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“What are you talking about?” Nina said. “We’re sisters. We have no deep issues to overcome.”
“Yes, we do,” Valentine said. “Even though I love you. Can I have a glass of water? I’m not feeling too well.”
“I’ll get it.” Crockett sprang to do her bidding.
Navarro pulled Nina into the circle of his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Everything is going to be fine.”
“Nothing is going to be fine!” she insisted, but she didn’t try to pull away. “My sister is unmarried and pregnant, and our heirloom bed is broken. How is everything going to be fine?”
“Because,” Navarro said, putting his lips against her temple. “I’ve decided you need me.”
Valentine laughed.
Nina bristled. “I have never needed anything less.”
“That’s not what you were saying when we kissed.”
“You kissed him?” Valentine asked. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
“I know, I know. It means that, in the future, I’ll kiss anything he wants me to.”
Valentine frowned. “No, Nina. It means that he’ll love you and leave you.”
Nina’s skin turned cold. “He can’t love me and leave me. We will never have those feelings for each other. In fact, the only reason we’ll ever be on speaking terms is because of the baby.”
But Nina felt another chill hit her—and she realized that she actually did like the big cowboy holding her close to his warm, strong body.
Very unlibrarianlike to fall for a man she’d only just met, especially a man who was used to women kissing him “wherever he liked.” Probably running after him as though he were some kind of prince. In this part of the world, he was likely considered a great catch.
Not by me, Nina thought. I always said I was going to wait for the right man to come along, and Navarro is not the man for my charmed bed!
Chapter Three
“I know what you’re thinking,” Navarro told Nina. “You’re thinking I’m not the right man. But I am. And I’ll show you. Let’s get back to finishing up this bed while the girls hen-talk,” he told his brother.
Nina glanced at Valentine. “Hen-talk, indeed. Could you live with that much chauvinism in your life?”
Valentine smiled. “Yes.”
“How? I’ve worked hard to get an education and to earn respect at my job. No man’s going to refer to me as a hen,” Nina said to Valentine, but she was looking at Navarro.
“Mad as a wet hen,” Crockett pointed out.
“As a counterpoint, I would just like to say that I’ve worked hard to be a good cowboy and to earn respect at my job. Nobody is ever going to henpeck me,” Navarro said to Crockett, but he was looking at Nina.
Valentine sighed. “Crockett says they’re going to take care of me. Is that all right, Nina? I like the sound of it. I think I’m gonna go for it. I’m ready to leave the shelter of your wings.”
“Again?” Nina’s heart burned.
“Yes. You don’t mean to, but you make me feel bad. I know I should be ashamed, but what happened has happened, and I’d rather the Jeffersons take care of me than Marvella. Or you. You need to go back to Delaware, to your life. It’s too cold for me up there, and besides, I like rural life in Texas.” Valentine smiled at the brothers.
“What about the lawsuit?” Nina asked.
“We’re going to have to figure that out,” Valentine replied. “But Crockett says he’s going to help me.”
“Since when did you become Rescue Ranger?” Nina demanded.
“She’s reasonable,” Crockett said. “Reasonable is easy to work with. We’re all going to be one big happy family, anyway. Emphasis on happy.”
“Told you Crockett could make matters work,” Navarro said. “Henny-penny, the sky is not falling.”
“Good one,” Crockett said. “Very hen-dustrious of you to think of a famous hen.”
“Yeah?” Nina looked at Navarro. “So if Crockett’s so skillful, how come he didn’t come to my room to fix the bed, instead of you?”
“Probably because I liked your little voice challenging me,” Navarro said. “And Crockett never has been much for snippy. Too chauvinistic to stand it. I, on the other hand, am not bothered by ruffled feathers and a sharp beaking.” He grinned. “Now, back to the bed.” Glancing over it, he said, “So, Valentine, do you know how this bed ended up in this condition?”
Everyone stopped moving.
“Dude,” Crockett began.
“Er—” Nina said, wondering why Navarro was trying to embarrass her sister.
“Last jumped on it,” Valentine said. “Jumped a lot. Apparently he likes to jump on beds. I sort of thought it was freedom of expression, cowboy style.”
Navarro and Crockett stared at her.
“Our little brother was jumping on your bed, hard enough to break it?” Crockett asked.
“He was having a great time,” Valentine said. “I stood right over there and watched.”
“That doesn’t sound kinky at all,” Navarro said. “I’m almost disappointed.”
“Well, you have to understand the age of this bed,” Valentine said. “It’s an heirloom.”
“Right. The heirloom charmed bed. Guaranteed potency.”
“Exactly,” Valentine said. “Now you just need to put it back together so it can work for Nina. She wants a baby, you know. And she’s no spring chicken.”
“I thought she was pushing the dark side of thirty,” Navarro said. “Though she kisses like a baby.”
“A baby!” Nina was outraged.
“Yeah. All sweet and tender and trusting.”
She stared at him. “You, sir, are no gentleman.”
He snapped his fingers. “I don’t meet those librarian prerequisites. Damn.”
Crockett laughed. “She wants gentle. He comes from a long line of men who know how to kiss women off their feet and enslave them with passion.” Reaching over, he patted Valentine’s tummy. “I can’t wait to be an uncle. We’re going to name him Eustus.”
“No we’re not,” Valentine said. “We’re going to name her Mary. No more Valentines and Eugenias, though those are very fine names.”
Nina gasped. “No family names?”
“No.” Valentine shook her head decisively. “I’m going alone on this one.”
“I still don’t understand why you called off the lawsuit you filed against Last,” Nina said. “I came down here to help save you from the bad guys.”
“Turns out they’re kind of sweet,” Valentine said. “Look, Nina. I’m not like you. I’m not a card-carrying feminist. I’m not looking to be the woman who has it all. I just want a man and a baby. I don’t have the man, but I have the baby, and Crockett says the Jeffersons will make me part of the family. That’s all I want. It replaces what you and I lost when our parents died.”
“And you believe him?” Nina didn’t think she could part with her trust that easily.
“Yeah. I do. Besides, the lawsuit was Marvella’s idea.”
The three of them stared at Valentine.
“How’s that?” Navarro asked. “You mean, you girls weren’t looking to freeload off some wealthy cowboys?”
Nina gave him the evil eye. “Tell me again how these men are the most gentlemanly men you’ll ever meet?”
“You have a bit o’ the pit in you, my peach,” Navarro said. “Were you not involved in the lawsuit idea?”
“I was not,” Nina said between gritted teeth. “I came down here to help my sister with her pregnancy. And to assist her in any other way possible. You know, since I’ve met you this afternoon,” she said to Navarro, “it seems like an awful lot has changed very fast.”
“We aim to please,” Crockett said.
“But hold on a minute here,” Nina said. “You’ve charmed your way into Marvella’s good graces. You’ve talked my sister out of a lawsuit to protect her child, with nothing more than promises on your part, and—”
“And I’ve kissed you,” Navarro said cheerfully. “All in all, a very profitable afternoon.”
“You’ve seduced us,” Nina said with a flash of understanding.
“Not yet.” Navarro looked at her. “Could we count it as something you’d consider?”
Crockett grinned. “Back to that twin fantasy—”
“No!” Nina glared at both of them, completely aware they were yanking her chain. “Let’s just get the bed fixed. Then we’ll figure out everything else.”
THREE HOURS LATER, the bed was good as new, maybe better. Valentine was completely worn out, so she lay on it, just for a test, she said, and went out like a light.
Nina said she’d better make certain the bed would hold two bodies, and she got on the bed, next to her sister. With the twilight-fresh breeze blowing warmly through the room, Nina fell asleep next to her sister.
Really annoying, especially when Navarro thought Nina should be so entranced by him that she would stay awake.
The other problem, Navarro thought as he looked at the newly refurbished bed, was that Nina was so darn upright. She really needed to loosen that librarian corset of hers. It was so tight she didn’t have any fun! And he couldn’t figure out how to make her take another walk on the wild side. There was every possibility he might not ever get another kiss out of her.
He needed to shake something up between them.
Maybe that’s what Last had been doing when he’d jumped on the bed. Shaking things up a bit.
Then there was Crockett, who’d made himself right at home between the two napping sisters.
The dawg.
“Hey,” he said, poking Crockett, who looked about as happy as any man in a nonconjugal, reclined position could be. “Wake up.”
“Don’ wanna,” Crockett said. “I’m between two women. Life is good.”
“They’re just sleeping,” Navarro said. “And you’re barely touching them.”
“The future holds the key,” Crockett said sleepily. “One hates to second-guess surprise and random good luck. Besides, they counterbalance the bed perfectly. Go away.”
Navarro decided the handiwork they’d put into sawing and remounting the slats must have worked if it held three bodies comfortably. Three and a half.
“When are we leaving?” he asked. “I’m getting twitchy.” Super-twitchy, watching his brother snooze so happily next to Nina. Though for the life of him, he wasn’t sure why he should care.
Because when she kissed me, she lit my fire.
“I’m in no hurry,” Crockett said. “Go on before you wake up my girls.”
“Whatever. Call the cell when we decide on the next course of action.”
He started to leave the room. Nina popped up. “I’ll go with you,” she said. “I’m hungry.”
“That’s better,” he said happily.
“Not for me,” Crockett complained. “Get out before you wake the other one. She needs her rest.”
Nina hesitated, wondering if she should leave her sister alone in bed with a stranger. A Jefferson. Her reputation might suffer.
“Crap,” Crockett said, easing up from the bed. “I knew it was too good to be true. I’ll sit over here by the window. Leave the door open so we can air out and keep our reputations unscathed.”
“Thanks, Crockett,” Nina said gratefully.
“No prob. I’m gonna grab a quick beer out of the fridge before I take up duty. Marvella said to help myself.”
“That’s sort of scary,” Navarro said. “But we won’t think about that right now. Just one beer, okay? And I’ll bring you and Sleeping Beauty a snack. Or call if she wakes up soon, and we’ll come by and pick you up. We need to make plans for the future.”
Crockett touched Valentine’s toes on his way past the bed. She didn’t move. “Out like a light,” he said. “Can’t get into any mischief when you’re lying in bed.”
“You can in that bed,” Navarro said. “Don’t even get me started on that.”
“You’re just mad ’cause you didn’t get a turn at snuggling.”
Navarro watched Nina’s roundly plump posterior move down the hall in front of him. “They say that twins can read each other’s minds. Do you know what I’m thinking?”
“Shut the hell up?”
