Chad’s possessive voice trickled over Catie like warm honey. She turned in Christian’s arms and gazed into her husband’s smoking dark eyes. They were sunken, a little wet.

Had he been worried?

“Chad. What are you doing here?”

“I came for my wife.”

“But—”

“Get your hands off her.” Chad stalked forward, his eyes glittering with rage. “I mean it, friend, or you’ll wish you had.”

“Chad, you don’t understand.”

“I understand plenty, sugar. You left me.” He yanked her out of Christian’s embrace. “How could you leave me? Without a word? I didn’t know where you were, where you’d gone. You wouldn’t answer your cell.” He shook his head, his eyes boring into her. “Do you hate me that much?”

“I… I never hated you, Chad.”

“She has been through a lot. Give her a break,” Dominic said.

“When I want your opinion I’ll ask for it,” Chad said. “This is between my wife and me.”

“But you don’t understand—”

“I understand plenty. I come in here and I see one of you with your hands all over my wife. She’s not yours, and she never will be. She’s mine. Mine and mine alone. Let’s go, Catie.”

“Chad”—Catie broke away—“I’m not going with you.”

“The hell you’re not.”

“You don’t want me.”

“I tracked you all the way across the world! For God’s sake, of course I want you. I thought we had a deal.”

“Chad, we never had any kind of deal. You and I…were not meant to be. You never wanted to be married. I never should have agreed to it. In fact, I’m not sure I did. I was in a haze about the pregnancy, and I just did whatever you told me. It was a mistake. A huge one. We’ll get an annulment. Or worst case scenario, a divorce. I don’t want anything from you.”

The baby. She had to tell him the baby was gone. Then he’d understand. She turned to Christian and Dominic. “Would you guys excuse us? I need to talk to him. Alone.”

“Of course,” Dominic said, “but this is not a big flat.”

“No,” Catie said. “I meant we’ll leave. Come on, Chad. Let’s take a walk.”

Despite the sunshine and the beauty of Paris, Catie’s mood was gray. How could she tell him the baby was gone? He’d be so angry. Worse, he’d leave her.

“Have you ever been here before, Chad?” She stalled. “Is there anything you want to see? The Eiffel Tower? The Louvre?”

“Damn it, Catie, I didn’t come here as a tourist. I came for you. Now tell me what the hell’s going on.”

She sighed. “Yeah. I owe you that much.”

They reached a small café, and Catie took a seat at one of the outside tables. Chad sat next to her.

“Café au lait, s’il vous plait,” she told the waiter, “et deux croissants.”

“What did you say?”

“I ordered coffee and croissants. Did you want something else?”

“Bacon, eggs, and hash browns would be good. Maybe a Denver omelet.”

“This is Paris, Chad, not Colorado. You’d be hard pressed to find that kind of breakfast here.”

“I can’t eat this fancy-schmancy food.”

“That’s okay. My guess is you won’t be here long.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Catie’s pulse quickened. She let out a breath. “It means… Well, I’ll just come right out and say it.” She cleared her throat and stared at her lap. “I lost the baby, Chad.”

“I know.”

Catie whipped her head up. “You know? Then why did you come here? I don’t understand.”

Chad took her hand. “I came here for you, Catie. I love you.”

A tear trickled down Catie’s cheek, warming her. He wanted her? “I don’t understand.”

He smiled. “What’s not to understand? I’ve been an idiot, little bit. I love you. It just took me a while to figure it out. First, I thought you were too young. I couldn’t get it out of my mind that I knew you when you were four and I was fifteen.”

“Chad—”

“No. Let me finish. I’m so sorry I wasn’t with you when you miscarried. I should have been. I should have been there through all of this. I should have treated you like the wife you deserve to be, instead of a call girl available only for my pleasure. Can you ever forgive me?”

Catie fought the warmth that threatened to glow within her. Chad had a lot to answer for.

“I want to forgive you. I truly do.” More tears threatened to fall, but she held them back. “But there’s so much I need to understand. I went to see Linda.”

“I know.”

“You should have told me, Chad.”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

Had she heard right? “Uh, having a child by another woman is definitely something your wife should know.”

Chad’s dark eyes widened. “What? You mean Linda didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what? We met briefly. She seemed like a perfectly nice person. I met Jack. He’s a beautiful little boy, though he doesn’t look anything like you.”

“There’s a good reason for that.”

“Which would be?”

“He’s not mine, Catie.”

“What? I saw the DNA results in your file.”

“So you did a little snooping?”

“Yes. Yes, I did. But only after I got a phone call from Linda, and I intercepted some IMs on your computer.”

“I’m sure sorry about that, sugar. I wish you’d have come to me.”

“How could I? You were treating me like a common whore. You ignored me during the day, screwed me during the night. I should have…”

“You should have what?”

“I should have turned you away at night. I wanted to. I just couldn’t.”

“Because you wanted me as much as I wanted you.”

“I’ve always wanted you, Chad. I don’t seem to have any control where you’re concerned. Yes, it started as puppy love, but it never went away.” She sighed. “Four years in France, and it still didn’t go away.”

“Aw, sugar.”

“Don’t start sweet-talkin’ me. You still have a lot of explaining to do about Linda.”

“Frankly, sugar, I’m a little insulted.”

“Why on earth should you be insulted?”

“Because, if Jack were truly my child, do you really think I’d let him live in that little cow town with Linda and her crazy parents? Don’t you think I’d have him on the ranch with me, giving him the best of everything? Everything my pa gave me? God, sugar.”

“Crazy parents? I don’t know anything about that. And I didn’t think about…the other stuff.”

“No, you didn’t really think, did you?”

“Can you blame me?”

“No,” he said sheepishly, “I can’t.”

“Now, the truth about Linda and Jack, please.”

“Well, I want to know why you didn’t just ask me about it?”

“Because you hardly spoke to me, Chad. And I wasn’t sure how you’d take it if you knew I’d been…lurking around your office trying to figure out…oh, you know. Of course I couldn’t ask you.”

“You could have asked Annie. You and she are close, and she knows the truth.”

“No, Chad, I couldn’t ask her. It was too hard to talk about. Plus, she had assured me you’d had women come around claiming you fathered their children before and that you’d had them checked out. I assumed she didn’t know about Jack.” She touched his forearm, offering an olive branch. “Would you please tell me?”

He took her hand from his arm and covered it with his own. “Linda Rhine is a woman I had a…well, I’m not proud of this, but you no doubt know how I was when I was younger.”

Catie scoffed. “When you were younger?”

“Yeah, okay. She was a one-night stand. Five or so years ago, during the stock show in Denver. That’s the time Dusty and Zach hooked up. She was a friend of this champion barrel racer, Sydney something or other, who hooked up with Dusty’s brother, Sam. After dinner, we ended up back at my hotel room.”

“And?”

“And nothing. We had sex. I used a condom. I have always used a condom. But as you and I proved, condoms aren’t always foolproof.”

Catie shook her head. “No, they’re not.”

“So anyway, about a year ago, right after Ma died, Linda shows up at my doorstep, holding little Jack’s hand. Tells me he’s mine. That she can prove it.

“I say go for it. The kid doesn’t look anything like me. You know that. I go into Denver for a blood test, and she shows up three days later with the papers.

“Well, it don’t take a genius to realize it’s forged. My PI, Larry—he’s the one who tracked you down, by the way—got the whole thing figured out in no time flat. Linda’s mother is a con artist and has been milking money out of unsuspecting people for years. She arranged for a shady doctor to perform the tests and fix the result. Once Larry uncovered that scam, I got a court order for another test, and of course this one came up negative.”

“But the document said you were the father.”

“You saw the first blood test. The forged one. The rest of the papers are in a different file, under Linda’s mother’s name, Dorothy Smith.”

“Oh.” Catie’s cheeks warmed. She’d jumped to a very wrong conclusion, though anyone else would have thought the same. She faced Chad. “If he’s not yours, why did Linda call you?”

“Yeah, that’s a fair question.” Chad took a bite of his croissant and a gulp of coffee. “Linda didn’t want to con me. It was her mother’s idea. But Linda was desperate, and she knew I had money. Little Jack, see, has a rare blood disorder called aplastic anemia. Linda needed money bad. She broke down crying when I called her on the phony test. Told me she’d never wanted to do it. Her mother had basically convinced her it was her only choice.”

“What about Jack?”

“I’m gettin’ to that. You see, little Jack was innocent in all this. He wasn’t mine, but I’d grown kind of fond of the little tyke. He’s right about the same age as Sean. It’d been a while since I’d done anything nice for anyone, and I thought about my ma. About how forgiving she always was, and very giving of her time and money to charitable causes. What would she have wanted me to do? So I decided to fund Jack’s treatment.”

Catie’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, Chad.”

“But if you’re against it, we’ll stop. This is our decision now, not mine alone.”

She squeezed his hand. “I’d never ask you to take something away from a child. Never. He needs you. How is he doing?”

“He’s well, thank goodness. It doesn’t cost so much now. It’s just checkups, to make sure he’s still okay. It cost quite a bit for the bone marrow donation and transplant last year. I send her a small amount each month for incidentals, and Linda calls me or IMs me when she needs something else.”

Catie smiled. She hadn’t known she could love this man more than she already did. “It’s a wonderful thing you’re doing for Linda and Jack.”

Jack chuckled. “I’m trying to imagine the surprise on Linda’s face when she found out I was married. No doubt she figured no one would ever rope me in.”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t exactly want to be roped. It was an accident.” She signed and touched her belly. “An accident that’s now moot.”

He touched her cheek. “I don’t want you to think of it that way. Yeah, the condom broke, but that wasn’t your fault or mine.”

She sniffed. “You tried to make it my fault.”

“I was a fool. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”

“I don’t know, Chad. Are there any more secrets? Anything more I need to know about? I know you haven’t lived like monk.”

“No, I haven’t, but I’m willing to from now on.”

“What?”

“I mean, I’m willing to live in a sexually exclusive relationship. With you. My wife. My only love.”

“Oh, Chad. Do you really love me?”

“With all my heart.”

Sunshine spread through Catie’s body, and she broke into tears.

“Now come on. Don’t cry, sugar. I’m liable to think you don’t love me back.”

“Oh, I love you back, Chad McCray. I’ve loved you for seventeen years.”

He leaned forward and took her mouth in a searing kiss. When their waiter came by with more croissants and cleared his throat, Catie’s cheeks warmed.

“So are you ever going to tell me your secret, little bit?”

“Little bit? Please, Chad.”

He laughed. “Okay, sugar. Now, about your secret.”

“I have no idea what you’re referring to. I don’t have any secrets.”

“That first night, at the Bullfrog, you said there was a reason you stayed away for four years. You said you’d tell me sometime. Now, sugar, a wife shouldn’t have any secrets from her husband.”

Catie shook her head. “You haven’t figured that out yet?” She ruffled his hair. “You are dense.”

“Was it because of me, sugar? Because of…that night in the gazebo?”

She sighed. “Yeah, well, that night, and the previous ten years, I thought if I stayed away I’d get over you.”

“Damn, you have no idea how much I wanted you that night.”

“Yeah, I do. I know. Because I wanted you that much.”

“I’m not sure you get it, Catie. You were still a baby to me, and there I was, having these feelings. Lusty feelings. I wanted to take you right there, and I didn’t much care if your daddy walked by. It felt all wrong to want you that way, but at the same time, it felt very, very right.”

Catie’s mouth dropped open. “Really?”

“I had no idea you were my destiny, sugar. No idea at all. I always knew you were a pretty thing, but that night, things changed. It…scared me.”

Catie smiled. “The womanizing Chad McCray? Scared of a little eighteen-year-old girl?”

“You brought me to my knees that night, sugar. If you hadn’t left the next day, I would have come back for you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. But you did. And I thought that was your way of telling me you’d changed your mind. Part of me was angry. I hadn’t been able to sleep at all that night. But part of me was relieved. I was scared to death we’d do something you’d later regret. I thought it was better with you gone. We’d both be out of temptation’s way.”

“You felt the same way when you saw me again when I returned, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I was still afraid we’d do something you’d regret. But I couldn’t help myself. I wanted you so badly, more than I ever wanted another woman. I was afraid you’d get hurt. You know me. I didn’t think I could commit.” He chuckled, shaking his head, playing with her fingers. “Who knew I’d fall madly in love with you?”

Catie sighed. “Those have got to be the sweetest words I’ve ever heard.”

“Well, sugar, you’re going to be hearing them a lot. Because I’m never going to get tired of saying them.” He took both her hands in his. “I love you, Catie Bay McCray. Now and always. I’m going to spend the rest of my life making you and our children happy. You won’t regret marrying me. I promise you.”

“Oh, Chad.”

“And no more secrets between us. We tell each other everything, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I just thought of the perfect wedding gift for you, too.”

“What?”

“One of those things old ladies wear around their necks to call for help, for when you fall all over your clumsy ass.” His eyes glittered with amusement.

She broke into laughter. “I think I’ll be okay. Heck, if I can walk down that runway in a green bikini, I can do anything now.”

“Something else, sugar. From now on, you wear that green bikini only for me.”

“Chad, it wasn’t near as revealing as what Amber and some of the others wore.”

“Maybe not. But you’re my woman. My wife. And those jewels of yours are for my eyes only now.”

“Okay.” Her cheeks warmed.

“You can tell those frisky Frenchmen to keep their paws off you, too. Like I told you that day in the stable, you’re mine and you always will be.”

“Frisky Frenchmen?”

“Yeah, that blond pretty boy had you in a tight clinch when I showed up. I nearly punched his lights out.”

Catie laughed. “Christian? And Dominic? Oh, Chad, that’s too funny.”

“Nothing funny about it from where I’m standing. They can leave you well enough alone. Were either of them ever…more than friends, Catie? Did they insist that you come back here?”

“They are wonderful friends, and they’d do anything in the world for me, but I swear to you, it’s nothing more than that.” She burst into giggles again.

“What’s so damn funny?”

“It’s just that…there could never be anything between me and either Christian or Dominic.”

“Why not? You’re beautiful. The most beautiful woman in the world.”

“They might actually agree with you, but it wouldn’t matter.” She tightened her grip on his hand. “They’re lovers, Chad. They’re gay.”