by Tina Leonard
“You did?”
She sounded genuinely surprised. Judah nodded, feeling better already. “Why else would I have failed the condom test? I say it was all subconscious.”
She advanced on him, her gaze lit with mock anger and a lot of laughter. “When were you going to tell me?”
“When I was certain I’d caught you.” He held a pillow in front of himself for protection from his wife. “I love you madly, Darla Callahan, but it was darn hard waiting on you to finally leave your slipper in my path.”
She got on top of him, straddling him, and he tossed the pillow away. “Mr. Callahan, are there any other surprises you’d care to share with me?”
He shook his head. “I just want you to know that you’re not the only one capable of keeping one’s cards to their chest.” He gazed at the front of her blouse reverently. “Or breasts, even.” He caught one finger in the top and tugged. The blouse fell open, and he sighed with pleasure. “Nurse, I have a terrible ache.”
Darla smiled. “I can help you,” she said, leaning over to kiss his lips, “but you’ll have to undress so I can fix that ache.”
He kissed her all over, so passionately that Darla knew she was the luckiest woman on earth. Which was really no surprise at all, because she was married to the man she’d always loved, with all her heart.
Epilogue
“Sheriff says you’ve had some bad luck,” Darla told Judah once they’d taken out the stitches a few weeks later. “He says you shouldn’t get in the way of flying boards like that. The storm really kicked up some things.”
Shingles had been ripped off the roofs of some houses. Fences had blown down. One of their cows had mysteriously moved onto Bode’s property. He’d returned it promptly.
“Don’t want you calling me a cattle thief,” he’d said, and Fiona had humphed at him.
Judah was glad it was just a board that had hit him, and not one of his brothers, his aunt or his wife. “There are worse things to be in the way of, I guess. Are you packed, wife? Itty bitty bikini and everything?”
Darla laughed. “There will be no bikini. Just a one-piece.”
“One-pieces are great. Lots of leg.” He rubbed his hands together.
“Did you bring your swimsuit?” Darla asked. “I want to see hunk for the whole week.”
He puffed out his chest. “I’m your hunk, darling.”
Darla laughed. “Shall we go say goodbye to the girls?”
Judah’s face fell. “I’m not sure if I can. I’ll miss them too much.”
It was true. They were up with him at the crack of dawn when he ate breakfast. He’d make bottles for them, since he’d talked Darla into changing to bottles a bit before their trip. The girls had grown by leaps and bounds. They might have started out slow, but the pediatrician said they were catching up quickly on the growth chart. He said it was amazing. Judah thought it was his wife who was amazing.
Even he was flourishing, living with her.
“When we get this lawsuit settled,” he told Darla, “I have a surprise for you.”
“Tell me now, just in case,” she said, and he grinned at her. “Nah. I like making you beg. It’s so much fun.”
She swiped at him. “I thought you didn’t like surprises.”
He swept her into his lap while they waited for Rafe to drive them to the airport. “Well, once I realized surprise was your game, I decided to turn the tables on you.”
Darla smiled. “So tell me.”
“I’m going to build you your own house.”
His wife stared at him for a moment. “Here, at the ranch?”
He nodded. “I don’t want to get your hopes up, in case we do lose the ranch.”
She kissed him. “I love the bunkhouse, but thank you for thinking of such a wonderful gift. I love you, Judah Callahan.”
“I know, Mrs. Callahan. I feel it every day.”
“And you know something else?” she said, wrapping her arms around him so she could pull him close, to tell him something she’d long been wanting to tell him, for his ears only. “I had a dream about you last night.”
He perked up. “You did? Did it involve naked you and whipped cream and maybe even some cherries?”
She kissed him on the lips. “Even better,” she said. “I think we’re pregnant.”
His jaw dropped.
“Surprise,” she said.
Judah laughed and pulled her into his arms, the luckiest, happiest man alive.
When they had put their suitcases in the car, and Rafe was driving them away from Rancho Diablo, Judah saw the Diablos running like the wind, faster than the wind, disappearing on the painted horizon.
And he knew he’d found all the wealth and happiness a man could ever hope for, because the only treasure that truly mattered was love.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1262-6
THE BULL RIDER’S TWINS
Copyright © 2011 by Tina Leonard
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‡‡ Cowboys by the Dozen
* The Tulips Saloon
** The Morgan Men
‡ Callahan Cowboys