LITMIR.BIZ

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she said.

      He sat back up, his gaze burning into hers. “Yes, I care.” He pushed away from the table and stood, then drew a deep breath and raked a hand through his collar-length hair as if to steady himself.

      “Even though the last thing I ever want to do is ranch, and despite the fact that this place holds only terrible memories, I wanted it.” His voice was low, deep with barely suppressed emotion. “I wanted to sell this place and take the money and start my own business. He owed me this, Lana. Damn him, he owed me this.”

      She heard the pain beneath the anger, and her heart ached for him. “Then take it,” she said with the bravado that was uncharacteristic. “Marry me and claim the ranch. Fix it up and sell it. Give me a baby, then ride off into the sunset with everyone happy.”

      He sat down once again and eyed her incredulously. “You’re serious about this.”

      “I’ve never been more serious in my life,” she said truthfully. From the instant she’d heard about Chance’s dilemma with his father’s will, she’d felt as if a bargain between them was predestined.

      “But you understand if you want a baby, that means we’d have to—we would be…” He allowed his voice to trail off.

      “Chance, I know how babies are made,” she said as a surge of heat suffused her cheeks.

      “And that doesn’t bother you—the idea of, uh, sleeping with me?”

      “Of course not,” she replied briskly, not quite meeting his gaze.

      “Lana, I respect your parents. It wouldn’t be right to them.”

      She offered him a small smile. “I’m not asking you to sleep with them.” Her smile fell away, and she eyed him levelly. “My parents will respect my choice, my decision.”

      He sighed and frowned thoughtfully. “I could pay you. If we decide to do this, I could give you some of the money from the sale of this place.”

      She shook her head. “I don’t want your money.” She forced herself to look at him once again. “That wouldn’t feel right. Besides, I don’t need your money. All I want is a child. You give me a baby and I’ll consider us even.”

      His forehead wrinkled with thought. “It would take a lot of work to get this place ready to put on the market.” His frown deepened. “I’d want to fix it up to get top market value. According to Walt Bishop, I’ve got five days to fulfill the terms of the will. That means we’d have to get married within the next five days.”

      A shiver of apprehension swept through Lana as she realized he was actually considering her proposal. “All we need is a license and a justice of the peace,” she replied.

      “Okay,” he said. “You need a baby and I need a temporary wife. How about we tie the knot in two days?”

      Again a tinge of anxiety whispered through her. Was this what she wanted? She thought of baby Marissa cooing to her, tiny fingers grasping around hers, and her heart constricted with deep yearning.

      If she waited for nature to take its course, waited for love to find her and a traditional wedding to occur, she might wait forever.

      “Two days sound fine,” she said, shoving any lingering doubts to the farthest reaches of her mind.

      They agreed to meet for the marriage license first thing in the morning, and moments later Lana was on her way back to her apartment.

      As she drove through the September night from the Reilly ranch to her place, her head spun with what she’d just agreed to do. In two days’ time she was going to become Mrs. Chance Reilly.

      “And that doesn’t bother you—the idea of sleeping with me?”

      Chance’s words played again in her head. She tightened her hands on the steering wheel.

      Bother her? Yes, it bothered her. The idea of sleeping with Chance quickened her heartbeat, weakened her knees and filled her with a fiery heat. How many women got the opportunity, as adults, to fulfill what had been a forbidden adolescent fantasy?

      But it wasn’t quite her fantasy, she thought. In her youthful fantasy she and Chance had been desperately in love. They had tied the knot of love that would make them a forever kind of couple. That had been her fantasy at one time in her life. But what they had just discussed had nothing to do with fantasy. What they had just agreed to had absolutely nothing to do with forever.

      Two

      Her wedding day.

      Lana stood next to Chance and tightly clasped the small bouquet Chance had surprised her with when he’d arrived at her apartment. She felt both hot and cold at the same time, and knew it was nerves that made her feel vaguely ill.

      Was she doing the right thing? She was agreeing to a loveless marriage for the sake of making a baby. Yet, as she thought of her baby niece and imagined a baby of her own, she shoved all doubts from her mind.

      She swallowed hard as the justice of the peace cleared his throat and began the ceremony that would make Chance and Lana man and wife.

      No traditional wedding gown and tux for this couple. Lana wore a pale pink dress and Chance wore a brown suit that emphasized the golden streaks in his hair and the deep green of his eyes.

      They had invited no family members to see their exchange of vows. Both of them understood their wedding was not a cause for celebration, but rather a bargain made between two consenting adults. A business deal of sorts.

      “Are you sure about this?” Chance asked beneath his breath as the justice of the peace spoke of commitment and the bonds of matrimony. She hesitated only a moment, then nodded.

      One corner of Chance’s mouth turned up and for just a moment his eyes sparkled with amusement. “And you promise me your daddy is not going to come after me with a shotgun when this is all over?”

      Grateful for his smile, she quickly returned it and felt an easing of the tension between them. “I promise,” she replied.

      She had spent the most difficult hour of her life the day before with her mother and father, telling them she was marrying Chance in order to help him gain his inheritance. She didn’t tell them what she intended to get out of the arrangement. She felt a little guilty in that she suspected her parents assumed this would be a marriage in name only for the sole purpose of helping Chance.

      Even knowing this marriage was hardly a marriage at all, Lana couldn’t help the way her heart thundered as the justice of the peace spoke the words that bound her, at least temporarily, to Chance.

      Practically in the blink of an eye, the brief ceremony was over and Chance was instructed to kiss his bride. Again Lana’s heart bumped against her ribs as it beat too fast, too hard.

      He bent his head and she closed her eyes. His lips barely brushed against hers, a brief dance of warmth there only a second, then gone.

      “Let’s get out of here,” he murmured.

      Lana chided herself for her momentary disappointment. What had she expected? That he’d wrap his arms around her, gaze deeply into her eyes, then kiss her with a passion that would steal her breath away? Not in this lifetime, she chided herself, and certainly not in this marriage.

      “We need to get over to Walter Bishop’s office and give him a copy of the marriage certificate,” Chance said the moment they left.

      They got into Chance’s sports car and headed for the lawyer’s office. Lana tried to think of something, anything, to say, but Chance’s silence and his stony expression deterred her.

      She hadn’t asked him about girlfriends. Was it possible he had a special somebody back in Wichita? He’d said he never intended to get married, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a significant other.

      She frowned. If he did have somebody special in his life, why wasn’t she sitting in this

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