To Have And To Hold: Made for Marriage / To Wed a Rancher / The Mummy Proposal

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Noah stepped closer and took hold of her chin, lifting her face up. “But you’re not sure you want to, right?”

“Honestly … being around you makes me more confused than I’ve ever been in my life.” Her hands found his chest. “Would you … would you like to stay for a while?”

“Yeah,” he breathed. “But I have to pick the kids up before three.”

“Oh.” Disappointment etched on her face.

“Evie’s got guests arriving at two,” he explained. “And my folks are golfing all day.”

She moved her fingertips. “Another time, then?”

He grasped her shoulders and looked at her. “I want to stay with you.” He pulled her close and her hands were imprisoned between them. “Believe me.” One hand moved over her shoulder and he gently touched the back of her neck and tilted her head fractionally. “I want to make love to you so much I can barely think about anything else.” Especially after what had happened between them down by the river. “I’ll call you later,” he said, kissing her. “And of course I’ll see you tomorrow, for Lily’s lesson.”

“Of course,” she whispered.

He kissed her again and the feel and taste of her was imprinted all over his skin. And Noah knew, without a doubt, that he wanted to love her for the rest of his life.

Only, he had no idea if Callie wanted the same thing.

Chapter Nine (#u418be5ea-a9d5-52b7-a196-c52cb9116728)

Callie hitched the trailer to her truck and got Fiona to check the lights. Her friend gave her the thumbs-up.

“Can I please come with you?” Lily asked for the third time.

“Like I said the first time, no.”

Lily scowled. “But I could help. You might need me.”

Rescuing the three neglected horses would be tricky, but it needed to be done. Because Animal Welfare hadn’t been able to trace the horses, Callie and Fiona had found out their location through a mutual friend and horse trainer. They’d planned the rescue for late Wednesday afternoon and would inform the authorities when they had the animals loaded on the trailer. Only Callie hadn’t expected Lily to turn up and insist on helping.

“Definitely not,” she said. “Get your bike and head home.”

“Dad will let me go if I ask him,” Lily said.

Callie looked at her. “No, he won’t.”

She knew how Noah would react. He was a stickler for doing the right thing. And what they were doing was not exactly protocol—even if their intentions were noble. She’d considered telling him about her plans because she didn’t want there to be any secrets between them. But Fiona talked her out of it, insisting the fewer people who knew the better.

“But I want to help,” Lily insisted and then said with a pout, “I thought we were friends.”

“We are,” Callie said, firmer this time. “But your father is—”

“More than a friend,” Lily said bluntly and pouted again. “Yeah, I get that. I’m not a little kid. I know you guys are into each other.”

Callie tried to ignore the heat climbing up her neck. She suspected Lily knew about their kayaking trip. Well, not everything. But Lily was smart, she’d work it out, even if Callie was reluctant to come clean and admit she and Noah were together. “I was about to say that your father wouldn’t want you mixed up in this. And neither do I,” she added.

“I can take care of myself,” Lily said and crossed her thin arms. “And I wish everyone would stop treating me like I’m five years old. I’m thirteen … old enough to … well, old enough to do lots of stuff. And it’s not like I’m about to go and do something stupid. And the way my dad’s been acting lately you’d think I was some sort of glass doll.”

Callie caught Lily’s resentment. “He’s concerned about you.”

“No need,” the teenager replied. “I get that he wants a girlfriend,” she said and flashed her eyes at Callie. “But who says it would work out anyway? I mean, people get together and break up all the time, right? Even married people. Especially married people. In fact, I don’t know why adults bother to get married at all. They should just have kids and break up straight away … that way the kids don’t have to get used to the idea that having parents who are together is normal.”

Once she’d finished her impassioned speech, Lily bit down on her lower lip. Callie’s concerns about Lily’s fragile emotions increased tenfold. For all the girl’s bravado, she wasn’t fooled. Lily was hurting. Lily felt things deeply. And Callie knew the young girl was concerned about her relationship with her father. Noah was all she had, Lily’s rock, the one constant in her life. And Callie had no intention of threatening that foundation.

“Time for you to go home,” Callie said gently. “I’ll see you on Sunday.”

Lily begrudgingly accepted her decision and took off on her bicycle.

“Let’s get going,” Fiona said after they’d filled up the hay nets. “We need to get the horses back here before it gets dark.”

Callie agreed. She locked Tessa in the backyard and checked the house was secure. The windows all worked now, thanks to Noah.

She maneuvered the truck and trailer around the yard and headed for the road.

“So, big date this Friday, huh?”

Callie concentrated on the driving. The trip was close to thirty kilometers west of Bellandale and would take about half an hour. But she still managed to smile at her friend. “How did you find out?”

“Evie told me,” Fiona said. “She’s watching the kids and asked if I wanted to drop by for a game of rummy.” Her friend rolled her eyes. “I get a game of rummy and you get a dreamy date.”

Dreamy? She supposed Noah was a little dreamy. A lot dreamy. And she was looking forward to their date more than she could have ever imagined. She had only seen him during Lily’s lesson on Sunday because the twins had come down with a slight cold. But he’d asked her to dinner on Friday night. Although after what happened by the river, Callie wasn’t sure she was ready for the next step in their relationship. Oh, she wanted Noah. What surprised her was the intensity of that desire. She’d never considered herself all that sexual in the past … her life with Craig had revolved around the horses and competition and hard work. Sex and romance had come last in the list of priorities they’d set for their life together.

But with Noah … well, she thought about sex a lot. And she felt certain he thought the same. Since they’d almost made love by the river she’d been distracted and unable to think about much else.

Except now she was thinking about Lily. The young girl’s obvious confusion and pain lingered in the back of Callie’s mind. She needed to talk with Noah before their relationship went any further. She needed to be sure she wasn’t unsettling Lily too much.

“There’s the turnoff,” Fiona announced.

Callie slowed down and turned into a long gravel driveway. An old farmhouse came into view behind a row of wild bamboo. The settling dusk set up an eerie mood. “Are you sure this is the right place?”

“Absolutely. Put the headlights on, will you? It’s getting dark.”

Callie flicked on the lights and pulled the truck to a halt. “Looks like a gate over there,” she said and pointed to a break in the fence line where an old timber gate was tethered between two posts. Fiona grabbed the flashlight on the seat between them and got out. Callie followed and retrieved three halters and ropes from the back of the truck before tracing her friend’s footsteps.

“I can see them,” Fiona announced when she reached the fence line. “Look.”

Callie saw the three horses silhouetted against the diminishing sunlight. “You get the trailer ready,” she said. “I’ll grab them.”

“Be careful,” Fiona warned and headed back to the truck.

Callie looked at the chain and padlocks on the gate and tapped the pair of bolt cutters in her back pocket. She slipped through the barbed-wire fence and headed for the trio of horses who were now watching her suspiciously. The closer she got, the more appalled she became. They were clearly neglected. Two bays and one grey, all of them in need of decent feed and veterinary attention. She haltered one of the bays and the other two automatically followed. Once the three horses were secured, Callie grabbed the snips and cut through the barbed wire. Within minutes they began angle loading them on the trailer.

Fiona suddenly shrieked. “Callie, look. A car’s coming.”

Sure enough, a pair of headlights turned toward the long driveway. “It could be nothing,” Callie assured her friend.

Fiona didn’t believe her. She didn’t believe herself. “They must have seen our lights. We have to get out of here.”

Callie agreed. They quickly secured the horses, closed the tailgate, then jumped into the truck. Callie turned the truck and trailer in a sharp arc and headed down the driveway.

The car kept coming. Conscious of both their own and the horse’s safety, Callie accelerated fractionally and stayed on the track. With just meters to spare, the car veered to the right with a loud blast of its horn. She kept going, giving the task her full concentration. Fiona told her the car had turned and was now on their tail as they headed out of the driveway. They hit the main road and Callie increased speed. Behind, the car closed in, tailgating them, striking the horn in an attempt to intimidate. The driver didn’t give up, following them down the narrow country road. In the side mirrors Callie could see that the car was in fact a truck with a menacingly heavy-duty push bar out front. And it was getting closer to the back of the trailer with each passing second. At the first contact on the push bar against the rear of the trailer, Callie was thrown forward. Fiona screamed. Callie gripped the steering wheel and held on, managing the impact by pressing the gas and surging forward. She could feel the horses moving in the trailer and straightened the rig quickly. The truck collided again, harder this time, sending them into the gravel rut on the edge of the road. Callie held her nerve and pulled the wheel with all her strength.