“Why…are you willing…to do this for me, Hunter?” she asked, every bit as breathless as he was. “What’s in this for you?”
He’d asked himself the same question at least a dozen times and the answer had been surprisingly simple. “Even though my father’s family is well off, my grandmother felt that my brothers and I would be much better off being raised by loving mothers who taught us a solid set of values, instead of giving us everything we wanted, like she’d given our father.” He grinned. “Her logic must have worked, because we all turned out to be well-adjusted and productive, instead of selfish and hopelessly irresponsible like her son.”
“Your grandmother must be a very special, very wise lady.”
“She’s definitely one of a kind,” he said evasively, thinking that was an understatement. “But the point is, I believe every kid deserves the same chance she gave me and my brothers.”
“In other words, you’re doing this for the sake of my son?”
Hunter nodded. “I know you’ll be a great mom and raise him with the love and guidance he needs. He wouldn’t get that from Culbertson and his family.”
She shook her head disapprovingly. “He’d turn out to be just like Craig—hedonistic, selfish and shallow.”
“Exactly.” Hunter kissed her forehead. “And to answer your second question, the only thing I expect to get out of our marriage is the satisfaction of knowing that I stopped that from happening.”
“How long—”
Placing his finger to her lips, he shook his head. “Let’s take it one day at a time. After we take care of this business with Culbertson, then we’ll discuss how we want to handle…things.” He had no idea why, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the word annulment or divorce.
He watched her nibble on her lower lip as she gazed at him for several seconds. “Does that mean you’ll be moving in with me for a while?”
“Husbands and wives usually live together, darlin’.” He grinned. “Of course, you could always move into my room here at the hangar.”
For the first time since walking into the room she smiled. “I don’t think that would work very well considering you have a twin-size bed.”
“Oh, I think it might work out real well.” Sharing any bed with Callie sounded good to him. He brushed her lips with his. “When we aren’t making love, I can hold you close while we sleep.”
He watched a spark of awareness replace the worry in her violet eyes. “That might work for a time. But what happens when my tummy is as big as an overinflated balloon?”
“Good point,” he said, wondering what it would feel like to have her baby moving under his hands. A sharp pang of regret that he’d never feel his own child move inside her knifed through him, but he did his best to ignore it. Suddenly feeling as if he might be drowning, he added, “Maybe your bed would be best.”
“When do you want to do this?”
He laughed, relieving some of his tension. “If it had been left up to me, we wouldn’t have gotten out of bed this morning.”
Her cheeks coloring a pretty pink fascinated the hell out of him. “I meant, when do you think we should get married?”
“I know.” He gave her a quick kiss, then stepped back before he gave in to temptation and took her down the hall to test out his narrow bed. “How does tomorrow afternoon sound?”
“Impossible.” The sound of laughter in her sweet voice was like a balm to his soul. “Besides the fact that we’ll be on duty, there’s a three-day waiting period in the state of Texas from the time we obtain a license until we get married.”
“I happen to know there isn’t a waiting period in New Mexico.” He took her by the hand and led her over to the door. “And remember, I’m the boss. I can have the Evac II crew come in on standby for the day while you and I make a trip up to Carlsbad.”
She looked a little dazed as they walked out into the hall. “This is all happening so fast.”
“Things will slow down after tomorrow.” He put his arm around her slender shoulders and held her to his side. “Now put on your best smile, darlin’. We have an announcement to make to our coworkers.”
“Do you, Calantha Marshall, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband? To have and to hold…”
The rotund judge droned on, but Callie had no idea if he recited the words of the traditional wedding ceremony or if he was trying to auction off a pile of dirt. She was way too nervous to think of anything but the fact that she’d not only let Hunter talk her into marrying him, they were actually going through with it.
When the Honorable Juan Ricardo cleared his throat and looked at her expectantly, she swallowed hard and forced herself to concentrate on what he’d asked. “I do,” she said, surprised that her voice sounded fairly steady considering the state of her nerves.
Judge Ricardo nodded his approval, then turned to Hunter and asked the same question.
Giving her a smile that curled her toes inside her cross trainers, Hunter’s voice was strong and sure when he answered. “I do.”
“Do you have a ring?” the judge asked, giving Hunter an expectant look.
Callie’s cheeks heated as Hunter shook his head. They were probably the most ill-prepared couple to be getting married that the judge had ever seen.
“As soon as she said she’d marry me, I didn’t want to take the time to pick out a ring,” Hunter said, giving the man a conspiratorial grin. “I was afraid she might change her mind.”
Judge Ricardo chuckled. “Then, by the power vested in me by the state of New Mexico, I pronounce you husband and wife. You can kiss your bride, son.”
When Hunter took her into his arms to seal their union, his kiss caused her head to spin and her knees to feel as if they were made of rubber. Raising his head, he gazed at her for several long seconds before he turned and thanked the judge, then took her hand in his and led her out of the courthouse.
As they got into the Life Medevac truck for the drive back to Devil’s Fork, she still couldn’t believe how quickly everything had taken place. “What in heaven’s name have we done?”
When he reached out and covered her hand with his, a sense of well-being coursed through her. It was completely unexpected and caused her to catch her breath. Dear heavens, was her attraction to Hunter more than a case of overactive prenatal hormones?