The Texan's Bride (3 page)

Cadde had worked toward that one goal and now it was within his grasp. Somehow, though, it was tainted by the betrayal of his father. The man who’d taught him about family values and honor was a phony. Cadde didn’t want any son or daughter of his to think that of him. He wanted to be in his child’s life one hundred percent of every day. And he didn’t want a baby conceived as part of a business deal.

Damn Jessie!

“Cadde,” Chance prompted again.

Cadde swung from the window and walked back to his desk. “Are you two through arguing?”

“Yeah,” Chance replied. “We decided Kid’s an ass and left it at that.”

“We did not!” Kid protested.

Cadde held up his hand. “Enough. I have some important things to discuss with you.” He glanced at the document. “The day that Jessie gives birth she’ll sign over a share of her stock to me…giving me control of Shilah.”

“Hot damn, now we’re talking.” Kid jumped to his
feet in excitement and then stilled. “What’s wrong? I can see something is by the look on your face.”

Cadde remained silent, having a hard time explaining the situation to his brothers. But they had a stake in Shilah, as well.

Chance leaned forward. “What you’re saying is that you and Jessie haven’t had a real marriage and she wants to make it real in every way possible.”

“That’s about it,” Cadde had to admit.

“So what’s the problem?” Kid wanted to know. “You’ve worked your ass off for Roscoe for years and now it’s time for the big reward you’ve been waiting for. Jessie’s handing it to you on a platter. All you have to do is get her pregnant. Easy as pie.” Kid’s eyes narrowed on him. “You’re hesitating. Why?” Before he could form a reply Kid added, “You’re not impotent, are you?”

Chance slapped Kid’s shoulder. “Shut up, you idiot.”

“I’m not shutting up!” Kid yelled. “I have a stake in this business, and if you hit me one more time I’m gonna knock you on your ass.”

“Just try.” Chance faced him—two brothers, same height, same build, both angry and neither afraid to fight.

“Cut it out, dammit. I don’t need you two at each other’s throats.”

“Hell, Cadde, that’s what we do best—fight with one another.” Kid was back to his usual cheerful self. “Just tell us why you’re finding it hard to accept Jessie’s offer.”

“Because it’s a business deal. I never planned on my firstborn being part of a negotiated legal document.”

“So?” Kid pressed. “It gives you control of Shilah. That’s what you’ve wanted.”

Cadde eased into his leather chair. “I keep thinking about Dad.”

“Oh, God.” Kid closed his eyes. “Let’s not go down that road.”

“When we were boys,” Cadde went on, as if Kid hadn’t spoken, “he was a good father. I thought there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. I hung on his every word, but in the end he tarnished all of those childhood memories with his betrayal. I don’t want a child of mine to have bad memories of me.”

“Why would he or she have anything but love for you?” Chance asked.

“Because Jessie wants full custody.”

“Oh, my God.” Clearly, Chance was shocked. “She’s asking you to give up your flesh and blood?”

“She says I can see the child whenever I want, but basically I’d be trading the baby for Shilah.” His eyes swung to Kid. “Now do you understand my hesitation? Imagine how that child is going to feel about me later in life. I don’t want any kid of mine to have bad feelings about his father.”

Kid looked straight at him. “Then do something. You’re a wheeling-dealing gambler just like Roscoe. You can do anything if you put your mind to it. Remember that little old lady in Midland who said she’d die before she’d lease her land? Even I couldn’t sweet-talk her, but you mentioned her kids and how the money would
benefit them. You had her eating out of the palm of your hand. You have to do that now. Find a way around this business deal. Make it work for you and Shilah.”

“For once I agree with Kid,” Chance said. “Whatever you do, though, do not give up your rights as a father.”

“I’ve got a handle on it now, guys. Thanks.”

“That’s what brothers are for,” Kid replied as he and Chance headed for the door.

Cadde drew the document forward. Jessie wasn’t going to have it all her way. He picked up a pen and began to scratch out lines he didn’t like and then he added his demands. At the bottom he scribbled his name.

Jessie was in for a shock.

C
ADDE MARCHED THROUGH
the back door of the Murdock house. “Jessie,” he called.

No one answered, but he found Rosa in the kitchen. “Where’s Jessie?”

“Mr. Cadde,” Rosa acknowledged in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting you again.”

“Where’s Jessie?”

Rosa wiped her hands on her apron. “Probably at the barn. She went to feed her animals.”

Animals? What the hell was Rosa talking about? It suddenly hit him that he knew absolutely nothing about his wife other than she was Roscoe’s daughter and a pain to deal with at board meetings. He had no idea how she filled her days. He just had this vision of her lying across the bed in that big master bedroom eating bonbons. Obviously, she had more animals than that silly dog.

Before he could question Rosa, Jessie came through the door looking flushed. He did a double take and wasn’t really sure it was her at first. She wore jeans, a blue T-shirt and work boots. Dark stains smeared her T-shirt and strands of dark brown hair had worked loose from her knot, curling around her face. She looked like a teenager bent on a day of mischief.

“Cadde,” she said, breathing heavily. Evidently she’d run to the house. “I saw your truck…”

He held up the document in his hand. “We need to talk.”

“Oh. Okay. Let me wash my hands first.” She hurried into the bathroom off the kitchen.

“You don’t really know Miss Jessie, do you?” Rosa asked in a disapproving voice.

“No, ma’am. I don’t,” Cadde answered truthfully.

Rosa shook her head. “Mr. Roscoe was a good man but paranoid about his daughter. He never allowed her any freedom and…”

Jessie came back, interrupting Rosa. “I’ll check on Mirry and I’ll meet you in the sunroom,” she said to him.

“The dog can wait. We need to talk.”

“I’m checking on Mirry.” Her dark eyes narrowed and she brushed past him.

He charged into the sunroom, anger eating at his insides. Was she always going to have the upper hand? Whipping off his hat, he slammed it onto the glass table along with the damn document. He eased into a rattan chair, feeling out of place in the green-and-white room that overlooked the closed-in pool. Plants seemed to be everywhere, even hanging from the ceiling.

He took a long breath, trying to relax. He’d been negotiating business deals for years and he never felt as nervous as he did today. Jessie had a way of making him crazy, but this time he was going to be in control.

From the sunroof of the pool, sunlight danced off the water. He watched as if mesmerized…and waited.

A
FTER CHECKING ON
M
IRRY
, Jessie paused at the bottom of the stairs and drew a calming breath. She wanted to change her clothes, but that was pointless since Cadde had already seen her looking like one of the hired hands.

Why had he returned so soon? Could this unexpected visit mean he was accepting the offer? Or throwing it back in her face? Could this be the one thing Cadde Hardin wouldn’t do to gain control of Shilah—have a baby with her?

It was an insane idea in the first place. Yet they were married and she wanted a child. This old house was so lonely. Next time she would rethink her father’s advice.

She walked into the kitchen and got two glasses from the cabinet.

“What are you doing?” Rosa asked.

“Getting iced tea for Cadde and me.”

“That’s my job.” Rosa took the glasses from her.

“Rosa.”

Rosa paid her no attention, as always. In a matter of seconds she had them filled with ice and tea. She reached for two napkins off the granite kitchen island and handed them to Jessie.

Jessie kissed her cheek as she took them. “I love you.”

“You need someone else to love,” Rosa told her. “And I don’t mean all those animals out there.” She thumbed over her shoulder.

Jessie winked. “I’m working on it.”

“Miss Jessie, what are you up to?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

She breezed out of the kitchen and braced herself for
the scene with Cadde. Her courage intact, she walked into the sunroom and placed a glass of tea and a napkin in front of him.

“Thank you,” he muttered, taking a swallow.

Jessie sipped hers before taking the seat across from him.

He pushed the document lying on the table toward her. “I signed it.”

“Oh.” Relief rushed through her. She hadn’t expected him to concede so quickly.

“But I made some changes.”

“Oh.” His abrupt attitude was making her edgy.

“Read it, sign on the dotted line and we have a deal.”

She flipped through the document and stopped when she saw his bold handwriting. She reread the page, not quite believing her eyes. “You…you…want a real marriage?”

“That’s what it says. When the deal is official, I’ll be moving into that big master bedroom.”

Her eyes caught his. “I sleep alone. I always have.”

“Not if you sign that document.”

“Why can’t you sleep in your own room?” She didn’t want him to know her secret. She slept with the bathroom light on. All those fears from her childhood were still there. She was seven when her cousin, Crissy, had been kidnapped and killed, but she remembered it. They’d lived in Houston then and after the murder her father had slept on a cot in her room with a gun across his chest. That frightened her even more.

“Because married couples sleep together.”

“But we don’t have to.”

He poked the document with a long finger, his brown eyes determined. “That’s the deal, Jessie.”

She clenched her hands in her lap until they were numb and then she forced herself to continue reading his other demands. “You claim all your rights as a father, which are granted in our marriage vows.”

“Yes.”

“And you insist on my full support at future board meetings after the marriage is consummated.”

“Yes.”

She raised her head and looked into his steady, unwavering gaze. “You’re asking an awful lot.”

“How bad do you want a baby?” he asked, and her insides quivered at the magnitude of her actions.

He reached for his hat and stood. “You have twenty-four hours to think it over.” With an in-your-face nod, he strolled from the room.

“Wait just a minute,” she called, infuriated that he was turning her tactics around on her.

He paused at the door and faced her. “What?”

“We need to talk.”

“Jessie, we’ve talked this to death. Bottom line I refuse to walk away from a kid of mine. I will be there from day one. Sign it or not. It’s up to you. If you don’t, we’re getting an annulment because I’m not living in this sham of a marriage any longer.”

“I see.” She should have known it wouldn’t be simple. Cadde was a skillful businessman and he had upped the stakes. She had to accept them or live the rest of her life alone. And if Cadde left she would truly be alone.

She gulped a breath. What were her options—lone
liness or a real sleep-in-her-bed-every-night marriage? She’d started this out of desperation and she had to have the courage to finish it.

Her hand shook as she picked up the pen that was still lying there from the morning. She took another breath and wrote her name beneath Cadde’s. The action caused her to feel limp, weak and defeated somehow.

Cadde strolled back into the room and placed both hands on the table. Leaning in close to her, he asked, “Wanna go upstairs?”

She drew away. “I’m not a hooker, Cadde.”

“That’s how you make a baby, Jessie.” His eyes sparkled with glee at his victory, and she wanted to smack him.

“I want to get to know you better first.”

He straightened. “Now there are rules?”

“Yes,” she told him, taking the wind out of his sails. “We’re going out to dinner tonight.”

“Tonight! I’ve been fooling with this insanity most of the day. I have work piled up. I don’t have time to go out.”

She stood and picked up the document. “I’ll get this to my lawyer.” Her eyes locked with his. “Be here at eight or the deal is off.” After delivering that blow, she brushed past him. He didn’t grab her arm this time but she heard him curse. She smiled all the way up the stairs. At least she had the last word. Now she had to fulfill his demands.

C
ADDE TRIED TO CONCENTRATE
on the Louisiana leases. With Jessie’s approval, he planned to move on them quickly. First they had to consummate the marriage.
He tapped his pen on the papers in front of him. That would be a big step. It would make their relationship real, but he had to wonder how a marriage could survive without love.

He ran both hands over his face. How much did love matter? His parents had been in love until… Would he be like his father and cheat on Jessie? He didn’t know, but he hadn’t cheated on her in eighteen months and it had been a strain. He could have with Karen. Something held him back, though. It had to be that integrity thing Roscoe had talked about. He didn’t want to be like Chuck Hardin even if the marriage wasn’t real.

Sleeping with Jessie could turn out to be rather pleasant. If only he could get those off-limits notices out of his head. Who knew she wanted to change their relationship? She showed no signs of doing so…until today.

Fatherhood.
He hadn’t thought much about it. He’d been too busy building a career. How was he going to balance his job and Jessie and a baby?

A baby!
He couldn’t quite wrap his mind around that just yet. But as Jessie had mentioned, he was almost forty. It was time to think about a family.

With Jessie.

Shaking his head, he brought his concentration back to the leases. After they consummated the marriage, the first thing on his schedule was to call an emergency board meeting. He had to have their approval to move on anything.

He’d already talked to his geologist and engineers. They felt if they could drill deep enough they’d hit a big well. As soon as he decided which lease had the most
potential, he’d get Kid out there to inform the lease holders. In this economy he was hoping they’d be grateful for some extra income. Roscoe had sat on those leases for a reason and now Cadde had to make it work.

Reading through the engineers’ notes, he glanced at his watch. Dammit! He didn’t have time to go out to dinner. Irritated, he found himself looking at the time every few minutes. At first, Jessie’d balked at the real marriage thing, but then she’d caved. His moment of victory was short-lived, though. Living up to his own demands wasn’t going to be easy.

The luxury of having an apartment down the hall from his office was something he was used to. Now he had to make the drive in every day. What was he thinking? At the time he was angry and wanted to get back at her. After cooling off, he realized some things were not going to work in his favor.

He slept about three nights a week at the house to keep an eye on Jessie, as he’d promised Roscoe. But he rarely saw her. He worked long hours and she was usually in bed when he came home and still asleep when he left. Through Rosa he knew she was okay and everything was running smoothly. If he needed to talk to her about business, he’d call and come home early.

“Damn you, Jessie, for screwing up my life,” he said under his breath. Her biological clock was ticking and she’d zeroed in on him, her husband, like a buzzard on a carcass. But he was the logical candidate. They couldn’t continue to live in their farce of a marriage. It would have been so much simpler if she had wanted a divorce or an annulment. Then they could have gone
their separate ways. Still, he wouldn’t have felt good about that. He’d made a promise to Roscoe and, unlike his father, his word meant something to him.

Closing the files he got to his feet and headed to the apartment to get ready for a date with his wife. And God help him, it was the last thing he wanted to do.

J
ESSIE WENT THROUGH ALMOST
every dress in her closet and finally shimmied into a black slim-fitting one with a V-neck. Looking in the mirror, she frowned. The V showed too much cleavage and she actually had some to show off. For so long she’d been flat-chested.

Taking another glance, she decided to wear the dress. After all, tonight she was starting a new role—being a wife and hopefully a mother. She sighed. Why did it have to take a business deal to bring them together? Why couldn’t they have magically fallen in love? Because Cadde never saw her as anyone other than Roscoe Murdock’s daughter.

Pushing the depressing thought aside, she sat at her dressing table. With her olive complexion, dark hair and eyes she needed very little makeup. She applied liner to her eyes and brows and then added some lip gloss. That would do. She brushed her long tresses until the static electricity almost ate her brush. Rarely did she wear her hair loose, but tonight she let it flow down her back.

She glanced at herself in the mirror and wondered like she had so many times in her life—who did she favor? Her father had blue eyes and blond hair. Without a doubt she took after her mother. When she’d asked
about her, he’d say, “Jessie, baby, your mother left us a long time ago. You’ve got me, so put a smile on that pretty face.” Then she’d feel guilty for asking about a woman who would leave her child. It didn’t keep her from wondering, though.

She’d even asked Rosa, but Rosa had come to work for them after the tragedy. She’d never met Jessie’s mother.

As a child she’d dream about the mysterious woman coming back, but she didn’t. In her teens Jessie had finally accepted that. Her mother had made her choices for whatever reasons and Jessie seldom thought about her these days.

Glancing at the crystal clock on her vanity she saw it was after eight. Damn! Where was Cadde? If he bailed on her, she’d make his life a living hell. She laughed out loud. She really was her father’s daughter. But she wasn’t making anyone’s life a living hell. If he didn’t come, they’d go back to the status quo of ignoring each other. That would be her living hell.

“Get a grip, Jessie,” she said to herself as she reached for a long strand of pearls her father had bought her in New York. Slipping into high heels, she hurried downstairs to wait.

C
ADDE WAS RUNNING LATE
, but he couldn’t help it. He’d had a call from one of his engineers and they talked about the Louisiana leases.