Callum forced his mouth from hers, but not before taking a quick lick around her lips. He then rested his forehead against hers and pulled in a deep breath. “I love you, Gemma,” he whispered against her temple. “I loved you from the moment I first saw you. I knew you were the one, my true soul mate.”
Gemma dropped her head to Callum’s chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, breathing in his scent and glowing in his love. She was still reeling from his profession of love for her. Her heart was bursting with happiness.
“Gemma, will you marry me?”
She snatched her head up to look into his eyes. And there she saw in their green depths what she hadn’t seen before. Now she did.
“Yes, I’ll marry you, but…”
Callum chuckled. “There’s a but?”
“Yes. I want to be told every day that you love me.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’ve hung around my mom, sister and sisters-in-law too much.”
“Whatever.”
“I don’t have a problem doing that. No problem at all.” He sat down on the bed and pulled her down into his lap. “You never answered my question. What are you doing here and not at your place?”
She lowered her head, began toying with the buttons on his shirt and then glanced up and met his gaze. “I know it sounds crazy, but I came home to get over you, but once I got here I had to come here to feel close to you. I was going to sleep in this bed tonight because I knew this is where you slept.”
Callum tightened his arms around her. “I got news for you, Gemma. You’re still sleeping in this bed tonight. With me.”
He eased back on the bed and took her with him, covering her mouth with his, kissing her in a way that let her know how much love he had for her. He adjusted their bodies so he could remove every stitch of her clothing and then proceeded to undress himself.
He returned to the bed and pulled her into his arms, but not before taking a small box from the pocket of his jacket. He placed his knee on the bed and pulled her into his arms to slide a ring on her finger. “For the woman who took my breath away the moment I saw her. To the woman I love.”
Tears clouded Gemma’s eyes when she gazed down at the beautiful ring Callum had placed on her finger. Her breath nearly stopped. She remembered the ring. She had seen it that day when she’d gone shopping with the Austell women and they had stopped by that jewelry store. Gemma had mentioned to Le’Claire how much she’d liked this particular one.
“Oh, Callum. Even your mom knows?” She had to fight back tears as she continued to admire her ring.
“Sweetheart, everybody knows,” he said, grinning. “I had sworn them to secrecy. It was important for me to court you the way you deserved. You hadn’t dated a whole lot, and I wanted to show you that not all guys were heartbreakers.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “And you did court me. I just didn’t know that’s what you were doing. I just figured you were being nice, sending me those flowers, taking me to the movies and those picnic lunches on the beach. I just thought you were showing me how much you appreciated me…”
“In bed?”
“Yes.”
“And that’s what I was afraid of,” he said, pulling her closer to him. “I didn’t want you to think it was all about sex, because it wasn’t. When I told you I would give you anything and everything you wanted, Gemma, I meant it. All you had to do was ask for it, even my love, which is something you already had.”
She rested her head on his bare chest for a moment and then she lifted her head to look back at him. “Do you think you wasted three years living here, Callum?”
He shook his head. “No. Being here gave me a chance to love you from afar while watching you grow and mature into the beautiful woman you are today. I saw you gain your independence and then wear it like a brand of accomplishment in everything you did. I was so proud of you when you landed that big contract with the city, because I knew exactly what you could do. That gave me the idea to buy that house for you to decorate. That will be our home and the condo will become our private retreat when we want to spend time at the beach.”
He paused a moment. “I know you’ll miss your family and all, and—”
Gemma reached up and placed a finger to his lips. “Yes, I will miss my family, but my home will be with you. We will come back and visit and that will be good enough for me. I want to be in Sydney with you.”
Callum didn’t say anything for a moment and then asked. “What about your business here?”
Gemma smiled. “I’m closing it. I’ve already opened another shop in Sydney, thanks to you. Same name but different location.”
Her smile widened. “I love you, Callum. I want to be your wife and have your babies and I promise to always make you happy.”
“Oh, Gemma.” He reached out and cupped her face with both hands, lightly brushing his lips against hers before taking it in a hard kiss, swallowing her breath in the process.
He shifted to lie down on the bed and took her with him, placing her body on top of his while he continued to kiss her with a need that made every part of his body feel sensitive.
He tore his mouth away from hers to pull in a much-needed breath, but she fisted her hands in his hair to bring his face closer, before nibbling on his lips and licking around the corners of his mouth. And when he released a deep moan, she slid her tongue into his mouth and begin kissing him the way she’d gotten used to him kissing her.
Callum felt his control slipping and knew this kiss would be imprinted on his brain forever. He deepened the kiss, felt his engorged sex press against the apex of her thighs, knowing just what it wanted. Just what it needed.
Just what it was going to get.
He pulled his mouth away long enough to adjust her body over his. While staring into her eyes, he pushed upward and thrust into her, immediately feeling her heat as he buried himself deep in her warmth. He pulled out and thrust in again while the hard nipples of her breasts grazed his chest.
And then she began riding him, moving her body on top of his in a way that had him catching his breath after every stroke. Together, they rode, they gave and took, mated in a way that touched everything inside of him; had him chanting her name over and over.
Then everything seemed to explode and he felt her body when it detonated. He soon followed, but continued hammering home, getting all he could and making her come again.
“Callum!”
“That’s it, my love, feel the pleasure. Feel our love.”
And then he leaned up and kissed her, took her mouth with a hunger that should already have been appeased. But he knew he would always want this. He would always want her, and he intended to never let her regret the day she’d given him her heart.
Totally sated, Gemma slowly opened her eyes and, like so many other times over the past weeks, Callum was in bed with her, and she was wrapped in his embrace. She snuggled closer and turned in his arms to find him watching her with satisfied passion in the depth of his green eyes.
She smiled at him. “I think we broke the bed.”
He returned her smile and tightened his arms around her. “Probably did. But it can be fixed.”
“If not, we can stay at my place,” she offered.
“That will work.”
At that moment the phone rang and he shifted their bodies to reach and pick it up. “That’s probably Mom, calling to make sure things between us are all right.”
He picked up the phone. “Hello.”
He nodded a few times. “Okay, we’re on our way.”
He glanced over at Gemma and smiled. “That was Dillon. Chloe’s water broke and Ramsey rushed her to the hospital. Looks like there’s going to be a new Westmoreland born tonight.”
It didn’t take long for Callum and Gemma to get to the hospital, and already it was crowded with Westmorelands. It was almost 3:00 a.m. If anyone was curious as to why they were all together at that time of the morning, no one mentioned it.
“The baby
is already here,” Bailey said, excited. “We have a girl, just like we wanted.”
Callum couldn’t help throwing his head back and laughing. Good old Ram had a daughter.
“How’s Chloe?” Gemma asked.
“Ramsey came out a few moments ago and said she’s fine,” Megan said. “The baby is a surprise.”
“Yes, we didn’t expect her for another week,” Dillon said grinning. He glanced over at his pregnant wife, Pam, and smiled as he pulled her closer to him. “That makes me nervous.”
“Has anyone called and told Chloe’s father?”
“Yes,” Chloe’s best friend, Lucia, said smiling. “He’s a happy grandpa and he’ll be here sometime tomorrow.”
“What’s the baby’s name?” Callum asked.
It was Derringer who spoke up. “They are naming her Susan after Mom. And they’re using Chloe’s mom’s name as her middle name.”
Gemma smiled. She knew Chloe had lost her mother at an early age, too. “Oh, that’s nice. Our parents’ first grand. They would be proud.”
“They are proud,” Dillon said, playfully tapping her nose.
“Hey, is this an engagement ring?” Bailey asked loudly, grabbing Gemma’s hand.
Gemma glanced up at Callum and smiled lovingly. “Yes, we’re getting married.”
Cheers went up in the hospital waiting room. The Westmorelands had a lot to celebrate.
Zane glanced over at Dillon and Pam. “I guess now we’re depending on you two to keep us male Westmorelands in the majority.”
“Yeah,” Derringer agreed.
“You know the two of you could find ladies to marry and start making your own babies,” Megan said sweetly to her brothers. Her suggestion did exactly what she’d expected it to do—zip their lips.
Callum pulled Gemma closer into his arms. They shared a look. They didn’t care if they had boys or girls—they just wanted babies. There were not going to be any hassles getting a big family out of them.
“Happy?” Callum asked.
“Extremely,” she whispered.
Callum looked forward to when they would be alone again and he bent and told her just what he intended to do when they got back to the cabin.
Gemma blushed. Megan shot her sister a look. “You okay, Gem?”
Gemma smiled, glanced up at Callum and then back at her sister. “Yes, I couldn’t be better.”
Epilogue
There is nothing like a Westmoreland wedding, and this one was extra special because guests came from as far away as Australia and the Middle East. Gemma glanced out at the single ladies, waiting to catch her bouquet. She turned her back to the crowd, closed her eyes and threw it high over her head.
When she heard all the cheering, she turned around and smiled. It had been caught by Lucia Conyers, Chloe’s best friend. She glanced across the room and looked at the two new babies. As if Susan’s birth had started a trend, Dillon and Pam’s son, Denver, came early, too.
“When can we sneak away?”
“You’ve waited three years. Another three hours won’t kill you,” she jokingly replied to her husband of two hours.
“Don’t be so sure about that,” was his quick response.
Their bags were packed and he was going to take her to India, as they’d planned before. Then they would visit Korea and Japan. She wanted to get decorating ideas with a few Asian pieces.
Callum took his wife’s hand in his as they moved around the ballroom. He had been introduced to all the Atlanta Westmorelands before when he was invited to the Westmoreland family reunion as a guest. Now he would attend the next one as a bona fide member of the Westmoreland clan.
“How soon do you want to start making a baby?”
Gemma almost choked on her punch. He gave her a few pats on the back and grinned. “Didn’t mean for you to gag.”
“Can we at least wait until we’re alone?”
“To talk about it or to get things started?”
Gemma chuckled as she shook her head. “Why do I get the feeling there will never be a dull moment with you?”
He pulled her closer to him. “Because there won’t be. Remember I’m the one who knows what a Westmoreland wants. At least I know what my Westmoreland wants.”
Gemma wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m an Austell now,” she said proudly.
“Oh, yes, I know. And trust me—I will never let you forget it.”
Callum then pulled her into his arms and in front of all their wedding guests, he kissed her with all the love flowing in his heart. He had in his arms everything he’d ever wanted.
KATHIE DENOSKY
EXPECTING THE RANCHER’S HEIR
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
One
“Don’t say pregnant. Please don’t say pregnant,” Melissa Jarrod whispered, afraid to open her tightly closed eyes. Maybe if she repeated it enough times she could will the white stick in her trembling hand to give her the results she wanted.
When she finally worked up the courage to take a peek at the pregnancy test she held, her eyes widened and it felt as if her stomach dropped all the way to her feet. The word pregnant in the little results window couldn’t have been clearer.
“I can’t be pregnant,” she said disbelievingly as she glanced at herself in the bathroom mirror. “We’ve been careful.”
But as her gaze dropped to her flat stomach, she realized that the way her luck had been running lately, it was not only possible, it was highly probable. She and Shane McDermott had been in a physical relationship practically from the moment she returned to Aspen two months ago. She sighed heavily. Although they’d taken the proper precautions, there had been that one night only a few days after they’d started seeing each other when they’d gotten carried away and passion had overtaken them.
Hoping the results of the test might be wrong, she quickly picked up the box to check the directions. No, she had done everything correctly. She turned the box to the side to see if there was a disclaimer or some reassurance that the test could have given a false-positive reading. Her spirits sank further when she found what she was looking for. The percentage of error was so low, it was almost impossible that she wasn’t pregnant.
Wandering into the bedroom, she sank onto the side of the bed. What was she going to do and how on earth was she going to tell Shane?
He had made it perfectly clear from the beginning that he wasn’t interested in a serious relationship, and that had been just fine with her. When she’d first come back to Aspen for the reading of her father’s will, she hadn’t been certain just how long she would be staying. But she, her brothers and her newfound half sister had learned they were required to take over the running of the Jarrod Ridge Resort for at least one year or forfeit their inheritance of the thriving enterprise. Even so, it would have been utter foolishness to engage in anything long-term, knowing that she would eventually return to California at some point in the future.
But with the positive results of the pregnancy test, their casual affair had just taken a very serious turn and become a lifelong commitment. At least for her. But how would Shane react when he learned that in a little more than seven months he was going to be a father?
Lost in a tangle of disturbing thoughts and fighting a wave of sheer panic, Melissa jumped when her cell phone rang. Reaching to pick it up from the nightstand, she noticed the number for the Tranquility Spa on the caller ID.
“What’s wrong this time, Rita?” she asked, taking a deep steadying breath.
Whether real or imagined, the assistant manager of Jarrod Ridge’s elite spa had reported a crisis nearly every day since Melissa had stepped in to temporarily take over the manager’s position. But for the first time in two months, she welc
omed the insecure woman’s concerns. Anything was a welcome distraction from her own current dilemma.
“I’m sorry to bother you, Ms. Jarrod, but the yoga instructor called in sick this morning and I haven’t been able to reach our backup. We have a room full of guests and no one to lead the yoga class. What should I do?” Rita whined, her voice clearly filled with indecision, as well as a good amount of panic.
“First of all, breathe, Rita,” Melissa said, rising from the bed to pull a leotard from her dresser drawer. “I want you to calm down, then escort the guests over to the juice bar for a complimentary drink.”
“Then what?” the woman asked, sounding a little more in control of herself.
How on earth the woman had managed to land the assistant-manager position, Melissa would never know. Although Rita was very nice, she couldn’t make a decision on her own if her life depended on it.
Melissa checked her watch. “I’ll be there in ten minutes to teach the class.”
The last thing she wanted to do was lead a yoga session this morning. She needed to figure out when and how she was going to tell Shane, as well as her family, about the pregnancy. But the choice had been taken out of her hands. The Tranquility Spa had a stellar reputation for giving Jarrod Ridge guests five-star treatment and she wasn’t about to let that status slip on her watch.
Putting her long blond hair into a ponytail, she stuffed her things into her gym bag, then grabbed her car keys from the kitchen counter as she started out the door of the lodge. Since her return to Aspen, she had been staying in Willow Lodge, one of the exclusive log cabins owned by Jarrod Ridge Resort.
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