Steve had a long conversation with Ivan and Hugo Sarkany. There was no way that he was going to be able to go back to Chicago. Laura was stuck with him. And he didn’t see that he could run Sarkan Security systems from Success, Colorado. It took a few days of negotiations, but he and the Sarkanys managed to work something out.
Laura had a distressing phone call from her Aunt Mary. “I don’t know what she hoped to accomplish,” she told her father and Steve one night at supper. “Nolan shot at me. It’s not in my remit to drop charges. Even if I refuse to testify, the police would simply use my videotaped statement. I’d look like an idiot, and Nolan would still go to jail.”
“There is nothing you can do,” Steve told her. “Nolan has to face the consequences of his actions.”
“But Piper is saying the Nolan forced her to hire Cory,” Laura said. “I feel bad for her.”
“Mary is so used to thinking that her kids are special because they have money, that she has no common sense,” Freddie said. “Don’t you go feeling sorry for either of those two brats. Nolan and Piper are just getting what’s coming to them. Twenty is too old to think that you can behave like a criminal and not be a criminal.”
Steve shut up. Neither Piper nor Nolan had behaved as though they understood they were part of Laura’s family. As far as he was concerned, they were write-offs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
May turned into June. The days got so hot that it was as though the blizzards of April had never happened. Clive Bascom’s will finally came before a judge. Nolan Bascom was indicted for attempted murder. Piper charged with criminal mischief and as a condition of bail, had to stay away from the Double B until she came to trial.
Laura and Steve fell into a routine that involved the stables, the ranch, and paperwork. She kept waiting for the moment that Steve would say he loved her. She had felt it so strongly that day by the stream. But although he was the world’s most tender lover, he never actually said the words to her. She had spoiled things by not trusting him.
He woke her one morning. The sun was coming through her windows. Why was she waking so late these days? He had obviously been out to the stables. His clothes smelled of horse.
“I got you a present, darlin’.” He handed her a small white bag.
“Thank you,” she said automatically. The bag was very light. She sat up carefully in bed and bounced it up and down in her hand. “It’s not my birthday,” she said.
“No,” he agreed. “It’s just a little something I thought you should have.” His brown eyes twinkled at her. “Why don’t you take a look?”
Laura was laughing as she took the little box out of the white bag. She held the home pregnancy kit and swallowed hard. It was too soon.
“Go pee on the stick,” Steve said.
Laura staggered into the bathroom, wondering why, after a lifetime of rising at dawn, she was suddenly dragging her ass out of bed every morning. This laziness was so unlike her. Maybe it was because she was being kept up by Steve every night. They were going to have to start going to bed earlier, so they would have more time to play.
She didn’t really want to use this kit right now. Everything she had read told her that she was setting herself up to be disappointed. The older you were, the harder it was to get pregnant. Thirty-four was old. Not too old, but too old to catch right away.
On the other side of the door, Steve raised his voice. “Go ahead, pee on the stick.” He was trying not to sound excited. But ever since the day they had taken bear by the stream, she had been able to read him like a book. He was convinced she was pregnant, and he wanted to know for sure.
He was waiting for her with his arms wide open when she dashed through the door. He grabbed her and swung her in a big circle before she even said a word. She was kissing him and not able to speak for a long time.
“I think it’s time,” he said in her ear after a long while. “We have to get married for real. My mom and dad need to meet you, and we need to celebrate our marriage.”
“Because I’m pregnant?”
Steve carried her through into the bedroom and sat down in the chair with her sprawled on his lap. “Because I figure that the dress I picked out for you will look best if you’re not showing too much.”
“What dress?” Laura asked him.
“I called this woman I know, and I got her started planning our wedding. All we need is a date. And she’ll pretty much do the rest.”
“You picked me out a dress?” Laura said carefully.
“Nah,” Steve said against her ear. “I was teasing about that part. I wouldn’t do that to you, sweetheart. If you want to wait to walk down the aisle, until you’re round, we can do whenever you like. But I thought you probably would want to be married before you were showing.”
“We are married,” Laura said. Her heart sank. She had begun to believe in forever.
“Legally. But every girl dreams of her wedding day. And yours wasn’t much. You didn’t even have flowers,” Steve’s voice was sad. “Romantic thing like you, that just doesn’t seem fair.”
“Wherever did you get the idea that I am romantic?” Laura asked bemused. “I’m the furthest thing from romantic.”
Steve chuckled. “I guess I’m confusing you with the gal in my arms. Laura, darlin’, will you marry me, with our friends and relatives looking on? Forever, and ever, until we’re old, and gray, and we have a house full of grandchildren?”
“Yes.” She kissed him, tenderly, passionately, on the lips. “I love you, you know?”
“I know,” his voice was very smug. “But I love you more.” The laughter was back in his voice and his arms around her waist were firm but gentle. “We’re going to be happy,” he concluded.
“Forever and ever.”
She had to know. “Do you forgive me?”
“For what?”
“Not tell you about the rustling.”
He hugged her. “Of course.”
“When are you going back to Chicago?” She had been afraid to ask for weeks.
“I’m not. We haven’t worked out all the details yet,” he said. “The Sarkanys don’t know if they want a branch office in Denver – I could commute by helicopter – or if they should move the head office there. But either way, they don’t want to lose me. But I’m not leaving Colorado, now that I’ve found you.”
“Have you got anything else you need to tell me?” Laura asked.
“Well, yes, now that you mention it I do.” And suddenly he smelled worried.
“So long as you’re not suffering from some fatal disease,” Laura said, “I think it will be all right.”
“Nothing like that. But you’re going to have to resign yourself to always being a Bascom.”
“I don’t understand,” Laura said. “I thought you wanted to get married for real?”
“The reason I came out to Colorado, was to meet you Bascoms. I got a letter from Thompson, Thompson, and Willis back in March. They had tracked me down, because I was one of Clive Bascom’s great grandsons. My birth father was Kenneth Bascom – one of your granddaddy Clive’s grandsons. The lawyer said I was one of Clive’s legatees – provided I could prove that Kenneth was my father.” Steve’s arms held her tightly enough that she could not get up.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“Back in May, I gave Thompson, Thompson, and Willis a sample of my DNA. Clive and I have the same Y chromosome. Not that that was any kind of a shock to me. So I’m one of the lost heirs that he sent them to look for. And you my darling, are my third half cousin, or maybe fourth. I’m really not sure.
“The only catch is, if I want to inherit I have to take back Kenneth’s last name. I plan to change my name to Steven Kenneth Holden Bascom. And that means you’re going to be Mrs. Bascom. Unless you think I should give up my inheritance?”
“So if I say you shouldn’t change your name, you’ll just give up all that money?” Laura asked. She sniffed him. He was perfectly sincere.
�
�Well, sure. I’ve been worried about breaking this news to you since I got my first whiff of you back in April. All the money in the world wouldn’t make up for losing you.”
“But you get the money, whether or not we’re married, don’t you?” Laura asked.
“Clive left the money with only two conditions. I have to prove I’m his lineal descendent and I have to take the Bascom name.”
“Since you been transferring the money I am supposed to be paying you back into my bank account, I had already guessed you weren’t in this marriage for the money,” Laura said. “But I was kind of getting used to being Mrs. Holden. I don’t know that I want to change. I’ll have to think about it.”
They sat necking for a while. Steve’s tongue sampled her mouth with leisurely care. When she came up for air, his chest was rising and falling with gratifying haste.
“We’re already late for morning stables,” she said. “I’m going to have to dock your wages. This isn’t the first time, and I don’t like it when people make a habit out of being tardy.”
“I’ll have to do better,” Steve said penitently, just as if he hadn’t been mucking out. “Have you had enough time to think?”
“It’s up to you,” she said. “I don’t see why, if you’re willing to take back the name you were born with, I should stand in your way. I guess I’ll just have to get used to bring Laura Bascom for the rest of my life.”
“My folks are gonna love you, darlin’. Did I tell you they’re coming for a visit this weekend?”
“No you didn’t!” she yelped, trying to stand up.
“Gotcha.”
<<<<>>>>
About the Author
Isadora loves the beautiful mountains of the Northwest and hopes you enjoy their furry inhabitants as much as she does.
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Bearly Beloved brings you the steamy, heartwarming love story of widowed Debbie Benoit and her girlhood crush, former bad boy Gilbert Bascom.
Thirty years later, Gilbert Bascom returns to Yakima Ridge and discovers his passionate feelings for his buxom BBW haven’t changed since he was a wild cub. Can this burly, hard living, billionaire bearshifter persuade this beautiful bear that she’s his one and only?
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Also by Isadora Montrose
Lords of the Dragon Islands
Dragon’s Treasure
Dragon’s Successor
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Bear Fursuits Books 1-4
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Bear Infinities
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Bear Skin: A Billionaire Oil Bearons Romance
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Bearly Begun
Bearly Enough
Bearly Ever
Bearly Forever
Bearly Beloved
Bear Pause (BBW / Bear Shifter Romance): A Billionaire Oil Bearons Romance (Bear Fursuits Book 6) Page 19