brides for brothers 02 - cowboy daddy (16 page)

“Oh, thanks.” At least she knew she wouldn’t have to face another night in Pete’s arms. She ignored the disappointment that filled her.

After she’d taken several bites, she looked at Megan. “I guess I owe everyone an apology. I’m usually not such a prima donna.”

“Of course you aren’t. These Randall men are a difficult lot. But they really only want to take care of you. Jake even bought a book.”

Janie stared at her. “What? A book about what?”

“Pregnancy, silly!” Megan assured her with a chuckle. “Can’t you picture Jake hiding in the barn reading a book about pregnant women instead of some girlie magazine? He admitted it at lunch, and I had a hard time not laughing.”

“Jake?” Janie squeaked in surprise.

“Yes, and Pete’s going to borrow it.”

Janie joined Megan in some cleansing laughter.

T
HE MEN RETURNED
at dark, cold, tired and hungry. But it cheered Pete to find Janie in the kitchen with Megan and Red, setting the table for dinner.

“You’ve got twenty minutes to clean up,” she announced as they entered, smiling at all of them.

Pete wanted her smile just for him. He moved toward her, his gaze intense. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t sidestep his embrace. “Hi, honey. I’m home,” he whispered in her ear before he kissed her.

When he released her, he had to fight the desire to scoop her up in his arms and continue upstairs.

“You smell like horse,” she complained, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. “Go grab a shower before we eat.”

“Care to come scrub my back?”

“Pete!” Her reddened cheeks delighted him. He much preferred this homecoming to the one at lunch.

“We’ve got everything under control down here,” Red added, his eyes twinkling. “Just don’t take too long, or we’ll eat without you.”

“Newlyweds!” Brett exclaimed. Since Chad and Megan had already left the room, his complaint fell only on Pete and Janie.

“Jealous, little brother?” Jake asked. “If so, I know a remedy.”

“Don’t start, Jake. You’ve got Pete and Chad married. You should be satisfied.” Brett started to the kitchen door, hoping to escape his big brother’s attention.

“It’s only a matter of time,” Jake shouted after him as he followed him out of the kitchen.

“Skedaddle,” Red insisted, moving around Pete and Janie. “I’m not letting my food go cold. Twenty minutes flat, no more, no less.”

“I should stay and help—” Janie began.

“Nope.
Newlyweds
should go up together,” Pete insisted, hoping she caught his message. After all, she’d promised to keep the state of their marriage a secret.

After staring at him intently, she turned without a word and headed for the stairs. When they arrived at their bedroom, he reached in front of her and opened the door. “After you, Mrs. Randall.”

She entered ahead of him but then stood awkwardly in the center of the room.

Pete looked around, too. “You unpacked? You didn’t overdo it, did you? Red or I could’ve helped you.”

“No. I didn’t need any help. And Red has enough to do.”

Pete grunted as he began unbuttoning his shirt and headed for the closet for a fresh one. He’d carefully left half the closet space for Janie when he’d moved his things in. Somehow, their clothes sharing a space, even if he and his wife didn’t, sent a thrill up his spine. He pushed back the closet door to discover the space inside didn’t look any different than it had yesterday.

“Where are your things?” he asked, wheeling around to face her.

“In the other room,” she said quietly, meeting his look.

He strode through the bathroom to the other bedroom, over to the closet and threw the door open. He stood there, staring at rows of shirts, skirts and dresses, feminine clothing, hanging pristinely in the closet.

She couldn’t even share the closet?

Frustration rose up in him, and he reached forward and filled his big hands with hangers. Before Janie could protest, he had spun around, his hands grasping her clothes, and headed back to the other room.

“Pete, what are you doing?”

He ignored her.

“Pete, where are you going with my things? We’re not sharing the same room, remember?” She tried to get between him and the closet door, but he wouldn’t let her.

“Janie,” he said softly, slowly, emphatically, “we may not be sharing the same bed, at least not now, but we sure as hell are going to share the same closet. Don’t argue with me.” His order didn’t sit well with her, he could tell, but she stepped back, frowning at him.

He made a second trip. When he came back into the bedroom, she hadn’t moved. But she spoke. “All my things won’t fit in the closet.”

“Then we’ll
both
keep things in the other closet. But when Red puts our clean clothes away, I don’t want him getting any ideas.”

“But, Pete, I told Red I’d take care of our rooms. And our laundry. No one will know.”

“I’ll know,” he insisted, whirling around to glare at her. “We’re married, Janie. Get used to it.”

Without waiting for an answer, an answer he feared he wouldn’t like, Pete slammed shut the closet door and strode into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Ripping off his shirt, he sat on the side of the tub and pulled off his boots, then shed the rest of his clothing.

The tension didn’t dissolve even a little until steaming hot water splayed on his broad shoulders. But the water massage couldn’t dissolve the raging hunger inside him. He wanted Janie so badly he could hardly concentrate.

But it wasn’t just sex that fueled that hunger. He wanted her to be a part of him, emotionally as well as physically. He wanted the right to claim her. The wedding should have given him that right. But he knew, if no one else did, that Janie had only married him because of the babies. She’d made it clear she never would’ve walked down that aisle if Doc hadn’t told her she was having twins.

A jarring thought brought him up short. Wasn’t it the same for him? He wouldn’t have married her if she weren’t pregnant. After all, he’d refused her proposal before he’d known. What had changed suddenly? Pete refused to contemplate how his feelings for Janie had changed. There was too much else to think about. Like what would happen once the babies were born. Janie couldn’t leave, could she? Taking his children with her? Such a thought almost stopped his heartbeat. Why hadn’t he thought of it before?

Because he’d wanted to believe that once they were married, everything would work itself out.

So far, that hadn’t happened.

He savagely shut off the tap and stepped from the shower, grabbing a towel from the linen closet. He rubbed himself vigorously, hoping to restore his belief in their future…together.

Then he swung open the bedroom door and discovered his wife sitting on the bed, staring at him as he stood in the doorway stark naked.

A
FTER DINNER THAT NIGHT
, Pete challenged Chad and Megan to a game of pool. He didn’t want Janie to retreat to “her” room, locked away from his sight.

“Hey, good idea,” Chad agreed. He took Megan’s hand and led her toward the room that housed their pool table.

Pete kept his gaze on their locked hands, envy filling him. Every time he touched Janie, she pulled away. Maybe he could coach her on her playing.

Minutes later, after Chad racked the balls, Pete knew he’d have a better shot of getting Janie to coach him. They hadn’t played together since she was eleven or twelve. Somewhere along the way, she’d improved her game. Not to mention a few other things.

Chad leaned over to kiss his wife. “Sorry, darlin’, but I may have to trade you in for Janie. Especially if we ever get challenged by someone other than family.”

Megan puffed up in pretend anger. “Only married a couple of weeks and you’re already tired of me?”

Chad dropped his pool cue with no compunction and wrapped his arms around Megan. “Changed my mind,” he assured her, burying his lips in her hair.

“Your shot, Megan,” Pete said, hoping to bring the attention back to the game. Otherwise, he was going to die of frustration. “Good playing, Janie.”

Chad picked up his cue stick and patted Megan on her rear. “Go get ’em, tiger.”

“Behave, Chad, or Janie and Pete won’t play with us again,” Megan warned him, and then turned her attention toward the table.

A puzzled frown came over her face. “What do I do?”

Before either man could offer advice, Janie began explaining Megan’s options and showing her how to shoot.

Chad stepped over to Pete. “Remember Rita? When I offered to help Megan when the two of you were playing us, she became enraged. She didn’t want to lose.”

Pete remembered. Rita was the third decorator who’d visited the ranch with Megan and Adele. Once she’d caught sight of the Randall brothers, though, her mind was on activities other than decorating. She hadn’t been their kind. Like Megan. And Janie.

Janie bent over the table to demonstrate a shot for Megan, and his gaze unerringly traced her trim shape. Beautiful and kind. Smart. And hardheaded as all get-out. He grinned. When he’d come out of the bathroom, she’d looked her fill. And then opened the dresser drawer to toss him a pair of briefs. “You’d better hurry before dinner starts.” Then she’d left the room.

He didn’t think he could’ve mustered such sangfroid if Janie had been naked. In fact, even thinking about such a sight had his blood surging.

“Your shot, Pete,” Janie called to him.

Surprised, he looked at the others. “Um, I think I need some help, too. Like Megan.”

Chad stepped forward.

“Not you, bozo,” Pete growled, and then smiled sweetly at Janie.

“Get real, Pete. You were an expert by the time I was born,” Janie replied, lifting an eyebrow.

“Well, then, how about a good-luck kiss?”

To his surprise, she stepped forward and brushed her lips across his, one hand resting on his chest for balance. His immediate fantasy of taking her right there on the pool table didn’t help his aim. He missed.

“I think Pete’s trying to make me not feel so bad,” Megan said, smiling at her brother-in-law.

Chad chuckled. “I think Pete’s mind isn’t on the game. And if Janie kisses him for luck every time it’s his turn, we’ll win.”

“Maybe Megan will return the favor and do a little distracting of her own,” Pete suggested, wrapping an arm around Janie’s slim figure. His heart clutched when she leaned her head against his chest, her silky hair resting against his chin.

“Not a bad idea. I’ll prove I can handle distraction better than you,” Chad assured his brother. Then he pulled Megan to him and kissed her thoroughly. Casually he released her and bent over the table. And missed.

“Damn! Unlucky shot,” he muttered, avoiding his brother’s gaze.

Janie stepped up to the table for her turn.

“Wait a minute! She’s been doing better than all of us. Give her a kiss, Pete. Let’s see if she can handle distraction better than the rest of us.” Chad grinned at both of them before he ordered, “And no lilylivered peck like the last one.”

Pete eyed his wife, wondering if she’d protest. When she turned toward him expectantly, he took her response as a green light. And proceeded with great expertise. And a lot of heat.

“Wow!” Chad said as Pete released Janie. “Janie, if you can make a shot after that, you’ve got ice water in your veins.”

Pete thought so, too. He knew he was on fire.

Janie stepped up to the table and studied the balls’ positions. Pete looked for any flicker of distraction or lack of concentration. It seemed important to him that Janie be as distracted as he was. As if it would be proof that his wife cared for him, wanted him.

She lined up her shot, pushed her long black braid back over her shoulder and hit the cue ball.

Pete stared in dismay as the little white ball rolled across the table, smacked into the nine ball and drove it into the hole.

Perfect shot.

Chapter Twelve

When their heavy breathing returned to normal, and Chad lay relaxed with Megan wrapped in his arms, she whispered, “Do Janie and Pete strike you odd in any way?”

Chad frowned and raised his head slightly. “What are you talking about?”

“They don’t seem…comfortable with each other. Janie even avoids Pete’s touch. And he seems reluctant.”

“You must’ve had your eyes closed when he kissed her before she made that last shot.” As if the memory reminded him of what he liked, too, he kissed his wife again. “Mmm, but I like kissing now better than kissing while playing pool.”

“Me, too, but—”

“Give ’em a break, sweetheart. They’ve only been married a day or two. Unlike us. We’ve been married two weeks tomorrow. We’re old hands at this sort of thing.” He kissed her again. “But don’t you worry about old Pete. He’ll kiss Janie off her feet in no time.” He chuckled. “Silly remark, I guess, since she’s already pregnant.”

Megan lay pressed against her husband’s heart, well satisfied with her lot in life. But she also still had doubts about Pete and Janie. She didn’t want anything to be wrong, but she couldn’t quell the feeling that something wasn’t right.

But she wasn’t going to say any more to her husband about it.

“In fact,” Chad whispered, running a hand up and down her back, “we may have been married first, but Pete’s one up on me. Or should I say two up?” he added with a chuckle. “Maybe we’d better practice again.”

“This isn’t a competition,” Megan protested but weakly. She was enjoying his suggestion too much.

W
HEN
J
ANIE WOKE
the next morning, she didn’t have any trouble remembering where she was. She was in another room, away from Pete, in a single bed, missing his warmth and touch.

The sound of the shower immediately filled her with the picture of Pete when he’d opened the door yesterday sans his clothes. It had been all she could do to speak straight. Then she’d had to play pool with the man, in front of Chad and Megan, and try to ignore her hormones.

No one had been more surprised than her when she’d sunk the nine ball. Especially since she’d been aiming for the number three next to it.

She’d been too embarrassed to confess to Pete. And then she’d been too alarmed. Pete had stared at her coldly, as if she’d slapped him in the face. That reaction had caused her to miss the next shot.