Colorado Cowboy. C.C. Coburn

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СКАЧАТЬ and begging him to stop, Luke ready to leap from his chair, drag him to the bathroom to wash out his mouth and both Matt and the judge sitting sagely, waiting for the tirade to end.

      Eventually it did, and Cody threw himself back into his chair. The room fell silent. “I’m not goin’ anywhere,” he snarled.

      The judge sighed. “Then I’m afraid you give me no other choice, Cody.” She picked up her phone and said, “I’ll have to send you to juve—”

      “I’ll do it on one condition,” he interrupted. Obviously, there was room for negotiation where juvenile detention was concerned.

      “And what might that be?”

      “That he—” Cody pointed at Luke “—marries my mom.”

      It was harder to tell who gasped louder, Luke or Megan.

      MEGAN FOUND HER VOICE first. “Cody! What are you saying?”

      He glared at her, chilling Megan to the bone. What had become of her once sweet-natured son?

      “If you want us to play ‘happy families,’ then he’s going to have to marry you. And I mean right now.” He gestured dismissively at Luke. “I want him to be committed to us. I don’t want him hanging around and pretending to be my dad, like what happens to the other kids in the neighborhood, and then have him run off when somethin’ better comes along.”

      “We’ll be living in Luke’s home, Cody,” she reminded him. “He won’t be going anywhere.”

      “You know what I mean!” he cried, jumping up and overturning his chair. “Everyone in our neighborhood’s had dozens of ‘dads’ or ‘uncles’ living with them. None of ’em ever stay around for long ’cause they’re not married to the kids’ moms. They don’t care. They’re only there for the sex!”

      “Cody!” Megan was horrified. Yes, it was like that in their neighborhood, but she’d never had another man stay the night, let alone live with them. She hadn’t even dated. She glanced at Luke to guess what he must be thinking. Did he believe she’d had a succession of men through the door like some of the other single moms in their neighborhood? The men got all the fringe benefits but took none of the responsibility, and they left when things got hard. Or they went to prison.

      Luke was watching her carefully, as though considering her reaction, but Megan couldn’t think of a thing to say to dispel the notion that she was one of those unfortunate women.

      LUKE SEARCHED CODY’S features. Was the kid trying to manipulate the adults in the room? Or did he genuinely feel that without a marriage certificate, their “family” wouldn’t be a valid one?

      “It’s not going to be like that, Cody. I have a big house. Your mom and you can have your own space. What I’m offering is the security of a home and family who’ll love you and care about you.”

      “How can I know you mean that if you don’t care enough about me to marry my mom?”

      Luke could see through the bravado to the pain in Cody’s eyes. The kid had been through the wringer. Lord knows what kind of men must’ve been in his life for him to question Luke’s commitment like this. Cody wasn’t asking them to live as husband and wife and sleep in the same bedroom—and judging by the sparks of anger emanating from Megan, that wasn’t even a remote possibility.

      What his son was doing was asking Luke to prove he cared about him, to prove he’d stick around—by marrying his mom. It was a hell of a big demand, but his son’s immediate future was more important than Luke’s need for a wife he loved, a wife who’d warm his bed at night. And by marrying Megan, that was what he’d be doing—sentencing himself to a loveless, celibate marriage.

      Cody was too young to understand how complex marriage was, how deep the commitment needed to be for both parties to make it work. He’d been twenty-four when he’d married Tory, and at that age he hadn’t understood it himself.

      “You can’t make demands like that Cody,” he said as gently as he could. “What you’re asking isn’t fair to either of us. Your mom has agreed to Judge Benson’s suggestion that you both come and live on my ranch. Let’s leave it at that.”

      Cody crossed his arms and nestled further into his chair. “If you won’t marry her, I’d rather go to juvie than live on your hick ranch.”

      “No!” Megan cried, turning to him. “Don’t joke about that.”

      “I’m not joking, Mom. I mean it. I need to know he cares enough about me to marry you. He should’ve done it fifteen years ago.”

      Luke winced at that. If he’d known about Cody, he would’ve married Megan. But she hadn’t given him that chance and he’d been robbed of knowing his son, of guiding him toward becoming a man. He looked at Cody. The kid was truly hurting. Hurting inside and hurting his mom in the process.

      Megan’s eyes held terror as she appealed to him. “Please…do something,” she begged. “He means what he says. He’ll go to juvenile detention and I’ll lose him forever!” Megan covered her face and turned away.

      Luke watched Cody’s reaction to his mom. Initially, the kid seemed upset that his mother was in so much pain, and then he got a grip on himself and set his mouth in a firm line—a look Luke associated with his younger brothers at a similar age, when they’d decided they were going to do something and nothing and no one was going to stop them. Cody glared back at Luke as though it was all his fault Megan was crying. All Luke’s fault that he hadn’t given him his name and his birthright. The love of a father and a family.

      Cody was fourteen now, far from being a man. Luke determined there and then that by the time Cody was eighteen, he’d have turned the boy’s life turned around, instilled in him what it was to be a responsible member of the community. A man. By then Cody would be graduating from high school and heading off to college. So what was sacrificing four years of his life for the betterment of his son’s? If he married Megan now, in four years, they could divorce, move on, find other partners. But in the meantime, Cody would have time and space to grow up and become a contributing member of society. If he went to juvenile detention, his son’s life could be in more danger than Luke would allow himself to imagine.

      Megan sat with her head down. She looked so vulnerable, so desperate to do the best for their son, but would she agree to such an outrageous proposal? Luke knew he was probably going to make the second biggest mistake of his life—but it might be the only decision that would save Cody.

      Sick with fear for his son, Luke got up and went to stand in front of Megan. She refused to lift her gaze to his, so he crouched down.

      “Megan,” he murmured, waiting until her head came up and she’d focused her sad, defeated eyes on him. Then he asked, “Will you marry me?”

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