Wrangling the Redhead - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,58

down her back from a tiara of pearls made his heart hammer inside his chest. To know that she was his forever? He wanted that. Wanted it more than anything he’d ever longed for.

Was it really within his reach? he wondered. A few weeks ago he’d never even imagined telling a woman he loved her and hearing the same words spoken back to him. Yet last night he’d told Lauren just that. She’d admitted she loved him, too. And she’d shown him just how much all night long.

But marriage was permanent. It was forever, and he rarely thought too far beyond tomorrow. Besides, he’d never even seen a good example of it. His own mother had never married, preferring the kind of casual relationships that wouldn’t put her heart at risk again after what had happened with Wade’s father. His daddy had been married for years, just not to Wade’s mother, and it hadn’t stopped him from chasing anything in skirts. With those two as his role models, was it any wonder he was skeptical that he could make it work?

One thing he knew for sure, he’d better be a lot more certain than he was right now before he risked making that kind of commitment. If he ever did get married, he wanted the kind of marriage Karen and Grady had. Even a drifting wrangler with a background like his could see that what they had would endure.

“Do you have any idea how lucky you are?” he asked Grady. “You and Karen, clearly you were destined to be together.”

Grady regarded him with surprise. “That’s how it seems to you?”

“Sure,” Wade said, startled by Grady’s response. “Am I wrong?”

“I hope not,” Grady said. “But it wasn’t always that way and not a day goes by that I don’t thank the Lord for what we’ve found.” At Wade’s puzzled look, Grady added, “You know Karen was a widow when we met?”

“No,” Wade admitted, stunned by the news. He’d assumed they were childhood sweethearts, because they seemed so attuned to each other.

“Well, she was. And I had been her husband’s worst enemy,” Grady revealed. “There were a whole lot of issues we had to work through before she could begin to trust me. I’m here to tell you that anything that comes up between you and Lauren would be a piece of cake by comparison.” He grinned. “But you’re right about one thing—it was worth every bit of the struggle, and I don’t intend to let Karen regret the decision she made. Not ever.”

When the time came, Wade wanted to be able to make the same kind of vow where Lauren was concerned. It would kill him if he ever gave her any cause to regret getting mixed up with him.

Despite Grady’s protests, Karen had insisted on doing her chores around the ranch.

“I told him if he tried to turn me into an invalid for the next seven months, I’d have to strangle him,” she had explained to Lauren as they’d shared a cup of coffee earlier.

“Well, you’d better get out there and slave away,” Lauren had told her, eager to get her out of the house so she could start making calls to the other Calamity Janes. She needed time alone if she was going to pull off a surprise lunch to celebrate the news about the baby.

“But I have questions for you,” Karen protested, refusing to budge from the table. “I want to know what happened between you and Wade after you left here.”

“Quite a lot, as a matter of fact, but you can wait to hear all the details,” she said. When Karen still showed no evidence of leaving, Lauren added bluntly, “Will you please just go away?”

“Ah,” Karen said, clearly amused by the less-than-diplomatic dismissal. “Then you are trying to get rid of me?”

“Yes,” Lauren said emphatically.

Karen had laughed. “Okay, then. I’m out of here.” When she reached the door, she turned back for one last parting shot. “Just make sure somebody brings chocolate. I have a craving.”

So much for any surprise, Lauren thought. “I guarantee there will be lots and lots of chocolate.”

She made all the calls within a half hour, giving away as little as possible as she cajoled Gina into making lasagna and Cassie into picking up a chocolate cake with double-fudge frosting from Stella’s.

“Be here in one hour,” she ordered Emma when she caught up with her at the office. “Not a minute longer.”

“I’m supposed to meet with a client in an hour.”

Only Emma