To Have And To Hold: Made for Marriage / To Wed a Rancher / The Mummy Proposal

She knew it was foolish to want it. She had nothing to offer him other than the fractured pieces of her heart. And for a man like Noah, she knew that would never be enough. He’d want the whole Callie. The Callie she’d been before her world had been shattered … before she’d been shattered.

And that woman simply didn’t exist anymore.

Once they reached her truck she twisted her fingers from his. “Well, good night,” she managed to say and shoved a hand into her small bag for her keys.

She found the keys, pulled them out and accidentally dropped them at her feet.

Noah quickly picked the keys up and pressed them into her palm. “Good night, Callie.”

She looked at him and saw desire burning in his eyes.

He wants to kiss me …

The power of him drew Callie closer, until they were barely a foot apart. She felt her lips part, felt herself move and felt her skin come alive with anticipation. He leaned in and kissed her cheek so softly all she really felt was breath.

Not enough…

Callie instinctively reached up, grasped his shoulders and pulled him toward her with all her strength. Driven by instinct, she planted her lips on his mouth and thrust her tongue against his. He tasted good. He felt good.

No … more than that. He tasted … divine. And her lips, denied for so long, acted intuitively. She felt her blood heat, felt her skin come alive, felt desire uncurl way down, igniting the female part of her that had lain dormant since forever.

Callie felt his rush of breath as he started to kiss her back. She got the barest touch of his mouth, the barest taste of his tongue. She waited for more. She longed for more. But then he stopped. He pulled away, kissed her cheek again and straightened. Callie released him and stepped back on unsteady feet.

Air crashed into her lungs, making her breathless. She looked at him, felt the burning red-hot gaze. I know he wants me…

She knew it, felt it and tasted it in the brevity of his kiss.

“Good night, Callie,” he said. “I’ll see you Sunday.”

Callie got into the truck and started the engine. She wasn’t sure how she drove home. All she could feel was the tingle on her lips, the heat in her blood. All she could think was how she had just kissed Noah Preston.

And how her life would never be the same.

Chapter Five (#u418be5ea-a9d5-52b7-a196-c52cb9116728)

Noah was thinking.

About kisses. About perfect lips and sweet breath.

“What’s up with you?” Lily asked, shifting in her seat, looking incredibly young in riding breeches and a dark T-shirt.

Noah looked directly ahead. She’d become way too astute for his liking. “Nothing.”

“Yeah … right.” She crossed her arms. “I hope you’re not gonna hang around while I have my lesson.”

“I’ve got some work to do at the house.”

Lily turned her head. “Yeah—that’s right. Her place is a real dump.” She huffed. “I think you just want to see her again. I’m not a little kid, you know. I saw exactly how you were watching her last weekend.” Lily rolled her eyes wide. “And she’s not bad looking, I suppose, if you go for that type. She’s not like my mother.”

No one was like Margaret—thank God. But he wouldn’t be telling Lily that.

“Do you think you’ll ever get married again?”

That was a first. He looked at his daughter. She stared straight ahead, but Noah wasn’t fooled. She looked just a little afraid. And Lily never looked afraid.

Married? How could he explain his feelings to his daughter? Noah was pretty sure the younger kids would welcome a new mother into their life. And he … he truly wanted someone to share them with. He longed for a wife and a friend and a lover and all that corny stuff he knew made up a healthy marriage. He wanted what his parents had … years of trust and love. But it was a big deal, expecting a woman to take on four children. And he had no intention of bringing someone temporary into their lives. Noah didn’t want temporary. If he got involved again, he wanted permanence. He wanted … forever. He wanted promises that wouldn’t be broken. For the kids’ sake.

And mine.

His train-wreck marriage lingered like a bad taste he couldn’t get out of his mouth.

Is that why I didn’t kiss her back … when all I wanted to do was haul her into my arms?

The truth rocked Noah. He’d spent thirty-six hours wondering what kind of fool didn’t kiss a beautiful, desirable, passionate woman back when she’d made it so clear she wanted to be kissed. But he knew why. It wound up his spine. It filled his lungs. Fear. Fear that he’d want more. Oh, not sex … because he was pretty sure kissing Callie would quickly lead to making love to Callie. He wanted more of her. The more of her Noah suspected she wouldn’t want to give. To him. To anyone. He didn’t want to feel her, taste her and then have the door slammed in his face. He didn’t want to be rejected … left.

And she’d left before, hadn’t she? She’d moved across an ocean to change her life—to get away. From what, he didn’t know. What if she wanted to change it back? Noah wasn’t going to put his kids or himself through the risk of being wreckage in her wake.

It was best that he hadn’t kissed her back. Best that he stopped thinking about kissing her at all.

“So, would you?”

Lily again. Noah got his thoughts back on track. Marriage. Right. “Maybe one day.”

She scowled and harrumphed. “Do we have any say in it?” she asked, using the collective, but Noah sensed she was asking about herself. “I mean, if you’re going to shack up with someone, shouldn’t we at least be able to have an opinion about it?”

“Marriage is a little more than shacking up, Lily.”

She shrugged, looked straight ahead and remained quiet for about twenty seconds. Lily had something on her mind. “Did you know that fifty percent of all second marriages fail?”

He almost choked. Where the hell did she come up with this stuff? “That’s an interesting statistic, Lily. Where did you get it?”

“Social Studies,” she replied. “We’re studying human relationships this semester. There’s a boy in my grade who’s had two stepfathers—can you imagine? And Maddy told me that when her stepdad moved out last year it really sucked. She liked him a lot.”

Noah got his daughter’s point, delivered with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. “I have no intention of jumping into anything, Lily,” he told her.

“But if you do get married again, how do you know she won’t run out like my mother did?”

I don’t.

And Callie … she seemed as fragile and unpredictable as the wind.

Lily didn’t say anything else, and when they arrived at Sandhills Farm she jumped out of the truck. It took him about ten seconds to find Callie. She stood near the house, in jeans and a flame-red T-shirt, one hand on her hip and the other held a cell phone to her ear.

She spun on her heels and looked at him. His heart pounded behind his ribs. That kiss … how did he forget about it? How could he not want to feel that again? Noah took a long breath and headed toward her. Lily reached her first and jumped around on impatient toes while Callie continued her telephone conversation.

She was frowning and clearly not happy with the caller. When she disconnected a few moments later he pushed aside his lingering thoughts about kissing her and immediately asked what was wrong.

“Just another irresponsible horse owner getting away with neglect,” she said hotly.