Free One Wedding Night... by Shirley Rogers Page A

someone asked as they reached the door.
    “No, we haven’t,” Lynn said quickly as Russ held the door for her. “We haven’t made any definite plans.” She rushed out without saying another word. Turning, she glanced back as Russ grabbed her hand. People were still calling congratulations to them through the open door as they walked toward his truck. He held the passenger door for her, then joined her, going around the truck and getting into the driver’s seat.
    “I can’t believe that just happened.” Lynn tried to get her bearings, her breathing uneven.
    “Not much goes on around here. People get excited when they hear good news.”
    “Good news?” she repeated, sounding offended. Her voice rose. “This isn’t good news!” she declared. “It isn’t even real.”
    Russ’s jaw tightened as he headed away from Crockett toward the Bar M. Every time she said it like that, his gut began to churn. She made it sound like marriage to him would be the worse thing that could happen to her. Well, he had news for her, it wasn’t. She could turn up pregnant and not married. In today’s culture, maybe that wasn’t frowned on so much. But here in the county of Crockett, it was something to talk about.
    He’d been laughed at in Montana when Candace had turned up pregnant by another man. He’d be damned if he was going to wind up looking like a fool again. “It’s a reality you’re gonna have to face. You could be pregnant,” he reminded her, his tone agitated.
    Lynn glared at him, drawing her brows together. “I…am…not…pregnant!”
    Russ’s expression hardened a fraction as he glanced in her direction. “You don’t know that.” She sure was determined not to be pregnant with his child. Well, he should have expected that. She was letting him know again that the night they spent together meant nothing to her. He should have been relieved.
    But he wasn’t.
    His gaze traveled over her, and his gut twisted. His attention shifted to her trim thighs, and desire slammed him. How could he want her so badly? He couldn’t remember a time when a woman affected him to the point of distraction. Though he’d been married to Candace, he’d never been aroused this easily by her.
    “Though someday I do want a family,” Lynn admitted, “it just isn’t in my immediate plans.” She picked that moment to turn her head in Russ’s direction. His hardened expression gave her cause for thought. He didn’t seem any happier than she was about their circumstances.
    A knot formed in her throat. He’d been attentive and loving with her last night, showing her a side of himself that she’d never seen. That he would readily give up his freedom for her proved he was a man of honor. Even as he glowered at her, she admired that about him.
    She was surprised that he hadn’t been snapped up by a woman by now. Considering he was a loner and somewhat unapproachable, despite his attractive looks, women probably thought twice about approaching him unless he spoke first.
    “Things don’t always go as planned,” Russ reminded her. They sure hadn’t last night. He’d never planned on taking her to bed.
    “You’re right about that,” she answered. “I never counted on this complication.” Never in her life would she have thought she’d have to consider Russ in her plans. Before last night, she could have staked her life on the fact that she never would have so much as kissed him, let alone given him her innocence.
    “Darn it!” she squealed, and her hands balled into fists.
    “What?” Her outburst startled Russ, and he slammed his foot on the brake pedal, pitching them both forward. Their seat belts prevented them from being thrown into the dashboard.
    Lynn turned in her seat to face him. “We could have settled whether I was pregnant or not easily enough with a home pregnancy test!” she exclaimed. “Supposedly, you can tell within minutes if you’re pregnant.”
    Russ nodded. Even though he was still planning to