To Have And To Hold: Made for Marriage / To Wed a Rancher / The Mummy Proposal

She knew getting involved with him was out of the question.

He has four children.

He had what she would never have. Her heart felt so heavy in her chest when she thought about it. She’d kept a lid on her feelings for more than four years and had accepted she could never have another child because of complications during Ryan’s birth. Ryan was her child … and he was gone. But in a matter of days, and without warning, the lid had lifted off and suddenly she was all feelings … all memory … all want.

Noah makes me want.

Desiring him was one thing. She hadn’t expected to like him. She hadn’t expected to like anyone ever again.

Forty minutes later she’d dressed and drove back to the fair.

It was well past eight o’clock by the time she arrived. The stalls and kiddie games had been replaced by a large dance floor and clusters of tables and chairs. The whole scene had been decorated with hundreds of tiny lights, and food and drink vendors were on hand to satisfy appetites. The turnout was impressive. People had dressed up and were clearly enjoying themselves. The band was good and the dance floor was busy. Callie spotted Fiona standing near a tent where drinks were being served and quickly headed for her friend.

“You’re here!” Fiona squealed and hugged her close. “Thank goodness.”

“You said you could use the company.”

“I could. Great dress—aren’t you glad I insisted you buy it?”

It was a great dress—a flimsy chiffon concoction of muted caramel shades with a halter top. The skirt fell just above her knees. “Of course.”

“Fiona!”

They both turned at the sound of the pleasantly pitched female voice. A dark haired woman with the most amazing green eyes came toward them, buffering against a few people in her stride.

“M.J.,” Fiona greeted. “Good to see you.”

Fiona introduced them and the green-eyed beauty made a startled sound. “You’re Callie? Lily’s riding instructor?”

Callie bristled. “You know Lily?”

M.J. laughed delightfully. “She’s my niece,” she explained. “I’m Noah’s sister.”

Of course. The resemblance to Evie was unmistakable. And those eyes were all Preston. “I didn’t realize he had more than one.”

“There are three of us girls.”

“Is Evie here?” she asked, acutely conscious that Noah would be nearby.

I’m not here for him. I’m not. I can’t be.

“Nah—she’s looking after the kids,” M.J. said. “It’s just me and Noah tonight.”

And then, as if drawn by some inexplicable force, Callie turned her neck and met his gaze head-on.

Noah knew the exact moment Callie arrived. It was as if some internal radar, attuned to only her, had taken hold of him. The area seemed smaller, the air heavy, and the noise of glasses clinking and people speaking faded into a barely audible sound. She looked incredible. The dress, the hair tumbling down her back, the heels that showed off her amazing legs—he wondered if any of the half a dozen people around him heard the strangled sound that formed in his throat. She must have felt him staring at her because she turned her head and looked right at him.

A blinding and electrical visual contact hit him from his feet to his fingertips. His best friend, Cameron Jakowski, jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow and gave a low whistle of appreciation. Noah didn’t like that one bit. With three sisters and an independent working mother, he’d learned at an early age not to objectify women.

“Who is that?” Cameron asked.

“Fiona.”

Cameron raised his brows. “I meant her friend with the great legs.”

“Callie Jones,” Noah replied quietly.

Cameron chuckled. “The horse lady? Very nice. No wonder you’ve been keeping her to yourself.”

“That’s not what I’ve been doing.”

“Sure it is.” Cameron smiled. “Shall we go over so you can introduce me?”

“No.”

“I just wanna talk to her.”

Noah stood perfectly still. “Hard to talk without teeth.”

Cameron laughed loudly and began walking toward them. “Okay, I get the message,” he said once Noah caught up. “But introduce me anyway.”

He did so begrudgingly. Cameron liked women and women usually reciprocated. He was stupidly relieved when Callie seemed oblivious to his friend’s brand of charm.

Once the introductions were over Fiona dragged Cameron onto the dance floor. Noah bought a round of drinks and they sat down at a table way back from the noise of the playing band. It wasn’t long before M.J. went off in search of the man she’d arrived with and he and Callie were alone.

She looked nervous. And beautiful. He’d never seen her hair loose before. It was longer than he’d imagined and hung way past her bare shoulders. He felt like running his hands through it and tilting her head back so he could kiss her throat.

“You came back,” he heard himself say.

She glanced at him. “Yes.”

“I’m glad you did.”

“It’s still not a date.”

Her words made him smile, and Noah’s whole body thrummed with awareness. Being around her, sharing molecules of space with her, undid him on so many levels. “Of course not. We don’t date, remember?”

Her blue eyes sparkled. “Do you have to be so agreeable?” she asked quietly.

“Do you have to keep looking for a fight?”

One brow rose sharply. “You like provoking me. It’s probably because you were surrounded by women growing up. You know, the spoiled only son, indulged by his mother and adoring sisters, given license to say whatever he wants.”

He laughed. “I’m sure my mother would disagree with you.”

“Ha—I’d like to talk to your mother,” she said and he saw her flush.

“I’m sure she’d enjoy that, too. So where’s your family?”

She hesitated for a moment, like she was working out how much to reveal. “California,” she replied finally. “My mom lives in Santa Barbara. My brother Scott has a place in L.A,” she added. “He works for the fire department.”

“And your father?”

“He died ten years ago.”

Noah pushed his beer aside. “So why Crystal Point?”

“My dad was born in Bellandale and I vacationed here many times when I was young. After my—” She stopped for a moment. “After I finished professional competition I wanted to do something … else. I’d always wanted to have my own riding school and secured Sandhills Farm for a good price.”

“It was a courageous move,” he said. “I mean, without family support.”

“I had that. I still do.”

“Do you miss it?”

“California? Sometimes,” she admitted. “But I needed to … to get away.”

She’d said too much. He felt it with every fiber inside him. “Get away or run away?”

“Both,” she admitted.

“Have you been back?”

She nodded. “I try to get back every year to see my family.”

“You’re close to them?” he asked.

Callie nodded. “Very.”

“But you wouldn’t move back to California for good, would you?”

She looked into her glass. “I’m not sure. For the moment this is home.”

“That’s … good news. For Lily,” he clarified. “And the rest of your students.” He paused, looking at her. “How many students do you have?”

“Not nearly enough,” she replied. “I lost a few a while back. An unhappy client,” she explained. “Or an unhappy parent, to be precise.”

“Sonja Trent?”

Callie stilled. “You know her?”

“I know her.” He took a drink and looked at her over the rim of his glass. “How many more students do you need?”

“To stay afloat?” He could see her doing a quick calculation in her head. “About a dozen or so. I could advertise—but of course that takes money. If I hike up my tuition fees, I risk losing the students I have to one of the bigger equestrian clubs in town who do a group rate. And with insurance costs and the price of feed sometimes I feel like I’m …”

“You feel like what?”

“Like I’m pushing a barrow of manure uphill with a faulty wheel.”

He smiled, thinking how he knew that feeling. “I don’t think you should dismiss the idea of raising your prices,” he said after a moment. “Cheap doesn’t necessarily mean value. Sure, your clients could go to the bigger establishment—but would they get what you can give them? Probably not. One-on-one lessons with someone who has your experience is what customers will pay for. Your skills and knowledge make your time valuable, Callie—you’ve earned the right to be rewarded for it.”

Her eyes shone bright with tears, and in that moment Noah wished he knew her better. He saw vulnerability and pain and fought the instinctive urge to reach for her. Now wasn’t the time. But soon, he thought. Soon.

The compliment went straight to Callie’s heart and she fought the sting behind her eyes. Silly, but his words made her feel taller, stronger. Her defenses were down. He broke them down. No, not broke … something else. Somehow he took the barricade around her apart, piece by piece, holding each one of those pieces in his hand, showing her what he had in his palm, drawing her out, making her want and making her feel.

Making me unafraid.

She was momentarily stunned by the intensity of her feelings. What she’d first thought was just attraction suddenly seemed so much more.

She liked him…. She really liked him.

This is a good man, a tiny voice inside of her said. A good man with a dazzling smile and integrity oozing from every pore. A man who made her feel safe when she’d believed no man would ever make her feel that again.

How did she resist? She wasn’t sure she could. She wasn’t sure she wanted to.

But … to feel again? Where did she find the courage to do that? If she let herself care for him … she would also have to let herself care for his children. She had to allow them inside and into her heart. Into her heart that was only barely glued together these days.

“Callie?”

She realized she’d been staring at him and dropped her gaze. “Yes?”

“Would you like to dance?”

Instinct screamed no. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. It’s just a dance.”

It wasn’t just anything … she knew it as surely as she breathed.

“I really—”

“Come on,” he urged and took hold of her hand. Before she could protest further he’d pulled her gently from her seat and led her toward the dance floor.

She’d always liked the idea of dancing but had never been all that good at it. Craig had complained it was a precious waste of time when there were horses to train and competitions to prepare for.

The band played covers of popular tunes, and just as they reached the dance floor the beat changed to a much slower number. Callie didn’t move at first. At over six feet Noah was considerably taller than her, and she tilted her head back to look at him. Everything about him drew her in. The white collared shirt he wore emphasized his broad-shouldered strength and as she curled her fingers into the soft fabric and felt the hard muscle beneath, every ounce of blood in her veins surged. She hadn’t been this close to a man for so long Fiona greeted. “Good to see and never one who’d affected her so powerfully.

The music was slow and they moved well together. One hand lay gently against her hip and he held her free hand in his. She felt the intimacy right down to her toes.

She took a deep breath. “Noah …” Saying his name set off a surge of feelings inside her. Her body tensed and she knew he felt the sudden shift.

“Yes, Callie.”

“Don’t expect too much.”

He looked at her oddly. “Are we talking about your dancing skills or something else?”

“Something else,” she admitted on a sigh and wasn’t sure where the words came from. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She felt like the worst kind of fraud by denying the obvious and refusing to admit to the feelings running through her.

She was suddenly paralyzed by the realization. It was impossible. She had no room in her heart for anyone. Not him. Not his children. “I have to go,” she said a moment later as she dropped her hand from his shoulder.

“I’ll drive you home,” he said quietly.

Callie stepped back, oblivious to the music, oblivious to everything other than Noah and her furiously beating heart. “I have my truck.”

“Then I’ll walk you to your truck.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“Yes, it is,” he said and continued to hold her hand.

By the time they’d left the dance floor their palms were pressed intimately together. Callie didn’t pull away. Deep down, in that place she’d switched off and never imagined she’d switch on again, she found she liked the sensation of his fingers linked with hers. She liked it a lot.

Her truck was parked midway down the car lot and the walk took a few minutes. It was dark and there were a few couples hanging by their vehicles. Callie spotted one pair kissing madly, another simply holding each other. The entire scene screamed of the kind of intimacy she hadn’t felt in a long time.

The kind of intimacy she suddenly craved.

She knew it was foolish to want it. She had nothing to offer him other than the fractured pieces of her heart. And for a man like Noah, she knew that would never be enough. He’d want the whole Callie. The Callie she’d been before her world had been shattered … before she’d been shattered.

And that woman simply didn’t exist anymore.

Once they reached her truck she twisted her fingers from his. “Well, good night,” she managed to say and shoved a hand into her small bag for her keys.

She found the keys, pulled them out and accidentally dropped them at her feet.

Noah quickly picked the keys up and pressed them into her palm. “Good night, Callie.”

She looked at him and saw desire burning in his eyes.

He wants to kiss me …

The power of him drew Callie closer, until they were barely a foot apart. She felt her lips part, felt herself move and felt her skin come alive with anticipation. He leaned in and kissed her cheek so softly all she really felt was breath.

Not enough…

Callie instinctively reached up, grasped his shoulders and pulled him toward her with all her strength. Driven by instinct, she planted her lips on his mouth and thrust her tongue against his. He tasted good. He felt good.

No … more than that. He tasted … divine. And her lips, denied for so long, acted intuitively. She felt her blood heat, felt her skin come alive, felt desire uncurl way down, igniting the female part of her that had lain dormant since forever.

Callie felt his rush of breath as he started to kiss her back. She got the barest touch of his mouth, the barest taste of his tongue. She waited for more. She longed for more. But then he stopped. He pulled away, kissed her cheek again and straightened. Callie released him and stepped back on unsteady feet.

Air crashed into her lungs, making her breathless. She looked at him, felt the burning red-hot gaze. I know he wants me…

She knew it, felt it and tasted it in the brevity of his kiss.

“Good night, Callie,” he said. “I’ll see you Sunday.”

Callie got into the truck and started the engine. She wasn’t sure how she drove home. All she could feel was the tingle on her lips, the heat in her blood. All she could think was how she had just kissed Noah Preston.

And how her life would never be the same.

Chapter Five

Noah was thinking.

About kisses. About perfect lips and sweet breath.

“What’s up with you?” Lily asked, shifting in her seat, looking incredibly young in riding breeches and a dark T-shirt.

Noah looked directly ahead. She’d become way too astute for his liking. “Nothing.”

“Yeah … right.” She crossed her arms. “I hope you’re not gonna hang around while I have my lesson.”

“I’ve got some work to do at the house.”

Lily turned her head. “Yeah—that’s right. Her place is a real dump.” She huffed. “I think you just want to see her again. I’m not a little kid, you know. I saw exactly how you were watching her last weekend.” Lily rolled her eyes wide. “And she’s not bad looking, I suppose, if you go for that type. She’s not like my mother.”

No one was like Margaret—thank God. But he wouldn’t be telling Lily that.

“Do you think you’ll ever get married again?”

That was a first. He looked at his daughter. She stared straight ahead, but Noah wasn’t fooled. She looked just a little afraid. And Lily never looked afraid.

Married? How could he explain his feelings to his daughter? Noah was pretty sure the younger kids would welcome a new mother into their life. And he … he truly wanted someone to share them with. He longed for a wife and a friend and a lover and all that corny stuff he knew made up a healthy marriage. He wanted what his parents had … years of trust and love. But it was a big deal, expecting a woman to take on four children. And he had no intention of bringing someone temporary into their lives. Noah didn’t want temporary. If he got involved again, he wanted permanence. He wanted … forever. He wanted promises that wouldn’t be broken. For the kids’ sake.

And mine.

His train-wreck marriage lingered like a bad taste he couldn’t get out of his mouth.

Is that why I didn’t kiss her back … when all I wanted to do was haul her into my arms?

The truth rocked Noah. He’d spent thirty-six hours wondering what kind of fool didn’t kiss a beautiful, desirable, passionate woman back when she’d made it so clear she wanted to be kissed. But he knew why. It wound up his spine. It filled his lungs. Fear. Fear that he’d want more. Oh, not sex … because he was pretty sure kissing Callie would quickly lead to making love to Callie. He wanted more of her. The more of her Noah suspected she wouldn’t want to give. To him. To anyone. He didn’t want to feel her, taste her and then have the door slammed in his face. He didn’t want to be rejected … left.

And she’d left before, hadn’t she? She’d moved across an ocean to change her life—to get away. From what, he didn’t know. What if she wanted to change it back? Noah wasn’t going to put his kids or himself through the risk of being wreckage in her wake.

It was best that he hadn’t kissed her back. Best that he stopped thinking about kissing her at all.

“So, would you?”

Lily again. Noah got his thoughts back on track. Marriage. Right. “Maybe one day.”

She scowled and harrumphed. “Do we have any say in it?” she asked, using the collective, but Noah sensed she was asking about herself. “I mean, if you’re going to shack up with someone, shouldn’t we at least be able to have an opinion about it?”

“Marriage is a little more than shacking up, Lily.”

She shrugged, looked straight ahead and remained quiet for about twenty seconds. Lily had something on her mind. “Did you know that fifty percent of all second marriages fail?”

He almost choked. Where the hell did she come up with this stuff? “That’s an interesting statistic, Lily. Where did you get it?”

“Social Studies,” she replied. “We’re studying human relationships this semester. There’s a boy in my grade who’s had two stepfathers—can you imagine? And Maddy told me that when her stepdad moved out last year it really sucked. She liked him a lot.”

Noah got his daughter’s point, delivered with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. “I have no intention of jumping into anything, Lily,” he told her.

“But if you do get married again, how do you know she won’t run out like my mother did?”

I don’t.

And Callie … she seemed as fragile and unpredictable as the wind.

Lily didn’t say anything else, and when they arrived at Sandhills Farm she jumped out of the truck. It took him about ten seconds to find Callie. She stood near the house, in jeans and a flame-red T-shirt, one hand on her hip and the other held a cell phone to her ear.

She spun on her heels and looked at him. His heart pounded behind his ribs. That kiss … how did he forget about it? How could he not want to feel that again? Noah took a long breath and headed toward her. Lily reached her first and jumped around on impatient toes while Callie continued her telephone conversation.

She was frowning and clearly not happy with the caller. When she disconnected a few moments later he pushed aside his lingering thoughts about kissing her and immediately asked what was wrong.

“Just another irresponsible horse owner getting away with neglect,” she said hotly.

He frowned. “What?”

“I volunteer with an organization that saves abused and neglected horses,” she explained. “A couple of weeks ago I got word that there are three horses somewhere on the other side of town that are stuck in a bare paddock and need veterinary care. We’ve only had sketchy reports on their whereabouts so far. The owner moves them around to avoid impoundment.”

“That’s terrible. What can you do?” Lily asked in a shrill voice.

“Seize them, hopefully.”

His ever-astute daughter picked up on the obvious. “Isn’t that stealing?”

“Not when the owners are breaking animal protection laws.”

Lily nodded. “If you need any help, I’ll—”

“Leave it to the experts,” Noah said. “I’m sure Callie has it under control.”

“Your dad’s right,” Callie assured Lily. “But you can help me nurse them back to health when we finally find them. Joe’s saddled Samson for you,” she said as she pointed toward the sand arena.

Once Lily headed off, Callie turned to face him. Her eyes were blue and luminous. “I have a list,” she said quickly. She pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket and held it toward him. “Of things for you to do.” She made a dismissive gesture. “Of course, if you’ve changed your mind I’ll—”

“We had a deal,” he said, sensing she was mentally backing out from talking to him as fast as she could. She half shrugged and took a breath, trying to look causal, but Noah wasn’t fooled. The tiny pulse at the base of her throat beat like a wild thing. And the promises he’d made to himself only minutes before vanished. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms and kiss her Fiona greeted. “Good to see properly.

“It’s only small stuff,” she said. “A couple of windows that won’t lock right and the back fence—”

“No problem,” he said quietly and took the list.

“I’ll be about an hour with Lily,” she said and pivoted on her heels.

Noah watched her walk into the arena, back rigid, arms held tight to her side. He lingered for a few minutes and observed Callie’s interaction with his daughter. Lily looked unusually cheerful and he knew she was excited to finally be in the saddle. The lesson started with Callie laying down a firm set of rules and Lily agreeing to every single one.

Lily respected Callie. Somehow, Callie understood what Lily needed.

Noah experienced a strange pang in his chest, dismissed it and headed for his truck to unload the toolbox. He had a lot of work to do.

* * *

Callie was wound like a spring. She’d barely slept the night before and had struggled to concentrate during a lesson earlier that morning with Maddy Spears, her newest student.

She knew she had to concentrate on Lily … and ignore the fact that Noah was only a couple of hundred meters away.

I kissed him. And he didn’t exactly kiss me back.

She wasn’t sure whether she should feel relieved or insulted.

“How’s this?” Lily asked Callie, interrupting her reverie.

Callie focused her attention on the teenager. She was impressed with Lily. The girl had a natural seat and good hands. Once the lesson had concluded she eased on the long reining lead and called Samson to a halt in front of her.

“That was good. Well done.”

Lily raised her brows. “Do I get to ride off the lunge rein next week?”