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“Can I?” Jonas’s face lit up.
She sighed. “The nipple goes in his mouth.”
“Sabrina,” Jonas said, “I know how to feed an infant.”
“Good. Here’s the burp diaper.” She flung a beribboned cloth over his shoulder. The six other mothers in the waiting room smiled at Jonas as he held the baby. He didn’t notice the beams of approbation.
“Hi, Joe,” he said to his son.
“I’m going to check in.” Sabrina walked to the office window, signed in, then turned around, her heart catching as she looked across the room at Jonas.
This is what I came back to Diablo for.
Not that it was going to do her any good. “Jonas,” she said, walking back over to sit beside him, “where’s Chelsea?”
Jonas didn’t take his eyes off his son. “She said now that we aren’t getting married, she’s going to try to find a job in Diablo.”
“What?” Sabrina stared at him, astounded.
He shrugged. “She said she couldn’t marry me now. That it would be a dumb thing to do, because we’re just friends, anyway. She said I had a son I didn’t know about, and I needed to get things straight in my life. I agreed with her.”
Sabrina blinked. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come between you.”
“You didn’t. There was nothing between Chelsea and me to start with.”
Sabrina thought that was unlikely, given Jonas’s sex appeal. But she didn’t ask any more questions, deciding that digging for more information wasn’t really her place. “Do you want me to feed Joe now?”
“I think I’ve got the hang of it, thanks.” Jonas stared down at his baby. “You just concentrate on picking out a date to marry me, Sabrina McKinley, because this boy’s name isn’t going to be Jonas Cavanaugh McKinley. It’s going to be Jonas Cavanaugh Callahan, so we might as well get that understood between us right now.”
Chapter Three
His brothers would probably say he was a dunderhead for blurting out his feelings—a bad proposal if there ever was one—in a pediatrician’s office. And they’d be right. But holding little Joe sent such emotions washing over Jonas that it was all he could do not to throw Sabrina in his truck and drive off with the both of them. He could convince her on the road—he did his best work on the road.
That was something his brothers had never understood about him. They thought he was just an old fuddy-duddy, steadfast and boring Jonas the heart surgeon. He was that, in some ways, because he was the eldest and he’d felt a strong sense of being a role model when they were growing up. But there was nothing he loved more than to cut loose from the office and hit the road, experiencing the variety life had to offer.
“I can’t marry you, Jonas,” Sabrina said, interrupting his scattered thoughts. He was nervous—nerves akin to waiting for a bull to leave the chute—as he waited for her answer to the proposition he’d blurted.
“Sabrina,” Jonas said, ignoring her statement. She was an adorably prickly little thing, but she didn’t understand that a boy needed his father. A girl did, too, but Jonas had a boy, and right now he was dealing with the obvious. A girl could come later, if he played his cards right. “While you consider what I said, which is really not open to debate because Joe absolutely has to have my name, I want to show you what I just bought.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “What?”
“It’s not here. I’ll have to drive you there to show you. Would you mind taking a two-day jaunt with me?”
“I’m not sure. Based on the marriage proposal you seem to be offering in a rather chauvinistic way, I don’t know if I want to spend much time alone with you.”
He nodded. “You owe it to yourself to find out. We belong together as a family, and that’s the goal we need to work toward.”
He’d hoped to see the light of joy in her eyes, but Sabrina’s brows pulled farther together. “We don’t have any goals, Jonas.”
“I’m aiming to fix that.” Jonas stood up with the baby when the nurse called little Joe’s name. “What the three of us need is time away. See if you don’t agree.”
Sabrina followed him silently, which was unusual for her, because she was a firecracker and given to both opinions and the occasional explosion when put upon. He liked the fire in her. Funny that I ever thought she was all wrong for me. It must have been the gypsy bells and the clairvoyant oogie-boogie that made me think she wouldn’t be happy married to Steady Eddy.
He could fix all that.
“You’re crazy,” Sabrina told him as they put Joe on the scales, and the nurse smiled.
“Big boy,” she said, and Jonas smiled.
“Yes, ma’am. Just like his dad.”
“Oh, brother,” Sabrina said.
Jonas beamed hugely. Now that sounded more like the gypsy who’d rocked his world.
He was so glad to be with her.
He’d have to work on the relationship part. But he remembered how good “Yes, Jonas” sounded, and he was willing to try his darnedest.
* * *
IT TOOK TWO DAYS OF wondering how to politely do it, but Sabrina finally got up the courage to investigate her very attractive rival. “Excuse me,” she said, walking up to the Diablo library desk with little Joe.
The redhead at the counter sent her a wide, welcoming grin. “I know you. You’re Sabrina McKinley, and that’s Joe. Hi, Joe,” Chelsea said, giving his cheek a slight caress. “He sure is a happy baby.”
Sabrina was warmed by Chelsea’s Irish accent and the fact that the woman honestly seemed pleased to see little Joe. She couldn’t pick up any animosity or jealousy from her, either. Sabrina’s curiosity was killing her. Before she accepted Jonas’s invitation to visit what he’d bought, she meant to speak with his supposed ex-fiancée.
Once burned, twice shy… .
“Hi, Chelsea,” she said. “You found a job so quickly.”
“Yes.” Chelsea smiled again. “I’m fortunate. Word got around that I was looking, and someone called me. I’ve got my passport, of course, and I applied for a visa. Then, one day, maybe a green card.”
“That’s a lot of plans,” Sabrina said, holding Joe as he squirmed, trying to reach for a book. Chelsea handed him one, a children’s picture book, and he instantly tried to gnaw on it.
“No, honey,” Sabrina said absently, putting him into his stroller so he could “read” the book. “This is for higher education, not nutrition. You turn the page like this. See?”
Joe observed, but didn’t quite have the motor skills to figure out page-turning. Still, he was happy to pat the page for a moment. “So,” Sabrina said, “I guess what I really want to know is if you…if you’re—”
“If Jonas and I are still engaged.” Chelsea nodded. “No. We’re not. It was Jonas’s plan, to keep him from being embarrassed that he was the only brother without a woman. He was pretty devastated when he thought you’d gone to Washington and met another guy.”
“Oh,” Sabrina said. “That’s not what happened at all.”
“And any woman could have figured that out.” She nodded again. “But Jonas was in full protective mode. I figured the two of you had to work things out eventually.”
“So why did you come to Diablo?” Sabrina asked, wondering what Chelsea’s angle was, if not marrying Jonas.
She began checking in some books that were in the bin. “I’ve been taking care of my mother for a few years. She’s much better now. She told me to go see the world.” Chelsea glanced at Sabrina. “Mom lives next door to Fiona, you know.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Mom’s supposed to be keeping an eye on Fiona and Burke’s place until they get back. Who knows when that will be?”
“They’re elusive,” Sabrina murmured. “So did you tell Jonas you wanted to see the world?”
“Mmm. And he said New Mexico was a great place to begin. That if I’d pretend to be his fiancée, he’d fly me over here and help me get started.” The redhead grinned at her. “I want to do a lot of traveling, but I can tell Diablo is a great place to live. I may stay here for a while. I like family places.”
“Diablo is certainly that.”
Chelsea stopped checking in books for a moment to consider Sabrina. “You know, men think with their hearts more than we give them credit for. And Jonas really was freaked out that you were having another man’s baby.”
“It never occurred to me that he would think that,” Sabrina said.
“There’s the trouble,” Chelsea said cheerfully, going back to her work. “We never know what they’re thinking, and it’s usually nothing that we’d think at all.”
“Thanks, Chelsea,” Sabrina said, feeling immensely relieved. “I really appreciate you telling me all this.”
“Jonas can’t be annoyed with me for telling you the truth, can he?” She winked at her. “Anyway, he’s a nice guy and all, but I’m looking for adventure.”
“You’ll find it here.” Sabrina handed the picture book back to Chelsea, and little Joe let out an indignant squawk. “Oh, Joe, honey…all right,” she said, giving in. “I think he’d like a book to read, Chelsea.” She found her library card and checked the book out, then gave it back to him.
Chelsea looked over the counter at Joe. “Maybe he’s going to be book-smart like his dad.”
Sabrina laughed. “Maybe he’ll get some other kind of smarts from his mother, too.”
“Goodbye, Sabrina. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”
She nodded. “I hope so. Goodbye, Chelsea.”
Sabrina went out, feeling much better now that she had some answers—and still not certain what to do about Jonas’s invitation.
* * *
“SO THIS IS IT,” JONAS SAID proudly the next day, when he’d finally dragged a reluctant Sabrina and little Joe away from Rancho Diablo for what he called “new family togetherness.”
Sabrina wasn’t certain what she thought about “family togetherness” time with Jonas. After her chat with Chelsea, though, she’d decided to give it a shot. Something was bugging her, though she couldn’t put her finger on it. The old “tickle” was back, warning her that something wasn’t quite as it should be.
Jonas was handsome as ever, gorgeous, in fact, yet she couldn’t allow herself to focus only on her emotions. But it was hard to forget what they’d shared, and how wonderful Jonas made her feel when she was in his arms. “What is it?” she asked, caution dampening her enthusiasm.
“This is Dark Diablo,” Jonas said, parking his truck in front of a small, spare farmhouse set among hardy junipers and spiny cacti, and framed by dusky canyons and arroyos. “This is my new home.”
Sabina blinked. “Home?”
“Yep.” He came around to help her out of the truck, then took Joe from her arms when she’d released him from his car seat. “This is Daddy’s new house, son. You get a swing set here, and a pony.”
“Wait,” Sabrina said, following them. “This isn’t home. You live in Diablo, at Rancho Diablo.”
“I’ve always wanted my own place. This is that place.” Jonas glanced around, pride evident on his face. “It took me almost four years to finally pull the trigger and buy this from the owner, but I did it.”
Sabrina looked around at the vast emptiness, her heart sinking. Of course, they were only a few miles from Rancho Diablo, but this wasn’t home. Home was with the people she’d come to know and love. She didn’t want Joe growing up alone.
She shivered. “There’s nothing out here.”
“I know. But I see cattle breeding and horses, and maybe something else. I’m not sure what.” Jonas smiled at her. “I can tell you’re not crazy about it.”
“It doesn’t matter how I feel,” Sabrina said quickly. “It’s your place. But it just seems so lonely.”
“The previous owner was old. He’d sold off most of his equipment and buildings, intending to sell the ranch to a corporation, I think. But when I heard that we might lose Rancho Diablo, I began to think seriously about this place. I knew we could move our operations here, if we had to.”
Sabrina nodded. “That makes sense.”
“So now it’s mine. Come on inside.”
The small farmhouse, with its weather-beaten paint and dust-laden windows, was so different from the seven-chimneyed, English-style manor house at Rancho Diablo. Sabrina walked into a wallpapered kitchen that was large and bright, if not updated. “Where does the water come from?”
“Here we’re cistern. For the cattle, luckily, there’s a couple of good creeks and streams you can’t see from the house, but which I think I can run pipe to.”
She kept walking around the house. “It feels like Auntie Em’s home in The Wizard of Oz.”
“I plan to build my own place one day. This isn’t big enough for a family. And I like what I had growing up.”
“Where are the closest neighbors?”
He looked at her. “I think there’s some a few miles away. This is ten thousand acres, so it’s pretty private.”
“I’ll say.” She went up the staircase, finding three small bedrooms laid out at the top, with one bathroom in between. “All the bedrooms are upstairs.”
“Yes.” Jonas came to stand beside her, carrying little Joe. “Sabrina, everything can be changed.”
She swallowed. “I’ve lived in a lot of places, Jonas, so I think I’m pretty good at adapting. But I suspect you’re going to be very lonely out here. I know I would be.”
He blinked. “Lonely? I was thinking how great the peace and quiet would be. I had five brothers growing up. Solitude sounds like heaven.”
She shook her head. “I only had Seton.”
Sabrina went back downstairs, and Jonas followed her.
“I don’t want to be a wet blanket,” she said, “so congratulations. I’m glad you got what you wanted.”
His proud smile dimmed. “Thanks.”
She nodded uncomfortably. “I guess we’d better head back. Thanks for showing me your new place.”
Jonas looked at her for a long time before slowly nodding in turn. He led her to the truck, handed Joe back to her to put in his car seat, then drove away in silence.
Sabrina looked back at the small farmhouse set in the vast acreage, and wondered why Jonas wanted to be alone so badly.
“Jonas,” she said slowly, “why do you want to run away from your family?”
