brides for brothers 02 - cowboy daddy (20 page)

“Yeah, I do. They look great.”

She turned to look at them again, beaming, and leaned back against him.

Pete couldn’t help it. His arms came around to cradle her against him. He was in heaven.

“Thanks, guys,” Janie said, her voice sounding a little weepy. “What a wonderful surprise.”

Pete tightened his hold on her, loving the feel of her against him, wanting to comfort her.

“Our pleasure, Janie,” Jake replied. “We want you to know how happy we are you married Pete and how excited we are about the babies.”

The others nodded.

“And we hope to use these beds next,” Chad added.

“Chad!” Megan protested.

“Well, we do. We’re just not sure when.” Chad winked at his brothers. “We’re working on it really hard, though.”

“Chad Randall!” Megan protested again, more vehemently.

Everyone laughed, but Jake suggested they get out of Pete and Janie’s rooms and let them have some time to themselves.

The family filed out, but much to Pete’s delight, Janie didn’t move, staying wrapped in his arms. He leaned his head against her silky hair, loving the fresh smell of it.

“Chad’s funny, but I’m not sure Megan was amused,” Janie said.

“I don’t think she really minded.”

“No, probably not.”

Unimportant dialogue, he knew. What was important was being said by their bodies. Pete only hoped Janie wasn’t put off by the response he couldn’t hold back.

“Pete.”

“Hmm,” he replied casually, rubbing his face against her hair, concentrating on the feel of her, the scent of her.

“Remember when I said we needed to talk?”

He felt as if someone had doused him with a bucket of cold water. “Yeah. You want to talk now?”

She tensed against him, and he let his arms fall as he took a step backward.

“I think we should,” she said as she turned to face him. But her gaze didn’t rest on his face. She quickly looked away.

When she didn’t say anything else, Pete thought he would die from the suspense. “Tell me, Janie,” he ordered roughly, taking another step back.

“I—This is difficult for me to say.”

His heart contracted as he prepared for the worst. She had decided to leave him. Why hadn’t she told him before they’d put up the cribs? Why had she let him picture the two of them bending over the beds, watching their babies sleep, him holding Janie in his arms, as he had a moment earlier?

Closing his eyes, hoping to hide his pain, he waited for her to continue.

“I moved my things back into our bedroom.”

Our bedroom.
Pete’s eyes shot open, and he stared at her. “What are you saying?” he demanded hoarsely.

She turned her back to him and walked to one of the cribs, running her fingertips over the smooth metal. “I want us to be really married.” After a brief pause, she added, “If you want to.”

He turned to stone. Having prepared himself for the worst, he found it impossible to speak or move.

“If you don’t, it’s okay. I can move my things back—” Janie began hurriedly, her head down.

“No!” Finally he came out of his trance and grabbed her by the shoulder, spinning her around. “Are you saying you want to sleep with me?” He didn’t want to make any mistakes.

She nodded. “If you’re not put off by my being fat and—”

Pete didn’t waste words. He swooped down on her and lifted her against him, his lips covering hers in a heart-stopping, life-giving kiss. Her arms went around his neck, and she clung to him with an eagerness that fed his heart.

“Will we hurt the babies?” he asked, thinking he’d die if she said yes.

“No. Doc said there wouldn’t be a problem about that for at least a few months.”

With a heartfelt prayer of thanks, Pete carried her into the room he would forever call
our bedroom
now. He laid her down on the bed and began unbuttoning her shirt. “I want to see our babies growing in you, Janie. I want to touch every inch of you. I’ve missed you so much.”

“Me, too,” she whispered, her hands going to his shirt.

He unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down to reveal her stomach, reverently stroking her skin, feeling the slight mound his children had caused. Then he bent down to caress her stomach with his lips, each kiss a promise to love and protect his little family.

“Pete,” Janie urged.

“Hmm?”

“I’m dying for you to kiss me. Please.”

She didn’t have to ask twice. Pete slid onto the bed beside her, and his lips joined with hers. His hands began the pleasant task of removing her clothes…and touching her to his heart’s content.

“Your jeans,” she finally whispered when his lips strayed once more, caressing first her neck, then her breasts.

He was willing to follow her urging. But he didn’t want to stop what he was doing. She tasted so good…and he was so hungry for her. He stripped as quickly as possible and returned to her side. He was ready for her, and it appeared she was ready for him as she guided him to her.

Though he intended to go slowly and gently into her, he found his needs raging. Janie joined him, tempting him, caressing him, as she had the first time, and Pete couldn’t hold back.

When they collapsed against each other, their breaths rasping, their hearts pounding, Pete wrapped his arms around her and held her against him. He never wanted her to leave.

J
ANIE LAY
in Pete’s arms, grateful for the decision she’d made. Grateful that he still wanted her. Grateful that she was here with him instead of in her single bed in the next room.

Last night she’d debated what she should do. She loved the big lug, but she’d tried to hold out for his love. Finally, she admitted to herself that he might never come to love her. But if there was a chance that he would, it would happen because she made him happy.

And she wasn’t making him happy sleeping in the other room.

It didn’t hurt that his loving satisfied the hunger in her for his touch. After six months of feeling him move inside her, of loving him with all her heart, she’d felt half alive apart from him.

So she was back in her lover’s arms. Now all she had to do was convince him he loved her, as well as his babies.

She kissed his chest and snuggled closer. Combat duty had never been so comfy.

T
HE NEXT FEW DAYS
whizzed by, filled with their loving and Janie’s work at her parents’ ranch. Pete was all consideration, helping her with anything she did when he was home.

When the two of them did the dishes the next night also, Jake decided to arrange a dish rotation. Chad and Megan, Pete and Janie, and Brett and Jake.

“Hey, I don’t get female companionship,” Brett complained. “I don’t think I should have to do dishes.”

“We have to train you so some woman will take you on,” Jake assured him. “Women today expect a man to pitch in. Right, Janie, Megan?”

“Definitely,” Janie answered.

“Of course,” Megan agreed. “Are you in training, too, Jake?”

Pete, sitting next to Janie with his arm around her, saw Jake tense. Megan was a favorite with Jake, but her teasing had gone awry.

“No,” he replied gruffly. “I’ve already tried.”

“Don’t you want children of your own, Jake?” Janie asked softly.

Pete’s heart ached for his brother. The babies he and Janie were having meant everything to him. Well, almost everything. Janie meant the most. But Jake wasn’t going to have anything.

“You’re having two. I figured you’d share with me, Janie. How about that?” Jake tried to muster a smile, but he was still uptight.

“Okay. But I think you’d make some wonderful babies.”

“Yeah, and you read that book,” Brett added, a big grin on his face. “You ought to put all that knowledge to good use.”

“What book?” Janie asked, pretending Megan hadn’t already told her about it.

After glaring at his brother, Jake said, “A book about having babies. I wanted to be sure we were doing everything we needed to for you.”

“That’s so sweet of you, Jake,” Janie said.

“Pete’s reading it now.”

Janie looked from Jake to Pete, smiling at him, and Pete wanted to make love to her at once. Which wasn’t surprising since he wanted to make love to her morning, noon and night.

“Ready to go up?” he whispered in Janie’s ear.

Her nod made his heart swell. He’d tried not to make too many demands on her, but she never said no.

“We’re going to go on to bed now,” he said, rising and pulling Janie after him.

“Now?” Brett asked in surprise. “But the movie’s not over.”

What Pete had in mind would be a lot more fun than any movie ever made. “Yeah, now.”

“But—”

“Brett,” Jake said softly, gaining his brother’s attention.

“Yeah?” Brett answered, but he stared at Pete and Janie leaving the room.

Before Jake could speak, Megan and Chad said good-night and left the room.

“What’s wrong with everyone?” Brett asked.

Jake sighed. Brett was twenty-nine. He hadn’t thought he’d have to explain the birds and the bees again. “They’re newlyweds, Brett. They’re not interested in television.”

“Yeah, but—but Pete and Janie have been together for a while. They’re expecting already. Don’t you—? I mean, I don’t remember you and Chloe—” Brett broke off, as if suddenly aware that he might be stepping on his brother’s toes.

“Nope, I don’t, either. Which makes me hope these two marriages are a hell of a lot better than mine.”

P
ETE WOKE
J
ANIE UP
with a kiss, not an unusual occurrence these days. “Hey, beautiful, want to go to town today?”

She ran her fingers through his chest hair, loving the feel of him. “Hmm, why?” Somehow she feared any change to their routine, as if it might make a difference in their marriage.

“It’s Saturday. I thought we might go shopping for that computer you were talking about. I want to get started learning how to operate it. The paperwork is about to overtake me.”

“Especially since you don’t work on it in the evenings anymore.”

“Yeah, you little seductress. You keep dragging me upstairs to seduce me.”

“I believe,” she said, putting a finger to his lips, “you carried me up the stairs last night. So who’s seducing whom?”

“I only carried you up because I was trying to prove my manhood.”

Pete’s grin, so warm and inviting, had been in short supply the first few days of their marriage. It made Janie feel good to see him happy. “Um, I believe you have a better way to show your manhood than flexing your muscles, Pete.”

“I don’t know, sweetheart. I think I’m just making another muscle hard to please you.” He nuzzled her neck.

“Well, it certainly is getting a workout,” she whispered, reaching for him.

W
HEN
J
ANIE
finally got down to the kitchen, after Pete had risen from their marriage bed late to work, she discovered B.J. at the table with Megan.

“Good morning. Good to see you, B.J.”

“You too, Janie. You look a lot happier than you did at the boxing match in town.”

“Shh,” Megan said, a grin on her face. “We’re not supposed to mention that, Pete’s orders.”

“Ah. Sorry, I didn’t know the rules,” B.J. returned with a grin.

“We’re also not supposed to notice when Pete comes to breakfast very late,” Megan added.

“Then I take it I shouldn’t mention Chad’s late arrival yesterday?” Janie said, her own grin in place.

Megan’s cheeks flushed. With a chuckle, she said, “Probably not.”

B.J. leaned back in her chair. “This place is a breeding ground for happy couples. Any sign of it spreading?”

“What do you mean?” Janie asked.

“I just wondered if Jake and Brett were showing any inclinations toward joining the happy throng.”

“’Fraid not,” Megan said with a sigh. “They’re both staunch supporters of bachelorhood.”

“Just as well,” B.J. said with a shrug. “Their availability keeps half the women in the county hoping they’ll look their way.”

“True. And that’s fine with me as long as they don’t look at Pete,” Janie said with a sigh.

“Or Chad,” Megan added. And they grinned at each other.

P
ETE GOT BACK
to the house a little after ten. He bounded up the stairs, anxious to see Janie. “Sweetheart, are you ready?” he asked as he opened the door.

She popped her head out of the bathroom, one bare shoulder enticing him forward.

“Almost. I just have to put on—Pete! What are you doing? You’ll mess up my makeup,” she warned him with a sexy chuckle as he pulled her against him.

“Okay, okay,” he grumbled, moving back into the bedroom.

Janie stared at him, as if he’d grown two heads.

“What?” he asked, puzzled.

“Nothing.” She turned back to the mirror.

He sat there drinking in her beauty, enjoying the slight hint of her pregnancy. It wasn’t the same as making love to her, but it beat not being able to see her.

She came into the room and opened the closet door. The intimacy of watching her dress was new…and pleasurable. He hadn’t had all that much experience with it. Usually he showered and left while she stayed in bed, recovering from their lovemaking.

“I’m ready,” she said breathlessly, emerging from the closet as she slipped into a pair of pumps.

“You’re kind of dressed up, aren’t you?” he asked.

“1 haven’t gone too many places with my husband,” she said. “I wanted to look nice for you.”

He rose from the bed and took her in his arms. “Well, you sure succeeded, sweetheart.” He kissed her until he realized he’d have to stop or take her to bed. She’d already nixed that plan.

So he’d take her to town to buy a computer. And show off his beautiful new wife. Whatever it took to make her happy.

And all the time, he’d be wishing they were back home, alone, making love.

Chapter Fifteen

He’s already tired of me.

Janie watched her husband out of the corner of her eye as he drove the pickup to town. That had to be the answer to the puzzle. Before she’d gotten pregnant, Pete had never backed off making love to her.

Now all she had to say was stop, and he turned away.