Wrangling the Redhead (17 page)

He searched her face for even the tiniest hint that she was lying to him, but her expression was open and sincere. He wanted to believe her. God, how he wanted to believe her.

She touched his cheek. “The only question is, can you live with being labeled the superstar’s cowboy in every tabloid coast to coast? It will come to that. I can almost guarantee it.”

Wade thought about it, thought about learning to live with who Lauren Winters really was. And then it came to him,
this
was who she was, this sexy woman who
knew horses, loved the outdoors and loved him. He’d never even met that other Lauren Winters, though in the past weeks he’d watched every movie she’d ever made two and three times. They had made him heartsick over what he’d lost. He’d realized she was good on-screen, so he knew now what she was willing to give up to be with him. The most amazing part of all was that she apparently didn’t consider it any sort of sacrifice. In fact, if she was being totally honest here, she seemed to think it was a more-than-even trade.

“What if I said no?” he asked carefully. “Would you still stay on here?”

Her eyes locked with his. “Yes,” she said quietly. “But I would miss you every single day of my life.”

The words settled over Wade like a benediction, chasing away the last of his doubts, promising him everything he’d ever dreamed of.

“Okay, then,” he said, the beginnings of a smile tugging at his lips. “I’ll marry you on one condition.” As if her agreement were a certainty, he was already reaching for her.

“What’s that?”

“Promise to take me to the Academy Awards one of these days, just so we can tell our kids we’ve been.”

She leaped into his arms and covered his face with kisses. “We’ll ride in on a pair of white horses,” she promised. “They’ll be talking about it for years to come.”

He laughed, suddenly feeling as giddy as if he’d been granted the moon and stars. He twirled her around until they were both dizzy, but then his mood sobered as reality crept in.

“Will you be content, Lauren? Can you be satisfied not being a somebody?”

She frowned at him. “Don’t you ever say that, Wade Owens. I
will
be a somebody. I will be a rancher and a mother and, best of all, I’ll be your wife.”

Wade nodded thoughtfully, then swept her up and kissed her soundly. “Then I don’t give two hoots what the tabloids call me, darlin’, because you and I are getting hitched.”

“Thank goodness,” she teased. “For a minute there, you had me worried.”

“No need to worry. You’re not the only one in the family with a flair for the dramatic. I know a happy ending when I see one.” He grinned. “In fact, it reminds me a little bit of
Kiss the Stars.
”

She looked surprised at that. “You saw that? When?”

“The better question might be how many times?” he admitted. “Probably a half-dozen. I think it was my favorite.”

“Mine, too,” she said. “The critics hated it. They thought it was sappy.”

Wade met her gaze. “What do they know? They’re just frustrated screenwriters who are jealous of a good thing.”

Lauren laughed. “When did you get to be so smart?”

Though she’d asked it in jest, Wade returned her smile with a serious look. “The day I fell in love with you.”

She rested her palm against his cheek. “This is better than any movie I ever made,” she assured him.

“It’s better than any movie ever filmed,” Wade said, then grinned. “Of course, so far I’ve only had a short course in Lauren Winters’s films. Maybe my judgment’s not so great.”

“I think your judgment’s just fine. You picked me, didn’t you?”

Wade stroked a finger along the pale curve of her cheek. “I don’t remember having any choice at all in the matter. You were just in my heart.”

He glanced toward the house. “You fixed up a bedroom in that place yet?”

“Oh, yes. Despite Gina’s pleas for me to do the kitchen first, I did the bedroom. I knew that was the first place you’d want to see.”

“Smart woman,” he said.

“The smartest,” she agreed, and led him inside, where Wade spent the rest of the day proving just how clever—and lucky—they both were.

He’d just wrangled a Hollywood superstar into agreeing to marry him. Or had it been the other way around? He chuckled as he felt her hand slipping under the covers to slide up his leg. What difference did it make? This was clearly the life they’d both been destined for.

I
t was the strangest thing. Once she and Wade had agreed to get married, Lauren had been in no big hurry to arrange the ceremony. She’d had excuse after excuse, from the birth of Karen’s baby to Gina’s marriage to Rafe. The delay had driven Wade and the Calamity Janes crazy. They’d been pestering her for months now to set a date or to explain why she was so reluctant to stand in front of a minister and exchange vows with the man she loved.

The truth was, she had endured a media frenzy with her first two marriages. There was no way she wanted news of this wedding to leak out and turn a special, private moment into a circus. She had finally explained that to Wade, who’d come up with the perfect suggestion—a small wedding right here at their house with only friends and family in attendance. Even better, they hadn’t even told the guests they were coming to a wed
ding, so there was no chance of an inadvertent leak. And they’d picked a date before Emma’s due date, so they wouldn’t steal that baby’s thunder.

“Are you sure you’re okay with all the secrecy?” Wade had asked a dozen times.

“I am deliriously happy with all the secrecy,” she insisted.

“Gina’s going to pitch a fit when she realizes you’ve flown a caterer in to do all the food,” he pointed out.

“I couldn’t very well have had her do it. Besides, she’ll have other things to do. She and the other Calamity Janes are my bridesmaids.” She frowned. “I just hope Emma isn’t going to flip out at the dress I ordered for her. It is very difficult to find anything formal and flattering for a woman who is eight months pregnant.”

“I thought bridesmaids almost always hated their dresses,” he said. “Besides, I think she’ll look fabulous. There is something about a pregnant woman….” His voice trailed off as his gaze wandered over her. “I can hardly wait.”

“But wait you will, sweetie. We are not getting pregnant until after foaling season. I can’t imagine what I was thinking planning a wedding for now. I’m so exhausted I can hardly see.”

“Which is precisely why you are going inside, taking a long hot bath and going to bed,” Wade countered. “I’ll stay up with Miss Molly.”

“But I want to be here when she has Midnight’s foal,” she protested. “It will be their first.”

Wade hadn’t even tried to argue with her, which was why she was running around frantically the next day an hour before their guests were due and two hours before the ceremony itself. Miss Molly’s foal, a gor
geous colt, had been born just before dawn, which meant Lauren was operating on automatic pilot.

The kitchen was in chaos as the same Beverly Hills caterer who’d done Cassie’s impromptu wedding two years earlier moaned and groaned about the outrageous miracles people expected of him.

“Just do it,” Lauren ordered him. “I don’t have time to pacify you. You can go back to L.A. and tell everyone that you know the reason that I left, that I am certifiably crazy.”

Her offer put a gleam in his eye and he went back to putting the finishing touches on the elaborate wedding cake.

Lauren raced upstairs, showered and washed her hair and was just finishing her nails when the doorbell rang. Sighing, she put aside the polish and ran down to answer it. All four Calamity Janes simply stared.

“What?” she demanded.

“Are we early?” Gina asked.

“Exactly on time,” Lauren said.

“Then why aren’t you dressed?”

“Because I need a little help from my bridesmaids for that,” she explained, laughing when they stared at her with openmouthed astonishment.

“Bridesmaids?” Emma said cautiously, her hand on her huge belly. “As in, you’re getting married today?”

“Yep,” Lauren confirmed, then grinned. “Surprise!”

Wade hadn’t thought his life could get one bit sweeter, but that was before he stood in his own backyard wearing a tuxedo and watching Lauren walk toward him looking like a princess. It was exactly the way he’d envisioned it, yards of white satin, a gossa
mer-sheer veil and all. He’d be lucky not to trip all over the vows, she made him so tongue-tied.

Which was nothing like what she’d done to his mother. He glanced at the small collection of chairs for the guests and winked at his mother when he caught her eye. She had been astonished when he had introduced her to Lauren. Turned out Arlene was one of Lauren’s biggest fans, that she owned every one of Lauren’s movies on video. She couldn’t seem to get over the fact that her idol was actually marrying her son.

“Wait until I get home and tell everyone at the bar. They’ll die. They’ll absolutely die,” she said.

“Actually, Mom, we’ve been thinking you might want to stick around here,” he’d told her. “You don’t need to work anymore. We have plenty of room. You can have your own house right here on the ranch.”

Arlene had stared at him, perplexed. “But what would I do?”

“Nothing, unless you wanted to. You’ve earned the right to some time off.”

She had waved off the suggestion. “Absolutely not. You’re going to be newlyweds. I’m not about to be underfoot. We can discuss this after you have my first grandbaby.”

Now she caught his gaze and winked back at him. Then Lauren was at his side, and he had eyes for nothing else.

From then on everything was a blur—the exchange of vows, the congratulations from the Calamity Janes and their spouses and Arlene. Wade’s heart was too full to take any of it in. All he wanted to do was stare at his wife.
His wife!
He couldn’t get over it.

“Oh, my.”

Wade’s gaze instantly shot to Emma. There had been no mistaking the alarm in her voice.

“You okay?” he asked, noting the pale cheeks, the near hysteria in her eyes.

Biting her lower lip, she shook her head. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized.

“Sorry?” he asked, confused. “For what?”

“For upstaging your wedding. It seems I’m about to have a baby.”

Wade stared at her. “Now? You’re having the baby now?”

“Afraid so. Could you find Ford?”

“Absolutely, and I’ll get Lauren right over here, too. I think she’s inside.”

Within an hour, the entire wedding party had moved to the hospital waiting room to the bemusement of the other waiting families.

Lauren sat by his side, her hand tucked in his. “Isn’t it wonderful?” she said. “Emma’s having her baby on our wedding day. I was so afraid we’d upstage her and now she’s gone and done it to us.”

“If you ask me, we should have predicted it,” he teased.

“Why?”

“You are the Calamity Janes, aren’t you? Isn’t this just the kind of thing you do?”

A grin spread across her face. “You know, it is. And the most amazing thing is that you married me, anyway.”

“Oh, darlin’, it’s a part of your charm. I wouldn’t have you any other way. I imagine Rafe, Grady, Cole and Ford feel exactly the same way.”

“Amen to that,” Cole said, reaching for Cassie and
drawing her into his lap just as Rafe slipped his arms around Gina and Grady kissed Karen.

Just then Ford emerged from the delivery room. “It’s a boy,” he announced, looking dazed.

“A boy,” Caitlyn said, looking disgusted. “I wanted a sister.”

“I think having another boy around will be cool,” Jake said. “With Aunt Karen’s baby and my brother and now this one, there are more of us. Maybe we can grow up together and be just like you guys.” He glanced at his mother. “We’ll be the Calamity Johns.”

“Absolutely not,” Cassie told him. “This group is one of a kind.”

Wade watched as she, Lauren, Gina and Karen gravitated together for a fierce hug. He glanced over at Cole and the other men.

“That group is one of a kind, no doubt about it,” he said.

“No doubt at all,” they agreed.

Rafe’s grin spread. “And we’re the lucky sons of guns who caught ’em.”

Wade shook his head. “Sorry, pal. I’m a hundred percent certain it was the other way around. We never had a chance.”