A Baby Between Friends

“Summer, are you all right?” he asked, startling her.

Slightly embarrassed and more than a little disconcerted with her train of thought, she nodded. “I was just thinking about the evening and what a nice time I had,” she lied, unsure of how to start the conversation that would either help her dream come true—or send her in search of someone else to assist her.

“I can’t think of any of our get-togethers when we haven’t had a lot of fun,” Ryder said, beaming.

“Even when your brothers irritate you like they did tonight?” she teased.

His rich laughter made her feel warm all over. “Yeah, even when we’re giving each other a wagonload of grief, we still enjoy being together.”

“From what you said earlier, I take it you were the one in the hot seat this evening?”

She was pretty sure she knew the reason they had been teasing him. Due to the demands of both of their jobs there had been very few occasions she and Ryder had been seen together anywhere but at one of the many rodeos they both worked. It was only natural that his brothers would speculate about their relationship, the same as their coworkers had done when she and Ryder started hanging out regularly at the rodeos they were working.

He shrugged. “As long as they’re bugging me, they’re leaving each other alone.” Grinning, he added, “A few months back, we were all on Sam’s case about what a stubborn, prideful fool he can be.”

“Was that when he and Bria were having a rough patch in their marriage?”

“Yup.”

“Do you always know that much about each other?” If he agreed to help her, she wasn’t certain she would be overly comfortable with his family knowing about it.

“It’s hard to hide things from the people who know you better than you sometimes know yourself,” he acknowledged.

“So you don’t keep any secrets from each other? Ever?”

“There are some things that we don’t tell each other, but not very many.” Turning his head to look at her, he furrowed his brow. “Why do you ask?”

She had purposely waited until they were alone in his truck and it was dark so she wouldn’t have to meet his gaze. But the time had come to make her case and ask for his assistance. Considering the state of her nerves and the gravity of her request, she only hoped that she would be able to convey how important it was to her and how much she wanted him to help her.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately…” she began, wishing she had rehearsed what she was about to say a bit more. “Although I’ve never had a sibling, I miss being part of a family.”

“I know, darlin’.” He reached across the console to reassuringly cover her hand with his much larger one. “But one day, I’m sure you’ll find someone and settle down, then you’ll not only be part of his family, you can start one of your own.”

“That’s not going to happen,” she said, shaking her head. “I have absolutely no interest in getting married, or having a man in my life other than as a friend.” Ryder looked taken aback by the finality in her tone. They had never discussed what they thought their futures might hold and she was sure her adamant statement surprised him. Making sure her words were less vehement, she added, “I’m going to choose another route to become part of the family I want. These days, it’s quite common for a woman to choose single motherhood.”

“Well, there are a lot of kids of all ages who need a good home,” he concurred, his tone filled with understanding. “A single woman adopting a little kid nowadays doesn’t have the kind of obstacles they used to have.”

“I’m not talking about adopting a child,” Summer said, staring out the windshield at the dark Texas landscape. “At least not yet. I’d really like to experience all aspects of motherhood if I can, and that includes being pregnant.”

“The last I heard, being pregnant is kind of difficult without the benefit of a man being involved,” he said with a wry smile.

“To a certain degree, a man would need to be involved.” They were quickly approaching the moment of truth. “But there are other ways besides having sex to become pregnant.”

“Oh, so you’re going to visit a sperm bank?” He didn’t sound judgmental and she took that as a positive sign.

“No.” She shook her head. “I’d rather know my baby’s father than to have him be a number on a vial and a list of physical characteristics.”

Ryder looked confused. “Then how do you figure on making this happen if you’re unwilling to wait until you meet someone and you don’t want to visit a sperm bank?”

Her pulse sped up. “I have a donor in mind.”

“Well, I guess if the guy’s agreeable that would work,” he said thoughtfully. “Anybody I know?”

“Yes.” She paused for a moment to shore up her courage. Then, before she lost her nerve, she blurted, “I want you to be the father of my baby, Ryder.”

Two

Never at a loss for words, Ryder could only remember a couple of times in all of his thirty-three years that he had been struck completely speechless. At the moment, he couldn’t have managed to string two words together if his life depended on it. Summer asking him to help her have a baby was the last thing he’d expected.

To keep from driving off into a ditch, he steered the truck to the side of the road, shifted it into Park, then turned to gape at the woman seated in the truck beside him. How in the world was he supposed to respond to a request like that? And why the hell was his lower body suddenly indicating that it was up for the challenge?

Shocked, as well as bewildered, his first inclination had been to laugh and ask her who it was she was really considering. But as he searched her pretty face, Ryder’s heart began to thump against his ribs like a bass drum in a high school marching band. He could tell from the worry lines creasing her forehead that she wasn’t joking. She was dead serious and waiting for him to tell her he would father her child.

“I know this comes as a bit of a surprise,” she said, nervously twisting her hands into a knot in her lap. “But—”

“No, Summer,” he said, finally finding his voice. “An unexpected gift or winning a few bucks in the lottery is a surprise. This is a shock that rivals standing in ankle-deep water and grabbing hold of a wire with a few thousand volts of electricity running through it.”

She slowly nodded. “I’m sure it was the last thing you expected.”

“You got that right, darlin’.”

Ryder took a deep breath as he tried to figure out how to proceed. He knew he should ask some questions, but he wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to know first. What made her think that she wouldn’t one day meet the right guy to change her mind about getting married and having the family she wanted? Why had she decided that he was the man she wanted to help her? And how did she figure she was going to get him to go along with such a cockamamy scheme?

“We’re going to have to talk about this,” he said, deciding that he needed time to think. Starting the truck’s engine, he steered it back onto the road. “We’ll stop by the hotel long enough for you to get your things and check out of your room. Then we’ll drive on down to the Blue Canyon.”

“No, I think it would be better if I stay at the hotel instead of your ranch,” she said, her tone adamant. “It might look like we were—”

“Seriously?” He released a frustrated breath as he glanced over at her. “You’re worried about what people might think, but yet you want me to make you pregnant?”

“That isn’t what I’m asking,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t want you to make me pregnant. I’m asking you to put a donation in a cup for a clinical procedure in a doctor’s office.”

Ryder grunted. “Don’t you think that’s splitting hairs? The bottom line is, you’d be pregnant and I’d be the daddy.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t expect you to support the baby or help raise him or her,” she insisted. “My parents left me more than enough money so that I never have to worry about taking care of myself and a child.”

He barely resisted the urge to say a word she was sure to find highly offensive. Did she know him at all? She wanted him to help her make a baby and then just walk away like it was nothing?

Not in this lifetime. Or any other for that matter.

“Summer, we’re going to wait to finish this conversation until after we get to my ranch,” he said firmly. He needed time for the shock of her request—and the irritation that she didn’t want him to have anything to do with his kid—to wear off before he was able to think rationally.

“No, I’d rather—”

“My housekeeper, Betty Lou, will be there with us so you don’t have to worry about how things are going to look,” he stated, wondering why she was so concerned about gossip. It wasn’t like there wouldn’t be plenty of that going around if he lost what little sense he had and agreed to help her—which he had no intention of doing. But he needed to get to the bottom of what she was thinking and why she was willing to risk their friendship to make her request.

He cleared his throat. “You’ll have to admit that what you’re asking of me is pretty massive, and we need to talk it over—a lot. Staying at my ranch until we have to take off for the next rodeo in a couple of days will give us the privacy to do that.”

She didn’t look at all happy about it, but she apparently realized that going to the Blue Canyon Ranch with him was her best chance of getting what she wanted. “If that’s the only way you’ll consider helping me—”

“It is.”

He didn’t want to give her any encouragement or mislead her into thinking he was going to assist her. But he needed to talk to her and make her see that there were other alternatives to have the family she wanted besides going around asking unsuspecting men to help her become pregnant.

She took a deep breath then slowly nodded. “All right. If you won’t consider helping me any other way, I’ll go to your ranch with you.”

They both fell silent for the rest of the drive to the hotel and by the time she gathered her things, checked out and they drove on to the Blue Canyon, it was well past midnight.

“It’s late and I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty tired,” he said when he turned the truck onto the lane leading up to his ranch house. “Why don’t we get a good night’s sleep, then we can hash this all out after breakfast tomorrow morning?”

She nodded. “I suppose that would probably be best.”

Parking in the circular drive in front of the house, Ryder got out and walked around to open the passenger door for her. “I guess before we go inside I’d better warn you. You’ll need to steer clear of Lucifer.”

“Who’s that?” she asked, looking a little apprehensive.

“Betty Lou’s cat,” he answered, reaching into the back of the club cab for her luggage while she gazed up at his sprawling two-story ranch house.

“Oh, I won’t mind being around him,” she said, turning to smile at him. “I adore animals.”

Ryder shook his head. “You won’t like this one. I’m convinced he’s the devil incarnate.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He barely tolerates people.” Ryder carried her bag to the front door, then letting them into the foyer, turned to reset the security system. “He hisses and spits at everyone who crosses his path, except Betty Lou. And there are times I think she walks on eggshells around him.”

“You get chased by the biggest, meanest bulls the stock contractors can offer on a regular basis…and you’re afraid of a house cat?” she asked with a cheeky grin.

Relieved that the awkwardness that followed her request seemed to have been put aside for the moment, he shrugged as he led her over to the winding staircase. “I know what to expect with a ton of pissed-off beef. But that cat is a whole different breed of misery. He’s attitude with a screech and sharp claws. Sometimes he likes to lurk in high places and then, making a sound that will raise the hair on the head of a bald man, he drops down on top of you as you walk by.” Ryder rotated his shoulders as he thought about the last time Lucifer had launched himself at him through the balusters from the top of the stairs. “He’s sunk his claws into me enough times that I’m leery of walking past anything that’s taller than I am without looking up first.”

“Then why do you allow your housekeeper to keep him?” she asked when they reached the top of the stairs.

He’d asked himself that same question about a hundred times over the past several years—usually right after the cat had pounced on him. “Betty Lou thinks the sun rises and sets in that gray devil. She adopted him from an animal shelter after her husband died and when she took the job as my housekeeper, I didn’t think it would be a big deal for her to bring him along with her. I like animals and besides, I’m gone a lot of the time anyway, so I don’t have to be around him a lot.”

“That’s very nice of you,” she said, sounding sincere. “But it’s your house. You shouldn’t have to worry about being mauled by a cat.”

Ryder shrugged. “I don’t see any reason to be a jerk about it when Lucifer means that much to her. I just try to steer clear of him as much as possible when I do make it home for a few days.” Stopping at one of the guest bedrooms, he opened the door, turned on the light for her, then set her luggage beside the dresser. “Will this be all right? If not, there are five other bedrooms you can choose from.”

He watched her look around the spacious room a moment before she turned to face him. “This is very nice, Ryder. Did you decorate it?”

Her teasing smile indicated that she was awaiting a reaction to her pointed question. He didn’t disappoint her.

“Yeah, right. I just look like the kind of guy who knows all about stuff like pillows and curtains.” Shaking his head, he added, “No, I hired a lady from Waco after I bought the ranch to come down here and redecorate the house.”

“She did a wonderful job.” Summer touched the patchwork quilt covering the bed. “This is very warm and welcoming.”

“Thanks.” He wasn’t sure why it mattered so much, but it pleased him that she liked his home. “I bought it right after I sold my interest in a start-up company my college roommate launched while we were still in school.”

“It must have been quite successful,” she said as she continued to look around.

He grinned. “Ever heard of The Virtual Ledger computer programs?”

“Of course. They have a program for just about every kind of record-keeping anyone could want.” Her eyes widened. “You helped found that?”

He laughed out loud. “Not hardly. I know just enough about a computer to screw it up and make it completely useless. But my roommate had the idea and I had some money saved back from working rodeos during the summers. I gave it to him and he gave me 50 percent of the company. Once it really took off, I sold him my interest in the company and we both got what we wanted out of the deal.” He took a breath. “He has total control of The Virtual Ledger and I have this ranch and enough money to do whatever I want, whenever I want, for the rest of my life.”

“Then why do you put yourself in danger fighting rodeo bulls?” she asked, frowning.

“Everybody has to have something that gives them a sense of purpose and makes them feel useful. Besides, I have to watch out for boneheads like Nate and Jaron.” When she yawned, he turned to leave. “Get a good night’s sleep and if you need anything, my room is at the far end of the hall.”

Her smile caused a warm feeling to spread throughout his chest. “Thank you, Ryder, but I’ll be fine.”

Nodding, he quickly stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him. What the hell was wrong with him? Summer had smiled at him hundreds of times over the past few years and he had never given it so much as a second thought. So why now did it feel like his temperature had spiked several degrees?

He shook his head as he strode toward the master suite. Hell, he still hadn’t figured out why his arms had tingled where she rested her hands when they danced at the party. And why did the thought of her wanting him to be her baby daddy make him feel twitchy in places that had absolutely no business twitching?

When Summer opened her eyes to the shaft of sunlight peeking through the pale yellow curtains, she looked around the beautifully decorated room and for a brief moment wondered where she was. She was used to awakening in a generic hotel room where shades of beige and tan reigned supreme and the headboard of the bed was bolted to the wall. But instead of spending the night in a hotel as she’d planned, she had agreed to accompany Ryder to his ranch.

Her breath caught as she remembered why he had insisted she come home with him. After weeks of trying to find a way to bring up the subject and ask him to be the donor for her pregnancy, she had worked up her courage and made her request. And his answer hadn’t been “no.” At least, not outright.

He thought they needed to talk it over and although his insistence that they stay at his ranch had made her extremely nervous, she had agreed. She needed to reassure him that she would sign whatever document was needed to ensure that she would be solely responsible for the baby and that he would be under no obligation. She was sure that once he understood that, he would be more inclined to help her.

As she threw back the covers and got out of bed to take a shower, she thought about what Ryder would want to discuss first. He would probably start off with wanting to know why she didn’t feel she would ever meet a man she wanted to marry. Or he might try to convince her that, at the youthful age of twenty-five, she had plenty of time and should wait to make such a life-changing decision.

Standing beneath the refreshing spray of warm water, she smiled. She might not have practiced the way she worded her request as much as she should have, but she was armed and ready with her answers for their upcoming discussion about it. She knew Ryder well enough to know he would try to talk her out of her plans, and she had painstakingly gone over the way she would explain her reasoning and how she would frame the responses she intended to give him. Once he realized that she was completely serious, along with the promise of a legal document relieving him of any commitment to support or help raise the child, surely he would agree.

Anxious to start their conversation, she toweled herself dry, quickly got dressed and started downstairs. Halfway to the bottom of the staircase, she stopped when she came face-to-face with one of the largest gray tabby cats she had ever seen.

“You must be Lucifer,” she said tentatively. From Ryder’s description of the cat, she wasn’t sure how he would react to encountering a stranger in his domain.

She hoped he didn’t attack her as she walked past. But instead of pouncing on her as she expected he might, the cat gazed up at her for a moment, then letting out a heartfelt meow, rubbed his body along the side of her leg.

Reaching down, she cautiously stroked his soft coat. Lucifer rewarded her with a loud, albeit contented purr. “You don’t seem nearly as ferocious as Ryder claimed you were,” she said when he burrowed his head into her palm, then licked her fingers with a swipe of his sand-papery rough tongue.

When Summer continued on down the stairs, Lucifer trotted behind her as she followed the delicious smell of fried bacon and freshly brewed coffee. “Good morning,” she said when she found Ryder seated at the kitchen table.

“Morning.” He rose from his chair as she entered the room, and Lucifer immediately arched his back and hissed loudly at Ryder. “I see he’s still the same happy cat he’s always been,” Ryder said sarcastically as he shook his head. “Would you like a cup of coffee, Summer?”

“Yes, please. It smells wonderful.”

“Just a little cream?” he asked. They had met for coffee so many times over the past few years, he knew exactly how she liked it. Just as she knew he always liked his coffee black.

“Yes, thank you.” She smiled. “You know, I think Lucifer likes me. He rubbed against my leg and let me pet him when we met on the stairs.”

“See, I told you it’s just you he has a problem with, Ryder.” The woman standing at the stove chortled.

“I don’t know why.” He looked as if he might be a bit insulted by her comment. “Most other animals don’t seem to think I’m all that bad of a guy.”

“Maybe you aren’t home enough for him to get used to you,” Summer suggested.

“Whatever.” Shrugging, he walked over to take a mug from one of the top cabinets, then poured her some coffee. “Betty Lou Harmon, I’d like for you to meet my friend, Summer Patterson.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Harmon,” Summer said warmly as the older woman turned from the stove to face her.

“It’s real nice to meet you, too, child. But don’t go bein’ all formal,” the housekeeper groused, shaking her head. “You call me Betty Lou the same as everybody else, you hear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Summer said, instantly liking the woman. With her dark hair liberally streaked with silver and pulled back into a tight bun at the back of her head, her kind gray eyes and round cheeks flushed from the heat of the stove, Betty Lou looked more like someone’s grandmother than a rancher’s housekeeper.

Wiping her hands on her gingham apron, she waved toward the trestle table where Ryder had been seated when Summer entered the room. “You find yourself a place to sit and I’ll get you fixed up with a plate of eggs, bacon, hash browns and some biscuits and gravy.”

“I don’t eat much for breakfast,” Summer confessed, hoping she didn’t offend the woman. She seated herself in one of the tall ladder-back chairs at the honey oak table. “Normally all I have is a bagel or toast and a cup of coffee.”

“Well, you’d better eat a hearty meal this mornin’ if you’re goin’ horseback ridin’ down to the canyon with Ryder,” Betty Lou said, filling a plate and bringing it over to set on the table in front of her.

“We’re going for a ride?” Summer asked, crestfallen. She thought they were supposed to discuss her request.

“I thought I’d show you around the ranch,” Ryder said, nodding as he brought her coffee over to the table. When Betty Lou went into the pantry, he lowered his voice and leaned close to Summer. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk and no one around to overhear the conversation.”

“We could have done that in my hotel room,” she reminded him.

He raised one dark eyebrow as he sat back down at the head of the table. “For someone who is so concerned with appearances, you haven’t thought of the obvious, darlin’.”

Ryder’s intimate tone and the scent of his clean, masculine skin caused her pulse to beat double time. “Wh-what would that be?” she asked, confused and not at all comfortable with the way she was reacting to him.

“How do you think it would look with us being alone in your room for several hours?” He shrugged. “I doubt anyone would be convinced we were just talking or watching television.”

“Oh.” She hadn’t thought of that. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Now eat,” he said, pointing to her plate.

“Aren’t you going to have breakfast?” she asked, taking a bite of the fluffy scrambled eggs.

He took a sip of his coffee and shook his head. “I ate about an hour ago.”

When she finished the last of the delicious food, Summer smiled at Betty Lou when she walked over to pick up the plate. “That was wonderful. Thank you.”

The woman gave her an approving nod. “That should tide you over until you eat the sandwiches I packed for the two of you.”

“We won’t be back in time for lunch?” Summer asked, turning to Ryder. “How far away is the canyon?”

“It’s not that far.” He gave her a smile that made her radiate from within. “But there’s a creek lined with cottonwoods that runs through the canyon, and I thought you might like to have a picnic along the bank.”

“I haven’t done something like that in years,” she said, happy that he had thought of the idea. Going on an outing like the one Ryder suggested was one of the many things she had enjoyed doing with her parents.