The Bridal Path: Danielle (13 page)

She certainly seemed to see herself as a woman who’d run out of options. And maybe in Riverton she had. The town wasn’t exactly crawling with bachelors. With the exception of a few old codgers on outlying ranches, who would no doubt have been glad to have a comely companion and decent cook around.

But Slade could have told Dani about a whole world that craved the kind of rich and unconditional love she had to give. There seemed little point in wasting it on a man as uninterested in love and marital ties as he was. He’d played that game and failed at it miserably. There was no reason to think he could get it right the second time around. In the end, he would only disappoint her.

“I’m not asking you to love me, if that’s what’s worrying you,” she said bluntly, somehow reading his mind.

“Just to marry you,” he said, holding back a desire to smile at her simplistic view of the deal she wanted to strike.

She nodded.

“Why would a beautiful, intelligent woman like you marry without love?”

Her thoughtful expression lasted for some time before she said, “It seems to me there are two kinds of love–that blinding, love-at-first-sight kind and the kind that grows slowly.”

She smiled at him and shrugged as if they were discussing something as simple and uncomplicated as growing a vegetable garden, rather than one of life’s most intricate and tricky relationships.

“I’d rather take my chances on the latter,” she explained. “I’m willing to put in the time and hard work it takes to make a marriage succeed. I won’t cut and run when that first glow wears off.”

Again Slade was startled by her unknowing insight into his own heart. He’d been wild about Amanda, stunned by her beauty and enchanted by her zest for life. That sweet haze of enchantment had worn off for both of them practically before the ink was dry on the wedding license. When it was gone, there had been nothing left except two little boys who wondered why their mother never came home anymore.

When Amanda had died a slow, painful death from injuries she’d received in another man’s car in a middle-of-the-night wreck, Slade had faced the knowing looks and expressions of sympathy with stoic, bitter silence. He hadn’t been able to get away from Denver and all the gossip fast enough. The small Victorian home in Riverton, left to him years ago by his maternal grandparents, had been a godsend, a haven to him as a child, remembered warmly as an adult.

Perhaps Dani Wilde was yet another godsend. Impulsively, he leaned over and kissed her, drawn by some indefinable need of his own. It was a soft, tender exploration that brought a sigh to her lips and reassurance to his heart.

Suddenly the whole crazy idea did begin to make sense. Or maybe he’d just succumbed to the desperate longing he heard behind her words. He might not know a thing about women, but he understood a whole lot about desperation. He’d faced it head-on the day he’d awakened and realized that the rearing of his two sons was entirely in his hands.

Because it suited his purposes, he tried to convince himself now that maybe a marriage of convenience wouldn’t be half as bad as a marriage based on love that turned sour before the first anniversary.

Because it had felt so good, so right, he kissed her once more, tasting the sweetness of her lips, lingering to savor the softness. This kiss lasted far, far longer. It was clearly a prelude to something. Perhaps the future, perhaps just more of the intoxicating lovemaking that had brought them to this point.

“Was that a yes?” she asked, sounding breathless, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

He brushed his thumb across her lower lip and shook his head. At the quick flaring of disappointment in her eyes, he allowed himself a smile.

“But it was a definite maybe.”

Chapter Nine

M
aybe.
Truthfully, it was more than Dani had had any reason to hope for. Slade hadn’t laughed in her face. He hadn’t flat-out said no, though he’d looked for one interminable minute as if he might.

He’d said maybe. And if she knew almost nothing else about him, she knew that Slade Watkins always meant what he said. He was a man of few words, but he made each and every one count.

She clung to that knowledge all through the night as she cradled the pillow that still carried his wonderfully intriguing, purely masculine scent. She, Dani Wilde, had actually popped the most important question of her life and Slade Watkins had said maybe. It was enough to keep her downright giddy for a month.

But she didn’t have a minute, much less a month to waste. She couldn’t sit back now and hope nature took its course.

No, if Slade was going to be considering her marriage proposal, then she was going to have to do everything in her power to weave some sort of spell he wouldn’t be able to resist. She would have to keep him so off balance, so fascinated with her that marriage would eventually seem as inevitable to him as it did to her.

The trouble was she’d never been much good with playing provocative games or flirting. The stakes had always seemed too high. She was too self-conscious, too vulnerable to risk being rebuffed. Her brazen marriage proposal to Slade had been her first foray into a more daring pattern for her life, and it had scared her practically spitless.

But she’d survived. She’d faced her fear of rejection and overcome it. Now it was on to step two, whatever the heck that was. She hadn’t entirely expected to ever need a step two. She’d been counting on a quick yes or no. Now that she needed a more detailed plan of action, she was at a loss.

Fortunately, she had two sisters who’d never been the least bit shy around men or at a loss about much of anything. Sara had won her husband with that outrageous all-or-nothing bet. Ashley had mistakenly bopped Dillon with a lamp and managed to win his heart anyway. Surely they would be good for some sisterly advice. An easy-to-follow, impossible-to-screw-up list–Five Steps To Catching The Man Of Your Dreams–would be nice, especially if step two was an awe-inspiring, spectacular doozy that would practically eliminate the need for steps three, four and five. She vowed to speak to them on Sunday.

* * *

Of course, getting her two sisters alone during the traditional Sunday family dinner at Three-Stars was almost as complicated as the logistics for staging a military maneuver. Dillon was so disgustingly besotted with his wife that he rarely let her out of his sight for long. Sara had just discovered a more domestic side to her nature. She tended to fuss over the dinner preparations, much to the dismay of their longtime housekeeper, who considered the kitchen to be her domain. Annie’s expression turned increasingly sour each time Sara invaded the kitchen. Ashley and Dani spent an awful lot of time smoothing ruffled feathers.

And then, of course, there was her father. He seemed to have some sort of radar when it came to detecting a scheme afoot. He spent most of Sunday hovering around Dani, asking questions about Slade, poking and prodding about their relationship until she wanted to scream. She vowed then and there to invite Mrs. Fawcett to dinner next Sunday just to distract him.

It was Sara who finally rescued her.

“Daddy, why don’t you go out to the barn and check out the new foal?” she suggested. “Jake isn’t happy with the way she’s developing.”

Jake looked a little startled, but he was smart enough to guess that something was going on and to take the broad hint that the men’s presence wasn’t needed.

“Come on, Trent.” He glanced at his brother-in-law and rolled his eyes. “You, too, Dillon. Ashley will still be here when you get back.”

“If he’s lucky,” Ashley retorted, then kissed Dillon soundly before adding, “And he is always very lucky.”

Looking very reluctant, Dillon tore himself away and headed for the barn with the other men. Dani suspected that what he knew about horses would fit on the head of a pin, but he enjoyed Trent’s and Jake’s company well enough to sacrifice a few minutes with his wife to be with them.

“Okay,” Sara said to Dani the minute the men were out of earshot. “What is wrong with you? You’ve been jumpy as a june bug since you got here.”

“It’s love,” Ashley said, her own gaze still on the doorway through which her husband had disappeared. “I recognize the symptoms.”

“Could you forget Dillon for just a minute?” Sara said impatiently. “Dani needs us.” She looked at Dani. “You do need us, don’t you?”

“Though it pains me greatly to admit it, I do,” Dani confirmed. “I need you to tell me how to convince a man that he can’t live without me.”

They didn’t seem especially surprised by the request.

“Slade, I presume,” Sara said.

“Who else? Have you seen any other candidates around town?” Ashley commented. “So, where do things stand between the two of you now?”

Dani described exactly what had transpired the night before. Actually, she stuck pretty much to the conversation she and Slade had had. There was no point in telling her sisters that it had followed a seduction that had finally, at long last, ended what she’d been convinced was the longest virginity on record. If they knew about that, they’d chase Slade down with a shotgun and the whole marriage thing would be out of her hands. She wanted him, but on her own terms.

Instead of solid, reliable advice, though, her description of her dilemma drew hoots of laughter. She regarded the pair of them with indignation.

“A fine lot of help you are,” she muttered.

“But, Dani, you can’t be serious,” Sara protested. “You can’t mean to just walk up to a man you’ve barely met and propose.”

“That would be so–” Ashley began.

Dani cut her off. She didn’t need a lecture. She needed help.

“Weren’t either of you listening? I’ve already done that. It’s a fait accompli,” she reminded them. “All I want from the two of you is advice on how to get him to accept.”

“You’ve asked Slade Watkins to marry you,” Ashley said, her expression incredulous.

“Isn’t that what I just said?” Dani snapped impatiently.

“A man you barely know,” Ashley said, echoing Sara.

“I’ve known him for weeks now,” Dani protested.

Sara looked equally as dazed as her younger sister. “I don’t believe this.”

“I have,” Dani replied with a defiant lift of her chin. “Now, would you tell me why that’s one bit different from anything you two would do under the same circumstances?” She scowled at Sara. “Weren’t you the one who suggested I just find some candidate for fatherhood and get pregnant without even bothering with a wedding? Is this any worse than that?”

“But how could you?” Sara asked, ignoring Dani’s question. “It sounds so…so desperate.”

Tears stung Dani’s eyes. They didn’t get it. She hadn’t expected this kind of reaction from her sisters, of all people. They, more than anyone, knew how important having a family of her own was to her. Turning to Ashley, who had grown quiet, she thought she detected a stirring of sympathy. With a familiar flash of temper, Ashley, too, scowled at Sara.

“And you weren’t desperate when you proposed that bull-riding contest to Jake?” she demanded of Sara. “Let’s give Dani a break here. Obviously this is important to her.” Turning back to Dani, she asked, “What did he say?”

“He said maybe,” Dani said, unable to keep just a hint of triumph out of her voice. “I need to turn that into a yes, preferably in a hurry.”

Sara looked more dismayed than ever. “You aren’t pregnant, are you?”

“Oh, good grief,” Dani muttered.

“Well, the question is not that outrageous,” Sara said defensively. “You said you wanted to get married in a hurry.”

“I’m thirty, for goodness sakes. It’s time, if I ever expect to have any babies of my own.”

Ashley turned a quizzical expression on Dani. “Do you love him?”

“I don’t know exactly what I feel,” she admitted, keeping to herself the tingly way she felt in his presence, the warmth that spread through her when she so much as thought of Slade or his boys. Those feelings deepened with each moment she spent in their presence. Was that love? Or just the start of it?

Then, of course, there was the magical way she felt in his arms. For now, though, that was private. It was going to stay that way, if she had anything to say about it. Based on Ashley’s and Sara’s initial reactions to what she had told them, some secrets were definitely better kept even from a woman’s closest confidantes.

“Then why would you do this, if not for love?” Ashley asked reasonably. “I don’t get it. Thirty is not that old. You can have babies for ages yet. You can adopt more. You can fill the whole house with babies, if that’s what really matters here.”

“Whether she’ll admit it or not, she wants a husband, too, and she’s doing it because she’s convinced Slade is her last chance,” Sara commented. “I told you she’s desperate.”

Dani was beginning to regret opening up this entire can of worms. She also bitterly resented being labeled as desperate. She viewed her actions in a far more positive light.

“I’m just going after my dream,” she snapped. “Both of you should know all about that. I didn’t make fun of you when you fought tooth and nail to get the ranch, Sara.”

“No, you didn’t laugh. But you sure as heck tried to talk me out of that bronc-riding contest.”

“Because you could have been killed,” Dani explained for the millionth time. “This is different.” She frowned at Ashley. “I supported you when you wanted to run off to New York to become a model.”

Ashley sighed. “That’s true.”

“You say you tried to stop me from being hurt, but you could be hurt, too,” Sara protested.

“It’s not the same,” Dani argued. “The only thing I’m likely to bruise is my pride, and even that won’t happen if you two will stop making judgments and just help me.”

Whatever her own misgivings, Ashley shot a quelling look at Sara. “I say we do it, right, Sara?”

Though her expression was still as skeptical as ever, Sara nodded slowly. “Well, of course,” she said. “I never said I wouldn’t help. I just said the whole idea is–”

“Sara!” Ashley and Dani warned together.

Sara grinned. “Okay, okay. Preposterous or not, if you want Slade Watkins, we’ll show you how to get him. The man won’t know what hit him.”