There was a fainting couch, an old-fashioned vanity and padded stool, a large cherry bureau and matching armoire.
Plants, pillows and candles, artfully placed here and there, finished the room.
The master bath, located just across the hall, had been luxuriously outfitted, as well. Wicker shelves had been added. Linens, towels and bath products galore were luxurious additions to the gleaming white-and-blue ceramic-tile bathroom.
“If you don’t like something, tell me, and we’ll change it right away,” Kiki said bluntly. “Beau said just to use my best judgment. The main thing is to get you situated so you can start working on your book right away, but I’m never quite comfortable doing that. When it comes to personal surroundings, I think everything is highly individual.”
“It is, and you and your team have done a marvelous job,” Dani said. Beau might not know it yet, but he was going to be sleeping in the guest room in her old bed. This was her house. She was not giving up her place in the master bedroom. He had come in and taken over enough of her life already. Much more, and she’d be buying into the same movie fantasy of the three of them living happily ever after just the way he was. And Dani knew she couldn’t let herself do that. Life wasn’t that easy. Only in the movies did things work out this neatly or easily.
Kiki smiled. “Then my work is done. So we’ll all get out of your space right away.”
“Thanks, Kiki,” Beau said as he walked Kiki and other members of her team down to the front door.
“Don’t thank me until you get my bill.” Kiki’s pleasant laugh drifted up the stairs. “All this last-minute stuff is going to cost you!” Dani imagined that was so. Beau not only would be paying for all the accessories and furniture Kiki had added, but travel, worker salaries and shipping expenses.
Short minutes later Dani heard car doors slamming out on the curb. Engines revving. The sounds of a moving van and several smaller vans and cars driving away.
Beau returned to find Dani sitting on the fainting couch. “I told Billy he could call it a day.” Beau folded his arms and lounged in the doorway to the master bedroom.
Dani knew she should be angry about that—Billy was her employee, not Beau’s—but she couldn’t muster up the energy. So much had happened in so little time. Her heart pounding in her throat, she looked up at him. “So we’re alone?”
Beau’s eyes connected with hers and held for several breath-stealing seconds. “For the moment, yeah.”
Beau crossed the room to her side. He hunkered down next to her, kneeling in front of her like a knight paying homage to his queen. “Something on your mind?” he asked gently, taking her hand, lifting it to his lips.
Dani tingled at the feel of his lips caressing her skin. Heat started low in her body and rose to her chest, neck and face. “Should there be?”
His eyes locked on hers. He traced the back of her hand with his lips. “I thought this would be a good surprise.”
Trying not to think how very much she liked the tantalizing scent of his aftershave, Dani shrugged. “It is and it isn’t.” Beau had a reputation for getting totally engrossed in whatever project he was working on. It was part of what made his movies so appealing to the public. He left no part of the fantasy untapped.
With a bantering smile meant to disguise the way she felt, she said, “It’s like I had a fairy godmother come in, wave her magic wand and take care of everything.” She felt as if she was an actor on a movie set and it was all pretend.
“That was the plan.”
Dani ignored the possessive way his hands had tightened on hers. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was not just married to her, but desperately in love with her. Fortunately she had never been one to get totally wrapped up in fantasies of any kind. “Only there are no fairy godmothers,” she reminded him unsteadily. And there was nothing dreamlike about her pregnancy. The baby she was carrying was very real and becoming more real by the moment.
“That’s true,” Beau said, his midnight-blue eyes darkening. “You’ve got a husband, instead.”
A husband who might or might not stay once the movie magic ended and he moved on to his next project.
Dani looked at him, wishing he didn’t have the ability to tap into her fantasies quite so accurately, wishing she didn’t know what an insatiable lover he was. He was making it impossible for her not to fall in love with him. She swallowed around the sudden tightness of her throat. “You’re telling me to get used to this kind of star treatment.”
Beau lowered himself onto the fainting couch beside her and shifted her onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her lovingly. “I’m telling you that, as long as we are married, I will stop at nothing to make you happy,” he whispered in her ear, his warm breath sending a thrill down her spine.
Dani inclined her head as he pushed back her hair and rained kisses down her neck. “What happens when the clock chimes midnight and I turn back into Cinderella before the ball?”
Beau kissed her cheek. “That’s not going to happen,” he promised amiably.
Dani flattened both hands on his chest and wedged distance between them. He was acting as if this was all very simple and easy, when Dani knew it wasn’t, because life, especially her life, never was. “You forget,” she reminded solemnly, “I don’t believe in happily-ever-afters, Beau. I haven’t for a very long time.”
“Because of the way your parents died?”
Once again, he was cutting too close to the bone, bringing up things Dani didn’t want to discuss, not with him, not with anyone. The doorbell rang. “Saved by the bell,” she said lightly.
Beau frowned. As far as he was concerned, they had just started to get somewhere. “Don’t answer it,” he said gruffly, more determined than ever to unlock the mystery that was his wife.
“I have to,” Dani said, looking over her shoulder and glancing out the window. A familiar sunshine-yellow pickup truck was parked in front of the curb. “It’s my sister, Kelsey.” The baby of the family, who was as changeable and capricious as the day was long, Kelsey was in some kind of jam more often than not. If not for her three older sisters, all of whom were constantly bailing her out one way or another, Dani didn’t know what Kelsey would do. She certainly couldn’t rely on any of the men in her life—Kelsey couldn’t decide on any one man any more than she could decide on any one profession. In the years since she had left home, Kelsey had held more jobs and dated more men than the rest of her sisters put together.
“Hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Kelsey winked slyly as she breezed in. Dressed in the usual jeans, long-sleeved shirt and bandanna tied jauntily around her neck, a Stetson tilted on her head, she made a fetching picture of youthful exuberance.
Dani blushed at the teasing innuendo in Kelsey’s tone. “Of course not,” Dani said stiffly, giving her sister a stern look.
Ignoring Dani’s unspoken order to cool it, Kelsey merely grinned and looked at Beau. He wrapped his arm around Dani’s waist and tugged her newlywed-close. “It’s nothing that can’t be continued later—in even greater detail,” he reassured Kelsey.
And unfortunately Dani knew that was true. Beau would start up with the questions again first chance he got.
Kelsey grinned. “Good.” Not bothering to take off her hat, she led the way into the living room and dropped onto the sofa. “I can’t believe how quickly you moved in.”
“I had help,” Dani said dryly.
“I’ll say.” Kelsey leaned forward abruptly and clasped her hands between her knees. “Listen, I came over to tell you something.”
“Okay.” Dani sat down opposite her.
“I finally did it,” Kelsey said.
Forever cautious where her baby sister was concerned, Dani narrowed her eyes. “Did what?”
“Bought back the ranch.”
“What ranch?” Beau said as all the color left Dani’s face.
“The ranch where we grew up,” Kelsey said. “Brady Anderson and I closed on it earlier today.”
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Beau sat down beside Dani and took her hand in his. “What does he have to do with it?” Beau asked curiously, taking the words right out of Dani’s mouth.
“He’s my partner,” Kelsey explained as if it was obvious. “I didn’t have enough money to buy it on my own, and since I couldn’t convince any of my sisters to go in on the deal with me, I decided to go fifty-fifty with Brady.”
“You hardly know that cowboy!” Dani exploded. This time Kelsey had gone too far in her recklessness.
Kelsey’s lower lip pushed out in a determined pout. “I know him just fine. We’ve worked together for a month!”
Her patience fading fast, Dani rolled her eyes. “Exactly my point,” Dani said tightly. “You can’t just go and buy property with some cowboy you met just a month ago!”
“I not only can,” Kelsey shot right back, her attitude as smug as Dani’s was derisive, “I did. And furthermore, I will be moving in there next week, Brady by the end of the summer.”
Dani drew in a long slow breath and struggled to hang on to her escalating temper.
“Meanwhile, we’re off to buy horses, ranch equipment and cattle,” Kelsey continued as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Dani’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Where are you getting all this money?”
Kelsey sat back in a relaxed manner and explained confidently, “Technology stocks. That broker I dated a few years ago? He taught me a thing or two about investing while we were still an item. Ever since, I’ve been investing every cent I could in the market. ’Course I had to cash in almost all of it to make the down payment on the ranch to the bank, but I’m sure I can build it back up again. If I did it once, I can do it again.”
Dani shook her head. She was pretty sure this was not what her parents would have wanted for Kelsey had they still been alive. “Have you told Jenna and Meg you’re going to be living and working with some cowboy you barely know?” Dani studied Kelsey carefully.
Resentment clouded Kelsey’s green eyes. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I have.”
“And…?”
Kelsey blew out an impatient breath. “Meg is worried sick, as usual. Jenna is encouraging me to go for it. Neither of them like the fact that I’ve entered into a partnership with Brady any more than you do.”
Dani tensed. “I didn’t say that.”
Kelsey shot to her feet. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Dani, you don’t have to. It’s written all over your face. You think we all need to stay as far away from the ranch as possible. That somehow we’ll be safe if we just pretend none of it ever happened.”
Dani stood, too. “We can hardly do that.”
Kelsey whirled on her. “But you’d like to, wouldn’t you?”
Beau got to his feet and looked from one to the other. “What are you two talking about?”
Kelsey scowled at Dani as she spoke to Beau. “Dani hasn’t been back to the ranch since the day our parents died. She wouldn’t even go back to the house to help us move out.”
“With good reason,” Dani said, pushing the words through gritted teeth. Already she could feel moisture gathering in her eyes.
Kelsey’s expression turned pleading. “You have to put it behind you, Dani, once and for all,” she counseled gently, as if she was the older sister, not the other way around. “Just like I’m trying to do.”
Dani folded her arms. “This is not the way,” she retorted stonily.
“Well, your way certainly isn’t, either!” Kelsey rummaged in her pocket for a key, then thrust it into Dani’s hand. “Do yourself a favor. Take today. Go back. Look around. I guarantee no one else will be there.” Kelsey gave her a long searching look. Settling her hat more squarely on her head, she strode to the door. “I’ll call you when I get back!” The door slammed behind her.
Dani stood rooted to the spot, the key to the ranch house still in her hand. “I’ll go with you,” Beau said.
“I’m not going,” she responded flatly.
He moved closer so he could see her face and touched her arm lightly, just above the elbow. “You have to go.”
Dani plucked his fingers from her arm like some odious piece of trash. “Says who?”
“Dani—”
“Just because Kelsey’s gone off the deep end doesn’t mean I have to do the same.”
Beau rubbed the back of his neck. He looked at Dani for a thoughtful moment before he spoke. “What she’s doing sounds gutsy to me.”
“That’s because you don’t know the whole story,” she said. Tears once again threatened.
“Then tell me,” Beau pleaded softly, edging closer.
“No.” Dani put up her hands to ward him off. She didn’t want him touching her. She didn’t want anyone touching her. All she wanted, all she had ever wanted, was to be left alone, where no one and nothing could hurt her.
“Dani—”
Ignoring Beau’s outstretched arm, Dani dropped the key Kelsey had given her on the coffee table and rushed past him. “I have to get out of here.”
Beau picked up the key she had dropped. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Dani said emotionally, grabbing her purse and rushing out the door. She just knew, once again, it felt like the whole world was closing in on her.
DANI ENDED UP at the highway that ran past the ranch. And once she was there, she knew Kelsey was right about this much—she had put off coming back for far too long. Maybe, she thought, her hands clenching the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white, it would even prove cathartic. But it didn’t feel cathartic as she turned her car into the long gravel lane and drove through the open wrought-iron archway. The two locked hearts—which had been their brand—and the letters proclaiming it the Lockhart Ranch had long since been removed. But Dani could see them in her mind’s eye as clearly as if they were still there.
Just as she remembered rushing home from school with her mother on that last fateful day.
Dani realized there were tears streaming down her cheeks. A fierce Texas storm brewing on the horizon. And another vehicle—a vintage red truck—right behind her.
Furious to find Beau had followed her, Dani proceeded to the ranch house. Formerly a pale sage-green, with dark-green shutters, the rectangular two-story home was now a gray-blue with black shutters; but the paint was peeling in places, and the place had an overall air of neglect. Which wasn’t surprising. Dani had heard from her other sisters that the ranch had been standing empty for six months now, because the previous owners, who had relocated to a property closer to Dallas, had set the sale price way too high.
And now it belonged to Kelsey and some cowboy she barely knew!
Miserable beyond words, Dani turned off the ignition and slammed out of her car into the fiercely blowing wind. Beau parked right behind her and climbed down from the cab of his truck. Dani strode toward him, aware that the air felt damp and markedly cooler on her skin. Another sign of impending rain. Knowing full well how fierce and unrelenting the rain could be on the flat open terrain of the ranch, Dani stabbed a finger at his chest. “I want you to leave. Now.” It would be bad enough to be stuck out here during a storm. Never mind with the ever-inquisitive, ever-bossy and interfering Beau at her side.
Stubbornly he held his ground. “Tough,” he said, his tall strong body braced for a battle he didn’t intend to lose.
Problem was, Dani thought, neither did she.
His eyes radiated unchecked interest but no anger as the escalating wind buffeted his body, plastering his shirt against the muscular contours of his chest. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Frustration flowed, hot and potent, through her veins. In the distance, lightning crackled against the black clouds. “Darn it all, Beau Chamberlain! I don’t want you here!” Dani stepped closer.
He shrugged, clearly not the least bit perturbed by her unwelcoming attitude. His eyes roved her upturned face. “Well, I don’t want you alone when you are clearly this upset!”
Dani glared
at him. “It’s none of your business.”
Beau’s lips thinned authoritatively. Clearly he was not used to having his wishes disregarded, and he was fast losing patience with her. Bracing his hands on his waist, he leaned down so they were face-to-face. “The heck it’s not,” he said just as firmly. “In case you’ve forgotten, you are my wife.”
And she was carrying his child. Much as she was loath to admit it, he did have a right to be concerned about their child. Dani drew a deep calming breath. “I’ll be all right.”
“Yes,” Beau said succinctly, looking every bit as fiercely determined as she was to come out of this situation a winner. “You will.”
“But I need to do this alone.” Dani’s voice dropped a persuasive notch.
Beau shoved his hat a little farther back on his head and regarded her skeptically. “After how many years?”
Too many, Dani thought. And at the same time not nearly enough. She only knew she wanted the hurting to go away, the ongoing feeling of loss to dissipate, and after nearly seven years, it hadn’t begun to happen.
Beau’s voice gentled. He touched her shoulders and looked at her in a way that let her know he was remembering her parents, too. He’d met them briefly once or twice during one of his holiday visits to his aunt. The same way he’d met Dani. “What happened, anyway?”
The storm clouds gathering on the horizon grew more ominous. Looking at them made Dani feel even more nervous and upset. “I don’t want to discuss it,” she said, then whirled away from him and headed for the overgrown trail behind the house that led to the rise where the old barn had stood. She didn’t want to think about the kindness Beau had shown her the few times they’d met when they were kids. Or now.
“Fine. I’ll ask Kelsey,” Beau said, the challenge in his voice unmistakable.
“Don’t,” Dani said shortly as she pushed her way through the trees, bushes and weeds.
Beau followed, one of his strides matching her every two. “Why not?”
“Because it will bring up all sorts of things she doesn’t need to dwell on, either.”
Thunder rumbled overhead. “She seems to be handling this just fine,” he observed.
The Bride Said, I Did? Page 14
