The Texas Rancher's Vow: The Texas Rancher's VowFound: One Baby

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Thad resumed eating, too. “Anyone ever tell you that you sound like a lawyer?” He helped himself to more moo goo gai pan.

  She added brown rice and lemon chicken to her plate. “I’m serious, Thad. We have to demonstrate that we can make this work on a practical, everyday level before we go back into court next Monday. So to that end, I’m taking off work tomorrow, as well.”

  “Well, you’re in luck there, because I’m off, too.”

  “Now for the bad news.” Michelle drew a breath. So much to do. So little time. “William and I went over to your house earlier today. And while the paint fumes are completely nonexistent, the color is a little splotchy in places, which means the walls in William’s room are going to need a second coat.” She paused, hoping to enlist his cooperation. “I was thinking I could do it tonight—if you’ll stay here with William.”

  * * *

  IT WASN’T THE WAY Thad wanted to spend the evening. He also knew what was at stake. They needed to get this done in advance of the hearing with Judge Barnes on Monday. So she worked all evening finishing up the paint job, and then came home and collapsed in bed next to Thad, too exhausted to do anything but sleep. Early the next day she and Thad tackled everything else that had to be done. And while they were at it, Thad worked on a very special errand of his own.

  “Hey, Thad,” Hannah Callahan Daugherty, the proprietor of Callahan Mercantile & Feed, said when Thad entered the general store the next morning. She walked out from behind the coffee bar. “Violet Hunter said you’d be coming by.”

  Thad nodded, relieved everything was going according to plan. “I assume Violet filled you in?”

  Hannah beamed. “She did indeed and your secret is safe with me. How’s the little one I’ve been hearing so much about?”

  “He’s well and home with Michelle. How are Isabella and Daniel?”

  “Great.” Hannah beamed. “Adopting them was the best thing Joe and I ever did! But you’re not here to listen to me go on about my deliriously happy family. Come on back to the storeroom. The item you ordered is in a box back there. You’re going to love it.” She pushed open the swinging double doors and led him to an oversize carton. “Both Violet and I adore ours. And speaking of Violet—you’re aware she may have taken your request for help on this issue the wrong way, right?”

  Thad knew Violet had gone all out to get the information to him. “What do you mean, the wrong way?”

  Hannah shook her head in mute remonstration. “You men can be so dense sometimes! Violet still has a crush on you.”

  Thad frowned, irritated to be going over the same ground again. “We tried dating. It didn’t work.”

  Hannah shook her head. “For you, it didn’t. For her, well…”

  Thad sighed. “So Violet thinks…”

  “You asked her to help find this—” Hannah pointed to the box “—as a way of getting close to her once again.”

  Minutes later, still swearing silently over the misunderstanding, Thad loaded the bulky carton into the back of his SUV, then drove the short distance home. He was surprised to see Violet’s car at the curb. He parked in the driveway, left his purchase where it was and rushed into his house.

  Michelle was seated on the sofa, folding a load of freshly laundered hand-me-down baby clothes and blankets. Violet was sitting opposite her, still in her nursing uniform.

  Their polite conversation stopped the minute he walked in.

  Violet stood. “May I have a word with you?” she asked Thad.

  Michelle looked upset. Not a good sign.

  Figuring first things first, Thad turned back to Violet. “Sure,” he said.

  Violet murmured a polite goodbye to Michelle, then walked outside. By the time Violet had reached her car, tears were shimmering in her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me that Michelle was adopting William with you?” she demanded.

  Thad hadn’t made a secret of it. “I thought you knew.”

  “Well, I didn’t. I thought—”

  Thad cut Violet off before she could say anything else. “I consider you a friend. You know that.”

  “Right.” She bit her lip.

  “I want us to be friends,” Thad continued. “I’ve always wanted that.”

  “Well, it’s not what I want.” Violet composed herself with effort. “I’m looking to get married again, Thad. I want my little girls to grow up with a father.”

  Thad didn’t know what to say to that, except, “You’re a terrific woman, an excellent nurse and a wonderful

  mother.”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Just not the woman for you.”

  Thad’s heart went out to Violet, but he refused to feel guilty. He had done nothing wrong. Instead, he gently reminded Violet of ground they had covered before. “Violet, we don’t love each other. We never did.”

  “But you do love Michelle, don’t you?” Violet guessed.

  Thad didn’t know what to say.

  * * *

  THE CIRCUMSPECT ATTORNEY in Michelle knew she should mind her own business. The emotionally involved, possibly two-timed woman in her had to go to the window and see what was going on out there.

  Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Violet appeared to be both crying and ticked off as all get-out. Thad had that dumbfounded look men got on their faces when they were truly clueless about what was happening.

  Finally Violet appeared to tell Thad what he could do with his good intentions and stomped around to the driver’s side. Thad watched her drive off, then turned and headed up the walk.

  Michelle rushed back to the clothes she’d been sorting.

  Thad opened the door and walked in.

  He looked over at the Moses basket, only noticing now that it was empty. “Where’s William?”

  For once Michelle was glad the little guy wasn’t there with them. “Dotty called right after you left. She missed William and asked if she could see him. Once she was here and saw we were trying to get the nursery finished, she offered to take him back to her house for a few hours.” She finished sorting the bibs and started on the Onesies. “It was clear William was as glad to see Dotty as Dotty was to see him—she’s the closest thing he has to a grandmother—so I said okay.”

  Thad folded his arms across his chest. He did not try to conceal his irritation. “What time are we supposed to pick him up?”

  “Six-thirty,” she said through her teeth.

  He inhaled the delicious aroma permeating the entire downstairs. “Are you cooking dinner?”

  It was supposed to have been a surprise for him. Now she was regretting it. “Coq au vin.”

  His eyes widened in interest. “That’s one of your signature dishes.”

  She lifted one shoulder. “Used to be.”

  He came closer. “How long was Violet here?”

  Michelle folded another Onesie and set it on the stack. “Long enough,” she said flatly.

  Thad exhaled and ran a hand through his sandy-brown hair. “I’m sorry she had the wrong idea.”

  Michelle lifted her chin, angry all over again. “It’s not surprising she did.”

  Thad’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “All those secret phone calls and messages that have been going on between the two of you!”

  Shock reverberated through him. “If you thought there was something going on, why didn’t you ask me about it?”

  Michelle flushed. “Because it was none of my business.”

  He shot her a condescending look. “You preferred to jump to conclusions, instead.”

  She watched him just as steadily as he watched her. “It’s no secret how she feels about you. Everyone in town knows!”

  “Wait here.” Thad walked out.

  This time, Michelle did not go to the window to see what he was up to. She stayed on the sofa, folding clothes.

  A couple of minutes later Thad opened the door again and hefted a big, bulky carton inside. It had a big red bow on it.

  His mouth thinned as he
brought it closer and dumped it at her feet. “I was going to give this to you tonight,” he said. “But I think you need to see it now.”

  Michelle stared at the information printed on the side of the carton. “A jogging stroller!” she gasped.

  Thad planted one hand on the top of the box. “It’s your New Mom’s gift,” he explained patiently. “You know, what a husband typically gives his wife after the birth of their first baby. Usually it’s jewelry, but I didn’t know if that was appropriate in our case, and I’ve never seen you wear a whole lot of jewelry, anyway.” He shrugged. “Then I figured you’re a practical woman, so why not be practical and get you something you can really use? So I got you this jogging stroller. When you want to go for a run, you can take William with you.”

  “How does Violet fit into all this?” Michelle asked weakly.

  He crossed his arms. “I asked Violet to help me because I knew she liked to run as much as you do and had tried out a few different brands of jogging strollers until she found one she really liked. So I called her to find out what the brand was, and she promised to get back to me right away with the information.”

  An array of emotions crossed Michelle’s face as Thad finished telling all the details.

  “But I couldn’t write the product information down in front of you because that would have ruined the surprise,” Thad continued slowly. “Instead, I waited until you were gone to call Violet again. Once I had the right model number, I ordered the stroller online and had it delivered to Hannah Callahan over at the mercantile, because I wanted to give it to you personally.”

  Never had Michelle made such a horrible mistake. “I am so sorry.” She got to her feet and moved around the box to examine the picture on the label and peruse the long list of features. Then she touched the top of the box almost reverently. “This is such a wonderful gift, Thad, I hardly know what to say.”

  His gaze gentled in the way she loved so much. “I want you to have it,” he told her gruffly. “You deserve it and so much more for everything you’ve done.” He stopped her before she could interrupt. “And I’m sorry that my asking Violet for help gave her the wrong idea. Just to be clear—I set her straight a few moments ago, and I’m pretty sure she now hates my guts. Which is probably a good thing. She needs to find someone worthy of her, someone who will love her for the good woman she is. It’s just not me.”

  Michelle knew that, too. “You were right to be honest with her, even if it hurt. As for the rest—” she released a pent-up breath “—I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

  Thad wrapped his arms around her waist. “You were jealous,” he said in satisfaction, looking down at her.

  As much as Michelle wanted to deny that, she couldn’t. “I don’t want to think of you with another woman.”

  He hauled her close. “Well, that makes us even, because I don’t want to think of you with another man.”

  “Then what do you want?” she whispered, thinking she already knew.

  “You,” Thad replied, “and only you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Up to now Michelle had promised herself that she could make love to Thad without actually falling in love with him. She’d vowed she wouldn’t let her feelings grow to the point she would be heartbroken if Thad didn’t return her feelings.

  But when his lips captured hers, she knew she’d been fooling herself.

  She did love Thad, with all her heart and soul. It was apparent in the thrill coursing through her whenever he was near. The loneliness she felt whenever he was not. It was in the complete and peaceful way he made her feel at times like this. As if there was no problem, no difficulty, no complication they could not handle as long as they were together.

  Rising on tiptoe, she wound her arms about his neck and returned his kiss. He tasted so good, all mint and man, and felt even better, the hardness of his chest and thighs pressing against her. She could also feel the hard evidence of his desire. She moaned softly as he clasped her to him and drew out the kiss until it was so wild and reckless it stole her breath.

  He slid his hands down her arms, beneath the hem of her T-shirt, to lightly caress her back. His lips forged a tantalizing trail across her neck. Then he kissed her on the mouth again, deeply and irrevocably, until she thought she would melt from the inside out.

  She moaned again, her need for him surpassing everything else. The next thing she knew she was being shifted upward until her weight rested against his middle and her legs were wrapped about his waist.

  Her pulse raced at the heat and intimacy of their contact. “Thad…”

  He kissed his way down her neck, then back to the shell of her ear. “I want you, Michelle,” he whispered, taking a sensual tour of her lips once again.

  Desire shuddered through her. She felt her nipples beading beneath her bra, the strength of his forearm beneath her hips. “I want you, too.”

  His lips twisted mischievously. Then he headed for the stairs with her. “Hold that thought.”

  By the time they reached his bedroom, everything she felt—everything she’d once wanted to deny—she saw reflected in his eyes. He set her down next to the bed and held her face with both his hands. “Now where were we?” Slowly, deliberately, he lowered his mouth to hers.

  His lips were hot and sensual, possessive and protective, tempting and erotic. She gave back as good as she got, running her hands across his shoulders, down his back.

  “I think you were about ready to take my clothes off,” she murmured, aware she’d never felt such power as a woman.

  “And here I thought we were still at the kissing stage.” He tilted her face up and kissed her again, and it was as masterly and dangerous and uninhibited as before.

  Michelle reveled in the seductive demand of his mouth on hers, the erotic sweep of his tongue. She had never felt so wanted, so needed. The sudden unsteadiness of her body had her clinging to him, wanting more, more, more…

  And he was just as hot and bothered as she was, his skin burning through his shirt, the proof of his desire almost scorching through the denim of his jeans. And still he kissed her, until Michelle thought she would drown in the tantalizing give and take of his lips. And only when she was pulsing with need did he shift his hands to the hem of her shirt and ease her T-shirt over her head. Her lacy bra followed.

  The air between them reverberated with excitement as he took in the silky curves of her breasts and the jutting nipples. The world fell away and the last of her inhibitions fled. Wanting only to be his, she let him look his fill, let him bend her backward over his arm to kiss and caress the sensitive undersides of her breasts before settling on the sensitive tips. His caress was electric, filling her with erotic sensations unlike any she’d ever known. Pleasure flooded her in great, hot waves. Michelle swayed against him helplessly and let out a whimper she couldn’t restrain.

  Eyes filled with desire, he lowered her to the bed and took off her remaining clothes, except for her lacy red thong. “Beautiful,” he murmured, and then that was coming off, too.

  His lips drifted lower, past her navel, across her hip. Nothing had ever felt as right as the hot moistness of his mouth on her skin. Her eyes drifted shut as Thad parted her thighs and moved between them, creating ripples of need. She caught her breath as the sensations spread—until the aching need was almost more than she could bear. He held her right where he wanted her as her body arched. And then there was no more holding back. Passion swept through Michelle, her body now shuddering and coming apart.

  And yet she still wanted more, wanted to explore the need pooled deep inside.

  She shifted so that he was beneath her, then began the process of undressing him, too, uncovering hard muscle and satin skin. Taking her time, she showered him with sweet, sure kisses and slow, tender caresses. Until the fire flared out of control, and need had them shifting again, so he was lying on his back once more and she was astride him.

  He reached into the nightstand and found the condom. She sheathed hi
m, protecting them both. Then he cupped her bottom and lifted her toward him, his hands spreading her thighs farther.

  Michelle opened herself up to Thad and he took her with a masculine ease that had her whimpering in pleasure. Everything about their joining felt wickedly wonderful and intensely sensual. Hands guiding her movements, he took her slowly, sweetly. Her heart soaring, she wrapped herself around him, taking him deeper and deeper. Their mouths meshed in powerful kisses.

  And then there was no more holding back. The love she felt for him dissolved in wild, carnal pleasure. She cried out his name. Thad gasped out hers. They were lost. Free-falling into ecstasy that warmed her body and sated her soul.

  * * *

  “THAT WAS SPECTACULAR,” Michelle murmured.

  Thad rolled onto his back, taking her with him, holding her close. “More than spectacular,” he agreed contentedly, sifting her hair through his fingers.

  He also knew it hadn’t been just about laying claim to the woman who wanted to be William’s mother. Or finding some much-needed physical gratification for them both.

  Making love had been a way to channel their feelings into the relationship without the burden of words. Or expectations.

  If he had his way, of course, he’d already have them going down a much more conventional path—moving in together, instead of trying to figure out how to continue to keep one foot out the door while they got inevitably closer. He’d also have the legalities all wrapped up. The petition to adopt would already be granted. William would be his son officially. Michelle would be William’s legal mother. And the three of them would be bonded together from this day on.

  Unfortunately they were only days away from the next court hearing. Nevertheless, there was no doubt the three of them were a family.

  And no doubt, from the way she was cuddled up to him with the aftershocks still coursing through her, that Michelle wanted to be with him every bit as much as he wanted to be with her.

  The two of them were meant to be together, Thad thought, smiling at the realization that her legs were still wrapped snugly around one of his a good five minutes after they had climaxed.