-to-be ex-husband. “Hey. If it were up to me…if I wouldn’t be costing Cisco his inheritance, I would just take off and head back to California right this instant,” she declared emphatically. After all, this wasn’t the first disappointment she’d weathered. Nor was it likely to be her last. So what if this just happened to be a soulcrushing one? So what if her heart was breaking?

  Susannah sighed like the incurable romantic she was, looking not the least bit ready to give up on them. “So what’s going on? Are the two of you fighting?”

  “I wouldn’t exactly call it that,” she hedged, reluctant to confess any more, for fear she’d give away how completely her heart was breaking.

  Susannah’s eyes narrowed. “Then what would you call it?” she persisted seriously.

  “A complete and utter breakdown in communications,” Gillian said finally. “A case of the knight in shining armor needing to move
on to the next damsel in distress.”

  “Oh, Gillian,” her old friend lamented softly. “Trace and I were so hoping you and Cisco would overlook the unusual way your romance began and decide to stay married past the forty-eight-hour stipulation.”

  “I know.” Gillian forced a wan smile as she felt all her dreams slipping away from her at once. She put the half-finished dough back into a ceramic bowl to rest. “But we have to face it, Susannah. Despite the fact Cisco and I make a handsome couple, despite the chemistry—and I’ll be the first to admit there is plenty of that…” Or at least there used to be, she amended silently, before I struck out on my own and let him down in a way he just can’t forgive. “Whether or not you and I like it or not…Cisco and I just weren’t meant to be.”

  AT SIX O’CLOCK that evening, the caravan began coming up the drive. Cisco and Gillian stood watching in the windows as one Silver Spur Ranch vehicle after another parked in front of the honeymoon cottage. As the family members began piling out of their vehicles, Cisco turned to Gillian, his expression every bit as dismal and reluctant as hers. “The judge who is going to handle the adoption and name changes will be here in another hour to handle the formalities,” he reminded her. “Max also has another attorney coming to hand over our inheritances.”

  Gillian’s shoulders stiffened. “I know.”

  “Meanwhile, I suppose we should go out together and greet the family.”

  Gillian drew a bracing breath and turned to face Cisco. She hadn’t expected leaving him to be so hard, but it was.

  “You’re sure you want to do this as a couple,” she asked softly, thinking maybe it was time the charade came to an end. Especially since the McKendricks were all pushing hard for her and Cisco to make their marriage a permanent one despite the problems, and wouldn’t hesitate to lobby hard for just that.

  Cisco shrugged and glanced out at the catered party being assembled on the lawn. “I’d rather delay going out there until the very last moment, but I know how their minds work when it comes to us and the sparks between us. If we don’t go out there together, promptly, they’ll probably think they’ve interrupted something, by showing up early.”

  Gillian rolled her eyes. Cisco had not come near her since they’d returned from town. Ignoring her disappointment, she told herself she preferred it that way.

  “Not much chance of that,” she said.

  His mouth curved into a bittersweet grimace as he met her eyes. “No, there isn’t, is there?” he replied.

  Silence fell between them, a silence Gillian had no clue how to bridge. “In that case…” Gillian sighed dispiritedly, aware her heart was breaking like never before. But it was her fault; she’d set herself up for this disappointment by allowing herself to believe their spur-of-the-moment marriage actually had a chance! “I guess you’re right. We should get this party rolling and go out and say hello.”

  “Wise decision.” Cisco gestured stiffly, letting her know she should go first.

  “Well, what’s the verdict for you two lovebirds?” Pearl demanded the moment Gillian and Cisco were through the door.

  “Yeah,” Susannah and Trace’s four rambunctious sons blurted out in unison. “Are you two staying together or aren’t you?”

  Gillian looked at Cisco. He looked back at her. There was no denying this was it, the moment of truth. With the entire McKendrick family waiting to hear the mutual declarations of love she and Cisco had never expressed, Gillian did not know what to say.

  She just knew she didn’t want her love affair with Cisco to end, any more than she wanted their marriage to continue just so they could inherit from Max.

  She swallowed, still studying him, gauging his reaction to the quandary they were in. “Well, boys, that’s a good question—” Gillian started nervously.

  “And one we haven’t finished discussing,” Cisco interrupted firmly before she could get another word in edgewise. “So if you all will excuse us, Gillian and I are going to take a few moments to do just that.”

  Gillian turned to him, hands on her hips. How like him, she thought irately, to make a unilateral decision for both of them. “Says who?” she demanded hotly.

  “Says me,” Cisco growled as the whole family hooted and hollered their encouragement for such a daring, romantic deed.

  Before she could say another word, Cisco swept her up into his arms. Looking and acting more than ever like a real McKendrick, he carried her over the threshold and into the cottage, kicking the door shut behind him.

  “Okay, Counselor, the show’s over. You can put me down now,” Gillian said as soon as they were out of earshot of the others.

  Tightening his grip on her. possessively, Cisco continued on up the stairs to their bedroom on the second floor. “Not a chance.”

  Gillian wreathed her arms about his neck and let her pride shield her broken heart. “I don’t know what you’re thinking!”

  He paused to give her a dark, dangerous look. “Don’t you,” he said softly.

  Gillian gulped as he swept, through the bedroom door. “No.”

  He set her down gently next to the bed. “I think it’s time we called off the war of wills going on between us and followed through on what we started two days ago.”

  He made it sound as simple as concluding a business deal, and this wasn’t! “Look, Cisco,” Gillian began, feeling utterly exasperated even as her hopes were born again. “I know I promised you I’d hang around to see this marriage through to the end of the forty-eight hours—”

  “Yes, you did,” Cisco agreed sternly, his expression both tender and determined. “And I’ve decided I’m going to hold you to that promise, Gillian.”

  “—but I’ve had a change of heart,” Gillian continued, pretending he hadn’t spoken. “I am not going to stay married to you just because it’s what everyone else in the family seems to want!” Gillian folded her arms in front of her.

  “Then do it because you want to,” Cisco pleaded with her in a voice that was husky with regret. Looking as though he had never wanted her more in his life, he sat down on the bed, hooked a hand around her waist and pulled her down to sit on his lap. “Do it because you know we belong together, not just for a wild fling or a few days and nights, but for the rest of our lives.”

  Gillian’s whole body tensed. So much was at stake. “Is that the way you feel?” Was he trying to tell her, in a roundabout way, that he might just love her? The way she already knew she loved him?

  In answer, he bent to kiss her on the lips, sweetly, lingeringly. “You’re the only woman for me, Gillian,” he murmured as his hands pressed her intimately close, until there was nothing between them but unspoken love and hot burning need. “The only woman there’ll ever be.”

  His heartfelt admission was both balm for her soul and hope for their future. “Oh, Cisco, I feel that way about us, too,” Gillian declared softly, exalting in the words of genuine commitment she had so longed for him to speak and feared she might never hear.

  “Glad to hear it” He pressed a kiss to her temple.

  “But I need to know what changed your mind,” she whispered emotionally as she settled more comfortably on his lap.

  Cisco tightened his hold on her. “It’s what Max said to us when this whole thing started, about listening to our hearts,” he confessed huskily, his eyes darkening with emotion. “My heart is telling me to forget the mischievous way we were goaded into this marriage and the agreement we had to end it before we even gave it a chance.” He paused, his expression serious as he caught her hand and lifted it to his lips. He kissed her fingers one by one. “I know what I led you to believe, but it was never the inheritance that I wanted, Gillian. It was you. It was everything we’ve shared and everything we could have if only we stick it out long enough to make things right between us. And they could be right, Gillian, right enough to make it over the long haul, if we just give us a chance.”

  “Oh, Cisco, I am willing to do that.”

  “So am I.”

&nbs
p; Gillian breathed a sigh of relief as she wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. “It’s funny,” she confessed, long moments later as they continued to hold each other, as the party preparations continued outside. “At first I was worried about you only wanting to be with me because of the inheritance, and your penchant for helping damsels in distress. Then I thought it was the passion keeping us together. But now that you’ve told me how you feel I really do think we can make this work.”

  Cisco smiled down at her confidently and stroked a hand through her hair. “We have a lot in common, Gillian.”

  She looked at him, already knowing, in her heart, their feelings for each other were strong enough to last a lifetime.

  But the woman in her wanted to hear him tell her why. “Such as—?” she prodded gently.

  Cisco shrugged his shoulders negligently and he leaned forward to give her a sensual, lingering kiss. “Neither of us likes to be told what to do or to be stuck in a situation.”

  Gillian sighed contentedly and looked into his ruggedly handsome face. He knew her so well! “How right you are about that!” she teased.

  His pewter eyes darkened seriously as he drew back. “And we both know what it’s like to be without family, and to yearn for that with all our hearts, even while we practically move heaven and earth to keep people from hurting us again.”

  “Or getting close to us at all,” Gillian said sadly.

  Cisco nodded as he stroked his hand down her arm. “But when Max threw us together the way he did…all that began to change. And it was more than just the circumstances drawing us together,” he told her confidently, pausing to kiss her once again.