The Maverick's Ready-Made Family

“I feel like Pavlov’s dog,” a familiar voice said from behind her. “I just walk through the door of this place, and my mouth starts to water.”

Antonia laughed and hugged her friend. “I know what you mean.”

The hostess led them to a booth against the back wall.

When the waitress came, they ordered right away, both familiar enough with the menu to know what they wanted. Fifteen minutes later, they were digging into plates laden with saucy ribs, fresh-cut fries and tart coleslaw. Antonia had considered ordering the daily vegetable option rather than fries, but the baby wanted fries and she’d learned not to ignore the baby’s demands. If she indulged now, she wouldn’t find herself raiding the fridge at three o’clock in the morning.

“I can’t remember the last time I was here,” Antonia admitted, popping a fry into her mouth. “Which proves that it’s been way too long.”

“I’m glad you finally hired someone else to serve dinner at the ranch,” Catherine said. “We haven’t had a girls’ night out in far too long.”

“You’ve been even busier than I have. As if getting Real Vintage Cowboy up and running wasn’t enough, you had to go and fall in love with Cody Overton and get married.”

Catherine grinned. “I guess I have been busy.”

Antonia sat back, licking rib sauce off of her fingers, and assessed her friend. Tonight she was wearing a lacy white blouse over a long, flowing skirt with well-worn cowboy boots on her feet. Her long, dark hair hung loose over her shoulders and her chocolate-colored eyes glowed with a happiness that seemed to radiate from deep within her.

“But you look happy, Mrs. Overton. As if married life agrees with you.”

“I am happy,” Catherine agreed.

“And I’m glad that Cody turned out to be the real deal,” Antonia said, and meant it.

She was genuinely thrilled that her friend had everything she’d always wanted—both professional success and personal happiness. But seeing the vibrant glow on Catherine’s face, Antonia couldn’t deny that she felt a twinge of something that might have been envy.

She had no cause for complaint. She was content with her life, grateful that things had started to turn around at the ranch so that their finances weren’t stretched quite as tight as they’d been a few months earlier. But she was also conscious of the fact that, despite living with her father and her brothers and with a baby of her own on the way, she was alone.

“I just wish you could find someone like him,” her friend said. “Someone genuinely wonderful and kind and smart and sexy.”

“I don’t think there is anyone else like Cody.” But even as Antonia said the words, she realized that there was another man who at least came close. A man who doted on his son, who wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty in the kitchen, and who had an easy sense of humor and a quick smile. A man whose mere presence made every nerve-ending in her body stand up and take notice.

And then Clayton Traub walked into the restaurant with Bennett in his arms.

Not just Clay, she realized, but his brother, Forrest, too. But Antonia knew there could have been a parade of men, all of them tall and handsome, and it still would have been Clay who drew her attention.

“There’s someone out there for you,” Catherine insisted. And then, aware that her friend’s attention had wandered, she turned her head to see the two men making their way to the private dining room in the back.

“Oh, my,” she said in a reverent whisper. “Or maybe there’s someone in here for you.”

Antonia couldn’t blame Catherine for her reaction. The first time she’d set eyes on Clayton Traub, she’d felt the exact same way. And neither time nor familiarity had done much to dim her reaction. But she had learned to ignore the physiological response—most of the time, anyway.

“I swear, the testosterone level in here just shot through the roof.” Catherine turned back to her friend. “So tell me—which one of those very sexy cowboys caught your eye?”

Antonia felt her cheeks flush. “Neither of them.”

“Liar.”

“I do know them,” she finally admitted. “Clay and Forrest Traub. They’ve been staying at Wright’s Way.”

“Now I know why you haven’t been coming into town very often. The scenery is obviously much better at the ranch than I remembered.”

“They are nice to look at,” Antonia acknowledged.

“Nice?” her friend scoffed. “Those are real vintage cowboys.”

“How do you know?”

“You can tell by the way they carry themselves—the strength, the confidence, the swagger.” She fanned her cheeks. “Those men have it in spades. And there’s just something about a man with a baby in his arms that somehow enhances his masculinity.”

“Newlywed,” Antonia reminded her friend.

“Newly and blissfully wed,” Catherine agreed. “But the ring on my finger hasn’t rendered me blind.”

“Proven by the fact that you did notice the baby he was carrying.”

Catherine winced. “His?”

Antonia nodded.

“Married?”

She shook her head.

“Then what’s the problem?” her friend demanded. “He’s a single dad, you’re a soon-to-be single mom—”

“Yeah, and I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t be attracted to me.” Antonia’s dry tone was accompanied by a pointed glance at her round belly.

“Are you kidding? Do you ever look in the mirror? You’re gorgeous, Antonia.”

“And that’s why you’re my best friend,” she told Catherine. “Because you can actually say things like that with a straight face.”

Catherine sighed. “Okay, tell me about him.”

“I don’t know a lot,” she admitted. “Just that he’s from Rust Creek Falls, he came to Thunder Canyon in September and he has an adorable six-month-old son named Bennett.”

“His brother’s the one who started that dog therapy group for veterans, isn’t he?”

“Along with Annabel Cates, soon-to-be Annabel North,” Antonia clarified.

“Love has definitely been in the air in Thunder Canyon,” Catherine mused. “And maybe, if you just took the time to breathe …”

“I’ve got a baby on the way that I already love more than I ever could have imagined,” Antonia told her friend. “I don’t want or need anything more than that.”

“Don’t you think it’s important for a child to have a daddy?” Catherine asked.

“In a perfect world, of course,” she agreed. “But right now, I’m more concerned about being the best mother that I can be than finding a father for my baby.”

“You’re going to be a wonderful mother,” her friend assured her.

Antonia hoped she was right, but she had so many questions and doubts—and no one she could talk to the way she’d always been able to talk to her mother. Catherine was great, of course, but her friend didn’t have any experience when it came to pregnancy or childbirth, so she couldn’t know anything about the worries and insecurities that plagued Antonia.

A mother’s worries never went away.

Ellie Traub could attest to that. Even when her boys were grown—as all of hers were—she never stopped worrying about them. She’d had moments with respect to each of her boys, although Clayton had always given her more cause for concern—at least until Forrest had shipped out to Iraq, but that was something she wouldn’t let herself think about right now.

Right now, she was focused on Clayton and her plan to get him back to Rust Creek Falls. The fourth youngest of her six sons and just as handsome as his brothers, Clay had done well in school, excelled at sports and had been popular with the girls. Maybe too popular.

He was a hard worker, she’d give him that, and he’d happily toiled on the family ranch alongside his father and brothers. He’d also boasted a very active social life, dating a lot of women over the years, although not any one woman extensively or exclusively. Certainly he’d never brought anyone home to meet the family, and when he hit his twenty-ninth birthday, Ellie had begun to despair that he never would settle down.

She’d only voiced her concerns to him once, at which time he’d confirmed that he was enjoying life too much to think about getting married or starting a family. And then an ex-girlfriend had shown up with a baby in tow.

There were worse things, Ellie knew very well, than having a son who’d fathered a child out of wedlock. But she worried that Clay’s refusal to marry the mother of his child was further proof that he wasn’t ever going to grow up and take responsibility. On that point, he’d quickly and definitively proven her wrong.

She couldn’t fault him for making his son his number one priority, but now that he’d proven to be so intently focused on his child, she did worry that he was ignoring other aspects of his life. A man needed a wife—and Bennett needed a mother—and she doubted that Clayton was going to find any prospects to fulfill either role while he was living as a recluse at some boarding house on the outskirts of town.

She had Bennett in her arms and was returning to the back room that D.J. had reserved for their family gathering when she saw the little boy’s eyes light up and his arms stretch out as if reaching for something. Curious, she turned to see what had caught his attention, and found the answer wasn’t a “what” but a “who”—a very attractive female who.

“You’ve got an eye for the pretty ladies, just like your daddy, don’t you?” she murmured.

But Ellie noticed that the pretty lady was looking right back at the baby and smiling. She gave a little wave. “Hi, Bennett.”

Ellie moved closer to her table. “I guess you know my grandson.”

The young woman nodded. “I’m Antonia Wright. Your sons and grandson are staying at my family’s ranch. And this is my friend Catherine.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet both of you,” Ellie said, instinctively noting that while Catherine’s left hand displayed an exquisite diamond solitaire and matching wedding band, Antonia’s hand was bare.

She found herself wondering why neither Clay nor Forrest had mentioned that there was a gorgeous, unattached woman living at the ranch where they were staying. A woman who had obviously bonded with Clay’s infant son.

Actually, she was sure that Forrest was oblivious to both Antonia’s beauty and her gender. She was equally sure that Clay was oblivious to neither. And she started to think that it might not be such a bad idea for Clay and Bennett to stay in Thunder Canyon a little while longer.

“Do you know what? I think I forgot my lipstick in the ladies’ room,” she said to Antonia. “Would you mind if I left Bennett with you for a sec while I go back to get it?”

“Of course not,” the young woman agreed, rising from her seat to take Bennett into her arms.

It was then that Ellie realized the situation might be a little more complicated than she’d thought.

Because while Antonia Wright might not have a ring on her finger, she definitely had a baby in her belly.

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