by Elle James
Once she and Daniel left the patio, her heartbeat kicked up a notch. By the time they reached her room, her imagination had her clothes off and Daniel’s, too, and she could almost feel his naked skin against hers.
“You can have the first shower,” he told her.
She almost asked if he’d like to join her. She might have been forward enough to initiate the kiss in the garden, but hadn’t he kissed her back? Though she’d been the instigator for a kiss, she didn’t quite have the nerve to initiate making love in the shower. And since he offered to let her go first, she could only hope he’d join her. She left the door to the bathroom open slightly, giving him the option.
After fifteen minutes languishing under the hot water, she got out, dried off and realized he wasn’t that into her.
When she left the bathroom, Daniel wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Wearing her T-shirt and jogging shorts, she crawled into her bed and pulled the sheet up over her. Half an hour later, she gave up trying to stay awake and let her eyes drift closed. He wasn’t coming to bed with her.
If they stayed married for six months like this, it would be the longest six months of her life.
Chapter 13
Daniel walked around the grounds until well past midnight, afraid to go back to the room until Megan was soundly asleep. After seeing all she had at the Triple Diamond, he was certain that when she got tired of paying her own way, she’d want to go back to the life of luxury any woman would be happy to live in.
And he couldn’t give her that life. Yes, his father would deed him a parcel of land to build a house on. He might even help him pay for a house, but Daniel refused to take any more than what he considered compensation for the work he did on the ranch. Living in the two-bedroom guest cottage was part of what he considered his compensation, and it kept him close to the breeding barn where he concentrated his efforts.
When he finally went back to the bedroom he was sharing with Megan, she was asleep, as he’d hoped. He lay on a chaise longue, his legs and feet dangling off the end. Sleep didn’t come to him until somewhere around two-thirty in the morning. He’d have gotten no sleep whatsoever if he’d attempted to lie in the same bed with his new wife. Not after that kiss. His body was wound tighter than a rattlesnake with a new button. Sleep was out of the question.
By the time Megan woke at seven, Daniel was already up, showered, shaved and ready to go.
Megan sat up in the sheets. “Did you even come to bed last night? I wouldn’t have bit you if you shared the bed with me.”
“I managed on the longue.”
Megan’s mouth pressed into a thin line as she threw aside the sheets and rose. “I’ll only be a few minutes.” Her long legs seemed even longer when she wore such short shorts and the baggy T-shirt that did little to hide her sexy form. With her strawberry blond hair rumpled and her face soft from sleep, she was so adorable. More than ever, Daniel wanted to kiss her, take her back to bed and make love to her.
Grabbing her clothes, Megan disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door with a firm click. As promised, she emerged a few minutes later, her face clean and fresh, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a flowing peach-colored dress that barely came down to the middle of her thighs.
The only thought Daniel could muster in his sleep-deprived brain was how good it would feel to have those long, slender legs wrapped around his waist as he drove into her.
“Ready?” Megan stood in front of him, her brows cocked, a slight smile on her lips.
Daniel sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing back his body’s natural urge to take her into his arms. He had to remind himself over and over again that this was a marriage of convenience, not a real marriage. Megan was in a class far above his, and he didn’t belong in her world. Though the argument had seemed valid only yesterday, it was fading by the minute. “Ready.”
She slipped her bare feet into a pair of high-heeled sandals and straightened. “Breakfast and we’re out of here.”
Daniel nodded and opened the door for her to step into the hallway.
Christine stood in front of the door, her hand raised to knock. “Oh, good. I was just about to tell you breakfast is served.”
Daniel followed Megan, carrying their cases down the stairs. He set them in the hallway by the front door and then entered the formal dining room, where the table had been set with fine porcelain plates, large covered platters and crystal glasses filled with orange juice.
Mr. and Mrs. Talbot stood by their seats and waited for the three of them to join them. As she had the night before, Mrs. Talbot directed Megan and Daniel to the seats they’d been assigned the night before.
“Josh sent his apologies,” Christine said. “He ate a quick breakfast a few minutes ago and left for an appointment with a title company in Santa Rosa. He would have loved to have been here to see you off. However, he has a business to run.”
“He made his apologies to me in person,” Mrs. Talbot said. “I was sure he had an ample breakfast to see him through the day.”
As they took their seats, a maid stepped forward, lifted the covers off the platters and helped serve fluffy scrambled eggs, pancakes and toast. Breakfast proceeded in relative silence.
As they finished, Mr. Talbot offered, “I will arrange for the horses to be delivered to the Lucky C Ranch within a couple weeks.”
“Thank you, Father.” Megan drank the last of her orange juice and pushed back from the table. “Daniel and I have so much to do back at the Lucky C in preparation for our important meeting with Kennedy Farms.”
Her father’s brows rose. “I know Marshall Kennedy. I could make a discreet call to him if you’d like.”
Megan smiled. “Would you, Father?”
“I’ll make that call this afternoon.”
Daniel held out his hand. “We appreciate your help. Thank you and Mrs. Talbot for your hospitality. Perhaps next time we come to visit, we can stay longer.”
“Good. This was such a short visit, I didn’t really get to know you.” Mrs. Talbot bypassed his extended hand and hugged him. “Although I should be angry at you for keeping Megan in Oklahoma, welcome to the family. Please take good care of our baby. We love her so very much.”
“As soon as we get settled, we’ll invite you out for a visit,” Daniel said.
Megan gave him an almost imperceptible frown and then smiled up at him. “We should be going. I don’t know how you feel, but I don’t like flying in the dark.”
Mr. Talbot chuckled. “Our Megan can be a bit demanding when she wants to be, but she has a heart of gold.”
“I’ve noticed.” Daniel slipped his arm around her waist and pulled Megan to him. “If you want to make it over the mountains before dark, we have to hurry to turn in the rental car and arrange for fuel.”
“Mother, Father, I love you. Please take care of each other. I’ll see you soon.” Megan hugged her parents.
Her mother’s eyes glazed. “Don’t stay away so long, dear.”
Mr. Talbot pulled Megan into a big bear hug. “I’m sorry I had to threaten you to get you to come home. Had we known you were engaged, we wouldn’t have been so insistent.”
Her mother hugged her again. “I worry about you so much. But now—” she waved a hand “—now you have a husband to protect you and love you. I suppose I’ll get used to it. But it will be hard.”
“You don’t have to worry,” Daniel said. “I’ll make sure she’s okay.”
“And just so you know,” Megan said, “Daniel isn’t replacing you two.”
“We understand. He’s an addition to our little family.” Her mother reached out to squeeze Daniel’s hand. “We have someone else to love. And if Megan loves him, we will love him, as well.”
Daniel’s stomach knotted around the scrambled eggs. He had been prepa
red to dislike the Talbots based on Mr. Talbot’s threat to sell Megan’s horses. The man had never intended to sell them so soon. He’d just wanted Megan back home. Understanding why Mrs. Talbot smothered Megan brought their actions into perspective.
Mr. Talbot crossed his arms. “Megan wouldn’t marry someone she didn’t love completely.” Though he was talking about his daughter, his stare pinned Daniel.
“I’m honored by her love and will do my best to make her happy.” Daniel dropped a kiss on Megan’s forehead, lingering for a moment, inhaling the scent of her hair and loving the warmth of her skin. He could get used to the feel of her against him.
Megan rested her hand against his chest, her fingers curling into his shirt. “I know you’ll make me happy,” she said, her gaze rising to lock with his.
Christine hugged Megan and shook hands with Daniel. “It was nice to meet you. I wish you both the best.”
Mr. Talbot held out his hand, and Daniel grabbed it. “We look forward to coming out to Oklahoma to visit. Once you get past the honeymoon, let us know.”
“I will,” Daniel promised, the lie sticking like a sock in his craw.
As he left the house, one of the Talbots’ servants appeared behind the wheel of the rental car they’d picked up at the airport in Santa Rosa.
Once Daniel and Megan were driving through the gates of the Triple Diamond Ranch, he let go of the breath he’d been holding.
“Just so you know, I like your parents. And I didn’t like lying to them.”
Megan stared out the window, her hands twisting the hem of her dress. “I never knew my mother had trouble with her pregnancies. Had she told me, I might have better understood why she was so clingy and why she didn’t want me to do anything dangerous.”
“You’re her only child. Her baby forever.”
Megan’s lips twisted. “I’m with you. I hated lying to my parents. If I’d known my father was bluffing about selling the horses, none of this charade would have been necessary.”
“You heard him, though. He’s downsizing his herd.”
“I bet if I’d just talked to him about the horses, he’d have come around.” Megan cast an apologetic look Daniel’s way. “I’m sorry I got you into this.”
“You still need the money from your grandmother’s estate to support the horses, so this marriage was not a total waste of time.” If he was honest with himself, he liked having her as his bride, and he wished it would last longer than it took for the paperwork on her grandmother’s estate to be finalized. But when Megan got tired of working for a living, surely she’d want to go back to California and live in comfort.
“Again, we don’t have to stay married for the full six months. I can keep the horses a long time on the initial installment of my grandmother’s money. I’ll figure out how to support them when that money dries up.”
“I don’t mind committing to the six months. It’s not like I’ve been dating anyone else, and I’d hate to lose my assistant because she had to find a better paying job to support her horses.” He winked at her.
She smiled at him, her face solemn but happier than he’d seen it in days. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me.”
Daniel didn’t feel like he’d done all that much. In fact, the trip would prove to be more beneficial to him if Mr. Talbot actually made that call and the association with Megan Talbot set him up for a successful business deal with Kennedy Farms.
Once he and Megan had what they wanted, they could annul their wedding or get a quickie divorce and go their separate ways.
The thought of walking away from Megan and their marriage of convenience left a weighted, sour feeling in his gut.
* * *
Soon Megan was settled in the plane beside Daniel, and they took off from the Santa Rosa airport into cloudy skies, headed back to Oklahoma. Though the takeoff was smooth, the weightlessness of flying in a small aircraft unsettled her stomach more this time than when they’d left Vegas and Oklahoma.
She leaned back, adjusting the headset over her ears. “Let me know if I can help you out with anything. Otherwise, I’m going to sleep.”
“Sleep,” Daniel said, the electronic voice crackling in her ear reassuringly. “It’s a long flight in a small plane. You might as well get as comfortable as you can.”
Megan closed her eyes and leaned her head against the window, suddenly tired and achy. Hoping she’d feel better after a little rest, she willed herself to sleep.
* * *
“Megan, wake up. Megan!” Static rattled in Megan’s ears, and she jerked awake.
“Daniel?” she said, her voice hoarse, something warm dripping from her nose. She raised her hand, embarrassed, and brushed away thick liquid. When she stared down at her finger, it had a long streak of blood.
“Sweetheart, are you okay? You were moaning in your sleep.” Daniel glanced over at her, his eyes widening. “You have a nosebleed.” His brows sank into a V. “There’s a tissue in the box behind my seat.”
Megan leaned forward and coughed, her breathing a little labored. She figured it was the altitude. “How far are we from home?” she asked, pressing her fingers to her pounding temples.
“An hour. You’ve been asleep for a while I didn’t want to wake you, but you were moaning as if in pain.” He shot another glance her way, a worried frown settling on his forehead. “Are you okay? Your face is pale.”
“I don’t feel so great,” she admitted, fumbling for the tissue box, her arms weak and her fingers numb. When she finally managed to grab a tissue, lifting it to her bleeding nose seemed to take all her energy. “I don’t usually get nosebleeds from flying.”
“I’m going to make an emergency landing.” Daniel glanced at the GPS device on the instrument panel. “We should get you to a doctor.”
“How far are we from Tulsa?” she asked, leaning her head back to stop the flow of blood. The movement made her head spin and her vision blur.
“Not too far.”
“I can make it,” she said. “Please. Don’t stop until we get home.” Her stomach roiled and her belly cramped. She drew her feet up in the seat and hugged her arms around her knees, willing the cramps to go away.
“Babe, you’re not well. I can divert to Oklahoma City.”
“No,” she moaned. “Just get us to Tulsa. Please.” She coughed, the muscles in her belly clenched and she nearly passed out from the pain. Damn it, she didn’t want to stop until they got all the way back to Tulsa.
“Are you sure?”
“I think I’ll be okay once we land. I just want to go home,” she said, her voice fading out, the effort to talk almost too much. She wished she could click her heels and get home in the blink of an eye.
* * *
Daniel pushed the little Mooney as fast as its single engine would take it, but no amount of wishing would make the trip pass any quicker.
Thankfully the flight over the mountains had passed without a storm or any major downdrafts. At first the silence had been welcome, giving him time to think through everything that had happened. Megan slept soundly beside him.
Then Megan became ill, and the last hour in the flight was the longest. Several times her face creased in pain, and she bunched into a tight ball, groaning.
Twice he almost set down. If there had been a decent airport with access to a hospital, he would have. When he came close enough to tune in to the air traffic controller at the Tulsa International Airport, he called for an emergency landing for medical reasons. He asked that an ambulance be waiting on the tarmac.
Fifteen minutes away from the airport, Megan sagged in her seat, her face slack. Her arms around her legs loosened, and her feet fell to the floor of the aircraft.
“Megan!” Daniel called out.
She didn’t respond.
He stared at her chest,
watching for the rise and fall of steady breathing. For a moment, his heart stopped. Daniel reached out to touch her cheek. It was cool and clammy, and her nose continued to bleed. When her chest rose and fell on a long breath, he nearly cried in relief. “Hang in there, sweetheart. We’re almost there.”
The air traffic controller gave him clearance. Daniel hit the switch for the landing gear. Nothing happened. His pulse kicked up a notch, but he focused on the training he’d received on this particular plane. He reached for the backup landing gear lever and pulled. The cord should have engaged and let the landing gear down. Instead, the handle and the cord came up in his hand. He pulled the cord again, hoping to engage. The end flew up in his face. It had been severed cleanly.
Daniel had no way of lowering the landing gear. “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday,” he said into the radio. He reported the problem and was instructed to perform an emergency landing.
Daniel circled around and came in low and slow. If he tilted even at the slightest angle, he risked touching the tarmac with a wing. If that happened, the plane would cartwheel out of control and disintegrate, killing Megan and him.
Steeling himself for the landing, he gripped the yoke and steadied the wings. The tarmac seemed to rush up at him even as he slowed.
The belly of the craft touched the tarmac, metal scraping concrete in a piercing screech.
Once the plane hit the ground, there was nothing Daniel could do but pray they would come to a smooth halt before the plane shook apart.
Sliding down the runway, the plane eventually slowed to a halt.
Sirens screamed around him. A fire engine pulled up beside them, and an ambulance stopped close by.
Daniel peeled his fingers off the yoke, unclipped his safety straps and bent over Megan to unclip hers.
She moaned and stirred but didn’t wake.
Daniel was thankful they’d burned up most of the fuel in flight but didn’t trust that the plane wouldn’t burst into flame after the crash landing. He opened the door to the plane, gathered Megan in his arms and handed her out to the waiting emergency crew.
