Ramsey Westmoreland had been in the south pasture most of the day, but when he got home he’d heard from Chloe that Gemma was back. She’d called for Megan to pick her up at the airport. And according to what Megan had shared with Chloe, Gemma looked like she’d cried during the entire eighteen-hour flight.
He was about to place a call to Callum to find out what the hell had happened when he received a call from Colin saying Callum was on his way to Denver. The last thing Ramsey needed in his life was drama. He’d had more than enough during his affair with Chloe.
But here he was getting out of his truck to go knock on the door to make sure Gemma was all right. Callum was on his way and Ramsey would leave it to his best friend to handle Gemma from here on out because his sister could definitely be Miss Drama Queen. And seeing that she was here at Callum’s cabin and not at her own place spoke volumes, whether she knew it or not. However, for now he would play the dumb-ass, just to satisfy his curiosity. And Chloe’s.
He knocked on the door and it was yanked open. For a moment he was taken aback. Gemma looked like a mess, but he had enough sense not to tell her that. Instead, he took off his hat, passed by her and said in a calm tone. “Back from Australia early, aren’t you?”
“Just here for a week or two. I’m going back,” she said in a strained voice, which he pretended not to hear.
“Where’s Callum? I’m surprised he let you come by yourself, knowing how afraid you are of flying. Was there a lot of turbulence?”
“I didn’t notice.”
Probably because you were too busy crying your eyes out. He hadn’t seen her look like this since their parents’ funeral. Ramsey leaned against a table in the living room and glanced around. He then looked back at her. “Any reason you’re here and not at your own place, Gemma?”
He knew it was the wrong question to ask when suddenly her mouth quivered and she started to sob. “I love him, but he doesn’t love me. I’m not his soul mate. But that’s okay. I can deal with it. I just didn’t want to ever cry over a man the way those girls used to do when Zane and Derringer broke up with them. I swore that would never happen to me. I swore I would never be one of them and fall for a guy who didn’t love me back.”
Ramsey could only stare at her. She actually thought Callum didn’t love her? He opened his mouth to tell her just how wrong she was, then suddenly closed it. It was not his place to tell her anything. He would gladly let Callum deal with this.
“Sorry, Ram, but I need to be alone for a minute.” He then watched as she quickly walked into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.
Moments later Ramsey was outside, about to open the door to his truck to leave when a vehicle pulled up. He sighed in relief when he saw Callum quickly getting out of the car.
“Ramsey, I went to Gemma’s place straight from the airport and she wasn’t there. Where the hell is she?”
Ramsey leaned against his truck. Callum looked like he hadn’t slept for a while. “She’s inside and I’m out of here. I’ll let you deal with it.”
Callum paused before entering his cabin. Ramsey had jumped into his truck and left in a hurry. Had Gemma trashed his place or something? Drawing in a deep breath, he removed his hat before slowly opening the door.
He strolled into the living room and glanced around. Everything was in order, but Gemma was nowhere in sight. Then he heard a sound coming from the bedroom. He perked up his ears. It was Gemma and she was crying. The sound tore at his heart.
Placing his hat on the rack, he quickly crossed the room and opened his bedroom door. And there she was, lying in his bed with her head buried in his pillows.
He quietly closed the door behind him and leaned against it. Although he loved her and she loved him, he was still responsible for breaking her heart. But, if nothing else, he’d learned over the past four weeks that the only way to handle Gemma was to let her think she was in control, even when she really wasn’t. And even if you had to piss her off a little in the process.
“Gemma?”
She jerked up so fast he thought she was going to tumble out of the bed. “Callum! What are you doing here?” She stood quickly, but not before giving one last swipe to her eyes.
“I could ask you the same thing, since this is my place,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
She threw her hair over her shoulder. “I knew you weren’t here,” she said as if that explained everything. It didn’t.
“So you took off from Australia, left a job unfinished, got on a plane although you hate flying to come here. For what reason, Gemma?”
She lifted her chin and glared at him. “I don’t have to answer that, since it’s none of your business.”
Callum couldn’t help but smile at that. He moved away from the door to stand in front of her. “Wrong. It is my business. Both business and personal. It’s business because I hired you to do a job and you’re not there doing it. And it’s personal because it’s you and anything involving you is personal to me.”
She lifted her chin a little higher. “I don’t know why.”
“Well, then, Gemma Westmoreland, let me explain it to you,” he said, leaning in close to her face. “It’s personal because you mean everything to me.”
“I can’t and I don’t,” she snapped. “Go tell that to the woman you’re going to marry. The woman who is your soul mate.”
“I am telling that to her. You are her.”
She narrowed her eyes. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. Why do you think I hung around here for three years working my tail off? Not because I needed the job, but because the woman I love, the woman who’s had my heart since the first day I saw her, was here. The woman I knew the moment I saw her that she was destined to be mine. Do you know how many nights I went to this bed thinking of you, dreaming of you, patiently waiting for the day when I could make you belong to me in every possible way?”
He didn’t give her a chance to answer him. Figured she probably couldn’t anyway with the shocked look on her face, so he continued. “I took you to Australia for two reasons. First, I knew you could do the job, and secondly, I wanted you on my turf so I could court you properly. I wanted to show you that I was a guy worth your love and trust. I wanted you to believe in me, believe that I would never break your heart because, no matter what you thought, I was always going to be there for you. To give you every single thing you wanted. I love you.”
There, he had his say and he knew it was time to brace himself when she had hers. She shook her head as if to mentally clear her mind and then she glanced back up at him. And glared.
“Are you saying that I’m the reason you hung around here and worked for Ramsey and that you took me to Australia to decorate your house and to win me over?”
She had explained it differently, but it all came down to the same thing. “Yes, that about sums it all up, but don’t forget the part about loving you.”
She threw her hands up in the air and then began angrily pacing the room while saying, “You put me through all this for nothing! You had me thinking I was decorating that house for another woman. You had me thinking that we were just having an affair that would lead nowhere.”
She stopped pacing and her frown deepened. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
He crossed the room to stand in front of her. “Had I told you the truth, sweetheart, you would not have been ready to hear it, nor would you have believed it. You would have given me more grief than either of us needed,” he said softly.
A smile then crossed his lips. “I had threatened to kidnap you, but Ramsey thought that was going a little too far.”
Her eyes widened. “Ramsey knew?”
“Of course. Your brother is a smart man. There’s no way I could have hung around here for three years sniffing around his sister and he not know about it.”
“Sniffing around me? I want you to know that I—”
He thought she’d talked enough and decided to shut her up by pulling her into his arms and taking her mouth. The moment his tongue slid between her lips he figured she would either bite it or accept it. She accepted it and it began tangling with hers.
Callum deepened the kiss and tightened his hold on Gemma and she responded by wrapping her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoes and participating in their kiss the way he’d shown her how to do. He knew they still had a lot to talk about, and he would have to go over it again to satisfy her, but he didn’t care. He would always give her what she wanted.
Callum forced his mouth from hers, but not before taking a quick lick around her lips. He then rested his forehead against hers and pulled in a deep breath. “I love you, Gemma,” he whispered against her temple. “I loved you from the moment I first saw you. I knew you were the one, my true soul mate.”
Gemma dropped her head to Callum’s chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, breathing in his scent and glowing in his love. She was still reeling from his profession of love for her. Her heart was bursting with happiness.
“Gemma, will you marry me?”
She snatched her head up to look into his eyes. And there she saw in their green depths what she hadn’t seen before. Now she did.
“Yes, I’ll marry you, but…”
Callum chuckled. “There’s a but?”
“Yes. I want to be told every day that you love me.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’ve hung around my mom, sister and sisters-in-law too much.”
“Whatever.”
“I don’t have a problem doing that. No problem at all.” He sat down on the bed and pulled her down into his lap. “You never answered my question. What are you doing here and not at your place?”
She lowered her head, began toying with the buttons on his shirt and then glanced up and met his gaze. “I know it sounds crazy, but I came home to get over you, but once I got here I had to come here to feel close to you. I was going to sleep in this bed tonight because I knew this is where you slept.”
Callum tightened his arms around her. “I got news for you, Gemma. You’re still sleeping in this bed tonight. With me.”
He eased back on the bed and took her with him, covering her mouth with his, kissing her in a way that let her know how much love he had for her. He adjusted their bodies so he could remove every stitch of her clothing and then proceeded to undress himself.
He returned to the bed and pulled her into his arms, but not before taking a small box from the pocket of his jacket. He placed his knee on the bed and pulled her into his arms to slide a ring on her finger. “For the woman who took my breath away the moment I saw her. To the woman I love.”
Tears clouded Gemma’s eyes when she gazed down at the beautiful ring Callum had placed on her finger. Her breath nearly stopped. She remembered the ring. She had seen it that day when she’d gone shopping with the Austell women and they had stopped by that jewelry store. Gemma had mentioned to Le’Claire how much she’d liked this particular one.
“Oh, Callum. Even your mom knows?” She had to fight back tears as she continued to admire her ring.
“Sweetheart, everybody knows,” he said, grinning. “I had sworn them to secrecy. It was important for me to court you the way you deserved. You hadn’t dated a whole lot, and I wanted to show you that not all guys were heartbreakers.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “And you did court me. I just didn’t know that’s what you were doing. I just figured you were being nice, sending me those flowers, taking me to the movies and those picnic lunches on the beach. I just thought you were showing me how much you appreciated me…”
“In bed?”
“Yes.”
“And that’s what I was afraid of,” he said, pulling her closer to him. “I didn’t want you to think it was all about sex, because it wasn’t. When I told you I would give you anything and everything you wanted, Gemma, I meant it. All you had to do was ask for it, even my love, which is something you already had.”
She rested her head on his bare chest for a moment and then she lifted her head to look back at him. “Do you think you wasted three years living here, Callum?”
He shook his head. “No. Being here gave me a chance to love you from afar while watching you grow and mature into the beautiful woman you are today. I saw you gain your independence and then wear it like a brand of accomplishment in everything you did. I was so proud of you when you landed that big contract with the city, because I knew exactly what you could do. That gave me the idea to buy that house for you to decorate. That will be our home and the condo will become our private retreat when we want to spend time at the beach.”
He paused a moment. “I know you’ll miss your family and all, and—”
Gemma reached up and placed a finger to his lips. “Yes, I will miss my family, but my home will be with you. We will come back and visit and that will be good enough for me. I want to be in Sydney with you.”
Callum didn’t say anything for a moment and then asked. “What about your business here?”
Gemma smiled. “I’m closing it. I’ve already opened another shop in Sydney, thanks to you. Same name but different location.”
Her smile widened. “I love you, Callum. I want to be your wife and have your babies and I promise to always make you happy.”
“Oh, Gemma.” He reached out and cupped her face with both hands, lightly brushing his lips against hers before taking it in a hard kiss, swallowing her breath in the process.
He shifted to lie down on the bed and took her with him, placing her body on top of his while he continued to kiss her with a need that made every part of his body feel sensitive.
He tore his mouth away from hers to pull in a much-needed breath, but she fisted her hands in his hair to bring his face closer, before nibbling on his lips and licking around the corners of his mouth. And when he released a deep moan, she slid her tongue into his mouth and begin kissing him the way she’d gotten used to him kissing her.
Callum felt his control slipping and knew this kiss would be imprinted on his brain forever. He deepened the kiss, felt his engorged sex press against the apex of her thighs, knowing just what it wanted. Just what it needed.
Just what it was going to get.
He pulled his mouth away long enough to adjust her body over his. While staring into her eyes, he pushed upward and thrust into her, immediately feeling her heat as he buried himself deep in her warmth. He pulled out and thrust in again while the hard nipples of her breasts grazed his chest.
And then she began riding him, moving her body on top of his in a way that had him catching his breath after every stroke. Together, they rode, they gave and took, mated in a way that touched everything inside of him; had him chanting her name over and over.
Then everything seemed to explode and he felt her body when it detonated. He soon followed, but continued hammering home, getting all he could and making her come again.
“Callum!”
“That’s it, my love, feel the pleasure. Feel our love.”
And then he leaned up and kissed her, took her mouth with a hunger that should already have been appeased. But he knew he would always want this. He would always want her, and he intended to never let her regret the day she’d given him her heart.
Totally sated, Gemma slowly opened her eyes and, like so many other times over the past weeks, Callum was in bed with her, and she was wrapped in his embrace. She snuggled closer and turned in his arms to find him watching her with satisfied passion in the depth of his green eyes.
She smiled at him. “I think we broke the bed.”
He returned her smile and tightened his arms around her. “Probably did. But it can be fixed.”
“If not, we can stay at my place,” she offered.
“That will work.”
At that moment the phone rang and he shifted their bodies to reach and pick it up. “That’s probably Mom, calling to make sure things between us are all right.”
He picked up the phone. “Hello.”
He nodded a few times. “Okay, we’re on our way.”
He glanced over at Gemma and smiled. “That was Dillon. Chloe’s water broke and Ramsey rushed her to the hospital. Looks like there’s going to be a new Westmoreland born tonight.”
It didn’t take long for Callum and Gemma to get to the hospital, and already it was crowded with Westmorelands. It was almost 3:00 a.m. If anyone was curious as to why they were all together at that time of the morning, no one mentioned it.
“The baby is already here,” Bailey said, excited. “We have a girl, just like we wanted.”
Callum couldn’t help throwing his head back and laughing. Good old Ram had a daughter.
“How’s Chloe?” Gemma asked.
“Ramsey came out a few moments ago and said she’s fine,” Megan said. “The baby is a surprise.”
“Yes, we didn’t expect her for another week,” Dillon said grinning. He glanced over at his pregnant wife, Pam, and smiled as he pulled her closer to him. “That makes me nervous.”
“Has anyone called and told Chloe’s father?”
“Yes,” Chloe’s best friend, Lucia, said smiling. “He’s a happy grandpa and he’ll be here sometime tomorrow.”
“What’s the baby’s name?” Callum asked.
It was Derringer who spoke up. “They are naming her Susan after Mom. And they’re using Chloe’s mom’s name as her middle name.”
Gemma smiled. She knew Chloe had lost her mother at an early age, too. “Oh, that’s nice. Our parents’ first grand. They would be proud.”
“They are proud,” Dillon said, playfully tapping her nose.
“Hey, is this an engagement ring?” Bailey asked loudly, grabbing Gemma’s hand.
Gemma glanced up at Callum and smiled lovingly. “Yes, we’re getting married.”
Cheers went up in the hospital waiting room. The Westmorelands had a lot to celebrate.
Zane glanced over at Dillon and Pam. “I guess now we’re depending on you two to keep us male Westmorelands in the majority.”
“Yeah,” Derringer agreed.
“You know the two of you could find ladies to marry and start making your own babies,” Megan said sweetly to her brothers. Her suggestion did exactly what she’d expected it to do—zip their lips.
Callum pulled Gemma closer into his arms. They shared a look. They didn’t care if they had boys or girls—they just wanted babies. There were not going to be any hassles getting a big family out of them.
“Happy?” Callum asked.
“Extremely,” she whispered.
Callum looked forward to when they would be alone again and he bent and told her just what he intended to do when they got back to the cabin.
Gemma blushed. Megan shot her sister a look. “You okay, Gem?”
Gemma smiled, glanced up at Callum and then back at her sister. “Yes, I couldn’t be better.”