Loving a Lawman (13 page)

“It's too hot to be in Texas,” she groused, but she got out and came around the front of the truck.

“You want to go somewhere else? Name your place.”

“How about the Arctic Circle?” she asked.

“I don't think they'll have fireworks there tonight.”

“Don't care.”

“Then I'm in, but only if you bring your bikini.”

Her expression remained tense as she stared out over the placid water.

“That was a joke,” he explained.

She didn't respond.

“Jessie, this marriage will never work if you keep acting like it's a prison sentence.”

“Isn't it?”

“No.”

“You actually
want
to marry me?”

He opened his mouth to respond, but she cut in before he could get the first word out.

“I'm not a fool, Seth. You're marrying me because you have to. I'm marrying you because you're making me. What I want to know is how long we're going to pretend to be happy after the baby comes before we go see Harley for a quickie divorce.”

“How about forever?”

Her eyes widened, then narrowed as if she wasn't sure whether to be surprised or wary. “Forever?”

“You have a problem with that?” His mother talked about Langstons marrying forever, but Seth had been in love with Jessie for so long. He wanted to be married to her, love her daily. Forever.

He went around to the back of his patrol vehicle and pulled out the quilt he kept there for emergencies. He had taken to carrying it ever since he rescued a preschooler from a tidal pool. The poor child had been shivering uncontrollably. Seth had wrapped her in his jacket to keep her warm, all the while wishing he had something bigger and softer to do the job.

He spread the quilt underneath the tree and sat down. His weapon was poking a hole in his side and he was pretty sure his handcuffs might puncture a kidney, but he was doing this for Jessie. He patted the space next to him. “Come sit with me.”

She looked as if she was about to tell him no; then she exhaled heavily and plopped down next to him. “We should have brought some fishing poles.”

We. He liked the sound of that. “Next time,” he promised.

Her shoulders lost that defensive slant and that little muscle in her jaw quit jumping. Those had to be good signs.

“Why'd you bring me out here, Seth?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“We could have talked in town.”

He nodded. “But here no one is going to bother us. And everyone in town isn't a part of this.”

“Someone needs to tell them that.”

He laughed. “We'd probably have to get a law passed.”

She picked up a stick and tossed it into the water. “This isn't going to be easy, is it?”

“Nothing ever worth it is. At least, that's what Grandma Esther always says.” But Jessie'd had more than her share of hard times. That was the first thing he wanted to change.

“I've always loved coming out here,” she said, finding another stick and tossing it. “It's like being in another world.”

“It is.”

Cattle Creek was small. Not even two thousand people lived in the town, so there wasn't that many big-city sounds. But here it was so quiet he swore he could hear the grass grow.

“When we all used to come out here, I used to pretend that I was really part of the family. Not just a friend.”

“Does that mean you pretended that I was your brother? Because that has a pretty big ick factor for me.”

She laughed. “It wasn't about that. It was about . . . belonging. I wanted so much to be a part of what y'all had.”

Seth nodded. But that was before Mav left and Ty went to war. It was before Jake married Cecelia and Seth had stolen his brother's girl. It was before a lot of things.

“Is that crazy?” she asked.

“No, it's not crazy at all.” He used his free hand to tilt her chin up, then swooped in to capture her lips with his own.

He couldn't tell her his feelings. It was too early. He knew she needed time. But he wanted her to know that he loved her. If only on this level.

He wanted to lay her back on this quilt, strip her down, and have his way with her until she begged for him to marry her. But not today.

She sighed as he raised his head.

“You are a Langston, Jessie. And from now on you always will be.”

“If you keep saying that, I might just start believing it.”

“That's my plan.” Seth smiled and bussed her lips once more. They would be just fine. It might take a bit with all the obstacles they had to overcome, but soon—real soon—she would know how much he loved and cherished her and the child she carried.

He released her, loving the dazed look in her eyes. Yep. The good Lord willing, they would be just fine.

*   *   *

J
essie watched Seth beneath half-closed lids and tried her best to pull herself back together. His kiss held some magical quality that made her forget where she was, who she was, and everything she was supposed to be doing. Once his lips touched hers, he was all she could think about. And she wanted the kiss to last forever.

She managed to scrape together the shreds of her self-control and turned back toward the water. It was better by far if she didn't look at him. Every time she did she relived that afternoon in the truck and wondered how different it might have been if Seth had known that she had never been with Chase.

Or was that even important to him?

“I should be going through Meemaw's things,” she said. Though wading through the remains of her grandmother's life was the last thing she wanted to be doing, it beat reliving that afternoon for the umpteenth time in only a couple of weeks.

It was difficult enough to know that she was gone, but to have to sort through the keepers and the throwaways . . .
well, it was hard. Getting rid of even the basics, her liniment and ashtrays, was proof that Naomi McAllen was never coming back.

“Relax a while, Jess. I'll help you with all that.”

She shook her head. “It's not your job.”

“I'm your future husband, and I say it is.”

Husband. Marrying Seth was one thing, but she had never even thought about the fact that he would be her husband. Someone to share all the good times and the bad. She had lost her family a couple of weeks ago. Yet in another odd twist of fate she had gained a new one. Seth and the baby, living with her as a family.

“About that,” she started. “I still haven't said yes.”

“Well, get on with it, because I'm not taking no for an answer.”

Because he was too noble to allow his child to be born out of wedlock. As old-fashioned as it was, Jessie knew that was the reason. What else could it be? “I guess we should pick a date. You know, before—”

“Before you start getting fat.” He shot her a mischievous grin. So cute and crooked she had to pretend to be upset with his comment.

“Seth Langston! What a thing to say.”

“I'm just playing.”

Jessie returned his smile. “I know.”

“So you are going to marry me?”

Like he had any doubt. “Yes.” Like she had any choice.

“Two weeks from today.”

“T-two weeks,” she sputtered.

“The quicker we become a couple, the quicker everyone will start to accept us as a couple, and the quicker we can really become a couple.”

He wanted to be a couple with her? The thought warmed her from the inside out. Or maybe that was just the lingering aftereffects of his kiss.

“Marrying me means staying in Cattle Creek.”

She nodded.

“Forever.”

“I know.” It was both the worst and the best part of their arrangement. She'd had it in her head that she was getting out as soon as she could, but the thought of staying there—with Seth—put it in a different perspective. With one major problem.

“What about Chase?”

“I'll call him this week.” His mouth turned down in a serious line.

“Maybe I should call. I mean, after all, this was my fault.”

He shook his head. “It takes two, Jessie.”

“But—”

“We're in this together.”

“Then maybe we should call him together.”

He unclipped his phone from his belt and handed it to her. “I get pretty decent reception out here.”

She took it from him as if it were a snake about to strike. She could do this. She
had
to do this. She thumbed her way through the contact list until she came to Chase's name. She punched the call button and bit her lip as it started to ring.

From the other end of the line, the phone picked up. She took a breath, not sure what she was going to say, and then his recorded voice came on, telling her in that Chase way of his to leave a message and he'd call back.

“Chase, it's Jessie.” Could she sound any more nervous? How about stupid? Of course it was her. What other female would be calling him from his brother's phone? “I need to talk to you. Can you call me back? Thanks.” She hung up, knowing that it was the worst message ever left, but she couldn't tell him over the phone that she was pregnant with someone else's child and she was marrying that man in two weeks.
Oh, and by the by, it's your brother Seth.

Nope, that was almost as bad as the action itself.

“He didn't answer.”

“I gathered.”

“He's probably out celebrating.” She wondered if his party companion was a blonde or a brunette. Crazy enough, the thought didn't fill her with heartache and pain.

Probably because she had so many other things on her mind. But she supposed that was to be expected when she was having a baby and had two weeks to plan a wedding acceptable for the Langston family.

Jessie handed him back the phone. So much was going on inside her head she thought she might explode.

“Where are we going to live?” she blurted. It might not be the most pressing question, but it was the one that jumped to the forefront first.

“I've talked to Jake and he said we could move out to the ranch house.”

Jessie shook her head. Moving in with the prying eyes of his family was the last thing she wanted. “I can't move in there with your mother.”

“The original ranch house.” He shot her a smile as if he had come up with the best plan ever.

The small white house sat off the road and far enough away from the big house that no one would just walk over. It would afford them a bit of privacy as well as keep them close to the family. As much as she hated to admit it, she loved the idea. Plus, with her grandmother's reverse mortgage she only had a few more weeks to stay in the house before it was put on the market.

“Okay.”

Seth studied her expression, though what he was looking for was beyond her. “That's another reason why we need the two weeks. Are you up to getting it ready? I know Mama and Jake will help. Of course, I'll be there when I can.”

“I have to work.” She might only have the one job now, but it was important to her. How was she supposed to get the money to leave if she—

Her thoughts skidded to an abrupt halt. She wasn't leaving town. She was staying, marrying Seth, and dealing with the consequences of her actions.

“You don't have to work anymore. In fact, I don't want you to work at all.”

Her hackles were up in an instant. Somehow she managed to control her fighting side. Seth was just looking out for her.
For the baby
. “What if I want to work?”

He sighed. “For once will you just let me take care of you? Is that so hard?”

It was impossible, but she could try. She
would
try. She was only making things harder for them. But it was all she had known. She had struggled to fit in, struggled to make ends meet, struggled to be a part. Now she would have all that and more as Seth's wife. “Okay.”

“Good, because I already called Chuck and told him you wouldn't be coming back.”

She was on her feet in a heartbeat. “You what?”

He wrapped his hand around her wrist and pulled her back into her seat. “Calm down, Jess. I was thinking of you at the time.”

“I can see that.”

He shook his head. “I thought you were going to let me take care of you.”

“That was before I knew you had already gone behind my back and resigned me from my job.”

His handsome face pulled into a frown. “You lost me.”

Tears rose into her eyes. “Everything's happening so fast.” Way too fast. All her plans had changed. Everything. She was staying in Cattle Creek, getting married, having a baby. Her life was no longer her own.

“Shhh . . .” He pulled her to him. “You shouldn't be working that hard. You're pregnant, remember?”

She sniffed. “How can I forget?”

“It's okay,” he murmured. “It's all going to be okay. I just
don't want you to have to worry about anything. You can understand that, right?”

He gently rocked her back and forth. She loved the feel of his hand as he smoothed her hair. More than anything she wanted it to be okay. But her life had spun out of her control. First her grandmother. Now this. Early on in her life she'd had to learn what was within her control and what wasn't. She couldn't stop the vicious rumors and all the talk about her family. That was one thing that got to her from time to time, but that she had learned to largely ignore.

But her job, where she was going to live, and who she was going to marry had all been things she used to identify as her own. Now all that had been taken from her as well.

Yet she had lost her desire to fight it all. Or maybe she was just tired.

“Yes.” She sniffed.

He pulled away and wiped the pad of his thumb against her cheek, capturing the last lingering tear. “Let me worry about providing for us and where we're going to live and you just worry about getting together a wedding and growing a baby. Deal?”