I Do! I Do!

Possession might not be nine-tenths of the law when it came to children, but it would give him an edge. He intended to take any advantage he could find.

It was after eight. Gina would be on duty, fresh and bright as always. Mason speeded his footsteps.

He saw her through the nursery window, feeding one of the girls. The way she bent over the baby on her lap, he couldn’t see her expression.

Then she glanced toward one of the other nurses, and he noted the puffiness under her eyes. She’d been crying.

Chagrin filled him. A woman about to marry the man she adored wouldn’t be crying about it. Gina must have decided to give up the girls, rather than spend even a few months with him.

Mason squared his shoulders. He couldn’t make her love him, but he didn’t intend to take no for an answer. For his daughters’ sake, he had to give it his best shot.

Surely Gina wouldn’t really mind spending time at the ranch, as long as he left her strictly alone. She’d said herself that she loved the girls enough to want to adopt them.

Moving away from the window, he allowed himself a couple of deep breaths. So far, she hadn’t noticed him.

Suppressing his doubts, he assumed a confident air. Before he could talk to her, though, he needed to prepare by handling a few details at the administration office.

Once he cajoled her consent, he didn’t want anything to delay their departure.

GINA HAD SAID GOODBYE to hundreds of babies. Off they would go in their mothers’ arms, and she’d miss them for a few hours, until another newborn arrived. She’d cherish it for a few days or weeks, and then she would say goodbye to it, too.

As she changed the dressing on Daisy’s rapidly healing surgical wound, she wished she could detach herself as readily from the twins as from so many others. “What is it about you that makes you special?” she asked.

Daisy gripped her thumb and gazed intently into Gina’s eyes. A vise squeezed her heart.

How could she let them go? These girls felt like her daughters.

Their first steps. Daisy would clutch Gina’s hand and step out cautiously, her tiny feet making no sound on the floor.

Lily would tear herself from Mason’s loving grasp and plunk forward, arms waving, knees wobbling, until she plopped onto all fours. A second later, she’d be on her feet again, flinging herself into life with joyous abandon.

Before Gina could finish the daydream, a change in the air told her Mason had come into the nursery. Scarcely daring to trust her composure, she peeked at him from beneath lowered lashes.

He wore a gray three-piece suit. Sunday best, she thought. It emphasized the tan richness of his skin and the dark penetration of his gaze.

“Mason…” Her throat caught.

“For you.” He held out a bouquet of red roses. “I’m not sure if they’re allowed in here, so I sneaked them in.”

“Oh!” When she held them to her nose, their summery scent invaded her bloodstream. “They’re beautiful.”

“You should be surrounded by flowers,” he said. “My mother planted a rose garden at the ranch. I’ll make sure you have fresh flowers every day.”

But she wasn’t going to live on the ranch. If there were flowers, they’d be for someone else.

“We need to talk.” She hoped he couldn’t hear the quaver in her voice.

“Sure thing.” His expression warmed as he touched her hair lightly. The brush of his hand warmed Gina’s scalp. Did he have to make it so hard to say no?

“I don’t think there’s anyone in the parents’ lounge. We could talk there.” She was about to lead the way when, through the glass, she spotted Elly Maitland in the corridor. The administrator pointed at Mason and held up a sheaf of papers. “I wonder why she’s in such a hurry about the paperwork.”

He shrugged. “I guess she knows I want to hit the road before my sister shows up.”

“You’re in a hurry?” she asked. “Oh, dear. I have to make some final preparations for the girls.” Remembering her gift, she added, “And I brought a going-away present for them.” From a table, she produced a wrapped package.

He studied it with a bemused expression. “This wouldn’t be something for the girls to wear home, would it?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” she said. “I thought you might forget.”

His rueful grin made her head whirl. How could the man be so endearing?

“I did forget,” he acknowledged, and opened the package. “Gina, these are precious.”

“Thanks. But before you go see Miss Maitland, could we have that talk?”

Elly tapped on the glass and gestured to Mason more urgently. “What is the big deal?” Gina asked.

“I did tell her that I needed to get out as soon as possible. It appears she took me at my word. I’ll come back as fast as I can, okay?” Mason caught her hand. The pressure of his blunt fingers against her palm made her even more light-headed. “Would you put the new dresses on the girls? They’ll be knockouts.”

“Of course.” Gina stood stock-still as he strode from the room. His warmth, his obvious expectation that she would accept, and his gentle caress had made it hard to keep her resolve.

But he wasn’t offering a real marriage. And she could accept nothing less.

MASON WONDERED IF HE’D pushed her too far. Gina didn’t seem to mind when he touched her. It wasn’t part of his plan; he simply hadn’t been able to resist.

As for the flowers, and arranging for Elly Maitland to interrupt, they’d been attempts to forestall Gina from giving him a negative answer. So far, they’d worked.

From here on, he’d have to wing it. He would play on her devotion to the twins, which shouldn’t be too difficult. Her caring shone in her eyes every time she gazed at those babies.

A twinge of guilt threw Mason off stride as he accompanied Elly. It was wrong to manipulate a person who meant so much to him.

But a few months on a ranch wouldn’t harm Gina, and could mean all the difference for Daisy and Lily’s futures. “Any word from my brother-in-law?” he asked.

“He called about six o’clock last evening.” The administrator had a reputation for working fourteen-hour days, so that probably didn’t seem late to her. “When I told him we were releasing the girls today, he sounded more disappointed than angry. He said he and his wife would be here.”

“He didn’t specify a time?”

“No.”

It was almost nine-thirty, by Mason’s watch. If his sister and Stuart had caught an early morning flight, they might arrive soon.

No sense in worrying about it. The best he could do was take care of business as quickly as possible and depart, preferably with Gina.

At the office, an assistant went through a sheaf of papers with him, methodically explaining what each one was for. A hospital survey, and insurance records, and obtaining social security numbers, and on and on.

His restlessness made it hard to concentrate. Only after a while did Mason put his finger on what was bothering him.

It wasn’t just Margaret and Stuart’s impending arrival. It was the observation that Gina had been crying.