The Durango Affair - Brenda Jackson [53]
“I never announced anything. Mom did.”
Jared’s words made him think. Jared was right. Their mother had been the one who’d made a big fuss about Jared’s engagement. Jared hadn’t really said much. But then he hadn’t spoken up to deny it, either.
“Are you saying you went along with an engagement because Mom put you on the spot?”
“There was more to it than that, Durango. If you recall, soon after that we found out about that lump in Mom’s breast. She’d made it up in her mind I was getting married and the last thing I wanted to do was to burst her bubble, considering everything.”
Durango nodded. “So you pretended an engagement? And you actually got Dana to go along with doing something like that?”
“Yes, but in the midst of it all we fell in love.”
Durango shook his head, thinking how his brother had effectively pulled the wool over their eyes. “Who else knew the truth?”
“Dare. No one else needed to know. The only reason I’m even telling you is that I want you to see how things can happen.”
“Things like what?”
“How you can enter into a situation thinking one way and in the end, your thinking can change. The more I got to know Dana and spent time with her, the more I wanted more out of our relationship. I saw Savannah that night and I sensed the attraction between the two of you. She’s a woman a man can easily fall in love with. I could see that happening to you.”
Durango sat up straight in his chair. “Well, I can’t,” he snapped. “I’m happy things turned out that way for you and Dana, but it won’t for me and Savannah.”
“Can you be sure of that?”
“Yes, I can be sure. You were evidently capable of loving someone. I’m not. At least not now. If I had met Savannah before Tricia, then I—”
“When will you let go of what she did to you?”
“I have let go, but that doesn’t mean I want to open myself up to the same kind of hurt again.”
“And you think that you will be?”
“I’m thinking that I’m not willing to take the risk.”
“And what about Savannah?”
“What about her?”
“What if she feels differently?”
“She doesn’t and she won’t. She was more against us marrying than I was. In fact, I had to convince her it was the right thing to do. She only agreed to do it for the baby’s sake. She’ll stay for six months and then she’s out of here.”
“And the two of you have agreed to all of this?”
Durango rolled his eyes. “Yes, but we haven’t put it in writing, if that’s what that attorney’s mind of yours is driving at. Hey, maybe that isn’t such a bad idea. I want her to know I will continue to do right by her even after the baby is born. Draw me up something, will you?”
“Draw you up what?”
“I don’t know. Some legal document that spells out that I will continue to support her and the baby after the time is up. I want to set up a college fund and I intend to provide generous monthly allotments for my child, which I’ll be able to afford thanks to that business venture I’m in with McKinnon.”
“Are you sure you want to bring a legal document into the picture now?”
“Why not? I’d think she would appreciate knowing I will support her, something her father didn’t. She has this thing about how her old man treated her pregnant mother when they got married and he never did right by her, Jessica and her brother. I want to assure Savannah that I have no intentions of treating her that way.”
A half hour later Durango ended the call with Jared after telling him everything he wanted to put in the document. Whether his brother wanted to accept it or not, his marriage to Savannah was only temporary and Durango did not intend to ever forget that fact.
Eleven
T he next two weeks were busy ones for Savannah. It helped tremendously that her bouts of morning sickness were infrequent and she woke each day seeing it as another adventure.
Her boss was excited about the idea of a calendar to commemorate Yellowstone National Park and the men who protected its boundaries. In addition to the calendar, he also envisioned something bigger and he had suggested a documentary film. She was excited about the idea