Читать книгу The Rancher's Christmas Baby (incl. Bonus Book) - Cathy Gillen Thacker - Страница 7

Chapter Two

As they drove back to the Laurel Valley Ranch, Amy couldn’t help but notice how good Teddy looked in the black Ultrasuede jacket and discreetly patterned tie, or how the dark olive hue of his dress shirt brought out the green of his eyes.

Whether gussied up—like now—or dirtied up from ranch work, Teddy McCabe was one fine specimen of a man. Add to that his amazing intellect and kind, compassionate nature and Amy knew she had chosen a fine husband for herself and father to her future children.

Now, if only everyone else could see that, too…

“So how do you want to do this?” Teddy asked, parking in front of Amy’s trailer.

One wrist resting atop the steering wheel, he turned toward her. “You want me to wait around while you get your stuff? Or just go on ahead and wait for you at my house?”

Amy blinked at him in surprise, stunned by his matter-of-fact tone. “What are you talking about?”

Teddy flashed a smile and came around to get her door. “Well, obviously, now that we’re married, we have to sleep somewhere—and I figured since I have horses to care for, that we’d be bunking at my place.”

“For tonight,” Amy acceded, accepting his help exiting the cab.

It was his turn to look surprised. “For every night,” he specified, as if wondering why there was even a question. In his mind, it was already decided.

Her heels sank into the gravel drive, making walking difficult. Unease swept through her. She thought about something she’d heard.

People change when they get married.

Until now, she’d figured that was just the frustration talking, when the couple in question didn’t really know each other—or hadn’t allowed themselves to see the real character of the person they were marrying—until after the romance surrounding the wedding ceremony had faded, and reality sunk in.

She could not believe this was going to be the case for her and Teddy, since they had known each other for years and years—without the veil of romance.

She looked over at him and promptly stumbled. “Teddy, I’m not giving up my place.”

He slid a hand beneath her elbow, to steady her. “I didn’t ask you to do that.”

Her spike heels did little better in the grass, and she lurched into him again. “You’re asking me to move in with you.”

Teddy frowned and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in close to his side. “Because it makes sense,” he said.

She scowled back and used her elbow to wedge more distance. “To you, maybe,” she argued, pulse pounding.

“Come on, Amy.” He paused as they reached the stoop leading up to her front door, his usual accommodating nature fading. “I admit I’ve only been in your trailer once or twice, and then only for a minute or two, but the ceiling is so low I can barely stand up straight.”

He had a point there. Her travel-trailer home had not been made for a six-foot-four male with broad shoulders. He was unlikely to fit in her double bed and would likely hang over the edge of her sofa, too.

In fact, the six-hundred-square-foot space was so tiny she never did any entertaining there.

Not that she and Teddy had ever spent much time at either’s place. Hanging out that way would have felt too much like dating. Instead, they’d preferred to go places together in town. The more casual the better—to avoid any intimate male-female interaction.

Which was what made it so awkward now. “Teddy, I—” Amy broke off as the couple who worked for her approached.

Both were in their midtwenties. A petite brunette, Sheryl Cooper was nearly eight months pregnant. Her husband, Ed, wasn’t much taller than she and had gone prematurely bald.

Even before they’d learned they were expecting, they had been the picture of married bliss. Now, with their firstborn son on the way, they were over the moon.

Or at least they had been, Amy noted, taking in their tense, worried expressions. “What’s wrong?” she demanded at once.

“We’ve been working in the greenhouses all afternoon and I started having contractions half an hour ago,” Sheryl said, hand to her tummy. Her face was blotchy and dotted with perspiration. “I’ve had three now—all precisely ten minutes apart. It feels like I’m going into labor.”

And they all knew it was too early for that to be happening.

“I’ve already called her obstetrician. I’m taking her over to the emergency room to get checked out.” Ed looked as worried as Sheryl sounded.

“Anything I can do?” Amy asked in concern.

Ed shook his head and assisted Sheryl into the cab of their station wagon. “I’ll let you know what the doc says.” He climbed behind the wheel and drove off.

“I hope she’s okay,” Teddy said.

Amy released the breath she had been holding. She touched a hand to her throat. “Me, too.”

He followed her inside. “So back to our plans for the evening…”

Amy looked around the frilly interior of her home. The overstuffed floral sofa, and pink, green, and white color scheme were perfect for her romantic nature. However, they did not suit a macho guy like Teddy at all.

Already, as he moved past the leather-bound trunk that served as her coffee table, past the banquette to the galley kitchen—which had a half-size everything—he looked cramped. Worse, he was making her feel crowded. Even a little breathless. So much so, she suddenly needed some time to herself.

Amy slipped off her wool dress coat and strode past the tiny bathroom to her bedroom.

She had to slip off her heels and climb over the double bed—which took up the entire space—to get to the closet to put her coat and shoes away. “Why do we have to spend the night together?” As she backed up on her knees, she caught him looking at her legs.

To her chagrin, he didn’t so much as flush.

Instead, he lounged in the portal, arms crossed in front of him, as if he owned the place. “Is that a serious question?”

What had gotten into him?

“Obviously,” Amy said stiffly, “it is.”

Deciding she needed to get out of the cranberry silk-chiffon wrap-dress she’d gotten married in, Amy grabbed a pair of jeans and a pine-green chenille turtleneck sweater.

Teddy sighed with frustration.

Feeling equally frustrated, Amy slipped past him, into the bath.

Very much aware how different this evening would be if they were having a real wedding night—the over-the-top-romantic kind she had dreamed about her entire adult life—she stripped off her dress and peeled off her panty hose.

“We’re married, Amy,” Teddy reminded her through the closed door. He was beginning to sound impatient.

Amy walked back out with an arch look. “As friends only.”

Maddeningly, Teddy stayed right where he was, giving her little room to maneuver in the cramped space. “It’s still expected that we will reside together.”

Refusing to admit he was quite clearly making his point—her trailer was too tiny for the both of them—she qualified right back, “Once I’m pregnant. But there’s no rush for us to be together under the same roof until then.”

Teddy rubbed the flat of his hand underneath his jaw and regarded her the same way he looked at one of his horses when the animal wasn’t doing what he wanted it to do.

Amy knew that in those situations, Teddy always figured out how to get his way.

It was a quality all good leaders possessed—the ability to figure out how to get someone else to follow.

The problem was, she did not want him to be the leader in their marriage. She did not want either of them to be in a position to boss the other around. She wanted them to continue to do their own thing, in their own way, in their own time.

“So there is no reason we have to reside under the same roof tonight or any other night right now,” Amy concluded.

“I think our parents would beg to differ on that point,” he said dryly.

Normally, Amy liked to exchange ideas and witty remarks with Teddy. But not today. Not after the grilling they had just been through. What she wanted now was some peace and quiet. Privacy. Time to figure out how they were going to proceed with this hasty marriage of theirs.

Her bare feet planted firmly on the carpet, Amy told Teddy, “We’ve already established I don’t care what they think.”

“Then what,” Teddy asked, advancing on her ever so slowly, his low voice going from coolly concerned to ironic, “about what I think?”

AMY STARED AT THE MAN WHO had been her husband for all of six hours. Suddenly, she felt she did not know him at all. The Teddy she thought she knew always gave her plenty of space. He respected her decisions. He did not question anything she did or said. He was content to just let her be herself, regardless of other people’s expectations, which was why she liked hanging out with him so much.

Letting him know that it was not okay to change tactics now, she offered a tight smile. “Please don’t tell me you’re playing the husband card.”

Teddy’s eyebrow went up. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

Amy rummaged around in her top dresser drawer for a pair of wool socks. She pulled out a pair decorated with Christmas wreaths. “We never said we would live together right off the bat!”

He sat down beside her on the bed, looking more comfortable now that he was not hunched over slightly to keep from hitting his head on the top of the travel-trailer ceiling. “It was implied.”

Amy swallowed and continued pulling on her socks. It wasn’t her fault he was so tall and big-boned and muscular. She hadn’t ask him to do the physical labor that left his shoulders so taut and broad that he had to turn slightly to make it through the tiny door frames.

“If it was implied,” Amy countered, “it was only to you.” Finished, she wiggled her sock-clad toes against the carpet…and waited for his rebuttal.

Silence strung out between them.

Just as she expected, he seemed no more apt to back off from his position than she.

He reached over and patted her knee in a manner that was as overly familiar and seductive as it was comforting. “Come on, Amy. People are going to talk enough as it is.”

Skin tingling, Amy vaulted to her feet.

Telling herself the fact they were already bickering mightily, after only being hitched a few hours, was not as bad a sign as it might appear, she scoffed, “So now we’re worried about appearances?”

Teddy stood, too, seemingly unaware of the unprecedented zing of physical attraction flowing through her.

“Damn straight we are.” He placed both hands on her shoulders in a move that felt protective and oddly persuasive. “There are going to be enough raised eyebrows about the fact that we ran off to San Angelo to get hitched without ever going out on a single date.” He stared down at her, pausing to let that sink in. His fingers tightened slightly. “If we want to spare ourselves and our families any further discomfort, everything from here on out has to be done the traditional way.”

Was it warm in there or what? Amy tugged at the collar of her sweater and, with a slight bend of her knees, extricated herself from his light staying grip. Her skin still tingling, she headed back into the hall to check the thermostat mounted on the wall. Sixty-eight degrees. Not exactly a heat wave.

“Except our marriage isn’t traditional,” she continued to argue, wishing he weren’t so close and warm and didn’t smell so good.

“Sure it is.” He regarded her with undisguised amusement. “The only thing we won’t be doing together right away is having sex, and over time, even that could—actually probably will—change.”

Amy’s mouth dropped open in surprise at the frank male confidence in his gaze. She hadn’t expected the always-easygoing Teddy to be so frank about the difficulties of a platonic marital arrangement.

Aware her heart was pounding, she drew in a stabilizing breath. “You’re serious!”

His eyes grew even more serious. He looked interested and not in the least offended. “Yes,” he said bluntly. “I am.” He sauntered closer, his gaze drifting over her lazily, before returning with sexy deliberation to her eyes. “You and I are family now. We’ve got to start acting like one.”

If only it were that simple!

Amy marched past him, toward the living room, then recalling she had forgotten her boots, had to go back to the bedroom to rummage through the mismatched stack of footwear in her closet. “I don’t have any objections to acting like your wife in social situations.” She groaned as she found one red cowgirl boot, and then another, “But that’s as far as it’s going to go because I am not—I repeat not—sharing a bed with you!”

As she twisted back around to face him, his gaze moved from her denim-clad derriere to her face.

“Then what do you propose we do since we each have only a one-bedroom place?” he asked, leaning casually against the portal. “Purchase twin beds?”

Scowling, Amy sat down on the mattress to pull on her boots, one after the other. And she’d thought Teddy was the one male McCabe who was not completely set on having his own way. How wrong could she have been!

She pointed a finger at his chest. “That might not be a bad idea.”

He rolled his eyes in exasperation. “I’m kidding, Amy.”

“I’m not.” She stood up and moved past him, glad the heels of her Western boots had given her an additional three inches. When facing off with him, she needed every bit of height she could get.

Tersely, she reminded him, “We agreed before we said our vows—no sex!”

“Unless,” he stated, still looking perfectly at ease, not to mention very handsome, “there comes a time when we both change our minds on that point.”

Unbidden, an image of the two of them, naked, between the sheets, entered Amy’s mind.

“I told you,” she retorted with a lot more patience than she felt, pushing the disturbing image away, “that is very unlikely.”

Teddy shrugged, accepting her rejection with the deference of a Texas gentleman, born and bred. “For the immediate future, I agree,” he said softly. “We’re going to have to get used to living as man and wife in every other way. And then see how we feel.”

Amy’s pulse continued to race. She backed up another step and folded her arms in front of her, like a schoolmarm watching over a bunch of unruly kids at recess. “Which you seem to think will be differently.”

He shrugged his broad shoulders, exuding a lazy sexuality she’d never before noticed. Maybe because it had never been aimed at her—even theoretically.

“All I know is that fifty years without sex is a long time, Amy. Especially for people like us who are young and healthy and vital. And since we’ve already promised not to go outside the marriage…”

A tiny thrill went through her. “You’d be willing… to…”

“Be friends with benefits? Eventually? When the time and mood is right? Sure.”

He was so calm and matter-of-fact. So confident.

She was a bundle of nerves inside.

She swallowed hard around the knot of emotion in her throat. “Listen, Teddy. I—I don’t think I can make love with someone I’m not in love with in that special way.”

The familiar gentleness was back in his eyes. “Have you ever tried?”

Reluctantly, with a catch in her voice, she admitted, “Well. No.”

“Neither have I,” he said. “So how do we know?” He took both her hands in both of his, in that moment looking handsomer than she had ever seen him. “I know we’ve gotten used to seeing each other in a certain way.” He narrowed his gaze and studied her upturned face.

She kept silent, signaling for him to continue.

“But things change, Amy.” He paused to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “At least they could if you would open your mind and your heart to the possibilities…the way I intend to, now that we are husband and wife.”

He let go of her, stepped back, hands raised.

“I’m not saying it would happen right away, but…we need to be realistic here,” he continued. “There will come a time when the sheer proximity of our situation leads to…temptation. And as responsible adults we need to be prepared for that.”

Amy couldn’t deny that Teddy exuded sexiness. Or that from time to time she had wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Really kiss him.

She had no idea if he had ever speculated about the same.

She did know at their wedding ceremony, when the officiating justice of the peace had said he could kiss the bride, Teddy had given her a brief, friendly peck on the cheek.

She hadn’t even expected that much of a caress from him.

Yet if she were honest, she had to admit the deeply romantic side of her had secretly wished for so much more, and been disappointed when Teddy hadn’t really planted one on her, even if it was just for show….

The jubilation she had felt then faded, her longtime hope for a baby and family of her very own replaced by uncertainty. Maybe because Amy knew what Teddy didn’t—that she had never been as at ease in the bedroom as everyone else seemed to be. Even her experiences with her ex-fiancé had been severely lacking in the physical side of the equation.

Teddy, on the other hand… Well, he had a rep as something of a player among the women he dated….

Figuring as long as they were being brutally honest, they may as well cover this, too, she said awkwardly, “If we were to try…that…and we didn’t click, it could wreck everything, Teddy.”

The thought of not having him in her life, as her best friend, was unbearable. “I don’t want to risk our friendship, never mind our decision to have a family together, on something that might not pan out.”

Clearly, he did not share her doubts. “Remember the movie When Harry Met Sally?” he asked, flashing a grin her way.

She had dragged him to the theater the previous Valentine’s Day for a revival showing when neither of them had dates and hadn’t wanted to stay home alone feeling sorry for themselves.

“You’re hoping we end up like Harry and Sally,” she guessed, warming to the notion. “Going from increasingly close friends-for-life to soul mates and lovers.”

Teddy nodded and chucked her on the chin. “And you know what?” A speculative smile curved the corners of his lips. He looked at her as if he had never seen a more beautiful woman in his life. “I think deep down you are, too. Otherwise you wouldn’t have married me today.”