She hurried to her room for a cold shower, lecturing herself about resistance and caution and self-control and gaining his respect. She dressed in a denim sundress, sandals and caught her hair up in a ponytail. There was no way to stop unruly tendrils from escaping and curling around her face. She leaned forward to glare at her reflection.
“Get some control,” she whispered. “You’re mush when he kisses you.” She didn’t want to even think about his devastating kisses. But if he was leaping over barriers around her heart, she suspected she might be building bridges over his. “Just you try to resist falling in love with me, Matt Ransome,” she declared.
She straightened up. “Yeah, right,” she said, reminding herself that the man had iron willpower, and he could probably keep his heart locked away for a lifetime if he chose to. She thought about Jeff’s story about Matt rescuing their father when all the professional rescuers had pulled out of the area. Jeff said Matt refused to give up, but he wouldn’t let Jeff or Katherine search with him and Nick had a sprained ankle. She was dealing with a man who had a will of iron and would make all kinds of sacrifices to get what he wanted.
Would her heart break over this hard, tough cowboy? And beneath the wealth and sophistication, she suspected there was a cowboy who was a lot of country.
She squared her shoulders and smoothed her skirt. She was willing to take some risks. At this point she had the world to gain—and only a broken heart to lose, she reminded herself.
With a toss of her head she left to join him for dinner.
By the time she strolled onto the patio, he was grilling steaks. A plume of gray smoke spiraled above the cooker and tantalizing smells made her mouth water, but it was the tall, handsome cook who took her breath and made her pulse jump.
He had dressed in slacks, western boots and a knit shirt, but how easily she could remember the body and muscles beneath those neat clothes. He glanced at her and then turned to give her his full attention, watching her walk toward him.
Tingling and growing hot, she sauntered up to him, stopping only inches from him. “Like what you see?” she asked in a sultry voice.
A faint smile quirked his mouth. “My anticipation about our wedding night is growing,” he replied and her pulse jumped another notch.
“It’ll be even better than you imagine,” she said.
“You’re flirting again, Olivia.” He ran his finger just above the top of her sundress, drawing a line on her bare skin that made her draw her breath. “But why do I think you have an ulterior motive? I think you want me to fall in love with you so you can steal my heart away and twist me around your little finger.” His fingers trailed upward to her nape where he caressed her lightly. “Am I right? Or will you admit the truth?”
“I’ll answer honestly,” she replied, wanting to kiss him instead of chat with him. “I hadn’t thought about twisting you around my little finger and I don’t really believe that I possibly can. Maybe I’m just trying to protect my heart so if I do fall in love with you, I won’t be rejected.”
He propped his foot on an iron chair and placed his arm on his thigh as he leaned closer. She was hemmed in by him and by his leg on one side of her, the cooker on the other and the chair behind her. His blue eyes pierced her as if he were searching for answers in her gaze. “So you’re not getting cold feet yet over our deal?”
“Of course not,” she said, acutely aware of his proximity and his leg touching her hip lightly. “We need to talk about the wedding. How many attendants will I need to have because you’ll have groomsmen.”
“Back to business? I’d rather talk about making love.”
“We better take care of business if you want this wedding next week.”
He smiled at her and traced the curve of her ear. “All right. How many attendants do you want?” he asked in a husky voice and she suspected he was giving little thought to the approaching nuptials.
“You’re not thinking about our wedding,” she said.
“I’m thinking about making passionate love to you on our wedding night,” he answered in a husky voice and leaned down to brush her lips with his.
Her heart thudded, but she fought her impulse to kiss him and stepped back. “Matt, we have to make decisions about the wedding. How many groomsmen? I have three friends here, but I can well imagine that you will have a lot more close friends, plus your brother. I’ll be happy to ask your sister to be an attendant.”
His heated gaze kept her pulse racing. “All right. We’ll discuss the wedding—for now. I’ve been trying to get in touch with my family to let them know. While you dressed, I tried to call Nick and Katherine. I’ve left messages for both of them.”
“Are they here in Texas?”
“No. I called their cells. Katherine is in Chicago, and Nick is on a rig in the Gulf. I talked to my dad and of course, he wants to meet you. We’re having him join us for breakfast in the morning. How’s that?”
“Fine,” she said, wondering if his entire family would disapprove of her and try to talk Matt out of the marriage. For an instant a surge of panic threatened, but then she reminded herself that Matt had agreed to marry her and he said he would keep his word.
Matt caressed her nape and she stopped thinking about his family. “Three attendants will be fine. If you want her, ask Katherine,” he said. “I can’t predict what she’ll do or say.”
“I hope they don’t hate me.”
“If they do, do you want to call off the marriage?”
“No, I don’t.”
He tugged on a curling lock of her hair. “Dad will be the most difficult to deal with. He’s not the same since Jeff’s death. Jeff was his baby and his favorite which is why he let Jeff do just what he damn well pleased.”
“If I have a boy, I don’t mind if you want to name him after your brother.”
Matt traced his finger around the curve of her ear. “That might be a real fine thing. It would mean a lot to the whole family. ’Course you may be having a girl.”
“When the time comes, I’ll find out what my baby is going to be. When I have an ultrasound, you can even go with me if you want.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’d like to go with you,” he replied. “I’d really like it,” he repeated as if surprised by his own feelings. “Something else—as soon as we marry, I wish you’d refer to this baby as ‘our’ baby, even though I’m not the blood father. For all intents and purposes, I will be this baby’s father.”
“That’s wonderful!” she exclaimed, delighted with his suggestion. “Our baby,” she repeated, the words thrilling her. Then she focused on him again. “You’re standing close,” she said quietly.
“It bothers you?”
“You know you disturb me,” she replied.
“If the steaks weren’t going to burn, I’d do more to disturb you right now,” he said in a husky voice that was its own caress. He walked to the grill to take the steaks off and set them on the table.
Hunger pangs increased her anticipation, but when she sat down at the table across from Matt, she lost interest in food. Talking to him and making wedding plans took precedence over eating. As they chatted, she couldn’t believe her good fortune.
Over dinner Matt charmed her with stories about the ranch and his brothers and sister, yet all the time he talked about them, Olivia couldn’t stop wondering how much they would accept her and the approaching marriage.
She