Sage sat next to Nick when he talked with his four siblings at Triple Canyon Ranch late afternoon the following day. As his wife, he’d explained, she was now expected to attend the Monroe family business meetings, whenever possible. “Although I originally hoped to expand Monroe’s Western Wear into a multi-location corporation, with venture capital money, it’s become clear that is just not going to work. So, the new business is going to be an entirely new and separate entity.”
“Your new business partners were okay with that?” Gavin asked his brother with his usual directness.
Nick slanted Sage a self-assured look, then turned back to his sibs. “They understand all five of us inherited equal shares in Monroe’s Western Wear and the ranch. And that although I draw a salary for running the store, the profits are already split five ways, and will continue to be. There simply wouldn’t be enough return on their investment for them to be involved, as is.”
Nick passed out the papers the lawyers had prepared. “Hence their decision to go with something entirely new, while still utilizing my knowledge of the Western-wear clothing business.”
Pretty, blonde Erin scanned hers. “How much money are you putting in?”
“None,” Nick reported succinctly. “In exchange for my work in getting the projected six new stores up and running, I’ll get a 49 percent share, while Metro Equity Partners will retain 51 percent ownership. The eventual profits will be split the same way.”
“You’re okay, not being in control?” Bess asked with a heartfelt concern Sage shared.
Nick shrugged haphazardly. “I’ve got a son or daughter on the way.”
Which wasn’t exactly an answer to the question, Sage thought. Not sure that aspect of the deal was going to be as easy for Nick as he seemed to think now.
“Not to mention a wife to support,” Gavin added.
As all eyes turned to her, Sage flushed. She had tried to tell Nick that she did not belong at what was in essence a private Monroe family meeting. That she could sign the necessary legal papers at another time, but he had insisted. Even though his two older married siblings hadn’t brought their spouses.
“Nick and I agreed before we married not to share our assets,” she explained, looking everyone in the eye, “so I won’t be laying claim to any profits he reaps. And vice versa.”
Her pronouncement was met with a mixture of understanding and approval from the two younger unmarried siblings, and skepticism from the two older married ones.
As if sensing she felt more ill at ease than ever, Nick reached over and squeezed Sage’s hand. “The bottom line is I’d prefer not to empty my bank accounts for a start-up. I’m happy just to put in my time and effort and have all my travel expenses paid. If it’s the success everyone expects it to be, I’ll be making plenty of money in the long run.”
Sage hoped so. She knew how much financial success meant to Nick. As much as it had to her dad.
“I’m guessing you’ll have to travel a lot?” Bridgett asked.
“In the beginning,” Nick confirmed.
“What about the ranch?” Gavin queried.
“I’ve already hired a married couple to take care of the property and the horses.”
Erin’s glance drifted to Sage’s tummy and the baby she was carrying. “Where is Sage going to stay?” she asked with maternal concern.
As all eyes turned to her, Sage spoke up. “In my apartment, in town.”
“When I’m gone,” Nick said, with a clarifying look aimed her way. “When I’m here, she’ll be with me, at the ranch.”
This was news to Sage. But again, was something everyone would expect in a happily-married couple. So she nodded agreeably, even though she and Nick hadn’t actually come to a consensus. Generally, they just did whatever they felt like at that moment.
Silence fell.
“So what do you need from us?” Erin asked.
“Your signatures on the partnership agreement, stating your rights extend only to the ranch and the flagship business, not any new ventures. Sage, as my wife, you will need to sign, too.”
The pages were passed around.
Signatures gained.
Nick collected the papers, and collated them into one neat stack. He looked at his siblings. The dining room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop.
To Sage’s acute disappointment, there was none of the happiness or congratulations she would have expected. And Nick needed.
“Okay,” he said shortly, unable to completely conceal his hurt. “Obviously, you all have reservations. Let’s hear ’em.”
“Life is really short,” Bess, a nurse who worked with rehabbing vets said. “Are you sure you want to spend it on the road?”
Her twin, Bridgett, an NICU nurse at the hospital, predicted worriedly, “You’re not going to want to leave that little baby, once he or she is born.”
Erin, the oldest, who had run the store and the ranch herself a number of years, said, “I know it can look easy, from the outside, but running the store in Laramie is pretty time-consuming on its own.”
Which was why, everyone knew, Erin’d had to step down and just focus on her young family and custom boot-making business.
Gavin, an ER physician, added, “The money sounds great.”
“But...?” Nick prodded with a frown.
Gavin shrugged. “I just can’t see you kowtowing to someone else’s business plan.”
Wow. Sage blinked. Before she knew it she was on her feet, her hands flat on the table in front of her. Aware she had never felt more protective of anyone in her life, she chastened all four of Nick’s siblings with one sweeping glance. “I think this is an incredible opportunity for your brother. He’s worked hard and is deserving of your congratulations.” Not your private reservations!
“You’re absolutely right,” a chastened Erin swiftly agreed. With an apologetic smile, she rose and walked around to embrace Nick warmly. “Sorry, little brother.”
His three sibs followed suit, offering handshakes and hugs, too. The meeting over, everyone left to return to their own obligations. Nick lingered on the front porch of the ranch house beside her. The evening stretched out ahead, breezy and cool. He turned, his emotions locked up tight as a drum. “You didn’t have to jump to my defense like that.”
Yes, Nick, I did.
I couldn’t bear to see you so momentarily beaten down.
“Hey,” she teased softly, wary of coming on too strong for fear of pushing him away or further adding to his misery. “What are wives for?”
Sadness tinged his smile. “You’ve got a point,” he returned.
He’d been there for her, so many times. It was her time to be there for him. Sage stretched out her hand. “Come on, cowboy.” She winked. “I’ve got just the thing.”
* * *
AN HOUR LATER, they had taken his pickup to the highest point on the Triple Canyon ranch. “I can’t say I’m surprised your idea involved an intimate dinner for just the two of us, given how much you like to cook. But can I say how glad I am it involved the kind of food only you can prepare?”
Sage grinned.
“And the back of a pickup truck.” He gestured magnanimously. “And the view of the three canyons at sunset.” For which his family’s ranch had been named.
Sage leaned against the back of the cab, her legs stretched out on the thick layer of blankets lining the truck bed. “I’ve never seen anything this beautiful,” she murmured as they polished off the last of the steak tacos. “How come you never brought me up here to see the sunset before now?”
He put their dishes into the basket. Tucked her into the curve of his arm and kissed her temple, teasing, “’Cause I figured you’d fall in love with the land and not me.”
Love.
She just wished their emotions were that intense.
“Sorry.” He mugged. “Bad joke.”
Sage drew a deep breath, and looked out at the purple-and-pink streaks against the backdrop of the slowly darkening Texas sky. “No offense taken.”
The only reason she was even the tiniest bit upset was that this whole adventure was so damn romantic. To the point that the promise of never bringing anything as problematic as love into their relationship was getting difficult.
Nick moved far enough away to see her face, and took her hand. “Something’s off.”
“I was just thinking about your sibs’ reaction,” she fibbed.
Nick took her hand in his. “From their point of view, they probably have a right to be worried. I am the baby of the family, you know. After my folks died when I was ten, everyone had a part in raising me.”
She liked it when he confided in her like this. It made her feel closer to him. “Let me guess. You were the rebel.”
He squeezed her fingers companionably. “More like a wannabe Warren Buffet.”
Trying not to think how handsome he was, or how much she always seemed to want to make love to him, Sage sighed. “Back to money. Lots of it.” Just like her father.
“And success. But I have to admit, the money would have been great to have back then. We struggled, trying to hold on to everything after Mom and Dad died. Sold all the cattle. Went through what savings there was, trying to pay the taxes on the land, and still fell woefully behind.” He released a breath. “If it hadn’t been for Mac Wheeler coming to town, putting the wind energy turbines on our land, we might have lost everything, including the store, despite all our best efforts to the contrary.”
“But now you don’t need the money. The ranch pays for itself and the store is doing a booming business.”
His brows took on a determined slant. “I do need more of a challenge. This could be it.”
“Could be?”
He frowned. “There are some things I didn’t tell my sibs.”
Curious, Sage tensed. “Like what?”
“They’re planning to make the stores a lot more high-end and seat them only in urban areas.”
Sage blinked in surprise. “I thought the idea was to link them in some way to the success of the original mercantile. Have you as spokesperson.”
“They are still going to do that, although in a roundabout way. Meanwhile, the Monroe name and four generations of expertise selling Western wear will help them promote the venture.”
So he was being used. Willingly, albeit, but...she had to ask, “You think you’re going to be happy with the finished product?”
As darkness descended, Nick turned on the camping lantern. It filled the bed of the truck with a soft, intimate light. Whatever demons he had had been put to rest. “MR has assured me that I’ll still have a great deal of input.”
Sage looked on the bright side. She might not believe in his new partners, but she definitely believed in him. She smiled. “So then it can’t help but be a success. ’Cause I’m sure you’ll handle whatever comes your way.”
“Like I ‘handle’ you?” Nick teased, shifting her over onto his lap.
Sage settled intimately against him. “Ooh, sexy, cowboy!”
Nick stroked a hand through her hair, down her spine. “Ever made love in the bed of a pickup truck?” he asked huskily.
Sage shook her head, ready for the pleasurable diversion he offered. “Can’t say that I have.” She pressed her lips lightly to his. “Is that about to change?”
“Let’s see.” Nick rubbed his thumb across her lower lip. Slanted his head. “First we’d have to kiss...”
Sage opened her mouth to the insistent pressure of his, savoring the heat and taste of him. “Very nice so far...” she decreed.
Nick smiled and reached for the buttons on her blouse. “Then we’d have to get a little closer still.”
She quivered as he undid the clasp on her bra, and bared her to his touch. “Also nice,” she whispered, unfastening his shirt, too.
“And touch.” He shifted her over her onto her side, and stretched his frame alongside hers. Facing each other, they kissed and stroked until his sinewy chest tautened and her nipples pearled and her blood ran hot and heavy through her veins.
Needing more, they kicked off their jeans.
Sage lay on her back, knees raised. “And become one...”
Resting his weight on his forearms, he slid home. Sage caught her breath, the force of her own desire driving her to wild abandon. Excitement racing through her, she ran her hands through his hair and held his head. “Good thing we fit together so nicely...” she murmured, her breath coming raggedly.
Nick paused, searching her face. “And in every other way,” he affirmed in the rough sexy voice she loved. He flashed her a deliberately provocative grin, and took her mouth again in a long, hot, tempestuous kiss. As desire swept through her, he settled on top of her, his weight as welcoming as a blanket on a cold winter’s night.
Savoring the intimacy, the emotional connection that only seemed to get more intense every time they were together, she wrapped her limbs around him, pulling him deeper still.
“Nick,” she whispered. Oh, Nick...
He went deep. And slow.
She arched up to meet him.
And then all was lost in the swirling passion, their climaxes merging as irrevocably as they were beginning to merge their lives.
* * *
“COME WITH ME TODAY,” Nick encouraged the following morning, after another bout of sweet and sensual lovemaking—in the shower at her apartment this time—had left her body humming.
Aware she didn’t want to leave him, either, Sage shrugged on a thick terry-cloth robe. “Back to Dallas?”
He wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss into her hair. “We could work in some honeymooning in the evenings.”
The days, Sage already knew, would be spent working on the new business venture. She slipped away from him and picked up a wide-toothed comb. “I bet MR would really like that.”
Frowning, Nick finished drying his body. “You’re not jealous of her, are you?”
Only in the sense that the exec was suddenly spending a lot more time with Nick than she was, Sage thought, as she began detangling her wet hair.
Yet the question reminded her of what Everett had told her as he escorted her to the town car at the hotel, indicating she was not gaining a husband, but instead losing her best friend.
She met his glance in the bathroom mirror. “Should I be?”
Grinning, Nick replied, “What do you think?”
Sage shrugged. If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked.
Nick turned her gently around to face him. Planting his hands on the counter, on either side of her, he leaned over her and delivered the kind of long, soulful kiss that left her breathless and trembling and in no doubt of how much he desired her.
When he finally came up for air, he paused, his gaze drifting over her. As always, seeing far more of her inner vulnerability than she wanted him to see. “What’s really bothering you?”
Something stupid someone else said.
But not about to become the kind of clinging woman who needed constant reassurance from her man, Sage pushed aside her niggling uncertainty.
“Sage?” Nick pressed, his gaze narrowing in concern. “Come on. Level with me. What is it?”
Actually, Sage thought, there were about a hundred little things. She picked one. “I know it’s silly, but...I’m a little nervous about the sonogram.”
A lot could go wrong with a pregnancy, and although hers was progressing nicely to date, according to her obstetrician, Sage had also read enough online to know that could change at any time.
Complications cropped up. Perfectly laid plans were forced to be abandoned...
Nick laced a reassuring arm about her shoulders and pulled her in close to his side. “I’m still planning to be there. Two fifteen, right? A week from Friday? Your OB’s office?”
“Dr. Johnson. Right.”
“It’ll be amazing,” he predicted with a grin as wide as all of Texas.
“I know.” I hope. I wish...
“Our first glimpse of our new baby!”
Thus far. Although she had heard her baby’s heartbeat, loud and strong, at her last appointment, Sage had yet to feel him or her kick. She had been told it could happen at any time in the fourth or fifth month, and several times she’d almost thought she felt something, only to wonder if she had only imagined it.
She drew a breath and tried to get a grip on her soaring emotions. This was all hormones, she promised herself, nothing more.
“Speaking of our little one, I need to purchase a crib and a changing table.” She paused at Nick’s inscrutable expression. Frustrated to find she still couldn’t read him anywhere near as well as he could read her, she said, “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to go with me for that...or...?”
He paused, looking completely at a loss. Why, she wasn’t sure.
Sage moved away. “Actually, never mind. I think it might be better if I went with Molly and Adelaide, since they have already outfitted nurseries, and know exactly what to buy.”
Nick’s relief was palpable. “I’d be happy to put it together,” he volunteered happily, looking around. “The larger question is, where are you going to put it?” he asked. Her apartment consisted of two large rooms and a bath.
Sage grimaced. “Not sure yet.”
Nick tugged on jeans and a shirt. “Do you want to go ahead and get two cribs then? One for your place? One for mine? I’ll reimburse you, of course.”
Yep, they were definitely back to the business side of their relationship. Trying not to feel disappointed—this was what they had agreed upon after all—Sage smiled. “Do you want them both to be identical or different?”
He deferred again. “You decide.”
O-kay. Wishing he were a little more enthusiastic about setting up an infant space, Sage watched Nick’s glance cut to the clock. Suppressing her frustration, she asked, “Need to get a move on?”
He drew her toward him and dropped a tender kiss on her forehead. “Unfortunately, yes.” He smoothed the hair from her face. “But—” he paused to kiss her one last time “—I’ll be back before you know it.”