One Wedding Night... (6 page)

So far it appeared as if word hadn’t reached anyone in town. Thank heavens! Maybe this whole pretend engagement wasn’t even necessary, Lynn thought. If she was lucky, only her family would think the engagement was real, and it would stay that way. The entire episode could be over before they knew it.

Rebecca came up to their table after a few more minutes had passed. “Is there anything else ya’ll need?” she asked. When they both shook their heads,
she tore off a page of her tablet and put it on the table. Then she gasped, “Oh my, Lynn McCall! Look at that diamond on your hand!” Her astonished gaze flitted back and forth between Lynn and Russ. Then, as if a lightbulb came on inside her head, she exclaimed in a voice loud enough to still the entire diner, “You’re engaged!”

L
ynn blushed to the roots of her blond hair as heads in the diner swivelled in their direction, then she broke out in a sweat as everyone in the place started clapping. Hoots and whistles followed. Feeling a lot like a bird trapped by a cat, she shrank down in her seat. It was all she could do not to bend her head and hide her face. Her hand started to shake and she nearly knocked over her glass of iced tea, catching it just before it toppled.

Everyone in the diner was looking at them. Some of the people were getting out of their seats and coming toward them. She looked to Russ, panic in her eyes.

“Do something!” she hissed, then, with a frozen smile on her lips, faced Rebecca who had grabbed Lynn’s hand to inspect the ring she’d received from Russ only a short while ago. The waitress squealed
again when she got a closer look at it. The diamond sparkled, twinkling as the woman tilted Lynn’s hand back and forth.

“Like what?” Russ wasn’t sure what she wanted him to do. He’d told her that word would get out. He figured they might as well face it now. Besides, he wasn’t any happier than she was about the commotion. He was used to keeping his distance from people, not sharing his thoughts or being the center of attention.

His voice was smothered by the chatter of the group gathering around their table. Although he’d known these people only a few years, Lynn had known them her entire life. It wasn’t unusual for her friends and neighbors to be interested in her or for news of her engagement to be something to talk about.

Larry Melton, the owner of the feed store in Crockett, slapped Russ on the back good-naturedly. “You lucky dog!” he declared, wriggling his eyebrows with a silly grin on his face.

Fixing a smile on his face, Russ replied, his voice a little unsteady, “That I am.” He glanced again at Lynn, who looked about to be smothered by the throng of women trying to get a closer look at her ring. Mrs. Weaver, known for being the biggest gossip in Crockett, was maneuvering her way through the group gathering at their table. She used her ample body to push those closest to Lynn aside.

“I haven’t heard a word about anything goin’ on between you two. When did all this happen?” she asked baldly, her keen eyes shifting back and forth between Russ and Lynn.

“Well, we—”

Lynn was saved from answering when Jeannie Bates, the clerk at the small grocery store, stated excitedly, “Boy, you McCalls are all getting hitched!” She took a turn looking at the ring, staring at it with envy. “First Ryder, then Jake and now you!”

“Yeah, what’s in the water out there?” Ty Colbert asked Russ, then chuckled. “Think I’ll stick to beer!” Ty was Deke’s age, and he was well known in Crockett for his love-’em-and-leave-’em reputation.

He groaned when his current girlfriend, Samantha Evans, elbowed him in the ribs. “It wouldn’t hurt you to think about marriage,” she chided with a look of reproach. “I’ve been tryin’ for months to get him to propose,” she said wistfully. She glanced at Lynn as she stared at the ring. “Oh, it is so beautiful!”

Lynn wanted to crawl under the table. She glanced over and shot a get-me-out-of-here look at Russ. He was talking to one of the men, and she kicked his leg under the table to get his attention.

“Ow!” Russ’s eyes pinned her with an accusing stare. It wasn’t as if this was his fault.

Lynn was smiling, but he could tell from her expression that she wasn’t at all happy. Her face was nearly bloodred. He scooted to the edge of his seat, then managed to get out and stand beside the booth. Moving slowly among the well-wishers, he made his way to Lynn, pulling out his wallet and tossing some money on the table to pay for their meal.

He accepted congratulations from nearly everyone before he could get a hold of Lynn’s hand and make room for her to get out of her seat. As she stood, he put his arm around her shoulders. The crowd was still talking to them as they slowly made their way to the door.

Russ studied Lynn as she walked beside him, a smile fixed on her pretty face, anxiety in her eyes. Her face was still flushed, her skin hot. He knew how she felt. He’d never admit it to her, but he’d been unable to get a steady breath since they’d left the jewelry store, and all the attention and hoopla wasn’t helping.

“Have you set a date?” someone asked as they reached the door.

“No, we haven’t,” Lynn said quickly as Russ held the door for her. “We haven’t made any definite plans.” She rushed out without saying another word. Turning, she glanced back as Russ grabbed her hand. People were still calling congratulations to them through the open door as they walked toward his truck. He held the passenger door for her, then joined her, going around the truck and getting into the driver’s seat.

“I can’t believe that just happened.” Lynn tried to get her bearings, her breathing uneven.

“Not much goes on around here. People get excited when they hear good news.”

“Good news?” she repeated, sounding offended. Her voice rose. “This isn’t good news!” she declared. “It isn’t even real.”

Russ’s jaw tightened as he headed away from Crockett toward the Bar M. Every time she said it like that, his gut began to churn. She made it sound like marriage to him would be the worse thing that could happen to her. Well, he had news for her, it wasn’t. She could turn up pregnant and not married. In today’s culture, maybe that wasn’t frowned on so much. But here in the county of Crockett, it was something to talk about.

He’d been laughed at in Montana when Candace had turned up pregnant by another man. He’d be damned if he was going to wind up looking like a fool again. “It’s a reality you’re gonna have to face. You could be pregnant,” he reminded her, his tone agitated.

Lynn glared at him, drawing her brows together. “I…am…not…pregnant!”

Russ’s expression hardened a fraction as he glanced in her direction. “You don’t know that.” She sure was determined not to be pregnant with his child. Well, he should have expected that. She was letting him know again that the night they spent together meant nothing to her. He should have been relieved.

But he wasn’t.

His gaze traveled over her, and his gut twisted. His attention shifted to her trim thighs, and desire slammed him. How could he want her so badly? He couldn’t remember a time when a woman affected him to the point of distraction. Though he’d been married to Candace, he’d never been aroused this easily by her.

“Though someday I do want a family,” Lynn admitted, “it just isn’t in my immediate plans.” She picked that moment to turn her head in Russ’s direction. His hardened expression gave her cause for thought. He didn’t seem any happier than she was about their circumstances.

A knot formed in her throat. He’d been attentive and loving with her last night, showing her a side of himself that she’d never seen. That he would readily give up his freedom for her proved he was a man of honor. Even as he glowered at her, she admired that about him.

She was surprised that he hadn’t been snapped up by a woman by now. Considering he was a loner and somewhat unapproachable, despite his attractive looks, women probably thought twice about approaching him unless he spoke first.

“Things don’t always go as planned,” Russ reminded her. They sure hadn’t last night. He’d never
planned
on taking her to bed.

“You’re right about that,” she answered. “I never counted on this complication.” Never in her life would she have thought she’d have to consider Russ in her plans. Before last night, she could have staked her life on the fact that she never would have so much as kissed him, let alone given him her innocence.

“Darn it!” she squealed, and her hands balled into fists.

“What?” Her outburst startled Russ, and he slammed his foot on the brake pedal, pitching them both forward. Their seat belts prevented them from being thrown into the dashboard.

Lynn turned in her seat to face him. “We could have settled whether I was pregnant or not easily enough with a home pregnancy test!” she exclaimed. “Supposedly, you can tell within minutes if you’re pregnant.”

Russ nodded. Even though he was still planning to marry her, it would be nice to know if pregnancy was a factor. “Do you want to turn around?” he asked.

“And buy one in Crockett? Good heavens, no!” She straightened and settled more comfortably in her seat. “Can you imagine walking into Walker’s Grocery and buying a pregnancy test? Do you want everyone in the county to know I could be pregnant?”

Walker’s was the small local store with a pharmacy
in the back that everyone in Crockett frequented. It also was a meeting place for some of the older folks to pass the day. “I see what you mean.”

She sighed deeply. “We should have picked one up while we were in San Luis. No one there would have known us.”

Russ pushed the gas pedal and slowly started the truck moving again. “Do you want to go back to San Luis now?” he asked, glancing at his watch. It was afternoon, and they really needed to get back to the ranch.

“We don’t have time. There’s a lot to do this afternoon,” she said, thinking they’d have to work hard and fast just to get everything done before sunset.

“Yeah,” Russ agreed as they approached the wood-and-iron sign stating they were on McCall land. He turned the truck onto a side road and continued up the hillside leading to the main house.

“We’ll just have to get one as soon as possible. Maybe I can get away in a couple of days,” she said as they passed over a small ridge. They drove by the narrow airstrip and hangar designed for the Cessna plane that Jake and Catherine had taken when they’d left for their honeymoon.

Russ steered the truck behind his quarters and stopped it, letting the engine idle to keep the air-conditioning going. “I guess we’d better get to work,” he commented, realizing that he wasn’t really anxious to be relieved of Lynn’s company.

Lynn favored him with a look that told him she had other plans. “You don’t think I’m gonna walk into the house by myself, do you?” she demanded.

Shrugging and looking confused, Russ replied, “What are you talkin’ about?”

Lynn exhaled, and her bangs flew upward. “This ring is what I’m talking about,” she informed him, shaking her hand in his face. Her voice sounded cynical.

Russ stared at her. When she didn’t go on, he prompted, “What about it?”

“Men!” Lynn huffed, and opened her door. She got out as Russ killed the engine and joined her.

Looking at a loss, Russ stared at her, his face blank. “What?”

“Oh, just forget it.” She walked away from him, muttering something under her breath about the male gender and their lack of intelligence.

“Wait a minute!” Russ called, catching her by the arm and pulling her around to face him. Her momentum carried her into his embrace. He slipped his arms around her and held her so she couldn’t move. “What are you trying to say?” he asked, sounding dumb-founded.

“Never mind,” she replied not looking at him, stubbornly refusing to enlighten him. “Let me go.”

“Not yet,” he told her, though he was thinking that was exactly what he should do. He needed to let her go before he did something stupid—like kiss her. Feeling her against him, smelling her, made him want to do more than hold her. Russ worked to get his thoughts under control. “What’s the problem?”

Taking a deep breath, Lynn lifted her face to his. “Do you know what’s going to happen when I walk in that door?”

Russ shook his head.

“Ashley’s going to be all over me, fussing over the ring and this whole engagement mess.” She didn’t want to contend with her sister-in-law’s excitement
alone. Thank goodness Catherine’s younger sister, Bethany, had already left, as well. That was one less person she’d have to face.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“You’re right. I should have thought about it. We’re in this together so I’ll go up to the house with you,” he told her. He let her go, but took her hand. “C’mon.”

Lynn tried to pull away from him as they started toward the house, but he tightened his hold. Crossing the dusty yard, they headed for the house.

Ashley met them as they came in the door. Her face lit with excitement, and she rushed toward them. Lynn didn’t even try to pretend why. She was getting good at this pretending thing. Fixing a smile on her face wide enough to show her straight white teeth, she lifted her hand and showed her sister-in-law the ring.

“Oh, it’s beautiful!” Ashley hugged them both, her eyes bright with enthusiasm.

As she continued to fuss over the ring, Lynn tried to move away from Russ, but he put his arm around her, playing the part of her fiancé, making it seem all too real.

“I’m just so happy for you!” Ashley exclaimed, oblivious of the tension between Lynn and Russ.

“Thank you,” Lynn said, trying her best to sound as if she meant it. She darted a look at Russ. She resented that he looked relaxed when she felt as if someone had a gun in her back.

“Well, now you’re gonna have to start thinking about a date.”

Lynn and Russ stared at each other. “We’re dis
cussing it,” Russ said quickly, not giving Lynn a chance to speak.

“Great! Just don’t take too long. A wedding takes a while to plan.” She smiled brightly at Lynn. “I know you’ll want it to be perfect.”

Lynn nodded and gave Ashley the happy smile she was expecting. “Um, I’ve got a couple of things to do,” she said, turning toward Russ with a look of pure distress. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Sure.” Russ was aware of Ashley watching them. Thinking it would look odd if he just walked away from Lynn, he thought he’d better kiss her to keep up the pretense. Even as he made the decision, he was anxious for the taste of her. “I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he told her, lowering his head and pulling her closer.

Caught off guard, Lynn looked startled when she realized his intention. But with Ashley watching them, she had no choice but to lift her lips to Russ’s and accept his kiss. As his mouth descended, her breath caught with anticipation.

Expecting a brief touching of their lips, Lynn wasn’t prepared when Russ slid his hand behind her neck and held her still as their mouths met. Her hands went to his chest and rested there, trembling slightly. The pressure of his hand might have brought her to him, but the desire to be kissed by him kept her there, made her ache for more.