Coming Home to Texas

He’d just never seen her pregnant and desperate enough to ask a man she’d known for only three days to marry her.

What if he didn’t say yes?

Chapter Two

“So I hear you have a very attractive lady visitor,” Hank McCauley taunted on the phone line.

Travis ground his teeth and silently wished his friend a slow and painful injury.

“Not that it’s any of your business,” he replied, glancing toward the second-floor hallway that wrapped around the great room like a balcony. He hoped Jodie didn’t walk in on him having this conversation. “She’s my guest, so butt out.”

“Hey, I heard she came into the Four Square Café looking for directions to your ranch. It’s not my fault most of your friends and neighbors were there to gawk.”

“I’ll bet you were gawking most of all.”

“I don’t gawk at other women much since Lady Wendy and I tied the knot.”

“Too bad she didn’t put a zipper on your mouth.”

Hank chuckled. “She likes my mouth way too much to mess with any modifications.”

Travis rolled his eyes. Hank could be completely outrageous. They’d known each other since their freshman year at the University of Texas. Hank had later dropped out to pursue his rodeo career, but Travis had gone on to get his master’s degree in architectural design. They’d lost touch for a few years while Hank was on the circuit. Now they were neighbors and best friends again.

Although, Travis reminded himself, with friends like that, he didn’t need any enemies. The gossip mill at the café would be going full steam for several days.

For at least as long as Jodie stayed in town. Alone with him at his ranch.

“So who else were you jawin’ with downtown?” He glanced at the clock over the wet bar. “It’s too late for lunch.”

“There was another meeting of the Fourth of July committee, which lasted longer than usual. They’re getting an early start this year, planning a big parade and celebration. So yeah, basically everyone was down here and talking about you and Jodie Marsh.”

“I suppose they all know by now who she is.”

“Yep. Very intriguing. Of course, I had to tell them I played a role in getting you two fixed up over in Europe.”

“Prince Alexi did most of the ‘fixing up,’ if I remember correctly.” Travis, Hank and his wife, Lady Gwendolyn, and Carole and Greg Rafferty had visited Prince Alexi and Princess Kerry—a former Ranger Springs native and Carole’s sister—along with the new little prince Alexander, in Belegovia in January. The country was building a new cultural center and wanted Travis to design the facility. That’s where he’d been when the lot of them had arranged a blind date in Monte Carlo with Jodie, whom Alexi knew through their charitable activities.

A date that had quickly turned into a passionate weekend.

“Heck, Travis, you’re the best entertainment we’ve got since most of us are married now. We’re depending on you for a little controversy.”

“Well, just leave it alone, okay? When I’m ready to tell you snoops anything, I’ll give you a call.”

“Tell us anything? Like what? Don’t tell me the blind date got really serious. Not with Travis the Confirmed Bachelor Whitaker!”

“I’m not telling you anything. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a meal to prepare for a lady.”

“Cooking for her, too. That does sound serious.”

Travis started to hang up the phone, but Hank shouted, “Wait! Wendy wants you and Jodie to come for dinner Wednesday night. Seven o’clock, okay?”

Travis sighed. He supposed the social engagement was necessary, even if he wasn’t ready to share Jodie with his friends and neighbors. “All right. See you tomorrow.”

“Anyone I know?” Jodie’s sexy, husky voice tore his thoughts away from his friends and neighbors and back to the woman who had just complicated his life. Not that she’d done it all alone. No, he’d participated very actively.

“Just Hank McCauley. He’s as nosy as coon dog on the first day of hunting season.”

“I thought he was nice.”

“You just don’t know him well.”

“He’s a good friend of yours, isn’t he?”

“The jury’s still out on that one,” Travis replied with a shake of his head.

Jodie chuckled. “You really are a private person, aren’t you?”

“I try to be. That’s why I bought this ranch. I wanted to get away from the congestion and hectic pace of a big city, plus I wanted to get a few horses and run a few head of cattle. I like living in a small community, but my neighbors can be bigger gossips than the tabloids.”

“Oh, I’ll bet they’re considerably nicer.”

“That’s true.” Travis looked over Jodie’s fresh face, glossy lips and lush figure. No one would suspect she was an internationally known model. Or that she was pregnant. She truly did appear to be “the girl next door.”

“The cosmetics company made a good choice when they decided you would be their new representative.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You look so young and fresh. So ordinary, but in an extraordinary way, if that makes any sense.”

“Thanks…I think.”

“My thoughts were extremely complimentary even if my words didn’t convey my feelings.”

She turned away, looking a bit embarrassed. “In that case, thanks again.”

“Are you hungry?”

“Famished. How may I help?”

“Why don’t you get some glasses out of that cabinet,” he said, gesturing with the salad tongs, “and decide what you’d like to drink.”

He turned his attention back to the roasted chicken he’d fixed in his smoker last night. It was his favorite meal, although he never let on to his cattle-ranching friends that he preferred chicken over a nice big steak. Folks had been run out of Texas for less.

When he turned to get the potato salad out of the refrigerator, he and Jodie collided. With a gasp, she stepped back.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m not used to having someone else in the kitchen.”

“My fault,” she said breathlessly, looking flushed and adorable. “I’m not used to being in someone else’s kitchen.”

He did his best to ignore the feeling of Jodie’s breasts brushing against his arm, but like the proverbial elephant in the room, he could barely think of anything else. Despite the distraction, though, within a few minutes they had the meal on the table.

“So,” he said after they’d started their salads, “tell me again why I should break every promise I made to myself about getting married again.”

“I’VE ALREADY EXPLAINED about the contract, the morality clause and my career. I don’t see how it could be any more clear.”

“What about how you feel about having this baby? How you’d feel about getting married? I don’t think either one was in your plans for the near future.”

“No, they weren’t, but the pregnancy happened. I can’t change that.” Some women might, and that was fine for them, but eliminating “the problem” wasn’t something she could do. Not when she had other options. She was going to have this baby, even if it meant giving up the contract—which she wasn’t about to admit to Travis. Her mother and her agent had always told her to negotiate from a point of strength. Never admit your weaknesses. Compromise, but don’t settle.

“I’m glad to hear it. Now, you’ve told me all the logical reasons why you need to get married. Tell me how you’re feeling about it.”

Wow, this was a reversal. A man asking her to talk about her feelings? Had she entered an alternate universe when she’d driven across the Ranger Springs city limit? “I feel like I should do the right thing. I feel like I want this baby to have a mother who can provide for him or her.”

“That’s just more logic. What about getting married? How are you going to react to us living together as man and wife? Are you ready to compromise, or have you even considered me in your plans?”

“I…of course I’ve considered you.” She wouldn’t have considered marrying someone she couldn’t tolerate. But then, she wouldn’t have gotten pregnant by a man who was repulsive. “I didn’t think marriage—especially a temporary marriage—to me would be that distasteful.”

“I’ve been married before and I made a vow that I never would again. I don’t make vows lightly, Jodie. There’s a reason I’m against the institution of marriage.”

“Why? What happened to make you bitter?”

“Who said I’m bitter? There are other reasons to want to avoid the state of matrimony.”

She couldn’t think of any. “So, what happened between you two?”

“I don’t talk about that time in my life.”

“Oh, but it’s fine to grill me about my life?”

“Ask me whatever you want to know about my life right now and I’ll answer the questions. But I didn’t ask you about your past and I don’t want to discuss mine.”

“Just tell me this. Is there anything in your past that would damage my career if we were to marry and the information was leaked to the media?”

He thought for a moment. Took another bite of salad, chewed and swallowed. “No.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay then. What’s the problem? We liked each other well enough five weeks ago. I’m not that difficult to live with. As I mentioned, I won’t even be around all that much. Why, you’d hardly know I was here.”

“And this is supposed to make me feel better…why?”

“Because I’m not asking much from you in the way of compromise! I’m trying to be thoughtful.”

He pushed his half-eaten salad aside. “I’d like to be thoughtful before we stand in front of a minister.”

“A justice of the peace or even an Elvis impersonator at a wedding chapel would be fine with me, as long as the marriage is legal.”

“I’m not running away to Las Vegas or going to some county clerk’s office to get married.”

“Fine. Then we’ll do whatever you’d like. After all, you’re doing me—and the baby, of course—a favor by agreeing to marry me.”

“Okay, then answer this. What’s in it for me?”

Jodie immediately thought of twisted sheets and hot, damp bodies. Not that they’d talked about having a sex life after the ceremony. Pushing the image aside, she sighed. “The knowledge that you’re doing the right thing?”

“Maybe you don’t know me very well. Maybe I’m not the kind of guy who wants to do the right thing. Maybe I’m irresponsible and selfish.”

She didn’t think for a minute that was the case. Travis had been a generous and inventive lover—not the kind of man who thought only of himself. “I’m not buying that line. I think you’re a man who would acknowledge his child, who would try to help that child’s mother out of a difficult situation.”

“And you’re basing this on…?”

“Just what I know about you! You’re a nice guy, Travis Whitaker. I wouldn’t have gone to bed with you on our first date if you hadn’t been.” She pushed aside her salad bowl, surprised to note she’d eaten most of the healthy green stuff without ever thinking about it.

He looked amused as he calmly cut into his roasted chicken. “Okay, maybe I’m a fairly nice guy. At least most of the time. When I’m not dealing with a temperamental client or an incompetent contractor. Or a stubborn cow or a nosy friend. But that doesn’t mean I’m good marriage material. You can’t be sure I’d be a good father.”

“I think you’d try. And besides, if you don’t want to be a part of this baby’s life, you don’t have to be. I’m not trying to force you to take part in parenting if that’s not what you want. I have the money to hire a nanny, to pay for the best schools and to give this child a wonderful future. I’d like for you to be a part of his or her life, but it’s not necessary.”

“It’s necessary to me.”

“Then what’s the problem?” She felt like throwing up her hands in exasperation. They kept having circular arguments, with Travis revealing as little as possible about how he felt, but asking her to bare her soul.

“The problem is that you marched in here demanding that we get married on your terms. You didn’t even let me be happy about seeing you again before you were telling me your plans and expecting me to play this minimalist role of husband and father.” He pushed his plate aside and leaned closer. “Well, Jodie Marsh, maybe that’s not what I want. Did you ever think of that? Did you ever consider that I might have other plans?”

She sat back in her chair, feeling as if the floor had shifted beneath her. When they’d first met, she hadn’t considered Travis’s life much at all. She’d never asked him personal details, such as if he had someone back in Texas. Because he’d been so hot for her, she’d assumed he was unattached. “Oh, God. Do you already have a fiancée? A serious girlfriend?”

Travis laughed. “Relax and finish your dinner, Jodie. You’re eating for two now.”

“That’s an old wives’ tale. And you didn’t answer my question.” Still, she took a bite of tender chicken and followed it with some potato salad.

“No, I don’t have a fiancée or a serious girlfriend. What would be the point of getting engaged? I already told you I’d never planned to marry.”

“Then you never wanted children?”

A look of pain, maybe regret, passed over his face, but it was gone before she could wonder too much about his past. The one he didn’t want to discuss.

“I have friends with children. I have a sister who has a son. If I feel the urge to be around the little monsters, I have opportunities.”

“You think all children are monsters?” she asked.

“No, I was just joking. I’m actually quite good around them. I can even change diapers.”

“You have me beat, then, because I don’t have the foggiest idea how to care for a baby.” She took another forkful of food while she waited for him to chide her for being unprepared. “Although I do like children.”

“No brothers or sisters? No nieces or nephews?”

Once again he’d surprised her by not rubbing her nose in her inadequacies. “I have a younger sister, Chelsea, who is twenty-seven. My mother divorced when I was three and never remarried.”

Travis nodded. “I have nothing against children, but since I’d never planned to marry, I didn’t think the opportunity would arise. Also, I like my freedom. I take jobs I want, I travel quite often and I have my ranch to keep me from being bored. I don’t think I’d make a good candidate for a single dad, in the unlikely event I decided to adopt. Which I’ve never seriously considered.”

“Sometimes nature takes over and we become better parents than we could have imagined.”

“I’ve heard that. I’ve also seen parents who tried awfully hard and were terrible at the job.”

“I’m not going to be terrible. I’m going to be a terrific mom. I’m going to ask my mother how she raised such a great kid—namely, me—and then follow her example.”

Travis laughed. “All that and modest, too.”

“Darn right.”

She looked down at her plate and saw that she’d eaten all of her chicken and potato salad, along with a handful of grapes. She and Travis had been talking so intently that she’d been oblivious.

“Did you have time to unpack?” he asked as he reached for her plate.

“I don’t mind living out of my suitcase. I’m used to it.”

“Jodie, why don’t you unpack? You’re going to be here awhile.”

“I am?”

“Well, aren’t you going to try to talk me into getting married? Or have you changed your mind?”

She shook her head. “No. But like I mentioned, I’m on a really tight schedule. I’m counting down nine months!”

“Giving me a week or so isn’t going to make any difference.”

“It might!”

“Jodie, given the fact that we’re both tall and not skinny, I don’t think this baby is going to be a tiny little thing. We’re not going to pass it off as premature.”

“Well…”

“Just unpack, relax and enjoy a short vacation in Ranger Springs. Get to know the people. Get to know me.”

“So I’m supposed to relax while you make the most important decision of my life?”

“That’s right.”

“How about you go ahead and decide, then we can both relax?”

“I’m going to defy my basic nature and not rush into this decision.”

“You were willing to rush into my hotel suite in Monte Carlo!” she exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him. Probably not the smartest move when she was still trying to get his compliance, but she could only take so much baiting.

“That was…different.”

“Make an exception!”

“About getting married? I can’t do that, no matter how much I like and respect you.”

“You…you like me?”

“Of course I like you. Do you think I sleep with women I can’t stand?”

“No, but—”

“Even though I like you, I can’t just jump into marriage. I have to think this through.”

“What do you want, legal agreements? No problem. I’ll have my lawyers draw up a prenuptial. I’ll make whatever promises you need if you’ll just cooperate.”

“Give me some time, Jodie. I want to do what’s best for all of us.”

“I know what’s best! I’ve already explained what we need to do and why.”

“No, Jodie. You know what’s best for your career. I’m talking about our lives and the life of our baby.”

AFTER THE MEAL, Travis excused himself, saying he had some chores. In truth, he just needed to get away. Away from Jodie’s tempting presence. Away from his chaotic thoughts. Since she’d arrived back in his life a few hours ago, she’d turned his thinking completely around. His future now included a child—and possibly a wife.

But for how long? Jodie said she expected their marriage to be “temporary.” He didn’t like the sound of that. In his opinion, temporary items tended to be inferior in quality and comfort.

He liked to build things to last.

Fortunately the showers had stopped shortly after Jodie arrived. The ground was soft, the dry winter grass slick with rain, but not enough to keep him indoors. He saddled one of the horses he’d purchased from Hank several months ago, glad he had the acres and the time to ride. There was something about being in the saddle that cleared his head, centering him in this suddenly mixed-up world.

His favorite spot was only a fifteen-minute ride away, just over a small hill and around a stand of pecan and live oak trees he hadn’t yet thinned. He’d have to do that later in the year for firewood. Using a chain saw and a hatchet was right up there with chest thumping for manly pursuits.

At the base of the hill was a small swimming hole formed by the springs for which the town was named back in the 1880s when a Texas Ranger was shot by outlaws. According to local lore, a widow living nearby had nursed him back to health using water from the spring.

Travis wasn’t sure whether the story was true or not, but the spring was a refreshing relief from the summer heat. On this cool, late winter day, he wouldn’t be swimming, but he still liked to visit the spot where the water bubbled up from the underground aquifer and ran out into the stream that bisected the town.

Usually the peaceful spot helped him relax. But today, as the sun set and the sky turned to deep pink and mauve, he knew he didn’t have answers. Should he marry Jodie—even temporarily? The idea didn’t set well with him. He and Jodie needed to find a compromise, but all she wanted was a temporary husband to satisfy her contract.

He didn’t want to be anyone’s disposable husband. But did he want to be a permanent part of Jodie’s life when he’d sworn he’d never marry again?

Chapter Three

Jodie spent some time soaking in the big bathtub in Travis’s guest suite, wondering where he’d gone so suddenly after the early dinner he’d served her. It had been dark for several hours and he hadn’t returned. Should she go looking for him? Call someone? Where would she report a missing rancher? Dialing 9-1-1 seemed extreme when the man in question was probably just avoiding further discussion of their situation.

She sighed and decided the water was too cool to stay in any longer. She rose from the tub, then went through her nightly ritual of brisk towel-drying and moisturizing. Her skin was one of her best features. She took very good care of her assets.

After dressing for bed in a short gown and longer robe, she wandered into the bedroom. She wasn’t used to having so much free time. She should have picked up a new novel to read, but she hadn’t been thinking clearly. She’d just impulsively booked a flight to Texas to talk to Travis.

The father of her baby.

“Could you want to be a daddy, Travis?” she murmured as she looked out the window. There were lights in the barn, but she didn’t know if they were automatic or if it meant someone was working in there. If Travis was there, avoiding her.

The house was so quiet that she turned on the small CD player she found in the entertainment cabinet. After searching through several country-western stations, she located one that played some generic sort of easy listening. Curled up in a chair where she could see the barn, she let the tension drain out of her as the music flowed in. She shouldn’t be sleepy, but she was, perhaps because of the time zone change, perhaps because of the pregnancy.

Outside the window, a branch from a tree swayed in the night wind. She felt the hypnotic pull, aware that she was drifting off, but not caring at the moment. She was safe and warm, she’d presented her plan to Travis, and all she could do was wait for him to agree.

TRAVIS REMOVED HIS BOOTS in the mudroom, walked quietly over the cold slate floors, then toward the master bedroom. Before he went looking for Jodie, he needed a shower and a change of clothes.

He hadn’t found solace at his favorite spot, but he had been able to think while he’d cleaned out stalls. His barn now sported the cleanest floors, the most spotless feed buckets and the neatest tack room in the entire Hill Country.

And he’d come to some conclusions. He needed to throw out his vow to never marry again. Jodie had presented him with the one reason that would get him back to the altar—a child. He wouldn’t have married for companionship or sex or any other reason since he could have all those things without the problems a wife represented. His past experience had made him associate marriage with manipulation, frustration and disappointment. But that was marriage based on love—or more accurately, two people who thought they were in love. He and Jodie didn’t suffer from that delusion. If they married, it would be for sound, logical reasons.

He stripped quickly and eased beneath the warm water, grateful that he’d installed a top-of-the-line shower stall with multiple jets of water to soothe tired muscles. Big enough for two. Not that he expected Jodie to open the glass door and join him, but that was exactly how their baby had been conceived.

Thinking back, he even knew the date. January fourth. He counted forward nine months. That meant their child would be born around October first. By Halloween, he could get one of those cute costumes for the baby. By Christmas, he’d have a son or daughter to buy gifts for. The idea was mind-boggling, nearly surreal, since Jodie looked exactly the same as she had when they’d first met.

He certainly hadn’t planned on having children—since he’d sworn never to marry again—but now it was almost all he could think about. Unlike his own father, he wanted to be a dad who changed diapers and took his child to the mall and read stories to him at night.

Would Jodie try to exclude him from their baby’s life, just as she’d tried to make all the decisions about their relationship? Their marriage?

He showered quickly, dried off and dressed in comfortable sweats. The house was silent as he made his way down the hall. The few lights on automatic timers revealed no sign of his guest. She hadn’t been in the kitchen, or if she had, she was one neat person. Not a glass or spoon was out of place.

He silently climbed the steps. Walking softly in his socks, he paused outside the guest bedroom. The faint sound of music filtered through the thick oak door. He knocked softly.

She might be sleeping. He’d heard that pregnant women needed lots of naps and a good night’s sleep. If so, he didn’t want to bother her. But the urge to check on Jodie, to make sure she was comfortable, overwhelmed his need to respect her privacy—and his good sense. He slowly turned the knob and eased open the door.