Billionaire's Baby Bind

But she didn’t feel it.

There was a weight in her heart that made her feel older than her years. And when Will had said his life was complicated she’d...well, she’d ached because she knew complicated.

She knew what it was like to be a big, fat, red-hot mess masquerading as normal. She’d done that for a year after she’d lost the baby and then gotten the devastating news that she’d never be able to have a child. A part of her should have rejoiced that he’d only seen what she had wanted him to—a cowgirl who was damn good with horses.

But that connection she’d felt with him had made her want him to see more.

And he hadn’t.

He hadn’t.

She was wearing her good jeans—a dark wash that fit like a second skin—and a pair of hand-tooled boots that her brothers and sisters had given her for Christmas. They had a fancy design featuring turquoise and she’d completed her outfit with a flirty peasant top. She’d taken the time to blow-dry her hair and not just pull it back in a braid, so it fell around her shoulders.

She finished her makeup and put a dash of lip gloss on before grabbing her purse and heading out. She was halfway to her truck when she realized someone was in her yard. Not that it was really her yard, since Clay owned all the property, but that little area in front of her place.

Amberley glanced over and realized the someone was a dog. A ragged stray that was making mewling sounds that she couldn’t ignore. He was a rather sad-looking animal with a matted coat. She tossed her purse on the hood of her truck and turned toward the dog, careful not to spook it as she walked toward it. She crouched low and held out her hand for it to sniff once she was close enough.

The animal whimpered and then slowly moved closer to her. She held her ground, noticing that it limped. One of his legs was injured. Just the distraction she needed. Animals were the one thing on this planet that she was actually good with.

She waited until the dog came closer and noticed that there were some briars wrapped around his hind leg, and when she reached for the leg he moaned and moved away from her.

“All right, boy. I’ll let it be. But we are going to have to take you to get that looked at,” she said. She stood up, pulled her phone from her back pocket and texted her cousin that she’d be a little late. Then she went back into her place, got a blanket, a bowl and bottle of water. Then she grabbed a carrot from the fridge and went back outside.

The dog was exactly where she’d left him. Waiting for her.

“Good boy. You’re a boy, right?” she asked.

The dog didn’t answer—not that she expected him to. She put the bowl down in front of him and gave him some water and stood to watch him as he drank, then texted the small animal vet that Clay used to let him know she’d be bringing in an injured dog. Though it was after hours, Clay had an agreement for the ranch that included 24/7 coverage.

She spent the next hour getting the dog settled at the vet. He had a chip and the vet contacted his owners, who were very glad to find him. Amberley waited until they arrived before leaving to meet her cousin. But the truth was she no longer wanted to go out.

The dog—Barney—reminded her of how alone she was. Even the stray had someone to go home to. His owners had been really nice and so happy she’d found him and Amberley was gracious to them, but a part of her had wanted the stray to be a loner. To maybe need her.

She hated that she was feeling down about her life. She’d finally gotten past everything that had happened when she was eighteen and now some dude was making her question her situation. She’d never been this knocked on her butt for some guy. Yet there was something about him that had made her want to be more. Want to be someone she hadn’t thought about being in a long time.

But there it was.

She wanted to see him again.

Her cousin was waiting in the parking lot of the Wild Boar, a roadhouse that served food and drinks and had a small dance floor with live music on the weekends. There were pool tables in the back and a mechanical bull. If you weren’t in the upper echelon of Royal and weren’t a member of the Texas Cattleman’s Club, then this was the place to hang out.

“Hey, girl. You ready to blow off some steam?”

She nodded. Maybe a night out with Royal’s rowdy crowd was what she needed to remind her of where she belonged and whom she belonged with...and it wasn’t a hot guy from Seattle.

* * *

Midnight was his favorite time of night and when he found the most clarity when he was working—tonight wasn’t any different. Faye was a little night owl like he was, so the baby was playing on the floor at his feet while he watched the scripts that were running and tracking down Maverick on the monitor nearest to him.

She’d woken up crying. Erin was worn out from a long day of dealing with Faye teething, and since Will was up at night working anyway, they’d established that he would take the night shift.

Maverick wasn’t the cleverest hacker, but whoever he was, the man was running his internet through a few connections. It would have fooled someone who didn’t have Will’s experience, but he’d been a pirate hunter in high school for a large software company that his dad had helped found and he’d spent a lot of years learning how to follow and find people who didn’t want to be found.

“Dada.”

“Yes?” He looked down at Faye. Her face was so sweet and she was holding a large round plastic toy up to him.

He took it from her.

She immediately reached for one a size smaller and held it up to him. This was one of her favorite new games. She gave him all the toys around her and then he had to sit still while she took them back and put them in a seemingly random order in front of him.

But this time she was done handing them all to him, so she crawled over to where he sat on the floor next to her and crawled onto his lap. He scooped her up and hugged her close.

His heart was so full when he held his daughter. She smelled of baby powder and sweetness. He knew sweetness wasn’t a scent, but when he held Faye it was what he always felt.

He stood up and walked around the house with her while she babbled at him. He set a notification on the computers to alert his phone when the scripts were finished running and then put Faye’s jacket on her so they could go for a walk. He’d grown up in Bellevue, near the water, and some of his earliest memories were of being outside with his mom at night looking at the sky.

He knew that many people would expect Faye to be in bed at midnight, but she wasn’t looking sleepy at all. It was probably his fault for having a long nap with her in the afternoon. He’d been keeping odd hours since they had arrived in Royal.

He walked toward the barn, telling Faye the stories his mom had told him. Will’s mom’s people had been sailors and the sky and the water were a big part of their history.

He heard the rumble of a truck engine and turned as a large pickup rounded the corner. He stepped off the dirt track to make sure he wasn’t in the path of the vehicle.

The truck slowed and the passenger-side window rolled down. He walked over and was pretty sure it was Clay Everett. But Will knew if he had a woman like Sophie waiting for him at home, he’d have a better way to spend his night than patrolling his ranch.

“Hey, Will. You okay?” Amberley asked.

He was surprised to see her. She had obviously been out, as she smelled faintly of smoke. Her hair was thick and fell around her shoulders. The tousled tresses, so different from her neat braid, made his fingers tingle with the need to touch her hair.

He regretted leaving her the other afternoon. One kiss. Would that have been so bad? Even Lucy wouldn’t begrudge him that. But he hadn’t taken it.

So instead a need was growing in him fast and large. Each day it seemed to expand and he knew he was losing control.

“Yeah. Faye’s a night owl like me so I thought I’d take her for a walk.”

Faye heard her name and started babbling again.

“Want some company?” Amberley asked.

“Sure,” he said.

She turned off the engine of her truck and climbed out, coming around by him. Her perfume hit him then—it was sweet like spring flowers. There was a slight breeze tonight and Amberley tipped her head back and looked up at the sky.

“When I was little, my dad told us that if we were really good we’d see a special angel in the sky.”

“Did you ever see one?”

“Yeah,” Amberley said. She stretched out her arm and pointed to Venus. “There she is.”

“That’s Venus.”

“Show some imagination, Brady. That’s my special angel. She watches over me at night.”

“Does she?”

Amberley nodded. But she wasn’t looking up anymore—she was staring at Faye. “She’ll watch over you, too, little lady.”

Faye answered with one of her babbles. And Amberley listened until Faye was done and then she nodded. “I know. It’s hard to believe that someone up there is looking out for you, but she is.”

Faye babbled some more.

“Your mama?” Amberley asked when she was done.

Faye babbled and then ended with “Mamamam.”

“Mine, too. They are probably friends,” Amberley said.

Faye shifted toward Amberley and Amberley looked over at him for permission before reaching for the baby. Will let Faye go to Amberley and watched the two of them talking to each other. She was good with the baby. He was surprised that Faye had wanted to go to her. She was usually pretty shy with strangers.

He noticed that both of the girls were looking at him.

“She’s usually not so eager to go to strangers.”

“Well, we’re not strangers,” Amberley said. “We chatted up a storm while you were holding her.”

“You sure did,” Will said.

Something shifted and settled inside of him. It was a tightness he wasn’t even aware of until that moment. And then he realized that he wanted Faye to like Amberley because it didn’t matter how guilty he may feel afterward, he wanted to get to know her better.

Four

The night sky was clear, filled with stars and the waning moon. Amberley tipped her head back, feeling the emotions of the week fall away. The baby in her arms was sweet and soft. She had been cooing and pointing to things as they walked and Amberley fought against the pain in her heart she’d thought she’d finally gotten over.

She loved babies. Loved their smiles and their laughter. The way that they communicated if you just took the time to listen to them.

Her dad had told her that she shouldn’t give up on a family, but the hysterectomy she’d had at eighteen had pretty much put paid to that. She couldn’t have a baby of her own. So she tended to spoil any kiddos she met.

“You’re awfully quiet over there,” she said, realizing that Will hadn’t said much in the last few minutes. She’d suggested they lie in the bed of her pickup truck and watch the night sky. Will had agreed but only, he’d said, until Faye got sleepy.

“Just trying to get this app to work,” he said.

He’d mentioned having an app that could show meteor and comet activity in the night sky and was trying to get it to work. Amberley had spread a blanket she kept for picnics on the bed of the truck and she and Faye had been playing together while he tried.

“If it doesn’t work we can just make up stories,” she said.

“Like what?” he asked.

“That star over there is Lucky.”

“As in it brings luck?” he asked.

“No, its name is Lucky. Sometimes the star falls to earth and takes on the persona of a rock superstar during the day, and at dusk it’s drawn back up into the night sky, where she stays steady and true so that little cowgirls and cowboys who are out late on the range can find their way home,” Amberley said.

She’d been a huge Britney Spears fan when she’d been about ten and her dad had made up that story about one of the pop star’s songs.

“Okay, let me give it a try,” Will said. He shifted his shoulders and leaned back against the cab of her truck. Faye crawled over to him and he lifted her onto his lap. The baby shifted around and settled with her back against his chest.

They were so cute together, Amberley thought. She ached for little Faye because even though she had her daddy’s love and attention, Amberley knew that one day Faye was going to need her momma. She just felt close to them because she saw herself in the two of them.

“See that constellation?” he asked, pointing to Sirius.

“Yes.”

“That’s Lobo and he is really good at catching the people who skunk around in the shadows. Every night he looks down on the earth for clues and then during the day he turns into computer code and helps track down the bad guys.”

She smiled. “Like you.”

“Yeah. Like me.”

“How’s that going? Is it okay to ask?”

Faye turned in his arms and he rubbed his hand over her back. He lifted her higher on his chest and she settled into the crook of his neck.

“It’s going pretty well,” he said, his voice pitched low so as not to disturb his daughter.

“I’m glad. Will you be here for long?” she asked.

“Probably a month.”

A month...not enough time for anything serious.

“I’d love to know more about what you do,” she said. Sometime between the dancing and talking with her cousin tonight she’d realized that no cowboy or Royal guy could make her stop thinking about Will. Probably not her wisest idea, but she had decided she wasn’t going to just walk away unless he pushed her to.

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