“I don’t want to talk about me.” He closed the distance between them, pulled her from her chair so that he could sit down in it, before drawing her down on his lap. “Much better,” he said.
Sophie’s pulse raced. Air seemed to catch in her throat. Being this close to Joe was almost overwhelming. Energy crackled around him. Awareness sizzled between them.
Her gaze traveled up, over his broad chest, wide shoulders, to his hard jaw and very firm lips. “What do you want to talk about then?” she asked, sounding breathless to her own ears.
“You.”
“I don’t want to talk about me,” she answered huskily.
“Then maybe we just don’t talk,” he said, dipping his head and capturing her mouth with his.
She felt right in his arms, Joe thought, his hand on Sophie’s hip, sliding up her back, bringing her even closer so that her full soft breasts pressed against his chest. He could smell a vanilla scent and wasn’t sure if it was her skin or her hair but it made him feel even hungrier.
It had been forever since he’d felt this alive, this carnal.
She felt right on his lap, in this kitchen, in this house. In his life.
He broke the kiss off to look at her, wanting to see her, this woman who would soon be his wife.
Her cheeks had darkened, the soft skin flushed pink. Her eyes had darkened, too, but this close, he could see the brown irises were flecked with bright bits of gold. Her lips were slightly swollen. She was breathing hard. He could see the little pulse race at the base of her throat. He dropped his head, kissed her there, and then scraped his teeth along the side of her neck.
She whimpered and arched against him. The helpless shift of her hips made him nearly groan. It had been years since he’d been with anyone and suddenly his control was being tested.
A sharp rap came from the door to the dining room. Joe looked up. His mom stood in the doorway, leaning on her cane. “Billy just called. They were hoping to come home next weekend for Easter but it’s not going to work out after all. Not sure about Sam.”
Sophie had tried to jump off his lap, but Joe wouldn’t let her go. “I’ll give Billy a call after I drop Sophie off.”
His mom’s lips thinned but she said nothing else, just turned around and slowly walked out.
Sophie sat stiffly in his arms after his mom left the kitchen. “Maybe it’s time you took me back,” she whispered.
“You’re fine here.”
She drew a ragged breath. “If it’s okay with you, I think I’d rather go.”
Chapter Five
They didn’t end up getting married on Tuesday as they’d planned because early Tuesday morning while heading to the barn Joe’s grandfather slipped on a patch of black ice, and went down face first, bruising his temple and slicing up his cheekbone, requiring a couple of stitches. Fortunately, Granddad didn’t like to be fussed over and after taking it slow the rest of Tuesday he just wanted to get back to work on Wednesday, telling Joe to stop hovering over him like an old woman.
It was all Joe could do to not roll his eyes. “I’m not hovering,” he said to his grandfather. “I’m just wanting you to not do too much today. I’m supposed to head into Marietta—”
“Then go.”
“But I can put it off another day, if I’m needed here.”
His grandfather snorted. “You’re not needed here. I might be eighty-two but I’m not in need of a nursemaid.”
“I don’t even know what a nursemaid is, Granddad.”
“Maybe you should read more.”
Joe grinned. “I think you’re feeling just fine.”
“I told you.” Melvin adjusted his leather work gloves. “I imagine your rush to town is to see Sophie.”
Joe’s eyes narrowed, wondering what was to come. “It is.”
“Good. Don’t let your mom scare her away. I like her. She’s good for you. You look happier.”
“I am happier.”
“Your mom will come around. She’s just afraid. She hasn’t had an easy life. She never got over your dad, and I respect that but sometimes I feel guilty that I didn’t encourage her to get out and date and find someone else to love. You boys are all she has. You’re her world. She worries, and maybe obsesses, but when she sees you’re happy, she’ll be happy.”
Joe nodded, chest tight, a lump thickening in his throat. His grandfather was right. Despite her own heartbreak, she always tried to make everything perfect for those around her. That was why he didn’t want his mom to know that Sophie had answered an ad, and that he was embarking on a marriage of convenience. She wouldn’t approve, which was why he fully intended to let her believe he’d found love. It was what she wanted for him, and so what if he found it on the internet? The fact was, he wanted a family, and Mom would adore having grandchildren.
Back in the house, Joe headed upstairs to shower and dress.
As he finished polishing his boots, he glanced up at the framed buckles on the wall, buckles won during his time on the rodeo circuit. He paused to take in the dozens of glittering silver and gold buckles. He’d been a good bronc rider, and he could stick a bull for eight seconds, but he’d been a great team roper.
He and his brother Sam had been an almost unbeatable team, winning big money together. He’d enjoyed traveling with his brothers on the circuit, too, but when Granddad said he needed one of them home to take on the responsibilities of the ranch, Joe had to be the one to give up traveling and competing. He was the oldest. It was his job to step up and take on the mantle of ranch foreman. He’d grown up on the ranch so it wasn’t as if he was a stranger to it, either. But it had been good to get away from Paradise Valley for a couple of years and just live on the road. Free. Unencumbered. He loved his grandfather and Mom but they were both so serious, so weighted by grief that it was hard to breathe sometimes… hard to remember he wasn’t an old man. The open road, the rodeo circuit, the company of cowboys, had been such a relief. But he’d been home now for almost six years. Fulfilling his role as the oldest son, assuming the mantle of the Wyatt heir.
He had an odd relationship with the ranch, not exactly love and hate, but sometimes it came close. Because the ranch was an anchor. He was tied to the land, tied to the acreage and boundaries and seasons. He’d never lived anywhere else. He’d grow old and die here.
That was the heaviest part of the anchor, the part that weighed him down.
He would have given up the ranch for Charity if he could have. He’d loved her so much he would have turned the world inside out for her, and if it had only been him, he would have done it. But to turn his world inside out meant he’d turn his mother and granddad’s world inside out, too, and how could he do that to them?
How could he choose to be so selfish?
His grandfather had taken them all in, and taken care of them for the past twenty some years, paying all the bills, providing stability, security and leadership. Granddad was strong and determined. He was not going to let his son’s widow and boys suffer, and overnight he’d become a surrogate father, attending all their school events with their mom, and teaching them the things their dad would have taught them. Granddad loved them fiercely, so fiercely that Joe couldn’t disappoint him by walking away from his legacy at the ranch. It would break Granddad’s heart. And so Joe let Charity go, even though it hollowed out his heart.