“I know you, Amy. You’ll never go all the way.”

Maybe she wouldn’t if she didn’t want a baby with him so very much. “I will, too!”

“Then prove it.” Teddy turned to her, making no effort to hide his desire. “Go into the bedroom. Take off your clothes. And wait for me.”

She turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. “I thought it was going to be a lot easier being married to you!”

“No kidding!”

Huffing in exasperation, she marched over to the bed. Stood staring down at it for one long second.

“This is to make a baby,” she whispered to herself, already toeing off her boots. “Our baby. And he or she will be made in the spirit of tenderness and hope and love.”

This baby would be the ultimate Christmas gift to each other…

Dear Reader,

My husband is also my best friend. We became great pals as we fell in love. But what if, I wondered, that hadn’t been the case? What if we had been friends first and then realised we wanted to date? Would our romance have developed in the same way?

Thirty-five-year-old Teddy McCabe and Amy Carrigan have been friends since primary school. Wary of risking their friendship, they have never allowed themselves to think of each other as anything but companions, although they have joked about having kids together one day. As the Christmas season begins, and Amy’s thirty-second birthday approaches, they realise they might never get the family they both want so much if they don’t start down another less traditional path.

So they rush off to the justice of the peace, determined to get married, and move on to Phase Two of operation baby-making. They already know each other. They’re not planning to have sex. This is going to be a piece of cake! They don’t bargain on the complications that quickly – and inevitably – ensue.

But as anyone who has ever said “I do” knows… marriage changes everything!

I hope you have as much fun reading this holiday story as I did creating it.

Best wishes to you and all your loved ones,

Cathy Gillen Thacker

The Rancher’s Christmas Baby
and
Baby’s First Christmas

CATHY GILLEN THACKER

www.millsandboon.co.uk

The Rancher’s Christmas Baby

CATHY GILLEN THACKER

Chapter One

“I had no idea it was this bad.” Amy Carrigan reached over and took the hand of her best friend, Teddy McCabe, the day after Thanksgiving.

He squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Same here.” Being careful to keep to the other side of the yellow tape surrounding the century-old community chapel in downtown Laramie, Texas, Teddy let go of her hand and walked around, surveying what remained of the previously beautiful church.

The once towering live oak tree that had been struck by lightning at the advent of the previous night’s thunderstorm had a jagged black streak down what remained of the trunk. The rest of the tree had taken out the bell tower and fallen through the center of the church roof.

By the time the fire department had arrived, the white stone chapel was engulfed in flames. Nearly half the wooden pews had been destroyed. And though the exquisite stained-glass windows were amazingly still intact, the walls were covered with black soot, the velvet carpeting at the altar beyond repair.

Fortunately, no one had been hurt, and plans were already being made to restore the town-owned landmark.

“Do you think they’re really going to be able to get this restored in three weeks’ time?” Amy asked.

“Given the number of volunteers that have already signed up to help with the cleanup, yes,” Teddy replied.

“Trevor and Rebecca were supposed to have the twins’ christening here on the twenty-third.”

“We’ll get it done,” Teddy promised.

Amy hoped so. Although there were numerous other churches in the area, the community chapel was where everyone got married and had their children christened. It was small and intimate and imbued with tradition and hope.

Amy had dreamed of being married here.

Teddy studied her. “Everything okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve seemed blue. You hardly cracked a smile during the Thanksgiving festivities yesterday.”

Amy had been hoping no one would notice.

She walked around to survey the damaged landscaping around the chapel. “I had a headache.”

Teddy ambled along behind her. He had a good nine inches on her. And though they both owned ranches and worked outdoors—she growing plants, Teddy breeding horses—one might have a hard time discerning how physically fit she was because she was so delicately boned and slender.

However, it came as no surprise to anyone that Teddy had ranching in his blood. After all, he had the broad shoulders and strong, rugged build of the McCabe men. Being around him like this always made her feel impossibly feminine…and protected.

“Headache or heartache?” Teddy probed.

Amy returned wryly, “Thank you, Dr. Phil. But I really don’t need your psychoanalysis.”

“That, my friend, is debatable.” Teddy placed both hands on her shoulders and turned her so she had no choice but to look at him. “Come on, Amy.” His grip tightened ever so slightly, the warmth of his palms transmitting through the fleece vest she wore. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Her skin tingling from the unexpected contact, Amy knelt to examine a fire-singed Buford holly bush. “It’s nothing.”

Teddy gazed at her compassionately. “Is it the birthday you have coming up in January?”

Amy glared at Teddy and stepped away. “Way to cheer me up, cowboy.”

He exhaled. “Thirty-two is not old.” He could say that because he was almost thirty-five.

Amy headed toward the parking lot located behind the chapel, where her pickup truck was parked. “It’s not young, either.”

“You have a lot to feel good about. A family who loves you and a lot of friends. Not to mention the best plant-and-tree nursery in the area.”

Amy did feel proud. Over the last ten years, she had grown her business from a rented greenhouse to a prosperous concern.

“True, you don’t have a house yet….” Teddy conceded with a frown.

Not like the one he had on his Silverado Ranch, anyway. “Now you’re dissing where I live?”

The lines on either side of Teddy’s mouth deepened. With the familiarity of someone who had been her friend since elementary school, he said, “You don’t have to live in a tiny little trailer.”

Amy shrugged off his concern. “It suits me just fine right now. Besides, I want to pour all my money into expanding.”

Laurel Valley Ranch currently comprised fifty acres and ten greenhouses. She grew everything from Christmas trees to perennials and starter plants, and even had a husband-and-wife team working for her full-time now.

“Then if it’s not that…is it the time of year that’s getting you down? The holidays…”

Not surprised that Teddy had seen through her defenses, Amy blurted out, “Can you really blame me?” Tears blurred her eyes. “Everywhere I look, everywhere I go, I’m reminded that Christmas is for kids—and I don’t have any! And at the rate I’m going I might never have any!”

To her surprise, Teddy looked as if he were feeling the same. “Then, maybe,” he said slowly, “it’s time you and I both revisited the promise we made to each other.”

Amy backed up until her spine touched the back of her pickup. “I was twelve and you were fifteen!”

Teddy propped a shoulder against the door, blocking her way into the driver side. “It doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good idea.”

Amy stared at him, wishing she could say she was shocked by what he was proposing. The same crazy, irrational thought had been in the back of her mind for months now. She’d just been too romantic at heart to bring it up.

She took a deep breath and repeated the vow they had made. “You want us to marry and have babies together—as friends? Not two people who are wildly in love with each other.”

Teddy exuded McCabe determination. “We said then if we didn’t find anyone else to start a family with by the time we were thirty, that’s what we would do. And let’s face it,” he continued ruefully, “we passed that mark a while ago.”

Amy’s heartbeat kicked up a notch and she put her hands on the metal door panel on either side of her, steadying herself.

“It’s not like we haven’t been looking for a mate or been engaged,” Teddy argued. “We have. It didn’t work out for either of us.”

Teddy’s march to the altar had been abruptly cut short two years ago. Amy hadn’t fared any better herself; her engagement had ended in a firestorm of embarrassment and humiliation, five years prior.

Teddy took both her hands in his and looked down at her with a gentle expression. “I’m tired of waiting, Amy. Tired of wishing for that special someone to show up and change my life. Especially now that Rebecca and Trevor have had twins. And Susie and Tyler are expecting their first child.”

Amy tightened her fingers in his. “It seems everyone we know is getting married, settling down.” Her two older sisters, his two triplet-brothers…their friends and former schoolmates…

He held her gaze deliberately, his hazel eyes reflecting the disappointment he felt about the turn life had taken. “Except us.”

Silence fell between them as a church bell began to ring in the distance.

The Christmas spirit that had been absent in her soul took root again.

“So what do you say?” Teddy took Amy’s chin in his hand and a coaxing smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “How about we make this a Christmas we will always remember?”

“YOU DID WHAT?” LUKE CARRIGAN choked on his drink, later the same day.

Teddy had been fairly certain the overprotective older man would not readily accept anything but a traditional romance for his youngest daughter. In fact, Luke had been ready to start matchmaking to speed things along—if that was what it took to get Amy the husband and kids she deserved….

“Amy and I got married. This afternoon,” Teddy repeated. They had driven to a justice of the peace in a neighboring county and cemented their deal before either of them could change their minds.

Teddy had no regrets.

He was sure this was the right thing, for both him and Amy. He only wished their families shared the sentiment. It appeared, as all four parents stared at them in shocked silence, that they did not.

Beside him, in a cranberry-red dress and heels that made the most of a slender frame and feminine curves, her pale-blond chin-length hair in tousled disarray, Amy looked even more beautiful than she had at the courthouse where the ceremony had taken place.

“Is this a joke?” Amy’s mother, Meg Carrigan, finally managed to say.

Her sable-brown eyes widening as if to say I told you this was going to be rough, Amy moved closer to Teddy.

Sensing she needed a show of physical—as well as emotional—support, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders in a husbandly gesture that felt as new and unfamiliar to him as the vows they had just taken.

Glad they had opted to break the news to their folks with a champagne toast in one of the private party rooms at the Wagon Wheel restaurant in Laramie, Teddy faced Amy’s parents.

Luke was a family physician, Meg a registered nurse. They were used to dealing with highly emotional situations.

His parents were no lightweights, either.

Travis ran a cattle ranch, while his mother had founded the Annie’s Homemade Food business.

Yet all four looked as if they could be blown over by the slightest wind.

“Of course it’s not a joke, Mom,” Amy retorted stiffly, as she stepped forward and passed the canapés around.

Annie McCabe struggled to understand. “You’re not…” Teddy’s mother paused and bit her lip as if not sure how to word it. She tried again, ever so gently this time. “Are you two expecting?”

Teddy swore beneath his breath, immediately earning the glares of both fathers.

“Sorry.” Teddy poured more champagne for everyone. “And, no, to answer your question,” he said tersely, feeling his patience waning, “of course we’re not getting married because we have to!” Their parents were behaving as if he and Amy were two reckless teens, instead of competent, responsible adults.

“We don’t have that kind of relationship!” Amy insisted.

“Then why did you get married?” Luke Carrigan countered, passing on the picadillo dip.

“Because we want to have a family.” Teddy helped himself to the hearty nacho-style appetizer. “And we’ve decided to have one together.”

This, at least, Teddy noted, was no surprise to either set of parents.

He and Amy had told everyone about their “promise to each other” when they were kids, to the point it had been joked about between the two families ever since.

Amy followed his lead, behaving as if she had absolutely no trepidation about confronting their families with their decision—when he knew darn well she had dreaded this contretemps as much as he had.

Looking beautiful and relaxed, she put several chili-flavored shrimp on a small plate. “We’re just basing our marriage on friendship, instead of romantic love,” she continued casually.

“Although we do love each other as friends,” Teddy interjected.

Disappointment resonated all around.

Amy sent their parents a guilt-inducing look as she sipped on more champagne. “We had hoped y’all would support us in this.”

“I don’t see how we can,” Meg Carrigan replied, gentle and direct as ever.

“Romantic love is the foundation of every successful marriage,” Annie McCabe pointed out.

“And friendship,” Amy argued, taking her place next to Teddy once again.

He slid an arm around her waist and brought her in close to his side. Unaccustomed to touching her this way, he was surprised at how warm and supple she felt.

What stunned him even more was the prompt reaction of his pulse.

Teddy breathed in slowly, trying to suppress his desire. Once he regained his equilibrium, he continued to regard their families with the take-charge attitude that was deeply ingrained in all the McCabes.

“We wanted y’all to be the first to congratulate us,” Teddy said, unable to help but appreciate the soft lilac fragrance that clung to Amy’s hair and skin.

Or in other words, he thought silently, letting his direct gaze speak the rest for him, we’re not here to ask your permission.

To his relief, their parents seemed to get what he had not said out loud, for politeness’ sake.

“And we wanted to prepare you for the likelihood of becoming grandparents very soon,” Amy said.

Annie McCabe began to warm to the notion, despite herself.

Teddy smiled—he had known they would come around. Although, he had expected it would take a lot more time than this!

“Are you going to adopt?” his mother asked, hope shining in her soft eyes.

Teddy stiffened. This was the part about his arrangement with Amy he liked least. Although he understood why Amy had stipulated they do it this way, his healthy male ego couldn’t help but be a bit bruised by this unconventional arrangement.

“No. We’re having our children the new-fashioned way,” Amy declared, her cheeks turning a delectable shade of pink.

“Via artificial insemination,” Teddy finished for her.

Travis McCabe’s brow furrowed. He stared at Amy as if unable to believe what he had just heard.

Teddy understood that, too. His parents had a deeply loving and passionate relationship that seemed to transcend all others. It was no wonder that they were thrown for a loop by this shocking news.

They were—like Amy’s parents and his and Amy’s newly married siblings—the lucky ones. Couples who seemed to have found it all.

Sadly, for him and Amy, that hadn’t happened.

So although Teddy and Amy both still lamented the lack of perfection in their personal lives, they had decided that they’d rather not go through the rest of their lives alone.

Even if it meant making a few hard sacrifices.

“And that’s okay with you?” Travis asked Teddy. “Having a baby through a medical procedure?”

Teddy shrugged.

“It works for the horses I’ve been breeding. They all seem happy enough. And as long as Amy and I get what we want in the end—kids—who really cares?”

Amy flashed Teddy a grateful smile.

Unfortunately, she was the only other person beside himself, Teddy noted, who looked accepting of the situation.

“Not to put too blunt a point on it,” Dr. Carrigan refuted, his expression as grim and disapproving as Teddy’s own father, “but what about your own sex drives?”

Amy’s fair skin flushed an even deeper pink.

Teddy’s heart went out to her. Embarrassing as this was for him, it had to be harder for a diehard romantic like Amy. He knew she had dreamed of finding her Prince Charming and having that fairy-tale wedding in the community chapel since she was a little girl.

Unfortunately, just when she thought her fantasies were finally coming true and she’d given her heart and soul to Ken Donoho, Amy had been forced to abruptly end her engagement.

Her reasons were never revealed to anyone outside her family and she had never wanted to talk about it since.

Teddy hadn’t pushed her.

Friends did not do that to each other.

He had regretted, however, the damage the failed relationship had done to Amy’s outlook on life.

She no longer trusted romance. No longer yearned for the kind of physical passion that would last a lifetime. She was looking for Security Man now.

And he understood that, better than anyone. After all, his own engagement had also ended abruptly—and painfully. The experience had left him equally mistrusting of the initial “infatuation” stage of a relationship.

Since he had been interested in the long haul—and a woman who was as entrenched in “reality” as he—Teddy hoped he and Amy had at last found what they had been looking for all along. The kind of deep abiding friendship and lifelong commitment that they could use as the foundation for the family they both wanted so badly.

To his disappointment, it looked to Teddy like all their parents could focus on was the lack of intimacy in his and Amy’s union.

“So are the two of you ever planning to consummate your marriage?” Travis McCabe asked warily.

Eventually, Teddy thought. When the time was right.

To his surprise, Amy had other ideas. “We don’t know…um…if that will ever happen.” Amy looked as if she wanted to sink through the floor as she threw her hands up in dismay. “I mean, I know the rest of our lives seems like a long time. But we’ve promised each other no pressure in that regard, and we’re both okay with it either way.”

Teddy’s parents shook their heads, as if they had both somehow landed in a warped fairy tale.

“What about in the meantime? Are you two even going to be living together?” Dr. Carrigan asked, looking at them both as if they had completely lost their minds. An emotion the other three parents also seemed to feel.

“Yes. Of course,” Amy huffed.

“Absolutely,” Teddy concurred.

“Where?” Meg Carrigan inquired. She moved in close to her husband, her brows knit with worry.

“At my place!” Amy and Teddy said in unison.

Luke Carrigan wrapped a supportive arm about his wife’s waist as she narrowed her gaze at the flustered duo.

“Obviously, that remains to be worked out,” Teddy said, grimacing.

“What happens if this marriage doesn’t pan out?” Annie McCabe asked. She stepped closer to her husband, too. Her hand instinctively curled into Travis’s.

Watching the two older couples lean on each other, the way they always had, made Teddy think, That’s the way marriage should be.

Suddenly, he wondered if he and Amy would ever have that special connection. More important, was friendship going to be enough to sustain them?

Or would having a family—and their mutual affection—transform their platonic union into a real marriage?

Clearly, their parents did not think so.

But just because they had reservations did not mean it couldn’t happen, Teddy rationalized.

Furthermore, it wasn’t as if he and Amy hadn’t tried to find happiness the traditional way.

The problem was, romance just hadn’t worked for either of them. And probably, given their temperaments and expectations, never would.

Hence, they were obtaining a family for themselves the only way they could.

Beside him, Amy clearly agreed. “Teddy and I’ve already stipulated that should either of us decide it’s a mistake and want out—and for the record, neither of us expect that will happen—then we’ll get an annulment.”

“As long as we don’t consummate the marriage, it should be no problem,” Teddy agreed.

“It will be a problem if there is a child involved when you two decide this,” Travis McCabe countered.

Teddy knew how seriously every parent in the room took their responsibility toward their children. Luckily, he and Amy felt the same way.

Teddy took Amy’s hand in his, and held it in much the same way his father was holding his mother’s hand. “If we do want to end the marriage and we have a child—or children—by then, we’ve agreed on split custody. Since we both own businesses here in Laramie, and plan to reside here permanently, that should be an easy-enough thing to arrange. Not,” Teddy added, before anyone could interrupt, “that either Amy or I expect it to come to that.”

Amy’s chin took on the familiar, defiant tilt. “Teddy and I’ve been friends forever and we’re plenty old enough to know exactly what we’re getting into.”

“That,” her father remarked grimly, “is debatable.”

An hour later as Amy and Teddy walked out to his pickup truck, she said, “Well, it’s official. Both our parents think we’ve made a huge mistake.”

Teddy started to head for his own side of the vehicle, then stopped and cut across to Amy’s side.

Ignoring her look of surprise—because this was the kind of thing he did for his girlfriends, not his casual female friends—he opened the passenger door for her.

As his wife, she deserved a lot more from him on every level. Starting now, Teddy decided, she would get it. As well as reassurance when she needed it—which she clearly did.

“Look, Amy. We know we’re doing the right thing.” He gazed at her tenderly, smiling until her face lit up and she smiled back. “We’re going to be great parents. Giving each other a baby is the best Christmas present either of us could ever have.”

Hope flared in her eyes, along with the confusion.

Seeing she still needed a little convincing, he gave her a playful tap on the nose. “Trust me on this,” he told her softly. “Once you’re pregnant, once we’re one step closer to our dream, everyone else will be rooting for us, too.”

Chapter Two

As they drove back to the Laurel Valley Ranch, Amy couldn’t help but notice how good Teddy looked in the black Ultrasuede jacket and discreetly patterned tie, or how the dark olive hue of his dress shirt brought out the green of his eyes.

Whether gussied up—like now—or dirtied up from ranch work, Teddy McCabe was one fine specimen of a man. Add to that his amazing intellect and kind, compassionate nature and Amy knew she had chosen a fine husband for herself and father to her future children.

Now, if only everyone else could see that, too…

“So how do you want to do this?” Teddy asked, parking in front of Amy’s trailer.

One wrist resting atop the steering wheel, he turned toward her. “You want me to wait around while you get your stuff? Or just go on ahead and wait for you at my house?”

Amy blinked at him in surprise, stunned by his matter-of-fact tone. “What are you talking about?”

Teddy flashed a smile and came around to get her door. “Well, obviously, now that we’re married, we have to sleep somewhere—and I figured since I have horses to care for, that we’d be bunking at my place.”

“For tonight,” Amy acceded, accepting his help exiting the cab.

It was his turn to look surprised. “For every night,” he specified, as if wondering why there was even a question. In his mind, it was already decided.

Her heels sank into the gravel drive, making walking difficult. Unease swept through her. She thought about something she’d heard.

People change when they get married.

Until now, she’d figured that was just the frustration talking, when the couple in question didn’t really know each other—or hadn’t allowed themselves to see the real character of the person they were marrying—until after the romance surrounding the wedding ceremony had faded, and reality sunk in.

She could not believe this was going to be the case for her and Teddy, since they had known each other for years and years—without the veil of romance.

She looked over at him and promptly stumbled. “Teddy, I’m not giving up my place.”

He slid a hand beneath her elbow, to steady her. “I didn’t ask you to do that.”

Her spike heels did little better in the grass, and she lurched into him again. “You’re asking me to move in with you.”

Teddy frowned and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in close to his side. “Because it makes sense,” he said.

She scowled back and used her elbow to wedge more distance. “To you, maybe,” she argued, pulse pounding.

“Come on, Amy.” He paused as they reached the stoop leading up to her front door, his usual accommodating nature fading. “I admit I’ve only been in your trailer once or twice, and then only for a minute or two, but the ceiling is so low I can barely stand up straight.”

He had a point there. Her travel-trailer home had not been made for a six-foot-four male with broad shoulders. He was unlikely to fit in her double bed and would likely hang over the edge of her sofa, too.

In fact, the six-hundred-square-foot space was so tiny she never did any entertaining there.

Not that she and Teddy had ever spent much time at either’s place. Hanging out that way would have felt too much like dating. Instead, they’d preferred to go places together in town. The more casual the better—to avoid any intimate male-female interaction.

Which was what made it so awkward now. “Teddy, I—” Amy broke off as the couple who worked for her approached.

Both were in their midtwenties. A petite brunette, Sheryl Cooper was nearly eight months pregnant. Her husband, Ed, wasn’t much taller than she and had gone prematurely bald.

Even before they’d learned they were expecting, they had been the picture of married bliss. Now, with their firstborn son on the way, they were over the moon.

Or at least they had been, Amy noted, taking in their tense, worried expressions. “What’s wrong?” she demanded at once.

“We’ve been working in the greenhouses all afternoon and I started having contractions half an hour ago,” Sheryl said, hand to her tummy. Her face was blotchy and dotted with perspiration. “I’ve had three now—all precisely ten minutes apart. It feels like I’m going into labor.”

And they all knew it was too early for that to be happening.

“I’ve already called her obstetrician. I’m taking her over to the emergency room to get checked out.” Ed looked as worried as Sheryl sounded.

“Anything I can do?” Amy asked in concern.

Ed shook his head and assisted Sheryl into the cab of their station wagon. “I’ll let you know what the doc says.” He climbed behind the wheel and drove off.

“I hope she’s okay,” Teddy said.

Amy released the breath she had been holding. She touched a hand to her throat. “Me, too.”

He followed her inside. “So back to our plans for the evening…”

Amy looked around the frilly interior of her home. The overstuffed floral sofa, and pink, green, and white color scheme were perfect for her romantic nature. However, they did not suit a macho guy like Teddy at all.

Already, as he moved past the leather-bound trunk that served as her coffee table, past the banquette to the galley kitchen—which had a half-size everything—he looked cramped. Worse, he was making her feel crowded. Even a little breathless. So much so, she suddenly needed some time to herself.

Amy slipped off her wool dress coat and strode past the tiny bathroom to her bedroom.

She had to slip off her heels and climb over the double bed—which took up the entire space—to get to the closet to put her coat and shoes away. “Why do we have to spend the night together?” As she backed up on her knees, she caught him looking at her legs.

To her chagrin, he didn’t so much as flush.

Instead, he lounged in the portal, arms crossed in front of him, as if he owned the place. “Is that a serious question?”

What had gotten into him?

“Obviously,” Amy said stiffly, “it is.”

Deciding she needed to get out of the cranberry silk-chiffon wrap-dress she’d gotten married in, Amy grabbed a pair of jeans and a pine-green chenille turtleneck sweater.

Teddy sighed with frustration.

Feeling equally frustrated, Amy slipped past him, into the bath.

Very much aware how different this evening would be if they were having a real wedding night—the over-the-top-romantic kind she had dreamed about her entire adult life—she stripped off her dress and peeled off her panty hose.

“We’re married, Amy,” Teddy reminded her through the closed door. He was beginning to sound impatient.

Amy walked back out with an arch look. “As friends only.”

Maddeningly, Teddy stayed right where he was, giving her little room to maneuver in the cramped space. “It’s still expected that we will reside together.”

Refusing to admit he was quite clearly making his point—her trailer was too tiny for the both of them—she qualified right back, “Once I’m pregnant. But there’s no rush for us to be together under the same roof until then.”

Teddy rubbed the flat of his hand underneath his jaw and regarded her the same way he looked at one of his horses when the animal wasn’t doing what he wanted it to do.

Amy knew that in those situations, Teddy always figured out how to get his way.

It was a quality all good leaders possessed—the ability to figure out how to get someone else to follow.

The problem was, she did not want him to be the leader in their marriage. She did not want either of them to be in a position to boss the other around. She wanted them to continue to do their own thing, in their own way, in their own time.

“So there is no reason we have to reside under the same roof tonight or any other night right now,” Amy concluded.

“I think our parents would beg to differ on that point,” he said dryly.

Normally, Amy liked to exchange ideas and witty remarks with Teddy. But not today. Not after the grilling they had just been through. What she wanted now was some peace and quiet. Privacy. Time to figure out how they were going to proceed with this hasty marriage of theirs.

Her bare feet planted firmly on the carpet, Amy told Teddy, “We’ve already established I don’t care what they think.”

“Then what,” Teddy asked, advancing on her ever so slowly, his low voice going from coolly concerned to ironic, “about what I think?”

AMY STARED AT THE MAN WHO had been her husband for all of six hours. Suddenly, she felt she did not know him at all. The Teddy she thought she knew always gave her plenty of space. He respected her decisions. He did not question anything she did or said. He was content to just let her be herself, regardless of other people’s expectations, which was why she liked hanging out with him so much.

Letting him know that it was not okay to change tactics now, she offered a tight smile. “Please don’t tell me you’re playing the husband card.”

Teddy’s eyebrow went up. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

Amy rummaged around in her top dresser drawer for a pair of wool socks. She pulled out a pair decorated with Christmas wreaths. “We never said we would live together right off the bat!”

He sat down beside her on the bed, looking more comfortable now that he was not hunched over slightly to keep from hitting his head on the top of the travel-trailer ceiling. “It was implied.”

Amy swallowed and continued pulling on her socks. It wasn’t her fault he was so tall and big-boned and muscular. She hadn’t ask him to do the physical labor that left his shoulders so taut and broad that he had to turn slightly to make it through the tiny door frames.

“If it was implied,” Amy countered, “it was only to you.” Finished, she wiggled her sock-clad toes against the carpet…and waited for his rebuttal.

Silence strung out between them.

Just as she expected, he seemed no more apt to back off from his position than she.

He reached over and patted her knee in a manner that was as overly familiar and seductive as it was comforting. “Come on, Amy. People are going to talk enough as it is.”

Skin tingling, Amy vaulted to her feet.

Telling herself the fact they were already bickering mightily, after only being hitched a few hours, was not as bad a sign as it might appear, she scoffed, “So now we’re worried about appearances?”

Teddy stood, too, seemingly unaware of the unprecedented zing of physical attraction flowing through her.

“Damn straight we are.” He placed both hands on her shoulders in a move that felt protective and oddly persuasive. “There are going to be enough raised eyebrows about the fact that we ran off to San Angelo to get hitched without ever going out on a single date.” He stared down at her, pausing to let that sink in. His fingers tightened slightly. “If we want to spare ourselves and our families any further discomfort, everything from here on out has to be done the traditional way.”

Was it warm in there or what? Amy tugged at the collar of her sweater and, with a slight bend of her knees, extricated herself from his light staying grip. Her skin still tingling, she headed back into the hall to check the thermostat mounted on the wall. Sixty-eight degrees. Not exactly a heat wave.

“Except our marriage isn’t traditional,” she continued to argue, wishing he weren’t so close and warm and didn’t smell so good.

“Sure it is.” He regarded her with undisguised amusement. “The only thing we won’t be doing together right away is having sex, and over time, even that could—actually probably will—change.”

Amy’s mouth dropped open in surprise at the frank male confidence in his gaze. She hadn’t expected the always-easygoing Teddy to be so frank about the difficulties of a platonic marital arrangement.

Aware her heart was pounding, she drew in a stabilizing breath. “You’re serious!”

His eyes grew even more serious. He looked interested and not in the least offended. “Yes,” he said bluntly. “I am.” He sauntered closer, his gaze drifting over her lazily, before returning with sexy deliberation to her eyes. “You and I are family now. We’ve got to start acting like one.”

If only it were that simple!

Amy marched past him, toward the living room, then recalling she had forgotten her boots, had to go back to the bedroom to rummage through the mismatched stack of footwear in her closet. “I don’t have any objections to acting like your wife in social situations.” She groaned as she found one red cowgirl boot, and then another, “But that’s as far as it’s going to go because I am not—I repeat not—sharing a bed with you!”

As she twisted back around to face him, his gaze moved from her denim-clad derriere to her face.

“Then what do you propose we do since we each have only a one-bedroom place?” he asked, leaning casually against the portal. “Purchase twin beds?”

Scowling, Amy sat down on the mattress to pull on her boots, one after the other. And she’d thought Teddy was the one male McCabe who was not completely set on having his own way. How wrong could she have been!

She pointed a finger at his chest. “That might not be a bad idea.”

He rolled his eyes in exasperation. “I’m kidding, Amy.”

“I’m not.” She stood up and moved past him, glad the heels of her Western boots had given her an additional three inches. When facing off with him, she needed every bit of height she could get.

Tersely, she reminded him, “We agreed before we said our vows—no sex!”

“Unless,” he stated, still looking perfectly at ease, not to mention very handsome, “there comes a time when we both change our minds on that point.”

Unbidden, an image of the two of them, naked, between the sheets, entered Amy’s mind.

“I told you,” she retorted with a lot more patience than she felt, pushing the disturbing image away, “that is very unlikely.”

Teddy shrugged, accepting her rejection with the deference of a Texas gentleman, born and bred. “For the immediate future, I agree,” he said softly. “We’re going to have to get used to living as man and wife in every other way. And then see how we feel.”

Amy’s pulse continued to race. She backed up another step and folded her arms in front of her, like a schoolmarm watching over a bunch of unruly kids at recess. “Which you seem to think will be differently.”

He shrugged his broad shoulders, exuding a lazy sexuality she’d never before noticed. Maybe because it had never been aimed at her—even theoretically.

“All I know is that fifty years without sex is a long time, Amy. Especially for people like us who are young and healthy and vital. And since we’ve already promised not to go outside the marriage…”

A tiny thrill went through her. “You’d be willing… to…”

“Be friends with benefits? Eventually? When the time and mood is right? Sure.”

He was so calm and matter-of-fact. So confident.

She was a bundle of nerves inside.

She swallowed hard around the knot of emotion in her throat. “Listen, Teddy. I—I don’t think I can make love with someone I’m not in love with in that special way.”

The familiar gentleness was back in his eyes. “Have you ever tried?”

Reluctantly, with a catch in her voice, she admitted, “Well. No.”

“Neither have I,” he said. “So how do we know?” He took both her hands in both of his, in that moment looking handsomer than she had ever seen him. “I know we’ve gotten used to seeing each other in a certain way.” He narrowed his gaze and studied her upturned face.

She kept silent, signaling for him to continue.

“But things change, Amy.” He paused to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “At least they could if you would open your mind and your heart to the possibilities…the way I intend to, now that we are husband and wife.”

He let go of her, stepped back, hands raised.

“I’m not saying it would happen right away, but…we need to be realistic here,” he continued. “There will come a time when the sheer proximity of our situation leads to…temptation. And as responsible adults we need to be prepared for that.”

Amy couldn’t deny that Teddy exuded sexiness. Or that from time to time she had wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Really kiss him.

She had no idea if he had ever speculated about the same.

She did know at their wedding ceremony, when the officiating justice of the peace had said he could kiss the bride, Teddy had given her a brief, friendly peck on the cheek.

She hadn’t even expected that much of a caress from him.

Yet if she were honest, she had to admit the deeply romantic side of her had secretly wished for so much more, and been disappointed when Teddy hadn’t really planted one on her, even if it was just for show….

The jubilation she had felt then faded, her longtime hope for a baby and family of her very own replaced by uncertainty. Maybe because Amy knew what Teddy didn’t—that she had never been as at ease in the bedroom as everyone else seemed to be. Even her experiences with her ex-fiancé had been severely lacking in the physical side of the equation.

Teddy, on the other hand… Well, he had a rep as something of a player among the women he dated….

Figuring as long as they were being brutally honest, they may as well cover this, too, she said awkwardly, “If we were to try…that…and we didn’t click, it could wreck everything, Teddy.”

The thought of not having him in her life, as her best friend, was unbearable. “I don’t want to risk our friendship, never mind our decision to have a family together, on something that might not pan out.”

Clearly, he did not share her doubts. “Remember the movie When Harry Met Sally?” he asked, flashing a grin her way.

She had dragged him to the theater the previous Valentine’s Day for a revival showing when neither of them had dates and hadn’t wanted to stay home alone feeling sorry for themselves.

“You’re hoping we end up like Harry and Sally,” she guessed, warming to the notion. “Going from increasingly close friends-for-life to soul mates and lovers.”

Teddy nodded and chucked her on the chin. “And you know what?” A speculative smile curved the corners of his lips. He looked at her as if he had never seen a more beautiful woman in his life. “I think deep down you are, too. Otherwise you wouldn’t have married me today.”

Chapter Three

“Too bad about last night.”

Amy gazed quizzically at her sister, Susie. “What do you mean?”

“It was your first night as husband and wife, and one of Teddy’s horses went into labor. That couldn’t have been too great.”

Amy tried not to think about the irony of the situation. She’d only agreed to go home with Teddy to his ranch for appearances’ sake—because she didn’t want to let on to anyone how uncertain she already was about this bargain they’d made with each other.

Oh, she still wanted a baby—his baby.

But as for the rest of it…

A marriage based on friendship was going to be much more complicated than she had figured.

Still, figuring boundaries needed to be set, she had packed an overnight bag with her most unsexy flannel pajamas. Only to end up disappointed that she and Teddy hadn’t even ended up having dinner together.

Never mind how strange it had felt to sleep in his bed—without him—and leave for work this morning, with only a passing goodbye to him, since he was still busy with the new foal.

It wasn’t like this was a real marriage, in the traditional sense. She and Teddy were used to living their own lives, on their own schedules, and having much of their time taken up by the demands of their mutual businesses. More than likely, this was the way it was going to be until a baby came into the picture….

Amy and Susie walked out the back door of the landscape and garden center owned by Susie and headed toward the cargo van Amy used to transport plants.

“You must have felt very let down,” Susie continued. “First, you missed out on the big wedding you always wanted, by eloping.”

Not to mention the thrill of a life-altering romance, Amy thought.

“Then, as if all that wasn’t enough,” Susie said, “your first night as husband and wife was a complete bust.”

Amy opened up the back door of the dark-green truck, emblazoned with the logo for Laurel Valley Ranch.

Deciding changing the subject was a much safer path to take, Amy pointed out, “You were without a husband last night, too.”

The foal had been breech. Susie’s husband—and Teddy’s triplet brother—Tyler McCabe, was a large-animal vet. He had been called out to the Silverado Ranch to help Teddy with the delivery.

“True,” Susie conceded ruefully, watching as Amy set up the loading ramp.

Susie rubbed a hand across her expanding waistline, lovingly protecting the baby inside of her. “But since these days all I want to do is sleep…” Susie walked onto the truck to give a cursory inspection of the red-and-white poinsettia plants and potted baby evergreens Amy was delivering, then signed the clipboard Amy gave her.

“You, on the other hand,” Susie continued with another lift of her brow, “are on what should be your honeymoon.”

Amy tensed. The sounds of heavy machinery reverberated through the chilly late-November air. She knew the source. Several blocks over, a professional tree crew was removing the live oak that had been struck by lightning and crashed through the chapel roof.

The tree was going to be a loss, Amy knew, but the community chapel would be rebuilt. And in some small way, that knowledge filled her with hope.

Amy got out the wheeled flatbed dolly and began loading plants onto it.

Aware her older sister was waiting for an explanation of some sort, Amy shrugged and turned her glance away from Susie’s probing gaze. “My marriage to Teddy isn’t like yours and Rebecca’s.”

Both her sisters were madly in love with the men they had married.

Susie’s expression tightened. She tugged on a pair of leather work gloves and lifted the lightweight poinsettia plants, one by one, being careful not to stress her pregnant body. “So I heard.”

Amy knew the serious illness Susie had suffered as a teenager had left her more appreciative of life than most, and also more sensitive to others’ feelings. Hence, it was no surprise that Susie had picked up on Amy’s anxiety and uncertainty, where her own impulsive actions were concerned.

“And you, too, are worried,” Amy guessed.

“Everyone is—in both families.” Susie watched Amy take the loaded dolly down the ramp to the back door and return with an empty one. “We all know what close friends you and Teddy have been since you were in elementary school together. And we all know how much you both want to be married and have kids.”

Here it comes, Amy thought. “But…?”

Susie loaded plants as carefully and sensibly as she did everything else. Pity shone in her eyes. “I can’t help but think you’re cheating yourselves, not waiting for the love of a lifetime.”

Amy sensed an It’s-Not-Too-Late-To-Chalk-It-All-Up-To-Holiday-Craziness-And-Get-An-Annulment spiel coming on.

So it wasn’t perfect. In fact, far from it. Still, this arrangement she had with Teddy was the key to her getting the family she had always wanted, sooner rather than later.

She and Teddy would work out the details.

Eventually…

That was, if their families would leave them alone to do so!

Amy set her jaw. “If Teddy and I could be sure we’d experience ‘true love’ with others, don’t you think we’d be content to wait? Unfortunately, it would seem the odds are against us finding The One.”

Susie straightened. “So you’re going to settle for a life with each other instead.”

Amy didn’t like the way Susie said “settle.” She made it sound as if she were stealing crumbs off another’s plate, instead of sitting down to a full meal. “It’s going to be fine,” she reiterated with as much patience and faith as she could muster.

Susie stretched and rubbed her lower back. The shift in her posture made her blossoming pregnancy more apparent. Observing, Amy was filled with a mixture of shared joy—and envy. She didn’t like the latter. It made her feel ungrateful somehow. Small and petty.

“If this is so great, then why don’t you look happier?” Susie persisted, appearing as determined as their parents the day before to make Amy and Teddy come to their senses and undo what had been done.

Amy took the filled dolly down the ramp and returned with a third empty cart. Gaze averted, she kept her guard up, knowing it would be far too easy to pour out her heart. “I’m stressed out about the holidays.” Which was true, as far as it went.

Susie’s eyes narrowed skeptically. “You love the holidays.”

Amy grimaced and loaded the remaining greenery, slated for Susie’s store. “Not so far this year,” she said honestly.

“Why? What’s going on?” Susie led the way down the ramp, then held the door for Amy.

Amy pushed all three loaded carts into the storeroom, one after another, then followed Susie to her private office. Because the garden center would not be open to the public for another forty-five minutes, they had time to finish their conversation at leisure.

Amy sat down in the chair Susie indicated while her sister poured them each a mug of decaffeinated coffee. “Sheryl was put on bed rest yesterday for the rest of her pregnancy. Her mother can’t get in from Chicago to help out until next weekend. Until then, I’ve given Ed time off to care for her and make sure she doesn’t go into early labor again.”

“Which leaves you with no help whatsoever.”

“Right.” Amy stirred creamer in her coffee. This, she could talk at length about. “All my part-time college kids are already back on campus, gearing up for exams.”

“And you’ve got some sort of big delivery coming up, don’t you,” Susie recalled, easing into the chair behind her desk.

Amy nodded and rested her mug on her thigh. Warmth transmitted through her jeans. “Two hundred six-to eight-foot Christmas trees have to be delivered to the Wichita Falls Civic Association. The money they earn from the sale is going to provide the Christmas celebration for a local children’s home. I’m supposed to deliver them by noon on December 1—which, as it happens, is next Tuesday.”

Susie unlocked her desk and pulled out the landscape-design-business checkbook. “How many trees are ready to go so far?” she asked curiously, slipping into businesswoman mode.

Amy grimaced, just thinking about what lay ahead. “Sixty-two.” It wouldn’t have been a problem had her employees been there to help her. But they weren’t, and the task ahead was daunting to say the least.

Susie paused to sip her decaf and boot up her computer. “So you’ve got one hundred and thirty-eight trees—”

“To cut and bundle and load on the ranch cargo truck by Monday evening. Plus—” Amy tried hard not to feel overwhelmed as she sipped her coffee “—twelve dozen cookies to bake for the cookie swap tomorrow evening.”

Susie’s eyes widened. “That’s going to take you forever in that tiny oven of yours.”

“Tell me about it.” But again, it was for a good cause, since the majority of the cookies were going to the nursing homes in the area, to help kick off their holiday seasons.

One eye on her computer screen, Susie rocked back in her chair. “Although, I suppose you could use Teddy’s kitchen. He’s got double convection ovens.”

Amy waved off the offer. “I’ll just do it at my place tonight.”

Susie stopped typing on the keyboard long enough to ask, “Why?”

“Because we’re set to stay at my trailer tonight.”

Susie made a face and referred to the delivery numbers on the clipboard. “Why?”

“Because we’re alternating domiciles.”

Susie emitted a short, strangled laugh. “That’s weird.”

What was it about older sisters—especially older married sisters—that made them think they knew it all?

“No,” Amy countered, wishing Susie would hurry up with the process of paying her so she could go. “It’s not.”

Susie printed out the receipt and took it off the printer. She handed it over, giving Amy a knowing look. “You’re keeping one foot out the door. Aren’t you?”

“I am not!”

Susie’s skepticism only deepened. She sighed and opened her business checkbook. “Is Teddy going to help you with the trees?”

Amy hadn’t asked. “He has his own business to run,” she said stiffly.

Susie scrawled out figures. “Which can only mean you haven’t told him of your dilemma,” she chided.

Amy quaffed the rest of her coffee, slightly scalding her throat in the process, and stood. “He doesn’t need to help me. I’ll figure it out somehow.”

Finally, Susie passed the check to Amy. “Well, look, I can’t lend you any help today or tomorrow. But we don’t have any jobs on Monday morning. So how about I send my landscaping crew over to help you with whatever’s left?”

At last. Something was going her way. “That would be great.” Amy smiled gratefully. “Thank you. I’ll reimburse you for their time.”

Susie tapped her pen against her chin. “What about delivering the trees? What are you going to do about that?”

They both knew Ed usually handled any long hauls. With Sheryl so close to giving birth, that would not be possible, either.

“I’m going to drive the truck up early Tuesday morning,” Amy said.

Susie looked shocked. “By yourself?”

“Yes.” Amy stuck the check on the clipboard, on top of the receipt. “I’ll have plenty of help on the other end to unload.”

Susie stood to walk her out, lacing a sisterly arm about Amy’s waist. “I hope you don’t get stuck up there.”

Amy tucked the clipboard beneath her arm and rocked forward on her toes. “The bad weather is not supposed to hit until Wednesday morning.”

“You know how fast that can change.” Susie watched as Amy climbed back up into the cab. “Especially that close to the Oklahoma border.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” Amy fit her keys into the ignition and fastened her seat belt. “But if it looks bad, I’ll stay in a hotel.”

Susie remained concerned. “Promise me you won’t try to beat a storm.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “Have I ever gotten caught out in one yet?”

“No, by the grace of heaven, you haven’t,” Susie admitted with a reluctant twist of her lips. “But there’s always a first time.”

Amy wagged a finger at her. “You’re supposed to be worrying about that baby you’re carrying, Suze, not me.”

Susie held up her hands in surrender. “I can’t help it. I’m your big sister. Always will be.”

And family, Amy knew, took care of family. Which was exactly why she wasn’t telling Teddy of her dilemma. She didn’t want him thinking that as her husband he needed to interfere in her Laurel Valley Ranch business.

AMY DELIVERED MORE POINSETTIA plants and decorative cuttings of fresh holly and evergreen branches to area florists and stopped at the grocery store on the way home. As usual at that time of day, the lines were long. Made worse by the fact that everyone in town had heard about her marriage.

“That’s some husband you’ve lassoed yourself.” Maisy, the store manager, winked.

The clerk ringing up Amy’s groceries agreed. “You’ve got the envy of quite a few women in this town.”

Unfortunately, Amy didn’t feel lucky. She felt foolish. Naive. And less in-the-spirit-of-Christmas than ever as she walked out of the store and drove back to her ranch.

Hoping she’d have some time to pull herself together before facing her new husband again, she turned into the lane and stopped at what she saw. Teddy was already there. Once again, taking over in a way he never had during all the years they had been “just friends.”

Temper simmering at the assumptions he had obviously made, she parked her truck next to the barn, got out with the grocery bags in hand and crossed the gravel.

He’d had a shower since she’d seen him last, and the fragrance of soap and shaving cream clung to his skin. His layered reddish-brown hair curled up slightly where it brushed the nape of his neck.

Despite the chill in the air, he wore only a tan chamois shirt, long-sleeved undershirt and jeans. His sheepskin-lined suede jacket and hat lay next to the open toolbox on the ground beside the stoop.

Teddy stopped hammering long enough to give her a welcoming smile.

Ignoring the way her heart skittered in response, Amy stopped just short of him. She made no effort to keep the incredulity out of her voice. “What are you doing?”

He kept right on hammering, easy as you please. Every thwack stretched the fabric across his brawny shoulders and delineated the bunched muscles in his chest. His jeans were doing equally amazing things for his thighs and butt, and despite her earlier promise to keep their relationship strictly platonic for now, Amy felt her mouth go dry.

“Exactly what it looks like,” he said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to be undertaking. On her ranch, no less! “I’m installing a satellite dish.”

Amy drew a deep, bolstering breath. She dropped the grocery sacks in the grass and struggled to keep her emotions under control.

“I can see that,” she said with a great deal more patience than she actually felt. “Why?”

Teddy straightened slowly. As he faced her, his superior height seemed more pronounced than ever. “Because you only get two channels out here with a rabbit-ear antenna, and there’s no cable this far out in the country.” Ignoring her irritation, he picked up the instructions and scanned them briefly.

Amy stomped closer and glared at him. “I don’t need more channels.”

He put the paper down, laconic as ever, and picked up a wire. “There’s the rub, darlin’.” He paused to give her a long, telling look. “I do.”

Darlin’! When did he call her “darlin’”? Teddy called his girlfriends that. Never her.

Aware it was all she could do not to kick him in the shin, Amy doubled back and picked up her groceries. “For what?”

Teddy mugged comically, as if the answer to that were obvious. “Football play-offs. The Super Bowl. Not to mention the Dallas Stars or the Mavericks.”

Fortunately, he had satellite at his ranch. “I don’t watch hockey, Teddy. Or basketball, either.” And she detested football!

His teeth flashed white in an infuriating smile. She was pretty sure he knew he was irritating the heck out of her and was determined to keep right on doing it. “That’s the beauty of it,” he told her in a soft, sexy voice that did funny things to her insides. He tapped her on the chest. “You don’t have to.”

Now, that was debatable, Amy thought, given the tiny space in her travel-trailer.

“I’ll hear it,” she complained.

Teddy shrugged his broad shoulders. “If it bothers you,” he said, looking no closer to backing down than she was, “I’ll get headphones for the TV.”

“Or just watch at your place,” Amy suggested with a sweetness meant to set his teeth on edge.

His attention focused more on his task than on her, Teddy attached the wire to the dish. “I’d be glad to do that,” he responded amiably, “if you’d come to your senses and agree to let us live at the Silverado one hundred percent of the time.”

So that was what this was about!

Amy exhaled loudly. “I explained why it wouldn’t be good to do that.”

“Actually—” his expression mirrored her exasperation “—you didn’t. But I’ll let that one pass for now. In the meantime,” he said, looking around with male satisfaction, his lips twitching upward into a smile, “thanks to my work here, I’ve got many more channels for us both to watch. And,” he added, “another surprise inside, too.”

With the deeply inbred courtesy of a Texas gentleman, he walked ahead to hold the door.

Amy stubbornly stayed right where she was. She wasn’t sure she wanted any more “surprises,” if they were of the ilk that he was assuming the role of head of the household and taking over her life.

“What else did you do?” she demanded.

Teddy came back down the steps and removed the grocery sacks—which were getting heavier by the minute—from her hands.

“Why are you so wary all of a sudden?” he asked, beginning to look a little irked, too.

Amy huffed. “Why are you so…bossy…suddenly?”

A frown etched deep grooves on either side of his sensual lips. “I’m not bossy.”

Hah! She begged to differ. “It looks like you’re trying to take over here.”

He shook off her displeasure and nudged her toward the stoop. “You’ll feel better when you have a hot meal.”

Amy only wished she could sit down and eat dinner and watch some TV. Not sports. But maybe something else she didn’t get, like the Home and Garden or the Cooking channel.

Unfortunately, she had cookies to bake. “That’s going to have to wait,” she warned, getting weary just thinking about it.

“Not necessarily,” Teddy replied smugly.

Before she could formulate a response, a high-pitched beeping began inside her trailer.

“What the…?” Amy said, dread springing up inside her as she recognized the sound. “That’s my smoke alarm!”

Looking equally stunned and on edge, Teddy dropped her grocery sacks. Together, they raced for the door. Teddy got there first and swung it open. Choking swirls of dark gray smoke poured out.

“What in the world…?” Amy swore, waving the smoke away so she could see. She hadn’t left anything on that she knew of.

Only Teddy seemed to have a clue how this could be happening.

“Stay there…” He pushed her back and entered the trailer ahead of her.

He charged past the sofa and table, straight to the tiny galley kitchen. Muttering a string of words that weren’t fit for polite company, he jerked open the miniscule oven door. More smoke poured out, along with a noxious smell.

Grabbing a pair of mitts, he pulled a charred black pie pan from the oven and set it on top of the stove.

Amy grabbed a chair, climbed on top of it and yanked the smoke alarm from the wall. Blessed silence followed.

Teddy leaned across the kitchen sink to open a window. Then another. While Amy could only stare at the ruins in mounting disbelief.

OKAY. THIS WAS DEFINITELY NOT going the way he had planned, Teddy thought, staring into Amy’s brown eyes. But then, so far nothing about their hasty marriage was meeting expectations.

Which didn’t mean he couldn’t set things to right. Eventually.

He watched her pick up an aluminum cookie sheet and wave smoke toward the open window with big imperious motions that only seemed to underscore what a moron she thought he was.

Glad she wasn’t crying—crying would have made things worse—he explained calmly, “I wanted to surprise you.”

Her expression remaining unreadable, Amy frowned at the foot of countertop she had on either side of her two-burner stove. “You’ve done that, all right.”

Okay, she was mad. But she had a right to be. Figuring she might as well get it all out, he prodded her deliberately, “Now what’s wrong?”

Amy looked at him as if to say, You even have to ask? Then she pointed at the carcass of the rotisserie chicken on the cutting board, the empty containers of cream and chicken broth, and the sack of frozen vegetables, before turning to the place where he’d unrolled the refrigerated pie dough.

He shrugged off the messy countertop, not sure why that should be so grating. “I clean up after I eat,” he explained mildly, knowing it was the only time-efficient way to proceed. “That way I only have to do it once.”

“Clearly,” she said, as if to a four-year-old.

Wishing she didn’t look so hot and bothered and totally hypercritical, he grabbed the kitchen wastebasket and began piling things into the plastic sack inside of it. He hadn’t expected Amy to be the kind of wife who would be on his case about mundane things. Or really, anything. Not that she didn’t have a right to be ticked off over the ruined meal. He was disappointed about that, too…and hungry, to boot.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her run both her hands through her short blond hair, rumpling the wind-tossed strands even more. Her cute-as-a-pixie features were tinged an emotional pink. He had the oddest desire to take her in his arms and hold her till the tension in her slender body dissipated. Not that he imagined she would warm to such an action, either.

Teddy exhaled his frustration. “I don’t know what happened to the chicken pot pie.” He checked the oven’s temperature dial. It was right where it should be. “I’ve made it dozens of times. I’ve never burned it. Never.” Stymied, he looked inside the oven.

Worse than the charred black remains sitting on the stovetop was the mess it had left inside the stove. The pie had obviously boiled over and burned a horrendous black mess on the bottom of her oven.

“You should have asked me first,” Amy said dully, running her hands through her hair yet again. Abruptly, her anger faded and she looked like she was going to start crying.

Feeling worse than ever for the screwup, Teddy finished dumping things into the trash and looked around for a dishrag. “I was trying to make up for last night. I know that was an inauspicious start to our marriage, at best.”

“It’s nothing compared to this.” Two tears slid down Amy’s cheeks. Her body limp with the weariness that came from a long day at work, she sagged against the opposite wall.

The need to protect her pouring through him, Teddy held up a reassuring hand. “I’ll clean this up. Though I still don’t know why our dinner burned.”

Amy rubbed the moisture from her face and seemed to pull herself together, every bit as suddenly as she had started to fall apart. She took a deep breath that lifted the soft swell of her full breasts. “My oven doesn’t calibrate properly, Teddy.” She looked him in the eye. “It heats one hundred and fifty degrees above whatever the dial indicates.”

“So three hundred fifty degrees was…?”

“Five hundred degrees.”

Teddy swore. “No wonder it burned.” He was lucky he hadn’t set the whole place on fire while blithely installing a satellite dish she didn’t seem to want any more than his company.

Spine stiff, Amy walked back outside and retrieved her groceries. Knowing a change of scene would help, Teddy suggested, “We could forget cooking and go out to dinner.”

Again, Amy shook her head, discounting both his invitation and his help. “I don’t have time. I have to bake twelve dozen cookies tonight.”

Taking charge, Teddy replied, “Then you’re going to have to do it at my place.”

AMY WOULD HAVE LIKED TO turn down Teddy’s offer. She couldn’t. She had to honor her commitment to the organizers of the cookie swap. So for the second night in a row, she packed a bag, got in her pickup truck and drove to the Silverado while Teddy stayed behind to finish the satellite dish and clean up.

Once at his place, she couldn’t help but compare his abode to hers. At just under fifteen hundred square feet, his one-story, sand-colored brick ranch house was roughly three times the square footage of her trailer.

Dark-brown shutters adorned the windows and a covered porch lent shelter to the solid oak front door. The exterior landscaping was sparse, leaving the impression that the person who lived here hadn’t gone to much trouble to add plants or trees, although the lawn was thick and well maintained.

Inside the abode was a different story.

Over the ten years Teddy had resided in the 1980s home, he had slowly but surely redone it, ripping out carpet and putting wide-plank oak flooring throughout. The main area of the house was completely open, revealing a state-of-the-art kitchen with a six-burner stove and double ovens, microwave and sub-zero refrigerator. Cushiony leather stools lined the long granite counter. A long wooden table with Windsor chairs sat next to the bay window overlooking the back patio.

Toward the front of the house, a great room with cathedral ceiling sported a huge beige stone fireplace and mantel. A comfortable sectional sofa that seated seven fronted a big wooden coffee table. An entertainment center featuring a digital stereo and large-screen plasma TV was flanked by book-filled shelves on either side.

To the rear of the house, there was a master bedroom, complete with king-size bed. He had knocked out one of the bedrooms in order to expand the master bath into a beautiful, luxurious retreat, complete with marble counters and double sinks, glass-walled shower and whirlpool soaking tub.

An office and another half bath completed the abode.

The house was decorated primarily in the same beige and brown of the outside of the ranch house. It was definitely a bachelor’s lair. In many ways as unsuited for a family as her own tiny one-person trailer, a fact that weighed heavily on her as she rummaged through his kitchen, looking for everything she needed.

Yet they had to live somewhere, until they figured out how—and where—they were going to expand their living quarters into something suitable for the both of them and any children they had.

That being the case, if she were smart, Amy thought as she slid the butter into the microwave to soften, she would simply move her things over here and be done with it. Make life simpler for both of them.

So why couldn’t she do that?

What really had her keeping one foot out the door?

“SMELLS GREAT IN HERE,” Teddy said, two hours later. He walked in, take-out pizza and a big bottle of Amy’s favorite diet cola in hand.

Pleased his earlier irritation with her had faded as surely as hers with him, she smiled. “It’s the gingerbread cookies.”

He set their dinner down and closed the distance between them, the familiar kindness in his green eyes. Relief filtered through her, as intense and all-consuming as her earlier anger.

“About earlier—” he said in a deeply apologetic voice that sent shivers over her skin.

Amy swallowed. It was ridiculous, how happy and relieved she was to see him, to realize their “marriage” wasn’t over before it had even begun.

Aware her pulse was jumping, she looked into his eyes. “I’m really sorry, Teddy. I don’t know what got into me. All I know is I overreacted.”

“Not really.” He took both her hands in his and squeezed them, in the familiar way of an old friend. “I made one heck of a mess in your kitchen. And I installed a satellite dish without your permission—which I’ll take out tomorrow if you want.”

Amy’d had enough time to think while she worked in his kitchen. If this was going to work, she realized that she had to be willing to give some ground, too. She couldn’t expect Teddy to make all the sacrifices and adjustments while she kept her life exactly the same.

“No.” She tilted her face up to his and looked into his eyes. “You’re right. If you’re going to be spending time there, too, you need to be comfortable, Teddy.”

She could live with televised sports if it meant she could have the family and children she had always wanted.

She just wasn’t quite sure how she was going to live with him.

Before they’d said their I do’s, when they had just been friends, sex—or the possibility of it—had never been an issue with them. Now it seemed to hang in the air at every turn.

Making her realize what a “catch” he was.

Handsome, athletic, kind and generous to a fault. It didn’t take much imagination to realize he would be a handful in bed.

If they ever got to bed…

Oblivious to the amorous nature of her thoughts, he let go of her hands, and went to the cupboard to get two plates. “You’ll be happy to know the oven and kitchen at your place are spic and span, the burnt smell is gone, and the smoke alarm is back in working order.”

“Thanks.” Aware how small even his spacious kitchen seemed with the two of them in it, Amy flushed self-consciously. “I should have warned you about the oven.” She filled two glasses with ice, grabbed the soda and met him at the table.

He reached out to help her with her chair. “You would’ve had you known I was planning to cook.”

They exchanged awkward smiles and sat down opposite each other. Amy couldn’t help but feel the tension reverberating between them. Taking in the way his gaze drifted, however briefly, to her breasts, before moving back to her face, it dawned on her that she was not the only one thinking about sex.

“Things have to get better,” Amy said hopefully.

He agreed with an amused lift of his brow. “Can’t get much worse than they’ve been thus far,” he drawled.

More silence fell, slightly more comfortable this time.

Amy studied his face. “What’s happening to us?” she whispered, resting her chin on her upturned palm. “We’ve been friends forever and it’s never been this…”

“Awkward?” Teddy opened the pizza box, handed her a slice.

“And awful.” She paused. Figuring the more they talked about it, got everything out in the open, the better their chances for a more harmonious existence, she said, “We’re fighting like cats and dogs.”

Teddy kicked back in his chair, his expression pensive. He tilted his head to one side. “Can’t be the wedding rings. Can it?”

“I don’t know.” She studied the plain gold band on her left hand, then returned his searching glance, happy their old camaraderie was returning. She didn’t mind facing problems, as long as they faced them together. She picked a slice of pepperoni off the top of the pizza and bit her lip. “What do you think?”

He looked down at the gold band on his left hand. “A case of post-wedding jitters?” he proposed.

Amy brightened. “Due to poor pre-ceremony planning?” she mused.

“And familial disapproval,” he added.

“No kidding!” Amy heaved a heartfelt sigh. There had been an uncommon amount of stress in the past thirty-six hours. Clearly, she and Teddy were just reacting to that. Once things settled down…

“It’ll pass,” Teddy predicted.

It was going to have to, Amy thought, picking up her pizza and taking a satisfying bite. She couldn’t live with this much tension and anxiety. Not and be happy or anywhere even close to it.

Chapter Four

“I’m glad you’re here,” Luke Carrigan told Teddy at the chapel the next afternoon, where construction of a new roof was under way. Fifty men had volunteered to help the professional roofers and structural engineers in charge of the reconstruction and repair efforts.

Luke was manning one of the power saws, cutting lumber to size. Teddy had been assigned the task of carefully measuring and marking each piece.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” Luke continued.

Teddy had figured as much. He couldn’t blame him. Were he Amy’s father, he would have wanted to chat with his new son-in-law, too.

“So how’s it going so far?” Luke asked.

“We’re still settling in,” Teddy said finally. “But we had fun last night.” It had almost seemed like old times. Before the rush to the altar…when the only thing on their minds had been having a good time. “I helped her make gingerbread cookies.” Then Amy had slept on the sofa, and he’d taken his bed. He was bleary-eyed from lying awake half the night, wondering where the desire to kiss her…really kiss her…had come from.

“So you’re living where right now?”

“We’re alternating houses at the moment.” Tonight they were going to be at the trailer. They were still trying to figure out where he was going to sleep—on a sofa that was a good two feet too short for him, or in the double bed that was also too small for his six-foot-four frame.

Luke paused to study Teddy. “Where’s Amy now?”

“She had work to do on her ranch, then this evening, she’s going to the cookie swap.”

“You won’t see her…”

“Till I get done here.”

“I saw she had signed up to work on the cleaning and painting of the interior of the church later this week.”

Teddy nodded. “We both did.”

It meant a lot to both of them, getting the community chapel restored before the Christmas holidays.

Luke lined up another piece of lumber and ran it through the saw. “I guess it’s no secret Amy’s mother and I remain concerned.”

“No, sir, it isn’t.” Teddy was pretty sure his parents still felt the same way. They just hadn’t had a chance to corner him yet.

Luke carried the wood over to the growing pile of cut lumber, then paused to get a drink from the water bottle he’d brought with him. “Had you two told us of your plans, Meg and I would have moved heaven and earth to stop you from making such a big mistake. Especially,” he continued gravely, giving Teddy no chance to interrupt, “since you are the reason Amy hasn’t found anyone to spend the rest of her life with, and vice versa.”

This was news. “How do you figure that?” Teddy asked. He’d never tried to keep Amy from dating anyone. Heck, he’d encouraged her to go out with other guys, just as she had urged him to date all likely prospects that came his way. It wasn’t his fault—or hers—that none of the people either of them had dated had come close to measuring up.

Luke clapped a fatherly hand on Teddy’s shoulder. “You two have gotten so close over the years, spent so much time together. No one new coming into either of your lives can compete with that kind of intimacy. Not,” he added quickly, “that it’s all your fault. Amy’s experience with Ken left her wary of giving her heart to anyone again. That’s why I’d held back on trying to set her up with any potential suitors just yet.”

Teddy eyed him curiously. “You don’t think she considered marriage to me a risk?”

“I think she figured she would be safe as long as her heart wasn’t involved with you, the way it was with Ken.”

Teddy pushed away his unease. “Why did they end the engagement?” he asked.

Luke looked stunned. “She didn’t tell you?”

“Amy and I made a pact early on never to give each other the details on the people we were dating.” For reasons Teddy had never been able to put a finger on—it just hadn’t felt right, talking to Amy about the women in his life…or hearing about the men in hers. So they’d steadfastly avoided the topic.

Teddy shrugged, admitting, “All Amy ever said was that ‘Ken wasn’t the man she thought he was.’ I know the breakup left her feeling embarrassed and humiliated, but not a lot more.” Amy had never wanted to talk about it further. And he hadn’t wanted to push her.

Belatedly, Teddy realized he probably should have been more insistent. Particularly if Ken was the reason Amy was still so closed off, as her father seemed to be indicating.

Luke gave Teddy a frank, man-to-man look. “You’ll have to ask her if you want to know more than that. It’s not my story to tell. In the meantime, I expect you and my daughter are both stubborn enough to want to see this marriage through, but when it ends—and it will end, Teddy, because no union can survive without a foundation of deep, abiding romantic love—then I expect you to do the honorable thing and let my daughter go. And make it a clean break. So you and she will both have a chance with someone else.”

Teddy wanted to disregard everything Amy’s father had said. He couldn’t. As close as he and Amy were, there was still a lot he wanted—needed—to learn about the woman he had married.

Unfortunately, by the time work on the chapel roof wrapped up and he got back to Laurel Valley Ranch, it was ten o’clock. Amy was already fast asleep on the living room sofa. Curled up on her side, one hand pressed to her cheek, the other tucked beneath the pillow, her golden curls tousled…she looked young and innocent and incredibly sexy.

Aware the trailer had taken on a chill, the way it did every night when the sun went down, he got a second blanket off the back of the sofa and spread it over her. She shifted slightly, sighed softly and drifted right back into sleep.

Surprised by the tenderness he felt, Teddy picked up his overnight bag and walked soundlessly to the rear of the trailer.

By the time he had stepped into the shower, he had an ache that wouldn’t quit. An ache that had little to do with friendship and everything to do with the fact Amy was now his wife.

A piece of paper…a couple of words said in a judge’s office…shouldn’t make a difference.

But it did.

And Teddy didn’t know what in blazes he was going to do about that.

FOR TEDDY, MORNING came all too soon.

Stiff and sore from a night bent like a pretzel, he pushed back the covers and struggled to get out of bed. As he made his way to the miniscule bathroom, he realized the trailer was awfully quiet.

He followed the aroma of freshly brewed coffee into the kitchen and his spirits sank. The blankets on the sofa were folded neatly. The coffee carafe sat on the kitchen counter, beside a note scrawled in Amy’s hand.

Teddy,

I really need to sleep here tonight. So if you wouldn’t mind… We’ll double up at your place after that, to make up for it.

Amy.

Teddy scowled. He’d had more time with his wife when they weren’t married.

AMY FELT A LITTLE GUILTY FOR repeatedly ducking out on Teddy over the weekend. Not that she could have helped with the roofing of the chapel—that was clearly a guys-only job, with only guys volunteering. And she had needed to work. But she could have stayed around this morning, to have a cup of coffee with him, or at least say good morning before she took off for town, to get some more bundling mesh for the trees she was cutting.

She hadn’t, because the thought of furthering the intimacy between them left her feeling all jittery inside. They’d had no trouble keeping to established boundaries when they were friends. Now the same rules seemed oddly confining. The thought of setting new ones was even more daunting.

Fortunately, the note Teddy had left for her on the kitchen counter indicated he had client appointments at his ranch and wouldn’t be home until eight or nine that evening. He advised her not to wait dinner on him; he’d grab a sandwich at his place.

Realizing she should be relieved not to have to worry about doing anything wifely when she was exhausted from a day spent cutting and bundling trees, Amy made a sandwich for herself. She had just washed her dishes and retreated to her bedroom when Teddy strode into the trailer, looking freshly showered and shaved. And loaded for bear. “What’s this I hear about you driving a load of trees to Wichita Falls by yourself tomorrow?” he demanded.

So much for the boundaries they’d previously had in place.

Deciding it was high time she got cleaned up, too, Amy grabbed her pajamas and a pair of panties from the top dresser drawer. “Who told you?”

Teddy leaned a shoulder against the door frame, watching as she maneuvered the foot of space between the bed and the only other piece of furniture in the room. “Tyler—who heard it from Susie.”

“Figures,” Amy grumbled. Being the baby of the family made everyone think they had to manage her life for her. She had figured that would change as she got older. To her chagrin, it hadn’t.

“You know there’s a fierce winter storm from Colorado headed our way.”

What was it about him that made her trailer feel so small and close, instead of cozy and warm, whenever he was here with her? It was more than just the sheer size of him. It was the way he looked at her since they’d said their vows. Like he wanted to possess her…

Aware she was letting her thoughts slide into forbidden territory again, Amy went back to her dresser and added a bra to the bundle of nightclothes in her hand.

“The ice and snow is not supposed to hit Laramie.” She had to kneel on the bed, which pressed up against the opposite wall, to open the sliding closet doors.

Teddy edged closer. The masculine fragrance of his soap and cologne inundated her. “But all reports predict it will hit Wichita Falls.”

Amy plucked a robe from a hanger, and a clean towel and washcloth from the shelf. “Not until tomorrow evening, at which point I will already be safely back in Laramie.”

Teddy stepped aside to let her pass. “What time are you leaving?”

Amy set her clothing on the top of the clothes hamper. “Dawn.” She had promised the trees would be there by noon at the latest. This would give her plenty of time.

Teddy watched as she rubbed cleansing lotion onto her face. “Who’s going to unload the truck?”

Amy dampened a washcloth and washed off the remains of the day. “The members of the civic club. They’re supposed to have a dozen people there, so it shouldn’t take long. I can collect my paycheck and be on my way.” Finished, she layered toothpaste onto a brush.

Teddy frowned as she brushed and rinsed. “I still don’t like it.”

Amy bent to take off her wool socks. His presence kept her from disrobing any further. “It’s not really up to you to like or dislike it.” Hand to the center of his chest, she pushed him gently back into the narrow hall, between the bedroom and kitchen. Her palm tingled from the solid warmth of him. She dropped her hand and stepped back, so she was just inside the bath. Before he could continue, she added, “And if you say you’re my husband now, I really am going to lose it.”

Teddy grinned unrepentantly. “Is that so?”

Aware her pulse was racing, Amy nodded. “I managed just fine without you all these years. You don’t need to step in and run my life now.”

His expression gentled. “I’ll feel better if I’m with you.”

Unsolicited orders were easy to ignore. Tenderness was much harder to fight. Amy drew a stabilizing breath. “You have your own business to run.”

“Nothing that can’t be managed by my part-time help.” This time, he held up a hand to cut her off. “I’m going with you tomorrow, Amy. End of story. Now, where are we going to sleep tonight?”

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, Teddy lay in Amy’s double bed, listening to the shower running. Funny, he had never had much trouble ignoring Amy’s soft curves and silky skin when they had just been friends. Now, as he lay in sheets and blankets scented with the unique fragrance of her, it was much harder to stay immune to her delectable presence.

Had he insisted they sleep at his place, he could have stretched out on the sectional sofa and given her his king-size bed.

Knowing how important it was to her to maintain her independence, he had respected her request and come here to sleep. Again. Since there was no way he could get his body onto her sofa, he had ended up scrunched up on the double bed, which was still too small by half. Hoping yet another uncomfortable night would show her the wisdom of sleeping at his place from here on out, he closed his eyes.

The water in the bathroom shut off.

He heard Amy moving around, knew she was toweling off.

It took forever for her to dress.

Blow-dry her hair.

Emerge from the bathroom, smelling like the perfumed soap and shampoo she used, and tiptoe toward the other end of the small trailer.

Aware his body was reacting in a way it shouldn’t, he turned onto his side. Given the way he was aching, it was going to be a long night.

Eventually, Teddy went to sleep.

When the alarm went off, he dressed and went out to transfer the necessities from his pickup to her cargo truck.

Amy climbed behind the wheel, a thermos of coffee, a bag of granola bars and apples, and two thermal mugs in her arms. She cast a skeptical look at the boxes he’d stowed behind the seat. “What’s all this?”

“Survival gear.”

Her pretty eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”

Teddy shrugged and climbed into the cab beside her. “Never hurts to be prepared. There’s a lot of desolate road between here and Wichita Falls.”

Scoffing, Amy fit the key into the ignition. “We’re not going to need that stuff.”

“Of course we’re not,” he teased. “We’d only need it if we didn’t have it.”

She considered that. “True.”

Trying not to appear as antsy as he felt, he settled into the passenger seat. “You want to split the driving?” He wasn’t used to taking the passive role. Particularly when he was with her.

“No.” Amy’s chin took on a familiar, stubborn tilt. “I can do it.”

Teddy forced himself not to exhale in exasperation. “If you change your mind…”

“I’ll let you know.”

The morning passed quickly. Although the weather reports remained dire, the pavement was dry when they reached Wichita Falls. However, the clouds were a deep, troubling gray-white.

Luckily, the trees were unloaded quickly and Amy was paid.

By three that afternoon, they were on their way back.

Shortly after, the rain began.

“Maybe we should just err on the side of caution and get a room somewhere,” Teddy said, studying the sky.

“And get stuck here for who knows how many days if this turns to ice? I don’t think so. We’re moving away from the storm. I think we should continue. Besides, it’s just rain.”

“Now.” Teddy pointed to the digital numbers on her dashboard that indicated it was currently thirty-three degrees outside. “If the temperature dips a point or two, we could be dealing with freezing rain or sleet.”

“By the time that happens, we’ll be well out of harm’s way,” Amy predicted.

Not necessarily, since the storm was moving in a southerly direction, from the west, and they were headed southwest.

“At least let me drive,” Teddy said, aware they were still a good five hours from home.

Amy gripped the wheel with both hands, her attention firmly on the road. “Your job is to ride shotgun. That’s it.”

Was this what it was going to be like to be married to her? Amy seemed to be holding on to her autonomy with all her might. And while Teddy understood that—he, too, had an independent streak a mile wide—he also knew that marriage required compromise. Thus far, Amy hadn’t demonstrated much of an inclination to meet him halfway on anything, never mind allow him to protect and care for her in the traditional way husbands cared for their wives.

He found that frustrating as hell.

“Don’t worry,” Amy promised, completely misreading the reason behind his concern. “We’ll stop and get some dinner when we get far enough away from all this.”

TWO HOURS LATER, AMY GLARED at Teddy from across the table. He’d barely spoken to her since they entered the restaurant. Worse, he was so edgy he was making her tense. “Would you stop fidgeting and looking at your watch?” she asked irritably.

“Can’t help it.” The look he gave her mirrored her mood to a T. “I’d rather be driving. Actually—” he held up a hand and corrected before she could comment “—I’d rather be checked into a hotel room.”

That was the last thing they needed. Especially when the idea of the two of them sequestered in a hotel room together, waiting for the winter storm to pass, immediately conjured up forbidden images of hot, passionate sex….

Forcing herself to stop her wayward thoughts—hadn’t notions like that gotten her into trouble in the past?—Amy turned her gaze toward the Christmas tree in the lobby of the truck stop.

Although carols were playing on the sound system, and peppermint ice cream pie was on the menu, it still didn’t feel like Christmas to her. Amy forked up some turkey and dressing, glad for their first hot meal of the day. “Hold on to your britches,” she grumbled. “I’m eating as fast as I can.”

He brightened. “You could take it with us and eat it in the truck if you’d let me drive.”

It would be so easy to lean on him. It would also be a bad precedent to set, unless she wanted him telling her what to do, every day for the rest of her life. Amy went back to glaring at him. “Just because I don’t inhale my food at the speed of light the way you do…”

He arched a brow, obviously fed up with all the waiting around, even though they’d only been in the restaurant for twenty minutes or so.

“I’m going to get some coffee for our thermos.” He left the table.

Amy looked out the window. It was raining pretty hard. Now that the sun had gone down, the temperature was dropping, too. She hurried up, despite her early admonition not to be worried by all the alarmist predictions on the airwaves. By the time she emerged from the ladies’ room, the check had been paid. Full thermos in hand, Teddy was ready to go.

As they walked back out to the truck, icy rain pelted their faces.

It hadn’t been coming down anywhere near this hard when they had stopped for dinner half an hour ago. In fact, it had barely been raining at all.

Her foot slid on the slick pavement as she approached the driver’s side. He caught her.

She had only to look into his eyes to know what he was thinking.

They could spend the night here.

They wouldn’t have a bed, or any privacy, but they’d have heat, food, bathrooms. And he’d be looking at her with that I-told-you-this-was-a-bad-idea gaze all night long.

“I want to keep going.”

His expression remained impassive. “You’re the boss. It’s your call.”

Amy didn’t like the sound of that. There weren’t supposed to be any bosses in their marriage between friends. She stuck her hands in the pockets of her down jacket. “No need to be sarcastic.”

He kept the steadying hand on her elbow and gave her a chivalrous boost up into the cab. “Be grateful I’m still this circumspect.”

Amy scowled and started the truck. To her relief, the dashboard indicated the outside temperature was still thirty-three degrees.

She went over to gas up, and then turned the truck back onto the two-lane highway. “It’s thirty-four miles to the next town,” she said. “If it looks any worse by the time we get there, we’ll stop there for the night.”

Teddy nodded.

To Amy’s relief, the next fifteen miles were fine, although she drove very slowly and carefully, just to be on the safe side.

It was only when they got into an area that was as desolate as the desert, that the temperature began to dip even more. And that was when the road got really slick.

One minute they were cruising along, easy as you please, the next they were skating across a sheet of black ice. Fishtailing, then spinning all the way around, before bumping across a cactus-riddled field and coming to an abrupt halt.

IT TOOK A GOOD FIFTEEN seconds after they stopped for Amy to catch her breath. Recovering, she gripped the wheel hard with both hands and stepped on the gas. The truck went exactly nowhere.

She tried again and was rewarded with a spinning sound and a sinking truck.

“Try rocking it back and forth,” Teddy suggested.

She did…to no avail.

She eased off the gas, frustration knotting her gut, and shifted the truck into Park. Swearing softly beneath her breath, Amy unfastened her seat belt and jumped down from the cab. Teddy followed her onto the ground. It took only a moment to see what the problem was. The truck’s front wheels were stuck in the mud.

Amy sighed, as the freezing precipitation continued to rain down on them. “We’re not going to be able to get out of this, are we?”

“Not until it stops. Which should be by daylight.”

“Lovely.”

She climbed back in the truck and turned off the ignition.

Silence surrounded them, broken only by the pelting sounds of the ice hitting the windshield and top of the cab.

Teddy reached around behind them. He brought out a couple of wool blankets and draped them over their laps.

He lit a candle, stuck it inside a hurricane globe and set it on the dash. “This candle will keep it fifty degrees in here, all on its own.”

The heat of his body would keep it warmer than that.

Amy ran a hand over her eyes and slumped down in her seat. “You can say I told you so any time now,” she grumbled, feeling incredibly foolish.

Teddy draped his arm along the back of the bench seat and turned toward her. Using the pressure of his hand on her shoulder, he urged her out from behind the wheel, not stopping until they were sitting side by side in the center of the wide bench seat. “When in our many years of friendship have I ever said I told you so to you?” he asked her in a deep, kind voice.

“There’s a first time for everything,” Amy replied miserably.

He shifted, getting more comfortable, too. His leg nudged hers beneath the blankets. “Are we talking about me now or your ex-fiancé?”

Amy shut her eyes and tipped her head back until it rested against the seat. “You know I don’t talk about that.”

He pulled her deeper into the curve of his arm. “Maybe it’s time you do.”

Needing to see the expression on his face, Amy opened her eyes and looked at him. “You first, then.’ Cause you never said why you and Vanna broke it off, either.”

For a long moment, Amy thought Teddy was going to put up the usual smoke screen into his most private thoughts about all members of the opposite sex. Then something in his gaze shifted, became more intimate still. With the change in his mood, a new peace stole over the cab of the truck. His sensual lips curving ruefully, he murmured, “Vanna said the thrill was gone. Our life together was too ordinary. I was too ordinary. Too nice.”

How could someone be too nice? Amy wondered, incensed.

“There weren’t enough fireworks. Vanna needed drama and I couldn’t…or to hear her talk—wouldn’t—give it to her. So she handed me back my engagement ring and left.” Teddy reached over and absently squeezed Amy’s hand.

“At the time I was pretty hurt,” he continued reflectively. “Now I realize she did us both a favor. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself, Amy, is that I like ordinary. I probably even like dull as long as life is one smooth ride.”

Amy blinked. “Wow.”

He grinned, looking relieved to finally have that off his chest, gave her hand another squeeze and let it go.

He gave her another nudge. “Your turn.”

Hoping the candlelight hid her blush, Amy drew an enervating breath. “It’s embarrassing.”

Teddy scoffed, not about to let her off the hook. “And mine wasn’t?”

He had a point.

Reluctantly, Amy plunged into her own confession. “I found out I wasn’t Ken’s only fiancée. He had another one in his hometown of Boise, Idaho. And a third one in California, where he went to grad school.”

His eyes widened. “All at once?”

Amy scowled, wishing she still didn’t feel like such a fool for letting her romantic notions about the magic of falling in love with Ken overshadow what had really been happening. “That’s the beauty of life as a winery sales rep. Apparently, you can have as many lives as you want while you travel the world.”

Sympathy radiated in Teddy’s eyes. He took a packet of mints from his pocket, handed her one, took another for himself. “How’d you find out?”

Another ugly tidbit. “I surprised him on a business trip to Vermont. He was staying at this very posh bed-and-breakfast, where he’d told me he also had business, but he wasn’t in when I arrived. When I tried to check in as his fiancée, I was told that was impossible—his fiancée was already there. I thought it was a joke until I looked into the clerk’s eyes.”

“So you waited for him.”

“No.” Amy savored the flavor of spearmint melting on her tongue. “I told the woman at the front desk that it was all a terrible mistake, a last-ditch effort on my part to save a relationship that obviously could not be saved, and begged her not to mention it to Ken or his ‘fiancée.’ She seemed relieved—the last thing she wanted was some ugly domestic scene upsetting the other guests—and I left.”

“Did she tell Ken after you left?”

“Apparently not, because he showed up in Laramie two weekends later, as if nothing had ever happened. I acted like nothing was wrong, too, and sent him off on a fool’s errand. While he was gone, I checked out the travel logs on his laptop and read his e-mail.” The guilt Amy had felt about invading Ken’s privacy had been knocked out by her need to know the truth about the man she’d been planning to spend the rest of her life with. She sighed. “By the time Ken came back from town, I knew everything.”

“What did he say?” Teddy demanded gruffly.

“A bunch of bull. You know… It was really me he loved. He was going to break up with the other two fiancées. He just hadn’t figured out a way yet, because he didn’t want to hurt their feelings.”

The gleam in Teddy’s eyes told Amy he knew damn well how that had gone over. “What did you say?”

“Get out. Don’t call—and don’t ever come back. And then I picked up the phone and clued the other two women in. Turns out Ken wasn’t the guy any of us thought he was. And the worst part of it is, he’s probably out there with two or three fiancées right now, doing it all over again.”

Teddy studied Amy. Finally he said, “I’m not like Ken.”

“I know you’re not,” Amy huffed. “That’s why I married you.”

Something inscrutable flickered in Teddy’s expression.

“Because I’m the opposite of Ken?”

“Yes.”

“Not cover-of-GQ handsome and exciting?”

Amy wrinkled her nose in exasperation, irked by his baiting tone. “You’re plenty handsome.”

“But not exciting.”

Amy opened her mouth to reply, but then didn’t know what to say about that.

A determined glint in his eyes, Teddy shifted all the way toward her with a bad-boy smile that was enough to make her stomach drop. “Time we changed that, don’t you think?”

The next thing Amy knew she was all the way in his arms. His mouth was lowering to hers. She barely had time to brace herself and then his lips were locked on hers in a hot, passionate kiss that took her breath away. He caught her head in his hands, and she melted against him, completely overwhelmed by the minty, masculine taste of his mouth, the unhurried pressure of his lips and the gentle stroking of his tongue. And then there was nothing but the feel of his mouth on hers. Seducing. Evoking. Commanding. Her lips parted and she sighed in contentment as he deepened the kiss even more, first sweetly and then erotically. She felt the sandpapery rub of his evening beard against her skin, inhaled the scent of man that was uniquely him, and sank deeper into the comforting warmth of his arms.

Teddy hadn’t meant to kiss her this evening.

Oh, he’d known it was coming.

Living with her, being married to her, wanting a life and a child with her, had opened the door to all sorts of forbidden notions. At least in his mind. And he hadn’t been the only one rethinking their decision to try to remain platonic friends while settling into their new life together. He’d known, from the way she had been looking at him when she thought he didn’t see—and the way she had been avoiding being alone with him—that she was feeling the new tension between them, too.

But that knowledge was nothing compared to the experience of having her in his arms, feeling her cling to him and return his kisses with such sweet, torturous need. Amy might not be ready to acknowledge it yet, but she needed the comfort and satisfaction a real marriage could bring. She needed him. And he wanted to be there for her, he realized, as he felt her surrender to his will and surge against him. He wanted to honor and cherish her, in a way she had never been honored before. He wanted to give her all the tenderness and love she had obviously been missing. And he wanted to extract the same kind of devotion from her.

But that was going to take time, Teddy realized as her breasts flattened against his chest.

And some old-fashioned pursuing…

The kind he would have taken up had they ever actually dated.

Knowing he had to slow down or face the consequences, Teddy reluctantly broke off the kiss.

Amy looked at him with soft, misty eyes. He noted she made no move to pull away. “What was that for?” she whispered, seeming every bit as stunned as he was by the free-flowing passion between them.

Teddy tightened his arms around her. “I’m not sure.” He loved the way she felt, snuggled against him. Savoring the way her heart pounded in cadence to his, wanting to make sure this passion they were feeling was real, he cupped her face between his hands. “We better try it again.”

Her breath caught in her throat as his lips touched hers. “Teddy…”

He caught her lower lip gently between his teeth. “One more time, Amy.” Gathering her close once again, he gave in to the feelings stirring inside him. He kissed her long and slow, soft and deep, until she was as caught up in the all-consuming passion as he. Not about to take her for the first time in the cab of a truck, he drew back once again.

She splayed her hands across his chest, looking as if she wanted to continue making out every bit as much as he did, even while she held him deliberately at bay.

Her breath hitched in her chest. “Seriously, now…”

He grinned and stroked both his hands through the mussed strands of her hair. “Seriously,” he echoed, mimicking her low tone, not about to let her confusion derail them. “There’s no pretending you and I don’t have physical chemistry, because it’s clear we’ve got it in spades.” And that changed everything.

Amy slumped back against the seat and covered her face with her hands. “Which maybe makes things worse than before,” she lamented out loud.

Would he never understand women and what drove them? He’d felt her trembling. Knew she had been kissing him back. “I don’t get it.”

Her delicate brows knit together. In a low, troubled voice, she informed him, “That kind of chemistry usually goes hand in hand with romantic feelings, which—we have both agreed—we don’t have for each other.”

Didn’t have, Teddy corrected mentally. He wasn’t so certain what the situation was now. But not about to push Amy any more than he already had this evening, or go back on the word he had given her—which was that he would be satisfied with a friends-only arrangement and would never push her for anything more—he shrugged. “So maybe the only thing missing from our marriage will be romantic love,” he said casually.

He’d meant to reassure Amy.

She looked more dismayed than ever. “Oh, Teddy. What happens if—instead of being okay with that—we just end up feeling worse? What then?”

Chapter Five

“Heard you had a bit of trouble yesterday,” Teddy’s grandfather, John McCabe, said Wednesday, when Teddy arrived to help him and his grandmother put up the outdoor decorations. Married for sixty years, the seasoned couple set the gold standard for marital happiness in the area.

“That must have been very frightening, getting stuck in that terrible weather.” Lilah gently extracted the wreath from the packaging that kept it safe year-round.

“It wasn’t too bad.” Teddy sat on their wide front porch, untangling the string of lights that would be placed along the front-porch roof. It had been surprisingly enjoyable, sleeping in the truck, with wool blankets drawn over them and Amy cuddled up next to him for warmth. The sound of the sleet and the rain thrumming on the truck had lulled them to sleep. “The temperature rose during the night, so by dawn, it was no longer icy, just muddy. A couple of truckers came by and helped us pull Amy’s truck out of the mud, and we were on our way.”

“How is married life?” Lilah asked.

A glib remark was on the tip of his tongue. “Actually, I was hoping to talk to you about that,” Teddy said after a moment.

“Be glad to help in any way we can,” John said kindly, untangling the last of the lights.

“You two had an arranged marriage, didn’t you?” Teddy knelt to plug in all the cords and make sure every strand worked. To his relief, they did.

John watched as Teddy set up the ladder at the far end of the porch roof. “It was a different time.”

“We fell in love during our engagement.” Lilah hung the wreath on the front door. “If we hadn’t, I’m not sure I would have been able to walk down the aisle.”

Teddy turned to his grandfather. “How did you feel?”

John held the lights while Teddy fastened them on the hooks. “I wanted to marry Lilah. But when we met, I wasn’t nearly as romantic an individual as she was. I thought marrying a pretty woman who was kind and gentle and understanding, who wanted a family every bit as much as I did, would be enough. But then I fell in love with Lilah and I understood what she had been hoping for all along.” John stepped back as Teddy climbed back down the ladder and moved it several feet to the left.

“Do you think you and Amy have made a mistake?” Lilah asked.

“No,” Teddy replied, sure about this much. “I think it’ll work. Amy’s the one who already seems to be having second thoughts.”

Lilah and John exchanged a worried look that spoke volumes.

“I want us to be a family,” Teddy continued. “And I need it to happen soon.” Before Amy changes her mind and wants an annulment. “I was hoping you might have an idea how I could make that happen.”

“The first step is to act like a husband and wife.” Lilah arranged a small potted pine on either side of the front door. “Become a team.”

“And you can do that,” John added, “by working toward a common goal.”

AMY SPENT THE REST OF Wednesday working in the greenhouse, trying to forget about the way she and Teddy had kissed each other. She was still there at eight that evening, when her husband strode in.

“If I didn’t know better I’d think you were avoiding me,” he drawled.

As it happened, that was exactly what she was doing. Not about to admit that to him, however, she retorted, “I’m catching up on everything that would have been done this week if Sheryl hadn’t been put on bed rest.”

“How’s she doing?”

“Better. Her mom flew in today—earlier than Sheryl expected.”

“So Ed’ll be back soon, won’t he?”

“Yes.”

“So this could probably be done then.”

Amy shrugged. “I need to get the seeds in the planting mix if I want to have starter plants to sell to the nurseries, come February.”

Teddy nodded his understanding and ambled closer.

Trying not to think how handsome he looked in the suede jacket, the rim of his hat drawn low across his brow, she asked, “Did you have something you wanted to talk to me about?” Or were you just hoping to snag a few more kisses and see where they led?

Teddy settled on the edge of one of the heavy wooden planting tables. He stretched his long legs out in front of him and braced a hand on either side of him. “It occurred to me today when I was over helping my grandparents put the lights up on the outside of their house that you and I haven’t done anything to decorate our two places for the holiday.” Mischief glimmered in his eyes. “With less than three weeks to go until Christmas, that’s shameful.”

Yes, Amy thought, it was. Generally, she had a ton more Christmas spirit than she had this year.

Refusing to let him steer her into anything, however, she replied, “I usually just plug in this little pre-lit tabletop tree and stick a wreath on the door.”

His lips curved in understanding. “Well, you’re ahead of me because I’ve never even done that much.” He reached over to trace his fingertips from her elbow to the top of the glove on her hand. “I want it to be different this year.” He waited until she looked him square in the eye. “I want a tree and wreaths on the door in both places.”

As much as she was loath to admit it, his was not an unreasonable request. “Okay. We’ll work that in.”

“And I want something else from you,” Teddy continued, even more firmly. “I want you to go to the Laramie Community Hospital fertility specialist with me tomorrow afternoon.”

Again, the joy she should have felt was nowhere to be found. Amy tensed, cautioning, “We’re going to need an appointment.”

His cheeky grin widened. “We’ve got one.”

Amy narrowed her glance in surprise. “How’d you manage that?” she demanded.

“My grandparents helped start the hospital. I asked them to pull some strings for us, and they did.”

Finished, Amy took off her gloves and set them on the table, next to the spade. “You work fast.”

“Not fast enough.” Teddy stood and took her hands in his. He looked down at her so seriously that her heart fluttered. “Look, Amy, we’ve gotten off track. Let ourselves get distracted trying to set up the rules between us instead of focusing on the Christmas gift we want to give to each other.”

She drew in a quavering breath. “A baby.” His baby…

“Yes.” Teddy squeezed her hands companionably. He looked down at her, like the very good friend he had always been, and heaven willing, always would. “I figure the sooner we make that wish a reality, the sooner our life together will become as happy as we both know—deep down—that it can be.”

AS AMY EXPECTED, IT WASN’T easy explaining their plan to the newest obstetrician on the Laramie Community Hospital staff.

“Let’s make sure I understand,” the young and personable Donna Hudson said. She sat back in her chair and ran a hand through her short dark hair. “The two of you just got married last week. You want to have a baby. And you haven’t yet had intercourse.”

“Nor do we plan to—which is why we want to have our baby via artificial insemination,” Amy interjected, trying not to blush. Discussing such intimate subject matter in front of a member of the medical profession would have been difficult enough without Teddy sitting completely poker-faced beside her.

Dr. Hudson looked at Teddy, as if wondering if he, too, was okay with the plan.

To Amy’s relief, Teddy came through for her like a champ, explaining casually, “Our marriage is based on the kind of deep, abiding love that comes out of a lifelong friendship—not romance. We both want to have a family very much.”

“For a lot of reasons this seems like the right course,” Amy concluded.

Apparently Dr. Hudson was satisfied they both knew what they were doing, because her manner shifted from serious to cheerful. “Well, it can certainly be done. We’ll start by giving Amy a physical. Teddy, I suggest you get one from your family doc.”

“Just had one two weeks ago with Amy’s brother, Jeremy—he’s a family doc on staff here. I’m in perfect health.”

“Good. Then we’ll just take care of Amy. Once the exam is complete, the nurse will set her up with an ovulation-predictor kit.”

Teddy went to the waiting room, Amy to an exam room. After her physical was complete, the office lab tech came back in. She handed Dr. Hudson a slip of paper.

“Why don’t you ask Teddy McCabe to come back in?” Dr. Hudson said, after perusing the note.

Unease sifted through Amy. “Is anything wrong?” she asked from her perch on the exam table.

Dr. Hudson smiled reassuringly. “Quite the contrary.”

Teddy walked in, a mixture of concern and curiosity on his face. His glance slid over the pink cotton gown she was wearing and the matching sheet over her lap.

“We just tested the urine sample Amy gave us. Her luteinizing hormone has surged, which means she’s ovulating. You two have a thirty-six-hour window in which to get pregnant. So if you want to go ahead and try today, I can inseminate Amy.”

Joy bubbled up inside Amy.

Teddy looked equally thrilled and excited.

“Sure!” they said in unison.

“Amy, why don’t you hang out here, just read a magazine, and Teddy—you can go with the nurse.” Dr. Hudson grinned at Amy. “See you in a few minutes.”

Amy took a magazine from the shelf mounted on the wall and sat down to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

A half an hour went by.

Then another.

The more Amy sat there, the more nervous she became.

She wanted a baby with Teddy so much, but the circumstances were colder, more sterile, than she had expected.

Finally, the nurse came back in. “I’m sorry, Mrs. McCabe. It’s not going to happen today.”

“Wh-why?”

“You should ask your husband. Let him explain.”

The nurse gave Amy another sympathetic look, then slipped out of the exam room.

Amy’s knees trembled. She slipped off the table and began to get dressed.

Teddy was waiting for her in the reception area. His eyes gave nothing away.

She paid the bill for the visit, then walked out with him.

Their footsteps echoed on the polished linoleum flooring of the hospital annex, where the doctor’s offices were located. Teddy was flushed and tight-lipped. “What happened?” Amy asked as they reached the elevator.

Teddy took her elbow and followed her into the elevator. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, I do!” Amy said as the doors slid shut, wrenching free of him. “What in the world happened in there?” Why had everything that had suddenly been going right suddenly gone wrong?

Teddy leaned back against the opposite wall. “I changed my mind!” He pushed the words between clenched teeth.

Amy blinked. “About having a baby?”

Teddy gave her a droll look. “About doing it the new-fashioned way.”

It took a moment for the meaning behind his words to sink in. When they did, Amy felt heat well in her chest, before moving to her neck and face. “We agreed!” she whispered, stunned and dismayed. The fact they could have a baby together without actually ever having sex with each other was the entire reason they had risked their friendship and gotten married!

His handsome jaw took on the consistency of granite. “Well, now I’m un-agreeing!”

Amy stared at him in consternation, barely able to believe they had been so close to getting what they both wanted, what would make all their mutual dreams come true, only to have him chicken out! “Teddy—for this to work…for us to have a baby—you have to do your part!” she cried, just as the elevator doors slid open. The involuntary chuckles and gaping expressions on the faces of the people waiting on the other side let Amy know the onlookers had indeed caught every word of her last sentence.

Teddy turned and glared at Amy. Reclaiming his grip on her elbow, he rushed her past the sea of shocked faces and raised eyebrows. “Nice, Amy.”

She cringed and bit down on an oath. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

He increased his strides, forcing her to struggle to keep up. “Too late. That horse already left the corral.”

Amy dug in her heels. “I still don’t get why…”

He pushed out the front doors of the lobby, still hurrying her along. The moment they were out of earshot of others, he wheeled on her. “You think what they asked me to do was easy?” He lowered his face till they were eye to eye. “Well, let’s go back up to Dr. Hudson’s office and have you go in the room and work yourself up to a fever pitch, knowing the nurse and the doctor and the office lab tech and Lord only knows who else, are all out there, waiting for you to—”

Amy lifted both hands in surrender, unable to hear more. “Okay, okay. I get the picture!”

“Do you?” Teddy straightened, six foot four inches of furious male. “Because I don’t think you do—although that easily could have changed, since the nurse asked me if I wanted her to go and get you so you could assist me in doing what I needed to do. Should I have asked her to do that?”

Amy’s face burned as much as her conscience. She stepped back a pace. “No. Heavens, no!”

Teddy braced his hands on his waist. “So we’re going to have to come up with another way of accomplishing this.”

Amy wrinkled her nose in confusion. “What other way is there?”

He merely looked at her.

“Oh…no…” she whispered, as the image he wanted to evoke came to mind.

Teddy put his hands on her shoulders, his touch gentle. “Amy, we have the chemistry.” He looked deep into her eyes. “We proved that when we kissed the other night.” He paused and tightened his grip on her persuasively. “I’m fairly certain if we were to think of this as a necessary ‘procedure,’ we could rally to the occasion and get into the spirit of the big event.”

To Amy’s shock, the idea of making love to Teddy wasn’t nearly as unnerving as it should have been. Nor was the idea that he might use the desired end result as a way to satisfy his basic male needs. Hadn’t he been more open to lovemaking without traditional romantic involvement from the very first?

“There has to be another way,” she insisted nervously.

His expression grim, Teddy released his hold on her and stepped back. “Well, if you think of it in the next thirty-six hours, you let me know.”

THEY’D DRIVEN TO THE appointment in his truck. Hence, Amy had no choice but to accompany Teddy back to the Silverado. As soon as they arrived, she got out of his pickup truck and into hers. Without another word to him, she started the engine and drove to her ranch. She needed time alone. To think. To figure out if she could continue on with this charade of a marriage she had entered into with Teddy McCabe.

Wishing—not for the first time—that she had a big soaking tub like the one in Teddy’s master bathroom, she shucked her clothes and climbed into the tiny vinyl shower stall. As the hot water sluiced down on her tense shoulders, she leaned her head against the wall and waited for the tears to come. To no avail. She could no more cry and release her deep disappointment that way, than Teddy had been able to…

Not that she could have done what was asked, either, if she had been him, Amy realized in mounting frustration.

There was something just so wrong about her and Teddy creating a baby in a doctor’s exam room.

It would have been one thing had that been the only way feasible to achieve pregnancy. Then it would have been more than okay.

Had this been a real marriage and artificial insemination were required, she would have assisted Teddy. He would have been there with her, when the doctor did the medical procedure. Their baby still would have been created in an atmosphere of incredible love and tenderness. The clinical details…the presence of others…would not have mattered.

Amy ran a hand over her hollow abdomen.

Was this the way it was always going to be?

She had thirty-six hours.

And, it seemed, a mighty important decision to make.

TEDDY STOOD IN THE BARN, mulling over the irony of his situation. Two hours earlier he had been unable to perform the necessary functions at the necessary time, and now, here he was, as usual overseeing the same functions—albeit equine—that made him one of the most sought-after horse breeders in Texas.

Teddy leaned against the chute wall that separated the mare in heat from his prize stud. The two animals went nose to nose, teasing each other and getting acquainted while Mother Nature spurred them on. Knowing what was expected of him, Catastrophe allowed Teddy to lead him to the nearby breeding dummy and got down to business.

Short minutes later, the collection bottle had been filled.

Teddy praised the beautiful stallion and returned Catastrophe to his stall, then took the contents to the adjacent ranch lab for examination. Finding it good, he put the life-giving material in a syringe, returned to the waiting mare and inseminated her.

Teddy praised the mare for her cooperative attitude and returned her to the isolation unit where she would stay until her owner picked her up at the end of the week.

Contemplating how easy the two animals made the procedure look, he returned to the lab to sterilize the equipment. If only he could take his emotions out of the process, too, and let impregnating Amy be simply a matter of biology and timing.

Instead, Teddy found himself wishing for the impossible.

Wishing they were really married. That she was his wife in more than the legal sense.

It might be out of the question but he couldn’t help wishing Amy were sharing his bed, letting him indulge every fantasy that had come to mind since the moment they had said their vows.

“I thought I might find you here.”

Teddy looked up from his task. “Amy.”

Damn but she looked beautiful in the dim light of the barn. Her golden hair fell in soft, untamed waves to her chin. The red turtleneck sweater hugged her torso, emphasizing the slenderness of her waist and the fullness of her breasts. Her dark denim jeans molded to her waist and hips, lovingly clung to her long, sexy legs.

Teddy stripped off his gloves and walked away from the equipment he had just sterilized. “I wasn’t sure you were coming back.”

“I’ve been thinking.” Amy rocked forward on the toes of her boots. She stuck her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. She tipped her chin at him, her high, sculpted cheeks glowing pink against the fairness of her complexion. “Do you think it would be possible for us to try to have a baby together again? Only this time,” she finished softly, “I’d like to do it the old-fashioned way.”

AMY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT Teddy’s reaction was going to be. She didn’t expect him to brush by her and head for the house without a word.

Whirling, she took a few quick running steps to catch up with him.

“You’re not ready,” he said curtly, still not looking at her.

“How can you say that?” Amy followed him in the back door.

He bypassed the kitchen and headed straight for the master bedroom.

“A few nights ago you practically wigged out because we kissed.” Teddy shucked his denim jacket and pulled his shirt over his head.

Mouth dry, Amy watched him continue to disrobe.

Aware this was some kind of a test—one she was determined not to fail—she kept her eyes squarely on him as he finished disrobing and strutted toward the shower.

Damn, but he had a magnificent body, she noted through the glass enclosure. Satin skin covered taut muscle. Lower still, he was just as well…made. With difficulty, she lifted her eyes from the apex of his thighs, to his face. “That’s because we were just doing it for recreational purposes,” she defended herself hotly. And because it had made her feel like they were on the verge of a romance…a one-sided romance, that would have left her at a distinct disadvantage.

He arched a brow and stepped beneath the spray.

“I’ve had a change of heart.” She’d decided she could make love without being in love after all.

Teddy regarded her skeptically.

“This time we’d be doing it for a very good reason,” Amy said, continuing to make her case hurriedly, aware if she thought about it too much she’d lose her nerve. “It’d be part of our Christmas gift to each other.”

Teddy shook his head in mute frustration, even as his lower body rose to the challenge. “I know you, Amy. You’ll never go all the way.”

Maybe she wouldn’t if she didn’t want a baby with him so very much. She folded her arms in front of her militantly. “I will, too!”

“Really?” Teddy turned to adjust the temperature of the spray, giving her a fine view of his backside.

“Yes, really!” Amy wished he would take her seriously.

“Then prove it.” Teddy turned toward her once again, making no effort to hide his desire. His eyes locked with hers as he rubbed soap over his chest. Lower still. “Go in the bedroom. Take off your clothes. And wait for me.”

Amy could see from the sardonic curve of his lips that he still didn’t think she had the nerve.

She turned on her heel and marched back out of the bath. “I thought it was going to be a lot easier to be married to you!” she called over her shoulder.

“No kidding!” he called right back.

Huffing in exasperation, Amy marched over to the bed and stood staring down at it for one long second.

“This is to make a baby,” she whispered to herself defiantly, already toeing off her boots. “Our baby. And he or she will be made in the spirit of tenderness and hope and love.” This baby would be the ultimate Christmas gift to each other.

With trembling fingers, Amy turned back the covers.

Hearing the water shut off behind her, she closed her eyes and reached for the hem of her sweater.

“I’m not sure I understand the rationale for closing your eyes while you undress yourself.”

Amy gulped again and opened her eyes.

She turned to see Teddy lounging in the doorway, his strong, tall body glistening with droplets of water, a towel draped around his waist.

“Oh, hush,” she grumbled, irritated he had just spoiled her semiromantic mood. Now, she was going to have to work to get it back again.

He strode toward her, smelling of soap and man and…the potential for sex. “The fact you can’t even undress without an attack of nerves should tell you you’re not ready for this.”

Amy let out a nervous little laugh and finished removing her sweater. “I may never be ready for this.” Sex with her best friend. It didn’t change the fact she wanted a baby. His baby. “Which is precisely why we should keep going.”

Teddy lifted his hand to her breast, his fingertips caressing the swell of flesh above her lacy black bra.

Suddenly, he wasn’t the only one getting aroused.

He regarded her ardently, a sense of purpose glittering in his eyes. “This isn’t a game of Red Light, Green Light.”

Amy’s heart gave a nervous kick against her ribs. “I know.”

His voice dropped. “If we get started…”

She let out a shuddering breath as she tilted her face up to his. “We’re not going to stop.”

“Exactly.” Gently, he scored his thumb across her lips. “So now’s the time for second thoughts….”

Defiantly, she held the challenge in his eyes. “I don’t have any. Don’t want any.”

“Amy…”

Yearning welled up inside her. Not just for a baby now. But for him. Amy went up on tiptoe, wreathed her arms around his neck. She pressed the softness of her body against the hard length of his. “Kiss me, Teddy. Kiss me the way you did the other night.”

Their lips met halfway in a fierce explosion of heat and need, want and passion. She put everything she had into the kiss, fitting her lips to his, adjusting her head to just the right angle, experimentally touching his tongue with hers. She expected gentleness, acceptance. Instead, his lips were hard and hungry, his tongue hot and wet and unbearably evocative. Taking command, he kissed her again and again, until she was lost in the taste and touch and feel of him, lost in the ragged intake of his breath and her own low, shuddering moan. And suddenly the idea of making hot, wild love with Teddy McCabe was every bit as enticing as the sight of him, clad in nothing but a towel.

Teddy hadn’t expected Amy to take him up on his challenge. But now that she had…now that she was in his arms, kissing and holding him like there was no tomorrow, he could no more walk away from her than he could have not married her.

Maybe they didn’t love each other in the usual head-over-heels way, Teddy reflected, dropping his towel and divesting Amy of her bra. But they did have a connection between them that was as deep and enduring as anything he had ever dreamed. Excitement building inside him, he sifted his hand through the silky texture of her hair. Her body shuddered and softened against his, and he let all he wanted come through in another deep, searing kiss. He wanted to be a husband to her in every way, and as he undressed her and drew her slowly down to the bed, she seemed to want it, too.

Sensing the need pouring out of her, he cupped the soft weight of her breasts in his hands, bent his head, loving her with mouth and lips and hands. She clung to him wordlessly, arching her back, moving restlessly beneath him. He stretched out beside her, catching her by the waist. Shifting her onto her side, he pressed his hips against hers, kissing her again and again, until she was in a frenzy of wanting, murmuring her need low in the back of her throat. Wanting her to have everything she deserved, he made his way down her body, engaging every sense, until there was only the driving need, and the throbbing of his body and hers.

He slid upward, capturing her lips in another kiss.

“I want you,” she whispered, taking him in hand.

Her breath hitched as he filled her.

Yielding to him with the sweet surrender of a woman who should have been his long before, she clasped his shoulders and trembled as he kissed her and possessed her again and again. Their bodies took up an age-old rhythm, until there was no doubting how good this felt, how good they were together, and would always be….

Teddy slid his hands beneath her, lifting her to him, driving deep. Together, they soared toward a completion more stunning and fulfilling than anything he had ever felt. More incredible for him than the feel of her beneath him, her arms and legs wrapped around him, was the thought that at this very instant…they might be making the baby they both wanted so very much.

AMY HAD NEVER BEEN A particularly sexual person, never imagined she could feel this way about the lifelong “friend” who was now her husband, but Teddy’s lovemaking had made her feel white-hot. As if she was not just capable of conceiving the child they yearned for, but was all woman, too. As capable of giving…and receiving… emotional comfort and physical ecstasy.

“That was incredible,” she whispered in Teddy’s ear, wanting him to know just how wonderful he had made her feel. She could see now she shouldn’t have worried about the lack of traditional romance in the making of their baby. What she had just experienced was one of the most powerful and compelling—not to mention unbearably tender—moments of her entire life.

Teddy chuckled, pressing his lips against her neck in a series of hot kisses. “Tell me about it!”

Still shuddering with reaction, she rested her head on his shoulder. She liked the unexpectedly sexy turn their relationship had taken as much as the sound of his low, husky voice. With a sigh of contentment, she splayed both hands across his chest. “Who knew?”

He found her lips with his. His kiss was tender and sweetly coaxing. “I guess we should have.”

Aware that she had waited a lifetime to feel like this, Amy searched his eyes, needing somehow to put a label on this, so that it wouldn’t all ease away, as quickly and unexpectedly, as it had occurred. “What does this mean?” Were they married now—in their hearts? Or was this the friends-with-benefits scenario he had once proposed?

Teddy smiled and gave her a lazy once-over, seeming every bit as contented as she now felt. “It means,” he said, gently disengaging their bodies and rolling so that she was on top of him, “that we’re every bit as compatible—in a marital sense—as we first thought.”

Not exactly the declaration of undying love she had hoped to hear. Amy lamented softly, “Except that so far we fight about everything.”

Teddy stroked a hand down her spine, eliciting tingles of delight that made her want him all over again. His slow smile was as enticing as his touch. “Maybe not making love is what we’ve really been fighting about.”

She tensed as his manhood pressed against her inner thighs, hot and hard. “You think?”

He shrugged, making no effort to hide the fact that he wanted to make love with her again every bit as much as she wanted to tenderly explore him. “I feel a lot more at peace with things now.” He tunneled his hands through her hair and captured her bare lips with his. “How about you?”

Amy let him shift her onto her back once again. “Definitely.”

“There’s only one problem.” He draped one leg over hers.

“What?” Amy’d never felt so warm and safe. Never believed anyone could desire her with such ferocity.

Teddy smiled, his eyes glowing with a determined sensual light. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to want to get out of bed again.”

Chapter Six

It seemed to Amy that she and Teddy had just gotten to sleep after their night of marathon baby-making, when the alarm beeped. With a groan, Teddy shut it off.

Amy struggled to sit up, saw it was six o’clock.

Teddy pressed a kiss on her bare shoulder, ran a caressing hand down her spine. “You should try to get some more sleep if you can.”

“I wish I could.” Amy yawned, not sure when she had felt that well-loved. Every inch of her tingled with the memory of his touch. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she rested her face on her upraised knees. She watched appreciatively as Teddy stretched, rubbed the sleep from his eyes and reluctantly rolled out of bed.

He picked up the clothes he’d left on the floor and carried them into the bathroom, where he put them on top of the overstuffed hamper.

Amy stood and pulled on a robe. She picked a brush up off the bureau and ran it through her hair. “But I’ve got to get going, too.”

Teddy set the full hamper next to the hall door, for transport to the laundry room, then went back to his closet where only a few pairs of jeans and two clean canvas work shirts remained.

“Getting down to the wire there, aren’t you, cowboy?” Amy teased.

Teddy grinned at her. “I’ve got a couple days left before I have to do laundry.”

“Like to wait till the very last minute, do you?”

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “That way I only have to do it once a month.”

“It must take all day.”

“Pretty much. But then I don’t have to worry about it. Let me guess. You’re a laundry-once-a-week kind of gal.”

“More like two or three times a week. I only like to do a load or two at a time, at most. And that includes my delicates, which have to be washed separately.”

She could see the mess in the laundry room—and the overflowing hamper in the master bath—was going to bother her, in the long run. Fortunately it was nothing that had to be dealt with today. Amy didn’t want anything ruining the glow she felt, after a night of ardent lovemaking.

Oblivious to her thoughts, Teddy headed for the bathroom. “Where do you want to sleep tonight?” he asked, running a razor over his morning beard.

That, at least, was easy. Amy squeezed toothpaste onto her brush. “Here.”

His eyes met hers in the mirror. Clearly stunned by her newly cooperative attitude, he said, “Again?”

Amy shrugged as she rinsed and wiped her mouth on a towel. “How about from now on?” She rubbed liquid complexion soap over her face. “It really doesn’t make sense for you to try to fold yourself into my much smaller bed.”

He caught her against him and ran a finger down the foamy white cream on her cheek. “It might be fun if you were in there with me.”

“I want you to be comfortable,” Amy said. She wanted them to be able to make love unencumbered. There was no way Teddy and she could do that crammed in a trailer bedroom that was barely bigger than the double bed it contained.

“I want you to be at ease, too,” Teddy murmured.

Pulling her to him, he used his free hand to dampen a washcloth and remove the soap from her face. Finished, he dipped his head and found her lips with his. Amy tingled all over as they indulged in a long, steamy kiss. She knew they were just friends, but if this wasn’t romantic, she didn’t know what was.

Slowly, Teddy lifted his head and he gazed down at her with desire. She knew how he felt. When they’d married, she hadn’t expected such thrilling passion, either.

He flashed a crooked grin and traced the side of his hand down her face. “I better go before I’m tempted to stay and make love with you all over again.”

Amy turned her head and kissed the center of his palm. She knew he was right. They could easily pick this up later, when they had all the time in the world….

“Are you going to the marathon cleaning and painting session of the chapel this evening?” she asked.

He nodded.

Amy smiled, glad to be working with him on some thing so important, not just to the community, but to themselves. “Then I’ll meet you there.”

It was only after she had spoken that Amy realized how cozy and domestic their morning “routine” had been, and how very much she suddenly felt like Teddy’s wife.

“YOU LOOK GORGEOUS TONIGHT,” Susie told Amy, hours later.

Broom and dustpan in hand, Amy’s sister Rebecca joined them in the center of the chapel. “You’re positively glowing,” she concurred.

If so, it was a warmth that came from the inside out, Amy thought. She pushed the trash can across the stone chapel floor, assisting in the pickup of the debris left over from the storm and resulting fire.

On either side of the chapel, volunteers were busy removing damaged sections of drywall and wooden pews that needed to be either replaced or refurbished.

“We weren’t sure what to expect….” Susie scooped up bits of tree, leaves and burned roof.

Rebecca made a face. “We heard about the scene in the hospital lobby—or was it elevator—yesterday afternoon.”

Amy paused to admire the new sections of drywall going up. With a fine new roof overhead, the chapel was going to look like new in no time. “That’s the beauty of working out on my ranch most of the time.” She made a face right back. “I miss all the gossip.”

Rebecca swept another square clean. “You don’t seem worse for wear. Maybe this marriage is a good thing.”

Amy knew it was. But it was also so new and precious she didn’t want to share her feelings with anyone just yet.

She changed the subject. “How are the twins?”

Rebecca exuded the excitement of a new mom. “Wonderful. Exhausting. Perfect. Sweet.” She chuckled. “They’re also up all night, every night. We’ve got both their grandmothers taking care of them this evening, but they’re both so busy with their own careers… I don’t know how Trevor and I are ever going to get any Christmas shopping done.”

Up until now, Amy had been avoiding spending too much time with the twins. She knew it was selfish, but being around babies had made her lament her own lack of children too much. Now that she and Teddy were married and actively trying to have a baby, she no longer felt that way. In fact, she was eager to make up for lost time. “Teddy and I could babysit for you, if you two want to go out some evening.”

Rebecca perked up. “Could you do it Friday?”

“I’ll have to check with Teddy, but I think he’s pretty flexible. In any case, I can do it.”

One of the volunteers set up a boom box. Christmas music filled the sanctuary, adding to the festive mood.

“You two still trying to have a baby?” Susie asked, obviously referencing the scene at the hospital the day before. “’Cause if you are, I’ve heard being around babies helps stimulate all those maternal hormones and feelings.”

“Susie!” Rebecca chided.

“It’s true.” Susie chuckled. “Haven’t you heard how people who’ve never been able to conceive, adopt a child, and then boom—they’re pregnant?”

“I don’t think Amy’s situation is the same,” Rebecca said, glaring at the four months pregnant Susie.

“Well, whatever her situation is, I’ve never seen her looking happier,” Susie commented. She leaned close. “What is going on with you two, anyway?”

Amy flushed.

“Are you and Teddy…?” Susie persisted.

In love? The unspoken words hung in the air. Amy wanted to say no, out of habit, but she knew that wasn’t true any longer. Not after last night. The truth was their passionate lovemaking had shown her a side of Teddy that she hadn’t ever allowed herself to see. He was hot. She wanted him. She might even be falling in love with him. And he with her…?

Susie’s jaw dropped open. “Oh, my gosh.” She looked at Rebecca, still in total shock. “I think they’re…”

“Stop!” Amy held up a hand. “You both need to slow down with your observations and assumptions.” They all did. The last thing Amy wanted was her romantic desires to ruin what she and Teddy had. “Teddy and I are taking it one step at a time.” It was the only prudent thing to do. “If I look happy tonight it’s because it is finally beginning to feel like Christmas to me.”

The best Christmas, in fact, that Amy had ever had.

TEDDY HAD BARELY CLEARED HIS pickup truck when his triplet brothers, Trevor and Tyler, approached.

“We need to talk.”

Given a couple of the text messages he had been receiving throughout the day, Teddy had an idea what this was about. “No, we don’t.” Anxious to see Amy after a day spent apart, he strode toward the chapel doors—only to be cut off by Amy’s brother, Jeremy.

“Yeah, I think we do,” Jeremy said.

Teddy exhaled and stopped where he was in the parking lot.

“We all heard what happened yesterday at the hospital,” Trevor said, as if he were the authority on marital relations, just because he had been the first of the triplets to tie the knot.

“We’re not sure what part of the baby-making process you are having trouble with,” Tyler added, with a smidgen of the soothing manner he used as a large-animal vet.

“But in any case—” Jeremy reached into the inside pocket of his blazer and withdrew a white envelope “—I brought you the handout I give the patients in my medical practice on how to optimize the chances of getting pregnant.”

“Assuming you’ve got the basics down pat,” Trevor teased, with a knowing wink.

“If you need help with those…” Tyler added, chuckling.

“Well, at your age…” Jeremy shook his head as if it were a lost cause, if that was the case.

Teddy shot them all a droll look. “Very funny, guys.”

“Seriously, stress is not good for making babies,” Trevor said.

“You want success, you’ve got to be all romantic,” Tyler added.

Jeremy nodded, with a physician’s sage attitude. “Show her that you really care.”

Teddy held up a hand. “You guys don’t need to worry.”

Trevor scoffed. “That scene yesterday says otherwise.”

“Amy and I worked it all out,” Teddy countered.

Three sets of male eyebrows raised.

“And that’s all I’m going to say,” Teddy added firmly, folding up the handout and putting it in the back pocket of his jeans.

There was a long, skeptical silence.

Then three slow grins.

The light of recognition in their eyes.

Trevor was the first to slap him on the back. “If this means what I think it means—that you and Amy are in a real marriage—way to go!”

“Congratulations, dude!” Tyler shook his hand.

Jeremy nodded his approval. “I’ve always said Amy needed to stop being so frivolously romantic and go for the real thing. Apparently, she’s found it.”

“Thanks, guys,” Teddy said. He only hoped he and Amy didn’t lose what they had found the previous night. Their success in the baby-making department had been so unexpected. Amy could be skittish, especially when she was feeling overemotional. He looked all three men straight in the eye. “I really want this to work out.” And for the first time since he and Amy had said their vows, he felt like they had a chance.

“WHAT WERE YOU AND JEREMY and your brothers talking about in the parking lot?” Amy asked when they got home.

Teddy took in the anxious look on Amy’s face. “How’d you hear about that?” he asked, hanging up their coats. More important, what had she heard? He didn’t want her upset or embarrassed in any way. To that end, he was prepared to do whatever had to be done.

“I went out to see if you had arrived yet, and I saw them laughing and smiling and slapping you on the back. It seemed like a guys-only kind of moment, so I went back inside. And then I got drafted to wash the soot off the stained-glass windows, so I got caught up in that.”

Teddy knelt to light the fire he’d built in the hearth.

“So back to my question about what was going on out there…?”

“Oh, yeah. Our brothers. They’re all happy we’re married and going to have a family. Naturally, they were full of ‘advice’ on how to achieve that.”

Amy looked like she wanted to sink through the floor. “You didn’t tell them…we…”

“C’mon, Amy,” Teddy countered gruffly. “You know me better than that. I’ve never been one to kiss and tell.” Although, their brothers had all quickly surmised as much, he recalled ruefully.

“But…” he reached into his back pocket, glad for the opportunity to move the conversation along, to something much more important to both of them. “Jeremy did give me a copy of the handout he gives his family-practice patients who are trying to have a baby.”

Amy cast a look at the laundry room, where clothes took up every available inch of floor. With a slight frown, she closed the door, then went to the fridge and opened it up. “What does it say?”

Teddy scanned the suggestions. “We should both be drinking our milk and having tea instead of coffee. We’re not supposed to be imbibing alcohol. I’m supposed to be wearing boxer shorts. We should be making love every one to two days, at least during the window of opportunity.”

Smiling, Amy poured two glasses of milk and unwrapped the plate of gingerbread cookies. “I think we covered that last night.”

Teddy grinned. “So we did.” He munched on a cookie and kept reading. “Uh-oh.”

“What?” Amy paused, mid-sip.

“We’re supposed to be using the missionary position.”

“We did.”

“The first time.” The second time they had been a little more adventurous.

“Do you want to try again tonight?”

Amy looked so hopeful that Teddy suddenly feared her disappointment if they didn’t conceive this month. Willing to do anything to give her what she most wanted for Christmas—their baby—he referred to the list of instructions once again and told her practically, “It says here sperm count is higher in the morning than at night. Since this is the end of the window of opportunity…what do you think?” He paused, reading her expression. “Should we wait until morning?”

IT WAS A VALID QUESTION. Thoughtfully posed. Yet Amy felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. All the blossoming romantic feelings—and Christmas spirit—that she had been experiencing, abruptly faded. To be replaced by uncertainty and doubt.

“Sure.” Amy finished the last of her milk in a single gulp and turned away. “I’m a little tired tonight, anyway.”

Teddy came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. “We can make love tonight if you want.” Still holding her gently, he turned her to face him. The warmth of his hands transmitted through her clothing to her skin.

“What does the handout say?” Seeing a streak of soot on his chin, she reached up and wiped it away. “Is there a problem if we make love too many times in a certain period?”

She could see he didn’t want to answer.

Aware she needed to know, she arched a brow and waited.

He frowned and admitted reluctantly, “With some men, yes, the information did say that too-frequent lovemaking can reduce the sperm count, but it’s not the case in all men.”

Amy bit her lip, torn between momentary pleasure and their long-range goals. She looked deep into his eyes. “But it could be the case with you.”

He shrugged.

“Then morning it is.” Amy pushed aside her disappointment and tried not to think how much she had been longing for this very moment—when they were alone and could make love again. Morning was just hours away, after all. She’d waited years to have a baby.

In the meantime, she needed to ask him something. “I hope you don’t mind, but I told Rebecca that you and I would babysit for the twins Friday evening so she and Trevor could go Christmas shopping.”

Reaching for another cookie, Teddy grinned. “Sounds fun.”

Amy felt compelled to warn, “She said the twins are a handful right now.”

Unperturbed, Teddy drained his glass. He took her by the hand and led her toward the fireplace. “Most four-month-old babies are, from what I’ve heard.”

“Are you up for it?” Amy settled on the sectional sofa beside him.

“Are you kidding?” Teddy pulled her into the curve of his arm. He pressed a kiss on the top of her head. “It will be good practice for us.”

FOR A SECOND, TEDDY THOUGHT he had made a mistake, putting the science of procreation ahead of the emotional considerations of making love to his new wife. But as they continued to talk and enjoy the evening, Amy relaxed. By the time they hit the showers and went to bed, she was all too willing to let him pull her into his arms and give her a long, leisurely good-night kiss.

Exhausted, content in a way he hadn’t been in a very long time—if ever—Teddy fell immediately into a deep sleep. When the alarm went off hours later, Amy was no longer in his arms. Rather, she was stretched out alongside the edge of the opposite side of the bed.

While he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, she rose gracefully and disappeared into the bathroom. He heard water running, the sounds of her brushing her teeth. Figuring it wasn’t a bad idea to do the same, he waited until she came back, then got up.

When he returned to the bed, Amy was lying on her back, waiting for him, the covers drawn to her collarbone.

The pale pink T-shirt and pajama pants already on the floor let him know she wasn’t wasting any time.

He couldn’t fault her for that. Even though they’d allowed a good hour or hour and a half for the pleasurable “task” ahead of them, there was no sense in wasting precious moments struggling to get out of clothing they weren’t going to need, anyway.

He let his boxers fall to the floor, then lifted the edge of the covers and climbed in beside her. “Good morning, Mrs. McCabe.”

“Good morning,” Amy replied in a voice tight with tension.

Figuring he knew exactly how to relax her, Teddy took her into his arms and began kissing her bare shoulders, the nape of her neck, the shell of her ear, her cheek. As he had expected, Amy’s breath quickened. Her body heated.

Still, he took his time finding her lips with his. Even longer delving into her mouth.

Amy murmured a sound that should have been acquiescence, but wasn’t. She returned his kiss, but instead of the sweet, sure passion of the other night, the exchange was awkward, out of sync.

Figuring maybe they just needed time to wake up, Teddy rolled so he was on his side, bringing her with him via the pressure of his arm on her waist. Flattening his palm on her spine, he brought her closer still. Or tried to—when his hand dipped to the small of her back, instead of curving into him, letting hardness meet softness in that fundamental man-woman way, Amy tensed even more, and drew back slightly.

Teddy tried again, by cupping her breast, but felt her withdraw.

He exhaled, broke off the not-so-great kiss and lifted his head. “What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

Amy pressed her lips together and wiped the moisture in her eyes away with the back of her hand. She barely met his eyes before dropping her gaze once again. “Nothing.”

“Don’t you like to make love in the morning?” He ran a caressing hand down her bare arm, from shoulder to wrist. “Is that it?”

Teeth raking across her lower lip, she shook her head in mute denial, then sat up, dragging the blankets with her. “It’s… I don’t know. I can’t seem to get in the mood, but I know we should do this so I want you to just go ahead.” She gulped in more air and lay back down.

It was his turn to sit up, only he made no effort to cover himself with the sheet. The ache in his loins was still there, but he could feel his spirits deflating like a leaky balloon. “Amy, I want to have a baby, too, but not unless you’re in the mood.”

“I’m trying.” Sudden tears trembled on her lashes. “Please.” She held out her arms to him. “Let’s just do it.”

Teddy lay back down beside her. Once again, he gave it his all. Once again it didn’t seem to make a damn bit of difference.

“DON’T YOU LOOK LIKE YOU’VE lost your best friend,” Ed said when he walked into the Laurel Valley Ranch greenhouse, several hours later.

No kidding, Amy thought.

Her and Teddy’s planned morning lovemaking session couldn’t have been more of a disaster had the bed collapsed beneath them.

She never had been able to relax.

Teddy had been concerned, hurt and frustrated.

In the end, they’d given up and promised they’d do it again later, just in case the window of opportunity was still the slightest bit open. But Amy wasn’t kidding herself….

Until last night, when she had seen Teddy with that list of instructions her physician brother had given him, she’d thought—hoped—that something magical and romantic was happening between them. She’d imagined he was falling in love with her every bit as much as she was falling in love with him.

Only to discover it was all about having a family, after all.

Given how much she wanted a child, that should have delighted her.

It didn’t.

Instead, she felt foolish and hurt and emotionally exposed in a way she had never been before.

She’d let herself go with Teddy, in a way she had never done before. And it had been more than just the physical. She had completely opened her heart to him. Let herself think they were starting a new chapter in their life together, one that had all the traditional romantic elements of a strong and solid marriage. Only to find out it was all about friendship and having a baby together in the most efficient way.

And now…now she had to figure out how to leapfrog back to where they had been before they’d made love that first time, to the place in her heart where she didn’t expect or want quite so much, the place where she would be able to settle for what her husband was able to give her.

“Earth to Amy…earth to Amy…”

Amy looked up, realizing her employee had been talking to her for several minutes and she hadn’t heard a word of it.

She put down her spade and gave Ed her full attention. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“We’ve rescheduled the couple’s baby shower for a week from Saturday. Obviously, we can’t have it at the restaurant now, with Sheryl on bed rest, so we’re going to have it at the house. I assumed you would want to bring Teddy, now that you’re married.” The words were casual, but there was a question mark in his eyes.

Amy figured Ed was wondering the same thing as everyone else. Was this hasty marriage of hers going to last?

Yesterday morning, Amy had been certain of it.

Now she didn’t know what was going to happen, over time.

Ed carefully moved starter plants to bigger pots. “Do you want to issue the invitation? Or shall I?”

“I’ll ask him.” Amy flashed a confident smile she couldn’t begin to feel. “We promised Rebecca and Trevor we’d babysit the twins tonight. I’ll do it then.”

Chapter Seven

Rebecca and Teddy were both running late when they met up at the Silverado that evening.

Because he only had one full bath in his ranch house—albeit a very luxurious one—and time was running short, they were forced to share quarters as they got ready to go over to Rebecca and Trevor’s. It seemed to him that the close proximity was apparently a lot harder on him than it was on her. Seeing her wrapped in a robe, knowing she was fresh out of the shower and had on nothing but her birthday suit beneath the thick terrycloth, had him aching like there was no tomorrow.

Stripped down to his boxers, he hid the proof of his need for her by turning into the bathroom sink.

While he shaved, Amy stood in front of the sink at the other end of the long bathroom cabinet and ran a comb through her damp, fragrant-smelling hair. “I hope tonight goes okay,” she said.

Teddy watched as she put a small dab of some sort of hair product in her palm and sensually worked it through her hair, from root to ends.

Trying not to recall how those same hands had felt, gently caressing him, he focused on his task and spread shaving cream over his face. “You’re the last person I’d expect to be apprehensive about babysitting.”

Amy flashed him a wry smile. “I know we can handle the mechanics of taking care of the babies.” She switched the hair dryer on low and began running warm air over her damp honey-blond hair, the lighter streaks around her face turning platinum as they dried. “It’s just, up to now, seeing the twins has been bittersweet for me.” Amy paused to meet his eyes in the mirror. A mixture of emotions glittered in her soft eyes. “I’m hoping it will be different now that I’m married and going to have a baby of my very own.”

My very own.

Not our very own.

Trevor pushed aside his disappointment. One day soon she’d be thinking of the baby they were trying to conceive as theirs. Taking in the unbridled hope shining in her eyes, knowing how deeply romantic she was—and how easily she could get disappointed—he felt compelled to caution gently, “It may not happen the first time out of the gate, you know.”

Amy tensed, as if she didn’t even want to consider the possibility that they might have to try to conceive again and again before they got the desired results. She shrugged and turned away from him. “Then we’ll keep trying,” she said tensely.

But what if it didn’t happen for months? Teddy wondered. He stroked the razor across his face, shaving away the day’s growth of beard. Would Amy become discouraged if it took six months or a year or more? Lose interest in marriage and him? Misunderstanding, Amy turned off her hair dryer and came close enough to touch his arm. “My lack of…enthu siasm…this morning was a mistake that is not going to happen again, Trevor. I’ll get into it next time, I promise.”

Teddy knew it wasn’t that simple. Men were more straightforward in their wants and needs. Desire in a woman was a complicated thing. And that was especially true with a romantic like Amy.

Giving him no chance to comment further, she slipped out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Glad for the privacy, Teddy stepped into the shower and turned the dial from warm to cold.

When he emerged, Amy was on her cell phone with her sister Susie, taking an order for more landscape plants. They continued talking business during the drive over to the Primrose ranch house, where Rebecca and Trevor had been living since they were married. Trevor’s house was right next door, on the Wind Creek, but Rebecca and Trevor had opted to reside at Rebecca’s home, since it was bigger and more family-friendly.

“Jenny and Joshua are sleeping in their cradles in the family room,” Trevor said as he ushered them inside. “Rebecca’s writing out the list of phone numbers.”

“And what a long list it is,” Amy laughed, allowing Teddy to help her with her coat.

Rebecca made a face at her younger sister. She handed the legal pad of numbers over. “Give me a break. I’m a new mom and you never know who you might need to call. The pediatrician, fire department.”

“I know we know our own parents’ phone numbers,” Teddy said, perusing the list.

Rebecca made a face at him. “In an emergency, people sometimes can’t recall what they need on the spot.”

Trevor motioned for Teddy. “Come in the kitchen. I’ll show you how the bottle warmer works.”

“I’ve also written down what time they should have their next bottle. Although all times are approximate since we feed on demand.” Rebecca wrung her hands. “Obviously, they’ll need diaper changes throughout the evening. I’ve written down when those are most likely to occur.”

Amy touched Rebecca’s arm. “Take a deep breath. It’s okay. There’s two of them and two of us. We’re not going to be outnumbered. Furthermore, Jeremy is right next door. And although our brother can be very annoying at times, especially when he’s waxing on and on about that broken-down ranch he purchased and can’t yet live in, he’s also a fine family physician. Should a medical emergency occur tonight he will be here in thirty seconds flat.”

Trevor reemerged, holding Rebecca’s coat and what looked like another long list. “If we want to get our Christmas shopping done tonight, hon, we need to get a move on.”

Rebecca started to launch into another long list of instructions.

Trevor clamped his hand over his wife’s mouth and playfully compelled her out of the room as if she were a vaudeville comedian who needed to exit the stage before a riot ensued. “The stores are open late. So don’t expect us back before midnight. Food and beverages are in the fridge, so help yourselves. And stay away from the mistletoe!”

“Cute,” Teddy quipped.

Trevor grinned as if he knew it.

Rebecca rolled her eyes and they left.

Alone at last, peace stole over them. “What should we do?” Amy asked eventually.

Teddy took Amy’s hand and drew her toward the sofa. “I suggest we relax while we can.”

“Good thinking.”

Amy turned her attention to the sparkling lights on the evergreen in front of the window. “Their Christmas tree is beautiful.”

Teddy nodded in agreement. Aware how much more of a family home this was than either his or Amy’s place, he murmured, “We really should get ours up. Rev up the yuletide spirit.”

Amy reached over and took his hand. Her fingers felt small and delicate in his. “The stockings on the mantel are sweet, too.”

Teddy nodded his agreement. “It really feels like Christmas here.”

“I like what they’ve done with their photographs, too.”

Teddy turned his eyes to the collection of sterling-silver frames on the end table. One captured Trevor and Rebecca at the party officially announcing their engagement. Another showcased a professional pose from their wedding. The next was a snapshot of Rebecca in late pregnancy, Trevor’s hand on her belly. And, of course, there were photos of the four of them in the hospital, after Jenny and Joshua’s birth.

The wistful look in Amy’s eyes as she studied the family photos said it all. Too late, Teddy realized just how much he had taken from Amy, marrying her the way he had.

Jenny stirred.

Amy released her grip on Teddy’s hand and got up to take a peek at the babies. “They’re waking, Teddy. We better get those bottles warmed and ready….”

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