A Baby Changes Everything. Marie Ferrarella

You’d better get used to it.”

      As if to show that he understood and that he was displeased, the stallion pawed the ground, tossing his mane in a gesture that could only be called defiant.

      In a way, Cruz knew how he felt. As a young man, he’d refused to allow himself to be sublimated into the Fortunes’ world, even though for the most part he both liked and respected the members of the family.

      Sublimation was for his parents, but not for him.

      “You’d better know now,” he told Diablo, “that kind of behavior doesn’t put me off. You might have been top dog at the last ranch, but you’ve met your match here. We’re going to get together, you and me, and be friends. That’s a promise.”

      He made no attempt to reach out to touch the horse, or even to enter the corral. The horse required his space. For now Cruz would respect that. But the animal did need to get accustomed to his presence in his world.

      Training would begin early tomorrow morning, before he even started working with the others. Half an hour, twice a day. He didn’t have the time, but he’d find it. Even if it meant doing some more delegating.

      An excitement pulsed through Cruz. He hadn’t felt this alive in a long time.

      While watching her reflection in the wardrobe mirror, Savannah realized that her hands were shaking ever so slightly as she smoothed the sides of her dress.

      She stared down at her hands. They were also tingling. And damp.

      She shook her head and silently laughed at herself. You’d think she was going out on her first date. There had to be a hundred butterflies all vying for airspace inside her stomach.

      For once, she didn’t feel like collapsing or throwing up. The newest Perez-in-the-making had decided, for now, to cooperate with its mother.

      Thank God for small favors, she thought.

      The moment her father-in-law had come for Luke, she’d dashed off to Red Rock to buy things for the dinner she wanted to make for Cruz.

      But before going to the supermarket, she’d stopped by the mall. Not to buy a new dress, but a new nightgown. Something just sheer enough to get his blood pumping in double time.

      She’d picked out a full-length one that had a network of lace across her breasts and two layers of sheer, light blue nylon swirling around her hips down to the floor.

      She couldn’t wait to see the expression on Cruz’s face when she wore it.

      Returning home, she’d cleaned the house and started dinner going before finally going upstairs to change out of her jeans and into her dress for the evening.

      Right now she had both dinner and herself warming, waiting for Cruz to make his appearance. She glanced at the clock. It was a little after seven.

      She’d already called him on the cell phone she’d insisted he carry with him when he was on the range. It had taken eight rings before he’d finally answered. The second he came on, she’d launched her assault.

      “Cruz, I need you to come home.”

      The preoccupied note immediately left his voice, replaced by concern. “Why? What’s wrong? Did something happen to Luke?”

      “No, nothing happened to Luke—”

      “You? Did something happen to you? Is it the baby?”

      “No, honey,” she interjected before his imagination took him to terrible places. “It’s not the baby, or me. Luke and I are fine.”

      “Then why are you calling?”

      She never used the telephone to get in touch with him. They had agreed that it was strictly for emergencies. As far as she was concerned, saving a marriage that was about to break apart came under that heading.

      “Because I do have kind of an emergency here and I need you to come home.”

      Suspicion and concern vied in his voice. “What kind of an emergency?”

      “It’s too hard to explain, Cruz. You’ll understand when you get here. Please just hurry.”

      She’d heard him sigh. “Okay, I’m on my way.”

      That had been over half an hour ago.

      Obviously the man was a lot farther away that she’d thought. Savannah reached for the cell phone again, then stopped. She heard the sound of the Mustang pulling up to the front of the house.

      He was here.

      Butterflies launched another attack as she took a deep breath and waited.

      Within a moment, Cruz was opening the front door. “Okay, so what’s the big emergency?”

      The question faded into the air as Savannah moved out of the shadows to greet him. She was wearing the same drop-dead gorgeous dress she’d had on the night he’d met her at the party at the Double Crown.

      The night he’d lost his heart to her.