The Texan and the Cowgirl

by Victoria Chancellor

  Oh, good grief, she was going to be someone’s mother!

  She knew absolutely nothing about babies. She knew how to analyze a financial statement, implement a project timeline, and keep costs under control while completing a renovation. She even knew how to dance the Texas two-step and the Cotton-Eyed Joe, saddle a horse and pick rocks out of his hooves.

  But she knew nothing about how to care for or raise a child. She barely remembered her own mother and father, and although she loved her aunt and uncle, they weren’t warm and comforting the way she’d always thought parents should be.

  Darla knocked on the bathroom door. “Cassie, are you okay?”

  No, she wasn’t okay. She’d never be okay again. Why couldn’t someone like Darla have a baby? Not only could she diaper and feed an infant, she could teach them their numbers and letters when they got older!

  Darla would be a wonderful mother, but had she gone to Charlie Yates’s pickup truck and made wild, crazy love at Amanda’s wedding reception? No. Darla apparently had more sense than to do something so insane.

  She’d never find herself pregnant and single, but if she did, she wouldn’t freak out because she knew what to do with a baby.

  “Cassie, are you sick?”

  “No.” Pregnancy wasn’t really an illness, was it?

  “Are you dressed?”

  “Sort of.” She rose on wobbly legs and pulled up her pants before flushing the toilet. She put the plastic strip on the edge of the sink and washed her hands. “I’ll be right out.”

  “Okay, because I’m worried about you.”

  There was nothing wrong with her that seven more months wouldn’t cure.

  And then what?

  Taking a deep breath, she picked up the stick in one hand and opened the door with the other. Darla stood in the hallway, a worried look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

  Cassie held up the strip for her roommate to read, then burst into tears.

  CHARLIE UNFASTENED HIS CHAPS, pulled them off and shook them out. The appearance at the Stockyards Championship Rodeo in Fort Worth had gone about as routine as could be. He’d ridden around on a borrowed horse, waved and smiled at the audience, and galloped out of the arena to polite cheers.

  The further he got from The Next Cowboy Star, the less the applause. Something had to happen soon or he’d be back at the Lazy Y, mucking out stalls and inoculating cattle for big brother Colby. Making personal appearances as an ex-rodeo star and an ex-contestant on a show that had concluded with a contract for someone else wasn’t any way to build his career.

  He needed his own big break. He needed a real role in a movie, a television show or a made-for-TV movie. Anything to give him some experience and credits. He and his agent, Marilyn Drake, had talked about this before he’d left L.A. She was just as frustrated as he was, she said. He doubted it. At least she had a job. He had nothing to look forward to at the moment.

  Except one thing, he corrected himself. As soon as he got back to his truck, he was going to call sweet little Cassie darlin’ and make sure she was free for the weekend. He’d been too busy to get back to Brody’s Crossing until now, but since he was finished with his public appearances, he couldn’t wait to make the one-hour drive to see her again.

  He placed his chaps and gloves inside his bag, settled his hat on his head, and headed out of the dressing room.

  “Hey, good job, man,” the stock manager said as they passed in the hallway.

  “Thanks for the hospitality,” Charlie said, “and the excellent mount. He’s a well-trained animal.”

  “Thanks. I guess you miss your own rides.”

  “Sure do, but I’m goin’ back to the Lazy Y right now. My horses are boarded there with my brother.”

  “Hope you can come back soon.”

  “Maybe. Take care.” He exited the back door and was hit with a blast of hot air. Welcome to summer in Texas.

  He rounded the Dumpster in the back and pulled his keys from his pocket, pressing the unlock button. The lights flashed just as a slight figure pushed away from the driver’s side door.

  Cassie’s soft curls blew in the faint breeze and a gauzy skirt molded to her legs. She looked just as adorable as he remembered.

  “Hey, darlin’,” he said, grinning as he strode toward the truck. “What are you doin’ here in Fort Worth?” He stopped in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders, ready to give her a big kiss. “I’m so damned glad to see you.”

  She looked up at him with big, haunted eyes. His grin faded as he realized something was wrong. Very wrong.

  “Cassie?”

  “We have to talk.”

  “I was just goin’ to call you, darlin’. I’m on my way home and I wanted to see you somethin’ fierce.”

  She closed her eyes and he couldn’t tell whether she believed him or not.

  “I was goin’ to call you. As soon as I got to the truck, where my phone is.”

  “Okay, I believe you. But I didn’t know that because I haven’t heard from you in two weeks.” She looked up at him with genuine hurt.

  “I’m sorry, darlin’. I guess I wanted to surprise you. I didn’t think too much of the timin’.”

  “Some things can’t wait for a surprise.”

  His grip tightened on her shoulders. “Is somethin’ wrong? Cause now you’re scarin’ me.”

  She took a deep breath, then shivered. “Yes, something is wrong.”

  “Let’s sit down in my truck and we’ll talk.” If she was sick, she shouldn’t have been standing outside, waiting for who knew how long. If something else was wrong…well, she needed to tell him.

  He helped her step up to the passenger side, then jogged around the front and opened the driver’s door. Should he pull her close, or kiss her, or just put his arm around her? She seemed to shrink a little, huddled back against the seat, just out of reach. “How did you know where I was?”

  “I called your cell phone yesterday, but it must have been off or in a dead zone.”

  “Probably when I was drivin’ through West Texas. Nothin’ out there but broomweed and noddin’ donkeys.” He could still see the oil well pumps spaced across the vast expanse of dusty land from here to New Mexico.

  “So I called your brother, who gave me your agent’s phone number, and she told me you were going to be here at the Stockyards today. Good show, by the way,” she added with a slight smile.

  “Thanks. But what was so urgent that you had to drive to Fort Worth to see me in person? I would have taken your call. You know that, right?”

  “Yes, but…” She seemed to fold into herself even more, as if she could get smaller and smaller and then fade away like that Cheshire cat.

  He leaned over and cupped her head with his hand, just to make sure she wasn’t going to disappear. “Now, darlin’, please tell me what’s wrong.”

  She trembled slightly as she looked up at him. “I guess there’s no easy way to tell you this. You remember when we…well, when we went to your truck, and then we got carried away, and you forgot protection?”

  “Um, yeah, I remember.” He hadn’t acted that irresponsibly since he was a teenager. He’d been warned many times by his dad and his big brother that a man had responsibilities and wearing a condom topped the list. They’d joked that the Yates men had a long history of having their first child born nine months after the wedding, so he had to be real careful.

  He got a churning, burning feeling in the pit of his stomach that had nothing to do with the enchiladas he’d eaten for lunch.

  “Well, we must have been too late, or something else must have happened, because…because I’m pregnant.”

  CASSIE SAT VERY STILL on the front seat of Charlie’s truck and watched expressions ranging from suspicion to disbelief to shock wash over his face. She knew how she’d felt when she’d first looked at that pregnancy test strip. She’d desperately wished she could turn back the clock and make a different decision.

  Charlie needed time to assimilate
what she’d told him and she wasn’t going to jump to conclusions about whether he was horrified or happy. She’d had more than a week to get used to the idea herself.

  When he looked as if he’d digested the news as well as he could, she continued. “Let me tell you, before you ask or wonder if you can ask, that I know for a fact this is your baby because I haven’t had sex with anyone else for over three years. If you don’t believe me, then we can have a paternity test, but I won’t do anything that might harm the baby.”

  She paused for a moment, then added, “I understand it’s a shock.”

  “That’s a fact.” He shook his head. “It’s not that I doubt you, it’s just that I never thought you could get pregnant from that small mistake.”

  She wouldn’t have described anything about what they’d shared as “small,” but she didn’t want to argue with him. “I know you see it as a mistake, but I’m trying my best to be positive. I…I can’t go through life thinking that my child was a terrible accident.”

  She’d often wondered if that’s how her parents felt about her, since they’d only had the one baby later in life. They’d gone off and left her with her aunt and uncle more times than she could remember. She wasn’t going to let her baby suspect it wasn’t wanted, even if that’s how she’d felt a week ago.

  “I don’t know what I think at the moment.”

  She looked down at her clenched hands. “When I first suspected, I drove to Graham and bought a pregnancy test kit. I came back to the apartment and used it, and even then, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

  She looked up at him. “I told Darla, and she suggested I try another brand and check the results again. They were the same. That’s when I made an appointment with the doctor in Graham.”

  “And what did the doctor say?”

  “That I am pregnant. Two and a half months, but of course I know the exact day, so it wasn’t hard to figure.”

  He narrowed his eyes a little and looked at her. “You seem okay with it now.”

  “Okay! I was a wreck two weeks ago. I didn’t want to be pregnant. I believed it was a huge cosmic joke even though I was pretty sure I really was pregnant. Babies are a complete mystery to me. I’ve never been around them and certainly didn’t expect to have one for years.”

  He looked skeptical despite her explanation. “You really didn’t want to get married, settle down with a family?”

  “Are you kidding? I was having the time of my life. I’d just started dating again. I sure didn’t want to get serious about someone.”

  His hands tightened on the steering wheel and his mouth thinned. “So I was just part of your plan to have some no-consequences fun?”

  She’d never seen this serious, harder side of Charlie. “I wouldn’t call it a plan so much as living my new life. And yes, when I saw you at the reception, I wanted to meet you.”

  “To date? To maybe fool around? I never got the sense that you were calculating.”

  Now she was getting irritated. How dare he call her “calculating” when he knew darn well they’d both gotten carried away in the heat of the moment. “I’m not! Not about you, that’s for sure. And I resent the implication that I somehow trapped you into going to your truck and forgetting protection.”

  “You didn’t mention condoms either.”

  “Well, excuse me for not being so experienced that I automatically thought about that when I was…well, having a good time.”

  “I’m just saying that of all the men at the reception, all the guys around town, why me?”

  She narrowed her eyes right back at him. “Are you accusing me of coming after you with the intention of getting pregnant? Because honestly, if that’s what you think, you’ve been reading too many B-movie scripts.”

  “I already told you I don’t know what to think.”

  She grabbed the door handle. “Well, think about this, Mr. Hollywood. I’m going to have your baby and raise it in Brody’s Crossing whether you’re involved or not. And quite frankly, after your reaction today, I’m grateful you’re not going to be around to irritate me on a daily basis!”

  She opened the door, jumped down and slammed it shut before he could say another word. How had she ever thought she could actually like the man? A dry wind propelled her forward across the parking lot. Charlie Yates obviously didn’t think highly of her or he never would have made such ridiculous accusations.

  “Wait a minute,” he said from behind her.

  “No, I’m going home now.” She kept marching across the hot parking lot to her car.

  “I didn’t mean to make you angry.”

  “Well, you did.” She was in no mood to placate him. He’d made her sound conniving and slutty. She hadn’t been in a relationship in years and the only time in her life that she’d had a wild fling, she’d gotten pregnant. What kind of cosmic justice was that?

  She reached her car and unlocked the door.

  Charlie placed his hand on the window, which kept her from jumping inside and driving off. She looked up into his face, so void of expression that she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

  “I’m sorry. I know you didn’t try to trap me into getting married.”

  “No, I didn’t. I’m insulted that you think I’m that kind of person.” She suddenly felt she might burst into tears, but that was probably the pregnancy. Her emotions had been on a roller coaster lately.

  “The point is that we don’t know each other well enough. Admit it, Cassie. You just saw what you wanted to see—a cowboy who knew how to dance and made you laugh. And maybe you wanted to dance with me because you’d seen me on television.”

  He had a point, but she wasn’t ready to give in to his argument. His other accusations still stung. “I’m leaving, Charlie. I’m tired, and in just a little while, I’m going to start getting nauseous.”

  “What do you mean? You’re sick?”

  “Instead of morning sickness, I have evening sickness.”

  He removed his hand from her window and stepped aside. “I was coming back to Brody’s Crossing today, right after the rodeo appearance, so I’m all loaded up. I’ll follow you to make sure you don’t have trouble on the way.”

  “I’ll be fine.” She never got sick while the sun was still up. Usually it happened between dinner and bedtime.

  “I’ll follow you anyway.”

  She sighed and opened the door. She’d known telling him about the baby was going to be emotionally difficult, but she hadn’t expected him to doubt her motives. That hurt.

  Driving to Fort Worth had been a mistake. She should have asked Charlie to come to Brody’s Crossing, where her integrity wasn’t questioned by her friends and associates. And if she had some tears in her eyes as she drove west, she told herself it was from squinting against the sun. It wasn’t because she’d hoped for a happy reaction and wonderful resolution from this cowboy she barely knew.

  He had a whole life ahead of him that didn’t include babies and hometowns. Someday she would have to convince her child that his or her father was really a great guy, but he wasn’t ready to be a daddy.

  Chapter Four

  “Why don’t you call her tomorrow?” Darla told Charlie as he stood outside their apartment.

  “Is she okay?” Cassie had bolted from the car faster than he’d thought a pregnant woman should bolt. She’d run up the stairs and into the apartment, apparently sending Darla out to intercept him.

  “She’s…fine. What did she tell you?”

  He’d known Darla since forever, so there was no reason to beat around the bush. “That she’s pregnant and it’s mine.”

  “Oh.” Darla took a deep breath. “Yes, I know.”

  How many people knew the “happy news”? Most of the town? Good God, did Colby and his parents know already? News traveled faster than a tsunami in a small town. He shook his head. “She warned me she got sick in the evening. Does this happen every night?”

  Darla nodded. “She feels ill, but she doesn’t throw up
unless she’s really stressed out or she hasn’t eaten right.”

  “She hasn’t been eatin’ right?” Pregnant women were supposed to eat healthy meals. If Cassie wasn’t taking care of herself, she wouldn’t be the only one who suffered.

  “Usually she does, but some foods she normally likes aren’t agreeing with her now.” Darla shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

  “I don’t know hardly anything about pregnant women.”

  Darla looked pained for a moment as she stared at the closed apartment door. “I know a lot about children, but not that much about pregnancy.”

  “I thought women just knew these things.”

  Darla rolled her eyes. “That’s because you’re a guy and guys don’t know anything unless we tell them.”

  He didn’t comment on that piece of feminine logic. He knew more about how horses and cows gave birth than he did about how women managed to push a new life into the world.

  And until now, that had been just fine with him.

  “You sure she doesn’t need anythin’?”

  “We have saltines and 7UP. That’s standard first aid around the apartment lately, plus an occasional dose of Pepto.”

  He looked back at the closed door. “Call me if you need me. I’ll be stayin’ with Colby at the Lazy Y.”

  Darla nodded. “Trust me, she’ll be okay in the morning.”

  “Okay then. Thanks for…” He wasn’t sure what he was thanking Darla for, except that she was Cassie’s friend and maybe she needed one right now.

  Especially since he’d been kind of an ass when she told him about the baby.

  “HE SEEMED WORRIED ABOUT you,” Darla told Cassie later that night as they curled up on opposite ends of the couch, watching a movie they’d both seen before.

  “He was more concerned about my motives earlier in the day,” Cassie answered, nibbling on a cracker. “I’d gone over what I was going to say about ninety times, but then he comes up with the convoluted logic that I must have wanted to get pregnant and picked him to do the deed. Can you believe it?”