“We’re both free and we both want to be a parent to Bonnie. As Buck’s brother and Terrie’s choice of woman to raise her daughter, we can offer something no one else can. There’s one caveat, however,” he added, sounding mysterious.
She was still too deep in shock to respond, and he knew it.
“When I take you and Bonnie home to the ranch, I’ll be introducing you as the woman I fell in love with a year ago. We found out we were expecting a baby, but you refused to marry me because you were afraid I was still too in love with the memory of my deceased wife.”
“Are you?” she fired hotly.
“I’ll always love Jenny, but she belongs to my past. Unfortunately there are people who for reasons of their own insist on believing otherwise.”
“Meaning your ex-girl friends?”
An amused gleam entered his eyes. “After our daughter was born you realized I really did love you. Hoping it wasn’t too late for us, you came to the ranch on the day of Buck’s funeral and asked me to marry you. Naturally I was overjoyed and insisted we get married immediately.”
Catherine shook her head, finally managing to find her voice. “In the first place, two strangers don’t meet one day and get married the next-and even if by the remotest possibility we did, I couldn’t live around your family with a lie like that-”
His features hardened. “Then we’ll tell the truth in front of everyone, which will include Lucy. She’ll learn that Buck got involved with a teenager and the baby is his. That we had to get married in order to adopt her. Lucy will put two and two together, figuring out Bonnie was conceived just weeks before Buck returned to the ranch and asked her to marry him.”
“No-” Catherine cried. “That would be too awful, too cruel to her. It could destroy her faith in love. She’d grieve forever.”
“Then which is it?” he inserted suavely. “You can’t have it both ways if you want to be a mother to Bonnie.”
Catherine wanted it more than anything in the world. She’d promised Terrie. But to get married to a man she’d only met two days ago…
What did she really know about him except that he was the owner of the famous Bonnibelle Ranch?
Her body trembled. Was that enough reason to do something so drastic it would change her whole life and his?
“Do you know the odds against a marriage like that working?” she cried.
“Probably as good as the odds of any marriage making it,” he countered, with a cynicism she vaguely shared.
“Where would we live?”
“In my house.”
“You mean the ranch house?”
“No. My brother and sister and their families live there. Buck lived there with Lucy, but I suspect that one of these days she’ll move back to Elko to be near her family. My house is on the other side of the lake.”
“Is it where you lived with your wife?”
“No. Like everyone else, Jenny and I began our married life in the ranch house.”
Though she hated asking the next question, she had to know. “How did she die?”
“A drunk teenager ploughed into her car one night as she was driving back to the ranch. She died instantly.”
Catherine’s face crumpled in pain. “I’m so sorry.”
She felt his eyes studying her. “After she was gone, I built a place of my own to get away from the memories. My sister Penny jokingly calls it the bachelor pad, but with your help we can make it family-friendly. I dare you to come and live in it with Bonnie and me.” He flashed her a rare white smile that turned her heart over.
Shaken by his proposal, she drew in an unsteady breath, attempting to keep her wits. “Supposing I were to say yes to this ludicrous idea of yours, and we get married only to learn that the judge turns down our petition?”
He gave an elegant shrug of those masculine shoulders. “Then we get an annulment. I’ll have my attorney put it in writing. But if we win Bonnie, our marriage is forever.”
She reeled in place.
He paused at the door. “I’ll be by at six for your answer. If you’re not here, then I’ll know she isn’t your
CHAPTER SIX
AT FIVE to six Cole pulled up in front of Catherine’s condo. He’d come early because, frankly, there was nowhere else he wanted to be.
Throughout his life he’d relied on gut instinct to get him through some rough moments. By asking him if he would let her visit Bonnie some times, she’d admitted defeat. It was the pain he’d heard in Catherine’s voice that had made up his mind for him.
Now it was a waiting game to see if she had the courage to do this outrageous thing and marry him.
“Coletrane-” he could hear his father “-whether you like it or not, you’re a natural-born leader. I’m depending on you to hold this family together after I’m gone someday. Buck bears watching, and Penny and John will always look to you, whether in good times or bad.”
Cole ground his teeth.
Watching Buck self-destruct despite many unsuccessful interventions on Cole’s part had turned him inside out. But he could do something for his brother now. He
Already he thought of the baby as
He checked his watch. Five after six.
His chest grew tight. If he was wrong about Catherine and she couldn’t bring herself to marry him, not even for the baby’s sake, then he’d call out every favor to influence the judge to let him adopt Bonnie alone.
It might entail an all-out battle with the court. That was okay. He was ready for the fight, even if it meant pretending
But he much preferred the thought of being Catherine’s husband.
Since the idea had come to him, it was all he’d been able to think about. She was a beautiful woman. Her haunting image had played havoc with his sleep. He couldn’t forget how careful she’d been to protect Buck, or how brave she’d been to stand up to Cole no matter what he threw at her.
