Her Secret Valentine

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  The blades of their shovels scraped steadily against the blacktop beneath. “Yeah, she was pretty shaken up for such a minor event,” Mac reflected. “Of course I guess any time you lose control of your vehicle, it’s frightening,” he said as he threw another load of snow onto the lawn. “Particularly for someone who hasn’t driven in the snow for several years.”

  “Except,” Cal theorized slowly, “Ashley is normally such a together woman. I mean, nothing fazes her.” He watched as their breaths materialized in the cold winter air. “But this did.” More so than he would have expected.

  “What are you saying?” Mac asked. He paused to wipe the sweat from his brow.

  “I’m not sure.” Cal had cleared enough to get the trunk open. He extracted the long-handled ice scraper. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I keep thinking there is something she isn’t telling me.”

  His face expressionless, Mac continued shoveling while Cal cleared snow off the top of the Mustang. “Have you asked her about it?”

  Cal squinted against the glare of the sun bouncing off the snow. Was it his imagination or was his brother now the one acting almost too cool for comfort? “Sort of.”

  Mac looked at Cal down the bridge of his nose. “What do you mean you ‘sort of’ asked her?” Mac demanded, whatever else he was thinking hidden behind his aviator-style sunglasses.

  Uncomfortable with the close scrutiny, Cal shrugged. “It’s not an easy thing to do without coming off like I’m accusing her of something, only I don’t know exactly what. I don’t think that would be a good way to get our marriage back on track.”

  Worse than the gnawing suspicion in his gut was the feeling of foolishness accompanying it.

  “Speaking of your marriage, how are things going now that Ashley is back on the mainland?”

  “Lots better.” Cal liked being able to confide in his older brother, knowing that these days anyway, he could trust Mac not to keep him out of the loop on family matters. “Except for her calling-out-your-name-in-her-sleep thing,” Cal added wryly.

  “Well, there’s one way to fix that.” Mac flashed a devil-may-care grin.

  “Get her to call out mine first?” Cal guessed in a low dead-pan tone.

  Mac slapped Cal on the shoulder. “Sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you, little brother.”

  Chapter Eleven

  No doubt about it, Ashley thought several days later as she looked at herself in the mirror. The pants that had been loose when she had purchased them two and a half weeks earlier were not “roomy” any longer. She could still get the zipper up with nary a struggle but, realistically, she wasn’t sure how much longer that was going to last. Or even if, ten days from now, when she hit the three-month mark and could finally tell Cal about the baby, they would still fit.

  She had gained only another three pounds, according to the scale, but that combined with the five she had gained in the first two months, seemed to have gone straight to her waist and hips.

  “What I ought to do is just go to the maternity store and buy some pants that don’t look like maternity slacks,” Ashley mumbled to herself as she turned this way and that, examining the new pudginess of her torso.

  But, fear that if she did that, one of the women in the family would recognize the trousers as pregnancy clothing kept her from doing it. And anyway, there were only ten more days. After that she would no longer have to protect her husband. She could tell Cal he was about to become a daddy and buy herself some clothing more suited for a mommy-to-be.

  “What are you doing? And why are you muttering to yourself?” Cal asked from the open doorway. He, too, was getting ready to go to work. He was freshly shaven and his ash-blond hair was damp and scented with shampoo. Shoeless, his shirt open and un-tucked, he looked so sexy and handsome he took her breath away.

  “I’m not doing anything.” Ashley swiftly released the hem of her burgundy turtleneck sweater, so it fell back over her hips.

  He closed the distance between them in three lazy strides. He lifted his brow. “You were obsessing over your figure again, weren’t you?”

  Ashley battled a self-conscious flush.

  “I wish you’d just relax about it,” Cal said, wrapping his arms around her waist. “And let me see you naked again.”

  Ashley wanted that, too, if only because it would mean she could see him naked. She had always enjoyed the sight of his handsome, well-honed body. Soon, she promised herself, there would be no more secrets between them. No more reason to hold him at arm’s length. She turned around, so they were face to face, and tipped her head back. “I’ve got to start working out first,” she stalled.

  And she knew what she was going to do, just as soon as she had time—a pregnancy yoga routine.

  Tightening his hold on her, he kissed his way down her neck. “You’ve got everything you need right down the hall.”

  He had been very generous when it came to outfitting their new home “gym.” Deciding it would be best for both of them if he weren’t quite so undressed, she began buttoning his shirt, from the hem, up. “I know.” As her fingers brushed his fly, she couldn’t help but note his arousal.

  Soon, it matched her own. It seemed she couldn’t be near him like this without feeling that telltale flutter in her middle, and the tightening of her breasts.

  “Yet I haven’t seen you on the bike or the treadmill,” Cal continued, gently stroking his hands through her hair.

  The truth was, Ashley was afraid to get on the fitness machines. Afraid that if she stressed her body in the slightest she would lose their baby. And though, as a physician, she knew intellectually this wasn’t true, that moderate exercise was good for her, the mother’s heart inside her was busy churning out warnings to “be extra, extra careful” night and day.

  “Surprise.” She pulled away from him and went to the mirror to finish brushing her hair. She shot him a glance in the reflection. “You’ve got a very lazy wife.”

  Cal sauntered over to find a tie on the rack that matched his pale-yellow shirt. “If you’re trying to be mysterious,” he teased her affably, “it’s working.”

  “That’s a nice way to spin it,” Ashley joked back. “Mysterious, instead of lazy.” While he tied his tie, she twisted the length of her hair and secured it in a clip. “And much as I would love to stay here and discuss my sudden reluctance to exercise, I’ve got to get a move on. I need to be at the hospital to make rounds by seven, and in the office by eight.”

  “How come you’re going in this morning?” Cal asked, swiftly hunting down his socks and shoes. “I thought you were only working afternoons.”

  “Carlotta called while you were in the shower,” Ashley said. “Elizabetta has strep throat and Carlotta wants to stay home with her. So I said I would go in for the whole day.”

  “You want to go in together then?”

  Normally, Ashley would prefer taking separate vehicles—she liked being able to come and go as she pleased, and she knew Cal did, too.

  “If not,” Cal continued affably, “I could drive the Mustang, if you want to take the SUV.”

  Ashley shook her head. “No, let’s go together.” There was too much snow still on the ground for him to drive the Mustang. Her concern wasn’t only for her and the baby. She wanted Cal safe and sound, too. “The roads are still icy in places, where the snow has been melting during the day and then refreezing overnight. I don’t want to take a chance on one of us getting in an accident.”

  “Okay.”

  “You’re not going to say I’m being silly?”

  He studied her a long moment, as if trying to figure out the change that had come over her. She knew what he was thinking—she had never used to worry about such things, and in fact, had poked fun of people who were too safety-conscious.

  All that had changed when she became pregnant again, however. Now their family couldn’t be safe enough…she couldn’t be with him enough.

  And though he couldn’t quite figure it out, he didn’t r
eally seem to mind.

  Finally, Cal shook his head. A wistful look came into his eyes, the same one he used to get after one of their commuting rendezvous together whenever he had to say goodbye to her. “Not silly. Beautiful.” He put his arm around her waist, guiding her close. “And sexy.” His voice dropped another gruff notch. “And bound to make us both late if we don’t get our coats and get out of here.”

  “YOU’RE KIDDING ME, right?” Hannah stared at Cal over the hood of the car she was working on. “You can’t want me to sell the Mustang for you and Ashley! Now? When you just gave it to her a few weeks ago!”

  Cal wasn’t surprised by his sister-in-law’s response.

  Hannah’s business, Classic Car Auto Repair, revolved around vintage automobiles. She not only worked on them, she understood the value, and the Mustang Cal had given Ashley was a fine automobile. Hannah knew, because she had not only helped Cal buy the vehicle, she had spent months getting it into top running form and realized full well how sentimental and heartfelt a present it had been.

  Cal struggled not to feel remorse at getting rid of the convertible, especially since their reasons for doing so were valid. “It’s a great car, and you did a beautiful job restoring it, but we’ve decided we want something with more state-of-the-art safety features,” Cal told Hannah practically. “And we can’t really afford to have a twelve-thousand-dollar car we never drive sitting in the barn at the farm, so it’s going back on the block.”

  Understanding lit her eyes. “I’ll put the word out. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble finding a buyer.”

  Cal nodded, relieved. “Thanks.”

  Hannah touched Cal’s arm. The two of them were more than in-laws, they were good friends and had been even before Hannah had married Cal’s sports-announcer brother, Dylan, the previous autumn. “Is everything okay with the two of you? I know how much that Mustang meant in your relationship.”

  Cal smiled. “It actually was a great gift. Ashley was thrilled when I first gave her the car that we had our very first dates in.” And the car, as he had hoped, had marked a turning point in their marriage. So maybe all hadn’t been lost, maybe it had served its purpose, and it was time to move on.

  Hannah guessed there was more to the story. “But—?”

  Cal grimaced. “She lost control of the car in the snow and jumped a curb.”

  “Dylan and I heard about that—Mac told us. But we understood she wasn’t hurt and the car had no damage.”

  Cal had an idea what Hannah was thinking. They could put snow tires on the vehicle. Or chains on the tires. Or simply not drive it at all in wet winter weather. It didn’t snow in their area of North Carolina more than a couple of times a year, if that. During those times, he and Ashley could share his SUV, as they had been the past few days. “That’s right.”

  “But you’re getting another vehicle anyway?”

  “Tonight, after work.” Cal was hoping he and Ashley could find something she liked right away. “We’re headed for a dealership in Raleigh that specializes in vehicles with state-of-the-art safety features. The near miss made us both realize we had to be practical as well as romantic. And since there’s no way to install air bags in a vintage car like that…we opted to go with something else for her to drive.”

  Hannah nodded, understanding completely.

  “Is everything else okay with you two?” Hannah asked.

  Cal paused, not sure how to answer that. On the one hand, he and Ashley had never been happier. They were both living and working in the same place. After several years of guarded exchanges and cautious politeness, they were opening up to each other again. Laughing. Snuggling. Making love—albeit in the dark. For the first time in several years, he felt hopeful they would have the kind of equitable, satisfying marriage they had both always wanted. And yet, there were times, like this morning, when he had the strong sensation that Ashley was still withholding more than she was telling him, and that there were things about her life she would rather he just not know. And for the life of him, Cal couldn’t figure out how to get past that.

  “ADMIT IT,” Ashley said, later that evening after they had parked their two cars side by side in the garage, and emerged to stand between them. She pointed to the shiny fire-engine-red car she had driven home from the lot, while he followed in his SUV. “This wasn’t the vehicle you expected me to pick out for myself this evening.”

  No kidding, Cal thought, seeing no reason to fib. “I admit I’ve always seen you as the sports-car type.”

  “Instead of a station wagon.” She turned to survey the buttery-soft cream leather seats and carpeting, seating for five, a generous cargo area, and a luggage rack on top, then turned back to him. Her lips formed a perplexed pout.

  “What don’t you like about it?”

  The fact, Cal thought, that there is still something you’re not telling me. But not wanting to start a fight by accusing Ashley of he didn’t quite know what, Cal merely smiled. “I think it’s a perfect family car,” he said.

  Ashley tensed at the mention of the F-word.

  “Not that I’m pushing you to have a child right now,” Cal corrected himself hastily. “I know that the time has to be right for both of us, and—”

  Ashley pressed a silencing finger to his lips. The haunted look was back in her china-blue eyes. “Let’s not talk about this right now, okay?”

  “Then what would you like to talk about?” he asked her softly, unable not to note how gorgeous she looked, even after a long day. In the subdued light of the garage, her classically beautiful features were all the more pronounced. Her dark hair had been blow-dried straight and caught in a clip on the back of her head, but wispy tendrils escaped to frame her face and the nape of her neck.

  Ashley shrugged. “Well…”

  “Yes?” He could practically see her switching gears. Anything, he figured to get them off the subject of family and children. And when—if ever—they were going to have them.

  Ashley swallowed, her expression as distracted as it was uneasy. She turned back to the station wagon that was outfitted with every safety feature currently being made, including air bags, steel beams, a car engine that would drop down instead of coming through the passenger compartment on impact and an emergency communication/navigation system.

  Ashley turned back to him and sashayed toward him seductively. “It’s obvious to me that you don’t think this car is sexy enough.” She slipped her hands beneath his coat to caress his chest, in much the same way she had in the past when they’d had problems she didn’t want to discuss and preferred to sort out—or maybe just forget altogether—in bed.

  This had occasionally irritated Cal in the past…although he never passed up a chance to make love with her.

  Making love always made them feel closer—even if their problems remained.

  Which was maybe where Ashley was headed with this?

  The tactic was one she had said she wanted to avoid. And they had. But maybe she was having second thoughts about this all-or-nothing method of dealing with conflict between them.

  Maybe she was trying to guide them onto middle ground.

  He couldn’t say after the years spent living away from her, and the temporary moratorium on their sex life, that he would mind. Especially when it looked as if she were contemplating initiating a little fun.

  “But the car could be sexy.” Ashley lowered her hands recklessly.

  Cal felt the caressing sweep of her hands down the front of his thighs. Damn, if he wasn’t already hard as a rock. “If we were to christen it?”

  Ashley glanced back at the vehicle they had just purchased. “The front console could be a problem.” She paused, bit her lip in a thoughtful way that had him wanting to kiss her and never stop.

  “Fortunately,” she continued happily, “the passenger seat folds down.”

  Cal slipped his hands beneath her coat, too. He removed her hands from his body and brought her against him, so her feminine softness curved against hi
s growing arousal. He pressed kisses into her hair, across her forehead, temples. “Sure we won’t be too chilly?”

  Ashley trembled in his arms and kissed him back—on the lips. “Not if we closed the garage door, got some blankets, and let mutual body heat do the rest.”

  Cal brought his hands around to cup her buttocks and lift her against him. “Damn if you aren’t full of surprises,” he murmured, lowering his head once again. They were about to kiss again when they heard the sound of a car moving toward them and found themselves caught in the sweep of yellow headlights.

  Too late, Cal realized he should have shut the overhead door as soon as they pulled their vehicles into the garage. Maybe then, they could have pretended not to be home. As it was, they had been caught by the female Hart posse—all three of his sisters-in-law and his sister, Janey.

  There were times when family was not welcome. This was one of them.

  Not that he would ever be rude. It wasn’t their fault that their timing stunk.

  “We hate to interrupt,” Emma Donovan Hart said as she stepped out from behind the wheel.

  Hannah Reid Hart, Lily Madsen Hart, and Janey Hart Lantz soon joined them. “But we were in the area and thought we’d drop by and say hi.”

  “We also brought some wedding cake for you to taste,” Janey said, cradling several white pastry boxes in her arms. “I’ve been developing some new recipes and I need some more opinions on whether or not to offer them at the shop.” Janey paused. Although she knew they had interrupted a romantic moment it did not seem to be deterring her in the least. “You don’t mind giving me some fresh perspective, do you?”

  “Of course not,” Ashley said, shooting Cal a curious look no one else could see. One that said, What the heck is going on here?

  He had a pretty good idea.

  He just couldn’t say.

  “And maybe some coffee, too?” Lily said, falling into step beside Ashley as Ashley closed the overhead door behind them with a press of a button and led the way into the farmhouse. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”