by Tina Leonard
“We can do this without marriage,” Sawyer said a bit desperately as he sped toward Vegas. “We can divide custody with the use of legal instruments instead of a marriage ceremony.”
“We’ve come this far, we may as well go all out. My family’s going to flip out when they find out I’ve...” He hesitated, then glanced at her with a grin. “That I’m having children.”
“That you’ve impregnated the enemy?” She glared at him. “I can’t think of a worse reason to get married.”
“I can’t, either, but we’re apparently past needing a reason and are moving swiftly on to cause. Those children deserve a proper start in life. That’s all there is to this, Sawyer Cash. Don’t feel guilty because you’ve worked your wiles on me, and are finally getting what you wanted all along, when you made your way into my bed.”
“Not your bed.” Not with the furtive lovemaking they’d enjoyed. There’d been nothing traditional about their stolen moments together.
“Doesn’t matter if it was truck bed, front seat, barn, canyon or Rancho Diablo roof. We misused ye olde condom somehow, and now the piper must be paid.”
She rolled her eyes. “About that time on the roof...”
“You said you wanted to see the stars. I believe we achieved your goal.”
He really was an insufferable jackass, quite confident that his lovemaking was the end-all to a woman’s dreams, the gold buckle of mind-blowing sex.
She couldn’t argue the point. She’d left Rancho Diablo when she’d realized she’d fallen head over heels in love with him, and that he had zero desire for a serious romance between them. He’d never said it in so many words, but she knew the difficulty of their relationship as well as anyone.
She’d thought she was in the clear, had made her escape with her pride intact. And then the morning sickness had begun.
“I don’t want to get married, Jace.”
“It’s not about you. It’s about our children. Now try to get some rest. There’s a blanket in the backseat if you want it. When you awaken, it’ll be time for us to find the fastest house of I do in Vegas.”
Great. That sounded like a wedding she could always look back on with a fond smile. No magic wedding dress for her, no marriage at the beautiful seven-chimneyed mansion at Rancho Diablo like all the other Callahan brides.
Drat. I had to fall for the one Callahan for whom a quickie, no-strings-attached marriage is just ducky.
Sawyer pulled the blanket over herself and closed her eyes so she wouldn’t think about what she’d done, blowing her entire bank account on the wildest, wooliest Callahan of all. When she’d known quite well that the Callahans and the Cashs were never, ever going to trust each other.
Babies notwithstanding.
Chapter Two
“It does trouble me that you felt like you had to win me to have this conversation,” Jace told Sawyer an hour later, as he sped toward Las Vegas. “I’m flattered you spent several months of your Rancho Diablo salary keeping me from another woman, but I would have withdrawn myself from Aunt Fiona’s bachelor raffle if I’d known I was a father.”
He looked over at Sawyer, noting that the spicy redhead looked as if she wanted to give him a piece of her mind, and probably would in a moment. He remembered the first time he’d ever laid eyes on her. Galen and he had played backup to Dante when he went over to see Storm Cash, and Sawyer had opened the door instead of her uncle, catching all of them off guard. Jace had seen a big smile, a slender, athletic body, cute freckles across a tiny nose, big blue eyes twinkling at him, and felt himself fall into deep, fiery lust—lust so strong that every time he saw her, he wanted her.
Of course, he’d known better. There were some lines one could cross, but sleeping with the enemy was a mistake only a man with his mind anywhere but on his job would make. But then she’d been hired on at Rancho Diablo by his brother Sloan and Sloan’s wife, Kendall—and suddenly the red-hot neighbor sex-bomb was in Jace’s sights like a tornado he couldn’t avoid.
It hadn’t taken him long to respond to the magnet pulling him toward Sawyer—only to discover that she seemed to feel the same desire. They’d made love as often as possible, as discreetly as possible, keeping their affair completely locked away. Sawyer didn’t want to jeopardize her job, knowing that she still had to earn Callahan trust—and Jace hadn’t wanted his family harping on his lack of loyalty.
His family was in for a big shock, but right now, he had to make certain his little firecracker mama got to the altar.
One thing about the Callahans: they were deadly serious about their ladies once they found them. But rare was the Callahan bride who’d made her way to the altar quietly.
He intended to avoid that unnecessary heartburn.
“I did not,” Sawyer said with annoyance, “want you to withdraw from Fiona’s event. You’d been advertised on barn roofs and billboards for months as Diablo’s prize of the century. It wouldn’t have been right to tell you at Christmas that you were going to be a father, and make you withdraw. That would have devastated Fiona, taken all the fun out of the Christmas ball and denied the charities that she funds much needed revenue, which comes from the purses of women who are hoping to win the dream man lottery.”
Jace perked up at the idea that Sawyer might think he was a dream man, suddenly hopeful that shoehorning her into marrying him would be simpler than it had first seemed. She didn’t appear all that anxious to say I do.
Unaware of his hopeful state, Sawyer took a deep breath and stated, “I took care of the obvious problem of my children’s father hanging out with another woman simply by winning you. It wasn’t that big of a deal, Jace.”
“You cute little thing.” He smiled at her, impressed by the starch in her attitude. “I’m not going to lie and say that I’m not thrilled to find out you’re my mystery girl. I’ll be happy to put a ring on your finger tonight, Sawyer.” And then, if good fortune smiled on him, maybe after the I dos were said, he’d finally get his little darling into a real bed, in a room with a closed door that locked, so he could enjoy her for hours on end.
“It’s going to feel great not to rush things anymore,” he said, not really aware he was speaking out loud, and Sawyer said, “I feel pretty certain we’re rushing marriage. Marriage is the one thing in life that shouldn’t be rushed at all.”
“Well, that cow is long out of the barn, so we won’t worry about that. Let’s move on to big decision number two.”
“I’m not even sure I want to be a Callahan,” Sawyer said. “I think I’ll keep my maiden name.”
He nearly stomped on the brakes. “That’s not going to happen, sweet cheeks. You and I are going to be Mr. and Mrs. Callahan, just like all my brothers and their wives. We share the children, we share the last name.”
She sent him a frown. “I’m not persuaded.”
“You will be. That’s my gift, persuasion.” He hoped she bought that corny line, and plowed on, “The second most important decision we make in life is where to live. I think the babies should be at the ranch, but everything’s hot around there right now, as you know.” They’d hired Sawyer in the first place because they’d needed bodyguards for the Callahan children. But later, they’d brought in more personnel to help keep Fiona and any other weaker links safe.
Of course, his redoubtable aunt would bean him a good one if she ever heard him refer to her as a weak link. But whether she liked it or not, she and Burke were getting up there in years.
“I can take care of myself. And the babies,” Sawyer said. “It won’t be much different from when I took care of Kendall’s twins.”
“I don’t like it,” Jace murmured, thinking out loud.
“No one asked you to like it.”
“The problem is, bodyguards are supposed to be unemotional about their assignment. You can’t be unemotional about your own chil
dren. No, I’ll have to look into hiring someone for you and the babies.”
“No, you won’t,” Sawyer said, and it sounded as if she spoke through tightly clenched teeth. “I don’t want a bodyguard. I’m not planning on living with you.”
He checked her expression. Yep, she had that serious look on her face, and he recognized yet another hurdle in his relationship with the saucy redhead.
She didn’t want him in her bed. That’s what this was all about.
His wooing would have to be played very smoothly, because he absolutely would be in a real bed with Sawyer, undressing her, with a ceiling overhead and not the sky. He wanted to hold her in his arms and make her cry his name, without having to quietly rush through each and every encounter.
Sooner rather than later he intended to have his way with the beautiful bodyguard, sharing lovemaking that would be record-breaking in length and very, very satisfying. That was the plan for tonight—if he could figure out the key to the tight lock she was trying to keep on her heart.
Lucky for him, he was really good at picking locks.
* * *
THEY WERE HALFWAY across Arizona, halfway to Las Vegas and the Little Wedding Chapel, when Sawyer hit him with a bombshell.
“Several members of your family are on the way to witness our wedding.”
To say his jaw dropped nearly to his lap would be putting it mildly. “My family?”
“Yes, and my uncle Storm, and his wife, Lulu Feinstrom.” Sawyer beamed at Jace. “I know how your family loves a wedding, so I texted them. They’ll be on the family plane soon and on their way, ready for wedding cake. At least that’s what your sister said. Ash also mentioned she ordered us a whopper of a cake, because everyone in your family has had a sweet tooth since they were born. Her comment, not mine.” Sawyer smiled, delighted that she’d outplayed him.
He’d seen her busily working on her phone, but he’d assumed she was looking up places to wed. Her decisive strategy meant Aunt Fiona and maybe even Uncle Burke were on their way. Jace knew he’d never get Sawyer into a bed for hours tonight, not with his partying family there. They’d want to kick up their heels and spend the evening giving him grief about how he’d surprised them with this sudden dash to the altar, blah, blah, blah, and they’d talk him to death, when he should be concentrating on undressing the redhead next to him.
It was really all he had on his mind.
Instead, he was going to get a whopper of a wedding cake.
“I don’t have much of a sweet tooth,” he said, casting a longing glance at her body in her hot pink dress. “I prefer spicier fare.”
“I’ll try not to feed you too big of a bite, then.” She went back to texting, and he wondered if it was too late to text his family and explain that, while he loved them, he really wanted to handle this momentous occasion alone, because he was going to have a devil of a challenge getting his wife into a bed with him. He didn’t have time for celebrating and family hijinks. Every second of his life until these babies were born had to be spent romancing his wife. After they arrived, he’d have precious little time alone with her, and he hadn’t yet enjoyed his woman the way he wanted to.
He felt like a man who’d starved a long while in plain view of the most delicious meal he’d ever seen.
“It was nice of you to invite my relatives,” he said, even though family was the last thing he wanted around.
“And mine,” she said, her voice bright. “No bride wants to be married without someone to give her away.”
There was the problem. His family and hers didn’t get along, making the situation ripe for discomfort and fireworks.
“Anyway, I knew your family wouldn’t want to miss the last Callahan bachelor getting married.” Sawyer smiled at him, her big blue eyes completely innocent, when he knew that she was trying to put as much distance between them as possible.
“If we’re going to marry, I want us to start out on the right foot with the in-laws and the outlaws,” Sawyer said. “I wouldn’t dream of leaving them out.”
“Where are they booking rooms?” Jace asked.
“I don’t know. But I’m booking us rooms at a bed-and-breakfast nearby.”
He swallowed. “Rooms?”
She glanced up from the sudden storm of texts she was sending. “I meant room.”
No, she hadn’t. Jace could tell he was going to have to keep a very close eye on his little woman. No drinking too much and finding out she’d shuttled him into a room with his family. No visiting too much, or he’d probably find her headed back to Diablo without him. “Sex is what got us into this, darling.”
“That’s how it works,” Sawyer said.
“Yet I have the strangest feeling you don’t want to be alone with me.”
“Callahans are known to have a lot of strange qualities. I wouldn’t let it bother me now, if I were you.”
“We’ll stop and get you a ring,” he said, giving up on sex for the moment.
“I don’t need a ring. The vows are more than I want.”
He grunted. “The ring is part of the ceremony. You’ll have a ring.”
“Are you going to wear one?”
He hadn’t planned on it, but he sensed this was treacherous water. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know.” She ran a considering eye over him. “But if you are, I will.”
“Back to our discussion of our domicile,” he said.
“I’m planning on going to Rancho Diablo,” Sawyer stated.
He blinked, hearing the thing he’d been sensing, the trouble at the end of the supposedly peaceful road. “Like, as soon as the ‘I do’ leaves your mouth?”
“Well, not until we’ve cut the cake.” She looked at him, puzzled. “Of course I plan to stay for the cake your sister ordered. It would be rude to leave!”
Great. Nothing said love like worrying about the sister’s cake purchase. “I was thinking we’d live together.”
“This morning, you didn’t even know you were a father. So we don’t have plans,” Sawyer pointed out. “Spur-of-the-moment decisions are rarely a good idea.”
“As in getting married in Vegas?”
“As in getting married in Vegas.” She nodded. “I liked our relationship just the way it was.”
He shook his head. “We didn’t have a relationship. We had sex, but not a relationship.”
She met his gaze. “Was there a problem?”
The problem had come when she’d left, and he realized he’d been parked at the gates of heaven for too long. Now he was hoping to crash through those gates and land in the paradise waiting for him—if he could just figure out how to explain that to Sawyer. How could a man tell his woman that, while frequent, horny sex had been fun, and fired by the forbidden, he sensed the next phase of their relationship could be that much sweeter?
Especially since she didn’t seem inclined to recognize the possibility for an ongoing, more meaningful relationship between them.
“Not a problem, exactly,” he said carefully. “But it seems that we should be open to the idea of a new phase in our friendship.”
She didn’t reply. “I know this pregnancy changes your life significantly,” he added.
“Yes. It does.” Sawyer turned her head to gaze out the window.
He had one reluctant little mama on his hands.
“Yours, too,” she said. “I know the Callahans have a pattern. You find out you’re expecting, and immediately want to get married. Then the wife gets shuttled off to a safe location.” Sawyer finally looked his way. “I’ll expect you to treat our pregnancy differently.”
“How differently?”
“By not trying to send me off to your family in Hell’s Colony, or Tempest.”
He swallowed. That had been the next plan. “The reason my br
others have been so determined for their wives and children to be in another location is because Rancho Diablo isn’t safe. You know as well as anyone that my uncle Wolf has made things very difficult at the ranch. It’s even worse now. Which is why your uncle Storm sold us his ranch and moved into town with Lulu Feinstrom.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve already rented out a room from Fiona. Didn’t she tell you? I called and asked her about renting a room before I came back to Rancho Diablo for our date. I do need a place to live now that my job in Tempest is completed.”
“You rented a room?”
Sawyer nodded. “A marriage license won’t mean I want to be a wife in anything other than name.”
Well, there was nothing he could say to that. She’d ridden all over his poor flailing heart. It beat wildly in his chest, stressed and unhappy with his current circumstances.
There was only one thing to do.
He pulled over at the next rest stop and parked the truck. Then he pulled Sawyer close and laid a kiss to end all kisses on her. He didn’t let her go, either, making certain she knew how much he desired her, kissing her long and thoroughly, communicating in a different way what he couldn’t say out loud. And searching for that answer he wanted so badly: that she did, in fact, still want him.
It was a risky move, but when he felt her lips mold against his, Jace knew his belief in high risk, high reward had paid off.
His little darling still had the hots for him big-time—no matter how tightly she was trying to close those sweet, pearly gates.
* * *
SAWYER WAS SO annoyed with herself for giving in to Jace’s charm that she sat stiffly staring out at the landscape rushing past. He’d caught her off guard, that was all. If she’d had a second’s notice of his intention, she could have controlled her reaction better.
Jace drove down the road with a sexy, confident, “I win” curve to his lips, a true cat that ate the canary. Sharing that kiss was a huge setback to her plan, and devastating to her heart.
I promised myself that wouldn’t happen. No more falling under his spell. Not one woman who married a Callahan kept her independence. It was as if they got their wedding ring and poof! instant Callahan copy. Babies and bliss.