The Texan's Bride

“Oh.” His abrupt attitude was making her edgy.

“Read it, sign on the dotted line and we have a deal.”

She flipped through the document and stopped when she saw his bold handwriting. She reread the page, not quite believing her eyes. “You…you…want a real marriage?”

“That’s what it says. When the deal is official, I’ll be moving into that big master bedroom.”

Her eyes caught his. “I sleep alone. I always have.”

“Not if you sign that document.”

“Why can’t you sleep in your own room?” She didn’t want him to know her secret. She slept with the bathroom light on. All those fears from her childhood were still there. She was seven when her cousin, Crissy, had been kidnapped and killed, but she remembered it. They’d lived in Houston then and after the murder her father had slept on a cot in her room with a gun across his chest. That frightened her even more.

“Because married couples sleep together.”

“But we don’t have to.”

He poked the document with a long finger, his brown eyes determined. “That’s the deal, Jessie.”

She clenched her hands in her lap until they were numb and then she forced herself to continue reading his other demands. “You claim all your rights as a father, which are granted in our marriage vows.”

“Yes.”

“And you insist on my full support at future board meetings after the marriage is consummated.”

“Yes.”

She raised her head and looked into his steady, unwavering gaze. “You’re asking an awful lot.”

“How bad do you want a baby?” he asked, and her insides quivered at the magnitude of her actions.

He reached for his hat and stood. “You have twenty-four hours to think it over.” With an in-your-face nod, he strolled from the room.

“Wait just a minute,” she called, infuriated that he was turning her tactics around on her.

He paused at the door and faced her. “What?”

“We need to talk.”

“Jessie, we’ve talked this to death. Bottom line I refuse to walk away from a kid of mine. I will be there from day one. Sign it or not. It’s up to you. If you don’t, we’re getting an annulment because I’m not living in this sham of a marriage any longer.”

“I see.” She should have known it wouldn’t be simple. Cadde was a skillful businessman and he had upped the stakes. She had to accept them or live the rest of her life alone. And if Cadde left she would truly be alone.

She gulped a breath. What were her options—loneliness or a real sleep-in-her-bed-every-night marriage? She’d started this out of desperation and she had to have the courage to finish it.

Her hand shook as she picked up the pen that was still lying there from the morning. She took another breath and wrote her name beneath Cadde’s. The action caused her to feel limp, weak and defeated somehow.

Cadde strolled back into the room and placed both hands on the table. Leaning in close to her, he asked, “Wanna go upstairs?”

She drew away. “I’m not a hooker, Cadde.”

“That’s how you make a baby, Jessie.” His eyes sparkled with glee at his victory, and she wanted to smack him.

“I want to get to know you better first.”

He straightened. “Now there are rules?”

“Yes,” she told him, taking the wind out of his sails. “We’re going out to dinner tonight.”

“Tonight! I’ve been fooling with this insanity most of the day. I have work piled up. I don’t have time to go out.”

She stood and picked up the document. “I’ll get this to my lawyer.” Her eyes locked with his. “Be here at eight or the deal is off.” After delivering that blow, she brushed past him. He didn’t grab her arm this time but she heard him curse. She smiled all the way up the stairs. At least she had the last word. Now she had to fulfill his demands.

CADDE TRIED TO CONCENTRATE on the Louisiana leases. With Jessie’s approval, he planned to move on them quickly. First they had to consummate the marriage. He tapped his pen on the papers in front of him. That would be a big step. It would make their relationship real, but he had to wonder how a marriage could survive without love.

He ran both hands over his face. How much did love matter? His parents had been in love until… Would he be like his father and cheat on Jessie? He didn’t know, but he hadn’t cheated on her in eighteen months and it had been a strain. He could have with Karen. Something held him back, though. It had to be that integrity thing Roscoe had talked about. He didn’t want to be like Chuck Hardin even if the marriage wasn’t real.

Sleeping with Jessie could turn out to be rather pleasant. If only he could get those off-limits notices out of his head. Who knew she wanted to change their relationship? She showed no signs of doing so…until today.

Fatherhood. He hadn’t thought much about it. He’d been too busy building a career. How was he going to balance his job and Jessie and a baby?

A baby! He couldn’t quite wrap his mind around that just yet. But as Jessie had mentioned, he was almost forty. It was time to think about a family.

With Jessie.

Shaking his head, he brought his concentration back to the leases. After they consummated the marriage, the first thing on his schedule was to call an emergency board meeting. He had to have their approval to move on anything.

He’d already talked to his geologist and engineers. They felt if they could drill deep enough they’d hit a big well. As soon as he decided which lease had the most potential, he’d get Kid out there to inform the lease holders. In this economy he was hoping they’d be grateful for some extra income. Roscoe had sat on those leases for a reason and now Cadde had to make it work.

Reading through the engineers’ notes, he glanced at his watch. Dammit! He didn’t have time to go out to dinner. Irritated, he found himself looking at the time every few minutes. At first, Jessie’d balked at the real marriage thing, but then she’d caved. His moment of victory was short-lived, though. Living up to his own demands wasn’t going to be easy.

The luxury of having an apartment down the hall from his office was something he was used to. Now he had to make the drive in every day. What was he thinking? At the time he was angry and wanted to get back at her. After cooling off, he realized some things were not going to work in his favor.

He slept about three nights a week at the house to keep an eye on Jessie, as he’d promised Roscoe. But he rarely saw her. He worked long hours and she was usually in bed when he came home and still asleep when he left. Through Rosa he knew she was okay and everything was running smoothly. If he needed to talk to her about business, he’d call and come home early.

“Damn you, Jessie, for screwing up my life,” he said under his breath. Her biological clock was ticking and she’d zeroed in on him, her husband, like a buzzard on a carcass. But he was the logical candidate. They couldn’t continue to live in their farce of a marriage. It would have been so much simpler if she had wanted a divorce or an annulment. Then they could have gone their separate ways. Still, he wouldn’t have felt good about that. He’d made a promise to Roscoe and, unlike his father, his word meant something to him.

Closing the files he got to his feet and headed to the apartment to get ready for a date with his wife. And God help him, it was the last thing he wanted to do.

JESSIE WENT THROUGH ALMOST every dress in her closet and finally shimmied into a black slim-fitting one with a V-neck. Looking in the mirror, she frowned. The V showed too much cleavage and she actually had some to show off. For so long she’d been flat-chested.

Taking another glance, she decided to wear the dress. After all, tonight she was starting a new role—being a wife and hopefully a mother. She sighed. Why did it have to take a business deal to bring them together? Why couldn’t they have magically fallen in love? Because Cadde never saw her as anyone other than Roscoe Murdock’s daughter.

Pushing the depressing thought aside, she sat at her dressing table. With her olive complexion, dark hair and eyes she needed very little makeup. She applied liner to her eyes and brows and then added some lip gloss. That would do. She brushed her long tresses until the static electricity almost ate her brush. Rarely did she wear her hair loose, but tonight she let it flow down her back.

She glanced at herself in the mirror and wondered like she had so many times in her life—who did she favor? Her father had blue eyes and blond hair. Without a doubt she took after her mother. When she’d asked about her, he’d say, “Jessie, baby, your mother left us a long time ago. You’ve got me, so put a smile on that pretty face.” Then she’d feel guilty for asking about a woman who would leave her child. It didn’t keep her from wondering, though.

She’d even asked Rosa, but Rosa had come to work for them after the tragedy. She’d never met Jessie’s mother.