TEXAS! SAGE

by Sandra Brown

  "You can't accuse me of wanting to marry you for your money either. Because when you asked me and I said yes, I didn't know you had a nickel. I loved you then as much as I do now. So haul that duffel bag out of that truck and march it right back upstairs. You're not going anywhere without me."

  Rain was streaming down her face. Her clothing was plastered to her. Her hair clung to her face and neck in wet clumps. But she was impervious to it all.

  In his adorable drawl, he asked, "Are you gonna poke me with that butcher knife if I don't?"

  "I might. You're going to marry me if I have to kill you first."

  Muttering curses and ruefully shaking his head, he gazed out over the sodden landscape. When his gaze came back to her, he laughed. Reaching out, he dug his hand into the waistband of her slacks and jerked her against him. Wresting the butcher knife from her hand, he tossed it away. It landed with a splash in the nearest puddle.

  "I've got a lot of money," he said for starters.

  "So what?"

  "I'll never let it own me, Sage. Don't count on my changing my attitude toward it."

  "The only thing I'll count on is your not changing your attitude toward me."

  "What's my attitude toward you?"

  "You love me. You adore me. You're addicted to me. You'd die without me in your life. I make you hot and hard and happy."

  Laughing, he cupped his hands beneath her bottom and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his hips. He pivoted slowly while the rain fell on them. "You're crazy, but you're right."

  "On which point?"

  "All of the above."

  "Then kiss me like you mean it."

  When they finally broke apart, he glanced warily toward the front of the house. "Damn, Sage. If you don't quit kissing me like that, we'll have to start the honeymoon right here and now."

  She bit his lower lip. "That's the general idea."

  * * *

  Epilogue

  "Harlan, wake up. It's time."

  He snuffled and buried his face in her hair. "I'd love to, baby, but I'm beat. Can you wait till morning?"

  Sage laughed softly and removed his questing hand from her breast. "I don't mean it's time for that. It's time to go to the hospital."

  He sat bolt upright in bed. "You mean the baby?"

  "I've been having contractions for the past two hours."

  "Two hours! Damn, Sage. Why didn't you wake me up?"

  "As you said, you were beat. You really shouldn't have driven home from Louisiana tonight."

  "If I hadn't, where would you be now, huh?" He shoved his legs into his jeans and stood up in one fluid motion.

  He'd been in the neighboring state overseeing a rig Tyler Drilling had leased to a new oil company headed by his stepfather. When he had called at dusk to say he was coming home, she had discouraged him from making the trip that late in the day. Now she was glad he had insisted.

  "I've been away from you too long, baby," he had said.

  "It's only been two days."

  "That's way too long."

  Recalling the fervency behind his words made her smile as she reached for the nightstand telephone. "I'll call the doctor."

  "Where's the damn suitcase?" he asked, plowing through the clothes hanging in the closet. "Good thing you already packed it. Where is it?"

  "It's in the other closet." She asked the doctor's answering service to notify him that she was on her way to the hospital and hung up. "Harlan, calm down. We've got plenty of time. My water hasn't even— Uh-oh!"

  "What?" His head popped out of the closet.

  "My water just broke."

  Cursing liberally, he wrapped her in a blanket and carried her out to the car. "Breathe," he commanded, even though his own breathing was unsteady. "Remember to breathe the way they taught us in class."

  He tucked her into the passenger seat and ran around the hood, his open shirt flapping.

  "Button your shirt," she told him as they pulled away from the house that Marcie had sold them, waiving her commission as a wedding gift.

  "Why are you worrying about my shirt at a time like this?"

  "I don't want all the nurses drooling over your hairy chest, that's why."

  At a traffic light he stopped only long enough to hastily fasten the buttons, then sped through the red light. "You're going to get a ticket," she warned.

  "I've got connections at city hall."

  "Not for long. Pat's retirement party is next week. Oh, Harlan, I can't miss the party!"

  Laurie had redecorated Pat's former bachelor pad from the foundation up, turning it into a dollhouse of a showplace. She loved living in town where she was close to all her friends and activities. For all practical purposes, they were still on their honeymoon. It was difficult to say which of them was more besotted.

  "If necessary, they'll postpone the party," he assured her. Reaching across the car interior, he laid his hand on Sage's stomach. "He's early, isn't he? Why's he early? You don't think anything's wrong, do you?"

  "Nothing's wrong. He's just anxious to meet you. I've told him so much about you," she said gently, covering his hand with her own.

  The tires squealed when he pulled up to the emergency room. Not even waiting for a gurney, Harlan scooped her into his arms again and carried her inside.

  Once they were officially checked in, a nurse said, "The doctor will need to see her alone for a few minutes, Mr. Boyd, then you can join her."

  "Call everybody," Sage shouted over her shoulder as she was wheeled away.

  By the time the family had been notified, he was able to join her in the labor room. He put on the scrub suit that was required.

  "Definitely your shade of blue," Sage remarked once he was properly gowned.

  "Always the smart aleck. Never knows when to keep her mouth shut." He bent over her, his eyes suddenly turning serious and misty. "Damn, Sage, I love you."

  "I love you too." She gripped his hands. "I'm kind of scared."

  "You?"

  "Yes. And you know I wouldn't admit that to anyone except you. Stay with me, Harlan."

  "Forever, baby. You can count on it."

  Huffing and puffing and calling her OB a heartless, male chauvinist pig, she was wheeled into the delivery room. Minutes later, with Harlan's assistance, she gave birth to his son. The good-natured doctor lifted the squirming, squalling infant into the father's waiting arms.

  "Congratulations, Mr. Boyd."

  "Call me Harlan," he said absently as he laid his son on Sage's breast.

  "Oh, he's beautiful," she whispered in awe. "Look, Harlan, at what a wonderful baby we made."

  It was almost an hour later before they were finally left alone with their son. The nurse had warned them they couldn't keep him long before he needed to be returned to the nursery.

  Sage fingered his cap of blond fuzz. "He's got your hairline, Harlan. Your nose."

  "My penis."

  "Oh!" she exclaimed. Then, giving him a sultry smile, she added, "Not hardly." They laughed together softly, then kissed. "Did you call everyone?"

  "They'll descend on the nursery as soon as the hospital staff will let them in. The hospital ought to give us a family discount, as much business as we're giving them."

  To everyone's delight, Marcie had announced that she was pregnant again, even though Jamie wasn't even a year old. Her biological clock was running out, she had said. Her business was prospering even though she only worked part-time, so she could indulge her maternal instincts. Chase and she were fabulously happy.

  Devon's column had been syndicated to several out-of-state newspapers. Lucky and she were talking about having another child, although he swore he couldn't possibly sire another one as delightful as Lauren. In the same breath, he said he sure would have fun trying though.

  Tyler Drilling almost had more business than it could accommodate. Between the two separate entities, they kept their trucks rolling from city to city. Until a few weeks ago, Sage had been at the helm of the irrigation
business, coordinating schedules, soliciting new clients, and managing the office, which had been added onto and was now staffed with two secretaries.

  "What about Marian and Grayson?" Sage asked her husband now. "Did you call them?"

  "Mother flipped out. They're flying over in the morning."

  Sage reached up and affectionately stroked his cheek. Thanks to her peace-making attempts, Grayson and Harlan were civil to each other. There was still some turbulence between them over Harlan's refusal to become Grayson's business partner. It was a point they constantly disagreed on, and always would. But mother and son had been reunited, and that was the most important thing.

  Harlan had admitted to Sage that he had carried the wounds of adolescence into adulthood. He never really believed that his mother had been unfaithful before his father's death or that Grayson had done anything unscrupulous. It was simply easier to blame them for his father's death than to focus his anger on something he couldn't combat.

  Grayson, with his brusque personality, was such a departure from the easygoing man who had fathered Harlan, that the boy couldn't accept him. Sage patiently explained to him that Grayson didn't treat Marian in the same manner he treated a business rival.

  "I'm certain he loves your mother very much."

  "I suppose he does. But after Mother married him, I started thinking of money as something evil," he had told her in an attempt to explain. "With enough money, someone could assume control of other people's lives. I wanted no part of it."

  In the last few months, he had begun to dip into his inheritance, but only because he hated to see it lying in waste when so many people could use it. He was quietly philanthropic. The substantial donations he made to diverse organizations and charities never knew from whom the staggering contributions came.

  "Why didn't you just give it away before?" Sage had once asked him. "For instance, when you saw Tyler Drilling was in trouble, why didn't you just give the money to Chase?"

  "Because money alone wouldn't have solved the problem. Not in the long run. Besides, I liked getting involved and having to use my own resources to work out problems. Folks don't accept charity too well, but unless you're dealing with fools, they're usually open to fresh ideas. I left them with the satisfaction of knowing that they'd worked through their difficulties themselves. If I'd signed a check, they would have missed that personal gratification. So would I."

  He still wore jeans older than most graduating high school seniors and drove a pickup that Sage threatened to shoot and put out of its misery if it broke down one more time. He claimed it still had some good miles left in it.

  Now, gazing up at him with love, she said softly, "They asked me how to fill in his birth certificate. I told them his name is Daniel Tyler Boyd."

  "Daniel," he repeated thickly, tears shimmering in his eyes. "Thanks, Sage. I like that." He swallowed hard and cleared his throat. "I can't get over how much he weighed. To be so premature, seven and a half pounds is a lot, isn't it?"

  She moistened her lips and pulled her lower one through her teeth. "Actually, Harlan, he's not all that premature."

  "You told me your due date was in early November."

  "That's what I told you, yes. The fact is, Daniel's right on time."

  "But this is the first of October. That would move his conception back to early January."

  "Um-huh."

  As clarity dawned, his eyes connected with hers. "Why you little liar. You were pregnant all along. It happened that day in the trailer, right? You lied and said there was no baby."

  "I didn't exactly lie. When I said there was no baby, the jury was still out. I couldn't have you and my brothers at fisticuffs, could I? I certainly didn't want you to marry me out of obligation or pity. So, yes, I denied that there was a baby when, in fact, Daniel was already developing fingerprints."

  Harlan stared at her for a moment, absolutely incredulous. Then he threw back his head and laughed. Daniel frowned against his mother's breast.

  "Well, I'll be damned," Harlan whispered. He took the baby's tiny hand and rubbed it between his fingers. "Did you hear that, Daniel? Your mama really pulled one over on me this time."

  Then he buried his free hand in Sage's hair and lowered his lips to hers. "You're the damnedest woman I ever met, Miss Sage. Kiss me like you mean it."

  The End