AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Reese leaned back in the chair and gave her a look that would have seared metal. “You’re not taking my children away from me.”
“Calm down,” the lawyer soothed. “This is all hypothetical. Both of you are talking as if a divorce is inevitable, and if that’s the case, I would suggest that you not get married. Statistics say that half of new marriages end in divorce, but that means that half don’t. You may well be married to each other for the rest of your lives, and there may not be any children anyway.”
Madelyn ignored him. She looked only at Reese. “I don’t intend to take our children away from you, but neither do I intend to give them up. I think we should share custody, because children need both parents. Don’t try to make me pay for what April did,” she warned.
“But you’d want them to live with you.”
“Yes, I would, just as you’d want them to live with you. We aren’t going to change that by negotation. If we did divorce, I’d never try to turn our children against you, nor would I take them out of the area, but that’s something you’ll just have to take on trust, because I’m not signing any paper that says I’ll give up my children.”
There were times, he noted, when those sleepy gray eyes could become sharp and clear. She was all but baring her teeth at him. It seemed there were some things that mattered enough to rouse her from her habitual lazy amusement, and it was oddly reassuring that the subject of their children, hypothetical though they were, was one of them. If he and April had had a child, she would have wanted custody of it only as a way to get back at him, not because she really wanted the child itself. April hadn’t wanted to have children at all, a fact for which he was now deeply grateful. Madelyn not only appeared to want children, she was ready to fight for them even before they existed.
“All right,” he finally said, and nodded to the lawyer. “Strike that clause from the agreement. If there’s ever a divorce, we’ll hash that out then.”
Madelyn felt drained when they left the lawyer’s office. Until then, she hadn’t realized the depth of Reese’s bitterness. He was so determined not to let another woman get the upper hand on him that it might not be possible for her to reach him at all. The realization that she could be fighting a losing battle settled on her shoulders like a heavy weight.
“When do your stepbrother and best friend get here?” he asked curtly. He hadn’t liked the idea of Robert and Christine being at their wedding, and now Madelyn knew why. Having friends and relatives there made it seem more like a real wedding than just a business agreement, and a business agreement, with bed privileges, was all Reese wanted, all he could accept.
“The day before the wedding. They won’t be able to stay afterward, so we’re going out to a restaurant the night before. You can be here, can’t you?”
“No. There’s no one at the ranch to put the animals up for the night and do the chores for me. Even if I left immediately afterward, it’s almost a three-hour drive, so there’s no point in it.”
She flushed. She should have thought of the long drive and how hard he had to work. It was a sign of how much she had to learn about ranching. “I’m sorry, I should have thought. I’ll call Robert—”
He interrupted her. “There’s no reason why you should cancel just because I can’t be here. Go out with them and enjoy it. We won’t have much cha
nce to eat out after we’re married.”
If he’d expected her to react with horror at that news, he was disappointed. She’d already figured that out on her own, and she didn’t care. She intended to be his partner in rebuilding the ranch; maybe when it was prosperous again he could let go of some of his bitterness. She would gladly forgo restaurant meals to accomplish that.
“If you’re certain…”
“I said so, didn’t I?” he snapped.
She stopped and put her hands on her hips. “I’d like to know just what your problem is! I’ve seen men with prostate problems and women with terminal PMS who aren’t as ill-tempered as you. Have you been eating gunpowder or something?”
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong!” he roared. “I’m trying to quit smoking!” Then he strode angrily to the truck, leaving her standing there.
She blinked her eyes, and slowly a smile stretched her lips. She strolled to the truck and got in. “So, are you homicidal or merely as irritable as a wounded water buffalo?”
“About halfway in between,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Anything I can do to help?”
His eyes were narrow and intense. “It isn’t just the cigarettes. Take off your panties and lock your legs around me, and I’ll show you.”
She didn’t want to refuse him. She loved him, and he needed her, even if it was only in a sexual way. But she didn’t want their first time to be a hasty coupling in a motel room, especially when she was still jittery from stress and he was irritable from lack of nicotine. She didn’t know if it would be any better by their wedding day, but she hoped she would be calmer.
He saw the answer in her eyes and cursed as he ran his hand around the back of his neck. “It’s just two damn days.”
“For both of us.” She looked out the window. “I admit, I’m trying to put it off. I’m nervous about it.”
“Why? I don’t abuse women. If I don’t have the control I need the first time, I will the second. I won’t hurt you, Maddie, and I’ll make certain you enjoy it.”
“I know,” she said softly. “It’s just that you’re still basically a stranger.”
“A lot of women crawl into bed with men they’ve just met in a bar.”
“I don’t.”
