Wedding His Takeover Target (Dynasties: The Jarrods #5)(23)
Author: Emilie Rose

“You said Pops agreed to sell the land to you.”

He debated his options. Honesty was his only course. “I said we agreed on the terms.”

She frowned. “If you bought the property where’s the check?” She held up a hand before Gavin could reply. “Think very hard before you lie to me.”

Henry shot Gavin a warning look, but Gavin ignored it. The pain in her eyes cut him to the bone, crushing his triumph over achieving his goal.

He had to fix this. Or he’d lose her.

Eleven

Sabrina searched her grandfather’s face and then Gavin’s. Both looked back at her with matching thin-lipped, guilty-as-sin expressions and her stomach sank.

“A deed for a deed,” she repeated the words she’d overheard through numb lips, trying to make sense of them. Unfortunately, the only option wasn’t a palatable one. Why would the two men she loved the most deceive her?She focused on Gavin. “Did you marry me to get the mine?”

He shared a long look with her grandfather and each silent second ticking past deepened her misgivings and tightened a vise around her chest.

“Did you, Gavin?” she repeated.

“Jarrod—” her grandfather growled in what sounded like a warning.

“Sabrina needs to know the truth.” Gavin’s solemn dark eyes met hers. “That was the original plan.”

An arrow pierced her heart, but this one hadn’t come from Cupid’s bow. This one had come from an assassin. Her marriage was a sham. “The original plan? Explain that, please.”

Gavin paused and swallowed. “As soon as I met you on that porch I wanted you. And then we touched, and I knew I’d stop at nothing to have you. I’ve never reacted to a woman that intensely or that fast in my life. That was before I met Henry and he laid his suggestion on the table.”

“His suggestion? And what was that exactly?”

Again, he hesitated for a moment as if choosing his words very carefully. “That I take the time to get to know you. Sabrina, with or without the land we would have ended up together one way or another.”

“So all this…” Heartsick, she swept a hand to indicate her dress, the hotel, him. Her throat closed up. Her eyes burned. “You faked it.”

He gripped her upper arm and led her a short distance away from her grandfather, then dipped his head to speak close to her face. “Do you believe I could fake the desire I feel for you? The hunger that eats me up inside until I can barely think? Name one thing that’s happened between us that feels phony.”

He’d lowered his voice to that sexy rumble that made her tremble. She didn’t want to believe him, but for a man who was usually hard to read she couldn’t deny the sincerity in Gavin’s eyes. Her emotions churned wildly. How could his comments simultaneously hurt her and send her heart flying?

Did he love her or had he just used her?

She jerked her arm free and moved a few steps away from Gavin to try to regain control. That left her staring at her grandfather. “So this was your idea.”

Pops’s eyes and his hangdog expression begged for forgiveness. “Sabrina—”

Gavin’s hands settled on her shoulders. “Henry saw the chemistry between us and prodded me to follow through because he loves you, and he doesn’t want you to be alone if anything ever happened to him.”

And then she realized there was a much larger issue here. For Pops to be this desperate he had to be hiding more than his matchmaking. “The pressure you’ve been putting on me to find someone over the past few months…it’s because you’re not well. Isn’t it?”

Pops shrugged. “I’ve been better.”

“Don’t keep secrets,” she warned. “Not about something this important.”

“I’m feeling my age, girlie, that’s all. Colleen would want me to see you settled, before—”

Before he joined her, she finished silently when he didn’t. “I don’t need a babysitter, Pops. You and Grandma taught me well. I can take care of myself and the inn.”

“I’m not talking about a keeper. It’s like I’ve told you. Life is meant to be shared. I want you to experience what your grandmother and I had, Sabrina. You need to know what it feels like to know that one person in this world will always support you and be there for you until God calls ’em home. You didn’t have that with Russell. He was off doing his job—” She opened her mouth to protest but he held up a hand to cut her off. “I’m not denying his was a valiant mission, but he left you behind to fend for yourself. You never had the chance to be two halves of a whole before you were his widow and alone again.”

She couldn’t argue with facts.

“I saw you primping in the hall the day Gavin first visited. That’s the first time I’ve seen you flushed and excited in years. Then Gavin here couldn’t take his eyes off you, and I knew I had to act before yer blasted stubbornness kept you from finding the match standing right in front of you.”

“But, Pops—”

“But nothing. Gavin is the first man you’ve shown interest in since you moved in. I wasn’t letting him get away.”

Her cheeks burned. “You could have given us a chance to work things out ourselves.”

“Wasn’t wasting time I can’t guarantee I have. None of us knows how many days we have left, and happiness won’t wait. You have to seize it while you can.”

By marrying her off, he’d lessened his worries, she realized.

She turned back to Gavin, and her pulse did a little skip as it did every time she saw him. She loved him, and from what he’d said and from what he’d shown her in the short time they’d known each other, he did care about her. As he’d said, no one could fake that passion or that tenderness. Maybe he didn’t love her yet. Maybe he did. But did she want to throw it all away because of the rocky start to their relationship?

No.

She licked her dry lips and took a breath for courage. “Are you sure you want to be married to me?”

Gavin held her gaze. “I wouldn’t undo anything that has happened from the moment I met you, and I will do my best to make sure you never regret becoming my wife.”

Then she would do her best to make her marriage work for her sake, but mostly for Pops’s sake. “Let’s get Pops home. I believe we have a honeymoon waiting.”

“You know I can’t leave.”

“You won’t have to leave Aspen for me to make you feel like you’re flying.”

The sensual promise in his eyes and voice made her tremble. For better or worse, Gavin was her future.

Pregnant.Sabrina stared at the test stick.

The word in the tiny window explained so much: the slight nausea she’d experienced the past three days, the extra sensitivity in her br**sts, and the way certain smells suddenly repelled her when they hadn’t before.

She’d been blaming the changes on adjusting to married life. As much as she’d loved sharing Gavin’s lodge with him for the past eleven days and nights and spending their mornings and evenings together, juggling her roles as wife, innkeeper and Pops’s caretaker was a tough balancing act. Gavin had arranged for Meg, the inn’s housekeeper, to stay with Pops at night, but Sabrina still worried about her grandfather.

She stared at the bathroom mirror and pressed her hand to her stomach. A baby. Excitement and fear battled for supremacy inside her. Part of her yearned to have Gavin’s child. Another part worried that it was too soon to add a baby into the mix.

How would Gavin react to the news? Would he take it stoically and decide to make the best of the situation the way Russell had, or would he be upset? It was hard to know. They’d been so busy between finishing the chores at the inn and the beginning of construction on the new lodge on the property near the mine that they were still learning about each other, and they could barely have a conversation without ending up nak*d. A baby would change that.

It was early. Her period was only a few days late. So much could go wrong in the first trimester, as she’d learned the hard way. Maybe she should wait to tell him.

The doorbell rang, startling her. She glanced at her watch. “Oh, darn.”

Her ride was here. She’d met Avery Lancaster last week when at the coffee the Jarrod women had organized to welcome Sabrina into the family, and Sabrina had clicked with Guy’s fiancée instantly. When Avery had offered to give Sabrina a ride to Erica’s bridal shower in downtown Aspen, Sabrina had been touched by the way the Jarrod women had included her and she’d accepted. She hadn’t known then that she’d need the quiet drive to get her thoughts together.

Sabrina huffed out a breath and hastily gathered the test strip and packaging and stuffed them back into the bag. She wasn’t ready to face the world with her new knowledge. But what choice did she have? She crammed the pregnancy test into the garbage can, slashed on a swipe of lipstick and bolted for the front door, grabbing the shower gift from the hall table on the way. She’d have to worry about Gavin and her pregnancy later. And then she’d decide when and how to share her news.

She yanked open the door to Avery’s smiling face. “Hi. Sorry I didn’t hear you drive up.”

“No problem.” Avery’s eyes narrowed. “Are you okay? You’re very pale.”

“I probably forgot to put on blush. Oops. I’ll daub a little lipstick on my cheeks in the car. What did you buy for Erica?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

“Guy and I are going to provide a week’s worth of gourmet dinners and matching wines for when Erica and Christian get back from their honeymoon.”

“Good idea. I hope Guy is cooking the meals himself.” She followed Avery to the car and climbed in.

As she buckled her seat belt she realized she didn’t even know where she and Gavin would be living when their baby arrived sometime in—she did the math in her head—late July. Gavin’s required year at Jarrod Ridge would be ending.

Would he be willing to move into the B and B? If not, maybe they could buy a place in downtown Aspen. Or would he be on the road for his job? She couldn’t leave Pops or the Snowberry Inn to follow Gavin around the globe. Would this be like her marriage to Russell where she’d basically been alone most of the time? Would she be raising her child primarily as a solo parent? Would this pregnancy go full term?

There were so many unanswered questions. She now wished she’d pressed Gavin for details. But the sex—which was still amazing—kept getting in the way. In fact, she had wondered if Gavin didn’t use sex to avoid serious conversations sometimes.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You’re very quiet today,” Avery asked.

Sabrina grimaced. “Sorry. I was wondering where Gavin’s next job would be once he finished his year in Aspen.”

Avery glanced her way. “I heard him tell Guy he was working on some preliminary studies for a bridge in New Zealand.”

Surprise stole her breath. Not even the same continent. “I didn’t know he’d already accepted a job.”