“Newlyweds!” Brett exclaimed. Since Chad and Megan had already left the room, his complaint fell only on Pete and Janie.
“Jealous, little brother?” Jake asked. “If so, I know a remedy.”
“Don’t start, Jake. You’ve got Pete and Chad married. You should be satisfied.” Brett started to the kitchen door, hoping to escape his big brother’s attention.
“It’s only a matter of time,” Jake shouted after him as he followed him out of the kitchen.
“Skedaddle,” Red insisted, moving around Pete and Janie. “I’m not letting my food go cold. Twenty minutes flat, no more, no less.”
“I should stay and help—” Janie began.
“Nope. Newlyweds should go up together,” Pete insisted, hoping she caught his message. After all, she’d promised to keep the state of their marriage a secret.
After staring at him intently, she turned without a word and headed for the stairs. When they arrived at their bedroom, he reached in front of her and opened the door. “After you, Mrs. Randall.”
She entered ahead of him but then stood awkwardly in the center of the room.
Pete looked around, too. “You unpacked? You didn’t overdo it, did you? Red or I could’ve helped you.”
“No. I didn’t need any help. And Red has enough to do.”
Pete grunted as he began unbuttoning his shirt and headed for the closet for a fresh one. He’d carefully left half the closet space for Janie when he’d moved his things in. Somehow, their clothes sharing a space, even if he and his wife didn’t, sent a thrill up his spine. He pushed back the closet door to discover the space inside didn’t look any different than it had yesterday.
“Where are your things?” he asked, wheeling around to face her.
“In the other room,” she said quietly, meeting his look.
He strode through the bathroom to the other bedroom, over to the closet and threw the door open. He stood there, staring at rows of shirts, skirts and dresses, feminine clothing, hanging pristinely in the closet.
She couldn’t even share the closet?
Frustration rose up in him, and he reached forward and filled his big hands with hangers. Before Janie could protest, he had spun around, his hands grasping her clothes, and headed back to the other room.
“Pete, what are you doing?”
He ignored her.
“Pete, where are you going with my things? We’re not sharing the same room, remember?” She tried to get between him and the closet door, but he wouldn’t let her.
“Janie,” he said softly, slowly, emphatically, “we may not be sharing the same bed, at least not now, but we sure as hell are going to share the same closet. Don’t argue with me.” His order didn’t sit well with her, he could tell, but she stepped back, frowning at him.
He made a second trip. When he came back into the bedroom, she hadn’t moved. But she spoke. “All my things won’t fit in the closet.”
“Then we’ll both keep things in the other closet. But when Red puts our clean clothes away, I don’t want him getting any ideas.”
“But, Pete, I told Red I’d take care of our rooms. And our laundry. No one will know.”
“I’ll know,” he insisted, whirling around to glare at her. “We’re married, Janie. Get used to it.”
Without waiting for an answer, an answer he feared he wouldn’t like, Pete slammed shut the closet door and strode into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Ripping off his shirt, he sat on the side of the tub and pulled off his boots, then shed the rest of his clothing.
The tension didn’t dissolve even a little until steaming hot water splayed on his broad shoulders. But the water massage couldn’t dissolve the raging hunger inside him. He wanted Janie so badly he could hardly concentrate.
But it wasn’t just sex that fueled that hunger. He wanted her to be a part of him, emotionally as well as physically. He wanted the right to claim her. The wedding should have given him that right. But he knew, if no one else did, that Janie had only married him because of the babies. She’d made it clear she never would’ve walked down that aisle if Doc hadn’t told her she was having twins.
A jarring thought brought him up short. Wasn’t it the same for him? He wouldn’t have married her if she weren’t pregnant. After all, he’d refused her proposal before he’d known. What had changed suddenly? Pete refused to contemplate how his feelings for Janie had changed. There was too much else to think about. Like what would happen once the babies were born. Janie couldn’t leave, could she? Taking his children with her? Such a thought almost stopped his heartbeat. Why hadn’t he thought of it before?
Because he’d wanted to believe that once they were married, everything would work itself out.
So far, that hadn’t happened.
He savagely shut off the tap and stepped from the shower, grabbing a towel from the linen closet. He rubbed himself vigorously, hoping to restore his belief in their future…together.
Then he swung open the bedroom door and discovered his wife sitting on the bed, staring at him as he stood in the doorway stark naked.
AFTER DINNER THAT NIGHT, Pete challenged Chad and Megan to a game of pool. He didn’t want Janie to retreat to “her” room, locked away from his sight.
“Hey, good idea,” Chad agreed. He took Megan’s hand and led her toward the room that housed their pool table.
Pete kept his gaze on their locked hands, envy filling him. Every time he touched Janie, she pulled away. Maybe he could coach her on her playing.
Minutes later, after Chad racked the balls, Pete knew he’d have a better shot of getting Janie to coach him. They hadn’t played together since she was eleven or twelve. Somewhere along the way, she’d improved her game. Not to mention a few other things.
Chad leaned over to kiss his wife. “Sorry, darlin’, but I may have to trade you in for Janie. Especially if we ever get challenged by someone other than family.”
Megan puffed up in pretend anger. “Only married a couple of weeks and you’re already tired of me?”
Chad dropped his pool cue with no compunction and wrapped his arms around Megan. “Changed my mind,” he assured her, burying his lips in her hair.
“Your shot, Megan,” Pete said, hoping to bring the attention back to the game. Otherwise, he was going to die of frustration. “Good playing, Janie.”
Chad picked up his cue stick and patted Megan on her rear. “Go get ’em, tiger.”
“Behave, Chad, or Janie and Pete won’t play with us again,” Megan warned him, and then turned her attention toward the table.
A puzzled frown came over her face. “What do I do?”
Before either man could offer advice, Janie began explaining Megan’s options and showing her how to shoot.
Chad stepped over to Pete. “Remember Rita? When I offered to help Megan when the two of you were playing us, she became enraged. She didn’t want to lose.”
Pete remembered. Rita was the third decorator who’d visited the ranch with Megan and Adele. Once she’d caught sight of the Randall brothers, though, her mind was on activities other than decorating. She hadn’t been their kind. Like Megan. And Janie.
Janie bent over the table to demonstrate a shot for Megan, and his gaze unerringly traced her trim shape. Beautiful and kind. Smart. And hardheaded as all get-out. He grinned. When he’d come out of the bathroom, she’d looked her fill. And then opened the dresser drawer to toss him a pair of briefs. “You’d better hurry before dinner starts.” Then she’d left the room.
He didn’t think he could’ve mustered such sangfroid if Janie had been naked. In fact, even thinking about such a sight had his blood surging.
“Your shot, Pete,” Janie called to him.
Surprised, he looked at the others. “Um, I think I need some help, too. Like Megan.”
Chad stepped forward.
“Not you, bozo,” Pete growled, and then smiled sweetly at Janie.
“Get real, Pete. You were an expert by the time I was born,”
Janie replied, lifting an eyebrow.
“Well, then, how about a good-luck kiss?”
To his surprise, she stepped forward and brushed her lips across his, one hand resting on his chest for balance. His immediate fantasy of taking her right there on the pool table didn’t help his aim. He missed.
“I think Pete’s trying to make me not feel so bad,” Megan said, smiling at her brother-in-law.
Chad chuckled. “I think Pete’s mind isn’t on the game. And if Janie kisses him for luck every time it’s his turn, we’ll win.”
“Maybe Megan will return the favor and do a little distracting of her own,” Pete suggested, wrapping an arm around Janie’s slim figure. His heart clutched when she leaned her head against his chest, her silky hair resting against his chin.
“Not a bad idea. I’ll prove I can handle distraction better than you,” Chad assured his brother. Then he pulled Megan to him and kissed her thoroughly. Casually he released her and bent over the table. And missed.
“Damn! Unlucky shot,” he muttered, avoiding his brother’s gaze.
Janie stepped up to the table for her turn.
“Wait a minute! She’s been doing better than all of us. Give her a kiss, Pete. Let’s see if she can handle distraction better than the rest of us.” Chad grinned at both of them before he ordered, “And no lilylivered peck like the last one.”
Pete eyed his wife, wondering if she’d protest. When she turned toward him expectantly, he took her response as a green light. And proceeded with great expertise. And a lot of heat.
“Wow!” Chad said as Pete released Janie. “Janie, if you can make a shot after that, you’ve got ice water in your veins.”
Pete thought so, too. He knew he was on fire.
Janie stepped up to the table and studied the balls’ positions. Pete looked for any flicker of distraction or lack of concentration. It seemed important to him that Janie be as distracted as he was. As if it would be proof that his wife cared for him, wanted him.
She lined up her shot, pushed her long black braid back over her shoulder and hit the cue ball.
Pete stared in dismay as the little white ball rolled across the table, smacked into the nine ball and drove it into the hole.
Perfect shot.
Chapter Twelve
When their heavy breathing returned to normal, and Chad lay relaxed with Megan wrapped in his arms, she whispered, “Do Janie and Pete strike you odd in any way?”
Chad frowned and raised his head slightly. “What are you talking about?”
“They don’t seem…comfortable with each other. Janie even avoids Pete’s touch. And he seems reluctant.”
“You must’ve had your eyes closed when he kissed her before she made that last shot.” As if the memory reminded him of what he liked, too, he kissed his wife again. “Mmm, but I like kissing now better than kissing while playing pool.”
“Me, too, but—”
“Give ’em a break, sweetheart. They’ve only been married a day or two. Unlike us. We’ve been married two weeks tomorrow. We’re old hands at this sort of thing.” He kissed her again. “But don’t you worry about old Pete. He’ll kiss Janie off her feet in no time.” He chuckled. “Silly remark, I guess, since she’s already pregnant.”
Megan lay pressed against her husband’s heart, well satisfied with her lot in life. But she also still had doubts about Pete and Janie. She didn’t want anything to be wrong, but she couldn’t quell the feeling that something wasn’t right.
But she wasn’t going to say any more to her husband about it.
“In fact,” Chad whispered, running a hand up and down her back, “we may have been married first, but Pete’s one up on me. Or should I say two up?” he added with a chuckle. “Maybe we’d better practice again.”
“This isn’t a competition,” Megan protested but weakly. She was enjoying his suggestion too much.
WHEN JANIE WOKE the next morning, she didn’t have any trouble remembering where she was. She was in another room, away from Pete, in a single bed, missing his warmth and touch.
The sound of the shower immediately filled her with the picture of Pete when he’d opened the door yesterday sans his clothes. It had been all she could do to speak straight. Then she’d had to play pool with the man, in front of Chad and Megan, and try to ignore her hormones.
No one had been more surprised than her when she’d sunk the nine ball. Especially since she’d been aiming for the number three next to it.
She’d been too embarrassed to confess to Pete. And then she’d been too alarmed. Pete had stared at her coldly, as if she’d slapped him in the face. That reaction had caused her to miss the next shot.
Chad and Megan had continued their kissing game, but Pete, when his turn came around, had glared at her before picking up his cue stick and running the table.
The game was over. Both games.
She’d gone to bed immediately.
With a sigh, she shoved back the covers and swung her legs to the floor. Her big toe stubbed the book she’d been reading. Dick Francis’s latest mystery was on the floor beside the bed. She was going to have to stock her library if she was going to bed at eight o’clock each evening.
The door opened and she grabbed the blankets, clutching them to her chest like some virgin fearing ravishment. Pete stared at her from across the room.
“I didn’t expect you to be awake,” he said in a voice she couldn’t read. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you getting up?”
“In a few minutes. I was waiting for you to finish in the bathroom.”
“If you want hot water, you’d better get in there before Brett.” A smile broke out on his face. “He’s notorious for long ones that leave the rest of us yelping when the hot water disappears. Jake makes him wait half an hour until the rest of us have finished.” His grin was relaxed, letting Janie breathe easier.
“Thanks for warning me.”
Pete looked at his watch. “You’ve still got five minutes.”
Janie wondered if he expected her to parade past him into the bathroom. Not that her pajamas were X-rated. On the contrary, they were cotton flannel. Definitely unsexy. Even so, she didn’t intend to build any intimacy between them.
“Shall I tell Red you’ll be down for breakfast?”
Would a message to Red convince him to go away? “Yes, please, but I probably won’t make it down until after you’re gone.”
Pete stiffened, as if she’d insulted him. Then he began walking toward her. “In that case, I reckon I’ll collect my goodbye kiss now.”
Janie stared at him, her mouth falling open. The man was insane. “But, Pete, we don’t have an audience. There’s no reason to—”
Before she could finish her protest, he’d lifted her up from the bed, holding her against his chest, his mouth stopping her words.
Bacon in a hot frying pan didn’t sizzle as much as her body did at Pete’s touch. His hands slid up her back, caressing her skin, warming it. When one hand moved to her breast, her mind shut down and the heat intensified.
Then she was sliding down his strong body, landing with a thump on her bed.
Pete drew in a deep breath and marched across the room. “See if you can make a pool shot after that kiss.”
Then he disappeared from sight.
TRUE TO HER PREDICTION, Janie didn’t make it to the kitchen until the men had left. She made sure of it.
As she was eating the breakfast Red insisted on preparing, she asked, “Red, are you going into town today?”
“I’m not sure. Why? Is there something you need?”
“I thought I’d catch a ride over to my parents’. There are a few things I forgot to pack, and I’d like to get my car.”
“You can take one of the pickups,” Red offered.
“But then I couldn’t drive my car back.”
Megan entered the kitchen.
“I know. Maybe I can talk Megan into helping me,” Janie sug
gested, smiling at her sister-in-law. She explained her need, and Megan quickly agreed to drive her.
“I don’t know,” Red said, scratching his head. “I’m not sure the boys would want you running around like that. You might get stuck or something.”
Megan laughed and crossed the room to kiss Red’s cheek. “Dear Red. There’s nothing you can do to stop us. I have my own car, remember? And we’re their wives, not their personal slaves.”
Red backed off. “Okay, okay.”
“In fact,” Megan said, excitement rising in her voice, “why don’t we call B.J. and see if she can meet us in town for lunch?”
Janie was amazed at the excitement that filled her. She hadn’t realized how trapped she’d been feeling. “That’s a great idea.”
“Here now, you two don’t like my cooking?”
“Don’t be silly, Red. We just need a day out. Janie, we can leave early and shop for the babies’ room. Then, when you and Pete go shopping, you’ll know where to direct him so he’ll choose what you like.”
Megan’s enthusiasm spurred Janie on. After Megan called B.J. and made arrangements for lunch, they began making a list of what they intended to do with their day.
“What am I supposed to tell the boys when they come in for lunch?” Red asked a bit nervously.
“Sit down and eat?” Janie suggested, and giggled.
Red smiled back. “You know those two lovelorn coyotes will be lookin’ for you.”
“Tell them we’ve gone to spend their hard-earned money, so eat fast and go earn some more,” Megan told him. “Now, I’m going to do an hour or two of work before we need to leave.”
“Shall I help you with the dishes, Red?” Janie offered.
“Nope. Won’t take a minute to clean up after you two.”
“Well, then, I’m starting some laundry. I’ll do a load of bath towels first.” With a sense of purpose in her step, Janie headed upstairs to gather the morning’s trail of laundry left by four handsome cowboys.
PETE WONDERED how Janie would greet him. His parting words had shown his irritation with the events of the previous night. He regretted revealing his vulnerability to her.
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