Page 23 of The Texan's Baby Proposal

“I’ll remember,” she replied as they headed down the hall.

He paused in front of the door to a sitting room. “This is your suite. But first I want to show you mine.” He pointed to an open door at the end of the hall. “If you like your room you’ll be next to mine.” He led her from the hall into a big, comfortable sitting room with a large flat-screen TV mounted on a wall, a desk, shelves with books and pictures, and a big fireplace.

He took her hand and walked through the sitting room into a huge bedroom with a king-size bed, another desk and more walls of bookshelves. Another flat-screen television filled one wall. The moment his hand closed over hers, he drew her attention away from her surroundings. Her pulse began to race at his nearness and touch. She kept telling herself that after the first few days, they would probably go their separate ways and life would be easier. Now she prayed that was true.

Marc turned to her. “You were great today, Lara. My mom really liked you and, of course, my grandparents did.” He reached around her and picked up a small, shiny red sack from his desk. “This is for you. Something from me to you that isn’t part of a bargain.”

Five

Surprised, she looked up at him. “You’ve given me the world. You don’t need to do another thing.”

“It’s a token of my thanks for not only accepting this deal and marrying me in what is really a marriage of convenience, but also for being nice to my family. That made today better for my grandparents. It made them happy and it made my mom happy. I know she hopes we’ll stay together. Mom wants me married.” He paused a second. “Anyway,” he said, “this is just a thank-you.” He handed her the sack.

“Marc, I stand to gain so much from this. You didn’t need to get anything for me. I’m thrilled that you asked me and thrilled to do this.”

“Open your present.”

She smiled at him and opened the sack, taking out a long, black box. She opened it and gasped at the round diamond pendant on a gold filigree necklace with tiny diamonds scattered on the gold. “This is beautiful. It’s lovely,” she said, touched that he would get it for her. “I’ll treasure it all my life.”

“Turn around and I’ll put it on you,” he said. He removed it from the box and she held up her hair as he fastened the necklace.

She was aware of his warm fingers brushing her nape. She turned to look at him and felt his eyes pulling her in. She could feel her resistance wavering. Being here alone with him was dangerous. “Don’t make me fall in love with you, Marc.”

“You won’t fall in love with me because I gave you a necklace. And don’t worry. You won’t see me for days at a time here.”

She nodded, wondering whether it would work out that way or not. But she had meant what she said, when she asked him to avoid making her fall in love with him. He was doing too many considerate things. Making too many sexy moves. Instigating too many fun moments. It would be good when he was out on the ranch working and she was studying. She needed to keep as busy as possible and stay away from him.

“Thank you, Lara, for marrying me,” he said quietly, and she nodded. Once again she felt a pang that this wasn’t a real marriage. Then she told herself that was ridiculous. They weren’t in love and this was nothing more than a business arrangement.

“I hope we both find happiness, Marc,” she said solemnly, and he nodded.

“Now let’s look where you’ll be living while you’re here,” he said. He led her back to her suite. It was elegant, luxurious and comfortable, like his, but here the decor was done in burgundy, pink and white.

“This is beautiful,” she said, thinking her entire house would fit into her suite.

“We’ll stroll through the place and I’ll give you a tour unless you get tired.”

“No, I want to know where things are,” she said.

He draped his arm across her shoulders and they left to walk down the hall and look at other suites. “There’s an entertainment center on this floor,” he said, pointing to an open door. “There’s another entertainment center in the wing with the gym.”

She wondered if he was even aware of his arm around her. She was, but he talked about his friends and about the ranch and didn’t seem to notice. Except he had never done anything like that at the office, so she was certain he was aware of what he was doing.

She thought of the gorgeous diamond necklace she wore, something he hadn’t needed to do at all. If he kept up gestures like that, she would fall in love with him, for sure. She shook her head as if to banish the thought and then realized he was prattling on about cattle.

Two wings led off the central part of the house. They walked down the central hall and she saw a huge dining room with a table that would easily seat twenty. Too bad they wouldn’t be doing much entertaining in the next year. Not when he viewed their marriage as purely a business arrangement.

She reminded herself to do the same. But Marc was too sexy, too appealing, and now that they had kissed, his appeal had compounded and was far stronger than at the office. She needed to stay so busy she couldn’t think about him. If she hardly saw him, he wouldn’t care at all. She was a means to an end for him and nothing more. He’d have no struggle in trying to resist falling in love. He knew what he wanted and he had that goal in sight and the rest didn’t matter.

Now she just needed to do the same. As if it was that easy.

She followed him into the adjoining room. The kitchen was big, with state-of-the-art equipment. It opened onto a great room that ran across the entire back of the house. A huge stone fireplace dominated the room that also held comfortable furniture placed around a large flat-screen television, and a large desk with two computers and four screens. A pool table stood on one side of the room and a gaming table on the other.

“You have everything in here,” she said as she walked around. The back wall was all glass and gave a panoramic view of the landscaped backyard, the patio and the swimming pool with a fountain and a waterfall. “It’s impossible for me to imagine your frail grandparents living in this big house.”

“Well, they did, and they seemed to fill it. I was here a lot. They’ve gotten frail now, but they weren’t when I was growing up. I visited them at the ranch a lot. Grandpa inherited it when I was seven and I spent lots of time with them all the years I was growing up. Still want to see the rest of the place?”

“Yes, it’s fascinating.”

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