Wild Montana Nights (21 page)

enough last time.”

“I think you’ll be happy. Marcus bought out the underwear section

of the store.”

Randall laughed and squeezed her. “Did you model it for him?”

“No! Are you crazy? There were other people in the store. I was

embarrassed as it was.”

“Now what do you have to be embarrassed about?” Randall asked,

his brows furrowing across his forehead.

“He told the sales lady my underwear was worn out,” she hissed,

indignant all over again.

“Oops. I am sure that didn’t go over real well.” Randall tried to

keep the smile off his face but failed miserably. She punched him in

the arm, and Marcus opened the truck door to climb in.

“Is there anything else we need, Marcus?” Randall asked.

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Marcus fastened his seat belt and shook his head. “Can’t think of

anything.”

“Guess we can get on the road then. It’s going to be a little

tougher getting back since we’ll be going uphill.”

Darla didn’t say anything. She was still trying to calm down after

getting all upset over the underwear thing again. She wasn’t usually

so emotional about things. That kernel of an idea tried to gain a

foothold in her subconscious, but she shoved it back down again. She

wasn’t pregnant. She couldn’t be. They’d used condoms.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Marcus asked her. His

arm hugged her closer to him.

“Nothing, really. Just going back over the grocery list in my head

to be sure I didn’t forget something.”

Marcus looked like he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t challenge

her on it. Points for him. Randall, on the other hand, wasn’t so

believing.

“Looks like something more serious than that if you ask me.”

“I wasn’t asking you,” she huffed out.

He harrumphed and continued putting all of his concentration on

the road.

They arrived home at nearly five that afternoon. Marcus helped

her inside then returned to help Randall unload the groceries. She was to stay inside and put them away. Then they would drive over to the

barn and unload the feed. She methodically put everything away then

did the same with her new clothes. She blushed all over again when

she got to the underwear. Oops, excuse her, lingerie.

She had to admit the clothes would be much warmer and maybe

now that she had thermal underwear, not lingerie, they would let her

out of the house some when it was pretty outside. As it was now, she

couldn’t really say anything since her clothes didn’t keep her warm

outside.

Suddenly, her stomach heaved. She ran for the bathroom and was

sick. Whatever was going on? Had she eaten something to make her

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sick? Were Randall and Marcus sick? They’d all eaten the same thing,

and they had actually cleaned their plates. Long minutes later she

managed to get up from the floor by the toilet and wipe her face with a warm bath cloth. She brushed her teeth, which almost made her sick

again.

Darla decided she should lay down for awhile. A nap would be

nice, she decided. She would cook dinner in a little while. The men

would be busy outside for hours yet. She pulled off her boots and

climbed onto the bed. She pulled the blanket they kept folded at the

foot of the bed over her lower legs and promptly fell asleep.

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Chapter Twelve

Marcus filled Randall in on what all had gone on in the

department store and later in the grocery store. Randall found himself laughing over most of it.

“She was so pissed about it,” Marcus said after telling him about

the books.

“I suppose she feels like she shouldn’t spend our money. We need

to set her straight about that.” Randall threw another bag of grain

toward one of the hands.

“Yeah. I think she’s still trying to decide if I was serious about

calling her my fiancée. I suppose I shouldn’t have said that without

talking it over with you, but I wanted to be sure they treated her

right.” Marcus dropped a bag into his brother’s arms.

“It’s okay. We should have talked to her before we went into

town. We’ve really got a lot to talk to her about. I got the dossier from our lawyer. I decided not to read it. I put it in the desk drawer to shred when we have the chance. I vote we talk to her tonight,” Randall said.

“If you think so, then yeah, tonight is as good as any other.”

“If she was pissed over the underwear and the books, she’s really

gonna be upset about this,” Marcus admitted.

Randall had a sinking feeling in his gut about the background

check. He was sure it was going to bite them on the ass when it came

out. He just hoped they could smooth it over with her. Surely she

would understand they loved her and weren’t thinking straight. They

just wanted to keep her with them. Then again, he thought, she might

not understand at all.

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It was past dark when they finally climbed up the porch steps and

walked into the kitchen. They looked around and frowned. Everything

was cold. There was no sign of Darla. Randall’s first thought was that she’d left them. But he knew her car was in the garage a check in the junk drawer produced her keys. She probably knew they were there,

but they hadn’t told her where they were or even where her car was.

“Let’s check upstairs,” Marcus said in a near whisper. “She has to

be there.”

They climbed the stairs almost at a dead run and slid down the

hall to the bedroom door. It was slightly ajar. Marcus reached the

room first and flung open the door. Randall was right behind him.

There on the bed was Darla curled on her side sound asleep.

“Guess we wore her out today,” Marcus said in a low voice.

“Shhh, come on,” Randall said, indicating they should step back

out in the hall.

Randall closed the door behind them. He didn’t want to wake her

up.

“We’ll let her sleep. Let’s cook something easy and eat. Then

when she wakes up, we can fix her something.” Randall nodded

toward the stairs. “I’m going to go cover her and then I’ll be

downstairs,” he said.

Marcus nodded and started toward the stairs. Randall opened the

door again and carefully walked across the floor so as not to wake her up. He gently settled the blanket around her, covering her from toe to neck. He stood there just looking down at her for a long few minutes.

She appeared relaxed in sleep. He realized she hadn’t looked like that during the day in several days. Something was going on. He wanted

to figure out what it was, but they had agreed not to read the report.

God, he hoped she wasn’t regretting her declaration of love.

He backed out of the bedroom again and closed the door. Then he

went downstairs to help Marcus fix something to eat. She meant so

much to both of them. He hoped whatever was going on with her they

could fix. The alternative just wasn’t acceptable.

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They ate in silence and then washed up the dishes. Randall went

up and checked on her again. She hadn’t moved from that spot. It

worried him. Maybe she was coming down with something.

“I’m going to go check the horses. I’ll be back in a little bit,” he

told Marcus.

“I’ll watch for her. If she wakes up, I’ll fix her something to eat.”

Randall stepped outside into the cold air. The hills of snow on

either side of the path looked like walls closing in on him. He decided he needed to talk to one or both of his dads. There was so much he

didn’t know about courting a woman to be your wife. He and Marcus

both had played the field as teenagers and young men, but actually

trying to win someone’s hand in marriage was new to him.

After checking on the horses and spending a little time with the

one that had been sick, he thrust his hands in his pockets and

contemplated their options when it came to Darla. Nothing he came

up with seemed any easier than another. Maybe it would be best to

just tell her outright.

Finally he walked back to the house and found Marcus sitting on

the couch watching TV.

“She hasn’t stirred. I’m worried about her, Randall.”

“Me, too. Let’s get ready for bed and see from there how she is

when we get in bed with her,” Randall suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” Marcus stood up and switched off the TV

with the remote, then he followed Randall upstairs. “I’ll shower in my room.” He peeled off heading for his old room.

Randall eased the bedroom door open, and finding that she hadn’t

moved, he continued on into the bathroom. He quickly showered and

dried off. The cool air hit him, and he had to restrain himself from jumping under the covers. About that time Marcus walked in with a

towel around him.

“I’m freezing my balls off,” he said.

“Me, too. Ease into bed though so we don’t disturb her. She must

need the sleep.” Randall climbed into bed trying not to jar the bed.

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Marcus slipped under the covers as well.

“Ah hell,” Marcus said.

“What is it?” Randall asked.

“She’s cold as ice. We need to get her clothes off and get her

under all the covers.” Marcus rolled out of bed.

Randall slid out from under the covers and the two of them gently

undressed her before settling her between them under the blanket.

Randall checked to make sure his side of the electric blanket was on

high. She stirred a couple of times when they were undressing her and again when they settled her between them, but soon returned to a deep sleep. Randall began to really worry now.

An hour later, he was still awake making sure she warmed up and

didn’t have a fever. Her breathing was easy so he was sure she didn’t have bronchitis or pneumonia. Something was wrong though. She’d

never slept like this before.

Early the next morning, he was jolted awake when Darla climbed

over him and out of the bed. She ran for the bathroom and a few

seconds later retching could be heard.

“Ah, hell,” Marcus said behind him.

Randall climbed out of bed and went to help Darla however he

could. He wet a bath cloth and knelt beside her to wash her face. She didn’t look at him.

“Oh, baby. It’s okay. I’m here,” he soothed while he gently

rubbed her back.

“God, my stomach won’t quit churning.”

“Easy. It will pass,” he assured her. He had a feeling their time

had run out.

“I want to get up.” Darla tried to push away from the toilet but

couldn’t seem to get her feet under her.

Randall scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the

bed. Marcus pulled her back into his arms, murmuring nonsense in

her ear as he gently rubbed her shoulders. Randall eased back in bed, careful not to jar it. He wasn’t too sure if it would cause her to be sick
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again. Seeing her hanging over the toilet scared him. He didn’t like to think of her sick. Because he knew she was pregnant. It would explain why she was tired, not hungry, and grouchy at times. She would be

upset enough about that without telling her about the background

check.

He glanced over her head at Marcus. His brother had undoubtedly

come to the same conclusion. He looked as miserable as Randall felt.

Around eight, Randall got up and dressed to see about the animals

and meet with the hands. He needed them to handle the animals in the

mornings now, and he’d take the late afternoons. He would be there

for Darla if she needed him. It was the least he could do.

When he returned to the house, Marcus was in the kitchen pouring

a cup of coffee. He handed it to Randall and poured another one for

himself.

“She still asleep?” Randall asked.

“Yeah. She stirred a little when I got up but settled down again.”

“We’ve got to tell her, you know,” Randall said.

“I know. If she’s okay to talk, we should tell her tonight,” Marcus

decided.

“You’re thinking if we wait till night, she won’t be able to leave,

aren’t you?” Randall watched the worry roll over his brother’s face.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

A sound on the stairs alerted them that she was coming down.

Randall walked over to the doorway and waited on her. When she

appeared he grimaced. She looked frazzled, and she wouldn’t look

him in the eye.

“Morning, baby. Did you sleep okay last night?”

“Um yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t wake up to cook dinner last night. I

think I might have a bug.”

He led her into the kitchen and sat her in a chair. Marcus smiled at

her and went to kiss her, but she pulled back.

“I don’t want you to catch whatever I have.”

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Randall carried a glass of milk to her. He sat down next to her and

turned her face toward him with two fingers to her chin.

“Baby, I think you’re pregnant. Don’t you? You have all the

signs.” He watched her face.

“I can’t be. We’ve been using condoms. It has to be a virus.” She

shook her head.

Marcus cleared his throat and drew her attention.

“Remember, that first time the condom broke. It only takes once.

It will be okay, though. I promise. We’ll take good care of you and