The Texas ranger's twins

by Leonard, Tina

  "Baseball player?" her father asked, his bushy white eyebrows rising on his broad forehead.

  "Law enforcement," Dane clarified.

  "I see. You've retired young on a public servant's salary," the doctor said. "Did you save enough money to take care of a family of four? Make wise investments, perhaps? Have a plan for the future?"

  "Well," Dane said with a grin, "I'd have to say no, no and no."

  "So then we might assume that you're marrying Suzy because of her family connections and our wealth," Dr. Winterstone said. Mrs. Winterstone sank into a white sofa, staring up at Dane with some horror.

  "Wealth?" Dane repeated. "She actually never mentioned anything about money."

  "You don't expect us to believe that," Dr. Winterstone scoffed.

  "With God as my witness, I had no idea. To be honest, it's a bit conspicuous, don't you think?" Dane asked conversationally. "How does someone make this much money?"

  "It's inherited wealth, something of which you would have no knowledge," Dr. Winterstone said. "We keep our wealth by not making rash decisions."

  "Oh, I'd disagree with that," Dane said. "You've got two darling granddaughters that are worth more than every marble bust in this room."

  "Having never had two dimes to rub together," Dr. Winterstone said, "perhaps you are not in a position to judge what is valuable in life, although I do appreciate the sentiment about Suzy's children."

  He and Dane stared at each other.

  "Just as a final curiosity," the gentleman said, "can I ask you where you're from?"

  "The Morgan ranch," Dane said proudly, for the first time in his life.

  "Ah, farmers," Dr. Winterstone mused. "Is that your plan now? To try your hand at the boom and bust of Mother Nature and the commodity cycle?"

  "Actually, I'd planned to move to Mexico and open a parasailing business," Dane said cheerfully, "but that was until I met your daughter. Now I'm thinking I may sell some pecans, raise some horses...I haven't really figured it all out. Yet." He grinned at Suzy's parents. "But you can be sure I will."

  "Thank you for the promise of that," Doctor Winter-stone said. "But I'm certain you'll understand that, if you were asking me for my daughter's hand and this wasn't a rhetorical exercise, I'd have to tell you you'd need to return when you'd figured out a little bit more about the basics of life, such as food and shelter."

  "It's a shame," Dane said, "you're going to miss out on a real wingding of a wedding. We're having barbecue and all the cake you can eat, made by Suzy's friends."

  Mrs. Winterstone fanned herself with a Town and Country magazine. "Barbecue," she said faintly.

  "Sure. It's a wedding gift from my dad." Dane couldn't help chuckling. "I won't keep you two any longer. We're getting married this weekend, so if you feel like taking a drive into the far country, you'll find

  us exchanging rings at the Morgan ranch outside of Union Junction proper. Ask anybody and they can tell you how to get there. Be sure you ask early because everybody in town is invited, so the town will probably close up early."

  "Why would the whole town want to come to your wedding?" Mrs. Winterstone asked. "It hardly sounds like the social event of the season."

  "Well, people like Su/y. tor one thing," Dane said. "And my pop is known around town as a real—" he started to say jackass and then realized the man he was standing across from made Pop look like an angel M —a real generous man." he finished, telling the truth and proud of it "You'd probably like him. Dr. Winterstone. Think you two would have a lot in common. I'm not sure he's going to be there." Dane said, "but he happens to think your daughter and granddaughters hung the moon." He turned to walk himself to the door.

  "Where is your father, may I ask. if not in his own home?" Dr. Winterstone asked. "I presume the Morgan ranch is his. and you're living with your father' 7 "

  "Pop lives in France." Dane said simply. "He likes the peace and quiet." He put his hat back on and walked himself to the door, not waiting for the housekeeper to open it for him. "Thanks." he said, "but where I'm from. we know how to do things for ourselves."

  Once outside, he saw the uniformed attendant hurrying to open his truck door. Dane walked across the circle driveway. "Don't bother." he said. "I can take it from here."

  The man wasn't sure what to think about Dane. Dane grinned at him, slapped him on the back and said, 'Take good care of them," as he got into his truck and drove away.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Two hours later, Dane pulled into the Morgan ranch, feeling the familiarity of the surroundings wrap around him like a comfortable blanket. The Winterstones might like their castle, but give him fresh air and wide-open spaces any day. The more time he spent at the ranch, the more he felt himself falling in love with the country, which held a different kind of freedom than he would probably find in Mexico.

  Now he knew he'd simply been running away from the things he needed to face. Like Dr. Winterstone had said, he was a man with no prospects. The good doctor might have decided his daughter wasn't worth his time, but he had pointed out that Suzy deserved respect and a man who could take good care of her as a provider.

  Dane resolved to do just that. He headed to find his fiancee, discovering her making play-dough art with her toddlers, who were sitting at the little table he'd made for them. They looked so cute—like their mother in adorable miniature. Cricket and Priscilla weren't

  there—probably off cooking up wedding plans—so he bent down and kissed Suzy on the lips the way he meant to kiss her every night for the year that they planned to be married. He wasn't wasting any time. Life was short and needed to be enjoyed to the fullest—or he might end up in a white room with marble statues of dead people wearing persnickety frowns.

  Suzy stared at him in shock when he finally pulled away from her. "Was there a reason for that?"

  "None at all," he said. "Just be prepared for me to claim my kiss every single night of the year you've promised to be married to me. I am not a man who plans to live with regret any longer."

  "Does that mean you've invited your father to the wedding?" Suzy asked.

  "No, it means I asked your father for your hand in marriage, like a proper bridegroom should."

  Suzy's mouth fell open. Then a frown gathered on her forehead. "I wish you had not."

  "I should have told you," he said, looking down into her eyes, "but I knew you'd try to talk me out of it. There are certain things a man just has to do."

  She looked away. "I should say thank you, but I'm angry that you went without telling me."

  "It will be the only time I ever keep something from you," Dane said, kneeling beside her. "You have my word on that."

  "Thank you." She looked at him. k i won't interfere with your father anymore, either."

  "Not possible/' He shook his head. "Pop loves to be interfered with. All the drama and intrigue keep his heart beating.*'

  "I hope my parents treated you somewhat kindly," she said, her posture stiff.

  He could tell her feelings were badly bruised by her parents' attitude. Glancing over at Sandra and Nicole and their play-dough art, it wasn't too hard to see why Su/y would feel pained by her folks' abandonment. "Growing up with Pop was good training for dealing with people like your parents," he said simply. And then it occurred to him that Pop, rough in his ways as he was, had been trying to raise his sons with a shield of armor to protect them from the occasional unkindnesses of life. Actually, your folks made Pop seem generous in the emotions department."

  She hesitated. "I'm past needing their approval."

  She wasn't and he knew it. "I'm sure they'll thaw in time. In the meantime, we know why we're getting married. Nothing's changed."

  Her expression went blank. She put away the children's crafts and washed their hands, quietly taking the girls upstairs without another word to Dane.

  Suzy couldn't explain her sadness to Dane. It was humiliating that her parents could act so rudely. Dane hadn't told her all the details, but she knew the icy
Win-terstone treatment of outsiders to their social circle. She knew exactly to what he'd been subjected.

  He'd treated her so nicely when he'd returned, trying to protect her pride. She hated that. She didn't want to be pitied for her parents' handling of her—and didn't want Dane to think she would ever turn into someone as cold and emotionless as either of them.

  The whole issue of coldness bothered her. Remote, was what her boyfriend had said, in bed and out of it. That had hurt. He'd compared her emotional aloofness to her parents'. Maybe she had been aloof. Mostly she was shy. As an only child of a family who had staff to do everything for them, she hadn't known a lot of easy affection. For all their faults the Morgans boasted of—usually proudly—they were an emotional group of men.

  None of them would admit that about themselves. They thought they were so strong and practical in their approach to life. She'd grown up practically, and the Morgans were definitely cut from different cloth. They were hot-blooded, stubborn, determined. Impatient. And proud of holding grudges.

  In her world, people who didn't fit were simply cut out, like undesirable fabric on a gown. She gently dressed her girls in their nightgowns, smiling at their pleasure in their frilly, long, pink nighties. Slowly she brushed their soft, silky hair, and then helped them brush their very small teeth. This was her favorite part of the evening, the quiet time that she shared only with her girls. Putting away the day's toys, slipping into clean sheets, reading a story with the girls raptly watching her

  read every word on every page—and they knew if she skipped anything.

  'Hey/' She heard a knock on the door and Dane's voice, so she poked her head out of the bathroom.

  "Yes?"

  "Do you have a minute?"

  l Tm getting the girls ready for bed—"

  Sandra and Nicole ran from the bathroom to throw their arms around Dane's legs, destroying the serenity of the routine. "Sorry about that," he said. "I didn't realize it was so late."

  "Its all right. Sandra, Nicole, hop up into your beds, please"

  The girls did as she asked but pulled Dane along with them, handing him their storybook. He looked up at Suzy. his eyes questioning. "I'm being auditioned for a speaking role," he said, "do you mind?"

  She did. a little selfishly, since these were her treasured moments with her children, and she didn't want Dane moving further into her heart. Though she hadn't said it, she was secretly pleased he'd gone to show her father respect. It said that he intended to honor their marriage with the same importance he might attach to marrying a woman with whom he was in love. He treated Sandra and Nicole as if they were very precious to him—maybe even part of his own family.

  She loved that about him.

  She did not want to fall in love with him. though. She couldn't endure another heartbreak. Nor did she

  want her girls to suffer heartbreak. They were young, they'd hardly know when Dane left. But Suzy would remember for them.

  She steeled her nerves. "Please go right ahead. I'll use the time to write down the flowers I want to carry in my bouquet. Cricket insists she can make the bouquet herself, so she wants a list."

  He grinned. "Resourceful."

  She nodded. "Wait until you see the dress they chose."

  His grin widened. "Really?"

  "It's very simple, very lovely. What I would have always wanted," she said.

  "How did they do that?"

  He seemed genuinely interested—unlike most men would be about women's clothing—so she said, "Pris-cilla said she had a friend in Tulips, Texas, who designed gowns. She described what I wanted, and it turned out her friend, Liberty, had the exact dress in stock."

  Dane was still grinning. "I can't wait for the wedding night."

  She froze, and he did, too.

  Neither of them said a word. Their gazes met for a long, painful moment, before Sandra jostled his arm and pointed to the page where he should begin reading.

  The moment broken, Suzy went to find a notepad to make a list, noticing the rapidness of her pulse and the sudden nervousness she felt about her wedding two nights from now.

  In three nights, she would be sharing a bed with Dane

  Morgan. It was all she could do to make herself breathe deeply, calmly. But the strange thing was. she wasn't sure if she was excited or panicked—or both.

  It wasn't EASY hhng a man. Dane knew that women thought guys just operated on sex and other basic behaviors that resulted in their own pleasure— like sleeping and eating —but what Su/y didn't know is that she was driving him nuts. He couldn't stop thinking about her. and that alone was enough to make him sleepless and edgy.

  At some point, she'd gotten to him. just like Pete had said.

  He supposed he'd Fallen first for her children —a strange thought for a hardened bachelor. But meeting Suzy's parents had awakened in him a realization that he and Su/ were kindred spirits. The) belonged together.

  Maybe it was just her father's anger and disapproval that made him want to be her armor against the storms, protecting her from her parents' coldness. But that didn't explain the hunger for her that assailed him at every opportunity. He found himself wanting to touch her. to be with her. to sneak a kiss from her whenever he could.

  After the wedding, he planned to kiss her often, until she matched his need for her.

  He called Gabriel to ask him to be his best man. Gabriel suggested Mason Jefferson to be an usher and offered to call him. After he hung up. Dane Wondered what else he should do. What eke fell under the groom's responsibilities?

  "Hey!" Dane heard whispered urgently at his bedroom door. "Dane!"

  Sounded like Pete. If he kept on like that, he might wake the little girls. Dane opened the door, shocked to find Jack outside.

  "Jack! What the hell?" Dane said, relieved and yet somewhat freaked out to see his long-lost brother.

  Jack slipped inside the room. "You look good."

  Dane closed the door. "Thanks. You look tired."

  Jack nodded.

  "How'd you know this is my room?"

  "Only light on upstairs that I could see from the ground floor. The ladies are in the kitchen poring over flower book arrangements."

  His brother was leaner, longer, whip-thin. Dane could hardly believe it was Jack in the flesh and not some road-worn ghost. "Have a seat," he said, pointing to his desk chair.

  "Can't. Have to hit the road. Heard through the grapevine that you're getting hitched," Jack said.

  "Grapevine?"

  "Pete left a note for me at the rodeo, along with an artifact he found from Pop." Jack pulled it out. "The old man is determined to make my life miserable."

  "Well, not just yours. What did the letter say? Wait, how the hell does Pete know I'm getting married?"

  Jack shrugged. "He said it was only a matter of time before you fell under the bus."

  "The bus?"

  "Pop and his planning. The runaway bus."

  "Oh, jeez." Dane rubbed his chin. "So, anyway. Why are you here? There has to be a darn good reason."

  Jack nodded. 'This letter from Pop is bad luck for me. I can't ride with this hanging over my head."

  Dane blinked. "Superstitious?"

  "Oh, yeah. They say the sins of the father are visited on the sons, you know."

  "Something like that."

  Jack leaned forward. "The letter says,

  Jack,

  I tried to be a good father. I tried to save you from yourself. In the end, I realized that you are too different from me. But I was always proud of my firstborn son."

  He looked up at Dane. "Bad karma."

  Dane hesitated. "I didn't know Pop could express emotion. Doesn't that seem positive?"

  Jack shook his head. "Dane, I can't pick up where we left off over ten years ago. I can't just forgive the old man. That may sound harsh, but he was a terrible father. Riding bulls is the only time I'm free from him."

  Dane didn't figure he was ever free from the old man, not since he'd returned to the
ranch. "I don't think he wants us free. Isn't that the purpose of getting us all out here?"

  "Precisely. Pete's note said that this letter was

  found in a kitchen drawer. I think Pop meant for me to have it after—"

  Dane frowned. "After?"

  Jack sighed. "This is a goodbye letter."

  Chapter Sixteen

  Uncase swept Dane. He stared at Jack, who seemed completely convinced of his hypothesis. "1 saw Pop last June. He was as ornery as ever, which 1 would take as a sign he's not on his way to St. Peter's gates."

  "Okay," Jack said, "but I hear he's been putting the pressure on for grandkids."

  Dane shrugged. "1 don't know that it's pressure exactly—"

  "Are you getting married because of Pop*?'' Jack asked, crossing his arms.

  Dane considered Jack's question. "Maybe in the beginning I was—"

  A frown crossed Jack's face. "Maybe in the beginning you were? What does that mean?' 1

  "A million dollars is a lot of money. My plan was that I'd marry Suzy ? like I figured Pop had planned, make nice for the year I was supposed to live here, and give her a cut of the money." Dane didn't feel good confess-

  ing any of that—it was no wonder Suzy wasn't jumping into his arms for romance now.

  "What million dollars?" Jack demanded.

  "I don't think you ever got a letter," Dane said slowly, "I know Gabriel did. Pete did, too."

  "What letter?" Jack asked impatiently. "I just read you the only letter I've received from Pop since that night."

  Dane didn't have to ask what night. "The letter asking each of us to live here for a year, be a family. At the end of the year, each of us gets a million dollars."

  Jack's eyes went wide. "And you still don't think this is a goodbye letter from a dying man? That order right there should have rung some warning bells for you. The prodigal father suddenly wants to be The Waltons? Wants the family to reunite? How was that supposed to happen? Over home movie reels and popcorn?" Jack snorted. "A million dollars doesn't buy love."