“I met your fiancé,” he said, his voice ripe with challenge. The outdoors clung to her skin; sun, flowers, and woman combining to intoxicate him more than the whiskey.
She lifted her chin, eyes narrowing. “What did you say to him, Aaron? I’d hoped we could act like adults while we’re here.”
Aaron laughed, his hands doing the job his heart urged him to do, forcing her to come up against his chest with a soft oomph. “Darlin’, I’m definitely a man, make no mistake.” He leaned down and brushed her lips, setting up a barrage of warnings through his chest. He was playing with fire, and if he wasn’t careful, there was little doubt who was going to get burned. Again.
“Aaron, stop this,” she murmured, though her lips parted on a sigh. “We can’t…”
He lifted his head and stared at her upturned face. “Can’t what? You invited yourself onto my territory and brought reinforcements. I want to know why.”
She moved out of his arms. He pretended not to feel the loss.
“We needed a break from the city,” she said. “Surely, you can understand that? Your sister sent an email to me highlighting the new business venture—congrats, by the way—and I thought it would be fun to come and check it out. End of story.”
He eyed her nervously tucking her hair behind her ear and knew she was bluffing. The question remained; why?
“Look, Trish, whatever is going—”
“There you are,” Kyle slurred from the doorframe he was plastered against. “I’f been sitting here all damn afternoon. Your pops warned you…”
She hurried to his side, tucking a supporting arm around his waist. “Let’s get you to your room before you fall. What possessed you to drink like this?” She glanced at Aaron and away. “Never mind, a shower will help.”
Kyle grinned slyly. “Are you offering to wash my back, sweetheart?” He too, glanced at Aaron as though to make sure his barb sank in.
It had.
“Don’t forget, dinner’s at five.” Aaron turned on his heel and walked away before he did something he might not regret.
6
Trish wore a path in the plush green carpet covering the floor of her bedroom while waiting for Kyle to finish his shower in the room next door. She hadn’t seen her parents since her return. It was heartwarming to know how much they’d worried about her safety—not. They’d made it clear many years ago they expected their children to accept the consequences of their actions—and learn from them. Nurturing was not a term one thought of in conjunction with Dave and Eleanor Sylvester.
She whirled at a light tap on the door, her heart tripping over itself. Aaron wouldn’t come to her room, would he?
Sophia poked her head around the door and Trish stifled her disappointment.
“Hi,” she said, stepping into the room. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay after this afternoon’s misadventure.”
Trish smiled. Sophia had lived in New York while Trish dated Aaron. Then the Shaughnessy’s grandmother’s death had taken center stage and the women hadn’t had the chance to get to know each other before the relationship ended, but she genuinely liked Aaron’s younger sister.
“I think you should add ‘Get rescued by a handsome cowboy’ to the itinerary. You’ll be inundated with single ladies looking for a western romance. It would be good for business.”
Sophia giggled and plopped down on the end of the bed. “You might have something there—though maybe not by Aaron. He’s liable to scare our customers away.”
No, not with Aaron. Trish had no right feeling the way she did, but that didn’t make the murderous vein in her neck stop throbbing any faster. Just the thought of another woman in Aaron’s arms…
“Hey, it was a joke. Did my brother do something to annoy you?” Sophia eyed her curiously.
Remembering the feel of his arms around her, frustration was more the term that came to mind. “Aaron was the perfect gentleman,” she said and changed the subject to the real reason for the trip. “Have you thought anymore about the proposal my father outlined for you during our ride?”
Sophia dropped the slightly ditzy girlfriend pose and donned the mantle of the successful businesswoman she’d been in New York. She crossed one shapely leg over the other and placed folded hands on her knee. “Without facts and numbers, I’m not at liberty to make a decision of that caliber. As you know, my brothers and I own equal shares in the ranch. I would have to get their approval before moving forward. I can’t do that until I have a contract, in writing—”
Vexed, Trish still took a moment to admire the woman’s integrity. Sophia sat on the end of the bed for all the world as though she were at a multi-national meeting wearing a power suit instead of blue jeans and a ruffled pink blouse. Unfortunately, it was Trish’s job to tear that persona apart.
Tomorrow.
Just for today she wanted to pretend she was here to have a good time. “No rush,” she murmured as the rattling pipes ended their musical notes and signaled Kyle’s imminent arrival. “I’m sure it will all work out. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a house like this, can you share some of the history with me?”
Sophia gave a wry grimace. “That’s a polite way of saying our home is old. No, no it’s okay,” she said, holding up a hand when Trish tried to apologize. “You’d be right. The hacienda is over one hundred years old, built by my great-grandfather for his new bride. There’ve been a few additions over the years, but we tried to retain the integrity of the building.”
She strode to the window with its view of the rolling hills. “A few miles from here, in a place called Hidden Valley, there’s a cabin that’s near and dear to my family. Matthew and I were both married there.” She turned with a mischievous smile. “I’ve been thinking of setting it up for destination weddings—you know, ‘visit the great outdoors and get hitched while you’re here.’ Maybe you could be our first guest bride?”
Trish had planned for her wedding since she was a young girl. She still had the scrapbooks she’d used after carefully cutting out the perfect dress, bouquet, flowers, venue—everything her twelve-year-old mind could dream up. And nowhere in that sacred journal would she find pictures of a back-country wedding.
Funny how perfect it sounded now.
She picked up her hairbrush and ran it needlessly through her hair before tying it back with a velvet ribbon. “I don’t think I’m ready to get married,” she said, fiddling with the oversized diamond on her finger.
“Um, does your fiancé know this?” Sophia asked, moving to Trish’s side. “If you need to talk—”
“No. Thank you though.” Trish met her empathic gaze and cursed her rambling tongue. “Put it down to bridal nerves. I’ll be fine tomorrow.”
Sophia took the brush from Trish’s fingers and grasped her hand. “I realize we aren’t buddies—yet—but my brother fell in love with you at one time and that tells me that you’re someone I need to get to know better.” She smiled at Trish’s start of surprise. “Did you think it was a secret? My brothers don’t keep much from me, I’m too nosey.” She laughed.
Trish squeezed her hand before letting it go. She was beginning to hate this trip and what it was turning her into.
“You’re wrong, Aaron and I were… friends, but that ended a long time ago. It was a casual relationship that ran its course. We weren’t exactly compatible—I mean, he’s country and I’m a city girl through and through. It never would have worked.”
Sophia opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a banging on the door that had both women flinching.
“Hey, Trish,” Kyle called out from the other side of the heavy wood panels. “Hurry up, I’m hungry. Let’s hope it’s healthier than the swill they’ve served so far.”
Trish glared a hole in the door before turning to apologize to their hostess. “He’s usually better than this, I’m so sorry.”
Sophia shrugged it off. “Men. You can’t live with them and you can’t bury them in the backyard for the coyotes to find. The
law frowns on that sort of thing.”
They looked at each other and grinned before opening the door to an irate fiancé.
7
Aaron debated whether to skip out on the evening meal, but in the end, he turned up at the dining room just as the guests took their seats.
Matt was in his chair at the head of the table with Cassandra on his left and Trish’s parents—Dave and Eleanor—on the right. Next to them, Sophia perched on the edge of her seat, chatting with the guests as her husband, Tony, looked on benevolently, his hand resting on her back. Across the table, Trish sat stiff and silent, next to her idiot boyfriend.
Which left him the seat between Trish and Cassandra. Great.
His sister-in-law smiled as he took his place. “Glad you could make it tonight. You rarely attend family dinners anymore.”
Her chiding tone sent prickles of discomfort crawling up his spine—or maybe that was Matt’s judgmental stare. “Yeah, well, I’m sure you get along fine without me,” he said, reaching for his water glass.
Trish didn’t say a word, but he could feel her disapproval just the same. It was none of her business, she’d given up that right a long time ago. He switched from water to the sweating beer bottle sitting beside it. A long, cool swallow later and he had his equilibrium back—or so he thought.
“Checked the fence in the west quadrant earlier today. I thought you said it was done?” Matt frowned at the beer in his hand.
Inside, Aaron’s blood began to seethe, but he’d be damned if he’d allow it to show in front of Trish and her family. He took another drink to spite his brother before leaning casually back in his chair, idly twirling a fork on the table by its tines.
“No, I’m pretty sure I said I’d done the south section and planned to get onto the west end within a few days.”
Matt leaned forward, his wide shoulders stretching the seams of his dress shirt. “I needed you out west, little bro. That damn stallion made off with another three mares because the fence wasn’t mended.”
“The ghost stallion?” Sophia interrupted, eyes flashing with excitement. “I didn’t think he was around, it’s been so long since he’s been spotted.” She turned to Tony and gave him a secret smile. “Do you think he knows?”
“Knows what? What have I missed?” Tía Consuela took her seat at the opposite end of the table—the chair that their grandmother had always used—after setting down a steaming platter of chicken enchiladas.
Sophia grasped her husband’s hand to her chest and waited for his amused nod before looking at her family with a tremulous smile. “We’re pregnant,” she revealed.
There was a moment of stunned silence, then the room erupted. Consuela cried and jumped to her feet, running around the table to hug the daughter of her heart. Matt and Cass added their congratulations to the mix, and Aaron reached across the table to shake Tony’s hand while his sister gushed at him.
“Are you happy for me, brother-of-mine?”
Impossible not to be. Tony and Sophia fairly radiated love and joy of life. It made Aaron’s chest ache. His brother and sister were incredibly lucky. They’d both found their happily-ever-after, while he…had let his go.
Trish prodded him with her elbow. Startled, he glanced sideways to see her staring at him with a raised brow. “Well, are you going to say something?”
Why did you leave me? Probably not the time to bring that up. Especially with pretty boy sitting next to her with a sardonic grin flirting about his lips.
Aaron turned away from the urge to rearrange his face and circled around to wrap Sophia in his arms, swinging her off her feet. “It’s about damn time,” he muttered in her ear. “You’re going to be an amazing mother.”
Astonished laughter turned to tears at his words. She swiped them away and smacked his arm. “Darn hormones. I hope you’re right. We haven’t had the easiest of childhoods, have we?”
Aaron caught Matt’s eye over her shoulder, his chest warming in a rare familial connection with his taciturn brother. While the death of their parents and grandfather had been tough on all of them, it was Matthew who’d taken it the hardest. He’d been twelve when the plane went down, changing their lives forever—a young boy on the cusp of becoming a man.
“We did all right,” he said, thinking of the times Grandma Maddie had comforted three lost and lonely kids when she had to be enduring the depths of despair herself, along with fear for an uncertain future.
“Yeah, we did,” she murmured, squeezing his arm before returning to her husband’s side. “The baby is due in the spring. Tony and I are over the moon.”
Trish’s smile was tremulous. “I’m so happy for you. Please, let me know if there’s anything you need.” She exchanged a long look with her parents, then rose to give a toast. “To the baby.”
Everyone echoed her salute and sipped their drinks, but the mood had changed. Aaron sensed the distress Trish tried to cover with forced gaiety and wondered what it meant.
Only one way to find out.
“Trish, would you mind helping me in the kitchen?”
“But—” Consuela began, then a sly grin dimpled her cheeks. “Yes, yes, thank you, my boy,” she said as though no one caught on to the obvious ploy.
Except maybe the boyfriend, who was too busy trying to stay awake to care.
“Umm, sure,” Trish said, though her eyes warned him to back off. Too bad he wasn’t known for listening. He planned to find out why the mention of babies upset her so much, and he wasn’t going to take a none-of-your-business explanation.
Trish led the way down the seemingly endless hallway, conscious of the grim man dogging her steps. If only Sophia hadn’t… Stop that. Of course, Sophia should be thrilled at the promise of a child and wish to share the news with her family. It was an honor to have been included in the revelation. If only she’d been more prepared for the announcement.
“Well,” Aaron said, shutting them into the homey kitchen. “Are you going to explain what that was about, or am I supposed to drag it out of you?”
No beating around the bush, then. Trust Aaron to dive in where angels feared to tread. Needing a moment to gather herself, Trish circled the island and made busywork plating up the chocolate cake with a creamy cinnamon frosting Consuela had made earlier in the day. She got a bit of icing on her finger and, without thinking, licked it off, groaning at the delicious taste.
“Your cook is a genius,” she said, opening her eyes to find Aaron’s intense gaze fixed on her mouth. Her cheeks heated and it wasn’t from the spice.
He cleared his throat and shifted his attention to the cake. “Mexican chocolate cake. She usually makes it for special occasions. Do you think…?”
“That she guessed your sister was pregnant?” Trish supplied. She set the knife down and wiped her hands on the wet cloth draped over the sink. “I wouldn’t be surprised. Sophia is showing all the obvious signs; emotional, nauseous, glowing. The first three months are a roller-coaster, after that it gets easier—for most women anyway.”
Aaron’s gaze sharpened. “And what makes you a pro on the subject of pregnancies?”
Damn it. She’d known the time would come. Her parents had no idea—this was going to cause all sorts of complications. But Aaron deserved the truth.
“You’d better sit down,” she muttered, suddenly in need of a chair herself.
His brows rose and a growing suspicion built like a bank of forbidding clouds in his expressive eyes. “Why do I get a feeling I’m not going to like where this is going?” He hooked a heel around one of the high-backed bar stools and sank onto the swivel seat. “No more games, Trish. I want the truth.”
If only it was that easy.
She took the other chair and tried to come up with a way of explaining that wouldn’t make her sound like a gold-digger. There was so much more to the story—things that would forever destroy any tender feelings Aaron might have carried for her.
“I know,” she said, “because I’ve been through it.” She
watched the questions form and hurried to stop him before he could give them voice. “It was a while ago. I was too young, not ready for that kind of responsibility.” She gazed unseeingly at the butcher block counter, caught in the agony of past mistakes. “My parents didn’t understand how I could be so foolish—careless.” A pained laugh escaped. “That’s all they were worried about, how it would reflect on them as parents with an unwed, pregnant daughter.” She shook her head and brushed away angry tears. “I know, it sounds archaic in this day and age, but my family is very traditional. The man is the ruler of the house. I had no choice. They decided to find me a husband,” she spat the word out, “one that would overlook my foolish mistake.”
Aaron was silent for so long she finally chanced a look, only to recoil at the anger emanating from his tall frame.
“Are you telling me you had a baby?” He grabbed her wrist and she flinched. “Was it mine, Trish?” Her guilty face gave it away. “Holy hell, it was.”
He flung her hand away and rose in a rush to pace the kitchen, ignoring the resulting clatter as the stool hit the floor.
Tears leaked down her cheeks. He was so angry. She didn’t know how they were going to get past this, but for their child’s sake they had to find a way.
He stopped, the width of the island between them and scrubbed a hand over a bristly jaw, sending a wanton shiver up her spine. No, no, no. Their situation was complicated enough, an unwanted attraction was cruel and unnecessary punishment.
Aaron braced his hands on the countertop, arms rigid with disapproval. “I don’t know what to say. Why didn’t you tell me?”
My parents threatened your family if I did. Of course, she couldn’t tell him that. In fact, anything she said was going to look bad, so she kept quiet.
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