Wyoming True - Diana Palmer Page 0,62
him with so many emotions clouding her mind that she could barely get a coherent thought. She flushed again. “It’s going to be hard for you,” she stammered.
“Why?”
“Well, you’re...you’re used to women, aren’t you? I mean, intimately used to them.”
His thumb rubbed against her wrist as he tightened his hand on hers. “I was,” he confessed. “But since Mina, I haven’t wanted that. I haven’t wanted anything intimate, with anyone.” He was surprised to recall how long he’d gone without a woman.
“If you find someone you can love, you’ll tell me, yes?” she asked worriedly.
“Okay. And if you find someone...”
“Oh, no, it won’t be me,” she interrupted. “I’ve had my fill of men.” She stopped dead and ground her teeth. “Not you,” she added. “You’re not like any man I’ve ever had in my life.” She hesitated, flushed. “I mean...” she began.
He drew her to him very gently and put his arms around her, as a friend might do when offering comfort. “I know what you mean,” he said at her temple. He liked the feel of her in his arms. She was soft and warm, and she smelled vaguely of flowers. He smiled. “We’re going to get along fine,” he said, his deep voice like velvet. “When you have problems with your hip, I’ll take care of you.”
She sighed, smiling against his warm chest. She could hear his deep, steady heartbeat under her ear. “And if you get sick, I’ll take care of you,” she replied.
His heart jumped. He’d never had a woman make that offer, not even Mina when he thought he had a chance with her. But then, Mina had wanted Cort, not him. He felt the rejection wound him, all over again. It was the first time in his life that a woman he wanted hadn’t returned his interest.
She smoothed her hand over his breastbone. Under the warmth, she could feel thick, cushy hair. Under that was firm muscle. She knew that he worked on the ranch. That would account for the muscles she felt, because he wasn’t the sort of man to sit at his desk and just enjoy his wealth. His hand stilled hers as it moved toward where his heart would be, but she was too content to think anything of it.
“Don’t you want anybody at the wedding?” he asked suddenly.
She drew in a breath. They’d already discussed this, and she knew Cindy, her only real friend, couldn’t afford a fancy dress and was too proud to take one from Ida. “I don’t have family anymore,” she replied. “I’d like Maude to come, though. And my two part-time cowboys. And Dr. Menzer and his wife.”
“Okay. I’d like Rogan Michaels to come, and Cort and Mina, I suppose,” he said, and Ida felt her whole body tauten. “But Rogan’s still in Australia, dealing with the aftermath of the fires, so he couldn’t come. And Cort and Mina took the baby to Jacobsville, Texas, to visit two of Cort’s brothers.” He didn’t notice that she suddenly relaxed. “I don’t have family, either.” He looked down at her and grimaced. “I was going to fly you to Manhattan. Suppose we go to Los Angeles instead?” he asked abruptly. “I have to meet a businessman there about a potential investment.”
“Los Angeles will be fine,” she said, not minding at all. In fact, she’d dreaded the long flight to New York, even though Jake’s baby jet was very comfortable.
“Anybody else you want to come?” he asked.
She looked up. “I thought about asking my attorneys, but it would be like tying the past to the present. There are too many connections with Bailey,” she explained.
His fingers burrowed into her short black hair. It felt like silk against his skin. “You can tell them later that it was a rushed-up wedding.”
She laughed. “They’ll think I got pregnant and you had to marry me very quickly,” she teased. “Catelow is so small that it still has people with those attitudes about the thing.”
His heart had jumped wildly when she said that, because he immediately thought of how she might look, carrying his child under her heart. “I haven’t thought about children since...” He broke off, because he knew she’d sense what he meant. He’d wanted a child with Mina, who didn’t want him.
“Sorry,” she said, having felt him stiffen. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
His hand tightened in her hair. “Why not?”
“If I offend you, you’ll let me go,” she said simply, and with an honesty that surprised him. “I haven’t been