She yawned again and felt the shadows of sleep begin to tug at her. Maybe if she rested for a while, she’d be able to think more clearly and the answers would come to her. They had to. Happiness for the rest of her life might very well depend on it.
* * *
The following evening, Blake took a swig of his beer as he watched his wife chatting and laughing with Tori Laughlin across the patio at the Rusty Spur Ranch house. Karly seemed to be having a good time, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she would be around for the next get-together with his friends and their guests.
They hadn’t talked about the future beyond agreeing that she would stay a few more days and she hadn’t seemed any more ready to discuss what would happen after that than he was. Before they made love, he had promised her they would talk afterward. But they’d both fallen asleep and when they woke up together in bed, nature had taken its course once again. They’d spent the rest of the night reacquainting themselves with each other’s bodies and that morning they had awakened just in time to get ready to leave for the late-afternoon barbecue.
“You’ve really got it bad for her, don’t you?” Eli Laughlin asked, walking up to stand next to Blake.
“Yeah, I guess I do,” he admitted.
“She seems real nice,” Eli commented. “When did the two of you meet?”
“During the Nationals Finals in Vegas before Christmas,” he said, never taking his eyes off Karly. He took another swig of his beer. “That’s when we got married.”
When he’d called Eli a few days before to tell his friend he would be bringing a guest to the get-together, Blake had explained that she wasn’t aware he owned the Wolf Creek Ranch and that he’d like to keep it that way. As he expected, Eli had immediately agreed. But Blake had known that at some point he’d need to explain his strange request and tell Eli that he and Karly were married.
In the middle of taking a drink of his beer, Eli choked and Blake reached over to pound him on the back. When his friend stopped coughing, he stared at Blake like he’d sprouted another head.
“You got married,” Eli repeated as if he couldn’t quite believe what Blake had just said.
Blake nodded and explained the events leading up to the current situation he and Karly found themselves in. “But filing for the divorce is on hold—at least until the end of the week.”
Eli nodded. “That gives you a little time to figure out how you’re going to ask her to stay—and how to tell her you own the Wolf Creek. You’re also going to have to tell her why you kept that from her in the first place.”
Watching his wife play with the Laughlin’s two-year-old son, Aaron, Blake tried to imagine having a family with Karly. If her interaction with the toddler was any indication, she loved kids and would be everything he could possibly want for the mother of his children.
“Any suggestions about how I should go about handling all of that?” he asked, grinning.
Blake had known his friend would be the last to pass judgment on the way Blake and Karly met and married. Eli and Tori hadn’t gotten together in the usual way, either. And Blake had been confident that Eli wouldn’t question his reasoning for keeping his wealth out of the equation. Before he met Tori, Eli had dealt with his own share of unscrupulous women going after his bank account.
Eli laughed. “You know better than to ask me for advice when it comes to women. I’m sure you remember what a stubborn jackass I was when Tori and I got married. I just thank the good Lord above that she loved me enough to give me a second chance.”
“And look at you now,” Blake agreed, laughing with his friend. “You’re still a jackass, just a little less stubborn than you used to be.”
“It takes one to know one,” Eli retorted.
“What are you two laughing about this time?” Tori asked.
Looking up, Blake grinned as he watched the women and the toddler walking toward them. “I was just agreeing with your husband that he’s a jackass.”
“I was telling him that it takes a jackass to know one,” Eli explained.
Tori laughed. “Well, it’s nice to know some things never change. But right now, I need to steal Eli for a few minutes. The band has arrived and he needs to let them know where to set up while I take Aaron inside for a few minutes to change him into his pajamas.”