Twin Temptations (8 page)

Smiling sleepily, she gently nuzzled his neck as he rolled from her, spooned her from behind. She wrapped his arms around her, ducking out only for a split second to pull the covers over them both.

“Tomorrow, or rather later today,” he whispered into her neck sleepily, “we need to have a serious chat with your brother and my cousin.”

“Yeah,” she said happily, letting the heat of his embrace and his wonderful scent wash over her. “But it’s going to be hard to act annoyed with them. I would have continued to avoid you for months, if not years, if Alex hadn’t pushed me along.”

“Never would have happened. I was making plans of my own.”

“Oh?” she said sleepily, yawning delicately.

“Yeah, baby,” he rumbled, sleep making his voice thick and even more potently sexy. “I was going to hire you on any one of a dozen pretexts.”

Samantha smiled as she felt Callum begin to fall asleep behind her. She wriggled closer into his embrace, happy beyond measure.

“Once I found out you knew about my wolf side and knew many of our secrets, I wouldn’t have put up much of a fight. You’re just too damn sexy.”

“Good to hear,” he murmured. Samantha could practically hear him slide into a deep, restful sleep.

She laughed softly, held him tightly around her and closed her eyes, a deep, peaceful sleep overtaking her.

A few months later…

Samantha felt ready to scream.

“Mom, if you don’t get out of here and let me be, I swear to heaven I will not be responsible for my actions.”

“For a blushing bride, you sure are cranky, darling,” her mother said cheerily, still fussing with Sam’s long curly hair.

While Bella had a huge white gown, two frilly petticoats underneath, a floor-length veil and delicate pink roses in her hair, Samantha had gone for a simple knee-length dress in ivory, a few wildflowers twisted in her dark locks and a handful of her Aunt Sophie’s cornflowers clenched tighter than necessary in her hand. Sam utterly refused to admit that she was nervous as hell. Bella had been throwing up all morning. Nerves, she insisted, though privately Sam felt certain that Bella was pregnant.

She, however, had no such excuse for her nerves or for the two times she had herself thrown up before the hordes of family and friends had descended on her to

“make her radiant”.

A knock at the door gave her the perfect excuse to move away from her fussing mother. If she didn’t get out of here soon, she’d say something awful she would regret later on. Somehow, Sam just wanted to be left alone to fret in private. When she opened the door to her Uncle Dominic, she felt so relieved that she didn’t tease him when his grin widened at her.

“How is the gorgeous bride?” he asked as he loosened his bow tie and made a comedic face at her to express the lengths he was going for her. Samantha grabbed her uncle’s hand and led him outside the small cabin.

“I am going crazy. Take me on a walk.”

She half dragged him away from the cabin, ignoring her mother’s frustrated yells for her to come back or she’d ruin her hair and makeup. Her mother was more than capable to take over for the last of the pre-wedding preparations. Besides, there was more than an hour left.

Leading Dominic into the familiarity of the woods, Samantha felt herself calm down with each step that brought her further away from the prissy mess back at the main house.

“I’m not helping you jilt the poor guy, am I, Sammi?” Dominic grinned as he teased her.

Samantha smiled in return, but replied honestly. “No, Uncle Dom. I just need to breathe. Bella is…a bit fretful.” Samantha had to swallow the news of her sister-in-law’s pregnancy. “It’s all such a buzz in there—I can’t breathe. I know I’m doing the right thing, but I’ve never wanted a huge white wedding. I never really wanted
any
wedding.

“Dom, I love Callum, but why the hell do I need to go through with this? He knows I love him, knows I’ve marked him. I’ll happily wear his rings. I just don’t think I can do this.”

Samantha continued to walk through the forest, each section as familiar as her own face. She had grown up here, played forever in these woods, run here every month for as long as she could remember. She felt the wind in her face and she could scent each individual flower as she passed it.

Finally, she came to a glade that she had often dreamed in, spent alone time in, as a child. Samantha hadn’t been purposely heading here, or not consciously anyway, but somehow it felt
right
being here as she closed one chapter on her life and opened a new one.

After a rather heated discussion about her twin’s matchmaking skills, or lack thereof, the entire mess with the “kidnapped” cubs had been laid to rest. The cubs had been safe and secreted away, both Bella and Alexander had been taking good care of

them. It had also been near to impossible to chew her brother a new asshole when he continued to smirk about how deeply in love she had fallen with Callum. Bella too had been ecstatic that everything had fallen into place so perfectly, and it had been her idea to have a double wedding. Samantha had hesitated at first, mostly because she knew the large, white, traditional wedding was one of Bella’s dreams, and she didn’t want to dampen Bella’s enthusiasm.

Everything had been working perfectly, she had never been as happy as she was with Callum and they were both madly, irrevocably in love, and yet something niggled in the back of her mind, something she seemed to be missing. With a strangled cry, Samantha dropped down onto a particularly grassy spot and started sobbing. She felt even more grateful as Dominic merely sat down beside her, uncaring of the stains probably gathering on his tux. He didn’t touch her or coddle her, but let her sob her worries out.

After a moment, she turned away from her uncle, dry retched, and felt a strange, calming peace settle over herself. She turned back, smiled weakly at the worried expression on Dom’s face, sighed and leaned on Dom’s strong shoulder, and he finally put a warm, soothing arm around her.

“You do realize you’re pregnant, don’t you, Sammi?” Samantha chuckled again at the casual, almost disinterested way her uncle said this. “Mary was incredibly hormonal with the first baby. Seems to be a running theme in Rutledge women.”

“I can’t be,” she said softly, wondering… She placed a hand on her flat stomach and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Searching inside herself, Samantha smiled, almost certain her uncle was wrong, until she found two tiny little beings. Completely shocked, Samantha choked, gasped and placed her other hand over her first to make absolutely certain she wasn’t mistaken.

Utterly disbelieving, she sat there as the minutes ticked by, utterly lost in the joy of the little beings she and Callum had made in their love.

“If you’re really that panicked over the wedding, why not get the priest to come out here and marry you? I seriously doubt Bella or Alex would mind, and you know Callum is so besotted with you he’d agree to almost anything.”

Samantha looked up to her uncle and burst into tears again, throwing both her arms around him and holding him tight. “Do you really think so, Uncle Dom? Are you sure Callum won’t mind?”

“I know I sure as hell don’t mind,” a familiar voice came from behind her. “I’ll do anything you want if you just stop crying, Sammi.”

Samantha raised her head from her uncle’s shoulder and stared, amazed to find Alexander and Callum just entering the small glade.

“Callum! It’s bad luck—”

“Alexander could feel how upset you were. It scared the shit out of me, so fuck tradition. I think we’ll manage just fine without it, Sammi. Why didn’t you tell me you were upset?”

“I wasn’t until just now. It all just kinda came crashing down on me.”

Samantha sniffed, wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up. Smiling at how handsome Callum looked in his tux, she walked over him. If possible, he looked even more handsome than he had on that fateful night at the wolf foundation dinner. Damn, her man rocked in a tux.

“I’ve been a bit odd these last few days,” she explained softly, reaching out to take Callum’s hand. “I thought it was just stress from the wedding, the planning and not being as into it as I thought I should be. But Callum.” Samantha felt her spirit lift and her eyes glow with happiness as they twined their fingers through each other’s. She took a deep breath, wanting to let this memory linger forever in her mind.

“We’re having twins,” she said softly, enjoying the shock and happiness cross over her lover’s face.

Samantha grinned widely as Callum drew her closer to him, cherished the stunned amazement on his face. She watched with awe as he reached out his free hand and placed it carefully on her stomach.

“We’re having a baby?” he repeated. “Two babies, even? You shouldn’t be out here,” Callum fretted, causing Samantha to smile even more widely. “You should be inside. What if you catch a cold? You need vitamins too, lots and lots of vitamins. I’m sure I heard that somewhere.”

Samantha pulled Callum back, kissing him softly. “We need to get married first.”

She giggled as Callum merely nodded, looking dazed, panicked and more excited than she had ever seen him. Samantha turned to her brother, embraced him and let him rub her flat tummy, let him feel the two little beings growing inside her.

“Do you think Bella will be upset if I steal the priest for ten minutes to get married here before you two do the thing properly?” she asked hesitantly, not wanting to spoil Bella’s immaculate plans.

“I think we can manage something.”

* * * * *

Twenty minutes later, Samantha kissed Callum, tears once again in her eyes and her heart full of love as the priest pronounced them man and wife. For the first time ever, she felt Callum press her mind gently. She showed him her love, her happiness and her excitement over their babies.

Dimly, she heard her parents, siblings and family cheer happily for her and her brand-new husband. She pulled back from the kiss, slightly shy at such a huge public display.

She turned and caught her Uncle Dominic winking at her, his grin cheeky and cocky. Her Uncle Samuel stood next to him, smiling happily but poking Dominic every few seconds. Even over the cheers and well wishes she could hear Uncle Samuel telling Uncle Dominic to explain the secret he was obviously keeping.

Samantha turned to where Alexander stood with an arm protectively covering Bella. Curious about the change in plans earlier, Alex had sought Bella out. At first he had been distressed to see her unwell, but the discovery of impending fatherhood had nearly brought him to his knees with worry. As Samantha had guessed, her twin had indeed then turned utterly neurotic, and she was determined to enjoy every moment of teasing this would afford her. Bella had managed to calm him, but Samantha knew he would coddle her and cherish her every moment of the rest of their lives.

“You look much happier now, Mrs. MacLennon,” a sexy voice whispered in her ear. Samantha turned and smiled at her husband.

How she loved that word.
Husband
.

“I am feeling much happier now, Mr. MacLennon. Thank you for understanding,”

she added softly, still hoping he wouldn’t regret letting her have a much smaller ceremony like she had wanted.

“Sammi,” Callum replied huskily. “If you keep on looking at me like that we’ll never make it to Bella and Alexander’s wedding.”

She smiled and took his hand, wanting to lead him back to the main house. Hugging and thanking her extended family for their well-wishes, they finally managed to get free and start the walk back.

“We have time,” She cast him a hot glance, searing him and making herself damp.

“More than enough time for a quickie.”

“You’re going to do this to me when we’re old and gray and have grandkids fighting all around us, aren’t you, darling?” he teased her softly, guiding her with one strong arm as the other clasped her hand in his.

“Certainly,” she replied with no hesitation. “Someone has to keep you on your toes.”

“I love you, Sammi.”

Samantha stopped for a moment, bent in and kissed her husband firmly on his delicious mouth. Tugging his hand hard, she hurried them both back to the house. “I love you too, Callum. Let me show you just how much.”

67

About the Author

Elizabeth Lapthorne is an Aussie girl, born, bred and living in Melbourne, Victoria. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Melbourne University and wrote her first story while looking for a job. Two and a half years later, with a Research position in a lovely company and seven published works, Elizabeth is still slightly dazed at how everything fell into place.

She had written a well-received series about the Rutledge Werewolves, and is often amused at fans/reviewers commenting on how “popular” her series is. Very recently she started to tell people about her writing career and even confessed to her parents (though she did chicken out with the explanation of what “Romantica”® is). She still finds it incredibly strange to be able to order paperbacks written by herself, and is shaking with nerves at what the hell she’ll write when finally asked for her first autograph.

Elizabeth is completely addicted to Tim Tams and chocolate, and barely ever goes a day without one or the other. She loves email, is a self confessed bookaholic, and has been known to buy books instead of food for herself, much to the teasing of her brothers and good friends.

She was astonished recently to be asked to do an interview…and spent a long time chewing over her responses. She loves people and adores going out for a girl’s night for nachos and margaritas (unless she’s designated driver, and then she eats chocolate mousse for dessert instead).

Elizabeth welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

Tell Us What You Think

We appreciate hearing reader opinions about our books. You can email us at [email protected].

Also by Elizabeth Lapthorne

Behind the Mask
anthology

Bonded for Eternity

Ellora’s Cavemen: Legendary Tails I
anthology