The Bridal Path: Danielle (12 page)

“Don’t answer me yet. Think about it.”

If she had her way, it was unlikely he’d be able to think about anything else for some time to come.

Chapter Eight

S
lade was absolutely certain he couldn’t have heard Dani correctly. He thought she’d asked him to marry her. Was it possible that out of the blue, just like that, the woman had proposed?

Of course not. Women didn’t do that sort of thing. He shook his head to clear it, but the same words echoed and then he remembered belatedly that it was one of the infamous Wilde sisters with whom he was dealing. They were notorious for doing the unexpected.

“Marry me.”

There it was again. No matter how absurd it seemed, it sure as hell sounded like a marriage proposal. He couldn’t think of any other spin to put on two words as direct as those.

Not that they weren’t in the sort of intimate situation at the moment that might stir thoughts of marriage and a future in some women. Hadn’t he warned himself of the potential for that very thing with Dani? Hadn’t he reminded himself again and again that she was a forever kind of woman? She’d been a virgin, which should have been proof enough that she didn’t take sex lightly.

But even knowing all of the potential dangers in terms of emotional entanglement, he hadn’t been able to resist her. In fact, the past hour had been incredible, as tempestuous as any he’d ever spent. Dani had been everything a man could ever want in a lover–sweetly sensual, wildly passionate, generously giving. A lover, though, not a wife.

The thought of marrying again had never crossed his mind. Marriage was a sore subject with him. If he had his way, he would never chance it. His marriage to Amanda had been a terrible mistake, one he didn’t plan to repeat. Surely he had made that clear to the woman beside him. Even if he’d never said the words, he’d dropped clues, danced around the subject, done everything, in fact, except spell it out.

Apparently he hadn’t been clear enough, he realized as he gazed into expectant brown eyes. The subject had deserved explicit statements, not innuendos.

Shock left him speechless for several minutes. Embarrassment rendered him tongue-tied.

He thought about the past few weeks. Had all the signs been there? Had he missed the fact that she was falling for him? He’d been convinced that she was far crazier about the boys than she was about him.

Oh, sure, the sparks of desire had been in her eyes every now and again. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have found themselves in the middle of her bed on a hot and humid July night. He certainly couldn’t blame their presence here on Dani alone, either. She’d flat-out admitted to him earlier that she had never done anything like this before, and the evidence had been there, too. She’d been a virgin and eager enough to change that.

He cursed his insensitivity. He had taken advantage of a sweet, innocent virgin with nothing more on his mind than the night ahead. She’d clearly had more on her mind. A lot more.

But marriage? How the hell had he missed that one coming?

Now that it was out in the open, though, he was thunderstruck. Feeling a little shaky and a lot desperate, he reached for his pants and then his shirt. He needed clothes–and neutral turf–for the difficult conversation they definitely needed to have right this second, before things got any further out of hand.

“Maybe we’d better talk about this somewhere else,” he suggested.

“Someplace less…cozy?” she inquired, looking amused and not the least bit offended by his less-than-enthusiastic response to her proposal.

“Exactly,” he said, dragging on his shirt and heading for the door, impressed in spite of himself with her calm. Any other woman would have been totally humiliated by his stunned reaction. Dani appeared to be taking it in stride.

“Fine,” she said.

She was still so blasted cheerful he wanted to spit. In fact, he concluded after daring a look straight into her eyes, she seemed to have expected his reaction. That suggested that this wasn’t some impulsive, spur-of-the-moment idea that he could dismiss with an appropriate dose of logic. He had the distinct impression she was going to have a laundry list of positives to counter anything he could come up with in his befuddled state of mind.

“Dani–” he began, but she waved him off.

“It’s okay. You go ahead,” she insisted. “You can serve up that pot roast if you’re hungry now. I’ll be downstairs in a second.”

As eager as he was to be gone so he could collect his thoughts, Slade had the feeling that he ought to be staying right where he was. Who knew what other crazy ideas she might come up with when he wasn’t looking. Still, he went.

Guilt and dismay warred inside him as he paced up and down in the kitchen and waited for the uncomfortable conversation that was ahead. He had to find some way to let her down easily, to explain that although he appreciated so many things about her, he wasn’t in love with her. He didn’t even believe in love anymore.

Maybe telling her that would be enough. A romantic like Dani would be shocked, maybe even appalled by such a declaration. She probably wouldn’t even want a cynic like him in her life.

Or she might consider him more of a challenge than ever, he concluded wearily. She was that kind of woman. She was a Wilde.

As he paced and debated, he tried to ignore the aroma of that damned pot roast, but its allure was almost as powerful as that of the woman who was awaiting his reply to her proposal. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d had a decent pot roast. It was something his mother had enjoyed serving, but Amanda had disliked most meat. The scent of well-cooked beef and spices and rich gravy had his mouth watering and his head filling with memories he was so certain had been forgotten. Memories of home. Memories of a mother who’d been a whole lot like Dani in her ability to nurture, if not in her ability to stand up to the stubbornness of Duke Watkins.

In what felt a lot like an act of rebellion–though he couldn’t for the life of him determine against whom–he finally scooped some meat and vegetables onto two plates and irritably slammed them onto the table.

Dani breezed in a minute later, wrapped in some sort of slinky, sexy robe that was practically indecent. He couldn’t seem to drag his gaze away from the way it clung to her breasts, outlining her nipples in provocative detail. Where the devil were the jeans and T-shirts she usually wore, he thought to himself. She’d lingered long enough upstairs to put on real clothes. He’d expected protective barriers, layers of them, in fact. Instead, she’d sashayed down here looking all tousled and wanton. She was practically irresistible.

Determined not to succumb to this latest temptation, he sat down and focused his attention on forking the pot roast into his mouth, bite by deliberate bite. When he finally dared to glance up, he saw that she was watching him with that same amused, knowing expression.

“It’s okay, you know. You don’t have to worry about giving me an answer now,” she reminded him. “I know my proposal must have come as something of a surprise, but it makes sense, really.”

Surprise? That was an understatement, if ever he’d heard one. Slade stared, trying to follow her unspoken logic. When he couldn’t, he echoed, “Makes sense? How?”

While his head was still reeling, she systematically piled reason upon reason, until the whole idiotic scheme did begin to make a crazy sort of sense. There were sensible, practical reasons that seemed to have a lot to do with her being able to fix meals and get them on the table. The pot roast seemed to be her primary exhibit. Hearing that, he dropped his fork so quickly that gravy splattered on the pristine tablecloth.

Then there were emotional considerations, such as how much she adored the boys and vice versa. He had no arguments for that, none at all.

Finally she added what she clearly considered the coup de grace.

“Also, it’s clear to everyone in town that the boys were…” She hesitated. “Well, they were a bit out of control, if you don’t mind my saying so.”

Slade minded her saying so like crazy, but truth was truth. Until Dani had taken charge, Timmy and Kevin had seldom missed an opportunity to stir up trouble. At ten and eight, there was only so much damage they could cause. He had hated to think what they might do when they hit their teens.

Even so, it rankled to have this woman remind him he had been a lousy father until she had prodded him into doing otherwise. He had been doing the best he could–under trying circumstances–to make up for past neglect.

In fact, he had convinced himself that he and the boys were starting to do just fine on their own. And while Kevin and Timmy were definitely more of a handful than he’d expected, he thought things were going rather well. Nobody had gotten poisoned from his cooking or broken any bones so far.

Of course, he was forced to admit that Dani might have been largely responsible for that. She’d been sending more and more meals home with the kids lately, and she was responsible for them for a good percentage of their waking hours. She’d even sided with Timmy and somehow convinced him to coach a baseball team, even though it was a sport he’d never played himself. Thanks to Dani, they were turning into the damned Brady Bunch.

But even if he was satisfied with the way things had been going, he gathered that others in Riverton weren’t as impressed with his parenting skills. In fact, memories of the boys’ first pranks died hard. The disapproving glances he continued to receive every time the boys misbehaved were beginning to get on his nerves. Dani had a point about that.

“They’re a little rambunctious,” he conceded. “But they’ve been much better lately.”

She gave him that same sneaky, knowing smile. “Since they’ve been spending time with me?” she suggested.

Slade swallowed hard. He’d always believed in giving credit where credit was due, but he sensed that this time an admission was going to be a tactical blunder. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to deny her claim.

“You have been a good influence, no doubt about it.” He eyed her warily. “Maybe we could work out some sort of ongoing business deal even after the summer ends. They’ll be back in school soon. I’d pay you to look out for them after school, you know, to do the things a mother would do, like bake cookies and stuff.”

“Should I fill in for you at parent-teacher conferences, too?” she inquired a little tartly.

Slade winced. It was the first little slip in her composure, but he couldn’t take much pleasure in it. In fact, as soon as the words had come out of his mouth, he had recognized exactly how insulting they were. She was proposing to marry him. He was offering to pay her to be a surrogate mommy, when she clearly wanted to be the real thing.

He fully expected to feel one of those fantastic blueberry pies of hers smashed in his face. Surprisingly, the prospect wasn’t all that distasteful. He’d grown very fond of those pies. And, if he were being totally honest, of the woman who baked them.

Instead of being smothered in blueberries, though, he heard a distinctly merry chuckle that had a disconcerting effect on his pulse. When he met Dani’s gaze, he saw that far from taking serious offense at his suggestion, she found it–or his continued resistance–thoroughly amusing. Clearly, Dani Wilde was a most remarkable woman.

He took another look at her. Less than an hour ago they had been as close as it was possible for two people to be, and yet now it was as if he were seeing her for the first time.

He took the time he should have taken earlier to survey her closely. He started with the brunette hair she wore in a style that curled softly around her face, moved down past the decidedly feminine curves barely concealed by that slinky robe and ended with the tips of her bare toes. The flame-red nails, usually hidden inside dusty cowboy boots or sneakers, were so incongruous with her sweet image that the sight of them alone was enough to stir his blood.

He had the feeling that he had unleashed something in bed, something that was dangerous and wild, both in himself and in her. Even sitting here in the middle of her kitchen, with a plateful of tempting pot roast, his favorite food, all he could think about was carrying her back upstairs and tossing her onto that soft mattress and making love to her again.

And again.

But if the first time had drawn a proposal, what would happen following a repeat? Would she have the preacher waiting downstairs? He wouldn’t put it past her, given her attachment to surprises.

That determined, optimistic gleam in her eyes was definitely disconcerting. The lovely, gentle woman with the flyaway brown hair struck him as someone dedicated to a mission, and he seemed to be at the center of it. Her absolute serenity in the face of all his doubts and skepticism was the most disconcerting thing of all.

His gaze rose to clash with hers. Only one word came to mind, and it was at the heart of everything.

“Why?” he asked.

She smiled in a way that suggested aeons of feminine secrets, then shrugged. “Because the three of you need me,” she said simply.

Did they? he wondered. Certainly the boys needed someone to guide them and love them, to give them the kind of tenderness he wasn’t sure he understood. He, however, needed no one except his sons. He wanted Dani, but that was something else entirely.

Suddenly, before he could try to explain the difference to her, Slade gazed into her eyes and saw the kind of yearning that could break a man’s heart. He guessed, then, that the real need here was hers, not theirs. Or perhaps some blending of the two.

How had he missed it? Her father’s attitude, the meddling of her sisters, all of it pointed to an almost desperate desire to see Dani wed and settled down with a family of her own.

He suspected it was more than the fact that she was almost thirty and unwed. It was the fact that she was a woman who had always craved a home and family. Nurturing was what she did, as naturally and enthusiastically as another woman might climb a corporate ladder. So far, though, she’d been lavishing all that love and attention on her father and sisters and on friends and neighbors.

She was impatient with the pace of her own love life, and now literally everyone in town seemed dedicated to seeing that she got her heart’s desire. He wondered how many of them viewed him as her last and best hope.