The Rancher's Cinderella Bride Page 5

  “You know what kind of man Gabe Callahan is,” her mother said. “Besides being Dirkson Callahan’s son, he’s got a reputation for being wild and taking risks. He was a terrible influence on Hank. Your father is so unhappy to hear you’re going out with him.”

  Meg smiled at her mother. “I love you and I love my family with all my heart, but I have to live my life. I had a good time with Gabe and I want to see him again. Sorry, Mom, if no one in my family is happy with me, but I can’t date someone to please my family.”

  She patted her mother on her arm. “I’m not marrying Gabe next weekend. I’m just going out with him. And he moves in the same social circle Justin does. Now stop worrying. It’s just an evening with a friend.” She gave her mother a smile. “I better head home because I have a busy week ahead. Thanks again. Dinner was wonderful.”

  Her mother stood waving as she drove away. Meg sighed with relief because she felt another hurdle was over. Her family knew she was going out with Gabe.

  * * *

  Monday afternoon she received a text from Justin saying he wouldn’t be in until late Thursday night and asking her to dinner Friday. She declined, telling him she had a benefit to attend with one of her friends. Instead, she made plans to meet him at the café for a quick bite Thursday night. Suspecting he had heard about Gabe, she wanted to make their breakup official then. She was anxious to break the news to him about Gabe and she didn’t want to spend an entire evening with Justin to do so.

  She hadn’t heard a word from Gabe, but she hadn’t expected to. This was a favor he was doing for her and there wouldn’t be any reason for him to call to talk. She smiled at the thought. He probably wouldn’t give a thought to her or his agreement until the end of the week.

  Tuesday night Meg sat in her Dallas house and planned Saturday night at the formal country club where she and Gabe would be seen by Justin, his family and her family. She hoped Justin would be there with someone else. He hadn’t gotten around to asking her and she was certain he expected her to attend with him. That was, he would until she broke the news to him Thursday night. Meanwhile, she still needed to get a dress for Saturday night, and her makeover.

  She smiled in anticipation. Soon she would be free of her family’s meddling, thanks to Gabe. Now, if she could just resist his kisses, all would be well. No wonder half the eligible women in the county liked to go out with him.

  Thursday afternoon after work when she drove home, she was surprised to see Gabe’s black pickup in her driveway. Curious, she parked in her garage, took a glance at herself in the rearview mirror before she got out and smoothed her plaid cotton blouse and faded jeans. She wore scuffed brown boots and she had a navy band holding her hair back from her face—everything about her as plain as ever, she thought. She walked out to find him waiting near the gate that led to the back door. As she looked at him, her pulse jumped. In his black Stetson, jeans, black boots and a Western-style blue cotton shirt, he looked every inch the rancher he was. He also was handsome enough to be a celebrity. Slight dark stubble shaded his jaw, giving him a rugged touch that added to his appeal. How could she have gone all those years without noticing how handsome he was? He took her breath away now just standing still and doing nothing. And the closer she got, the better she could see the fantastic, thickly lashed blue eyes that made her heart beat faster.

  Another phenomenon that shocked her. Those blue eyes she had looked into all her life could make her heart race now. Go figure that one. She shook her head without realizing what she was doing.

  “Why are you shaking your head at me? Would you rather I get in my truck and go? What am I doing wrong?” he asked as she stopped in front of him.

  “You’re doing nothing wrong. It’s just that you’re the same as ever and at the same time, you’re not,” she said, unable to stop herself from revealing her thoughts. “Maybe I just never really noticed you. You have sinfully wicked blue eyes.” She was still shocked over his kiss and her reaction, and she couldn’t keep from telling him what she noticed now about him because she liked him and was struggling with the attraction.

  He grinned and placed his hands on his hips. “You’re putting me on to try to get me to be convincing in this little scheme of yours. You don’t have to do that. I’ll take you out where we’ll be seen and let you stay at my ranch. I’ve already agreed, so stop trying to pour it on and schmooze me into this fake love.”

  “You fantastic man,” she gushed, amused how he had taken her remark. “I’m going to make you miss me when I’m out of your life again.”

  He stepped closer to place his hands lightly on her shoulders, and she was instantly aware of his touch, his proximity and her heart beating faster. “You’re not going out of my life. That will never happen as long as we’re both alive and well. I’m sure you’re doing all of this just in case anyone is watching. Let’s go inside and you can be yourself.”

  “Sure. What brings you to my house?” she asked him as she dug in her purse for her keys.

  “I was in Dallas, so I decided to stop by and see you and catch up on where you stand with Justin.”

  “I turned down an invitation to go out with him Friday night. I have a charity event to attend with a friend, so it’s no lie. He gets back into town tonight and I told him I would meet him for a bite. I’m driving myself so I can leave. It isn’t a date. This is goodbye.”

  “I take it your friend is female and not someone else who could have done this fake engagement.”

  “She is female, and no one else could have done this except you. You’re perfect. I told you that. I don’t think you pay attention to me sometimes,” she said.

  “Darlin’, since we kissed, you get so much of my attention you wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”

  Stopping abruptly, she tilted her head and smiled at him. “Do I really? That’s exciting to hear.”

  “Maybe. I didn’t much think you wanted any real attraction to spring up between us.”

  Her smile vanished. “You sure know how to kill happy moments.” She pulled out her key. “Come in and we can have a drink and I’ll give you the tour.”

  “Yeah, give me the tour. It might come in handy if I can describe your bedroom, or at least sound as if I have an inkling of what it looks like.”

  She laughed. “I’ll give you the tour, but you’re not going to have to tell anyone about my bedroom and I doubt if you do that with anyone else you’re with.” She was aware of him at her side, his height and long stride. Had one kiss created this instant, intense awareness of Gabe that she’d never had before in her life?

  “Of course I don’t, but Justin might just suspect you of doing exactly what you are doing—faking an engagement.”

  “Oh, no, he won’t,” she declared. “Not when he hears Tanya’s and Cassie’s reports on last weekend. We looked convincing, I’m sure. And then your reputation—at least as far as seduction is concerned—will convince him easily,” she said, thinking about all the reasons she had gone over several times in her mind. “Now, the fact that you are engaged to me will be a little more difficult to sell, but that’s where my lifetime of being frank and honest to a fault will carry us through this.”

  He shook his head. “You’ve got this all figured out and I have to admit, you’re right.”

  “Just wait until that ring is on my finger and I’ve been to the wedding store in Downly. There won’t be a doubting soul in town,” she said, thinking more about Gabe brushing against her lightly as they entered the kitchen. As he hung his hat on a rack by the door next to two of her hats, her gaze ran across his broad shoulders and down to his narrow waist. It took an effort to pay attention to what he was saying.

  “Don’t get me roped into showers and having to return presents later. Also, I want to tell my brothers the truth. They’ll laugh and forget it. I don’t want them planning anything for us or getting some lavis
h wedding gifts. Ditto my mom, although if I didn’t let her in on this, I don’t think she’d believe it until she received an invitation to a rehearsal dinner, and we’re not going that far.”

  “No, we’re not. Your mom wouldn’t believe it?”

  “I doubt it, but I want to let her know the truth from the start.”

  “Sure. Let your family know. I’m sorry to be deceitful with my family. I never have been, but they’ve pushed me into this. I’m desperate. Mom is looking at wedding cakes and showing me pictures. Yuk.” She put down her purse and the papers she’d carried in from a job she was designing.

  “At least my family knows I’m going out with you and will continue to do so,” she told him. “That’s a death knell for a serious relationship with Justin. I expect to tell him farewell the first minute we talk.”

  “And you think he’ll just drift away without trying to convince you otherwise? I don’t think so, Meg.”

  “That’s why I want to move into your Dallas house. That will do it. He has strong feelings about a woman being faithful.”

  Gabe laughed and draped his arm casually across her shoulders. His touch made her tingle and she was intensely aware of him so close beside her. “I would have sworn you didn’t have a devious bone in your body until this deal. My, oh, my, how I misjudged you,” he said, looking down at her. “I misjudged you in other ways, too,” he said, suddenly turning serious, and his solemn gaze made her pulse jump.

  “I don’t think I want to pursue what other ways,” she said breathlessly, aware how close he stood and thinking about his kiss. The moment stretched and she realized how they were staring at each other.

  “Last Sunday, dinner at my parents’ house was grim for a little while. Mom was on my case. Dad looked as if he could eat nails. My grandparents were all horrified because you know how they feel about your dad.”

  “I hate it when people think I’m just like my father,” Gabe said and lowered his arm, propping his hands on his hips. “Just because he ran roughshod over people and his family, that doesn’t mean I do.”

  She patted his hand, a spontaneous reaction that she had done lots of times in the past, except now, tingles radiated from the casual contact and she yanked her hand away as if burned.

  Gabe didn’t seem to notice and she guessed he was lost in thoughts about his father.

  “Do you want something to drink? Iced tea, cold beer—”

  “Yes, I want something,” he said in a husky voice that took her breath away.

  Her heart skipped again. How had a kiss changed their whole relationship?

  “A drink, Gabe. Do you want iced tea, cold beer—”

  “You said the magic words—cold beer.”

  “Coming right up,” she said as she went into the kitchen.

  When she turned from the fridge, she was surprised to see him right in front of her. Her gaze ran over him, reminding her of standing in his embrace while he kissed her. She cleared her throat before she could speak. “Why don’t you get cookies out of the cookie jar on the counter or get some pretzels from the cabinet while I get my juice.” Truthfully, she just wanted to put some distance between them.

  He rummaged in a cabinet and got a sack of pretzels while she poured her grape juice over ice.

  “Come on and have a quick tour and we’ll sit on the patio and talk. It’s shaded from the sun after three or four and it’s bearable. We have a breeze today.”

  He took a sip of beer and set the bottle on the table to follow her into the adjoining living area and he glanced around. He seemed to fill the small room and her gaze ran over him again. “I’m surprised that you like contemporary furniture. I figured you for the fancy, old-fashioned furniture you grew up with.”

  “This room is what I prefer, but I have both because Mom gave me my bedroom furniture.”

  He smiled. “I know what that looks like then. The big four-poster mahogany bed,” he said walking around the living room and looking through an open door. “I’m right. There it is,” he said. “Hey...” He disappeared through the door into a narrow hallway and she followed, curious why he went to look at something.

  The minute she stepped into her room, she regretted not checking things over before she offered a tour. Gabe crossed the room to the bed and picked up the little brown teddy bear he had given her so many years ago.

  He turned to look at her. “Is my memory right? Why have you hung on to this all these years? Or is it out here for Justin’s benefit?”

  “No, it is not for Justin’s benefit, because Justin doesn’t get invited into this room. I just thought I might need it so I got it out of the closet.”

  Gabe laughed and tossed it back on the bed. He crossed the room to her to put his hands on her shoulders again and his blue eyes twinkled with devilment. “So Justin has never gotten into your bedroom, but he expects to marry you? I’ve forgotten how old-fashioned you can be. Justin is probably being and doing whatever you want to get a ring on your finger.”

  “I told you that we’re both being pushed by our families.”

  Gabe laughed and shook his head. “I’m ready to sit and drink my beer. I’ve seen enough to indicate that I know my way around the place.” He started out of the room and she walked with him, stepping through the door ahead of him.

  “I forget that sometimes you can be annoying.”

  “But you still love me, don’t you? You even still want to be engaged to me,” he said, laughing as he teased her. “You need me, so you can’t really get mad at me,” he said, draping his arm casually across her shoulders. Only his touch wasn’t casual to her. She had a prickly awareness of him and a sudden vivid recollection of his kiss.

  As if he knew her thoughts, he turned her to face him. “We could have a lot more fun if we spend our time kissing.”

  “Will you stop?” she said. “We don’t have an audience, therefore there is no point in kissing.”

  “Au contraire, my darlin’,” he said. He laughed and threw up his hands, walking away. “I can see my teasing is getting to you. We’ll go sit, make plans while I drink my beer and then I’ll go home.”

  “That’s better.”

  Holding his beer and the pretzels in one hand, he draped his arm around her shoulders. “This is great, to renew our friendship. I’d forgotten how much I liked having you for a friend. And now that we’re kissin’ friends, I really like having you for a friend.” They stepped out on her shaded patio and he held a black metal chair for her. After she sat, he pulled a chair beside her, sat and propped his booted feet on a low iron table in front of him. “So you’ll tell Justin goodbye tonight and Saturday night you’ll go out with me. Right?”

  “Correct. Tonight I expect to break it off with him for good.”

  “Should I gulp down my beer and go? Am I keeping you from getting ready?”

  “Heavens, no. It’s only four in the afternoon and I don’t see him until eight.”

  “I figured you’d be getting yourself all—”

  “If you say ‘beautiful,’ I’m going to take your beer away from you and send you home now.”

  He smiled at her. “I can’t resist getting you all hot and bothered. You always rise to the bait.” He chuckled and sipped his beer.

  “Hot and bothered, huh?” she said, half amused and half annoyed with him because sometimes he still treated her the same way he did when they were kids. She set down her drink and turned to face him. “I’ll show you hot and bothered,” she said. She stood, swung her leg across his and sat in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him on the mouth.

  She poured herself into her kiss, wanting to get back at him for all his teasing and give him something to think about before he teased her again.

  For an instant she assumed he was startled, but then his arms circled her tightly and he kissed he
r in return. A passionate kiss that made her forget teasing and realize she might have set herself up for something more worrisome. She had wanted to set him on fire with her kiss, to make him see her as a woman and not the kid next door he could tease and torment and still be friends with. Too late, she realized she might have stirred up a bushel of trouble for herself.

  She felt his arousal press against her and her heart raced while she, too, burned with desire. She was shaking with wanting him, hot with the need for more.

  Remembering what had started their kiss, she stopped as abruptly as she’d begun. They stared at each other and then she moved off his lap and walked away. “That got out of hand,” she whispered, not sure whether he heard her and not really caring because she spoke the words more to herself than him. Despite what she’d said, she wanted to turn around, go back to him and continue where she’d left off. And that scared her.

  “On that note, I better take my cue and get the hell out of here before I try to carry you off to that four-poster bed,” he said. “I’ll call you, Meg. I know my way out.”

  She merely nodded. “Bye, Gabe.”

  She heard the back door close and walked to the window to watch him get into his pickup and back out down her drive. In seconds he was gone.

  She touched her lips. She wanted him so badly, she wasn’t going to be able to resist him. Suddenly she realized something: he hadn’t been flirting this afternoon. Gabe had been teasing her, the way her brothers would have teased her. He didn’t really see her as a woman like the women he dated.

  She placed her hands on her hips in an indignant pose. She’d show him she was a woman. Saturday night. Silently she thanked her friend Barb, who’d told her about a fabulous makeover she’d had when she had been hired for a commercial. Barb had set up her appointment in a Dallas salon for Saturday.

  Tomorrow, she would rearrange her schedule so she could shop for a dress. One way or another, she’d make Gabe see her for what she was: a grown-up, desirable woman.

  At the same time, common sense told her to leave the situation as it was. As long as he saw her the way he always had, she would be less appealing to him and he would be less so to her. She never wanted to fall in love with him anyway, so why get a makeover and attract his attention? On the other hand, he might forever see her as a kid and she didn’t want that, either.