"Lorna, what are you doing?"
"Trying to seduce my husband."
He swore under his breath, which didn't bode well for any kind of seduction. Or maybe it was the word husband he objected to.
"Never mind," she whispered, hoping she wouldn't cry with disappointment. "I understand." With that, she turned away from him and he lifted his arm and let her move away to lie on her side. In a moment she felt the mattress shift as he fumbled with the covers and left the bed. When he returned he faced her back. His fingers brushed her hair away from her cheek.
"Honey, you could tempt a saint," he muttered, his lips close to her ear.
"What about a sheriff?"
"The sheriff took a cold shower and wanted to sleep on the couch." He eased the hem of her nightgown over her hips and higher.
"And now?"
"Now he's going to make love to his wife."
"Oh, good," Lorna sighed as his fingers swept over her bare skin. "I've missed you. Missed this. Even though we only did it once."
"Yes," he said, tucking her against his naked body so she could feel how much he wanted her. No, the sheriff couldn't fake his desire. Lorna sighed with relief. He touched her swollen breasts carefully, his fingers caressing already sensitive nipples. She felt ready to explode by the time he slowly moved lower, over the mound of baby, to find her slippery and open and wanting him inside of her.
She climaxed almost immediately against his exploring fingers, which surprised her and seemed to please him, because after she caught her breath Jess fitted himself inside her as if they'd been lovers for years. The position was surprisingly comfortable. His lips caressed her cheek, his hand held her hip and he made love to her as if she didn't look at all like a bullfrog.
* * *
The next morning she made him breakfast, much to Jess's discomfort. He thought she'd be tired after everything that happened on Friday, but he was the one who slept late.
And they both seemed awkward, with the memory of last night between them. Jess didn't know how to behave. Should he act like a husband and kiss her good morning? Should he act like a lover and tuck her against his body while he nuzzled her neck? Or should he behave as if this was one of the bed and breakfast inns and sit down and act polite and talk about the weather?
He picked polite. Less trouble to get into that way.
"This looks real good," he said when she put the plate of food in front of him.
"Do you have to work today?" she asked him, once she'd joined him at the kitchen table. The scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and coffee looked more appetizing here in this house than they did at the café.
"No. I took the weekend off, but I'm still on call if Carter needs me."
"I feel a little guilty leaving Charlie on such short notice," she admitted. "I hope his nieces work out okay."
"Chelsea assures me that everything will be fine." He took a sip of coffee and tried to forget about how responsive she had been last night. He'd never quite experienced anything like it. Maybe marriage to this woman wasn't going to be such a hardship after all.
At least they had passion in common. Put the two of them in a bed together and something was bound to happen, all right. If he wasn't careful he'd end up with six kids in six years, with more on the way.
If he wasn't careful he'd end up falling in love with her, which would be stupid. He barely knew her. They were friends, sort of. That was enough for now. He'd eased his conscience by putting that ring on her finger. She'd gained the chance to stay home from work and raise her child without worrying about where the money to support them was going to come from.
"I imagine you want to spend some time moving in," Lorna said.
"I don't have much." Any furniture that Sue didn't want was most likely still at the ranch. He finished his breakfast and searched for another topic of conversation. "So," he said, racking his brain. "Do you want to go shopping for anything?"
"I don't think so. There's plenty of food and I want to get the baby's room ready before I buy any more baby things."
"I'll set up the crib."
"Thank you. That would be nice."
The silence descended upon them. Jess cleared the table, Lorna loaded the dishwasher and they only bumped into each other twice.
Both times he wished he could carry her off to bed. He would have liked to have known if last night was just a fluke, or did the two of them share some special magic that made sex an extraordinary experience?
He resolved to keep his hands to himself. She was pregnant. He was no horny youth who couldn't control himself. Sex from now on was out of the question, he told himself. But he was going to look in that parenthood book and see how long a man had to wait after the baby was born. He sure as hell didn't know how he was going to make it 'til April.
* * *
If ever there was a reminder of what loving a woman could do to a man, it was the Triple Bar S ranch. When Jess drove into his former home and saw what lousy condition the place was in, he wanted to put his head on the steering wheel and curse the gods of Happily Ever After. He would have, but he didn't, because Lorna sat beside him on the front seat of the car.
The place was a disaster. And the problem was neglect, pure and simple. Hell, Jess had had a hard enough time keeping up with the chores when he lived here.
Calhoun had used the land to run cattle, but ignored the two-story house. A year and a half without a tenant had taken its toll on the old place. Part of the roof sagged, paint peeled from the trim boards, and someone had left bags of garbage on the front porch that animals had ripped apart and spread around. It was an older house, from the 1940s, but he'd always thought it was solid.
"I should have come out here sooner," he told his new wife. "But I wanted to wait until I'd talked to Calhoun." He laughed, but nothing was funny. "I didn't want to see it until I knew I could buy it."
Lorna didn't say anything right away. She peered out the windows of the truck at the tree that had fallen against one of the outbuildings he'd once used for storage. "Was it hit by a tornado?"
"Could have been," he admitted, but that explanation was just too damn easy.
"Are you upset?"
He shrugged, knowing denying it would be a lie. All those years he'd worked this place and here it was, as if nobody had ever given a damn about it. "Calhoun was supposed to meet me here at ten," he said, turning off the car engine. "I guess we could get out and wait for him."
"I'll wait here for now," Lorna said, avoiding his gaze.
"Suit yourself." Jess switched the ignition on, rolled down the electric windows, and turned the engine off once again. So here he was, with another woman who couldn't stand the sight of the place. Not that he could blame her, but Lorna didn't know how much this place had meant to him.
He'd known Sue Miller almost his entire life. He hadn't expected any surprises from their marriage; they'd dated throughout high school and after. They'd lost their virginity together the night of the Senior Prom, they'd studied for exams and shared popcorn at the movies. Marriage had seemed inevitable, and Jess had expected to teach his sons how to care for the ranch he would build for his family.
Only there had been no sons. And Susan hadn't been happy living on the ranch, so she'd taken a job in a bank in Marysville and bought a new car and left the ranch every morning at seven and quit talking to her husband.
Three years ago his wife had fallen in love with someone else, a man she met while at work. Two years ago she'd explained her unhappiness with their marriage and her affair with another man. She'd said it was "love at first sight" and she "couldn't help" herself. And she hoped he would understand.
Jess hadn't understood one damn thing. He'd worked hard to make a life for them and now, looking at his former home, he wondered, not for the first time, why the hell he'd bothered.
And why he would put any energy into doing it again.
"Jess?"
He turned around. "What?"
"Your pager's going off."
> "Damn," he muttered, and walked back to the car where his very new and very pregnant wife sat waiting. When he answered the page and Chelsea told him that Bobby Calhoun was running late, he told her to cancel the appointment. He'd reschedule another day, when Lorna wasn't with him.
He'd fix it up, then show it to her again. It would look better a few months from now, he just knew it
Sort of.
* * *
"You shouldn't be spending your honeymoon with your father." Hank winked at her to show he was only kidding. Lorna knew he was thrilled when she, Jess and Ricky accepted his invitation to go out for dinner. She was certainly pleased not to have to spend the evening alone with her very nervous husband. Jess acted as if he was afraid to get too close to her for fear she'd drag him into the bedroom.
"I don't get to see you enough," Lorna told him. "You're a busy man these days."
"Not as busy as your husband." He nodded toward the door of the Steak Barn, where Jess was deep in conversation with his deputy. It must be something important, Lorna knew, because Carter looked worried and Jess had been surprised that the man showed up during dinner.
"If I was fifteen years younger," Ricky Sheridan drawled, "I'd go after that."
"After Carter?" Lorna had always thought the young man was a little dense. Every morning the Coffee Pot breakfast menu confused him. She didn't know how he managed to fight crime and protect Beauville.
"Was he at the wedding reception yesterday?" Ricky asked. "Surely I would have noticed."
"And broken an old man's heart," Hank declared, winking at the singer. "Who would have danced with me if you were flirting with the handsome deputy?"
"The matrons were checking you out, Hank," Ricky told him. "I saw them. I'll bet you don't have to worry about dates."
"Well—" He chuckled. "I do okay. Lorna, honey, are you feeling okay?"
She smiled wanly. "I'm fine." Except that her husband hadn't spoken two words to her since the trip to his former home. She shouldn't have gone with him, even though he'd asked her. He'd looked at that place like his heart was as broken as the roof on one of those little white buildings.
"Maybe we shouldn't come back to the house after dinner," her father suggested. "Maybe you should go home and go to bed nice and early."
"Oh, no," Lorna said. "I want you to come. Ricky hasn't seen the house and there are all those wedding presents to open." And she wasn't sure she wanted to be alone with Jess right away. From the time she'd awakened, Jess had seemed distant. As if last night's lovemaking had never happened. As if eating breakfast together was just too intimate for him. He'd kept his distance and hurt her feelings, but she didn't intend to let him know how much. She had her pride.
"I have a present for the baby, too." Her new sister-in-law grinned. "I can't believe I'm finally going to be an auntie. I never thought Jess would get around to having kids. I never even thought he'd ever get married again, not after the first time."
The first time he had a ranch and a wife he loved. Now he had nothing but a wreck of a ranch house and a wife he'd married out of duty. If Lorna could have crawled under the table and bawled her eyes out, she would have. Only the problem of how to get down on her hands and knees stopped her. That, and the fact that her father and Ricky would have joined her in order to find out what was wrong. And how could she tell them that she was crying because she had fallen in love with her husband?
And Jess, hurrying back to their dinner table, would have felt it was his obligation to make everything better.
"What's wrong?" Ricky asked her brother.
"Not much. We've got some bikers in town," he said, pulling out his chair and sitting down beside Lorna. "Carter's going to keep an eye on them and make sure we don't have any trouble."
"He's cute," his sister said. "Is he married?"
"My secretary has her eye on him," Jess informed her. "I'm not sure she's making progress though."
"Chelsea seems like the kind of person who gets exactly what she wants," Lorna said. "She's fearless."
"She's bossy," her husband countered. "And don't worry, I won't forget to thank her again for the wedding party."
"I know." The man always did the right thing, no matter what the cost. Which was why he wore a wedding band on the third finger of his left hand. She stared at it and wondered what he thought when he looked at it. Did he resent being married again? Did he wish she were Susan Miller?
"Lorna?" She looked up to find her father's gaze on her.
"Yes?"
"Do you want dessert or anything?"
She shook her head. "No, thanks, Daddy."
"Then we'll take you home." He looked at Jess. "Do you have to go anywhere right now?"
"No."
"Then we'd better get Lorna home," Hank told him. "She's looking a mite peaked."
"I am?"
"Yes, honey." He waved the waitress over and asked for the check. "Maybe you've had too much excitement for one weekend."
Lorna blushed and avoided looking at her husband. They hadn't talked about last night. In fact, they hadn't said much to each other all day except for polite questions and answers regarding food, where Jess should store his things, and the weather. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him. She would rather cut out her tongue than actually say the words and become an object of pity. She glanced toward her husband again and wished he weren't so damn handsome.
"You're so lucky, Jess," Lorna heard Ricky sigh. "I wish someone would look at me the way Lorna looks at you, like you hung the moon over Texas."
Now would be another good time to dive under the table. Or poke her eyes out with the unused dessert fork. Jess didn't want her love. He wanted a ranch. A ranch that had belonged to his first wife, the foolish woman who'd run off with another man and broken her husband's heart.
"Come on." Jess didn't reply to his sister's comment. Instead he stood and helped Lorna to her feet. "You wanted to open the wedding gifts tonight."
"Yes." She would open wedding presents and pretend that everything was okay. At least until the baby was born.
And then she'd have to rethink this whole mess.
* * *
Chapter 11
«^»
"Is it normal to want to cry all the time?"
Emily considered the question and took another sip of iced tea. They sat on Lorna's front porch and watched little Elly dig a hole in the flower beds by the stairs. "Well, yes, if we're talking about pregnancy," she said, but her concerned expression deepened. "No, if we're talking about marriage. Are you crying a lot, Lorna?"
"Not a lot." Which she knew didn't sound convincing.
"You've been married a week," her friend said. "Should I ask how it's going?"
Lorna took a deep breath and thought about the past seven days with her new husband. "He put the crib together," she said. "It only took about five hours."
"Not bad," Emily smiled, "for a sheriff."
"And he sent me out of the house for three hours while he painted the baby's room. He'd read that paint fumes could be harmful to pregnant women, so I went to the library and looked at decorating magazines."
"Okay. So far so good."
"Last Saturday, the day after we got married, he drove me out to his ranch, the one he used to live on with his first wife."
"Uh-oh."
"No kidding." Lorna leaned back in her chair and rested her hands on her belly. The baby was kicking a lot more lately, as if she was anxious to get out into the world. "It was a very big 'uh-oh.' The place looked pretty terrible, but it was obvious that he loved it."
"Does he want to live there again?"
"I think so. We haven't talked about it since then, but I know he wants to talk to Bobby Calhoun about buying the place back from him." And then her eyes filled up with those embarrassing tears. Lorna reached into her shirt pocket for a tissue, just in case they overflowed. "He still loves his wife, Em."
"No way," her loyal friend declared. "Absolutely no way.
; "No, it's true," Lorna insisted. "Why else would he want his ranch back? Wouldn't you think it would have bad memories?"
"I don't think men think the same way we do about things like this," Emily warned. "I think he looks at that ranch and just sees…a ranch."
"Maybe so, but that doesn't change that he only married me because I was pregnant." Darn. The tears spilled over, so Lorna wiped them away as quickly as she could.
"Oh, Lorna," Emily said. "Are you sure? Pregnancy really does make us more emotional."
"I'm sure," she declared. "We slept together one night last summer, which was a stupid thing to do, but believe me, neither one of us was thinking clearly at the time. I didn't want to fall in love with him then and I didn't want to fall in love with him now, but I did and I am and—" she paused to wipe her nose "—and I shouldn't."
"Your baby is going to need a father," Emily said. "And you've married a good man for the job. If he doesn't already love you, he will soon enough." She smiled. "How could he help it? You're gorgeous and you adore him. That's a pretty potent combination."
"You think?"
"I'm positive. Just give it time."
Lorna looked down at her expanding belly. "We only have nine weeks left," she said. "I hope that's time enough."
* * *
"How's it going, Boss?" Chelsea perched on the edge of his desk and tapped her index finger on his appointment book. "Got anything in there I should enter in the computer?"
"Like what?" He'd been sitting in front of the same files for two hours and hadn't accomplished a damn thing. Lorna had been too quiet all week and he couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Was she regretting getting married already?
"Like Lorna's checkup tomorrow at three o' clock with Dr. Bradford."
"That's personal." He hoped they wouldn't use that ultrasound machine again. Maybe it was easier to watch the second time. He sure as hell hoped so.
"Valentine's Day is only ten days away. You don't want to forget candy and flowers."
"Right." Yeah. He'd look like a jerk carrying flowers and candy to a woman who was barely speaking to him. It was the ranch, he figured. Or the sex. He knew he shouldn't have made love to her, knew he shouldn't have reacted to her offer to make love on their wedding night.
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