The Rancher's Christmas Baby. Cathy Thacker Gillen

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      Just as she expected, he seemed no more apt to back off from his position than she.

      He reached over and patted her knee in a manner that was as overly familiar and seductive as it was comforting. “Come on, Amy. People are going to talk enough as it is.”

      Skin tingling, Amy vaulted to her feet.

      Telling herself the fact they were already bickering mightily, after only being hitched a few hours, was not as bad a sign as it might appear, she scoffed, “So now we’re worried about appearances?”

      Teddy stood, too, seemingly unaware of the unprecedented zing of physical attraction flowing through her.

      “Damn straight we are.” He placed both hands on her shoulders in a move that felt protective and oddly persuasive. “There are going to be enough raised eyebrows about the fact that we ran off to San Angelo to get hitched without ever going out on a single date.” He stared down at her, pausing to let that sink in. His fingers tightened slightly. “If we want to spare ourselves and our families any further discomfort, everything from here on out has to be done the traditional way.”

      Was it warm in there or what? Amy tugged at the collar of her sweater and, with a slight bend of her knees, extricated herself from his light staying grip. Her skin still tingling, she headed back into the hall to check the thermostat mounted on the wall. Sixty-eight degrees. Not exactly a heat wave.

      “Except our marriage isn’t traditional,” she continued to argue, wishing he weren’t so close and warm and didn’t smell so good.

      “Sure it is.” He regarded her with undisguised amusement. “The only thing we won’t be doing together right away is having sex, and over time, even that could—actually probably will—change.”

      Amy’s mouth dropped open in surprise at the frank male confidence in his gaze. She hadn’t expected the always-easygoing Teddy to be so frank about the difficulties of a platonic marital arrangement.

      Aware her heart was pounding, she drew in a stabilizing breath. “You’re serious!”

      His eyes grew even more serious. He looked interested and not in the least offended. “Yes,” he said bluntly. “I am.” He sauntered closer, his gaze drifting over her lazily, before returning with sexy deliberation to her eyes. “You and I are family now. We’ve got to start acting like one.”

       If only it were that simple!

      Amy marched past him, toward the living room, then recalling she had forgotten her boots, had to go back to the bedroom to rummage through the mismatched stack of footwear in her closet. “I don’t have any objections to acting like your wife in social situations.” She groaned as she found one red cowgirl boot, and then another, “But that’s as far as it’s going to go because I am not—I repeat not—sharing a bed with you!”

      As she twisted back around to face him, his gaze moved from her denim-clad derriere to her face.

      “Then what do you propose we do since we each have only a one-bedroom place?” he asked, leaning casually against the portal. “Purchase twin beds?”

      Scowling, Amy sat down on the mattress to pull on her boots, one after the other. And she’d thought Teddy was the one male McCabe who was not completely set on having his own way. How wrong could she have been!

      She pointed a finger at his chest. “That might not be a bad idea.”

      He rolled his eyes in exasperation. “I’m kidding, Amy.”

      “I’m not.” She stood up and moved past him, glad the heels of her Western boots had given her an additional three inches. When facing off with him, she needed every bit of height she could get.

      Tersely, she reminded him, “We agreed before we said our vows—no sex!”

      “Unless,” he stated, still looking perfectly at ease, not to mention very handsome, “there comes a time when we both change our minds on that point.”

      Unbidden, an image of the two of them, naked, between the sheets, entered Amy’s mind.

      “I told you,” she retorted with a lot more patience than she felt, pushing the disturbing image away, “that is very unlikely.”

      Teddy shrugged, accepting her rejection with the deference of a Texas gentleman, born and bred. “For the immediate future, I agree,” he said softly. “We’re going to have to get used to living as man and wife in every other way. And then see how we feel.”

      Amy’s pulse continued to race. She backed up another step and folded her arms in front of her, like a schoolmarm watching over a bunch of unruly kids at recess. “Which you seem to think will be differently.”

      He shrugged his broad shoulders, exuding a lazy sexuality she’d never before noticed. Maybe because it had never been aimed at her—even theoretically.

      “All I know is that fifty years without sex is a long time, Amy. Especially for people like us who are young and healthy and vital. And since we’ve already promised not to go outside the marriage…”

      A tiny thrill went through her. “You’d be willing… to…”

      “Be friends with benefits? Eventually? When the time and mood is right? Sure.”

      He was so calm and matter-of-fact. So confident.

      She was a bundle of nerves inside.

      She swallowed hard around the knot of emotion in her throat. “Listen, Teddy. I—I don’t think I can make love with someone I’m not in love with in that special way.”

      The familiar gentleness was back in his eyes. “Have you ever tried?”

      Reluctantly, with a catch in her voice, she admitted, “Well. No.”

      “Neither have I,” he said. “So how do we know?” He took both her hands in both of his, in that moment looking handsomer than she had ever seen him. “I know we’ve gotten used to seeing each other in a certain way.” He narrowed his gaze and studied her upturned face.

      She kept silent, signaling for him to continue.

      “But things change, Amy.” He paused to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “At least they could if you would open your mind and your heart to the possibilities…the way I intend to, now that we are husband and wife.”

      He let go of her, stepped back, hands raised.

      “I’m not saying it would happen right away, but…we need to be realistic here,” he continued. “There will come a time when the sheer proximity of our situation leads to…temptation. And as responsible adults we need to be prepared for that.”

      Amy couldn’t deny that Teddy exuded sexiness. Or that from time to time she had wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Really kiss him.

      She had no idea if he had ever speculated about the same.

      She did know at their wedding ceremony, when the officiating justice of the peace had said he СКАЧАТЬ