The Bride Said, 'I Did?'

Beau’s jaw set as he drove down Main Street and then onto the street where she lived. He turned into her driveway and parked behind Dani’s car. He cut the engine with a snap. Released his seat belt and faced her. “For the last time,” he said quietly, “I am not playing a prank on you.”

Dani wished she could believe him. Her feelings in turmoil, she glared at him emotionally. “I want to call a halt to this, Beau. Right now.” She wanted not to be pregnant and not to be married.

“I just bet you do,” Beau said sarcastically as he reached over and released the catch of her safety belt. “Unfortunately, my darling wife—” the words were pushed through gritted teeth, and his hot gaze glided over her from head to toe, before returning with heart-stopping accuracy to her face “—it’s not that simple.”

Wasn’t it? Dani wondered. And darn it all, anyway, why did he keep insisting on calling her his wife, never mind his darling wife? Couldn’t he see she hated that? How uncomfortable it made her? Of course he could! That, she supposed, as the word continued to echo in her head like a mantra, was precisely the point.

She knew what the evidence said, but the two of them couldn’t be married. They just couldn’t be! She wouldn’t—couldn’t—have been that foolish. No matter how secretly attracted to him she was or what movie-star moves he’d put on her! No, this was all a bad joke or a bad dream. And it would be over soon enough. All she had to do was take a page from the exasperating cowboy’s book and kick a little butt. His.

“Okay,” Dani retorted slowly and succinctly, letting him know with a glance this…whatever it was could not and would not go on. “If you won’t call a halt to this lunacy now, then when exactly will you?”

BEAU KNEW DANI would never believe it, the way she was feeling now, but he wished this lunacy was a practical joke every bit as fervently as she did. Heaven knew he’d initially had the same suspicions she was harboring.

Never before had he blacked out anything, let alone awakened in a bed with a beautiful woman having no idea how he’d gotten there, or when or why. But that it had happened was indisputable, Beau reminded himself sternly.

Making matters worse, kissing her at the hospital had brought back a snippet of lovemaking with her that was so incredibly spectacular it might have been a dream. And yet he knew instantly from the startling clarity of this snippet—the image of Dani naked and in bed beneath him—that it was no fantasy he was having, but a memory. Otherwise, how would he know she had a beauty mark on her left breast, right next to the nipple? How would he have such a clear image of the creaminess of her breasts, the lissome lines of her spread thighs and the sweet triangle of coppery curls the exact shade of her hair? How would he know, even as he took her in his arms tonight, that the sassy cynical-to-the-max Dani kissed with a mixture of innocence and enthusiasm that was daunting in the extreme? How would he know about the soft sexy sounds she made in the back of her throat when they made love, or how much she liked making love in the missionary position? But he did know all that. Just as he knew when he took her in his arms tonight that when they started kissing, that when they were together like that, it was all either of them could do to stop.

As for the rest, the marriage and baby part, he just couldn’t imagine it. Yes, she had been a burr in his side for years now, and for one reason or another constantly on his mind, but they’d never been lovers or even close to romantically involved. Maybe they should have been, though, Beau reasoned as Dani jumped out of the truck and walked toward the house, leaving him to follow at will. Maybe if they had kissed back then, before all the trouble started, the way they had today, maybe Dani and he never would have feuded at all.

Dani paused at the top of the steps and rummaged around in her purse for her keys. Finally finding them, she unlocked the door and led the way into her house, full of moving boxes and extremely disorganized furniture. She switched on the overhead light in the foyer and whirled to face him. “You didn’t answer my question, Beau,” she snapped impatiently. “How long do you plan to let this scam continue?”

Beau shrugged. “As long as it takes.” He didn’t want to be saddled with a marriage he couldn’t even remember entering into, but he was. And so was she. Like it or not, until he and Dani figured out exactly what had happened in Mexico, they were in this together.

“As long as it takes for what?”

For us to really get to know each other, he thought. For us to be, if not loving partners, at least friends. Because he had much preferred the idea of being Dani’s friend to being her enemy. Certainly it would be much easier to bring up a baby that way.

Unable to take his eyes off Dani and the delectable picture she made in her trim linen slacks and sleeveless blouse, her bare feet peeking out beneath the strappy sandals, he edged nearer and replied, “For me to put an end to this feud between us once and for all.”

“I’ve got news for you, Beau Chamberlain,” she informed him in a soft sweet voice that set his teeth on edge. “This is not the way to do it!”

“Then what is?” Beau countered as Dani swept past him into the shadowy living room. “Reason didn’t do it.”

Stepping around the sofa and two club chairs, Dani began reading what was written on the tops of the moving cartons, which were stacked, one on top of the other, all over the place. Finally finding one that said “lamp,” she made a soft aha sound and attempted to lift it down. Beau strode over to help her before she could pick it up. He set it on the floor beside her.

“There’s been nothing reasonable about anything you’ve said to me for the past two years,” Dani said. She slammed her hands on her hips, looking peeved rather than pleased by his help.

Guessing what she wanted, which was to get lamps set up around the house before darkness fell, Beau ripped open the top of the box, removed the lamp and began assembling base to shade. “There was nothing reasonable about your reviews, either!” Beau shot right back. It bugged him she hadn’t liked his work. Not because he thought her reviews were inaccurate, but because they had been accurate. He’d known he wasn’t doing his best work in the two-year period after his nasty divorce from Sharon. It annoyed the heck out of him that Dani had easily recognized what other reviewers had failed to see—that a part of him had lost heart. Dani’s fair but kick-butt reviews of his work had been a wake-up call to him to put the past behind him. Now he was back at the top of his craft again. And soon Dani would know it, too.

“So that’s what this is all about,” Dani pronounced grimly as she found another box labeled lamp. “The fact that you, cowboy, have a movie opening next week. So what’s the deal?” she asked stormily as Beau ripped open the box. Her chin angled up. “I write something nice about Bravo Canyon and no one ever sees the film of me acting like a blooming idiot, believing we got married and are expecting a baby?” Temper flashing in her amber eyes, turning them a darker prettier hue, she pulled both shade and base from the box. She shook her head, silky copper strands flying in all directions. Then proceeded to rip the protective wrapping from the lamp base and shade with quick angry motions. “Blackmail will not get a good review from me, Beau.”

Once again, Beau took the parts and fastened them together. He set the reassembled lamp aside. “I don’t want a good review from you.”

Dani paused, disbelief evident on her face. Her soft sexy lips compressing stubbornly, she bent over to get the lightbulb from the box.

“What I’d really like is no review of Bravo Canyon from you at all.”

Dani whirled to face him. “And you know I can’t do that,” she replied stonily, looking him straight in the eye. “Bravo Canyon is one of the summer blockbusters. I have to review it. Everyone does.”

That, Beau thought, taking in the flushed features of her face, was a matter of opinion. The seconds strung out tensely as another silence fell.

Dani clamped her arms in front of her like a shield. “Joke’s over now, Chamberlain. Go home now.”

Beau shook his head solemnly, every protective instinct coming to the fore. It might be old-fashioned, but she was his woman—at least according to the marriage certificate. And she was carrying their baby. His personal code of honor dictated he not let anything happen to either of them. “Afraid not,” he told her, determined to see this through. “I can’t let you lift anything. Not in your condition.”

Dani sighed, rolled her eyes. She swept both hands through her halo of copper hair, pushing it off her face. “You don’t have anything to say about this, even if I am pregnant.”

He had only to glance at her tummy and think about their future to know differently. “Afraid I do,” he said.

Dani swallowed. If she didn’t know better, she’d think—by the way he was looking at her—that the two of them really were meant to be together. But that wasn’t true, she reassured herself. It couldn’t be. And if Beau seemed to think it was…well, that was easily explained. He was a heroically responsible man. He didn’t want to think they’d had a meaningless fling that had resulted in a marriage and a pregnancy. How would such reckless behavior make them look? Far better to assume something incredibly romantic and impulsive. Just because he felt that way, however, did not mean she had to.

“Fine.” Recognizing he wasn’t likely to leave anytime soon of his own volition, she threw up her hands in defeat and treated him to a careless smile. “You want to sign on as unpaid labor around here? Who am I to stop you? We’ll get started now. Roll up your sleeves, cowboy, and get to work.”

Dani expected him to bolt as soon as he saw she was serious about getting started on the unpacking. Instead, he worked diligently by her side, finding and then unpacking linens for the upstairs hall closet, bath items for the shower, sheets and blankets and pillows for her bed. He hooked up her TV, stereo and VCR, and placed them all where she wanted them—in her bedroom. When six o’clock came and their stomachs growled, he called Greta Wilson McCabe’s Lone Star Dinner and Dance Hall downtown and had a nutritious dinner for two, complete with milk, delivered for them both.

During it all, Dani was as quiet and uncommunicative as could be. To her chagrin, this didn’t seem to bother him, either. He continued to be as gallant and attentive as could be. And as she looked at him and saw the tenderness in his eyes, recalled the magic of Beau on screen, the one she and every woman in America had fallen in love with, she knew it would be so easy to forget everything and fall head over heels for him. It would be so easy to let herself get drawn into the fantasy of what could be. Not what was. She couldn’t let that happen. Any more than she could dwell on the fleeting, but very distinct, memory of him in bed, above her.

As they slid off their stools at the kitchen counter and cleared away the empty food containers, Dani glanced at her watch and saw it was nearly 7 p.m. Bedtime was hours away, but her body felt the fatigue of moving in. Yet the last thing she wanted to do was lie in her bed alone, remembering the shattering sensuality of Beau’s kiss earlier this afternoon, worrying about the foolhardy way she’d kissed him back. No, that wouldn’t do. It wouldn’t do at all.

Dani glanced back at the twenty-some boxes scattered around her kitchen. She hadn’t touched one of them.

“Whoa now.” Beau held up a staying palm before she could spring into action once again. “I think you’ve done enough for one day,” he said sternly, reading her mind.

Actually they both had, Dani thought. “Not that I want to make a habit of agreeing with you, but I think I have had enough for one day.” Dani smiled. Hand against his spine, she propelled him toward the closest exit.

Beau dug in his heels and slowed their progress considerably. As they reached the back door, he wrapped an arm around her waist and looked at her curiously. “We’re not staying here tonight?” The low sexy timbre of his voice sent a new thrill shooting down her spine.

“We’re not staying anywhere together, cowboy,” Dani corrected archly. She splayed a staying hand across his chest. “Not now or any other night.”

Tugging her close, Beau leaned down, kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear, “That’s what you think.”

Chapter Three

Dani stared at Beau in a mixture of astonishment and disbelief. “You really can’t think we’re going to spend the night together.”

His smile flashed, wicked and mesmerizing. “As your husband and the father of your baby, where else would I be?”

That again. Scowling, Dani folded her arms in front of her. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to deck him or kiss him. She just knew she had an overwhelming desire to do something physical where he was concerned. Deciding in the end it would be best just to keep as much distance from him as possible, she looked down her nose at him. “You’re carrying this practical joke too far, Chamberlain.”

She wasn’t all that surprised to find he didn’t think so. “If you really think I’m pulling your leg, or worse, that the lab work Lacey ran at the hospital was inaccurate, then put it to the test yourself,” he dared with a complacent smile. “Go to the pharmacy and pick up a home pregnancy kit. Run the test yourself.”

Dani regarded Beau uneasily. Why would he even suggest this, she wondered, restlessly shifting her weight from one bare foot to the other, unless it was true? Once again, Dani searched for hidden cameras, saw none. Still clinging to the hope this was all a bad dream she’d soon wake up from, Dani regarded Beau calmly. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” he volleyed back, in a low rich voice that practically oozed testosterone.

With effort Dani ignored the tremors of sexual awareness gathering deep inside her. This evening was beginning to feel too much like a date, with a kiss or two or three in the making. And it wasn’t. She would do well to remember that.

Dani went over to get his hat, which he’d left on a shelf next to the back door. Marching to his side, she pressed it into his hands. “Laramie is a small town. If I went in and purchased one, the news would be all over town in an instant.”

To her dismay, he merely put his hat aside, grabbed one of her hands, then leaned a shoulder against the door frame and made himself all the more at home. She tried without success to unobtrusively wrest her fingers from the strong warm tantalizing grip of his.

Beau lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, sending another tingle of awareness arrowing through her. Still holding her eyes with provoking gallantry, he murmured, “Then I’ll buy it for you. Especially if it’ll make you feel better to run a second test—one you’ve supervised yourself.”

Dani swung away from him, not sure why he got under her skin this way, just knowing he did. “If you went into a store to purchase a pregnancy test, you’d definitely attract attention—even in a town like Laramie, which does a pretty good job of respecting your privacy. Then, before you know it, the story would be all over the tabloids.” Miserably Dani closed her eyes. “I can see the headlines now. Desperate for Child, Beau Chamberlain Buys Home Pregnancy Kit.” She opened her eyes and regarded Beau stoically. “No thanks.”

Beau rubbed his chin with his index finger and thumb and sent her a taunting grin. “You know, you seem to have a real talent for that.” He winked. “Maybe you should give up reviewing movies and consider writing for the tabloids.”

Dani rolled her eyes. “You’re killing me, cowboy.”

Beau lifted his hands in an amiable fashion. “I’m glad you have a sense of humor about this,” he drawled, still regarding her appreciatively. “The way things are going, we’re both going to need one.”

Dani glared at him and said nothing.

Beau pushed away from the door and straightened his tall broad-shouldered frame. “You still don’t believe we’re married and you’re pregnant, do you?” he said, closing the distance between them once again.

If she was only going on the possessive protective way he was behaving, she probably would believe it. But she knew better, she reminded herself firmly, backing up until she reached the counter. Things this crazy and romantic did not happen to her. “No reason I should,” she retorted.

The doorbell rang.

Beau seemed irritated by the interruption. He looked at her impatiently. “Expecting anyone?”

“No,” Dani said. “You?”

“No.”

The doorbell rang again, more insistently.

She locked eyes with him deliberately. “I suppose you want me to get it?” she asked drolly.

Beau made his way through the stacked boxes to the living room, where he plopped down on the sofa and stretched his long legs out in front of him, continuing to make himself completely at home. “It is your house.”

Shaking her head, Dani headed past him for the front door. She opened the door, half hoping to see a TV camera crew yelling “Surprise!” Or better yet, Dr. Lacey Buchanon McCabe, there to tell her the hospital lab had made a terrible mistake.

Instead, she found Billy Carter, the young man she’d been trying to gently discourage. His tall gangly frame was pitched forward with a determined eagerness that had Dani instantly on her guard. A liberal amount of styling gel tamed his rusty-brown hair. Round spectacles framed his intelligent brown eyes. Instead of his usual movie-slogan T-shirt and jeans, he was dressed in baggy khaki pants, a deep-purple dress shirt and vividly flowered tie, and clutched a fistful of flowers. The goatee he had grown to make him look older than eighteen was neatly trimmed, and he reeked of a seductive-smelling aftershave.

“I’m so glad you’re home,” Billy said breathlessly.

“You are,” Dani said dryly.

Billy nodded. “Can I speak to you inside?”

“Sure.” Dani let Billy into the front hallway.

“I was hoping we could go out tonight,” Billy continued hurriedly, transferring the flowers from his sweaty palm to hers.

“Out?” Dani repeated, not sure where this was going.

“Just the two of us,” Billy clarified seriously.

Dani decided if this pass was on the level, Beau did not need to hear it. Firmly she put the flowers back in Billy’s damp hands, took his arm and directed him back to the door. Naturally, Billy dug in his heels and refused to budge. “Not here in Laramie, of course,” he continued in a voice loud enough for Beau to hear every word.

Doing her best not to cringe, Dani tilted her head to the side and continued to regard her protégé warily. Behind Billy, Dani could see Beau watching with unveiled interest. Was it her imagination or did he suddenly look a little jealous, as well as disapproving? “Why not Laramie?” Dani asked Billy.

“Because.” Billy shrugged and leaned forward urgently, pushing the flowers back at her. “People would see us together. No offense.” He colored slightly. “I mean you seem really young to me, but—”

“I’m a decade older.”

“Right. And people would, well, you know—”

“Think it inappropriate?” Deciding they’d wrestled with the flowers enough, Dani put the bouquet aside.

“But it wouldn’t be,” Billy rushed to assure her.

Then why was he suggesting they hide whatever they wanted to do?

Dani wondered. She sighed, shoving a hand through her hair. “Billy—”

Billy took her hand eagerly in his. “I just want us to be friends, Dani. I mean, really good friends.”

As gently as possible, Dani extricated her fingers from his clammy palm. In the background she could see Beau unfolding himself from the sofa, frowning and coming toward them.

“We’re going to be working together, starting tomorrow,” she told Billy firmly, then spoke as if underlining every word, letting him know this couldn’t—wouldn’t—happen. “I’m not going to be just a mentor and a friend to you, Billy. I’m going to be your employer.”

“So?” Billy shrugged again, not the least bit upset or discouraged as, unbeknownst to him, Beau was coming up right behind him. “I know plenty of people who work together who also date,” Billy told her practically.

“Not Dani,” Beau said as he swaggered forward and deliberately inserted himself between them.

Billy blinked and pushed his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose. He stepped back, nearly tripping over his feet in the process. “I didn’t know you were here,” he stammered nervously.

What you need is a man, her sisters had said. Someone to discourage Billy. And clearly Billy needed to be discouraged. Big time, Dani thought. On the other hand, she didn’t want to encourage Beau in the process. “Beau’s here, all right, but he’s not supposed to be here,” Dani said sweetly, giving Beau a drop-dead look only he could see.

“But I am here,” Beau corrected with a debonair assurance that made Dani grit her teeth.

“Unfortunately,” Dani muttered. She did not like his possessive attitude one bit. Like everything else he’d done in the past few hours, it was a bit too convincing for her liking. Much more of his Academy Award-winning performance, she thought, willing her pounding heart to slow, and Beau’d have her believing he really was staking a permanent claim on her.

“Is he giving you any trouble?” Billy demanded, scowling and stepping between them. “Because if he is…” Billy continued, the threat in his low tone obvious.

The last thing Dani wanted was a fistfight taking place in her hallway. “No, no,” she told Billy hastily as she stepped between the two males. She pushed all romantic thoughts from her mind. “It’s okay.”

Beau, taking advantage of the moment, placed his hands on her shoulders. He tugged her against him, so her spine was against his chest. “Actually,” he murmured, kissing the top of her head with husbandly affection, “it’s very okay, isn’t it, Dani?”

Ignoring the sensual feeling of his palms on her bare skin, Dani turned to face him, intending to let him know to cool it with a look. As their eyes clashed, he smiled and touched her face with the callused roughness of his palm, cupping her chin in his hand, scoring his thumb across her lips. She had the sharp suspicion he was about to kiss her as thoroughly and expertly as he had before, and the even sharper suspicion she’d be lost if he did.

Watching, Billy became even more upset. “I didn’t know the two of you were friends.”

“We’re more than friends,” Beau confirmed, suddenly becoming even more possessive. Maybe because he knew such action was guaranteed to get under her skin. He closed in on her deliberately, not stopping until there was a scant two inches between them. “In fact, I’m her—”

Dani elbowed him. “Very good friend.” No way was she letting him say the word husband. She had enough explaining to do to her three sisters as it was. She was not adding Billy to the list. Beau merely smiled, looking more determined than ever to come out the winner in this battle of wills.

Billy, meanwhile, looked oddly relieved, now that he’d gotten over his disappointment. “So I guess you two have plans for tonight, huh?” he guessed.

Beau nodded. “Big ones. But we trust you to keep that under your hat.”

“Sure. No problem.” Billy looked past her at the clock that was now inching toward seven-thirty. “Look, I don’t have anything else to do this evening, so if you want me to go ahead and start unpacking the boxes of videos tonight, I could.”

“No. Tomorrow morning, nine o’clock, will be soon enough,” Dani said. She took his elbow and escorted Billy to the front door.

Beau swaggered forward and held the door for him. “We’ll see you then,” Beau said.

“I will see you then,” Dani corrected.

“You’re right,” Beau drawled. He gave her a self-assured faintly baiting look. “I’ll probably be sleeping in.” The implication being, Dani thought, that Beau planned to have a very long and tiring night. Doing what, she didn’t even want to imagine. This just gets worse with every second that passes.