Cal shut his eyes and inhaled her fresh sweet scent. This was about as close to heaven as he expected to get in his lifetime. “I don’t suppose you’re wearing that see-through nightie of yours?”
“No,” she said, “but that could be arranged.”
“Now you’re talkin’.”
Cal felt her smile against his skin. “I love you, Rebel.”
Growling, he swung her into his arms and carried her into the living room. Sure enough, a small fire flickered in the fireplace. This had become their favorite room; he’d lost count of the number of times they’d made love in front of the fireplace. The room had a special significance for him, since it was here that he’d first realized how much he’d come to care about her. It was here in this very room that Dr. Texas, as he was fond of calling her, had taken his freeze-dried heart and breathed life into his lonely existence.
Cal was happier than he’d ever thought possible. With each passing day he loved Jane more. Their love had demanded plenty of adjustments on both sides. Sacrifices. But for everything he’d given up, he’d gained so much more.
The storm raged outside and a fair one was building on the living-room carpet when Jane’s beeper went off.
Cal groaned and rolled onto his back, inhaling several deep breaths. “That damn well better be important,” he muttered.
“Cal!”
“I want someone real sick.”
Giggling, Jane scrambled for her beeper and read the message. “It’s Laredo Smith,” she said.
“Wanna bet he’s phoning about Savannah?”
“She’s just over eight months,” Jane said, sounding concerned.
“But Laredo’s acting like she’s three weeks overdue.”
“He’s worried, that’s all.”
Cal figured he would be, too, in Laredo’s situation. This was the Smiths’ first child, and Cal knew there’d been some minor complications with the pregnancy. Despite that—and unlike her husband—the mother-to-be remained calm and confident. Savannah had insisted on a home delivery, overriding Laredo’s protests.
“This shouldn’t take long,” Jane promised. She hurried over to the hall phone.
Cal cupped his hands behind his head and watched his wife move through the room, bathed in firelight. Her hair was mussed and her bathrobe hastily tied—and he couldn’t recall a time she’d looked more beautiful. It never ceased to amaze him that Jane had agreed to be his wife.
Cal had begun to wonder if someone had spiked the water supply last summer. In less than a year most of his friends had married. First, Savannah Weston had met a stranger to Promise named Laredo Smith and subsequently married him. Cal’s own brother had married Ellie Frasier, owner of the local feed store, last September. No sooner had that wedding taken place when Grady Weston asked the postmistress, Caroline Daniels, to marry him—all within the space of a few short weeks. Even Sheriff Hennessey had married his longtime sweetheart, Dovie Boyd.
It hadn’t been long before Cal fell in love himself.
At one time Cal, Glen and Grady had been confirmed bachelors. With Cal, it had been a form of self-protection, he realized now. He’d been jilted by a former fiancée and the experience had left him bitter, determined never to fall for a woman again.
But that was before he’d met Jane. Their first date was arranged by Ellie. At the time Cal had been annoyed and frustrated that his brand-new sister-in-law was matchmaking. By the end of the evening, however, Jane had managed to pique his interest. To his surprise he discovered he was looking for ward to seeing her again. Before he could help himself, he was deeply in love with her.
A city girl. Worse, one from California. If anyone had told him six months ago that he’d marry a woman like Jane, he would have run screaming into the night. Now he couldn’t imagine living two minutes without her.
With the phone against her ear, Jane caught her husband’s eyes and blew him a kiss. He grinned, content to wait. Relaxing on the rug, he listened to one-half of the conversation.
“Don’t worry,” Jane was telling Laredo, “you didn’t interrupt anything important.”
Cal sat upright at that, raising his eyebrows. Didn’t interrupt anything important? He saw that his wife could barely hold in her laughter at his expression.
But her smile faded as she continued to listen to Laredo. “No…no you were right to phone. How long ago did you say her water broke?”
The smile left Cal’s face, too. This was more serious than either of them had anticipated.
“How far apart are the contractions?” Jane reached for a pad and pencil and noted the information.
Cal had delivered enough calves to know the signs of imminent birth. Savannah and Laredo were about to have their baby during the worst storm of the year.
“I’ll be there within the hour,” Jane promised and replaced the receiver. “Savannah’s in labor,” she told Cal.
“So I heard.” He stood and she walked over to him and caressed the side of his face. “Looks like we’ll have to put our romantic interlude on hold.”
“I’m a patient man,” he reminded her. He caught her fingers and pressed a kiss into her palm. “What time are we leaving?” he asked, snapping his shirt closed as he spoke.
“We?” Jane asked, arching her brows expressively. “I’m perfectly capable of delivering this baby.”
“I never doubted it for an instant.” He opened her bathrobe, kissed the valley between her breasts and refastened it.
“I can drive in a storm, too.”
“I realize that,” he said, “but how good are you at keeping two strong-willed ranchers out of your hair?”
“Two?”
“Laredo and Grady.” Cal knew his best friend, and Grady would be as nervous as Laredo at the birth of his first niece or nephew. Jane was going to have her hands full, and it wasn’t with Savannah or the baby, either. It wouldn’t surprise him if father and uncle made damned nuisances of themselves. “Trust me, darlin’, you’ll thank me later.”
“Oh, all right, Cal Patterson, you can tag along, too. Now I’d better go change.”
He grinned, pleased he’d been able to convince her she was going to need him. Truth be known, he wouldn’t miss this birth for anything. It was about time something good happened in that family, especially after Richard Weston’s trial and sentencing.
A baby was just what the Westons needed to put their troubles behind them. Cal was determined to celebrate the blessed event with his friends.
TRAVIS GRANT ROLLED INTO Promise at precisely the moment the storm struck. He drove down Main Street, peering out between the constantly beating windshield wipers, but he couldn’t locate a single hotel. Seeing as his last meal had been aboard a plane and hadn’t amounted to much, he decided to stop for dinner and inquire about a place to stay. By the time he found a parking space and raced to the restaurant through the pounding rain, he was soaked to the skin.
He gulped down a glass of water and started on a bowl of tortilla chips with salsa before he even looked at the menu. His stomach growled and he ordered arroz con pollo, his favorite Mexican dish.
Gazing out the window, he decided the town was just the way Richard Weston had described it. This was something of a pleasant surprise. Men like Weston weren’t exactly known for their truthfulness. Travis had interviewed him shortly after he was sentenced to twenty-five years in a New York prison. No possibility of parole, either. He wouldn’t have talked to him at all if it hadn’t been for his ex-wife,