The Texas Rancher's Marriage Read online

  He was not yet an accepted member of this family, and at this rate, might not be for a very long while.

  * * *

  CHASE RODE WITH MERRI AND the two kids in her SUV. Addie and Starr took his pickup truck, while the other four women went in the van they had rented, all of them parking side by side in the community center lot. Chase opened the door for the twins, only to have them scoot over to the driver’s side and wait for Merri to help them both out.

  Give them time, he thought. Closeness will happen. He just had to remember not to push.

  He shut the door and sauntered around to Merri.

  He had never seen her looking prettier.

  She had on a white cashmere sweater, a flowing, brown brushed-velvet skirt and suede heels. A silver pendant and matching earrings completed her holiday garb. “How are we going to do this?”

  Jessalyn and Jeffrey tugged on Merri’s hands, clearly wanting her to carry them.

  “Honey, you’re too big, you know that,” she told Jeffrey. “You, too, Jessalyn.”

  No kidding. Chase thought. They were a good thirty-five pounds each.

  Jeffrey argued, “You carry us sometimes.”

  “In emergencies,” Merri allowed pleasantly, holding both their hands and walking around to open up the back of her SUV. “Like when you get really scared or have a boo-boo.”

  Jessalyn gripped Merri’s skirt before she could reach for the foil-covered casseroles. “We’re scared now, Mommy.”

  “Yep,” Jeffrey angled in close. “We really really are.”

  No, they weren’t, Chase thought. They were testing her, a fact Merri seemed to know very well. He could hardly blame the twins, though, for trying to figure out where the boundaries were. They’d had some pretty big changes happen in their lives in the past week. Changes no one had prepared them for.

  The kids had a right to be ticked off.

  Starr sauntered forward and laid a hand on Chase’s arm, with Addie right beside her. The brunette smiled up at him, the look in her eyes reminding him that she had been a pediatric nurse before enlisting in the military to care for wounded soldiers.

  Chase gave her an encouraging nod.

  Starr knelt down at eye level with the twins. “I can carry you, Jessalyn,” she offered, with open arms.

  Addie hunkered down, too. “And I can carry you, Jeffrey.”

  The twins beamed in acquiescence.

  “That is, if it’s okay with Merri,” Chase interjected, remembering that though he was technically their daddy now, when it came to the kids and the ranch, Merri was still the one in charge.

  “Sure.” She admonished the twins with a look. “As long as you behave.”

  “We will,” they promised in unison.

  Starr and Addie picked up the twins.

  Merri turned back to the sweet potato casseroles. There were ten large pans and five adults. “I think we should all carry one at a time and then come back.”

  “I can carry two,” Chase offered, figuring that would save at least one return trip.

  She shook her head. “These pans are disposable. They really should be carried by the bottom rather than the sides.”

  Because this was her show, he acquiesced. A minute later, all of them had a casserole in hand, and the people started toward the community center, with Merri taking the lead.

  Other people were moving toward the door, too. Including Liz Cartwright and her family, the Briscoes, and Judge Roy with her husband and four teenage daughters. The latter group was loaded down with gallon jugs of iced tea and lemonade. They reached the door well ahead of the others and stepped inside.

  Tables that would seat hundreds of local residents were festooned with cornucopia centerpieces and covered with tablecloths in beautiful fall colors. A sumptuous-looking buffet was being set up. People were bustling to and fro and calling out cheery hellos.

  Merri turned to Chase as they crossed the threshold into the banquet hall. Unfortunately, he turned to her at the exact same time.

  Their casserole dishes collided. Chase kept a grip on his, but Merri was not so lucky. In her effort to keep from dropping it altogether, she wedged it against her chest. The foil covering slipped at the same time that the flimsy aluminum pan holding it bent into a V. And a big glob of the perfectly prepared confection squished out onto her sweater.

  Around them, everyone gasped, Merri included. Chase steadied his own casserole with one arm and gallantly reached out to steady hers, in a gesture that was too little, too late. The slippery contents oozed over top of Merri’s hands, causing her to lose her precarious grip.

  Chase swore in frustration as the whole casserole fell to the tiled floor.

  * * *

  MERRI DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS worse, the wetness seeping into her beautiful white cashmere sweater, the ruined food all over the floor or the bright orange streaks splattered across her skirt and Chase’s slacks. He set his dish down safely on a nearby table while a collective gasp sounded.

  “Mommy, you’re a mess!” Jessalyne declared. She turned and pointed at Chase. “So are you!”

  “Yeah. A great big one!” Jeffrey concurred, aghast.

  Thanks. Merri grimaced and lifted a reassuring hand. “I know, kiddos, but we’ll clean it up.” Her face flaming with embarrassment, she knelt to recover the crumpled aluminum container. Chase knelt at the same time.

  They bumped heads.

  “Ouch!” they said in unison.

  Merri didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so she did a little of both while Starr took charge with laudable military efficiency. “Let’s get the remaining casseroles to the buffet.” The nurse picked up Chase’s dish and marched off, clearly not willing to risk any more of her culinary effort than they’d already lost.

  Several mothers from the preschool appeared, their own children in tow. They shot Merri understanding, empathetic glances. “We’ll take charge of the twins while you deal with this,” they promised.

  “Thank you,” Merri said.

  Addie jumped into the fray. “I’ll see if I can get paper towels and cleaner.”

  Another guest bent to whisper in Merri’s ear. “It can be hard to get in sync physically with a new husband. Don’t worry, dear. It will come in time.” The elderly woman patted Merri’s shoulder.

  Would it? she wondered.

  What would Judge Roy think? There was barely a hint of reaction on her face as she and her perfect family glanced their way from across the banquet hall. But as Merri looked down in horror at the icky, sticky mess, she could feel the other woman’s disapproval. This was such a disaster!

  Chase gripped her hand and helped her to her feet. “I don’t suppose you have any clean clothes in the SUV.”

  “No.” Merri sighed. “And if I drive all the way out to the ranch to get some—”

  “You’ll miss the dinner,” Chase guessed.

  She nodded, her mood no longer anything close to thankful.

  “Looks like it’s your lucky day.” Merri’s friend, Emily, suddenly appeared, waving a key in her hand. “Just so happens that Dylan and I have extra clothes at the Daybreak Café. They’re in my office upstairs, behind the party room. And there’s a bathroom, too. So—” she gestured to Merri and Chase “—help yourselves to whatever fits.”

  “I’m sorry,” Merri apologized, still feeling hideously embarrassed as the two of them walked away.

  “I ran into you,” Chase said sheepishly.

  “We ran
into each other,” Merri corrected in exasperation.

  He shrugged and wrapped an arm about her shoulders. “Doesn’t matter,” he teased. “The end result is the same. We’re both a big mess!” He gestured expansively. “Jeffrey and Jessalyn said so.”

  Not sure whether his response was for show or comfort, Merri leaned into him. “Do not make me laugh. This is so not funny.”

  His lips crooked up at one corner. “Tell me about it,” he grumbled in return. “Do you know how long I spent picking out this ensemble?”

  He had looked very handsome, Merri thought. Too gorgeous for his own good. Seeing him in a jacket and tie reminded her of their wedding day.

  They walked past the closed sign and opened the door to the shuttered café. The empty restaurant was a peaceful oasis after the bustling community center.

  Acutely aware of him, Merri led the way up the stairs, to Emily’s private office. The closet in the corner was filled with clothes. Outfits for riding, for casual dinners in town, and fancy affairs. Merri began sorting through them.

  Chase plucked up a sequined black dress with a plunging neckline. “This is nice,” he quipped.

  “Yeah. Like I’m going to show up in that.”

  His eyes gleamed as if he was imagining it.

  Merri flushed. “You could wear a tuxedo.”

  Chase stepped into the bathroom and studied his reflection in the mirror. “Actually, I think I can get most of this out with a little water.”

  Merri eyed the stains on his pants, which started just below his crotch and fanned out in tiny splatters from the thigh down. “Lucky you.”

  He reached for a washcloth and dampened it beneath the spigot. While he dabbed at the spots on his dove-gray shirt, then began working on the charcoal fabric of his trousers, Merri continued rummaging through the options. Finally, she emerged with an ivory silk tank, a black wool skirt and a long cranberry cardigan. “Hopefully, these will fit. Although my shoes aren’t going to match at all.” She lifted a trim ankle, showing off her brown suede pump.

  Chase regarded her leg with mock solemnity. “Now, that’s a crime.”

  Grinning, Merri aimed a fist at his sternum. “Cut it out.”

  Amber eyes lighting with mischief, he caught her forearm and held her hand over his thudding heart. “You cut it out.”

  Merri caught her breath at the intent in his gaze. “Chase…”

  The next thing she knew his head was lowering, tilting slightly to one side. And then his lips were on hers.

  Chapter Six

  Heaven help her, the man could kiss. And he wasn’t just any man; he was her husband. If only the marriage was based on the kind of abiding love a couple should have for each other, Merri thought. But it wasn’t. And she had to keep reminding herself of that. Otherwise, she’d think that the way he was kissing her and holding her was proof that he was falling in love with her.

  And that couldn’t be true.

  They had a deal. This was a marriage made to support a family. To enable them to do best by the twins, and add another child to the mix. A child she would carry.

  Meanwhile, he was pressed against her, deliciously warm and hard, his lips moving tenderly over hers. Desire swirled through her, making her pulse race, and turning up a fierce, thudding heat in the feminine heart of her.

  The kiss was meant to curb frustration and restore humor to a situation that was fast getting out of control. At least that was what Chase had told himself when he ignored Merri’s gasp of pleasure and took her into his arms.

  But that was before she had slayed him with that look—the one that invited him to do what no one else had been able to accomplish—to try and tear down the barriers surrounding her heart, to find the soft vulnerable woman she tried so hard to shield from further hurt.

  And, Chase thought with a rush of overwhelming want and need, damned if he wasn’t determined to do just that.

  Their lips meshed, more perfectly still. He plunged his tongue into her mouth, kissed the corners, realized she was kissing him back with a passionate resolve that wrenched a low groan from his throat.

  Tightening his grip, he hauled her all the way against him and shifted her so her back was to the wall, the only sounds the rasp of their breathing and the low murmur of delight when he slid his hands beneath the hem of her cashmere sweater and cupped her breasts with his palms.

  Her nipples pearled, and he slipped a thumb beneath the satin bra, basking in the feminine feel of her.

  She leaned into his touch, her fingers finding their way beneath his shirt, the waistband of his slacks.

  Wanting. Just as he wanted.

  And that was when they heard it. The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs to the second floor of the café. A feminine voice calling out, “Chase! Merri? Are you up here?”

  Chase and Merri broke apart, disheveled, and out of breath, right before Starr rounded the corner.

  Chase’s friend took one look at them and emotion flickered in her eyes, then disappeared.

  “We were talking,” he said.

  Something less pleasant flickered across Starr’s face. “I can see that,” she said, her glance moving over his shirt, then Merri’s sweater, and the proof that resided there.

  * * *

  MERRI FOLLOWED STARR’S glance. Chase’s shirt had barely been soiled before. Now, sweet potato casserole was smeared across the entire front of it. The creamy orange goop and flecks of chopped pecan were even more deeply embedded in the white cashmere.

  Plus his shirttail was hanging out of the front of his pants.

  While Chase seemed to have recovered from their passionate interlude, Merri was one guilty and embarrassed wreck.

  “I’m sorry if I interrupted anything,” Starr continued pleasantly with a poker face. “I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. And it occurred to me, Chase, that you probably had some clothes at the hospital, in your locker there, since you often go straight from office hours into surgery. I was going to offer to go and get them…”

  Merri looked at Chase. Realized, to her further humiliation, that he had already thought about that, and had instead chosen to come here with her. To make sure she was okay, or use the opportunity to put the moves on her?

  Not certain how she felt about consummating their marriage by indulging in some clandestine pre-Thanksgiving feast nooky on the sly, Merri drew a deep breath and said, “That’s a really good idea, Starr. Actually, you can both go together.”

  Chase lifted a brow, obviously realizing she was trying to get rid of him, pronto. Merri lifted a palm before further protest could be made, and directed them to the door. “I’m fine here. Honestly. And dinner is set to start in another twenty minutes, so we all better get moving.”

  Once they departed, Merri took advantage of the privacy to pull herself together and deal with the fact that she had almost surrendered all her standards and had sex with Chase, then and there. Hadn’t she told herself when she ended her last relationship that she would not let herself be used again or treated as less than she was? She deserved respect. So did Chase.

  More important still, she wanted to harness her emotions and be in control of the situation. She wanted to act while thinking clearly, not while in the throes of uncontrollable lust. Because at the end of the day, there was no confusing lust with love.

  * * *

  “YOU WANT TO TELL ME WHAT’S going on?” Liz asked Merri, a scant fifteen minutes later.


  Breathless, and still glowing inwardly from having been thoroughly kissed, Merri scanned the room for the twins, saw them already seated at the table reserved for their age group. With relief, she noted the kids looked very happy as they colored their kiddie place mats.

  She spotted Emily, too, all the way across the room. Merri plucked at her borrowed clothing and mouthed a thank-you.

  Emily smiled and waved back, mouthing You’re welcome.

  Aware that the attorney was still waiting for an explanation, Merri turned to Liz. “What do you mean, going on?” she asked, stalling for time while she tried to figure out just how much to reveal.

  “You and Chase and the twins walk in with six of Chase’s woman friends.”

  “Oh. That.” Merri waved her concern away. “They’re good friends. Medical personnel from the army unit Chase was in.”

  Liz eyed the group of attractive young women with an assessing gaze. “And they’re all staying with you. While you’re essentially still on your honeymoon.”

  Merri was acutely aware it had only been four days since the wedding. Four very eventful days. “It’s a long story. But yes…Chase and I invited them.”

  “The twins seem to like them.”

  “As do I.”

  Liz considered that. “Where’s Chase?”

  To Merri’s dismay, he chose that moment to walk into the community center, with Starr by his side, acting for all the world as if she, not Merri, were his wife.

  Liz frowned as her glance cut to the Roys. The judge was eyeing Chase and Starr, too, and the attorney sighed. “This does not look good.”

  Tell me about it.

  Frowning, Liz continued her summation with lawyerly calm. “First, you and Chase are about as uncoordinated and out of sync as any couple I have ever seen, bumping into each other and getting food all over both of you. Next, the two of you take off to change clothes, only to come back alone, looking…” She paused and shook her head. “And then fifteen minutes later, he shows up with that incredibly attractive shamelessly smitten brunette.”