“Tell you what.” He leaned forward, his voice soft enough for only her to hear. “If we find ourselves with a baby, I’ll sign over my portion of the ranch to the child.”
Seton blinked. “Why?”
“It’d be theirs in due time, anyway,” Sam said, eternally optimistic, “and you’d have a better place for your office than that dingy building you’re in now.”
“I like my office,” Seton said. “It’s my own private space.”
“You’d like the ranch better,” Sam told her. “Office and nursery in one.”
She wasn’t going to succumb to the lure he presented. For Sabrina, maybe. But it was a long shot. Seton didn’t know if her sister even liked Jonas.
She’d liked him well enough to make love with him.
“This is terrible,” Seton groaned. “You have no idea the dilemma I’m in.”
“It’s hard pushing the upper end of your ovarian best-by date,” Sam said sympathetically.
“I’m twenty-six, thank you very much,” she retorted. “And that’s not what I meant, anyway. I can’t even imagine myself in bed with you, Sam.”
He grinned. “That’s funny, because I can see myself in bed with you—and liking it. A
lot.
”
Chapter Four
“I don’t know.” Seton glared at him. “I doubt we’re compatible. I think I’d prefer a more clinical route.”
“Like artificial insemination?” Sam looked depressed. “Give a guy a chance, will you?”
“Clinical might be easier.” The attraction Seton felt for Sam was overwhelming, but she wasn’t about to admit it. It seemed as if the best route was to deny any and all thoughts of sex between them.
One unplanned pregnancy in the McKinley family was enough at the moment.
Sam grabbed her hand across the tabletop and pulled her around to his side, making room for her to sit next to him in the booth. “See, you’re not exactly my polar opposite.”
“I have a feeling I should be pushing away from you like one,” Seton said. “Ask me later if I regret not running like heck.”
“I had you pegged as a girl who likes to be caught.”
“You’d be wrong.” Seton leaned away from him when she noticed Sam checking out her lips. “I was on the cross-country team in high school.”
He brightened. “We need an athletic woman in the family. It’s good for the genes. None of us were much for track.”
Seton sighed. “I don’t think you’re ever serious about anything.”
“There you’d be wrong. I’m serious about everything.”
She shook her head. “Why don’t you just ask Jonas what’s bugging him? Maybe he’s upset about something.”
“He is. He’s been mopey ever since your sister left. It’s like looking at Droopy Dog.”
“I’ll just ask Sabrina if she’ll come visit me and Aunt Corinne.” She knew her sister wouldn’t, though.
“You do that. Maybe it’ll work. In the meantime, I’ll go have blood drawn.”
“You’re serious about this.”
“Very serious. Dead serious.”
Seton looked down at her fingers, then at Sam. “I don’t think so. It’s not going to be easy for me to get pregnant, and if I did, you strike me as the kind of man who’d be determined to drag me to the altar.”
“Well, as you’re not certain you can conceive, we don’t have to worry about a pregnancy yet.” Sam smiled at her. “I say we go for a practice run.”
“Sam.” Seton frowned. “I’m not going to just go jump in bed with you when we haven’t even kissed.”
He leaned over and kissed her on the lips, in plain view of everyone at the Chinese restaurant in Diablo. “Mmm,” he said, “I do love Chinese food.”
She blushed. “I’m sure it’s a rare man who claims to love sake kisses.”
“Eat a fortune cookie and let me kiss you again,” he teased. “Just for comparison.”
Seton stood, looking at him while feeling everything was all wrong. “I can’t do this, Sam.”
“All right,” he said, signing the bill. “Don’t say I didn’t offer you a whale of a deal.”
They walked out together, and she was relieved when he didn’t put his hand at her back. Her mind and heart were both racing, just from thinking about Sam. And Jonas and Sabrina. And the baby. But mostly Sam, and how good his lips had felt against hers.
She hadn’t expected them to feel so sexy.
“Tell you what,” he said, walking her to her car. “I’m going to be at a cute little bunkhouse on my property. If you’re in the mood later to come by and iron out some details, I’ll be there, reading briefs. No worries if you don’t.”
Seton watched as he took her hand and brushed her fingers against his lips. Her pulse quickened, making her nervously aware of how much she liked him. She’d come back to Diablo for this man.
And he was offering her almost everything she’d dreamed of.
Not love, of course. But just about everything else.
Maybe Aunt Corinne is right. Maybe playing it out is the right thing to do.
She couldn’t. Getting involved with Sam would just complicate matters. “I won’t be there,” she told him, and he shrugged.
“You know where the bunkhouse is. No one stays there anymore. Jonas lives in the main house, and when I say lives, I use the term loosely. He’s more like a fireplace vampire. He comes alive to feed horses and then settles back in his Count Dracula position with his tray table in an upright and locked position.”
She looked at Sam. “Would you know if anyone ever used the word
eccentric
to describe you?”
He laughed. “I’ll be seeing you, Nancy Drew.”
Off he went, as if he had all the confidence in the world that she’d show up. Just because he wanted her to. A snap of his fingers, and the world fell at his feet.
Well, not me, buster.
A
T
NINE
O
’
CLOCK
that night, the sound of pebbles hitting her window pulled Seton from her bed, where she’d been reading a whodunit by one of her favorite authors. She pulled open her window and glanced down to see Sam grinning up at her from the ground below.
“You’re going to wake Aunt Corinne, you ape!” she whispered. “You’re too old to be throwing stones at a lady’s window!”
“You didn’t come see me,” Sam said. “I thought I’d pick you up.”
“You’re so not funny.” He was like a big puppy, she decided, completely unlike the cagey barrister one saw in court. “I’m not coming down. I’m reading a book, and it’s very good.”
She didn’t really expect him to buy her flimsy excuse, and he didn’t.
“How can I find out if I want to marry you if you stay locked up in your tower?” Sam asked.
“That’s a problem you’ll have to resolve on your own. Now go away.” Seton started to close her window, then heard her aunt’s voice on the porch.
“Hello, Corinne,” Sam said. “Yes, it is a lovely night.”
Seton eavesdropped shamelessly.
“I’d love to come inside. Thank you, Corinne,” he said.
She realized he’d gone into the house with her aunt. There was nothing she could do except get dressed and go downstairs. Somehow, she’d have to run Sam off before her aunt plied him with tea and cookies and questions about his aunt Fiona and uncle Burke. There was nothing Aunt Corinne would love more than to catch up on her dear friend.
Seton jumped into a blue dress, pulled a brush through her hair, gargled, smoothed on some lipstick and flew down the stairs. Sam had his head under the sink, looking at the pipes. Aunt Corinne held the flashlight and a box of tools at the ready.
“Aunt Corinne!” Seton exclaimed.
“Ow!” Sam started and banged his head on the cabinet, and Aunt Corinne jumped like a cat startled by a barking dog.
“Seton! I thought you were asleep!” her aunt exclaimed. “What are you doing up?”
Sam raised a quizzical brow and grinned.
“I’m…I thought I heard voices,” she said. She gazed back at Sam, annoyed.
“Sam’s come to fix my sink,” Corinne said. “I saw him in town and told him I was having issues with it, and he said he’d stop by.”
Seton glared at Sam, who shrugged. “Did he really?”
“Yes,” Sam said, “and it turns out you did drop your ring down the drain, Corinne.” He handed it to her and winked at Seton. “She thought she had, but didn’t have her glasses on at the time.”
“You didn’t mention that to me,” Seton said. “I could have helped you look for it. You didn’t need to bother Sam, Aunt Corinne.”
“Oh, Sam’s never minded helping me out.” Corinne’s expression was blithe. “None of the Callahan boys mind coming by because I give them lots of cookies.”
Sam smiled. “I actually come to see your aunt. The cookies are merely a nice benefit.”
“Oh, you rascal.” Corinne handed him a wrench. “Thank you, Sam. Now you wash up and we’ll all have a snack. I’ve baked some Toll House cookies fresh, and they’re my best batch in weeks.”
Seton frowned. “Surely we could send Sam home with his cookies, Aunt? I’m certain he has a busy day tomorrow, and it is late—”
“Why, Seton.” Corinne handed Sam a dish towel to dry his hands. “No one goes to bed at nine o’clock.”
Seton blushed. She’d been in bed with her book earlier. “Since everything seems to be handled down here,” she said. “I believe I’ll go back up to bed.”
“You do that,” Sam said, and her aunt smiled.
“Yes, Seton. Get your rest, dear.”
She hadn’t really wanted to go upstairs while Sam was here. Clearly, he couldn’t take a hint to go. Seton pursed her lips, trying to decide what to do—had he not just asked her why she hadn’t shown up at his place?—and decided to call his bluff. “All right,” she said brightly. “Good night, all.”
She forced herself to go back upstairs, and felt like a child who’d gotten sent to bed early. But she was doing the right thing. Sam hadn’t said a word about coming by to help out her aunt. He was playing games with her and the best thing to do was ignore him.
It wasn’t going to be easy when she could hear Sam and her aunt downstairs laughing and reminiscing. Seton sighed and tried to focus on the mystery, which no longer seemed that riveting. After a while, unable to concentrate, she put the book down and tried to hear what they were saying.
Twenty minutes later, she heard the front door open and Aunt Corinne call, “Good night!”
Sam said, “Good night!” Seton heard his truck pull away and realized she’d closed her book. She’d never be able to concentrate on the red herrings now.
Sam stayed on her mind too much these days.
“Seton?”
“Yes, Aunt Corinne? Come in.”
“He’s gone.” She entered and sat on the vanity chair. “Didn’t you want to see Sam?”
Seton wondered if her aunt had dropped her ring down the drain on purpose just to get Sam and her niece in the same room together. “I don’t know,” she said. “We’ve had dinner together the past few nights. He keeps mentioning his proposal like he means it. Frankly, I’m confused.”
“He seems honestly interested in you.”
Seton wondered if Sam was interested or just being expedient about his plans. “I don’t know, Aunt Corinne. I’m not skilled in the dating game, I guess.”
“Hiding up here is no way to encourage him,” her aunt pointed out.
“I don’t really want to encourage him,” Seton said. “I think we might be too different.”
“You came back because of Sam,” Corinne reminded her.
“I know.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what he really wants.”