Page 43 of In Bed with the Rancher

“Come go to lunch with us,” Wade said.

“If Ava is going,” Jake said, smiling at her and she smiled as she nodded.

“Yes, I am.”

The cousins joined them and Ava found them to be fun and they were fun and happy being together. She felt a pang as she listened to them talk. Wade was so wonderful. The more she knew him, the more in love with him she was and it hurt. How could he not want his own children. He had wonderful cousins and they all had fun together. His children might be like his cousins instead of like his twin. Even though she heard what they were saying and laughed with them, she couldn’t keep from thinking about Jake and how it was going to hurt to part with him. She had to do it and she knew it was going to break her heart. Today had just made her fall more deeply in love with Wade and his family.

She forced those thoughts out of her mind and then that evening when she was out with him, she had to try to bank the hurtful thoughts again. She enjoyed every moment of the wonderful dinner with him and every moment at his condo later and passionate, wild lovemaking all through the night and again in the morning.

When she woke, he wasn’t beside her in the bed. But his scent lingered. She turned over and buried her face in his pillow, inhaling deeply and committing the scent to memory. Waking this morning, she knew what she had to tell Wade. And she knew that was their last night together.

Forcing herself out of bed, she showered and dressed in her black dress, the only clothes she had, and found him waiting in the kitchen with breakfast ready. Freshly showered, with damp hair, he was in jeans, a blue denim shirt and boots and he looked fantastic.

He walked up to kiss her, a long, sexy kiss that made her weak in the knees and wanting to hold back the words she knew she needed to say to him.

When she looked into his eyes, she saw him tilt his head slightly, a questioning expression on his face. She wondered if he knew what she had to say. But in a flash, his face changed and he pulled her close again. “You look gorgeous,” he said, kissing her.

He’d fixed a delicious-looking breakfast of eggs, toast, strawberries, blueberries and hot coffee, but she couldn’t eat more than a few bites. It was too difficult to get food down her tight throat.

He sat back. “I’d like to show you my ranch today. Will you go with me?”

She gazed at him and with all her heart she wanted to say yes. Telling her he had never asked a woman to the ranch before meant she was special to him. But was she special enough to change his views of life and his determination to stay single and childless?

She knew she should resist the invitation. But how could she when he had as much as said that she was more important to him than any other woman in his past? Yet they had no future unless he changed.

She argued with herself to go and take that chance on him changing. As she mulled it over, his new cell phone chimed. She knew he had bought a new phone to replace the one he lost in the flood. He answered, frowned and got up from the table to cross the kitchen. He spoke softly and she didn’t care to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t keep from hearing a few words and the concern-filled tone of his voice.

When the call ended, he turned back to her. One look at his face and she knew it was bad news.

Ten

“That was my brother Jack. Dad’s in the hospital. They are putting in a pacemaker.”

“Oh, Wade, I’m so sorry. I’ll get a cab to get home. You go now to the hospital.”

“No, I’ll take you home, but I do want to go to the hospital now.”

“Of course. But please let me call a cab.”

He shook his head. “No. Your place is not out of the way,” he said, raking his fingers through his damp hair.

“I’ll get my purse,” she said, rushing from the room, saying a silent prayer for Wade, his dad and his family. She hurt for Wade because it was obvious he was worried.

In minutes they were in the car and they made the drive in silence. At her house when he pulled up in the drive, she turned to him as she unbuckled her seatbelt. “Don’t get out. Let me out and you go. Call me later, please, and let me know how he is. Call me if I can do anything. You and your family are in my prayers.”

He smiled at her. “Thanks. I’ll get back to you when I see how Dad is.”

She stepped out quickly and walked to her front door as she heard him drive away. At the porch steps she looked over her shoulder to see his car disappear around the corner and she couldn’t help the feeling that he was driving out of her life.

This heart attack would reaffirm his feelings on marriage and children, no doubt because he’d attribute it to the anxiety caused his dad by Wynn’s antics. Wade would be far more determined than ever now to never marry, never have children. Sadness and hurt filled her.

No matter how much he wanted her to, she couldn’t go to his ranch with him. She couldn’t go out again with him. It was time to walk out of his life forever.

The pain was monumental, far worse than she thought it would be.

* * *

It was about two hours later when she had a call from him.

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