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How could she consider leaving Austin? Gina wondered. She’d never lived outside a city, and, since her early teen years, had rarely traveled far from this one. It had so much to offer.
Including loneliness, when Mason wasn’t there.
“The scary part is that I keep thinking of reasons why I ought to do it,” she admitted. “For the girls’ sake. And because it might be my only chance to experience marriage and motherhood.”
“Experience marriage?” Katie asked. “As in experience Europe on your summer vacation?”
“I didn’t mean it that way!” she protested.
“Is this supposed to be a real marriage or a platonic relationship?” her friend demanded.
Mason hadn’t specified, Gina conceded. “I assume it’s a marriage in name only. I mean, he’s never…well, tried to get physical.”
“He’s a man, isn’t he? He can’t spend that much time with you and not eventually want more!” Katie halted, then made a clucking sound. “Would you listen to me? Ford Carrington’s a man, too, but no matter how long I’ve worked with him, he considers me a robot in a nurse’s uniform. It’s a lost cause.”
Gina hoped her friend was wrong. To her, the doctor and the nurse seemed ideally suited. “He might wake up one of these days….”
A couple of passing men broke stride to speak to them. Judging by their brand-new jeans, fake-looking buckles and stiff cowboy hats, the pair were tourists pretending to be Texans. The impression was confirmed when one of them said, “Howdy, ladies. Could y’all use some company?” It sounded like a line from a movie.
“Get real,” said Katie, and the two of them hurried on. They waited at least half a block before indulging in giggles.
“There are worse things than being alone!” Gina teased.
“Name three,” Katie said. “And you can’t count getting ‘lassoed’ by a couple of fake ‘cowpokes.’”
“Getting married, falling in love with your husband and then having to say goodbye,” she replied, sobering. “That’s three things in one.”
“A lot can happen in a few months, though,” her friend pointed out. “Isolated on a ranch, with nothing to do on those long, summer nights…”
“I don’t know what Mason has in mind,” Gina admitted. “But he didn’t make it sound like he’s in love with me. He wasn’t the least bit romantic.”
Katie’s expression grew thoughtful as the twilight lowered around them. “You’d have the satisfaction of knowing you tried. That you got off the bench and into the game at least once.”
It wasn’t the first time the two women had discussed their similar problems. Both were twenty-nine-year-old virgins, and they both longed for marriage and children.
Until now, the main difference had been that Katie knew who she wanted, while Gina didn’t. Now Gina knew, too, but she wasn’t sure she dared accept his offer.
“It’s such a risk,” she told her friend. “I wish I were braver.”
“You’re plenty brave,” said the other nurse. “I’ve seen you give your heart to babies that you knew weren’t likely to survive. That takes courage.”
“I couldn’t help it,” she said. “I don’t deserve any credit for that.”
“And remember that tough-talking young couple who wouldn’t take their son’s medication schedule seriously? When he was released, you stood up to them and laid out every terrible thing that could happen if they got careless. The father—he had a snake tattooed on his neck, remember?—at first I thought he was going to rough you up. Then he started blubbering. I’ll never forget the way he hugged that baby and said he couldn’t bear it if anything went wrong.”
“They came to see me on their son’s first birthday,” Gina recalled. “He’s doing well. I guess my horror stories worked.”
“So don’t tell me you’re a coward,” Katie finished. “Hey, look at the time! I promised to meet some friends at a club in ten minutes. Want to come along? There’s a bluegrass band tonight.”
“No, thanks. I’ve got some heavy thinking to do.” She gave her friend a pat on the arm. “Thanks for your support.”
“Any time.”
Operating on automatic pilot, Gina strolled back to her boardinghouse and went upstairs. Entering her room was like returning to the home where she’d lived with her parents until four years ago. Her mother’s china figurines filled a display case. Dainty lace curtains hung at the window, and Victorian-style furniture gave a sense of stepping into the past. It was a refuge from disappointments, from stress, from the modern era.
Gina got a chill when she tried to picture how she would feel, returning to this room or one like it after months as Mason’s temporary wife. How could she expect to fit back into her old life?
If she didn’t care so much, perhaps she might regard the temporary marriage as an extended vacation. But she did care. She cared too much.
She wasn’t willing to chance a heartbreak that would cut so deeply. Better to live with might-have-beens than to lie here aching, night after night, for something she’d briefly possessed and could never have again.
For her own self-preservation, her answer had to be no.
Chapter Three
Was he being selfish? Mason had never asked himself that question before. He asked it a lot that night at the ranch, and the next morning on the two-hour drive to Austin.
All his life, until now, the future and his place in it had spread before him as neatly as the procession of the seasons. He and Rance would grow up to take over the ranch. They would run it together, expand their operations and leave a rich heritage for the next generation.
For years, they’d kept on course. After their father’s death, when Mason was twenty-three and Rance eighteen, the younger brother had taken over the horse-training operation while the elder focused on cattle and oil. Although both preferred working with animals, their finances depended on the pumps that worked with steady efficiency around the range.
Mason didn’t have to question why he did what he did. It was simply there, a force of nature. He was a rancher, he was his father’s son and he was Rance’s brother.
Two months ago, when he received the phone call telling him Rance was dead, he’d desperately turned his attention to saving Amy. Then she, too, had slipped away.
Now he had Daisy and Lily. He needed them more than anything. A man could only rebuild his future if there was a purpose to it.
Was he being fair in asking Gina to come to the ranch with him? For all her skill in the nursery, she looked as delicate as an orchid. How would she cope with a hardened man like him, one who might be gone all day and return exhausted and covered with dirt?
Nevertheless, Gina attracted him more than any woman he’d ever met. He hoped she would say yes, and he didn’t care if he was being selfish.
If she agreed even to a short-term union, there was hope she’d want to stay. Maybe he could win her, despite logic and everything he knew about himself.
Mason wasn’t a man to give up easily. Not with his daughters, and not with the woman he wanted.
At Maitland Maternity, he parked in the visitors’ lot and went inside. The place seemed different—something about the light. Or the dimensions. Or the fact that, after today, he would no longer be a part of its daily goings-on.
“Darn.” He stopped in the lobby. “I forgot to get going-home clothes.” When a grandmotherly woman smiled at him, he realized he’d spoken aloud.
“Try the gift shop,” she said.
“Much obliged.”
He checked inside. There was a refrigerated case full of flowers, along with shelves of paperback books, magazines and stuffed animals, almost as many as he’d already bought for the girls’ room at home. In one corner, he found baby rattles, booties, diapers and some clothing, but if the store carried little dresses, they must be sold out.
He was willing to bet Margaret would arrive with an armload of gowns and bonnets. No doubt she would count it as evidence of her superior parental fitness.
Had she and Stuart already landed in town? Mason hoped not. He wanted to complete the paperwork and whisk the girls back to the ranch before his sister could complicate the situation.
Possession might not be nine-tenths of the law when it came to children, but it would give him an edge. He intended to take any advantage he could find.
It was after eight. Gina would be on duty, fresh and bright as always. Mason speeded his footsteps.
He saw her through the nursery window, feeding one of the girls. The way she bent over the baby on her lap, he couldn’t see her expression.
Then she glanced toward one of the other nurses, and he noted the puffiness under her eyes. She’d been crying.
Chagrin filled him. A woman about to marry the man she adored wouldn’t be crying about it. Gina must have decided to give up the girls, rather than spend even a few months with him.
Mason squared his shoulders. He couldn’t make her love him, but he didn’t intend to take no for an answer. For his daughters’ sake, he had to give it his best shot.
Surely Gina wouldn’t really mind spending time at the ranch, as long as he left her strictly alone. She’d said herself that she loved the girls enough to want to adopt them.
Moving away from the window, he allowed himself a couple of deep breaths. So far, she hadn’t noticed him.
Suppressing his doubts, he assumed a confident air. Before he could talk to her, though, he needed to prepare by handling a few details at the administration office.
Once he cajoled her consent, he didn’t want anything to delay their departure.
GINA HAD SAID GOODBYE to hundreds of babies. Off they would go in their mothers’ arms, and she’d miss them for a few hours, until another newborn arrived. She’d cherish it for a few days or weeks, and then she would say goodbye to it, too.
As she changed the dressing on Daisy’s rapidly healing surgical wound, she wished she could detach herself as readily from the twins as from so many others. “What is it about you that makes you special?” she asked.
Daisy gripped her thumb and gazed intently into Gina’s eyes. A vise squeezed her heart.
How could she let them go? These girls felt like her daughters.
Their first steps. Daisy would clutch Gina’s hand and step out cautiously, her tiny feet making no sound on the floor.
Lily would tear herself from Mason’s loving grasp and plunk forward, arms waving, knees wobbling, until she plopped onto all fours. A second later, she’d be on her feet again, flinging herself into life with joyous abandon.
Before Gina could finish the daydream, a change in the air told her Mason had come into the nursery. Scarcely daring to trust her composure, she peeked at him from beneath lowered lashes.
He wore a gray three-piece suit. Sunday best, she thought. It emphasized the tan richness of his skin and the dark penetration of his gaze.
“Mason…” Her throat caught.
“For you.” He held out a bouquet of red roses. “I’m not sure if they’re allowed in here, so I sneaked them in.”
“Oh!” When she held them to her nose, their summery scent invaded her bloodstream. “They’re beautiful.”
“You should be surrounded by flowers,” he said. “My mother planted a rose garden at the ranch. I’ll make sure you have fresh flowers every day.”
But she wasn’t going to live on the ranch. If there were flowers, they’d be for someone else.
“We need to talk.” She hoped he couldn’t hear the quaver in her voice.
“Sure thing.” His expression warmed as he touched her hair lightly. The brush of his hand warmed Gina’s scalp. Did he have to make it so hard to say no?
“I don’t think there’s anyone in the parents’ lounge. We could talk there.” She was about to lead the way when, through the glass, she spotted Elly Maitland in the corridor. The administrator pointed at Mason and held up a sheaf of papers. “I wonder why she’s in such a hurry about the paperwork.”
He shrugged. “I guess she knows I want to hit the road before my sister shows up.”
“You’re in a hurry?” she asked. “Oh, dear. I have to make some final preparations for the girls.” Remembering her gift, she added, “And I brought a going-away present for them.” From a table, she produced a wrapped package.
He studied it with a bemused expression. “This wouldn’t be something for the girls to wear home, would it?”
“As a matter of fact, yes,” she said. “I thought you might forget.”
His rueful grin made her head whirl. How could the man be so endearing?
“I did forget,” he acknowledged, and opened the package. “Gina, these are precious.”
“Thanks. But before you go see Miss Maitland, could we have that talk?”
Elly tapped on the glass and gestured to Mason more urgently. “What is the big deal?” Gina asked.
“I did tell her that I needed to get out as soon as possible. It appears she took me at my word. I’ll come back as fast as I can, okay?” Mason caught her hand. The pressure of his blunt fingers against her palm made her even more light-headed. “Would you put the new dresses on the girls? They’ll be knockouts.”
“Of course.” Gina stood stock-still as he strode from the room. His warmth, his obvious expectation that she would accept, and his gentle caress had made it hard to keep her resolve.
But he wasn’t offering a real marriage. And she could accept nothing less.
MASON WONDERED IF HE’D pushed her too far. Gina didn’t seem to mind when he touched her. It wasn’t part of his plan; he simply hadn’t been able to resist.
As for the flowers, and arranging for Elly Maitland to interrupt, they’d been attempts to forestall Gina from giving him a negative answer. So far, they’d worked.
From here on, he’d have to wing it. He would play on her devotion to the twins, which shouldn’t be too difficult. Her caring shone in her eyes every time she gazed at those babies.
A twinge of guilt threw Mason off stride as he accompanied Elly. It was wrong to manipulate a person who meant so much to him.
But a few months on a ranch wouldn’t harm Gina, and could mean all the difference for Daisy and Lily’s futures. “Any word from my brother-in-law?” he asked.
“He called about six o’clock last evening.” The administrator had a reputation for working fourteen-hour days, so that probably didn’t seem late to her. “When I told him we were releasing the girls today, he sounded more disappointed than angry. He said he and his wife would be here.”
“He didn’t specify a time?”
“No.”
It was almost nine-thirty, by Mason’s watch. If his sister and Stuart had caught an early morning flight, they might arrive soon.
No sense in worrying about it. The best he could do was take care of business as quickly as possible and depart, preferably with Gina.
At the office, an assistant went through a sheaf of papers with him, methodically explaining what each one was for. A hospital survey, and insurance records, and obtaining social security numbers, and on and on.
His restlessness made it hard to concentrate. Only after a while did Mason put his finger on what was bothering him.
It wasn’t just Margaret and Stuart’s impending arrival. It was the observation that Gina had been crying.
