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A Special Christmas Reunion

Few people in Laramie, Texas, know that Merri Duncan is actually the biological mother of her late sister’s twins. Even fewer know that Chase Armstrong, and not his late brother, is their biological father. It’s even news to Chase—and when he returns from military duty, he’s determined to do the right thing by Merri, who’s been raising the twins alone on the Broken Arrow ranch. It’s time for a walk to the altar, for the sake of the children.

There’s just one problem. Merri and Chase are, as they always have been, just friends—nothing more. Without love, their marriage can never be truly complete. Sticking it out may mean sacrificing their chances for future happiness. But maybe faith, hope and desire can bring these two newlyweds what they truly need. After all, it is the season of miracles.

“It doesn’t have to be a real marriage.”

Chase was determined to have his way on this whether she liked it or not. “At least not in the conventional sense.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” Merri looked at him, a mix of exasperation and cynicism in her glacier-green eyes.

He regarded her seriously, aware he had a responsibility here. “Its only purpose will be to help us meet the objective.”

Merri exhaled. “You becoming a father to your children.”

Chase watched as she crossed her legs and clasped her delicate hands around her knee. When had she gotten so all-out beautiful? “While keeping you as the mother they know and love.”

“People will talk.”

“You’re worried our relationship wouldn’t stay platonic.”

Merri stared at him, knowing a guy as healthy and virile and sexy as Chase had to have needs, too. She kept her eyes locked with his, even as her heart raced like a wild thing in her chest. “Aren’t you?”

Dear Reader,

There’s never a good time for a crisis, particularly during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. But the “season of giving” has a way of bringing family and friends together—when we’re lucky, in ways that last forever.

Chase Armstrong has been avoiding the heartache at home for years, but finally decides to return to his Texas roots. He knows it will be tough seeing the only family he has left. He doesn’t expect to be hit with news that will change his life.

Merri Duncan is worried about Chase’s homecoming, too. She’s been wondering about his plans regarding the niece and nephew he has long neglected. And she knows he isn’t likely to approve of what she has done to the Armstrong clan’s Broken Arrow ranch in his absence.

What neither Merri nor Chase expects is the stark realization that turns their lives upside down. Experience has taught her that wanting something to happen doesn’t make it so. But both are willing to do the honorable thing and bring the family together the way it should be, even if it means big sacrifices for both of them. Because in big, bold, brash Laramie County, family always comes first.

Happy reading,

Cathy Gillen Thacker

About the Author

CATHY GILLEN Thacker is married and a mother of three. She and her husband spent eighteen years in Texas and now reside in North Carolina. Her mysteries, romantic comedies and heartwarming family stories have made numerous appearances on bestseller lists, but her best reward, she says, is knowing one of her books made someone’s day a little brighter. A popular Harlequin Books author for many years, she loves telling passionate stories with happy endings, and thinks nothing beats a good romance and a hot cup of tea! You can visit Cathy’s website at www.cathygillenthacker.com for more information on her upcoming and previously published books, recipes and a list of her favorite things.

The Texas Rancher’s Marriage

Cathy Gillen Thacker

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Teaser Chapter

Chapter One

“Breathe.”

Merri Duncan turned to her best friend, Emily McCabe Reeves, aware she had never been so nervous in her life.

“That obvious, hmm?” Merri drawled, glad she had thought to get a babysitter for the twins. Right now, as they all waited for their beloved guest of honor to show, she could barely contain herself, never mind two rowdy preschoolers.

Over two hundred other local residents and family friends had gathered on the Armstrong ranch. Texas barbecue scented the air. A country and western band warmed up next to the dance floors set up on the lawn.

“I know the last time Chase was home was pretty awful,” Emily commiserated.

“An understatement,” Merri murmured back. Together, she and Chase had weathered the aftermath of a horrific helicopter crash, and buried her sister and his brother. Then Merri had taken custody of Sasha and Scott’s eight-week-old infants, and Chase had headed back to the army field hospital in the Middle East.

Four and a half years had passed.

Chase hadn’t been back to the States since.

Although Merri and the twins had heard from him sporadically—mostly at Christmas, and on birthdays—the big, strapping Texan never disclosed what he intended to do, long-term.

If anything… All Merri knew for sure was that he had finally completed his tour of duty and had accepted a job at the Laramie Community Hospital.

She and the twins were now settled comfortably on the once-luxurious ranch where Chase and his brother had grown up, and where her business, though still small, was thriving. In addition to the excitement and upheaval of Chase’s homecoming, the Christmas holidays were approaching and Thanksgiving was just a few days away.

Merri released a tremulous sigh. Life sure had a way of taking unexpected turns.

And she had the nagging feeling that as soon as she and Chase talked about the information she had accidentally discovered, her already complicated life would take another unscripted detour. Merri knew from firsthand experience that the circumstances of the twins’ origins would not be dealt with as simply as she had initially hoped. And soon, like it or not, Chase would realize that, too.

Misreading the reason behind Merri’s obvious apprehension, Emily gave her friend an encouraging hug. “Stop worrying! It’s going to be a great welcome home party for Chase.”

Merri sure hoped so. The returning trauma surgeon deserved to be celebrated for the true hero he was.

And she…she needed to stop agonizing.

Chase was a decent guy, and he would do the right thing, just as he always had. In fact, that was likely the reason he was back—to lend a hand in the way only he could.

Although what he would want to tell people about the truth of their situation was as much a mystery as it ever had been.

Emily smiled and lifted her arm in an excited wave as her husband’s pickup truck turned into the long, tree-lined drive. “Here they come now!”

Merri slipped into the ranch house and emerged with the twins in hand.

Curly blond heads tilted upward and their big brown eyes gleamed excitedly as they watched the truck come to a halt. A tall man emerged from the passenger seat, and when Merri got a look at Chase Armstrong, her heart took a little leap.

She hadn’t realized until this very moment how scared she had been. That something would happen over there and the sexy physician wouldn’t come back. At least not alive.

But there was no question the ruggedly handsome, sandy-haired man was very much alive.

His skin was tanned, his shoulders every bit as wide and inviting as she recalled, his body lean and hard and solidly muscled enough to make her insides quiver. He should have looked tired and unkempt after the long flight, but his face was cleanly shaved, his short, clipped hair as neat and clean as the army fatigues he wore.

Dark sunglasses shaded his beautiful amber eyes, and a slow grin tugged at the corners of his sensual lips as, with an unhurried stride, he moved toward the crowd waiting to greet him.

A cheer went up.

Caught in the raw emotion of the moment, Merri found herself cheering, too.

The crowd parted. Chase continued on his mission, coming closer still. Then he was standing directly before her and the kids, lazily taking off his sunglasses and slipping them into the pocket of his shirt.

At six foot four, he had always dwarfed her five-foot-seven frame. Today was no exception; she had to tilt her head back to look up at him.

And as their eyes met and held, there was absolutely no clue in his about what he intended to do about this fix they were in. Or when he planned to talk to her about the biggest conundrum of all.

* * *

CHASE KNEW COMING BACK TO the only real home he had ever known was going to be difficult.

Just being on the ranch reminded him of the family he’d lost and the nonstop disappointment life had brought his way.

Seeing the crowd gathered on the property he could no longer call home made it even harder.

It reminded him of the aftermath of the dual funerals, when everyone who had ever cared about Scott and Sasha had stopped by to pay their respects. And the burials of his parents, in the half-dozen years before that.

There had been a lot of loss on the Broken Arrow Ranch. Now the future of it was embodied in the two impossibly cute preschoolers holding on to Merri Duncan’s hands.

Their sweet, cherubic appearance was no surprise. He had seen dozens of photos and the occasional video of the kids during the years he had been overseas, so was well-versed in the milestone events of Jeffrey and Jessalyn’s infant and toddler days.

But Merri had always managed to keep herself out of the photos.

And now Chase could not help but be stunned by the changes he saw. Her shoulder-length, golden-blond hair was still thick and silky, her face just as elegantly beautiful, her wide, friendly smile as arresting as ever. But there was a soft, maternal air about her now. A tenderness in the way she gently clasped the twins’ hands, and held them even closer to her sides. A new maturity—as well as a lingering question—in her pretty, glacier-green eyes. And a lithe, sexy body that made him all too aware just how long it had been since he’d been physically close to any woman.

Too long.

Their eyes locked and his heartbeat kicked up.

Warning himself to play it cool, he leaned over to give her a casual one-armed hug and a light kiss on the brow.

“Welcome home,” she said in a husky voice.

Her emotion was contagious. Chase cleared his throat to get rid of the catch in his own voice. “Thanks.” He released Merri as quickly and efficiently as he had hugged her, and then knelt before the kids.

Jeffrey and Jessalyn regarded him shyly.

“Say hello to Chase,” Merri prodded.

An awkward silence fell. The twins stared at him mutely, probably still deciding if he was friend or foe. To his disappointment, they seemed inclined to put him in the latter category.

Deciding it would be best not to push them, Chase looked into their eyes. He smiled at them reassuringly once again, letting them know they could trust him, then stood. “It’s okay,” he told a concerned Merri under his breath. “We’ll have a chance to get acquainted later.”

Eyes glistening, she nodded, as if suddenly not trusting herself to speak.

Chase knew exactly how she felt. Confronted with the only real family he had left, he had a lump in his throat, too.

He had never expected to feel so alone and adrift at this point in his life. But maybe that would change now that he was back in Laramie. Back where he’d grown up, Chase thought, as familiar figures came forward to shake his hand and give him a hug.

“Hey, Chase!” His old high school classmate, Travis Anderson, stepped up to shake his hand. “Didn’t think we’d ever see you again!”

“Great to have you back in Texas!” His former high school English teacher beamed. “Don’t leave us again, you understand? We missed you!”

“I was beginning to think you’d left us for good,” the owner of Sonny’s Barbecue teased, giving him a slap on the back…and a hug. “Come by and see me when you get a little time.”

And so it went. Everyone complaining good-naturedly about how long he’d been gone, worrying he’d up and leave Laramie County again, warning him that if he did take off again their hearts would be broken beyond repair. The twins’ eyes got even wider as they soaked it all in.

“I think you’d all survive,” Chase joshed back when the rush of sentiment got a little much. Any more of this and they’d have him getting all weepy, too.

He looked around for help. Merri seemed to have faded into the background, but members of the band—also old pals of his—got the hint. They immediately started playing a rowdy rendition of the perennial Texas party favorite, “Friends in Low Places.”

An appreciative roar went up. Everyone joined in the raucous singing and swaying. Dancing soon followed. And, to Chase’s joy, the real homecoming began.

* * *

HOURS LATER, CHASE AND MERRI stood side by side as the last of the taillights disappeared down the drive. It was the first time they’d been alone since he arrived, and Chase was more than a little aware of her. Not that this was a surprise. The first time he had seen her, at his brother’s engagement party, he’d wanted her. But Merri had been living with another guy and practically engaged, so he’d done the honorable thing and walked away.

She turned to him now with heartfelt apology. “I’m sorry about the cool reception you received from the twins.”

Cognizant that he probably should have expected as much, given how little contact they’d had, Chase shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I tried to prepare them for actually meeting you, instead of just seeing your face on the screen in a video chat, or hearing your voice on the phone.”

Which, Chase reflected, given some of the rough-and-tumble sites where he had been stationed, hadn’t happened all that frequently. He tore his eyes from the curves beneath Merri’s snug-fitting T-shirt, cropped denim jacket and jeans. Her burgundy western boots were nice, too. Obviously custom, from Monroe’s. He recognized the signature Texas rose hidden in the fancy feminine embroidery adorning the sides.

“But I’m not sure they believed it was really going to happen,” Merri continued, oblivious of the impact she was having on him. “Or understood what your coming here would mean to them.” She released a sigh. “Because at the time I told them, I wasn’t sure if you were just coming for a visit or staying long-term.”

Had she always smelled this good? Like lavender…and woman? Wishing he could make a move on her, without complicating things unnecessarily, Chase shrugged. “I’m sorry about that.” Because the kids were already inside, fast asleep, he remained on the porch, speaking quietly with Merri. His gaze roved her upturned face. Although she’d been gorgeous in daylight, she looked even more radiant in the soft glow of the porch light.

Gruffly, he confessed, “I didn’t know what I was going to do myself till a few days ago.” It had been a tough decision to make. Complicated by the fact that if he came back to stay, Merri was going to expect him to be an uncle to the kids, and behave in a brotherly fashion to her. And his feelings for her were anything but fraternal. Although, thankfully for both of them, she didn’t know that.

Merri studied him, a new realism shining in her lovely green eyes. As if the fairy-tale wishes she had once harbored had faded, and she knew now what life was—and what it wasn’t. She stepped a little closer, further inundating him in her deliciously feminine scent. “You were really thinking of reenlisting?”

Chase ignored the mounting desire generated by her closeness; and the sight of her running a delicate hand through the soft, thick layers of her honey-blond hair. “It’s important work. I made a lot of good friends over there. But…there’s important work to be done here, too, and I also have a lot of friends here, so…I finally decided to come home.”

Chase saw her shiver a little in the cooling night air. She pulled the edges of her jacket together, but not before he noted her physical reaction to the declining temperature.

“I’m glad you did.” Flushing self-consciously, she said, “I know the kids are, too. They just don’t know how to express it yet. In any case, I prepared the guest room for you.”

“You don’t have to put me up tonight,” Chase said. “I can sleep in an on-call room at the hospital, till I have time to find a place.” Thanks to the local auto dealer’s cooperation in making an advance sale, he even had a brand-new pickup truck to drive, waiting in the parking area next to the ranch house.

A mixture of disappointment and guilt colored her expression. “This is your home.”

“It was once,” Chase agreed, his tone flat, as old decisions neither of them had anything to do with came back to haunt them once again. He brushed aside the hurt he’d felt for years now. The hurt that had helped keep him away, and made him wonder if he should return to Laramie County at all. “But not anymore.”

* * *

MERRI WONDERED IF THIS was the reason behind the rift that had existed between Chase and his younger brother. One that had seemed to only get bigger as time passed, reaching a point of no return shortly before Chase went off to war. Which, of course, made his eventual generosity regarding the birth of the twins even more difficult for her to understand.

Now that he was back, however, and going to be part of the twins’ lives, it was time she rectified that.

“I never understood why your mother willed the entire property to Scott.” The one-sided terms of the late Lydia Armstrong’s estate had shocked everyone when the will had been read. Especially Chase, Merri remembered, because he hadn’t known the disinheritance was coming.

He glanced up at the half-moon overhead, then restlessly walked the length of the porch that lined the large stone-and-cedar ranch house. His gaze traveled over the manicured lawn and the lush shrubbery, to the now-empty pastures. He didn’t seem to find fault with anything he saw in the pastoral scene. Which was no surprise to Merri. She had done a good job as conservator of the property, on behalf of the twins, who had inherited it all upon their father’s death.

Chase ignored the chain-hung swing at the end of the porch and ambled back to her side. “She figured I was a doctor. I’d make plenty of money and never have time to ranch. Whereas Scott needed a job and a place to live.”

Merri knew enough about Scott and Sasha’s selfishness now to realize undue pressure had been applied to the elder, ailing Armstrong, her emotions likely played upon. Because, hard as it was to admit, at the end of the day, all Merri’s sister and Chase’s brother had ever thought about was themselves. Their desires. Their needs.

And Chase knew it, too.

Aware it was a little too intimate to be standing there together in the semidarkness, Merri pivoted and led him inside. “Your mom could have left you half the land anyway,” she said over her shoulder. “I mean, we’re talking about over five thousand acres! Or Scott and Sasha could have willed the property back to you, instead of putting it in trust for their children.” And naming me as executor and guardian of that trust.

In the living room, Chase watched her remove the screen on the fireplace. He seemed as oblivious to the chill in the air as she was sensitive to it.

“It’s okay. I got over what happened a long time ago.”

Had he? Truth was, Merri couldn’t see how. She knelt before the hearth, and admitted with total frankness, “I still feel funny about us living here and you not. It doesn’t seem right.”

Chase continued to watch as she arranged the firewood. “Life’s not fair. We all know that.”

He was right. Merri wadded up some newspaper and stuffed it in the gaps between the oak logs. If it had been, her sister would have had functioning ovaries. She would not have required donated eggs—from Merri—to become pregnant. Had life been fair, Scott wouldn’t have needed to go to Chase for his assistance, too.

Still surprised that Chase had helped Sasha and Scott out in the end, even after initially turning the couple down, Merri decided it was past time to ask the question that had been burning in her gut for several years now. Nervously, she blurted out, “What about the twins?”

Chase gave her a mystified look. “What about them?” he asked carefully.

She struck a match and lit the fire. “What are your intentions there?” she prodded.

Chase watched the paper take the flame, before turning his gaze to Merri again. “You’re their biological mother. You should be telling me how you want this to work.”

Her anxiety rose. Chase was decisive in all other areas of his life. His apathy and indifference here were daunting, to say the least. “But like it or not, you’re involved, too,” she persisted, trying to squeeze some emotion out of him, to get him to tell her where this predicament was likely headed. “Biologically speaking, anyway.”

A tense silence fell. Chase stared at her as if she had either lost her mind or was a disaster waiting to happen. “What are you talking about?” He slowly enunciated every word.

Weary of maintaining the public ruse her late brother-in-law and sister had insisted upon, Merri looked Chase square in the eye and admitted, “A few months after Scott and Sasha died, I found the paperwork from the fertility clinic, indicating that Scott received help there, too.”

Chase shrugged. “Although it wasn’t common knowledge, you and I both know my brother had problems in that regard, too. That he was, for all intents and purposes, as sterile as Sasha.”

“Which was why you jumped in to help, just as I did.”

“And,” Chase continued matter-of-factly, “set him up with the top infertility specialists at the medical school I attended.”

His involvement hadn’t ended there and Merri knew it. Frustration mounting, she rose and walked toward him. “Look, I don’t know what kind of deal you and your brother made…probably something similar to the one I made with Sasha and him. But you don’t have to hide anything from me, Chase. Not anymore. I know that you ‘helped out’ a heck of a lot more than just setting them up with the right professionals.”

Chase studied her. “I don’t know what Scott told you—or Sasha, for that matter. My brother had a way of bending the truth to suit his needs, never more so than when his back was against a wall. But I did not do what you did, Merri. I didn’t offer up my genetic material to help them out.” He exhaled sharply. “They asked me—before I went overseas…as you well know—but I told them I couldn’t handle having a child raised by someone else, not even my own kin. It’s not in me to be a spectator in my own child’s life.”

Merri knotted her hands in frustration. She remembered the chaos his refusal had caused among the four of them. The rift that had left Chase and his brother barely speaking. “Then why did you sign those papers, allowing Scott to use sperm you had already donated to the university for medical research, for Sasha’s in vitro fertilization procedure?”

Chase’s mouth dropped open in dismay. “I never signed anything.”

“But you did!” Merri went to the desk, unlocked the drawer and pulled out a slender file of papers. She handed it over.

Chase studied the medical forms and legal documents. A muscle worked convulsively in his jaw. “Scott must have forged this. Damn him!”

Merri’s heart sank as shock turned to comprehension. Oh, my heaven. “You mean…?” she croaked.

“I never gave my permission.” Chase rifled through the papers, scanning them again and again, as if unable to believe what he was seeing. With anger flashing in his amber eyes, he let out a string of swear words that would have burned the ears off a nun.

Merri placed a hand over her heart, trembling, she was so upset. “So all this time… You never had a clue that you were the real father of the twins or were in any way biologically connected with them?” That certainly explained his lack of input or involvement. He hadn’t thought Jessalyn and Jeffrey were family at all!

Chase sat down, scrubbed a hand over his face and dropped his head in his hands. “None whatsoever,” he said miserably.

A silence fraught with heartache fell.

“So what now?” Merri asked eventually, afraid she already knew.

Chase lifted his head, already taking charge, like the kick-butt Texan he was. “We do everything and anything we have to do to make things right.”

* * *

MAKING THINGS RIGHT, according to Chase’s world, meant verifying facts. So as soon as the hospital lab opened the next morning, Merri and Chase and the twins were there.

Unfortunately, no sooner had they all submitted to a simple and painless DNA test than Chase was summoned to the E.R., to help out with an incoming trauma.

Subsequent surgeries had him staying in the hospital on-call room overnight. And by the time Merri and Chase got to attorney Liz Cartwright Anderson’s office the following afternoon, they already had the results they had expected.

Quickly, the two of them brought Liz up to speed on everything that had happened thus far. Chase concluded with, “—I never would have given my brother permission to use my sperm.”

“But you were okay with the egg donation from the beginning?” Liz asked Merri.

She nodded, still at peace with what she’d done. “I knew how important it was to my sister to have a baby. Her eggs weren’t viable. So for her, to have a baby with the Duncan family genetics, harvesting my eggs and implanting them in her was the only way.”

“It was still a lot to ask,” Chase said fiercely.

“I understood where she was coming from.” Merri turned to him. “Sasha and I never knew our father. We had lost our mother. I wanted my sister to have the baby she had always dreamed about.”

And, Merri added silently, at the time I was still living with Pierce, and thought marriage and a family for me were just around the corner, too. I thought that Sasha and I would be rearing our children together.

“My sister had promised me I would be an integral part of the twins’ lives. And for those first two months, I was there so much, helping out, I practically was a second mother.” Which had made taking over, in the wake of their parents’ sudden, unexpected death, a lot easier than it would have been otherwise.

“What about the secrecy?” Liz continued to make notes on the legal pad in front of her. “Were you okay with that?”

“I knew the whole thing might seem weird to some people—” Merri shot a telling look at Chase “—who would probably fixate on the fact that it was my eggs and my brother-in-law’s sperm making the babies.”

“Except it wasn’t Scott’s genetic material,” Chase interrupted brusquely, all domineering Texas male. “It was mine.”

Merri wished he wasn’t so big, strong, sexy and by the book! “Yes, well…” Merri eyed him testily, aware his take-charge attitude was really beginning to get under her skin. Almost as much as the thought that they’d unknowingly made two babies together. “I didn’t realize that at the time.” So it wasn’t as if she’d done something dishonorable!

“And now that you are aware?” Liz interjected, with her usual lawyerly calm.

Merri sighed, pushing away the emotion welling inside her. “It actually makes it less—” she paused, searching for the right word, as she once again met Chase’s angst-filled gaze “—controversial to think the babies are Chase’s.” She gulped at the heat of awareness flaring up inside her, then turned back to Liz. “Because Chase was never married to my sister.”

Chase and Liz acknowledged her sentiment with slight nods.

“But back to my willingness to stay silent…” Merri forced herself to go on. “I agreed with Sasha and Scott that it really wasn’t anyone else’s business how the twins were conceived. Nor would it ever have been, if they had lived to raise the twins.”

But sadly, that hadn’t happened.

Merri shrugged, forcing herself to continue her recollection of the heart-wrenching events that followed. “And then when Scott and Sasha died, I was named guardian of the children, as well as guardian of their estate, so…”

Nodding, Liz jumped to the logical conclusion. “You saw no reason to set the record straight.”

Merri lifted her hands. “We were grieving. It didn’t seem like the right time to disclose all that, in court, since I was already technically their mother…because of the guardianship. And then, a few months later, when I finally went through their things and found the paperwork identifying Chase as the biological father, I erroneously assumed that he wanted that to be kept private, too—”

Merri stopped abruptly, reeling from the memories of that tumultuous time. Of how things might have been different if she and Chase had known about his involvement. That he, too, was a parent to the children—at least biologically.

Merri swallowed hard. Aware Chase and Liz were both waiting for her to continue, she stammered. “So there was just no way I could c-come forward without making things more difficult than they already were.”

“So rather than stir up a hornet’s nest, you just let things be,” Liz said.

“Yes. Because I thought Chase didn’t want to be involved. That he didn’t want to discuss it. Otherwise…I was sure he would have laid claim to the children at the time of Scott and Sasha’s death.”

“So you went on. Alone,” Liz surmised.

“Yes,” Merri admitted in a choked voice. Though she had always known, in the deepest recesses of her heart, that a day of reckoning might come.

As it finally had…

Liz looked at Chase. “What would you like to do here?”

“These kids are mine. I want to be their dad and help Merri raise them. But I also want to do everything we can to protect the twins from scandal.”

“Meaning, keep this quiet,” Liz asserted.

The two nodded in unison, and then Merri added, “I’m no more comfortable with the lies that started all this than Chase is. But we agree—the twins are far too young to understand.”

“If they don’t ever have to know, we’d rather they didn’t,” he added.

“So,” Merri said, “if there was a way this could be handled privately…the court records sealed to ensure word never gets out…”

Liz tapped her fingers on her desk. Looked from Chase to Merri and back again. “I understand what you’re asking me to do. Unfortunately, there are a couple of pretty big problems with all this,” she said. “The twins turned four…”

“Last March,” Merri qualified.

“Hence, in Texas, you can no longer challenge paternity based on DNA. That option ends when a child turns four, no matter what the circumstances. You can terminate the parental rights of Scott and Sasha, and adopt the children, but a judge would first have to determine if that is in their best interest. And I’ll be honest.” Liz sighed. “I don’t see that happening. At least not in the immediate time frame you want.”

Chase lifted a hand. “Wait a minute. Why would we have to adopt them when the DNA tests prove they are ours, biologically?”

“Because in Texas, in the eyes of the law, they are not your children,” Liz explained calmly. “You terminated those legal rights when you donated the sperm and the eggs.”

“Except Scott lied.” Chase grimaced. “He forged my signature. I never agreed to give him that sperm to make a baby.”

Liz gestured matter-of-factly. “But you did give sperm to the research facility. And that permission trumps any legal rights you had prior to that.”

“What happened was still fraudulent,” Chase insisted.

Liz nodded in solemn agreement. “You could sue. There would be a lot of ugly publicity. It would take years. Which is not what you want.”

No, Merri thought miserably, it wasn’t. The kids had been through enough already, being orphaned as babies and spending the past four-plus years without a father figure or steady male influence.

“Then what would be the best course?” Chase countered, obviously still determined to be a part of the twins’ lives.

The attorney leaned back in her chair. “I suggest you look at the matter the way the family court will. The twins have a guardian, and they are doing well. The court is going to want to continue the status quo. So if you want to have

access to the children, your best bet is to petition to be a co-guardian with Merri.”

How often would Chase be around, anyway? she wondered. Given the fact that he was a surgeon, he’d probably be at the hospital all the time. When he wasn’t, well, they would figure out how to coparent. It might even be good for the kids to have a man around all the time. Something she and Sasha had never had when they were young. It would give the twins a male role model, fill the void.

“I could handle that,” Merri murmured.

Chase nodded in relief. “Me, too.”

Liz continued to frown. “That’s a very generous attitude,” she acknowledged. “Unfortunately, for both of you, it’s not quite that simple.”

Chase and Merri groaned in unison as they waited for the ax to fall.

“You see…I know Judge Roy,” Liz continued bluntly. “She is not going to grant this, even on a temporary basis, unless you are married.”

Well, that was out of the question, Merri thought. When she married, it would be for love. Period. To her relief, Chase appeared to feel the same way.

“Isn’t there another judge?” he asked Liz.

The attorney rocked back in her chair. “No. Priscilla Roy is it for Laramie County, in family court.”

“Well, we can still ask,” Chase insisted, as determined as ever to do the right thing. “Explain the situation to her. All Judge Roy can do is say no.”

“That’s true.” Liz pressed her fingertips together in front of her. “But if you lose, you would then have to go to appeal, which would halt the whole process for at least a year.”

Silence fell as they all thought about that.

The last thing Merri wanted was more time in limbo.

Liz leaned forward and concluded kindly, “What I suggest you do is go home, think about all this, spend some time with the kids…and figure out if there isn’t some way the two of you can handle this unofficially, at least for now. Because once you start this process,” she warned, “believe me, there will be no turning back.”

Chapter Two

Chase settled next to Merri on the porch swing. It was a beautiful fall day, sunny and clear, with the temperature hovering around sixty degrees. Broken Arrow land stretched out as far as the eye could see. But as good as it felt to be home again—and the ranch was home to him, and always would be—Chase was focused on the beautiful woman seated beside him. In tailored brown slacks, ivory sweater, and trendy tweed jacket, she was the epitome of a capable thirty-something woman.

The fact that she was so used to being on her own only made the job of convincing her all the harder. “It doesn’t have to be a real marriage,” Chase continued persuasively, determined to have his way on this whether she liked it or not. “At least not in the conventional sense.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” Merri looked at him with a mix of exasperation and cynicism in her vivid green eyes.

He regarded her seriously, aware he had a responsibility here. “Its only purpose will be to help us meet the objective.”

She exhaled softly. “You becoming a father to your children.”

Chase watched as she crossed her legs and clasped her delicate hands around her knee. When had she gotten so all-out beautiful? “While keeping you as the mother they know and love.”

Her forehead creased. “People will talk.” She pushed herself out of the swing, hips swaying provocatively as she began to pace.

Chase stayed where he was, admiring the view. “A lot less if we’re married,” he predicted.

Merri looked at him as if she knew that was true.

“You already asked me if I wanted to stay at the ranch with you and the kids.” He stood and ambled over to join her.

Her hand encircled a post. “Temporarily. And your first instinct was to refuse.”

She smelled like lavender again. Lavender and woman. “Things are different now. We have a lot more on our agenda.”

“No kidding. Look, Chase, I get that we could handle this unofficially, and not get married, but…I don’t want to live with someone again, without being married.”

I don’t want to feel used, unappreciated, not good enough.

Aware that he was scrutinizing her closely, she continued, “The problem with just living together is that it gets too complicated.”

“I agree if I’m to take on the dad role—us getting hitched and becoming a ‘traditional family’ is the best solution.”

On the surface, from a strictly practical point of view, his suggestion was workable. The ranch house had four bedrooms, only two of which were currently occupied, and comprised four thousand square feet. It was more than big enough for the two of them.

The problem was the enforced intimacy of sharing space. The fact that she was already terribly attracted to Chase and would have to be in his presence at all hours of the night and day. With vows exchanged and wedding rings on their fingers, and the whole world thinking they were husband and wife in a very conventional sense, it would be easy to believe their union was more than a means to an end.

Once before, Merri had deluded herself into thinking that proximity plus friendship and desire would grow into something wonderful. She had ended up feeling terribly disillusioned and disappointed, when Pierce finally admitted he didn’t really love her and didn’t want to marry her. She didn’t want to put her heart on the line that way again, only to be rejected in the end.

Trying not to think what Chase’s steady appraisal and deep voice did to her, Merri said, “When I made the offer for you to move in, I was doing so as one extended family member to another.”

He lounged against the side of the house, opposite her, his hands folded against his chest. “You’re worried our relationship wouldn’t stay platonic.”

Well, duh. Merri stared at him, knowing a guy so virile and sexy had to have needs, too. Stubbornly, she kept her eyes locked with his even as her heart raced like a wild thing in her chest. “Aren’t you?”

He shrugged, considering. “I think we’re both adults and could handle whatever happens. Or doesn’t.”

Could they? Was she older and wiser now? More adept at limiting her emotional vulnerability? Certainly, she had lost the naivete that had made her believe in fairy-tale romance and happy endings for everyone. Merri gripped the porch railing. “So if I wanted to avoid physical intimacy…”

He squared his shoulders, suddenly looking like a knight charged with protecting his queen. “We would.”

Now who was kidding whom? She hadn’t had a man in heaven knew how long. The way Chase was looking at her…the place he had come from…indicated he was feeling equally deprived. Still, from a purely technical standpoint, it was a win-win solution for both of them. Especially Chase.

Up to now, he had been dealt a very bad hand in all this. Merri felt for him, and wanted to make it up to him, in whatever way she could.

“How long are we talking about?” she asked cautiously. She had lived with Pierce five years. And in the end, lost a big chunk of her prime child-bearing years to a relationship that culminated in pure heartache. Had it not been for having guardianship of the twins, she wasn’t sure what she would have done.

Chase’s big body began to relax. “A year? Maybe less. It all depends on how fast the twins acclimate to the idea of me being their dad.”

Although the pair had been wary when they’d first greeted him, Merri knew they’d warm up to him a lot more quickly than he probably thought. “And once they do,” she prodded, taking a deep breath as she searched for other pitfalls, “then what?”

He frowned, all protective male again. “If we’re happy—and I have every faith we will be once we all adjust—then we stay a family.”

Merri cautioned herself not to be overly optimistic about that. “And if one of us…wants more than a mere arrangement?” Such as enduring love, which had always eluded her in the past. “Then what?” she prodded.

“We can always divorce,” he said simply.

Merri groaned in dismay.

He shrugged, looking ready for whatever came. “People do it all the time. The kids would adapt to that, too.”

Merri drew another breath as her pulse picked up a notch. “Is that what you want?” She studied him. “A hasty marriage followed by a broken family?”

“What I want,” Chase groaned, “is for this not to have happened. For Sasha and Scott not to have betrayed me. Or put either of us in this impossible situation.” He grimaced. “Since I can’t undo their mistakes, I guess I want what I’ve always wanted. A wife who will stand by my side, and a family to come home to every night.”

He paused as they both reflected on that. Merri realized they were closer in outlook than she’d thought.

“But—” Chase sighed “—that hasn’t happened.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “It may never happen. Let’s face it, Merri. I’m thirty-six…”

Achingly aware she needed to be realistic, too, she murmured, “I’m thirty-four.” And her own fertility was waning by the day.

Their gazes met.

“Maybe it’s past time to quit waiting for everything to be perfect,” he said simply.

Merri thought about what he was proposing. She struggled to contain her shock. “Together,” she affirmed softly.

He rubbed a hand across his jaw. “Arranged marriages have succeeded on a whole lot less.”

With a beleaguered sigh of her own, Merri said, “I think this is more a marriage of convenience.”

“Whatever.” Briefly, irritation creased his handsome features. “You get my drift.”

She did. And the most startling thing was that his suggestion didn’t feel nearly as outrageous as it should. Maybe because she was disappointed in the hand fate had dealt her thus far, too. She was tired of waiting for the once-in-a-lifetime love that might never happen for her. And depriving herself of all the things she wanted in the meantime.

A contentious silence fell between them.

Merri figured as long as they were discussing this, she might as well put it all out there. She folded her arms. “Okay, let’s pretend for a moment that the family part works out great. What are we going to do about sex?”

Because if she was honest, she could easily see herself succumbing to his considerable charm. Whenever she was close to him, she felt a zing of chemistry between them.

Chase narrowed his eyes. “If it happens, it’s consensual. And only with each other, as long as we’re married.”

“I agree anything extramarital would be a very bad idea.”

He cleared his throat and folded his own arms, the motion drawing her eyes to the muscular contours of his chest. “The point is, we can’t do anything about the time I’ve already lost with the twins. I want to be part of my kids’ lives and I want to do it in such a way that doesn’t rob you of any time with them.” He paused and leaned toward her, further invading her personal space.

He lowered his voice. “I respect and appreciate all you have done for them thus far. I just want to be part of the process, part of the family unit. And if marriage is the only way that Judge Roy will allow me to become their co-guardian—” he paused again, and she looked straight into his mesmerizing eyes “—then I don’t see any other way for me to start making up for lost time.”

“We could do it unofficially.”

He flashed a crooked smile. “The kids deserve better than that. They deserve a real family. And if there’s even a chance that we can give them that…”

He was right. Merri released a shaky breath. “Okay. I’ll do it. On one condition....”

Lines of concern bracketed his sensual lips. “And that is…?”

Merri forged ahead. “That I get something I really want out of all this, too.”

“And what would that be?” He lifted a brow.

Overwhelmed by the restlessness stirring inside her, Merri angled a thumb at her chest. “What I’ve never had and always wanted. To carry a child inside me.”

“You want to have my baby?”

Her daring surprising her, too, Merri gestured weakly. “We’ve already had two via medical procedure…”

Chase went still. His gaze roamed her, head to toe, then lingered on her lips. “You’re asking me to impregnate you?”

He didn’t have to sound so dumbfounded! “Donate sperm,” Merri clarified.

Slowly, she saw her idea sink in. A corner of his mouth quirked. “I think if we decide to do this, I’d want to do it the old-fashioned way.”

Me, too, if I was being completely honest. Merri suppressed a sigh. As their gazes continued to mesh, she wondered if she could really do that. Did she have it in her to love strictly as a means to an end? Amazingly enough, if the oh-so-sexy Chase Armstrong was the baby’s daddy, and her lifelong dream was at stake, she imagined she could. Especially if it meant a more romantic conception for the only baby she was ever likely to have.

“All right,” she allowed. “We’ll…” She gulped and forced herself to go on courageously. “We’ll try it the old-fashioned way.” She lifted a cautioning hand. “But only when the time is right.”

Chase nodded, suddenly acting more like a duty-bound medical professional than a sexually accommodating husband-to-be. “I trust you’ll let me know when you’re ovulating.”

Merri nodded, pretending she was as relaxed about the idea of them making love as he seemed. “Sure,” she said, in the most casual tone she could manage.

Another silence fell, this one more companionable. Suddenly the air was charged with hope. “In the meantime,” Chase said in his typical take-charge way, “if we’re really going to get hitched…how about we start taking care of the legalities?”

* * *

“YOU AND THAT MAN—” Jessalyn pointed to Chase, still trying to comprehend what she and her twin brother had been told “—are getting married?”

Merri was still amazed at how quickly Chase had set everything up. But clearly he was a man on a mission—and the whole town seemed to have rallied around the returning local hero. “Yes.” She slipped the blue velvet dress over the little girl’s head, and buttoned up the back. “Chase and I are getting married.”

Jessalyn sat down to shove her leotard-clad feet into her Mary Janes. “Well, then how come you’re not wearing a white dress—like my Wedding Barbie doll?”

Merri turned to help Jeffrey button his shirt and slip on his tie. Quelling her own nerves, she explained gently, “Because it’s not that kind of wedding. It’s a small, private ceremony in the hospital chapel.”

Jessalyn rose and flounced closer. “But weddings are s’posed to be in a church, not a hospital.”

Merri smiled indulgently as her husband-to-be joined them. “Not always.”

Looking resplendent in a dark suit, pale blue shirt and tie, Chase said, “Weddings can be anywhere you want.”

Merri rose and checked her own appearance in the mirror. She had covered her navy tea-length dress with a delicate white cardigan. After much deliberation, she’d left her hair down and added pearl earrings and a necklace. The overall affect was one of understated elegance.

Aware that Chase was checking her out, too, Merri turned away from the mirror. “And the hospital chapel is kind of a church, honey—it’s just a small, cozy one.” And, she added silently, the most logical place for the ceremony to occur on such short notice.

Merri bent to help Jeffrey put on his jacket.

“Can we go milk the cows?” he asked, obediently sliding his hands into the navy sport coat.

“Yeah, I want to see Bessie and Blackie and Benjamen,” Jessalyn declared, twirling around, her arms outstretched.

Chase sent Merri a baffled look. Knowing now was not the time to get into that, she focused on the twins. “We’ll do that another time,” she promised vaguely. Turning to Chase, she asked, “Ready?”

He nodded. Together, the four of them left the ranch house and headed for town. The hospital chaplain was waiting for them, as promised. As were their witnesses—

pediatric surgeon Paige Chamberlain-McCabe and her husband, Kurt.

Paige, who’d gone to medical school with Chase, hugged him hard. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you, soldier?” she murmured.

He grinned. And keeping to the arrangement Merri and he had decided upon, which was to keep their reasons private to protect the twins from scandal, he gestured expansively. “What can I say? The heart wants what the heart wants.”

Wasn’t that the truth, Merri thought, as she and Chase stood before the chaplain.

The ceremony began, the words familiar, but the man beside her little more than a distant, casual friend. More than once Merri wondered if they were making a mistake. But all she had to do was look at the children, standing trustingly beside them, and know that she and Chase were doing what was best for Jeffrey and Jessalyn. And in the end, wasn’t that all that really mattered? Seeing that the kids didn’t suffer for mistakes made by others years ago?

Finally, with vows exchanged and rings on their fingers, the ceremony was complete. “Chase, you may kiss your bride,” the chaplain said.

And he did.

* * *

CHASE HADN’T MEANT TO GIVE Merri more than a peck on the lips, but with everyone standing there, watching, the adults with more than a little skepticism, he decided to take the plunge and give it his all.

Wrapping one arm around her shoulders, his other her waist, he drew her against him. She lifted her face and he lowered his. As contact was made, potent desire roared through him. She caught her breath and gave a little sound that was half murmur, half moan. Her unbidden response compelled him to draw her closer still, allowing the passion zinging through him to dictate the pressure and the pace. Only the fact that they had an audience made him put on the brakes.

Slowly, he released her. Merri stared up at him, dazed. He felt the same shock and amazement.

Kurt cleared his throat. “Wow,” Chase’s old pal murmured. “This is for real.”

It certainly felt that way, Chase realized. He just wasn’t sure if the chemistry between Merri and him was going to make things easier or harder in the days and months ahead.

A hospital volunteer appeared in the doorway of the chapel. “There you are, Dr. Armstrong! I heard you were here. These came for you!” The pink-coated woman rushed forward, a big autumn floral arrangement clasped in her arms. In the center was a large envelope with Chase’s name written on it.

Jeffrey tugged on Chase’s jacket. “Is that a present?”

“Open it!” Jessalyn demanded, crowding in, too.

Chase broke the seal, and pulled out a card.

It featured an eight-by-ten glossy photograph, not the kind that any groom should be receiving on his wedding day. As his “wife” looked over his shoulder, she seemed to agree.

* * *

“WOW,” MERRI MURMURED in shock.

Half a dozen young women were gathered in what looked to be a field hospital. All were clad in desert fatigues, boots and T-shirts. All were holding signs.

“What does it say?” Jessalyn demanded.

“Yeah, Mommy, read it,” Jeffrey chimed in.

“Well, it says ‘We love you, Chase. Miss you already! Can’t believe you actually left us! Holidays are meant to be shared! Texas equals home and home is where the heart is.’ And last but not least…” Merri read the sign held up by a particularly beautiful brunette. “‘We hate that you left us, but…see you soon!’”

She turned to Chase. “Got quite a cast of admirers there,” she drawled.

He grinned good-naturedly. “They like to tease me, that’s for sure.”

As long as teasing was all they were doing, Merri thought irritably.

“Where should I put them?” the volunteer asked. “Your office…?”

“Sure you don’t want to take them home with us?” Merri asked tartly.

“Actually,” Chase said, keeping the photo, and giving back the floral arrangement, “why don’t you set this in the lobby? That way, everyone can enjoy it.”

“Good idea.” Smiling, the volunteer walked out, vase in hand.

Kate Marten-McCabe came in with a young nursing student at her side. Head of the hospital grief counseling services for the last thirty years, Kate was beautiful, kind and direct to a fault. “Chase, Merri, good to see you.” She knelt by the twins with a charismatic smile. “I need to talk to the bride and groom. And it’s grown-up talk.” Kate made a face. The kids giggled and wrinkled their noses back at her. “How would you two like to go down to the playroom in pediatrics for a few minutes? We have a lot of fun toys, and Sally here—” Kate pointed to the nursing student

“—would love to show them to you.”

When Jessalyn and Jeffrey nodded, Kate looked at the newlyweds. “Is this okay with you?”

Aware that whatever this entailed was definitely not for children’s ears, they assented. After the kids took off with Sally, Chase and Merri followed Kate into her office.

The grief counselor sat down behind her desk. “Luke Carrigan, the chief of staff, asked me to speak with you. There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll be blunt. He heard about the marriage and he’s concerned.”

Chase frowned, clearly taken aback. “Because…?”

Compassion lit Kate’s kind eyes. “You’ve just returned from a very stressful situation. And he wants to make sure you’re not suffering from any kind of post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Chase blinked, a little stunned by the assertion. He reached over and took Merri’s hand, letting her know he was more than capable of handling this concern on their behalf. “I was never wounded. Or captured.”

With a cajoling smile, Kate continued, “But you dealt with people who were.... And there are family deaths you never really had a chance to deal with, all of which could combine to make you do things that you wouldn’t normally.”

“I didn’t marry Merri out of any reaction to that,” Chase said, confident as ever.

The grief counselor relaxed. “I’m glad to hear it.”

And yet, Merri thought, Kate obviously continued to sense something was up.

Eager to end this line of questioning, Merri slid her hand into Chase’s and sent him a warning glance. “I think she’s concerned because no one knew you and I were thinking along these lines, Chase.”

Kate nodded soberly, picking up where Merri left off. “You have to admit it’s a shock to the community at large.”

Aggravation twisted the corners of his lips. “It’s also no one else’s business,” he stated in a flat, implacable tone.

Suddenly feeling as if she were dealing with a bull in a china shop, Merri continued to play peacemaker. She stood, dragging Chase along with her. “I—we—understand where you and Dr. Carrigan are coming from, Kate, and believe me, we appreciate your concern.”

Merri flashed a reassuring smile, while Chase played along, wrapping an arm about her waist. “But there’s really no need to worry.” Drawing strength from his warmth, she took another bolstering breath. “Chase and I know we did the right thing in getting married. Not just for the two of us and our future, but for the twins.” She paused, letting her words sink in. “The kids need a daddy. And Chase and I are going to see that they get the complete family they deserve.”

* * *

CHASE’S EXPRESSION WAS maddeningly inscrutable as they left the hospital counseling center. “You didn’t have to defend us,” he stated.

Merri flushed self-consciously. “Uh, yeah, I did.”

“How come?” he asked.

Aware this was a conversation that should not be overheard, she ducked into a small alcove in the painted, cement-block corridor. Defiantly, she lifted her chin. “Laramie County is a small, close-knit community, remember?”

He folded his arms across his chest and shot her a laser-sharp look.

With her back against the cool hospital wall, she ignored the sexual heat radiating from him, and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Everyone watches out for everyone else here.”

He shrugged and leaned in closer yet, dropping his voice, too. “So?” he prodded in a sexy murmur.

Merri drank in the crisp, masculine fragrance emanating from him. “So people are understandably concerned and confused…given how fast this has all come about.” She drew a breath, reassuring herself that despite the impact of their post-nuptial kiss, they were in no real danger of hooking up in the near future. Both of them were much too sensible. “You don’t agree?”

He braced his hands on his hips, his expression becoming even more guarded. “I think they should mind their own business. We’re adults, after all.”

She forced herself to glance away. “Who, you have to admit, are now acting very mysteriously.”

He bent down, caging her with his arms and lowered his face until their mouths were an inch apart. He lifted a strand of hair from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. Came even nearer, so their bodies were touching and she could feel the heat emanating from his. “So what you’re saying is we’ve got some convincing to do if people are going to believe this marriage is for real,” he proposed silkily.

Out of the corner of her eye, Merri saw people lingering at the far end of the corridor, near the elevators.

“No.” She swallowed as he cupped her face in his hands. “That’s not what I said at all.”

“Too bad,” Chase murmured, the amorous glint in his eyes letting her know he planned to make their union as realistic and convincing as possible, for all the doubting Thomases in the vicinity. After all, he knew as well as she did that word of the incident would quickly spread, through the hospital grapevine, then the community at large.

His lips touched hers in a sweet, chaste kiss. “Because it’s what I say,” he vowed, planting a hotly possessive kiss on her mouth.

Merri knew it was all for show. As his lips moved slowly and sensually over hers, she swore that she wasn’t going to kiss him back, but instead would let him do all the work.

It was a good plan. A very safe, intelligent way of resisting him. Unfortunately it backfired big-time. Before even a millisecond went by, her lips parted beneath the persuasive pressure of his. Her knees weakened and her heart rate skyrocketed. Succumbing, she wreathed her arms around his neck and kissed him back, melting against him.

And that was when the polite throat-clearing sounded, followed by rapid footsteps. Breathlessly, Chase and Merri moved apart, only to see Jessalyn and Jeffrey skid to a halt on the shiny linoleum floor.

Then came the confused, indignant demand, “Mommy! Why are you kissing that man!”

* * *

REMINDED THAT ALTHOUGH Chase might secretly be the kids’ biological father, they barely knew who he was—a fact that would quickly have to be rectified—Merri flushed. “We’ll talk about it at home.” She took the children’s hands and told Sally, “Thank you for watching over them.”

“No problem,” the nursing student replied cheerfully. “And congratulations, you two! Everyone is saying this came out of left field, but the way the doc was kissing you just now? No way!” she proclaimed. She pointed to Merri and Chase before heading off to resume her duties. “That’s definitely the real deal.”

“Mommy! You didn’t answer my question! Why were you kissing him? Again!” Jessalyn said in annoyance.

“Because we’re married and married people kiss sometimes. Especially—” Merri elbowed Chase “—when they are trying to make a point.”

He leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Hey, it worked, didn’t it?”

To rev her up, maybe. And start more gossip.

Jeffrey and Jessalyn looked at each other, perplexed. Clearly, they didn’t know what to make of this. “So what now?” Chase asked as he and Merri left the hospital, kids in tow.

“I still want to go milk the cows,” Jessalyn insisted.

“Me, too,” Jeffrey chimed in.

Chase waited for Merri to decide. “Actually, we do have to get back to the ranch,” she said eventually.

“Hurrah!” Jeffrey and Jessalyn cried in unison.

“I thought you got rid of the beef cattle years ago.” Chase held open the car door for the kids.

“I had to. Scott and Sasha went deep into debt to pay for their fertility treatments, and it was the only way to settle the estate so it could get through probate.”

Chase didn’t look surprised to learn his brother and sister-in-law had gravely mismanaged the ranch. “And you’ve just leased the land since, for crops and grazing?”

Nodding, Merri leaned in to help Jessalyn fasten her safety harness. “Initially, all I did was allow others to plant alfalfa, hay and corn on the farmable land, and rotate the cattle on other parts, for grazing.”

Chase did the same for Jeffrey. “And that brought in more than enough to pay the mortgage and the taxes and the upkeep on the property?”

“As well as a small salary for me.”

“But…?” he prodded, sensing there was more.

Merri climbed into the passenger seat. “Eventually, I realized I needed to build something of my own for me and the kids, and take a more active part in the running of the ranch.” She tugged her dress down over her knees. “Which is when I converted the barn on the south part of the property to a milking operation, hired one full-time hand to help me manage it and bought a dozen Jersey cows and a dozen Guernseys.”

Chase did a double take. “You’re turning the Broken Arrow Ranch into a dairy farm?”

“Uh, yeah.…I am.”

His jaw tautened. “You never mentioned it in any of your letters.”

That’s because I knew you wouldn’t approve. “Hmm. Didn’t I?”

He made a face.

“The cows are really cute,” Jessalyn interjected from her booster seat. “Some are brown and white and some are black and white....”

“I like it when they moo,” Jeffrey declared.

Chase continued gaping at Merri as if she were a complete and utter fool. She refused to let his skepticism get her down. “It’s a good thing,” she promised, sure about this decision even if she wasn’t so certain about others. Cheerfully, she predicted, “And it will be even better in a few years, when we get the dairy operation expanded to quadruple the size.”

* * *

MERRI HADN’T BEEN KIDDING, Chase noted thirty minutes later when all four of them had changed into “ranch clothes,” hopped in the pickup truck and headed for the south side of the Broken Arrow Ranch. Just as she had claimed, there were twenty-four cows pastured outside the big barn. All were big, robust, surprisingly handsome animals. Most were heading slowly for the barn door as the truck approached.

“The cows like to come in all on their own!” Jessalyn announced.

“But if they don’t, Mutt—the doggie—will help Slim get the cows inside the barn, so they can get hooked up,” Jeffrey added helpfully.

“The cows know when it’s time to be milked, so they head for the barn,” Merri explained.

Chase parked in the gravel area and everyone got out.

A tall, thin cowboy in his mid-fifties came out of the barn, with a border collie at his heels. The gray-haired hired hand tipped his hat at Merri before glancing at Chase. “I expect you want to have a look around,” he drawled, with the respect due one of the original Armstrongs.

Did he? Chase wondered.

Finding out what Merri had been doing to the place was his worst nightmare. He was stunned no one had mentioned it. But maybe they’d figured—rightly so—that it was going to be a sore subject with him.

Chase tipped his hat back to Slim, a cowboy he recalled meeting at the barbecue in his honor. “May as well,” he grumbled.

Clasping the children’s hands, Merri led the way inside the sparkling, clean barn.

Chase was stunned to see twenty-four stalls, and plenty of stainless-steel, state-of-the-art milking equipment with hoses running to a big steel vat.

Merri murmured with pride, “I joined a co-op dairy that supplies organic milk to a big grocery store chain. Every day a truck comes in and takes it to the processing plant, for ultrahigh-temperature processing and packaging.”

“I don’t like the truck,” Jessalyn complained, covering her ears. “It’s too noisy.”

“But we like watching the cows get milked,” Jeffrey said.

As the bovines were ushered into the stalls, they were hooked up to the milking machines. For all the activity, the barn was surprisingly quiet and peaceful.

Chase’s cell phone rang.

He stepped outside to take the call, then walked back in to let Merri know the latest. “That was Liz Cartwright Anderson. She got us on Judge Roy’s docket for tomorrow afternoon at four. We’re the last case the judge is going to hear before the Thanksgiving break.”

A fact, Chase thought happily, that put them one step closer to his ultimate goal: to have this family officially his.

Chapter Three

“You know what I think?” Judge Priscilla Roy said after listening to Chase and Merri’s joint request for guardianship. In her black robe, glasses perched on the edge of her nose, the dark-haired justice cut an imposing figure as she glared at Chase. “None of what is going on here today, or what happened yesterday in the hospital chapel, has anything to do with the kind of unconditional love and commitment needed for a successful marriage, never mind a stable family unit.”

She was right about that, Merri thought. Their union wasn’t about the feelings she and Chase had for each other.

“I think you’re just doing this to provide access to the children slash heirs and get back control of the family ranch.”

Merri blinked. What?

“Your Honor. There has been no request from Mr. Armstrong for control of the children’s estate,” Liz interjected with lawyerly calm.

Judge Roy waved her hand, then drew her glasses farther down the bridge of her nose and peered at Chase. “Don’t tell me you’re happy about what happened to the ranch you grew up on. Armstrongs and the Broken Arrow have always raised beef cattle. Not dairy cows.”

“That’s true,” Chase admitted with admirable candor. “What’s happened there would not have been my choice. But I do understand.” He turned to glance at Merri. “My wife had to raise these kids on her own and take care of the property. She’s done the best she could under the circumstances.”

Unmoved, Judge Roy continued, “But you could do better?”

Chase lifted his hands. “I’m a surgeon.”

Sternly, the judge commanded, “Answer the question, please.”

He released an exasperated breath and looked at her, squaring his shoulders deliberately. “Yes. I think I could do better. But that’s not the point, Your Honor.”

“Actually, Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong, I think that is exactly the point. Mr. Armstrong is back in town and wants what was previously denied him by his mother’s estate—control of the ranch and its assets, which are currently held in trust for the children. To get that, he would have to be co-guardian of the kids.” Priscilla Roy paused meaningfully. “And to achieve that, at least in my courtroom, he has to be married to Merri Duncan. Which he has managed in very short order, with no prior courtship, at least that anyone in the county seems to know about.”

Merri didn’t know what they could say to that, without breaking the promise she and Chase had made to each other to keep the twins’ biological origins private and hence protect the children from scandal. It was bad enough that they’d been orphaned at eight weeks of age, without making Scott and Sasha out to be conniving liars.

Thank heavens the twins didn’t understand any of this. At four and a half, they simply wanted Merri to be their mommy, and hopefully soon, for Chase to be their daddy.

“Judge,” Liz interrupted, “if I may… I have spoken at length with my clients. They both want what is best for these children. Jeffrey and Jessalyn need a father and a mother, and my clients are willing to make the necessary sacrifices and work together to provide that.”

Judge Roy looked at Merri. “An early Christmas gift?”

Wary of making a mistake that would put them in even deeper trouble, she admitted cautiously, “Something like that.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong. You worked as a wedding planner before settling back in Laramie County?”

Merri nodded. “That’s true.”

Judge Roy rocked back in her chair. “And isn’t that a romantic profession?”

Merri winced. “It’s a profession that provides romance. I don’t know how romantic it is for the planner at the end of the day.” She sighed. “Weddings can be very stressful. And a lot of time, the days leading up to the ceremony are anything but romantic.”

The justice pushed her glasses back into place. “So in other words, your work left you jaded.”

Merri shrugged and risked a tiny glance at Chase, who stood beside her, sober and strong. “Maybe. A little.” As had her personal experiences with relationships. “But also exceedingly practical.” She paused, searching for the right words. “I do want what is best for the children. And I think having Chase in their lives, as their dad, will provide that.” It was certainly better than splitting the children up, one night at her place, one night at his.... Which was the only other fair alternative.

“Okay.” Judge Roy sat back, folded her hands on the desk. “You’ve convinced me to give you a chance. But that is all it is. An opportunity to prove that your marriage is a real one, not a sham, and what you are proposing is in the best interest of the twins. If I find out you’re misleading this court in any way, if this marriage is simply a means to an end, I’ll remove you both as guardians.”

Remove? Merri blinked in shock.

Judge Roy turned to her clerk. “Schedule another hearing, for January 3.” She banged her gavel, signaling their hearing had come to an end.

Stunned, Merri left the courtroom with Chase and Liz, as the next case was called. Their lawyer guided them down the hall to a spot where they could talk privately.

“Would the judge really do that?” Merri asked, her voice wobbling as badly as her knees. Clapping a hand over heart, she sank down on the closest wooden bench. “Take the kids away from us?”

“It’s within Judge Roy’s power. But she’s not going to do that, as long as this is a genuine attempt to build a loving, supportive family that will benefit all of you in the long run.”

“It is,” Chase said firmly, with laudable assurance. “Merri and I will make this work.”

Merri only wished she felt as confident.

“So much for our plans to divorce if things don’t work out,” she murmured as the two of them walked to the parking lot. She still felt shaky and at a loss. Chase, on the other hand, looked more confident than ever.

“Judge Roy had a point. Nothing good was ever accomplished with one foot out the door.”

Merri knew the words were truer than she wished. Still… “I’m scared.”

He caught her to him as they reached the car. “Don’t be,” he murmured with both hands on her shoulders. He looked deep into her eyes. “We’re two very strong people, who want only the best for the kids. We’ll find a way to make it work.”

Chase was as good as his word. He was there to help, with dinner and baths and story time. Jeffrey and Jessalyn still regarded him with wariness, but they were slowly warming to him, Merri could tell. As was evidenced by the last question of the day, as they were being tucked in for the night.

“Is Chase going to be our daddy…now that you two are married?” Jessalyn asked.

Merri looked at Chase. He waited, leaving the answer up to her. They hadn’t broached the subject yet, because they hadn’t wanted to rush the kids. “Yes, this makes him your daddy,” Merri said, with as much ease as she could muster.

“Is that okay with you?” Chase asked.

Jessalyn and Jeffrey exchanged looks. Two lower lips slid out truculently. “No,” Jeffrey said.

“We don’t want a daddy right now,” Jessalyn added.

Chase’s expression was inscrutable, but Merri could tell from the faint sheen in his eyes that he was crushed. As was she. “Why not?” she asked the kids, when she found her voice.

“Because we already got a mommy, so we don’t need a daddy,” Jessalyn explained.

“It’s okay,” Chase assured them, seeming to understand that he had upset the equanimity of the household.

“You can change your minds anytime,” Merri felt compelled to add.

Jeffrey sighed and hugged his teddy bear tightly. “We’re not going to.”

Jessalyn nodded in agreement. And that, it seemed, was that.

* * *

“SORRY THEY WEREN’T MORE cooperative,” Merri said as she and Chase went down the stairs together.

“They’ll warm up,” he predicted.

Merri hoped so. Thanks to Judge Roy’s ultimatum, they didn’t have a lot of time to make this work.

Unfortunately, Chase had an early call at the hospital. So the twins didn’t see him at all the next morning before preschool.

“Try a lot of short visits,” Merri’s friend Paige said, when she talked to her later that morning. Paige was not only a dedicated pediatrician, but also an experienced mother of demanding triplets. “It will help the kids get used to Chase and vice versa, and put a lot less pressure on all of them.”

Deciding it was good advice, Merri stopped by the hospital complex, after picking up the kids from school.

“How come we’re going to the hospital?” Jessalyn asked.

“I don’t want another shot,” Jeffrey whimpered, holding his hand over his thigh.

Paige held open the door to the hospital annex, where all the physician offices were located. “You’re not going to get one today. You already had your flu shots last month, remember?”

Jeffrey rubbed his thigh in memory. “That’s why I don’t want another one.”

“So how come we’re here, if we’re not going to the doctor?” Jessalyn persisted, pausing to study the festive turkey and cornucopia display taped outside the pediatric services suite.

Merri took the children’s hands and pressed on. “I thought we’d surprise Chase and see if he’d like to have lunch with us in the cafeteria.”

More frowns. “I’d rather go to the Dairy Barn,” Jessalyn said with a pout.

Merri paused outside the general surgery suite. “Another time,” she promised.

She ushered the children in, only to be told by the receptionist, “You just missed him. He went down to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat.”

“Perfect!” Merri smiled and ushered the children back out into the hall. Not surprisingly, they grumbled and dragged their heels all the way to the cafeteria.

Chase had already gone through the line. Tray in hand, he was searching for a seat when he saw them. He flashed a devastating smile, set his tray on a table for four and strode toward them.

He was looking more handsome than ever in blue surgical scrubs and a white doctor’s coat, and Merri felt her heart quiver in response. She knew this wasn’t a real marriage in the traditional sense, but at the moment, it felt as if it were.

Aware that all eyes were on them, she beamed at him. “Hey.”

Still smiling, Chase pressed a quick, casual kiss to her temple, then leaned down to do the same to the kids.

Instead of welcoming the gesture, they both shrank back, out of reach. The twins clung to Merri, hiding their faces in the fabric of her wool trousers.

“Can we go home now?” Jeffrey’s voice was muffled against her leg.

Merri patted his shoulder reassuringly. “Let’s have some lunch first, okay?”

The little boy was about to protest when a loud cheer went up behind them. Squeals of delight were followed by a chorus of “There he is!” “What a sight for sore eyes!” “Handsome as always, Dr. Heartbreaker!”

Dr. Heartbreaker?

Merri turned, coming face-to-face with the half-dozen young women from Chase’s photo. They were clad in desert-hued camouflage pants, jackets and form-fitting beige

T-shirts, and were all incredibly glad to see Chase. From the welcoming expression on her now husband’s face, he was equally thrilled to see them.

En masse, the women streamed toward him. And one after another, with everyone in the hospital cafeteria looking on, they greeted Chase with more whoops and hollers and heartfelt hugs.

“What are you-all doing here?” he asked, beaming as if he had just won the lottery.

And maybe he had.

One of the ladies flashed a megawatt smile. “You said we could visit anytime and you’d put us up!”

“So when we all unexpectedly got a month’s leave and decided to go on a road trip, we figured we’d take you up on it,” a striking brunette added, going on tiptoe to give Chase another long, lingering hug. She drew back, the name-necklace at her throat glittering, and with an air of feminine possessiveness punched on his broad shoulder playfully. “Besides, what’s a holiday without our favorite guy?”

Okay. Enough was enough, especially with a big chunk of the hospital visitors and staff looking on, absorbing every word.

“Or his family,” Merri interjected sweetly, asserting herself once again.

The women all turned to look at her and the children.

Abruptly recalling his manners, Chase stepped back. Drawing Merri and the kids around him, he said, “Ladies, I’d like you to meet my wife, Merri, and our kids, Jeffrey and Jessalyn.”

Our kids. Merri liked the sound of that almost as much as the sound of my wife.

“Wife?” the women echoed in shock.

The brunette with the name necklace—Starr—stepped forward. “Kids?” she demanded. “Since when?”

“Don’t tell us you were married all along, you heartbreaker!” the freckled redhead said.

“Actually, we just got married yesterday,” Merri told them.

Six brows furrowed in confusion.

Chase lifted a palm, not about to go into it there with the entire hospital cafeteria crowd still watching. “It’s a long story,” he said mildly.

“Fortunately,” the striking brunette, Starr, said with a playful moue, “we’ve got all the time in the world to hear it.” She insinuated herself between Chase and Merri, snuggled up to his side and gazed up at him adoringly. “That is, if you’re still as good as your word, Chase Armstrong, and intend to put us all up for the Thanksgiving holiday, Texas-style.”

Chapter Four

“It’s too much to ask.”

Maybe for a casual friend, but for a presumably loving wife? Merri wondered.

“You don’t have to do this,” Chase told her, after his army buddies had promised to meet up with him when he got off work at five-thirty.

To Merri’s relief, the bevy of attractive women had gone, en masse, to the shops on Main Street, to purchase some genuine “Texas” duds for their three-day stay. The twins were seated at a table by the window, happily chowing down on some ice cream, while Merri and Chase talked quietly, just out of earshot.

“I’ll figure something else out,” he promised, sipping his coffee.

Merri leaned her back against the cafeteria wall, glad most of the lunch crowd and staff had dispersed. She turned to Chase, feeling the heat of his gaze like a physical caress. “Really?”

He didn’t take his eyes off her. “Really.”

She ran a hand through her hair, suddenly feeling a little too aware of her hunky new husband. “Where are your friends going to go? It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Every hotel room in a hundred-mile radius has been booked for months.”

A conflicted glimmer appeared in Chase’s eyes. Obviously, he hadn’t thought about the impact the holiday would have on hotel room availability in rural west Texas. He did, however, seem to realize that Merri was suddenly feeling as if she had been relegated to seventh-wheel status, in the pecking order of go-getting females who’d traveled thousands of miles to be with him.

His handsome features tightened in resignation. “I’m sorry, Merri. You and I should be focused on the kids now, getting them adjusted to the changes in our lives. Instead…” He paused, shook his head then sent her a beseeching glance.

They had houseguests.

Lots of very attractive, very smitten female houseguests.

Chase continued, “When I issued the standing invitation to everyone in my unit, I wasn’t married.”

Merri knew the appearance of his army buddies was unexpected—although maybe she and Chase should have gotten a clue from the holiday gift basket and card, and all the signs the women were holding up in the photo.

But that only made it a tiny bit better. Because Chase was right…it would be best if they could focus on the kids—and being married—without an audience of half a dozen very interested admirers.

Still, it was the holiday season, a time of thanks and giving. And these were friends and colleagues who had served in the military field hospital alongside Chase. Merri put her emotions aside, dug deep and called up the generosity the situation required.

She reached out and touched his arm gently. “It’s okay, Chase. Really.” She looked into his eyes, so he would know she meant what she said from the bottom of her heart. “It’s only for a couple of nights, and we have room at the ranch—if everyone doubles up and two people volunteer to sleep on sofas.”

Chase’s brow furrowed as he calculated, same as Merri. There were two guest rooms, two sofas, one master suite…and eight adults.

“Obviously, you’ll have to sleep in my room temporarily.” Merri stepped back slightly. Thinking about what it would be like to share the sheets with him, she struggled to control a self-conscious flush.

Chuckling, he took her hand. Warmth spread throughout her body as his fingers engulfed hers. “There’s always the barn....”

Merri’s throat went dry as she gazed up into his mischievous eyes. “Hilarious,” she muttered, then returned to the matter at hand. “But like it or not, we’ll have to sleep together as long as we have company. Otherwise people will speculate more than they already are.”

“How do you know they’re speculating?” he asked in surprise.

Seriously? Merri rolled her eyes in exasperation. A hot development like the marriage was probably all over the hospital and town grapevines. “Did you not see the looks we were getting in the cafeteria when your lady friends arrived?”

“Uh…” Chase shrugged his broad shoulders, looking every bit the clueless male. “Not really…”

“What about before that?” Merri pressed. “When we said hello and the kids were anything but happy to see their new dad?”

A look of hurt flashed in Chase’s eyes, then disappeared. That he apparently did recall, all too acutely, and Merri’s heart went out to him. He had already missed so much. First steps, first words. All those Christmases and birthdays. The first day of preschool. Through no fault of his own.

His expression sobered, becoming all the more sincere. “I think you’re being too sensitive,” he countered softly. “People understand we just got married and are in an adjustment period here.”

She studied his big, scrub-clad frame, deciding he was way too sexy in whatever he wore. Way too masculine and capable and kind. Aware that she could fall hard for Chase if she wasn’t careful—and she intended to be careful, particularly with a bevy of female admirers suddenly in the picture. Merri folded her arms in front of her. “Maybe people also understand a lot more than we’d like them to—which is why everyone is so skeptical when they look at us.”

What if they couldn’t fool his friends? Merri worried nervously.

Or anyone else, for that matter. What would Judge Roy do if she concluded that Merri and Chase were just scamming the court, as a means to an end? Laramie County was a close-knit community. Sooner or later, everyone knew everyone else’s business. Or at least most of it.

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