Page 21 of Sweet Beginnings

Her smile reappeared. “Good. Then go.”

From the twinkle in her eye and the stubborn streak he was too familiar with, he knew she was working on a plan of her own. “You’re not going to lie down, are you?”

She shook her head.

All he could do was sigh. Hopefully, his mother would heal up faster than anyone expected, because debating her care with her was not going well for either of them. As much as he hated leaving his mother alone, she was right, he had a date with a hot shower. Pushing to his feet, he leaned over and gently kissed her cheek. “I love you.”

Her smile bloomed. “Love you more.”

Despite his desire to melt under the hot shower, Preston needed to be dressed and downstairs before Sarah arrived. Seated on the edge of his bed, he slipped on one boot then the other and stood. Taking a moment to glance in the mirror, he double-checked that his shirt tail wasn’t out or his fly down. Convinced he was ready to go, he reached for the doorknob and could hear Sarah talking to his mother in the kitchen.

“Poor baby,” his mother cooed.

“It’s hard enough for some of these dogs to go from working dogs to family pets, but toss in emotional issues or just plain fearfulness, and the transition is even more challenging.” Sarah stood facing his mother, her back against the counter. “I wish we had a facility like the one near Dallas, but even they can’t save every dog.”

His mother shifted in her seat, did a poor job of hiding a pained wince. “Maybe that’s something we should work toward.”

“There are so many military working dogs as well as contract working dogs or police dogs.” Sarah sighed. “So many.”

“Maybe, once we get through a few projects and hire a new foreman, I can help.”

From where Preston stopped at the kitchen entry, he could see the sweet smile bloom on Sarah’s face in response to his mother’s reply, igniting a smile of his own, and a few other things. Agreement or no agreement, he was going to have to be very careful to watch his Ps and Qs or this whole marriage bargain could blow up in everyone’s face.

At the sound of Preston’s throat clearing from the doorway, Sarah glanced up at him and the sweetest smile took over her face. Boy, was she good at this game.

“Hi.” Preston debated walking over to her, but instead shifted his attention from her to his mother as he leaned over and kissed his mom on the cheek. “We have a long drive ahead of us, so we’ll be heading out.”

“Of course.” His mother smiled at him, her gaze darted to Sarah Sue and the smile brightened just a little. How he wished he didn’t have to deceive his mother, but it was for the good of the ranch she and his dad, like all the generations before them, loved so dearly.

He debated extending his arm to Sarah, but had a different idea instead. Turning on his heel as Sarah said her goodbyes to his mother, they walked out the back door toward his parked car. When he’d come to the edge of the porch, he stopped and snatched Sarah’s hand, turning her to face him. “Mom can still see us from her seat and I’m betting she’s watching. Knowing her stubborn streak, she might even have stood up to get closer to the window, so forgive me.” Without another word, he pulled her snuggly against him and gave her a tender kiss on the lips, just long enough to make his mother happy without being too much for a first kiss. Slowly, he eased back and not saying a word, gave her hand a slight tug and walked them to the car.

Not till they were off the ranch land and on the main road did he turn to her. “Are you okay?”

She nodded.

“Was that too much?”

Still silent, her gaze ahead, Sarah shook her head.

“Do you want to change your mind?”

Her head whipped around to face him, her eyes filled with questions he couldn’t begin to decipher.

“We don’t have to go through with this, but if we do, we’re going to be living at the ranch and putting on a show like that until I can secure living arrangements elsewhere. And with everyone in my building looking for a new place to crash, that won’t be easy.”

She blew out a slow sigh. “No, it won’t.”

“So where do we go from here?”

Somehow Sarah Sue doubted running off to Vegas and staying there was the answer he wanted. Well, maybe the Vegas part would be fine, but not returning until the year was over and the trust money was in the bank was not an option. “I’ll plug the coordinates for the transition shelter into my phone.”

His shoulders tensed and she knew she shouldn’t have been so casual.

“Sorry.”

He shook his head, but didn’t speak.

“I’ll get used to all of this. It will be fine. We can do this.” Lord, at least she hoped she could. When she first spotted him standing at the entrance to the kitchen, all she could think was damn that man knew how to fill a doorway.

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