Page 10 of Fated Despite the Moon

"Caleb, why did you say you'd marry me sight unseen? I could have grown up to be hideous."

He shrugged. "Everyone is beautiful in some way. You just have to look for it."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"You needed help. I have the means to help you. Our families have been friends for generations. It seemed like the right thing to do."

"Even though this baby isn't yours?" Hell, she didn’t even feel like the baby was hers yet. How could she expect him to feel a sudden connection to a life no bigger than a plum?

"Family isn't always about blood. It's about who you choose to love, protect, and fight for."

She stared into his dark eyes noticing his long beautiful eyelashes. She herself had only been able to achieve the look with lash extensions. Not that she’d be getting those done anytime soon.

She fought for words. Caleb couldn't possibly be so nice. No one was that nice. And… did she detect a sadness in his walnut-colored eyes?

"Come on. Let's get you inside so you can take a nap. It's been a long day so far."

Caleb carriedher bags up the stairs to the front door. She followed, taking in the large wooden structure. A large porch wrapped around the front complete with two rocking chairs and a swing. He opened the pine green front door and walked inside.

"Guess you don't need to lock the doors out here."

Inside, she looked around the large, sparse room holding a couch with a flannel throw hanging limply over one arm, and a chair in the corner. A set of stairs ran up the right-hand wall leading to a loft area and a landing with two doors on it.

The living room area opened into the unfinished kitchen. A refrigerator stood surrounded by boxes of what she assumed were cabinets. Canned food covered the granite kitchen island, and beyond the kitchen lay a nook with floor to ceiling windows, just like the front of the cabin.

The beauty and open floor-plan of the structure surprised her. She liked the airy feel of it, and the exposed beams in the ceiling. The warm tones of the wood were such a stark contrast to her mother’s cream and white modern style. The way the front room opened into the kitchen as if the entire space belonged to everyone. In her parents’ mansion everyone had their rooms and common rooms were used only for guests. But this felt like a family home. A place where people could gather and spend time together.

"I'm sorry I haven't gotten everything finished. I hoped to at least get the kitchen cabinets in before you arrived, but I thought you might like electricity a bit more."

She scanned the wooden walls and the ceiling with its exposed beams. It looked like something right out of Town & Country magazine. If it had been finished. And decorated.

"Did you do all this yourself?" she asked.

"Mostly. The framework I got some help with, but I picked out every log by hand, and I hammered every nail."

She walked to a beam running from floor to ceiling and pressed her palm into it. She had to admit, the craftsmanship was beautiful.

"How long did it take?"

"I've been working on it for about a year, give or take. I bought the land about four years ago and built a smaller cabin in the back. I stayed there while I worked on designing and building this one." He crossed his arms over his chest, and his body seemed impossibly larger. Solid and strong, like the house.

"I'm impressed." She dropped her hand from the beam.

"Why? You didn't think a guy like me could building something like this?"

"No. Because building things like this is a lost art form. It's beautiful, Caleb."

Caleb's shoved his hands into his pocket.

She fought the urge to smile at obviously making him nervous.

In the shops of Rodeo Drive a guy like him was more likely to be treated like a joke than to be taken seriously for anything. And if she'd ever met him at a club, she wouldn't have given him a second thought. Not because he wasn't good looking. He was, ruggedly so. But because… he was too nice and reserved. And modest.

"Let me take your things upstairs for you. You can have the big room." He picked up her bags and headed for the stairs.

"Where… where will you sleep?" She followed him up.

"My room."

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