“I don’t know.” He honestly didn’t. “Maybe I wasn’t with her long enough to see what she was really like. But you’ve met my mother. She doesn’t take long to make up her mind.”
“No,” agreed Lucy.
Aiden couldn’t wait any longer to drive away from the house. Never again. He would never go back there even if Rachael did have a great master bedroom. The whole place was tainted with her foul attitude, and no amount of remodeling would get rid of that.
They were several blocks away by the time his head cleared and he registered the acute sadness of having to drop Lucy off at her house. Sure, she’d invite him in. And sure, they’d go up to the bedroom and get all tangled in the sheets. But eventually, he’d go home without her. Tonight, tomorrow morning—it didn’t matter. It always made him feel desolate.
“Do you have plans for next Saturday?”
Lucy whipped her head around. “The very next one?”
“Yes,” Aiden said with a laugh. “The very next one.”
“No. Other than working on the house, no.”
“Do you want to come with me to the beer festival in Littletree?” It was three towns over, about a forty-five–minute drive. “I entered some of my beer into the competition.”
Aiden could see the shine of Lucy’s grin without turning his head. “I’d love to. It sounds like so much fun.” He risked a glance and saw her huge, incandescent smile. “So much fun.”
Fifteen
By Friday, Lucy could think of nothing but her upcoming date with Aiden. For once, it felt like a real date and not just a sex-arrangement date. Not that Lucy minded the sex. No. She didn’t mind it at all. In fact, she could do with a lot more of it, if she was being honest with herself. The thought of his body on hers swept her mind right away from the tasks at hand, which was how Lucy accidentally painted half the trim in the downstairs bathroom the same sandy color as the walls.
She cursed under her breath when she saw what she’d done, then inhaled deeply—in through the nose, out through the mouth. It was only the trim. She’d be touching it up anyway.
But why was she so restless?
Lucy stretched her way through the house, swaying her hips this way and that.
It was her clothes.
They felt strange against her skin, though it was the same yoga pants and tank she’d been wearing for most of the renovations. Were they tighter? Or was the fabric different somehow? Her parents’ washer and dryer couldn’t be that old. Maybe she only felt like they were tighter, like her body was somehow…different. The old clothes didn’t work. At least, she felt like they didn’t work, and that amounted to the same thing.
It struck her like a bolt of lightning.
She had a date.
And nothing to wear.
Lucy laughed out loud. The teenaged version of herself would have worn whatever her favorite T-shirt was, dating conventions be damned. But now she found herself wanting to impress Aiden. How could she do that without something new and nice? Not that he kept track of her clothes in that way, but…she wanted it.
Plus, it was a beer festival. Nothing she’d bought since coming home was really what Lucy had in mind for that kind of outdoor event, and certainly nothing she’d brought from the city was going to cut it. The crisp modern neutrals she’d worn to work every day would look ridiculous on the lawn at the festival. She needed something cute and fun and…beer-festival appropriate.
Twenty minutes later, she flung open the door to Holly’s boutique, worried they were about to close. In fact, she had forty minutes to spare. Holly Jackson looked up from behind the counter, brow furrowed.
“Welcome,” she said, though the greeting didn’t sound particularly welcoming. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“I hope you’re not about to close,” Lucy said. “I need an outfit for tomorrow.”
Holly pursed her lips. “What kind of event?”
“A beer festival.”
“A beer festival,” she repeated solemnly. “I think we have a lot of things that might work, but it’s really up to you.”
It was so different from the way she’d first greeted Lucy, and her heart sank a little. Life could not be high school repeated over and over into infinity. Holly had a different life now. She had to see that Lucy had a different life, too.
“Hey,” Lucy said, as if she was just remembering. “Did you have a chance to use that cleaner?”
Holly’s eyes went wide. “Yes. Oh, my god, I forgot to get in touch with you about that. Where did you find that? It seemed like some kind of black magic. That dress looks like new. No damage at all. You weren’t kidding.”
“I wasn’t kidding,” Lucy said with a broad smile. “And I didn’t buy it. I made it.”
“You made it? That’s insane.” Holly looked at her a little harder. “It does make sense, though. You’re a scientist now, right? A chemist or something? I think that’s what I heard.”
“I just got my doctorate. I work mainly with pesticides.”
“On the Harper ranch,” Holly said knowingly.
“Yes, I’m working with Aiden.” Just saying his name made heat gather in her cheeks. “But one of my personal side projects was formulating that cleaner. Everything in stores is either harsh or totally ineffective. Nobody has time for that.”
“I definitely don’t have time for that,” said Holly. “Please tell me you produce it already. I’ll pay your asking price so I can keep some in stock. With a store like this, I can never have too many options when it comes to saving garments.”
“I’ve honestly never thought about it.” Lucy felt like Holly had hooked an idea in the back of her mind. “I’ve always made it just for my personal use.”
Holly shook her head. “You have got to get on selling that. You could make a fortune. There are tons of us out here who are more than a little desperate for a product like that.”
“Seems like a lot of moving parts,” Lucy mused. “Production lines, testing…” Her experience with the pesticides told her that bringing something like her cleaner to market would be quite the undertaking. It was true that the stakes with the pesticides were high, but people mainly paid attention to the product, not the maker. If Lucy produced her cleaner, she’d be front and center.
“Nobody ever got anything done by sitting on a product that good,” Holly said sagely. “You should go for it.” She lifted her hands, indicating the store around her. “That’s how I got this business. I went after what I wanted, and I made it work.” She gave Lucy a shy smile. “It was always my dream to own a boutique, and now I have one.”
“You’re awesome.” Lucy meant it. “I’ve been going after some…other dreams lately. Really chasing them hard. But there’s always room for one more.”
“Yeah.” The smile slipped away from Holly’s face. “I’ve heard about that.” Then, her expression cold, she came out from behind the desk and walked briskly to the racks. “Let me pull some things for you so you can get on your way.”
* * *
It was hard to get Holly’s words out of her head. Her goal was the most important thing. All she really needed to be concentrating on was having a baby. And, of course, selling the house. So two goals. But try as she might, she kept replaying the fade of Holly’s smile.
Was the whole town judging her like that?
Lucy had thought she was over it. Why should she care what people in this small town thought? The only opinions that had truly mattered were those of her parents, and they weren’t here to approve or disapprove. Lucy knew, deep down, that they would have approved. Her mother had never been the kind of person to get caught up in how other people judged her plans. She might have been a little surprised that Lucy had come home to have a contract baby with the town’s most eligible bachelor, but hey, it was what she wanted. End of story.
She changed into the yellow shirt she’d bought at the boutique and some new denim shorts, along with a cute pair of strappy sandals, and fussed with her hair in
front of the mirror. The walls of her bedroom seemed to draw in around her. It was too small, really, to be spending so much time in. And even though she’d taken down her old artwork and repainted, it still made her feel like she was right back in high school.
Ugh. All those old high school doubts. Lucy hadn’t gone to her mother with those. It was only in her bedroom that she let herself worry and fret. Never for very long, but…long enough.
Despite that, Lucy liked what she saw in the mirror. She’d always been well-endowed, but today her boobs were looking particularly magnificent. The dress was going to be a hit.
She summoned all her confidence—fake it til you make it—and walked downstairs just as Aiden knocked on the front door.
His eyebrows lifted as he took in the sight of her. “Wow, Luce. You look…good.” There was a hitch in his voice that tugged a sultry grin right out of her.
“Couldn’t show up to the festival looking plain. Not when you’re bound to win.”
Aiden stuck his hands in his pockets, looking down at the porch. “Nah. I only entered for fun.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Lucy stepped out on the porch next to him and pulled the door shut behind her. Aiden escorted her to the truck, helped her in, and shut the door. She watched him as he came around the front of the truck. He wore shorts that were neatly pressed and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. God, he looked good.
She told him so when he got into the truck.
“We’re a matched set,” he said, then drove them to the festival.
It was a bigger deal than Lucy had expected.
She’d thought it would be one tent in a field, people milling around to taste beers. There were ten tents and a main stage where a band played live music. A smaller tent shielded a panel of five judges from the sun. As they got closer, Lucy could see that people were trying very hard to make a good impression on the judges.
“This is serious,” she said over the music. “Wow, Aiden. This is serious.”
“There are some big names here,” he admitted. She threaded her hand through his arm as he pointed them out. The biggest craft brewers in the state of Montana were all there, every single one of them.
Somewhere off to the side, a camera flashed. “Are you Aiden Harper?” called the photographer.
“That’s me.” Aiden stopped as the man came over to them.
“You’ve got some great beer,” the photographer said. “Matt Eldridge.” The two men shook hands, and then he turned to Lucy. “Is this your wife?”
Oof. That was an ache. “Lucy Carr.” She offered her hand to shake, sidestepping the question entirely.
“We just got here,” Aiden said. “Just heading over to check things out.”
It was, for all the to-do about the judges, like a very cool outdoor picnic. The grass between the tents was littered with lawn games, and when Lucy spied a free cornhole set she tugged at Aiden’s arm. “One match. I love this game.”
“You love cornhole?” Aiden’s eyes twinkled.
“A single match.”
They ended up playing one by themselves, but four more with another couple who came up to join.
When they’d finished, Lucy was hot. Aiden was hot too—in every sense of the word. He came over to her and took her hand. “What do you think? Is it time for a beer?”
Lucy’s stomach dropped to her toes. Her mind raced through the dates. Time had been so pointless when she was with Aiden, but now it was essential.
“Luce? Are you okay? Your face—” Aiden’s own expression was pure concern. “Maybe you should sit down.”
She looked him in the eye. “I don’t know if I should be drinking,” she said. “It’s—I’m at the two-week mark, so—”
Understanding dawned in Aiden’s eyes. At that moment, a man got on the loudspeaker and called all the contestants to come up to the stage.
Aiden didn’t move.
She put her hands against his chest, then rose on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.
“Go. I’ll wait for you down here. You’re going to win.”
“Don’t jinx it,” Aiden said, a frown curving the corners of his lips. “Are you sure I shouldn’t stay and—”
“Get up there,” she insisted, smiling at him despite the way her heart pounded against her ribs. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
The moment he disappeared into the crowd, Lucy turned and hustled in the opposite direction, clutching her purse to her arm. When they pulled into town, she’d noted a drugstore across from the park where the event was being held.
The bell on the door tinkled loudly as she came in, overheated and out of breath.
“Pregnancy tests,” she said out loud, scanning the little store.
“Aisle two,” came a voice from the back.
“Thank you,” she called.
She chose the first one she saw and paid, hands shaking. This could be it. Lucy had thought it might take a few tries—maybe many tries—to get pregnant, but now, standing on the precipice of new knowledge—whoa. It was intense.
The tiny woman behind the counter grinned at her as she handed over the receipt. “Need a bathroom? We don’t normally offer them to the public, but—”
“Yes,” Lucy said quickly. “Yes, I really, really do.”
The woman led her to a narrow hallway and opened a door for her. The bathroom was clean and tiny, and Lucy banged her elbow on the wall as she opened the test.
Thirty seconds later, she was waiting.
It was the longest three minutes of her entire life.
She swayed back and forth in the bathroom. There wasn’t enough room to pace through the seconds as her phone counted down, but she couldn’t very well go out and walk on the sidewalk, staring at a pregnancy test. Lucy put it on the edge of the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. She did look different. But that didn’t mean anything. It could just be the sex and the happiness changing her.
The timer dinged.
Lucy looked at the test.
It was like having an out-of-body experience.
The contest—she had to be there for Aiden. She shoved the test into an outside pocket of her purse and went out, feeling the woman’s eyes on her every step of the way. Lucy felt like she was about to burst.
She made her way back through the park, shifting through the crowd that had gathered in front of the stage. A man stood in the front—someone from the beer industry, no doubt—and his words slipped right through her mind and out again.
All except—”…our winner is Aiden Harper.”
The applause thundered around her, the music started up again, and a shocked Aiden came forward to claim the hardwood plaque from the man. With it cradled in his huge hands, he looked out at the crowd. Lucy raised her hand and waved to him.
He must have seen the news in her eyes.
“You okay?” She couldn’t hear the words over the sound of the crowd.
And he probably couldn’t hear hers.
She said them anyway.
“I’m pregnant.”
Sixteen
Aiden turned over the sheet of paper in his hands and scanned the text on the back.
It meant nothing to him.
The order sheet was one of fifteen that layered his desk. He’d been looking them over all morning.
He hadn’t absorbed a single word.
Part of him was still flying high on his win from the beer festival, which had been an unexpected burst of pure joy tempered with the weight of responsibility. Aiden had felt all those eyes on him—everyone in the beer industry was watching—and then afterward, when he stepped off the stage, he was surrounded. Handshakes and names swirled around him, business cards pressed into his palms and now, two days later, the orders were coming in.
People wanted his beer.
Which meant he needed Lucy now more than ever.
As far as he could tell, the pesticides were working. Not at a high enough level to sustain enough beer for the de
mand, but Jonas had already seen some improvement.
He leaned back in his chair and rested his head against his hands.
All of it paled in comparison to the moment he had looked down at Lucy in the crowd. Her face had held its own tiny tempest of emotions. Excitement battled with surprise. Little flashes of worry surfaced and retreated. It was only a moment, but he had the sensation that time slowed and then stopped.
Then his next heartbeat had crashed into his ribs, and he was back onstage at the beer festival, living one of the most exciting moments of his own life.
How was he supposed to feel about all this?
He shuffled the papers together into a neat stack.
Excited? Sad? Panicked?
It felt utterly wrong to abandon Lucy.
He’d done his part. Nobody could deny that—not even Aiden. Still, the thought of not seeing her every day made him feel wounded.
“Boss?”
Aiden looked up abruptly at the sound of the voice. One of his ranch hands, a nineteen-year-old hometown kid named Hank stood in the doorway to his office.
“What’s going on?”
Hank stuck his hands into his pockets. “Just wanted to double-check on the pesticide process today. Jonas is out in the field, so I’m guessing he’s not flying. Is today the day we’re hitting the crops with the irrigation system?”
“Yes. Yes.” It came out a little too enthusiastically, because Aiden had realized that this was his excuse. Maybe he couldn’t spend any more time in bed with Lucy, but he would get to stay in her life. Breathe her in. See the smile on her face. She was going to be around at least until the growing season was over.
“Okay, boss,” Hank said with a bemused smile. “I’ll see you out there.”
“Great,” Aiden said, trying to match his earlier tone. Hank chortled as he went out through the house.
Speaking of Lucy, he should call her. It was an incredible relief to have remembered the fine print of the contract, and it made sense—she should be at the ranch soon. To…supervise. In fact, he wasn’t entirely sure she’d given Jonas all the instructions to deliver it via the irrigation system, so…
The Rancher’s Baby Bargain Page 11
