Читать книгу The McClintock Proposal - Carol Ericson - Страница 11

The knuckles on the strong hands grasping the steering wheel bleached white, matching the line etched around her new husband’s mouth. By revealing the name of the ranch, did she convince him that her relatives consisted of a bunch of howl-at-the-moon crazies?

Her fingers danced along the braided muscles of his forearm. “Don’t worry. My family members aren’t half as crazy as they seem. Besides, it’s not as if we’re going to procreate.”

Not that she’d mind a few attempts at procreation with this hunk of sexy cowboy. She clenched her hands in her lap, trying to squelch the impure thoughts about her husband that galloped in her head.

Ignoring her attempt at a joke, Rod uncurled his hands from the steering wheel and flexed his fingers. “Silverhill, Colorado?”

“Near Durango.” She tapped the GPS screen. “Should take us about nine hours. And don’t go all macho on me. Let me take over the wheel when we’re halfway there. I like to drive. Heck, I live in L.A. Our butts are practically glued to the seats of our cars.”

That twisted a smile out of those sensuous lips, still tightly pursed. Maybe the food and coffee had restored him to his senses, and he was aware of the lunacy of this scheme.

Tough.

Rod’s cheap wedding ring burned a circle around her finger, and she had their marriage license ready to wave in the face of her grandfather’s attorney, Douglas Smyth Jr. Once Smyth stamped her name and Rod’s on the title to Price Is Right, she’d sell off or borrow some money from the property, pay off Dad’s debt to Bobby and hand over a tidy sum of cash to Rod for his part of the bargain.

Beyond that, she faced a murky future. She didn’t have a clue what to do with a deserted ranch in Colorado. Maybe she’d sell the whole thing and return to L.A. She could start over with a new studio and buy a house in a good school district—prove to child services that she could provide a good home for five-year-old Jesse. That boy needed her as much as she needed him.

It had been over five months since she’d seen him, although she’d called him several times from New Mexico. He still remembered her, although he seemed distant, guarded, in their last conversation. She wouldn’t desert him like everyone else had.

She sniffled. First things first. She popped the GPS off the windshield and entered Silverhill, Colorado, hesitating over the address entry. “Not sure what the address of the ranch is out there, but Silverhill’s a small town. I’m sure someone can direct us to the ranch, once we roll in.”

His jaw still tight, Rod started the engine of the truck and pulled away from the curb of the Milano. “About the ranch…”

Oh God, here it comes. The regret. The misgivings. The chivalry… The annulment?

“Stop. You saved me. Twice. You fought off Bobby’s thugs and you agreed to marry me. You changed your plans and put your life on hold to help me—a complete stranger.”

“But I…”

Callie held up her hands. “I know you’re probably thinking people will peg you as a gold-digging cad, marrying me for money, but I know that’s not true. And what do you care what the people in Silverhill, Colorado, have to say?”

“I do care. I know—”

“I understand your real reasons, and that’s all that matters. You didn’t know who I was and that I stood to inherit a bunch of land in Colorado when you rescued me at the side of the road. You didn’t think there would be anything in it for you when you pummeled Bobby’s guys and bloodied your own knuckles. And now here you are, married to someone you’d never laid eyes on, miles away from your home in…in…” She waved her hands around, not having a clue where he lived. “You will have earned every penny I can give you from the ranch.”

She collapsed back in her seat, panting. “So don’t get any ideas about ending this marriage. I need you. I need you to get that ranch, save my father and maybe even to save myself.”

Ending on a sob, she allowed a single teardrop to tremble on the end of her lashes. As she slid her gaze in Rod’s direction, the tear wobbled and then dripped onto her cheek.

A muscle in his jaw ticked as he glanced in her direction, his gaze scanning her face. “Why do you need saving, besides the obvious, and how’s the ranch going to help?”

Drawing in a shaky breath, she tucked her hair behind one ear. “I traveled around a lot as a kid—when my parents were together, and with my mom after they split. My mom wasn’t close to her own family, and, as I said before, she didn’t like my father’s parents. Sh-she had a problem with prescription drugs.”

Rod shook his head, and she continued.

“We were living in California when it was time for me to go to college, so I ended up at UCLA for the in-state tuition and because they had a good fine arts department. I settled in L.A. by default. I don’t have any roots there. I don’t have any roots anywhere.”

“Where’s your mother?”

She curled her hands into fists. “She died of a drug overdose when I was in college.”

He drew in a quick breath. “Sorry.”

“The way she was going, it was bound to happen. She’d been skating on thin ice for a long time.”

Rod drilled the road with a steely gaze, and Callie’s heart flipped. She didn’t want him to think she’d grow dependent on him or expect anything from him. He obviously didn’t like that idea.

“Don’t worry.” She patted his muscled thigh. “With parents like I had, I’ve learned to depend on myself. That’s why the ranch is important.”

“Are you talking about the money it could bring?”

Callie clasped her hands between her knees and wiggled her toes in the new sandals. How could she explain her feelings to a man who had his own ranch somewhere? Probably had parents and extended family nearby. Probably had a life.

“It’s more than just the money, although that will help my dad…and me. My grandparents built the ranch together, and my father never appreciated that. Grandfather Ennis left it to me on the condition of my marriage, hoping I’d establish my family there, put down some roots.”