She nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
He stared at her, gazing deep into her eyes. Darla was not a dishonest woman. She wouldn’t tell him this unless she believed it to be true. “I don’t get it. How?”
“I don’t know! Maybe there was a tear.” She glared at him. “You’d know better than me.”
He blinked. The condoms had been given to him by Creed at his bachelor party. The side of the box had read For The Guy Who’s Large and In Charge. Judah remembered vaguely thinking all that might be true, and that it was pretty damn competitive of Creed to try to keep the other brothers from getting themselves in the family way, just so he could stay in the lead for the ranch.
Judah sank into a cracked vinyl chair near a tiny round table. “Why are you telling me this now?”
She breathed in deeply, obviously trying to calm herself. “I wasn’t going to tell you at all. But then I realized that was wrong. I don’t want to have secret babies.”
“Babies?” His heart ground to a halt in his chest. “Babies? “
She nodded. “We’re having twins.”
Judah’s world opened up, chasmlike. His pulse jumped, more fiercely than when he’d been on the back of Lightfoot. “You say we’re—”
“Yes.”
He passed a hand across his forehead, realized he was sweating under his hat. “I don’t mean to be coarse, but how do you know that you’re pregnant by me and not by your fiancé?” He wasn’t about to say the man’s name.
“Because I’ve never slept with him.”
“Why not? Not to be indelicate—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Darla said. “We don’t have that kind of relationship.”
Maybe the man was an idiot. Maybe his thing didn’t work. Judah couldn’t believe that a guy who was fortunate enough to get a ring on Darla’s finger wouldn’t be making love to her like a madman every night. “Every man has that kind of relationship, darlin’.”
She wore embarrassment like a heavy winter cloak. “When Sid asked me to marry him, we agreed on a business relationship. That’s it, and no more.”
Sid. Judah leaned back, trying to take in everything he was hearing. “That’s why you were so eager to get in my bed that night. You wanted a good time before you tied yourself to this business relationship.”
She hadn’t been interested in business with Judah.
A blush crossed her cheeks. “I—yes. And I’m not sorry about it. Even now.”
“Nice to know you don’t regret it.” He couldn’t help the sour tone in his voice. “So what does Tunstall think about you being pregnant?”
Darla stared him down. “It was unexpected, obviously, but he’s not opposed to being a father.”
Judah jumped to his feet, crossing to her. “Let me tell you something, Darla Cameron. If you’re telling the truth—and something tells me you are—no one will be a father to my children but me. Let’s just get that straight up front.” He studied her, deciding it was time this relationship got on the right track. “Something’s going to have to change about your wedding plans, sweetheart.”
Darla shook her head at him. Judah was angry. She’d expected anger, but not his statement about her wedding. “What exactly does that mean?”
He went back to his chair, dropping into it with an enigmatic smile shadowing his lips. “It means you’ve got the tiger by the tail, and now you’re going to have to tame it. I shouldn’t have to spell anything out for you. You knew when you told me this that your wedding to the good doc was never going to happen.”
“I know no such thing!”
“You’re not marrying another man while you’re carrying my children. So put all that out of your sweet head.”
Darla felt her own stubbornness rise. “I’m not having children out of wedlock when I’ve got a perfectly good groom planning to be my husband, Judah. It’s no inconvenience to you if I’m married. You’re not planning on being around.”
She could see by Judah’s expression that he was fighting to be civil. But he didn’t have the right to tell her how to run her life.
“It’ll be inconvenient for you when two grooms are standing at the altar with you on your wedding day,” Judah said.
“You’re not suggesting that you want to marry me?”
He nodded. “If you’re pregnant by me, the only man you’re marrying is me. That’s the way I do business, babe.”
Annoyance rose inside her. “Not that I expect romance in a proposal, but I don’t want to be told what I’m going to do, either.”
“And I don’t want to be told that I’m going to be a father, and that someone else is planning to raise my children.” He gave her a determined stare. “I’m being very reasonable, under the circumstances.”
This was awful. No woman wanted the man she loved this way. Darla wished she could walk out the door and forget these past ten minutes had ever happened. But she couldn’t. Her pride couldn’t be the most important thing to her right now—she had her children’s welfare to consider. “I’ll think about your proposal,” she said coolly, going to the door.
“You do that, and don’t forget to tell the good doc your business merger’s off.” Judah followed, putting his hand on the doorknob to open the door for her—at least that’s what she thought he was going to do—before pressing his lips against her cheek, his stubble grazing her skin ever so slightly. “Just so you know, Darla, I don’t plan on mixing business with my marriage.”
His meaning was unmistakable. His hand moved to her waist in a possessive motion, lingering at her hip just for a second, capturing her. She remembered everything—how good he’d made her feel, how magical the night in his arms had been—and wished his proposal was made from love and not possessiveness.
Judah pulled the door open. “Next time I see you will be at the altar. Till death do us part, darlin’.”
Darla stared at him for a long, wary second before stalking off.
If Judah Callahan thought she was going to marry a hard-headed, mule-stubborn man like him, then he was in for a shock.
Chapter Four
Judah had never been one to let someone else fight his battles. So it wasn’t even a stretch for him to hunt up Dr. Sidney Tunstall. The good doctor was taking a breather in a bar down the street, which was good because Judah needed a drink himself.
First things first. “Tunstall,” he said, seating himself next to the ex-bronc buster. “We have business to discuss.”
Sidney put down his beer and gave him a long look. “Do we?”
Judah nodded. “I think it’s only fair to let you know that you’ll be hearing from Darla that your wedding is off.”
The doctor raised a brow. “And how would you know?”
“Because,” Judah said, “we just finished having a chat, Darla and I. And we came to the same conclusion. She can’t marry you.”
Sidney finished his beer, waved for another. “I’ll wait to hear that from her, if you don’t mind, Callahan.”
“See, though, I do mind.” He put down the money to pay for the beer. Sidney grunted, not about to utter any gratitude,