To Take a Chance Read online

  “I don’t know, Sheldon.” I don’t know if I can trust you, she added silently.

  He placed a forefinger over her lips. “You don’t have to give me an answer. Come to me when you’re ready.”

  “What if I’m never ready?”

  “Then we’ll remain best friends.”

  Renee lowered her hands, curving her arms under Sheldon’s shoulders. They sat motionless, holding each other until the sound of the approaching wagon propelled them off the ground for the ride back to the main house.

  * * *

  The sound of tires crunching gravel drowned out the cacophony of nocturnal sounds serenading the countryside. A knowing smile curved Sheldon’s mouth as he waited for his late-night visitors. Renee had retired to bed, but he hadn’t been able to sleep. His mind was too active, too wound up after he’d bared his soul to Renee. He left bed, pulled on a sweatshirt over a pair of jeans, then came downstairs to sit on the porch.

  Vulnerability, something he hadn’t experienced in years, had slipped under the barrier he had erected to keep all women at a distance. The women who knew him were aware that he would offer them his passion, but never his heart. However, in the span of a single week a woman had unknowingly woven her way into his life and into his heart.

  Sheldon sat forward on the rocker. The sound of doors closing was followed by booted footfalls on the porch steps. “What took you so long?”

  Ryan climbed the stairs and sat on the glider, leaving his brother to take the chaise. “You were expecting us?”

  Sheldon gave Ryan a long, penetrating stare. “But of course.”

  “Are you all right, Pop?”

  Sheldon shifted his attention to Jeremy. “I’m fine,” he countered sharply. “Why would you me ask that?”

  Jeremy ignored his father’s clipped tone. “You announced your retirement without giving us prior warning.”

  “I told you I was retiring at the end of the year. But with Jahan’s win I decided to push it up.”

  Clasping his hands between his knees, Ryan leaned forward. “Are you sure that’s the reason, Pop?”

  Sheldon’s jaw tightened as he glared at Ryan before pinning his angry gaze on Jeremy. “What’s going on here?”

  “Jeremy and I…we thought that something might be wrong and you were trying to conceal it from us.”

  Realization slowly dawned. Sheldon closed his eyes and shook his head. This scene was a repeat of one that had occurred twenty-one years before. He’d sat down with his sons and told them their mother was ill—terminally ill. Julia had discovered a lump in her breast, but refused to go to a doctor until it was too late. She’d waited until after Boo-yaw’s Derby victory to tell her husband that she was dying. Her excuse was that she hadn’t wanted to bother him.

  It had been the first and only time he’d raised his voice to his wife. His tirade ended with him weeping in her arms because he hadn’t been there for Julia when she needed him. That had been the first and last time he’d let anyone see him cry.

  Sheldon opened his eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”

  Jeremy’s dove-gray eyes narrowed. “Are you sure, Pop?”

  “Do you want to see the results of my latest physical?”

  “No, Pop.” Jeremy reached over and patted Sheldon’s shoulder. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  “Me, too,” said Ryan. “Sometimes it’s hard to tell with you because your moods run hot and cold.”

  Jeremy winked at Sheldon. “I’ve noticed lately that you’re running more hot than cold. Does a Miss Wilson have anything to do with that?”

  There was a long pause before Sheldon said, “Yes.”

  Ryan moved off the glider and thumped his father’s solid back. “Good for you.”

  “Boo-yaw!” Jeremy said in a loud whisper.

  A flash of humor crossed Sheldon’s face before his expression changed, becoming somber. “Thank you for worrying about your old man.”

  Jeremy swung denim-covered legs over the side of the chaise and stood up. “You’re not old, Pop. We just don’t want anything to happen to you. Tricia and I would like to give you at least three grandchildren before we turn forty.”

  Sheldon nodded his approval. “What about you, Ryan?”

  “Kelly and I talked about having one more.”

  Sheldon nodded again. “Six grandchildren. I like the sound of that.”

  “Good night, Pop,” Ryan and Jeremy said in unison as they prepared to take their leave.

  “Good night,” Sheldon said in a quiet voice. He felt as if a weight had been lifted from his chest. He’d even surprised himself after admitting to Jeremy and Ryan that he was attracted to Renee; he’d never disclosed his involvement with a woman to them before. He suspected his sons believed he had been celibate for the past two decades. That meant for twenty-one years he had successfully kept his private life private. All of that would change in a month once he attended the wedding with Renee, he thought with a wry smile.

  * * *

  Sheldon and Renee left the farm Saturday morning for Staunton. On the way they shared a gourmet brunch at the Frederick House, a small hotel with a tearoom in the European tradition.

  Sheldon left her at a specialty boutique, promising to return in an hour. The one hour became two as she tried on undergarments, tunics, slacks and dresses that artfully camouflaged her fuller breasts and expanding waistline.

  She finally emerged from the dressing room to find Sheldon sitting on a delicate chair reading a newspaper. His head came up slowly. Smiling, he stood up.

  “Are you ready?”

  Her gaze met his. “I have to pay for my purchases.”

  He took her arm. “I already paid for them. They’ll be delivered to the farm Monday.”

  Renee tried escaping his firm grip, but his fingers tightened like manacles. “I don’t need you to pay for my clothes.”

  “Let’s not argue here,” he warned in a dangerously soft tone.

  “No. Let’s not,” she retorted between her teeth. Seething, she followed him through the rear of the boutique and into the adjacent parking lot. “I don’t need or want you to pay for anything for me.”

  Sheldon opened the passenger side door to his pickup truck, caught her around the waist and swung her up to the seat. He glared at her, then closed the door with a solid slam.

  Once it became apparent that he wasn’t going to respond to her protests, Renee crossed her arms under her breasts and stared out the windshield. Sheldon took his seat beside her, turned on the engine and shifted into gear. The silence inside the vehicle swelled to a deafening pitch.

  She did not want Sheldon to believe she was destitute. Although she’d lived with Donald she also had retained her independence. She paid her own bills, and when Donald offered to give her one of his many cars, she had refused it. In the end she was able to walk away with what had belonged to her and her dignity.

  “I have to make a stop.” Sheldon’s voice broke the silence five minutes later. He pulled into a parking space at a supermarket.

  “I’ll wait here for you,” Renee mumbled.

  He shrugged a shoulder. “Suit yourself.” He left the truck and made his way into the store. She was still pouting when he got into the truck and handed her a large paper sack.

  “You can repay me for that if you want to.”

  Renee peered into the bag. It held two half-gallon bottles of fat-free milk. “Very funny, Sheldon,” she said, biting back a smile.

  “Think of it as a peace offering.”

  “How can it be a peace offering when we haven’t had a fight?”

  Suddenly his face went grim. “And we won’t. We may not agree on everything, but one thing I will not do is fight with you.” He had made it a practice never to argue with a woman. It was not his style.

  “Why did you pay for my clothes?”

  “Because I asked you to go out with me, not the other way around. Does that answer your question?”

  There was a pulse bea
t of silence before Renee nodded. “Yes, it does.”

  His expression softened. “Good.”

  Resting his right arm over the back of her seat, he trailed his fingertips over the nape of her neck. “How would you like to hang out with me for the rest of the day?”

  Renee shivered as much from the feathery stroking motions on the sensitive skin as from the gray orbs boring into her with a silent expectation. It was easy, too easy, to get lost in the way he was looking at her. She studied his face, feature by feature, committing them to memory while curbing the urge to trace the shape of his black curving eyebrows, the bridge of his aquiline nose and firm mouth with her fingers.

  Desire, want and need swooped at her innards, and she shuttered her gaze quickly before he read her licentious thoughts. Sheldon Blackstone was the first man she’d met who made her want him just by staring.

  “Okay, Sheldon. I’ll hang out with you.” She heard his audible sigh. It was apparent he’d been holding his breath.

  Leaning closer, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Thank you.”

  Sheldon took the sack with the milk off her lap and put in a space behind the seats, then drove out of the supermarket’s parking lot, heading in a westerly direction.

  * * *

  Renee woke up ninety minutes later surrounded by towering pine trees. The truck had stopped. Her lids fluttered as she peered through the windshield at the forested area.

  “Where are we?”

  Sheldon got out and came around to assist her. “Minnehaha Springs.”

  Dry leaves and pine cones crackled under their booted feet. “Are we still in Virginia?”

  “Yes. But we’re only fifteen miles from the West Virginia state line.” Wrapping an arm around her waist over a lightweight jacket, Sheldon led Renee toward a house erected in the middle of a clearing. “Let’s go inside the cabin, because once the sun sets the temperature drops quickly.”

  Renee glanced up at a structure that looked more like a chalet than a cabin. She waited as Sheldon unlocked the front door and touched a panel on the wall. Within seconds the entire first floor was flooded with golden light. She walked in, staring at a stone fireplace spanning an entire wall.

  Sheldon reached for her hand. “This is where I hang out whenever I need to get away from the farm.”

  Her stunned gaze swept over a space that was comparable to the health spa she had frequented in South Beach. Ceiling fans, track lighting, skylights, gleaming wood floors, white-on-white furnishings, floor-to-ceiling windows and a wrought-iron staircase leading to a second-story loft provided the backdrop for a space that invited one to enter—and stay awhile.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “It’s peaceful,” Sheldon countered. “Wait here while I get the milk from the truck, then I’ll give you a tour.”

  The house contained three bedrooms. The master bedroom and bath took up the entire loft. There were two other bedrooms on the first floor. The larger had an adjoining bath with a massive sunken tub, free-standing shower and a steam room. A full, functional kitchen, living/dining area and a family room completed a space constructed for maximum living, dining and relaxing comfort.

  * * *

  Renee sat in the kitchen on a tall stool, munching on raw carrots, washing them down with milk and watching Sheldon as he rubbed ground spices onto the steaks he had taken from the freezer and quickly defrosted in the microwave.

  Her gaze moved leisurely over his tall, slender body. He moved around the kitchen slicing and sautéing foods as if he’d performed the tasks on a daily basis. Then she remembered his mother had been a cook.

  “Are you certain you don’t want me to help you?”

  He gave her a sidelong glance before he focused his attention to the temperature gauge on the stovetop grill. “Don’t you know how to sit and relax?”

  “I sit all day.”

  Drying his hands on a towel, Sheldon closed the distance between them and hugged her. “After you have your baby you’ll look back on this moment and wished you’d taken advantage of it.”

  Renee went completely still. It was the first time Sheldon had made reference to her having a baby since the day of the race. She found it odd that he was willing to be seen with her in public when there was certain to be gossip once her condition became evident.

  Tilting her chin, she stared up at him staring down at her. “You’re probably right.”

  “I know I’m right. It’s not easy for a woman to balance work and motherhood. That’s the reason I set up the farm’s child-care center. Some of the mothers wanted to go back to school to either begin or resume careers, but couldn’t find anyone to watch their children. With Tricia as the school’s pediatric nurse most of them don’t have to miss days if their children aren’t feeling well. It will be even easier for you because you work on the farm.”

  “Having on-site child care was the reason I accepted the position.”

  Sheldon wanted to tell Renee that he was glad she had been hired. Once he’d acknowledged his growing attraction for her he thought about her unborn child, asking himself whether he wanted to become involved with a woman with a baby when his youngest son, at thirty-two, was going to make him a grandfather for the third time. He had taken early retirement at fifty-three to kick back and relax, not play surrogate father.

  The questions had bombarded him when he least expected them, and the answer was always the same: yes. Yes, because Renee made him laugh—something he hadn’t done in a long time. And yes, because she unknowingly had elicited from him a profound longing for a woman he hadn’t felt in years. What amazed him was that she hadn’t flirted with him as some women did. She had just been herself. He had found her strong, independent, but whenever the topic of her ex came up she exhibited a vulnerability that made him want to do everything in his power to protect her.

  Sheldon reached up and wiped a residue of milk from her top lip with his thumb. “Did you drink a lot of milk before you got pregnant?”

  Dimples winked in her flawless cheeks as she gave him a warm smile. “No. Instead of craving potato chips and pickles like other women, I have an insatiable thirst for milk.”

  “Milk is a lot healthier than chips and pickles.” He kissed the end of her nose. “When are you scheduled to go to the doctor?”

  A slight frown appeared between Renee’s eyes. “Next Friday. Why?”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  She stared, complete surprise on her face, as an unexpected warmth eddied through her. She wanted to ask Sheldon why, but the word was lodged in her constricted throat.

  Renee nodded her consent, not trusting herself to speak. He was offering her what she wanted, someone to accompany her when she went for her checkups. Her sister-in-law had gone with her the first three times, and she hadn’t been able to ignore the rush of envy when she saw women in various stages of confinement with the fathers of their unborn children holding their hands or rubbing their backs. Afterward, she chided herself for being weak and needy.

  Wrapping her arms around Sheldon’s waist, she rested her cheek over his heart and counted the strong, steady beats. Unbidden tears filled her eyes and overflowed as she cried without making a sound.

  Sheldon felt moisture soaking his shirt. He moved his hand over Renee’s back in a comforting motion. “Shush, princess. Everything is going to be all right.”

  His attempt to console made her cry harder and Renee clung to him like a swimmer floundering in a dangerous undertow. She had tried telling herself she could go through nine months of pregnancy and deliver a baby alone, but when she least expected it her armor cracked, revealing her vulnerability and leaving her with a feeling of helplessness.

  She pressed a kiss to his strong neck. Live for today, and let tomorrow take care of itself. Her mother’s mantra echoed in her head. Right now Sheldon had offered her everything she needed for emotional stability. She needed to focus on the present instead of agonizing over whether their relationship would work out in the future.r />
  “I’m ready, Sheldon,” she whispered in his ear.

  Sheldon froze, his breath stopping in his chest. When it resumed he was certain Renee could feel his heart beating. “Are you certain?”

  “Very certain.”

  Pulling back and staring at her tear-stained face, Sheldon’s heart turned over when he saw pleading in her eyes. “I don’t want you to come to me because you’re feeling vulnerable.” His gaze softened. “I can’t and won’t take advantage of you.”

  “I am ready,” Renee repeated. She pulled her lower lip between her teeth to stop its trembling.

  Leaning forward, Renee pressed her mouth to his, kissing, lingering and savoring the taste and touch of his firm mouth. He kissed her back in a series of slow, feathery kisses that set her nerves on edge.

  Mouths joined, Sheldon tightened his hold on her body. What had begun as a tender joining segued into a hungry, burning desire, the sparks igniting like brilliant showers of embers flung heavenward. Her sensitive nipples tightened, ached; her breasts grew heavy, swelling against the fabric of her bra.

  “Please,” she moaned as if in pain.

  Sheldon tore his mouth from hers, laser-gray eyes glittering like quicksilver. He knew if he did not stop now he wouldn’t be able to. He wanted Renee just that much. His chest rose and fell heavily as if he had run a grueling race.

  “Okay, baby. I’ll stop.” He did not recognize his own voice.

  She grabbed the front of his shirt in a punishing grip. Her eyes had darkened with her rising desire. “Don’t you dare stop!”

  He cradled her head between his large hands. “You know what this means, don’t you?” She inclined her head. “If we make love, then there will be no turning back.” She nodded again. “Tell me now what you want from me.”

  Renee closed her eyes, shutting out his intense stare. “I want you, Sheldon.”

  “For what?” he whispered against her lips.

  “To protect me and my baby.”