They had agreed that he would tell the other members of the investment group they were getting married, but decided to wait until after the wedding to let them know about the pregnancy.
Once they entered her office and closed the door, she turned to face him. “Tell me what happened.”
“When Elmer asked if there was any more business we needed to discuss, I stood up and announced that I’d asked you to marry me and that you had said yes.”
He took off his cowboy hat and sailed it over to land on the couch. Then, pulling her against him, he kissed her until she saw stars.
“I—I want…details,” she said, trying to catch her breath when he finally lifted his head. “What could they possibly find wrong with our getting married? You didn’t mention the baby, did you?”
“No, that would have probably sent both of them into outer space.” Shane shook his head. “I think they are both scared to death that, by marrying you, I’ll get in on an investment they won’t.”
“That’s ridiculous.” She frowned. “All investments for special events are done through the group. They can pull out of the group at any time or choose not to support a project, but we offer all investment promotions to the group as a whole, not to individuals.”
“I know, angel.” He shrugged. “It might be they are afraid that once I’m married to you, I’ll start contributing more and end up getting a bigger return on my money. Either that or they’re both a few cards shy of a full deck.” He grinned. “My guess is it’s a little of both.”
“Did they say anything?” She couldn’t imagine what it would be if they had.
“Nope. They didn’t say a word.”
“Then how do you know they had a problem with our getting married?” Maybe Shane had misinterpreted their reaction.
His blue eyes twinkled with humor. “When I said that you and I were getting married, old Elmer turned so red in the face, I thought he might bust that blood vessel that stands out on his forehead whenever he gets upset.”
“What about Clara?” Melissa asked, trying not to laugh at the visual picture Shane was painting. “What was her reaction?”
“She was taking a drink of water and got so choked, I thought I was going to have to perform CPR on her.” He made a face. “I’d rather climb a barbed-wire fence buck nak*d than put my mouth on hers.”
“And all this time, I thought you had a secret crush on Clara,” she teased.
His exaggerated shudder and horrified expression had her laughing so hard, she found it hard to breathe. “Not in this lifetime. Just the thought of getting ‘cozy’ with that old bat is enough to make a man swear off women for good.”
She couldn’t stop laughing. Clara was at least twice Shane’s age and always looked as if she had just sucked on a lemon.
His expression suddenly turned serious. “Lissa, I want you to know that although the pregnancy brought about our decision to get married, you don’t have to worry. I give you my word that I’ll always be a good provider and a faithful husband.”
Taken aback by his unexpected proclamation, she stared at him. “I’ll be a good, faithful wife to you. But what brought this on?”
“I know that my reputation of moving from one woman to the next is only slightly better than Trevor’s,” he explained. “I just wanted you to know that I honor my commitments. You never have to worry about me going out and finding someone else.”
After spending so much time with him in the past couple of weeks and seeing him interact with Cactus, she knew for certain Shane wasn’t that kind of man. “It never crossed my mind that you wouldn’t be anything but faithful to our marriage.”
The sudden knock on the door came as no surprise. The spa had been extremely busy all day with guests getting ready for the dinner tomorrow night.
Reluctantly leaving Shane’s arms, Lissa walked over to open the door. “Is there a problem, Rita?”
“I hate to bother you, but Joanie just got sick and had to go home,” her assistant manager explained. “She has two half-hour facials booked and I’m afraid all of the other girls’ schedules are full. Will you be available to take her place or should I cancel the appointments?”
“I’ll be right there, Rita.” When the woman went back to the reception desk, Melissa closed the door and turned to Shane. “I’m really sorry, but I have to get back to work. We’ve really been slammed today. It looks as if I’m not going to get out of here for at least another couple of hours.”
He picked up his hat from the couch and walked over to where she stood by the door. “I need to go anyway.” He gave her a tender kiss, then reached for the doorknob. “I have to pick up my tux at the cleaners and then I have a couple of things Cactus wanted me to get before we go back to the ranch for dinner.” Shane grinned. “He’s planning on making you his world-class beef stew and sour-dough biscuits.”
Just the thought made her mouth water. “That sounds scrumptious.”
Nodding, Shane opened the door. “I’ll be back to pick you up this evening around five.”
Walking out into the reception area, Melissa sighed as she watched Shane leave. She loved him and if she hadn’t known that before, she would have after his reassurance that he would be a good husband.
Cowboys had a reputation for their word being their bond. If it was important enough for him to tell her he would be committed to their marriage, then he fully intended for it to work out between them.
It hadn’t been the declaration of love she would have preferred, but it was enough to give her hope. Maybe one day he would say the three words she longed to hear.
“When would you like to get married? Shane asked as he and Lissa sat in front of the Willow Lodge fireplace. After having dinner with Cactus, he had driven them back to the cabin for a nice quiet evening alone in front of a crackling fire.
“So much has happened over the past couple of weeks, I haven’t had time to give it a lot of thought,” she said, snuggling against him. “But I’d like to wait until after Erica and Christian’s wedding. I don’t want to take anything away from their special day.”
He nodded. “I can understand that. When is it?”
“Christmas Eve.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “What would you think of a New Year’s Eve wedding?”
“Sounds good to me,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “Do you want a big wedding?”
“Not really.” She sat forward and reached for her mug of hot cocoa. “I think I’d like something small with just family and close friends.”
“Whatever you want, angel.” He grinned as he leaned over to kiss away a smudge of melted marshmallow from the corner of her mouth. “I guess the next question would be where do you want the ceremony?”
He watched her look around the great room of the lodge. “I think right here would be nice.”
“You don’t want to get married at Jarrod Manor?” He’d thought she would want to have it at the family mansion.
“No.” Her emphatic answer surprised him.
They stared at each other for several silent moments before he asked, “Why not, Lissa?”
She hesitated, then just when he thought she was going to avoid answering his question, she shook her head. “I don’t have a lot of pleasant memories there.”
“But that’s where you grew up.” He reached for her cup of cocoa to set it on the coffee table, then took her hands in his. “What was there about it that made you unhappy, angel?”
“There wasn’t any one thing,” she said, sighing. “It just never felt like much of a home to me.”
“Why is that?”
He watched her shrug one slender shoulder before she met his questioning gaze. “I think you’ve probably figured out by now that I wasn’t overly close with my father.”
Shane nodded. From what she’d said about her dad wanting his children to start learning about the resort at such an early age and her obsession with how other people’s opinions of her could reflect badly on Jarrod Ridge, he’d come to the conclusion that Donald Jarrod had placed his business above all else and taught his children to do the same.
“I’ve been told that when my mother was alive my father wasn’t as focused on Jarrod Ridge as he became after her passing,” she said quietly. “But for as long as I can remember, he never had time for us. He was always too busy either working or traveling to promote the resort.” Her expression turned resentful. “And he expected us to make Jarrod Ridge our number-one priority, as well.”
He had dealt with Donald Jarrod on several occasions through the investors group, as well as when the man bought horses for the resort stables, and he didn’t think he’d ever met a bigger workaholic. But surely Jarrod had realized his family was more important than business.
“Maybe he was unaware—”
“Oh, I think he knew.” She rose from the couch to walk over to the floor-to-ceiling windows of the great room. “Unfortunately, it’s too late now to do anything about repairing our relationship.”
Shane got up from the couch to walk up behind her. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her back against him. “I’m sure your dad was just trying to be a good provider for you and your brothers, angel.”
She sighed. “That might be, but tell that to a child wanting nothing more from her father than his love and attention.”
Although Shane’s dad had lost interest in almost everything in life after his wife left, he’d still been there to raise his son. And, in his own way, Shane was certain his father had loved him. But apparently Lissa hadn’t had that assurance.
“You at least had your brothers,” he said, tightening his arms around her.
Nodding, she rested the back of her head against his shoulder. “I did, but they were all older. Besides, they were boys and didn’t want to play with dolls or have tea parties.”
Shane chuckled. “No, I can’t imagine any of your brothers wanting to do that.”
She turned within the circle of his arms to face him. “Just the thought is pretty amusing, isn’t it?” she asked, the ghost of a smile curving her coral lips.
He nodded. “Blake would have probably shown up in a suit and tie and Trevor would have invariably brought a date.”
Her smile broke through. “Of course.”
Happy to see that her mood had lightened considerably, Shane pressed his lips to hers. “So it’s decided, then. We’ll get married here on New Year’s Eve with family and close friends.”
Resting her head against his chest, she nodded. “I think I’m going to invite Hector and Michael. They’re two of my closest friends in Malibu, and besides, I’d like to talk to them about running the spa for me with the option to buy after a specified length of time.”
“Are you sure you want to get rid of your business?” It pleased him that she intended to make her move to Colorado permanent, but he hated to see her give up a business she’d built from the ground up and was obviously quite proud of.