I’m the one who has it good, Zane thought to himself, aware for the first time he didn’t have to envy his siblings’ happiness.
Sage pushed her way in to offer their three-month-old guest a cloth covered candy-cane-shaped baby rattle, while Nick followed with their six-month-old son, Shane. “I agree. Nora’s little boy is absolutely darling!” She mugged at the infant until Liam mugged back, then tucked her index finger into his tiny fist, declaring, “If anyone can bring Zane back to Texas for good, it’s this little fella.”
“And his mommy,” Lucille added, beaming with enthusiasm.
Zane felt Nora stiffen almost imperceptibly beside him.
Lest she feel pushed into something she wasn’t ready for, Zane lifted a staying hand. “Okay, everybody, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.”
Nora relaxed, ever so slightly, her shoulder brushing his arm.
Ever the romantic, Sage palmed her chest innocently, and said, “Hey, calm down, bro. We’re just saying you-all make a cute family.”
Nick elbowed his wife, letting her know with a glance she needed to back off a bit, lest she jinx it. “In the loosest, most casual definition of the word,” he clarified.
Although she was still smiling dutifully, Zane knew Nora couldn’t be happy about the direction the conversation was taking. At this rate, his family would have them hitched, Liam adopted by him, too, and Nora pregnant in no time.
And although he might be ready for all that, Nora had given no sign that she was. “I thought we were going to make Christmas cookies for the residents of Laramie Gardens this evening.”
Braden piped up. “I promised Miss Isabelle I’d bring her some when I went over to color pictures with her again.”
To Zane’s relief, his mother got the hint. “Then we better get started,” Lucille said.
* * *
“YOU’VE GOT TO take it down a notch,” Zane told Sage, a few hours later, when they went out to the grill, behind the Circle H bunkhouse.
She adjusted the controls on the state-of-the-art gas grill with the precision of the professional chef that she was. “I’m sorry. I’m excited.”
Wishing he hadn’t had to go to his older sister for business advice, Zane stood by, large glass dish in hand. “I don’t want Mom or Nora to know what I’m doing until it’s all ready to go.”
“Understood.” Sage lifted the plastic wrap, and checked on the marinating skirt steak. “How are things going, by the way?”
A helluva lot slower than expected, Zane thought in frustration. “I still need an appraisal and survey done.” Along with a substantial small business loan.
“Did you contact Raquel Morrissey at First National, as I suggested?”
“On my list.” My very long to-do list.
“Listen, Zane, I love the businesspeople here in Laramie. But for a project the size and scope of what you’re trying to do, you need to go back to Dallas. And take advantage of all the connections we had growing up.”
Garrett joined them. He carried a second dish. This one contained boneless chicken. “Mom says the crew is getting hungry.”
“We’re hurrying.” Sage placed meat on the grill. She looked at the cooking platform and smacked her forehead. “I forgot the veggies. Can you guys handle this for a second?”
Garrett and Zane shrugged in unison. “Sure.”
Hands on her hips, Sage regarded them skeptically. “Don’t flip anything until I get back. Just make sure it doesn’t burn—by turning down the flame, if necessary.”
Zane’s phone went off. He checked it, then put it back in his pocket without answering.
“Someone from your unit?” Garrett guessed.
Zane exhaled. The only other person who could understand how hard all this was for him was his eldest brother, who had also spent years in the military, as a physician, before resigning to marry and raise a family with Hope. Casting a glance behind him to make sure they were still out of earshot, Zane nodded. “How did you know?”
Garrett shrugged and turned his attention back to the grill, same as Zane. “I figured you would be under a lot of pressure to reenlist.”
No joke. He sipped his beer. “They’re offering me everything they can think of.”
“Like?”
“Promotion, higher salary. Choice of assignment.”
“Yeah, well—” Garrett turned and clinked his own bottle against Zane’s “—do us all a very big favor and don’t mention a word of this to Mom until right after Christmas. She deserves a good holiday.” Garrett took a drink and shook his head in silent remonstration. “And if she thinks you’re leaving again...”
A throat cleared behind them.
Zane turned, expecting to see his sister. Instead, Nora stood there, a half dozen grilling utensils in one hand, two pot holders in another. Her eyes weren’t quite meeting his; her face was a blotchy pink and white.
Stepping forward, she flashed both men the kind of impersonal grin she gave Laramie Gardens residents when they were being a pain. She thrust the items at him and said, “Sage will be right out.”
Giving him no chance to reply, she turned and fled.
* * *
“ARE YOU GOING to talk to me?” Zane asked, hours later, as they turned onto the lonely country roads back to Laramie.
Nora kept her eyes on the countryside. “It was a long day, Zane. I’m really wiped out.”
He imagined that was so. She’d been acting as if nothing at all were wrong for several hours now. Ignoring all his subtle attempts to get her alone for a private chat while they were still at the Circle H ranch. “Then how about we stop by the No Name?” he asked casually, not about to let her call it a night with this misunderstanding still lingering between them.
Her slender shoulders slumped in defeat. “I—”
He reached across and briefly squeezed her hand before letting it go. He returned both hands to the steering wheel. “It won’t take long. I have something to show you.” Something he really hoped she liked.
He wrinkled his nose as a very particular odor filled the compartment of his pickup truck. “And from the scent of it, Liam needs a little break, too.”
* * *
NORA THOUGHT SHE’D been embarrassed before. Having walked in on what was obviously a private conversation between the only two brothers in the Lockhart family who had served in the military. A conversation that had seemed to point the way to Zane reenlisting, as she had always expected he would.
But now...
As the odor emanating from the infant seat in the back seat worsened, she realized it wasn’t just a little excess tummy air. Cringing, she turned to Zane. “You smell that, too?” Nothing like a three-month-old baby to take the romance out of an equation! But maybe that was what they needed—a smelly, soiled diaper to bring them back to earth, fast.
And out of this fantasy world she had been living in...
The fantasy world where Liam had not just an in-case-of-emergency-guardian, but a mommy and a daddy and a big, wonderful, loving extended family to go with it...
Zane cast her a look as Liam, in his car seat, waved his arms and kicked his legs and noisily worked on evacuating the last of his dinner.
“In fact,” Zane teased with a laugh, “the way our little buddy is going, I think everyone for ten miles is soon going to smell it. And since there is no place to stop for a diaper change between here and town...especially after dark...”
Nora couldn’t help it as her son kept up his antics. She laughed, too. “Okay, okay!” She put up surrendering hands. “You win. Your ranch, it is.”
Which, truth be told, was where she wanted to be anyway.
She and Zane hadn’t had a moment alone all day. And call her crazy, but she missed having her one-on-one time with him. Desperately.
; As they drove up the lane, Nora caught the first sight of the No Name ranch house. The A-frame had been completely outlined with twinkling white snowflake lights, making the ranch house stand out majestically against the moonlit fields surrounding it. Her only lament was the fact her son was a little too young to really enjoy the Christmas sight.
“Oh, Zane.” Nora pressed a hand to her heart. “That is absolutely gorgeous!”
Grinning, he got out to help her and Liam out of the minivan. “Goes with the wreath on the door, don’t you think?”
Nora grabbed her diaper bag, while Zane lifted Liam and his carrier out of the safety seat base in the rear seat. “Is this why you’ve been so elusive this week?”
Gallantly, he escorted her up the walk. “What do you mean?” He flashed her a stymied look, then paused to punch in the security code on the pad next to the front door. “We saw each other every day at some point. Always had lunch or dinner together.” And on three of the four days found time to make love, too.
Nora pointed out curiously, “But then you came back out here, to work on things.” Things he had never exactly explained. But that had kept him awfully distracted and busy.
His broad shoulders emanating as much strength as the rest of him, Zane led the way inside. He hit the switches that turned on the lights across the entire first floor of the A-frame, then nodded at the laptop computer, printer, scanner and stacks of folders on the desk behind the sofa. “I’ve been getting caught up on a lot of paperwork, too.”
It certainly looked like it.
Aware the job of changing Liam was going to be a “roll up your sleeves and try not to breathe in” task, Nora eased out of her coat. She tossed it on the sofa. As merry as the exterior was, it still seemed like a total bachelor pad inside. “No tree?”
He inclined his head in a way that seemed to indicate he didn’t plan on messing with that.
His eyes twinkled merrily. “But there is something even better,” he promised, “that I’ll show you once we take care of the little guy.” He unstrapped Liam from his carrier, slid his hands beneath and gently lifted her son out.
Too late realizing that Liam’s sleeper was damp with leaking brown liquid that soaked into his shirt.
“Oh, no!” Nora grabbed the closest thing—a roll of paper towels from the kitchen—tore off a half dozen and pressed them against Zane’s rib cage to mitigate the damage and keep the moisture from leaking down to his pants.
Seeing what was going on, Zane laughed and shook his head at their tiny charge. “Got me again, fella! Good one!”
Liam gurgled, and now that his little intestines were blissfully empty, relaxed against Zane’s broad chest.
Nora took in the smelly, awful disaster. “I am so sorry, Zane!”
“Not to worry,” Zane chuckled, unperturbed. “He’s just initiating me. Letting the ‘new man in your life’ know who is really boss in this equation.” He bussed the top of Liam’s head. The baby cooed contentedly and snuggled closer.
Nora rolled up the sleeves on her shirt. “I’m going to have to put him in a bath.” Upstairs, Zane had only a steam shower. Which left few options. “Do you think we could use the kitchen sink? I’ll sterilize the whole area after.”
“Sure.” He gave her a leisurely once-over. “What do you need me to do?”
“Crank up the heat down here and grab a few big fluffy towels.” She held out her arms. “But first, let me relieve you of your charge.”
“You’re going to get this on you, too.”
“It’s okay. I don’t wear anything that’s not machine washable these days.”
The transfer was made.
By the time Zane returned with the towels, Nora had filled the sink with about six inches of warm water and removed the last remaining clean sleeper, packet of travel wipes and baby wash from her diaper bag.
Zane watched her lay Liam down on the first towel. “I hate to say this, but you’re covered, too.”
Nora made quick work of unsnapping Liam, getting him out of the soggy, soiled diaper and wiped down cursorily as best she could. “All three of us smell delightful.”
Zane stripped off his shirt and undershirt. Luckily, the offending goo hadn’t reached his skin. Nora laid Liam in Zane’s arms, briefly. “Just give me a second to strip down, too.” She took off her fitted corduroy shirt, then noting her camisole was damp, too, took that off. Clad in her bra and black skirt, she reached for Liam and gently lowered him into the waiting water.
He grinned with delight as she washed him down, first with a cloth, and then with the liquid baby soap that Zane warmed between his hands before spreading it over Liam’s chest, back, arms and legs.
They rinsed him again with the cloth, then brought him out of the water. All nice and clean and smelling of lavender.
Nora placed her son on another clean towel, then dried him off with a third. By the time he was diapered and dressed, he was yawning mightily.
Nora handed him off to Zane. “If you could just walk him around while I tidy up this mess. And...is it okay if I use your washing machine?”
“Please do!” Zane said, so fervently she laughed.
As they wandered off, with Zane softly singing “Good King Wenceslas,” Nora made short work of starting the laundry and restoring his kitchen to its former immaculate state.
By the time she returned to Zane’s side, Liam was cuddled against his chest, fast asleep. He turned to her and smiled. “Ready to see my surprise?”
Chapter Ten
Nora was ready for something, all right.
The close proximity to Zane, coupled with their half-dressed states, had her thinking all kinds of wild things.
With a fast-asleep Liam still snuggled in his arms, Zane led the way up the stairs to the second floor of the A-frame. It was just as she recalled, with one exception. The full-size crib, rocking chair and changing table in one corner. She stared in shock. “You set up a nursery?”
Zane shrugged amiably. “I thought Liam might appreciate a comfortable place to be when he is out here on the ranch.”
“It’s...amazing.” And definitely not the actions of a man who had one foot out the door.
He turned to her, exuding the thoughtfulness she so admired. “If you want, we could let him test it out right now.”
“You want to put him down?”
He smiled at her incredulous look. “For the night. If you’d like to stay.”
Nora edged closer, trying not to let on what his low, sexy voice did to her. Her heart did not melt, her insides did not turn to mush just listening to him!
“I don’t have any nightclothes.” It was one thing to make love on impulse and have him stay on for a few hours, holding her in his arms, and then slip out before dawn. That was simply taking their relationship moment by moment, a feat they had done many times before. But it was something else entirely to plan so deliberately to bring her—and Liam—into his day-to-day life.
He stepped closer still, inundating her with his steady masculine warmth. “You can borrow something of mine to wear.” Leaning down, he continued softly, persuasively, “I’ve got diapers and Liam’s formula, too.”
Aware how very close she was to falling all the way in love with him, she released a reluctant, admiring sigh. “You really are prepared.” And kind and thoughtful. Capable and commanding...
“Hopeful, always, when it comes to you, and now Liam. And yeah, darlin’—” he paused, a determined, sexy glint in his eyes “—I am. So what do you say?” he asked huskily, “Want to spend your first night ever at the No Name?”
At the moment, Nora couldn’t think of a better Christmas gift to herself. And him. “Yes,” she whispered back, knowing no matter what the future held, there would never be a man more perfect for her than Zane.
She tiptoed
closer to the crib. Beckoned Zane to follow. Her gaze fell to her contentedly drowsing son. Although she knew firsthand there was no cozier place to be than snuggled against Zane’s warm body, she also knew her son would sleep more soundly in a crib. “Let’s put—” our son, she almost said “—Liam to bed.”
Oblivious to her near mistake, Zane lowered Liam slowly to the mattress and eased his hands out beneath him. With her at his side, he kept the other resting ever so slightly on her son’s tiny chest until he was sure that Liam was still snoozing.
Contentment flowing between them, they backed away.
Zane took Nora’s hand in his. Soundlessly, they moved to the other side of the spacious moonlit loft. “Now what?” he asked, drawing her close.
She caught a whiff of his chest, then her own. She wrinkled her nose comically. “I think,” she whispered back, wanting to rid them of the lingering noxious scent, “we should both hit the shower.”
He reached behind her to undo the zipper on her skirt. “Together?”
She splayed her hands across his chest and felt his heart thud against her palm, in tandem with hers. She fit her lips to his and kissed him seductively. “It will save water.”
It wasn’t the first time they had stripped down and climbed into a stall together. But it was by far the most intensely passionate, Nora thought, as they lathered each other from head to toe, and then stood together under the spray to rinse.
“I’m sorry I was ticked off at you earlier.” She slid her arms around his back and pressed him intimately against her, inhaling the spicy scent of his soap and the even-sweeter fragrance of his hair and skin.
He kissed her fiercely, evocatively, until they were both groaning for more. He turned her so she was facing the tiles, her hands splayed out in front of her. He pulled her back against him, one hand exploring her breasts, the other moving across her tummy, downward. Her hips rocked restlessly against him as his lips made a thorough tour of the sensitive place behind her ear, the vulnerable slope of her neck.
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