Cam hesitated, wondering just how much of her family background she should disclose. But the more time she spent with Luke, the more she realized he wasn’t at all like any of the men she’d dated. He was . . .

Hell. For the first time in her life, she was tempted to risk it all on a man.

And since he would be risking it all, too, he certainly deserved to know what he was getting himself into, didn’t he?

She pivoted to face him, made several attempts to start, then finally said, “Have you ever heard the saying that the seventh son of a seventh son is gifted?”

He arched a brow. “I believe I’ve heard something to that effect.”

“Well, my mother was supposed to be the seventh son of a seventh son, but when she was born a girl, everyone thought that was the end of that. But instead of the end, Grace Sutter’s birth was actually the beginning of an even stranger axiom. You see, Mom and her six brothers, and her sister Mary, were all born on the summer solstice.”

He leaned away, both eyebrows raised in disbelief. “All eight kids?”

She nodded. “But here’s where it gets even more improbable. Mom had seven daughters, and all of us were born on the winter solstice.”

Luke snorted. “Now you’re just messing with me.”

Cam took hold of his sleeve and looked him directly in the eye, letting him see she was deadly serious. “My sisters’ children have been born on random dates throughout the years, all except for Fiona, who was born on this summer’s solstice. And Winter is Mom’s seventh daughter.”

“It’s just a date on a calendar, Camry. Millions of kids have been born on one of the solstices. But what does any of that have to do with your reluctance to have sex?”

“Well, there’s another tradition in our family,” she said, dropping her gaze and letting go of his sleeve. “It seems that all six of my sisters got pregnant the very first time they made love to their husbands,” she whispered.

He said nothing for several heartbeats, then softly asked, “And were they all virgins when they met their husbands?”

“No. Or at least several of them weren’t.” She stared off into the woods. “I believe Winter was. Heather got married when she was eighteen, so she might have been, too. But I’m pretty sure Megan, Sarah, Chelsea, and Elizabeth weren’t.” She looked over at Luke. “But their virginity is not the issue. Every one of them got pregnant the very first time they made love to the man they eventually married.”

“And so you’ve never gone all the way because you’ve been afraid that . . . what? That you might get pregnant and then have to marry the father? But birth control is very reliable today.”

“That’s what Megan and Sarah and Elizabeth thought. I know that Sarah was on birth control pills, and Megan told me Jack used a condom. But don’t you see? It’s like the universe picked out their husbands for them.”

“They didn’t have to marry those men, Camry. That was their choice.”

“But they loved them.”

“Then what’s the problem? Everything worked out for the best.”

She stood up, crossing her arms to hug herself as she faced the woods. “But what if I want to love someone and not have babies with him?” She spun around to face him. “Where is it written that I can’t have one without the other?”

He walked over and cupped her face, rubbing his thumbs across her cheek, and Cam was startled to realize she was crying.

He pressed his lips to her forehead, then pulled her into his arms and held her against his chest. “It isn’t written anywhere, Camry. If you ever decide to get married, it will be to the man you choose, not who the universe chooses. And if you have a baby with him, it will be the choice of both of you.”

“But I want to make love to you,” she whispered.

He tilted her head back and looked down at her in surprise. “You do?” He grinned somewhat drunkenly. “You’ve fallen in lust with me?”

She buried her face in his chest again. “I don’t know what I’m feeling,” she growled. “Other than confused. What if we make love and I get pregnant?”

“You won’t. We’ll take precautions.”

Cam melted against him with a heavy sigh. “Father Daar says that if a baby’s wanting to be born, no contraceptive will stop it.”

“Father Daar?”

She looked up at him. “He’s an old priest who used to live in a cabin up on TarStone, but now he lives on the coast with Matt’s brother, Kenzie Gregor. Daar’s been around forever, and presided over my parents’ and all of my sisters’ weddings. And he’s always told us girls that if a child is wanting to be born, it will be, and that we just have to accept what Providence decides.”

Luke gave her a crooked smile. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but for a scientist, you have some really strange notions.”

She nestled back against him. “I can’t help it,” she said with another sigh. “I was born into a really strange family.” She looked up at him. “So . . . are you still in lust with me? Or have I managed to scare you off?”

He arched a brow. “That would depend on if your father is going to come after me with a shotgun. Greylen strikes me as rather oldfashioned.” He grinned. “Is that the real reason your sisters married the men who got them pregnant?”

Cam toyed with the zipper on his jacket. “And if Daddy did come after you with a shotgun,” she asked, finally looking up into his eyes, “would you make an honest woman of me, or jump on the first plane back to France?”

“Hmmm . . . I don’t know.”

Cam squirmed to break free, but Luke pulled her back against him with a laugh, and tucked her head under his chin. “Give me a minute here, MacKeage. On the one hand, I’m no more ready than you are to think about having a baby, but . . .” He ducked his head to look her in the eye. “But the more time we spend together, the more in lust with you I get. And I do have a whole box of condoms that I’d hate to see go to waste. But then . . .” He suddenly set her away, shaking his head. “Nope, I’m too tired right now to know what I’d do. So let’s head north, find a place to set up camp, and have a nap.” He spun around and headed into the woods in the direction Max had gone. “Don’t worry, you’ll be the first to know what I decide,” he said over his shoulder.

Cam stood gaping at him walking away. Of all the . . .

Wait. Had he been teasing her?

But nobody teased her. Ever. They didn’t dare, because they knew that though she occasionally got mad, she always got even.

Cam suddenly smiled. So he wanted to have a nap, did he?

She just as suddenly scowled.

He’d brought a whole box of condoms?

Chapter Thirteen

By the time they finished setting up camp halfway up the north side of Springy Mountain—after stopping at Megan and Jack’s building lot to refuel the snowcat—Camry was so exhausted that she didn’t care if she died a virgin; she simply didn’t have the energy to get even with Luke.

The dogs cooperated, and immediately settled down on their new doggie bed inside the large tent she and Luke had just pitched. Getting Luke to cooperate, however, was another matter entirely, as the man appeared jumpier than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

“I told you those PowerBars were loaded with sugar and caffeine,” she muttered, stripping off her outer clothes.

He looked up from unlacing his boots. “We’d be camping in a snowbank right now if I hadn’t eaten them,” he said, waving at the tent they were in. “I’ve been awake for over thirty hours.”

Stripped down to her long johns, Cam crawled into the sleeping bags she’d zipped together. “If you’d taken a nap like I did yesterday, instead of sneaking out to buy condoms, you wouldn’t have needed to eat them. Now you won’t be able to sleep.”