Sage Creek

by Jill Gregory

  But she drew the line at living under the same roof. She, her mother, Hartigan—and her baby?

  No.

  “I went to the cabin yesterday and checked it out,” she said slowly, just as Rafe was about to kiss her again.

  Pausing, he stared at her. “Yeah?” His voice sounded wary. “How was it?”

  “Not as bad as I thought. All it needs is a really good cleaning, some paint, new appliances. I’d order a new bed, of course, but there’s a pretty antique cherry table and some lovely chairs—I’d just need new cushions, perhaps some window treatments—”

  And a crib and changing table, diaper pail, rocking chair . . . Now is the time to tell him, Sophie thought. Right now. She’d been waiting all week, hoping for the perfect moment, but it suddenly dawned on her that there was no perfect moment. You just had to take the plunge.

  “I have something I—”

  “You really think it’s a good idea, living in that isolated cabin all alone?” Rafe interrupted her.

  “It’s no different from staying at the Good Luck ranch all alone. And now that Crenshaw’s locked up and it looks like he’ll be serving time, I can’t see what there is to be afraid of. Rafe, I need to tell you—”

  “I don’t want you living in that cabin, Sophie.” Rafe’s gaze locked on hers. Her heartbeat quickened at the intensity she saw in his eyes.

  “I want you living with me. With us. Me and Ivy.” His thumb brushed her cheek. “I want us to be a family.”

  She stared at him, unable to speak. But that was okay, because he was on a roll. “Sophie, I love you.” His voice thickened. “I want a life with you more than anything in this world. I want to marry you, spend every day and every night with you, have a dozen babies with you. I want us to be together for the rest of our lives.”

  He kissed her long and deep and decisively, tangling his hands in her hair. “Sophie,” he muttered, reluctantly pulling away from her lips, gazing into her eyes. “Sophie, I have dreams now, dreams about the future. And they’re all because of you. They all revolve around you.”

  “Did you say . . . a dozen babies?” Her heart was soaring.

  “Yeah. I did.” He chuckled. “But that’s open for discussion, of course. We could start with just one.”

  “As a matter of fact,” she whispered, “we are starting with just one.” Happiness spilled through her and her heart felt ready to burst. “One baby, Rafe. Coming right up. Well, in about eight months,” she added very softly, watching his eyes.

  She saw stunned bewilderment. Then a rush of joy.

  “Eight months.” He looked dazed. Then he grabbed her suddenly and kissed her with such fierce joy she felt it penetrating right through her skin, piercing her heart. His arms were tight around her, but not too tight. They circled protectively. His strong mouth lifted from hers. “And you were going to tell me when?” he demanded.

  “As soon as I worked up the courage. I . . .”

  She broke off with a yelp as he scooped her off the sofa and into his arms and spun her around until she was dizzy.

  “We’re having a baby!” he shouted, and the dogs, startled, came racing from the kitchen, staring at them both and wagging their tails.

  “We have to tell Ives first. Then Lissie. Or your mom if you want. No, your grandmother,” Rafe said, laughing as she stared at him as if he were a crazy man. “That’ll be the quickest way to get it all over town. I want the world to know that I’m marrying Sophie McPhee and she’s—” He broke off. “You didn’t say yes yet.”

  “You didn’t give me a chance—”

  “Don’t say another word.” He set her down very gently on the sofa, kissed her, then strode to the desk near the window, yanked open the top middle drawer, and snatched something from it.

  She stared at the dark blue velvet jewel box nearly swallowed up in his big hand as he came toward her.

  Sophie jumped up from the sofa, but she sank back down again immediately as he dropped to one knee. He caught her hand, cradling it in his. His fingers wrapped around hers felt warm and strong and exactly right.

  “I hadn’t planned on doing this today, but I got this thing five days ago. I’ve been searching for just the right time. But if this isn’t that time, I don’t know when would be better—” He broke off, took a deep breath, and popped open the box.

  “Sophie McPhee,” he said.

  Rafe Tanner, former bad boy of Lonesome Way, smiled into her eyes.

  “If I have to ask you a thousand times, I will, but it would be a whole lot easier if you’d just say yes right now. Will you marry me?”

  “Right this minute, if you want me to.”

  His grin lit his face. “I sure as hell do, but I reckon I can wait a few more days.” He slid the ring onto her finger, his blue eyes turning serious. “But no longer.”

  He drew her into his arms and gently kissed her, a long, slow, hot-as-a-firecracker kiss that shot sparks down to her toes and made the house and the snow and the fire fade away until there was only the two of them and the bright shining future—the beautiful life they would share in Lonesome Way.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  The wedding was held at the Good Luck ranch on a Sunday afternoon the last week of October. It was a clear, golden day, crisp as a perfect green apple. Friends and relatives and good wishes filled the sturdy old ranch house where Karla helped Diana and Gran set up a buffet table laden with punch and cookies, champagne and flutes, prime rib and chicken. There were three different salads heaped in bowls, a platter of fresh fruit, and a dazzling array of pastries.

  Prominent among them was a square crystal platter of brown sugar chews.

  Sophie had insisted on baking her own wedding cake, a three-tiered marvel of rich white cake, pink butter cream frosting, and ribbons of rolled fondant, displayed on an antique silver cake stand, which had been first used by Gran’s mother at her own wedding.

  Diana artfully arranged sprays of pink and yellow roses on either side of the cake stand, crowning it as the centerpiece.

  Just before the ceremony was due to begin, Ivy slipped through the crowd of friends and family and ran up the stairs. She gasped when she reached Sophie’s bedroom and saw her standing before her mirror in a sexy white silk sheath, diamond teardrops glistening at her ears. Sophie looked like a movie star.

  Aunt Lissie and Mia were there too, admiring the gorgeous waterfall of toffee-colored curls Martha had created for the bride earlier in the day.

  “My dad’s going to faint when he sees you,” Ivy exclaimed.

  Sophie turned from the mirror to lean down and hug her. “He must have burst his buttons when he saw you.” Ivy looked adorable in her flouncy orchid blue dress with its scalloped lace neckline and her hair springing in vibrant red curls around her face. She looked fresher and more lovely than any rose about to bloom.

  “We’ll see you both downstairs.” Lissie, due any minute now and wearing a tent-sized dress of lilac wool, met Sophie’s eyes with a smile before she slipped out into the hall. Mia blew a kiss and followed her out.

  “I’m so proud that you’re going to be my stepdaughter.” Sophie straightened. She didn’t want to sound corny, but the words sprang straight from her heart and she could no more hold them back than she could cross the Crazy Mountains in a ball gown and stilettos. “This baby will be so lucky having you for a big sister.”

  “I’ve wanted a baby brother or sister all my life,” Ivy confessed, plopping down on Sophie’s old bed. “I thought it was never going to happen. Now I’m getting a baby cousin and a baby brother or sister.” A grin lit up her face. “Don’t tell my dad I told you, but he said I can expect even more brothers and sisters.”

  “He did, did he?” Sophie felt a rush of love that left her almost dizzy. Love for Rafe and for this sweet, darling girl looking at her with such hope and such spirit in her eyes.

  “It’s a distinct possibility.” She resisted the urge to touch her still-flat belly. “It just so happens I’m crazy about babi
es.”

  “Me too. Even though my friends think they’re a pain. After Val’s baby brother Chet was born, I used to pretend he was my baby brother. And the same for Carrie Laffrey’s little sister. Is that dumb?”

  “It’s not dumb at all. You have a loving heart, Ivy. Just like your dad.”

  Diana knocked softly on the open door. “It’s time, girls. Everyone’s here and Reverend Kail is ready to start. Here, Sophie, don’t forget your bouquet.” She plucked it off the old dresser and placed it in Sophie’s outstretched hands.

  “I’ll be right down, Mom. You go ahead, Ivy. I just need a minute.”

  She watched as Ivy ran lightly out into the hall and her mother followed, the skirt of her knee-length navy dress rustling.

  Alone for one final moment in the bedroom of her youth, she closed her eyes and thought how blessed she was—for this precious life growing inside her, for the man and the daughter awaiting her below.

  Just as she was about to start toward the door, her grandmother swept into her room. She wore a tea-length dress of amber silk and dyed-to-match heels, and her white hair was piled high on her head. She was clutching a sheet of paper.

  “You never would let me show you The List, dear.”

  The List? Sophie threw her an amused glance. “Isn’t it a bit late for that, Gran? I’ve found my guy and I don’t want any others.” She laughed. “And I definitely don’t want to keep him waiting.”

  “In that case, you’d best take a look at this right quick. We’re not leaving this room until you do.” Eyes sparkling, Gran thrust The List toward her.

  There was silence downstairs. Everyone was waiting for her to make her appearance. Sophie snatched The List and glanced down at her grandmother’s thin, sloping handwriting.

  “Rafe Tanner?” Her startled gaze flew to her grandmother’s face. “The first name on this list was Rafe’s?”

  “All along.” Gran smiled smugly. “He was the first one I thought of for you. ’Course you never bothered to look at The List, stubborn woman that you are. You get that from your mother, you know.”

  Sophie threw back her head and laughed. She didn’t care if anyone heard her downstairs. She laughed with sheer joy.

  “You want me to tell you that you knew best, don’t you, Gran? All right, consider it done. But the most wonderful man in the world is waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.” Sophie bent and brushed a quick kiss on Gran’s cheek, breathing in the familiar scent of gardenias and Pond’s cleansing cream. “So I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until after the ceremony to gloat.”

  “Ha. Fair enough.” Her grandmother clasped Sophie’s chin in her hand and smiled into her eyes.

  “Go down there, marry Rafe, and be happy, Sophie. If there’s one thing I’ve figured out in all my years, it’s that we need to soak up every drop of joy we can from this life, and give our fair portion back.”

  Tears of love glimmered in Sophie’s eyes. “I love you, Gran. And I promise you, I’m going to do exactly that.”

  In the living room, Dorothy, the former principal, had taken charge of quieting the guests and efficiently packing them all into the living room and dining room and hallway so as to watch the bride descend the stairs for the ceremony.

  “It’s time, Aunt Liss. Two thirty on the dot,” Ivy whispered to Lissie, who was seated beside her on the sofa and taking the words with a double meaning. It was not only time for Sophie to make her entrance, it was almost time for her baby to make its appearance too. She knew it would be soon, and at this moment, Lissie just hoped she made it through the ceremony and reception.

  “You okay, babe?” Tommy asked, leaning down toward her, with a glance at her gigantic belly.

  “We’re both hanging in there.” Lissie touched a hand to her stomach, bulging beneath her flowing lilac dress.

  Beside the mantel, where a cozy fire glowed, Mia was watching for Sophie, her upturned gaze eager and expectant. Karla held her son in her arms as Denny McDonald, in a suit and tie, stood at her side.

  Travis Tanner and Jake Tanner flanked their big brother in the hallway as he waited at the stairs for the first glimpse of his bride.

  “I’ll bet a hundred bucks that Lissie’s kid’s birthday is the same as your anniversary,” Travis said softly as there was still no sign of Sophie.

  “I’ll bet two hundred bucks her water breaks before the ceremony ends,” Jake whispered, a twinkle in his eyes.

  “Quiet, you two. Here comes my bride,” Rafe growled as Doug Hartigan, positioned in the living room so that he could see the first glimpse of Sophie at the head of the stairs, began to play “Here Comes the Bride” on his violin.

  Rafe didn’t even hear Jake suck in his breath and mutter, “You lucky dog, you,” as Sophie descended the steps. She looked like a luscious angel brought to earth as she smiled straight into Rafe’s eyes.

  Nor did he hear Travis’s appreciative intake of breath as his soon-to-be-sister-in-law floated toward them.

  “What’d you ever do to deserve her?” he asked in a low tone, but the jibe was full of affection for the big brother he’d both worshipped and fought with as a kid.

  A moment later Travis’s gaze shifted to Mia Quinn, petite and radiant near the fire. She wasn’t looking at him though; she was watching Sophie with a rapt, happy smile. She hadn’t looked at him once since he arrived, Travis thought, unaccountably irked by this fact. He found himself irked even more because there’d been no chance even to speak with her.

  Travis forcibly tore his gaze from Mia and tried to focus on his brother’s gorgeous bride as she placed her hand in Rafe’s at the bottom of the steps.

  Can’t blame Mia for not wanting to even look at me, he thought distractedly. Not after what I did.

  He’d slammed the door shut on the two of them years ago—in high school—and there was no going back. They’d both been kids, too young to know what they were doing. And it hadn’t ended well.

  His fault.

  It was a lifetime ago, he reminded himself, but that didn’t explain why he’d felt sucker-punched today at the sight of her in that flirty red dress and those killer black stilettos.

  She was insanely sexy. Even sexier now than when they were in high school. But he needed to stop thinking about her. He was a grown man, a federal agent, and he’d come here today for his brother. Rafe and Sophie were about to tie the knot and he hadn’t heard one word so far of the ceremony.

  Rafe heard every word. They echoed in his head—love, honor, cherish. Do you pledge . . . do you take . . . this woman as your wife . . .

  Ivy was perched on the edge of the sofa, watching them in her grown-up-looking dress. His brothers were in this room, along with Decker and Leigh, and all of Sophie’s family, and his wranglers, and so many friends.

  He drank in the beauty of his Sophie, his heart in his throat. She’d brought light and joy back into his life. Sage Ranch came alive when she was there in a way it hadn’t been since he was a boy. Everything was transformed when he was with her. And he’d never seen her look more beautiful than she did today, right this minute.

  As Reverend Kail spread his hands and pronounced them husband and wife, Rafe took her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly to seal the deal.

  The room sighed at first as Sophie melted against him, her arms wrapped around his neck, the pale pink ribbons of her simple white bouquet trailing. When the long kiss ended at last, the old ranch house exploded with applause.

  “Sophie, your dress is so beautiful,” Ivy sighed later between bites of wedding cake as the three of them sat together at the dining room table. “It’s for sure the prettiest dress I’ve ever seen.”

  “Can’t argue with you there,” Rafe agreed. “But don’t ever forget, Ives, it’s not about the dress.”

  “Easy for you to say,” his daughter replied, licking her fork.

  Sophie laughed. “He’s actually right, Ivy. It’s not about the dress at all.”

  “So what’s it about?”

>   Looking into Rafe’s eyes, Sophie merely smiled.

  Rafe clasped both his wife’s hand and his daughter’s. “It’s all about the love, Ives. Nothing but the love.”

  Read on for a preview of the next

  Lonesome Way novel

  from New York Times bestselling author

  Jill Gregory

  Coming summer 2012 from Berkley Sensation!

  “When will we get there? To Sage Ranch?”

  The sleepy, but still wary, voice of the boy in the passenger seat broke the silence of the moonless Montana night.

  Travis Tanner glanced at his scrawny ten-year-old adopted stepson, then back at the long, empty road leading them to Lonesome Way and his family’s ranch.

  The vast darkness of the June night nearly obliterated the peaks of the Crazy Mountains in the distance—but not quite. A few stars gleamed, despite the clouds, illuminating the faint outline of hefty granite peaks spiraling up, dwarfing the road, the trees, and certainly the black Explorer and its two passengers driving down that lonely road.

  “Soon,” Travis said quietly. “We’ll be there soon. Another twenty minutes, half hour tops.”

  It was almost midnight and Grady had been sleeping since ten o’clock. But now the brown-haired ten-year-old with his mother’s green eyes looked like he was going to be awake for the duration. Awake and uneasy.

  “You need a pit stop?” Travis asked as the Explorer sped past a coyote stealing furtively through some brush at the side of the road. “There’s a gas station coming up just outside of Lonesome Way.”

  “I’m okay,” Grady mumbled. His voice sounded low, defensive. And just a tad sulky. Which matched the expression on his face ever since Travis had picked him up at Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix yesterday afternoon, after Val plopped him on a plane in LA.

  The poor kid didn’t know what to expect, Travis reflected, his jaw tightening. One minute he’d been in LA, in his big, fancy new house with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, cabana, guesthouse, game room, and thirty-seat home theater, and the next he’d been shipped off for the summer with his adoptive father—who was no longer even married to his mother—and was on his way to a remote ranch the kid had been to only once in his life and probably didn’t even remember.