The Bridal Path: Danielle (18 page)

“You cannot.”

“Then let me come with you.”

Slade was beginning to see every bit of progress the boys had made under Dani’s care slip away. Timmy was reverting to the same difficult child he’d been when they’d first arrived in Riverton. He recalled the conversation they’d had a few weeks earlier and concluded that perhaps Timmy was worried that if Slade left them alone, they would never see him again.

“Timmy, there is no reason to be scared. It’s only for one night,” he assured him, hunkering down and looking his son in the eyes. “I will see you first thing tomorrow morning. I promise.”

“I’m not scared,” Timmy insisted. “I just don’t want to go.”

Now Kevin’s chin started to wobble. “Does that mean we can’t go? I want to.” Huge tears rolled down his cheeks. “I love the ranch and the horses and everything.”

Slade wondered how any single parent in his position ever managed to date again. He gathered both boys close and rested his chin atop Kevin’s head.

“Guys, please, do this for me. It’s really, really important or I wouldn’t be asking.”

Apparently well aware that the matter rested in his big brother’s hands, Kevin turned his tear-streaked face to Timmy. “Please. Pirate and I will be with you every second. Nothing bad will happen.”

Timmy, though, clearly understood what Kevin did not, that bad things did happen all the time and that they often weren’t within anyone’s control. He shuddered, but then his expression turned stoic.

“Okay, do what you want,” he muttered. “You will anyway.”

Slade hugged him, grateful even for such grudging agreement. “Thank you.”

He just prayed that he wasn’t being totally selfish and giving Sara and Jake more trouble than the two of them could handle. Of course, Sara was a Wilde. She could probably handle an invading army without batting an eye.

* * *

It was almost 11:00 a.m. and there was no sign of Timmy and Kevin. Dani had gotten no answer when she’d tried to call Slade’s house, either. What on earth had happened to them? They were usually here by eight, nine at the latest on those days when Slade got to working on the computer and forgot all about waking them.

She went over and over everything that had happened recently. Even though Slade had declared that he would not marry her or continue an affair with her, the boys had continued to show up at the house like clockwork. Only Slade had kept out of sight. It had been three weeks, one day and sixteen hours since she’d last set eyes on him.

Now the boys were missing, too. Was Slade worried that they were becoming too dependent on her? Had Timmy been asking about marriage again? Was Slade the kind of man who’d simply pack up his two kids and bolt because of the pressure she had put on him? She simply couldn’t believe that of him. Besides, after his last and supposedly final declaration, she had forced herself to let the matter of marriage drop.

When the phone rang, she snatched it up on the first ring. “Yes?”

“My, my, you sound anxious,” Ashley observed.

“Oh, it’s you.”

“Don’t sound so thrilled. I thought you’d be in a better mood, all things considered.”

“What things?”

Ashley fell silent.

“Ashley, what things?” Dani demanded.

“Never mind. I shouldn’t have called. Bye.”

She hung up before Dani could ask another single thing. She dialed her sister at home, but either Ashley had called from somewhere else or she wasn’t about to pick up and answer questions.

Thoroughly unsettled, Dani called Sara, not really expecting to find her at home, either. She was usually off rounding up cows or something. To her surprise, though, Sara answered.

“Hi, what’s up?” Sara said cheerfully.

“You tell me.”

“What?”

“Oh, never mind,” she said. Clearly Sara was going to be just as tight-lipped as Ashley.

“Dani, is everything okay?”

“Slade hasn’t been by with the boys,” she finally admitted. “He’s not at home, either.”

“I see.” Sara drew in a deep breath. “Actually, the boys are here,” she confessed, sounding ever so slightly guilty.

Dani was shocked. “At the ranch? Why?”

“They came for a visit, that’s all.”

“Sara, what is it you’re not telling me?”

“Whoops, gotta run. Jake’s calling. We’re taking the boys on a picnic.”

“Sara Wilde Dawson, don’t you dare hang up on me.”

“Bye-bye,” her sister said, and then defied her by hanging up in her ear.

She glanced up from the phone to see Slade standing at the kitchen door. Somehow she knew that he was at the center of this sudden conspiracy of silence. Though she had to admit she was ridiculously glad to see him, her irritation with all the secrecy was stronger. She grabbed up a cast-iron skillet and waved it at him.

“Would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?” she demanded.

Slade grinned. “Uh-oh, somebody’s got their drawers in a knot.”

“Don’t you patronize me, you rat. Why are the boys at Three-Stars? Why aren’t they right here with me? And what do Sara and Ashley know that I don’t?”

He held up his fingers and ticked off his answers. “One, I took them to Three-Stars. Two, because I want them there. And, three, they know that I have plans for you.”

She stared at him. “Plans?”

He nodded. “Interested?”

“That depends.”

“On?”

“Exactly what you have in mind.” Though her annoyance was rapidly fading, it wasn’t quite gone yet. He couldn’t just come waltzing in here as if the past three weeks of separation had never occurred. He was going to pay for the misery he’d put her through.

She gave him a haughty look. “Why was I the last one to find out anything about these plans of yours?”

“Because you weren’t here when I called earlier,” he responded reasonably. “Where were you?”

“I took some things over to the store. I do have an answering machine, though. You could have left a message.”

“And spoil the surprise?”

“Didn’t you realize I’d worry?”

He had the grace to look a little guilty at that. “I suppose I should have thought of that. I was just anxious to take the boys to the ranch before Sara changed her mind about keeping them.” He tried that winning smile on her again. “I got here as fast as I could.”

Despite her exasperation, she was melting fast, no doubt about it. “Did you really?”

“I sped all the way. It was a wonder the sheriff didn’t pick me up and lock me away.”

“That fast, huh?”

He nodded and took a cautious step inside, one eye on the frying pan still in her hand. “Okay?” he asked. “Are you going to put that thing down or use it on my head?”

She set the skillet carefully on the stove, then tilted her head to study him. “You look awfully smug about something. What’s on your mind?”

“Sex,” he said.

He looked so darned serious that she had to smother a laugh. She was beginning to get the picture. No wonder he’d been racing around the countryside this morning. If she was reading his eagerness correctly, she found it rather touching. No, she corrected, it was actually downright thrilling. No need to let him know that, though. Clearly he’d thought things through and changed his mind about the two of them. She wondered why.

“Oh, really?” she commented, fascinated. “And how did that notion get planted in your mind when you went to great lengths to tell me we could never have sex again?”

“You put it there.”

Her mouth dropped open at that. “I haven’t even seen you.”

“Precisely.”

Her pulse skipped. This was very encouraging. “Did you miss me?”

“That’s one explanation,” he agreed. “At any rate, I’ve been thinking.”

“About me,” she concluded.

“About you,” he confirmed.

“So you dumped the kids on my sister and came over here for sex?”

He blinked at the blunt summation. “It wasn’t that way,” he protested. “At least, not exactly.”

Dani found she was rather enjoying this. The collapse of his resistance was definitely worth the agonizing wait. “Do you or do you not want to have sex with me?”

A spark of pure desire flared in his eyes. “Oh, yes,” he said softly, catching her in his arms. “But not until after I’ve wined you and dined you.”

“At eleven-thirty in the morning? We’d have to go to Stella’s Diner, and that’s awfully public for what you apparently have in mind.”

“Forget Stella’s, definitely. We could start with a picnic,” he suggested. “And take it from there.”

Now that he’d apparently overcome all those doubts and qualms he’d been spewing on his last visit, Dani wasn’t taking any chances that a delay would get him to thinking again. She framed his face with her hands and looked directly into his eyes. “I say we start with breakfast in bed.”

His lips curved into a smile. “Do you, now?”

“Any objections?”

“Not a one.”

She stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss against his mouth. “Breakfast won’t take but a minute to fix.”

“A minute’s far too long to wait,” he said, and claimed her lips again with a hungry, demanding kiss that set off a swarm of butterflies in her tummy and sent all thoughts of breakfast scattering.

“It is, isn’t it?” she murmured, and headed for the stairs, Slade in tow.

She had reached the bedroom door when a thought struck her. “Damn,” she murmured.

She looked up to find Slade’s worried gaze fixed on her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I suppose.”

“Dani, if you want to wait, it’s okay. This isn’t the way I’d planned for this to happen, anyway.”

“No, no,” she assured him. “It’s not that. It’s just that…” She hesitated. How could she tell him that the next time they slept together, she’d wanted to be wearing slinky black lace lingerie that would knock his socks off?

“What?” he prodded.

She gazed into his eyes, which had darkened with passion, and concluded that the kind of lingerie she wore didn’t matter a hoot. Slade Watkins wanted her and he’d gone to great extremes today to have her.

If she had her way and if she was reading today’s change of heart correctly, the black lace would do very nicely when they finally got around to a honeymoon.

Chapter Thirteen

D
ani had absolutely no idea what had drawn Slade back into her arms after his firm declaration to stay away, but she wasn’t about to fight it. The day they shared was thoroughly romantic and filled with so much passion that every minute she was sure he was only a breath or two away from making that lifelong commitment that so terrified him.

She fought the desire to nudge him just a little, convinced that she had already done all she could to prove that they were compatible in every respect. The decision about marriage was in his hands now. He had to wrestle with whatever demons there were from his first marriage and conquer them.

She sighed and opened her eyes to find him staring at her.

“I never knew that being with a woman could be like this,” he told her, running his hand over her body, which stirred instantly. His slightest touch was proving to be pure magic. “You make me feel…”

She ended his search for the right word by suggesting lightly, “Exhausted?”

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I could never get tired of you.”

Never, she thought happily. That was forever. An eternity. Why couldn’t he get out the words that would guarantee that?

She reminded herself yet again to be patient. Everything was moving along quite nicely. Now was not the time to rock the boat. Besides, she had risked her pride once by asking him to marry her. She couldn’t do it again.

“Shall we go out to dinner?” he asked, tucking a strand of typically wayward hair behind her ear. “I made reservations at the inn just outside of town. Everyone says they have the best food around.”

Dani lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

He grinned at her testiness. “Outside of yours, of course.”

“Smart answer.”

“Shall we go and try some of their inferior food for dinner anyway?”

“We still haven’t had breakfast,” she reminded him, not bothering to hide her reluctance to leave what suddenly seemed to be a most enchanted home. As long as they remained safe, here in her bed, she was convinced nothing could tear them apart. “I promised you that hours ago.”

“All the more reason to rally and go somewhere for a quiet, romantic dinner.”

“I could fix dinner,” she countered, fighting to keep from sharing him with the outside world.

“I want your attention on me, not on all your pots and pans.”

With her gaze locked with his, she deliberately traced a finger down the center of his chest as she reminded him, “There’s no privacy in a restaurant.”

He grinned at her tactic and snagged her roving hand. “That is the trade-off.” Without looking away, he provocatively drew each finger deep into his mouth, then asked, “Just how fast can you cook?”

Even with her knees so weak they probably wouldn’t hold her, she vowed, “I can have a rejuvenating steak on the table in twenty minutes.”

“Baked potato?”

She weighed the possibilities. “If you’ll scrub them and pop them into the microwave, though I must admit I am offended by that particular shortcut. The skins wind up all wrinkly.”

He chuckled at that. “I’m surprised you even own a microwave.”

She shrugged. “It was a gift from Daddy. He thought it would get me out of the kitchen.”

“Poor deluded man.”

“He’s not nearly as wise as you are. You love my cooking.”

“Usually,” he agreed. “Right now I’m just interested in sustenance. I think I might even settle for a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

“I can definitely do better than that, but I’d better get started,” she said, grabbing a robe off the chair beside the bed. “I’d hate to see your amazing stamina weaken.”

“Not a chance of that with you around,” he said, promising to join her downstairs in a minute.

The comment sent Dani off to the kitchen feeling very feminine and very smug. To her surprise it was still daylight outside, though evening shadows were finally beginning to stretch over the yard. The scent of her roses was drifting in the open window…along with the sound of a dog whimpering and a child’s voice trying to shush it.