The Nine-Dollar Daddy

by Day Leclaire

  Crossing to her bedroom, she retrieved the envelope Hutch had slipped into her suitcase. “This came for you, Mom. Good luck!” he’d scrawled across the bottom. Why it surprised her that he’d figured out her secret, she wasn’t sure. That darned kid knew everything. But her son still loved her, she reminded herself fiercely, despite learning the truth. And the fact that he’d put the envelope in her suitcase suggested that he thought Ty would, too. In a few minutes, she’d find out.

  Ty was waiting for her when she returned, his long strides eating up the sitting area as he paced. “What is it? What’s wrong?” he demanded, thrusting a hand through his hair.

  She’d worried him, she realized in dismay. “It’s that promise we made. I told you I’d be honest and I haven’t been.” She stood before him, the most vulnerable she’d ever been in her entire life. The envelope crinkled in her hands. “There’s a couple more things on that Yellow Rose application form that we have to change.”

  A tight smile touched his mouth. “Just swear it’s not the one that says ‘sex’ and I can live with it.”

  “Oh, no problem,” she managed to tease. “I answered yes to that one.”

  “Great.” He started for her. “That’s all I needed to know.”

  “No, it’s not.” She fended him off with her hand, backing him into a nearby chair. Then she crawled onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  A muscle jerked in his jaw. “That bad, huh?”

  “Maybe,” she whispered against his chest.

  “Let me guess. Your real name is Bonnie and Lonnie is actually Clyde and you used to work in the banking industry.”

  “Nope.”

  “You’re a princess in disguise and we’re going to have to move to some European capital and raise little dukes and duchesses.”

  She shook her head with a husky laugh.

  His throat constricted as he swallowed. “You and Lonnie aren’t really divorced,” he whispered.

  Is that what he thought? She gave him a reassuring hug. “Trust me, we’re divorced and I have the papers to prove it.”

  “Well, honey, I’m fresh out of ideas. I don’t suppose you want to tell me what the problem is?” When she didn’t answer, he gestured toward the envelope clutched in her hand. “I assume it has something to do with that letter you’re busy turning back into pulp. Tell me about it, sweetheart. Tell me what’s wrong.”

  He was being so patient, so understanding. It wasn’t fair to keep him in suspense like this. Not since it was only her pride at stake. “I told you that when I left home with Lonnie, I was pregnant. But...” She moistened her lips. “But there’s one more thing I may not have mentioned.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “I...I also hadn’t graduated from high school.”

  He frowned. “But you’re twenty-nine. How could you not have...?” A hint of color crawled across his cheekbones. “Never mind.”

  She choked on a laugh. “I didn’t get held back, Ty. The truth is...” She took a deep breath. “I’m not twenty-nine, I’m twenty-six.” She waited while that sank in.

  It didn’t take long. He shot up in the chair and her head cracked his chin. “Damn! You were sixteen when you got pregnant with Hutch?”

  “Well...almost.” She struggled to escape his lap, but he wrapped his arms around her waist, refusing to let go. Giving up, she subsided against him. “I’d just completed my sophomore year. Lonnie was a senior. We’d been dating for a couple of months and we went to the prom together.” It was her turn to blush. “Suffice it to say it was a memorable night and we didn’t spend all of it dancing. Nor did we practice safe sex.” Her mouth twisted. “Talk about stupid kids.”

  “Then you discovered you were pregnant?”

  She nodded. “It finally dawned on me at some point during the summer. Lonnie had already graduated and offered to take me with him when he left town. As soon as my aunt and uncle realized I was leaving—with or without their permission—they let us get married.”

  “And then Lonnie deserted you the month before you gave birth?” he questioned, disbelief evident in his gaze. “He deserted a sixteen-year-old child.”

  She shrugged, fighting to distance herself from the emotions those memories stirred. “He had a better job offer. Or so he said. He promised to send money.”

  “And did he?”

  “Enough to get by.” Barely. “He wasn’t a total louse. But I wasn’t in any position to work. Even if I hadn’t been pregnant, it isn’t easy for a sixteen-year-old to get full-time employment, as I soon found out. Not the sort that will pay for food and rent and baby-sitting fees. So, as soon as Hutch was born, I got a job by lying about my age. Since I looked older than sixteen and was so tall, I got away with it. Once I’d saved up enough money, I went after Lonnie.”

  “And that’s how you lived for the next five years? Chasing Lonnie?”

  She attempted a grin that fell short. “Sounds like a movie title, doesn’t it?”

  “What ended the chase?” He shook his head. “Never mind. I think I know.”

  Time for another confession. “I heard Hutch telling you about our breakup.”

  Ty shot her a telling look. “You should’ve given that man his walking plate and glass long before you did.”

  “I realize that now. But I was young and scared and it took a while to figure out that I could make it on my own, that I didn’t need Lonnie.”

  “And now?” He flicked the envelope with his finger. “What’s this?”

  “This is the answer to a five-year dream.” For a long time, she stared at the envelope with the Texas Education Agency’s return address in the corner. Carefully, she ripped it open and unfolded the paper.

  Progress Report

  I’m back in school now. Mom enrolled me at this new place near Ty’s ranch. But there’s a biiiiig problem. SOMEBODY at my old school squealed about my science project and they want to see it pronto since the kids here are working on science projects, too. Guess it’ll really hit the fan now, especially when they find out what I’ve been doing with all my reports.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Experiment #9: EXPERIMENTS TERMINATED!

  CERTIFICATE of High School Equivalency, the diploma read. “Congratulations on the successful completion of the General Education Development Tests.” Cassidy’s five test scores were listed on a flap folded behind the thick piece of paper. Writing, social studies, science, literature and arts, and the most difficult for her, mathematics. She’d just squeaked by on that one. But she’d passed.

  The embossed certificate tumbled from her hands and she buried her face against Ty’s chest, soaking his shirt with tears. She’d done it. After five long, difficult years, she’d finally done it. She’d accomplished her last goal.

  Ty held her tight and let her cry it out. “You’re something special, you know that?” It took a moment to register the respect deepening his voice. “That’s why you’ve been fighting me so hard, isn’t it?”

  She lifted her head, sniffing. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean pride, independence and a good dollop of fear have been getting in our way.”

  “So that’s been our problem, huh?” She gave a watery grin. “And here I thought it was my refusing to marry you.”

  “Well, that, too.” He flicked a piece of confetti from her hair before dropping his hands to her shoulders and giving them a gentle squeeze. “My guess is that you’ve been working toward your GED ever since you got rid of Lonnie.” It wasn’t really a question. “You wanted to prove you could.”

  “I decided I had to take charge of my life,” she confirmed. “I was twenty-one, working a dead-end job, had a five-year-old genius to support and was about to be divorced. That’s not the sort of life I’d planned for myself growing up.”

  “So you decided what you wanted out of life and went after it.” He regarded her with steady, understanding eyes. “Sounds rather overwhelming.”

  “It was, except...” A look of
determination crept across her face. “Except I suddenly realized I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself and my son. Heck, I’d been doing it those five years I’d been chasing after Lonnie. That’s when I knew what I had to do. I had to go back to school and earn my diploma so I could get a decent job, and I had to mend fences with Aunt Esther and Uncle Ben.”

  He shook his head in wry amusement. “But then I came into your life and disrupted all your fine plans. What did you think I was trying to do, Cassidy? Steal your independence?” He cupped her face, admiring the strength of character revealed in every single beautiful line, even though her stubbornness caused him unending frustration. “Don’t you understand? I’m not trying to steal anything or hurt you in any way. I’m just trying to make you happy.”

  “Happy?” Her laugh stirred the air between them, warm and sweet and startled. “That’s the first time anyone’s ever offered me that.”

  “I’m sorry to hear it. Because there’s not a person on this planet more deserving of happiness than you. All you have to do is reach for it.”

  She closed her eyes and he feathered a kiss across the lids. “I’m so afraid,” she whispered, shivering beneath the tender caress.

  “I know you are. You don’t like risk and I understand why.” His hands slipped deep into her hair. “It’s time to take a chance, sweetheart. You’re going to have to trust me. What’s worse...you’re also going to have to trust yourself. Granted, you’ve made some bad choices in your life. But I swear, this isn’t one of them.”

  “I just have to believe that we’re not making a mistake, huh?” A shaky laugh escaped her. “You don’t ask much, do you?”

  “Nah.” His precious voice rumbled over her. “Not me.”

  “But don’t you see? I haven’t been fighting for my own sake. If something goes wrong with our relationship, Hutch—”

  “Hutch needs a father,” Ty interrupted. “If I was a man who played fair, I wouldn’t use that card. But the two of you have become too important to me. You’ve become a part of my life and I can’t imagine you not in it. When I walk into the house, I find myself listening for you or looking around for a noisy squirt with bright yellow hair and mischief in his eyes. I always thought I had a home. Now I know how wrong I was. It’s you and Hutch who’ve turned it into a home.”

  By the time he ground to a halt, she was weeping again. “I love you, Ty. I do.”

  “And I love you. Would poetry help convince you? How’s this? You’re the dawn after a long, bad night. You’re the rain after the endless drought that’s been my life. Don’t you get it, sweetheart? You and Hutch are my future. And I’m yours.”

  “How can you be so sure?” she demanded. “How can you be certain it’s not going to end?” Like Lonnie. The unspoken words hung between them.

  “I can be sure because, unlike the voices you hear, my voices have no doubts and they don’t give bad advice.” He softened his reply with a smile. “The first time I kissed you, remember? I knew. And so did you. The difference is...while it made me more determined to pursue a relationship, it frightened you off.”

  The fight drained out of her. “You’re right. It did.”

  “And you’ve been running scared ever since.”

  She seemed to gather herself as though preparing to leap some insurmountable hurdle. “I’m not running now.”

  It was all the invitation he was going to get...and all he needed. He lowered his head and captured the sweetness of her sigh. Tasted it, savored it. Drowned in it. She wrapped her arms around his neck. She even did it without half killing him in the process. Not that he’d have cared if she had. What was a broken nose compared to the pleasure of her in his arms?

  She was long and lanky and lush and fitted him better than any woman he’d ever taken to bed. He swung her around so she straddled him, groaning at the feel of her so tight against him. Her lips parted, allowing him greater access, and he surged inward. At the same time, he tugged at the drawstring that held her peasant blouse in place. Ripe, firm breasts tumbled into his hands. She groaned, wriggling closer.

  “Wait a sec.” It almost killed him to stop now, but somehow he found the strength of will. “Maybe we should have discussed this before.”

  Cassidy stared at him, dazed. “Discussed what?”

  “Your intentions.”

  “Good gravy, Ty.” She buried her face in his shoulder with a breathless laugh. “Your timing stinks, you know that? I’m sitting half-naked on your lap. In fact, if we were any closer, I’d be pregnant again. And you’re asking me what my intentions are? I’d have thought that was obvious.”

  “Sony, sweetheart. But I don’t want any morning-after regrets. In a few minutes, I’m tossing you on that bed over there and we’re gonna make sweet love until I’m too exhausted to move or until you knock me unconscious, whichever comes first.”

  A shiver fluttered through her. “Sounds good to me.”

  “Yeah, well...you mentioned getting pregnant. Don’t you think we should discuss that?”

  “I’m prepared this time. I...I visited a drugstore earlier and...” She shrugged. “I figured one of us should take precautions.”

  His breath escaped in a ragged laugh. “Looks like we were both on top of it. I visited that drugstore, too.” Okay, one problem out of the way, one to go. “But I gotta tell you, honey, I’m not taking you to bed until I have a commitment. You can’t seduce me tonight and then toss me aside tomorrow.”

  She feathered a kiss across his mouth. “What if I promised to respect you in the morning?” she teased. “Would that be good enough?”

  “Nope. I’m an old-fashioned sort of guy. It’s a wedding ring or nothing.”

  “Okay, you win.” She slipped off his lap, drawing her blouse closed over her breasts. Sinking to her knees in front of him, she took his hand in hers. “Will you do me the honor of marrying me, Mr. Merrick? I promise to love and care for you all the rest of my days.”

  About damned time. “Lady, I thought you’d never ask. I do. I will. And my pleasure.” With a growl of satisfaction, he plucked her off the floor and into his arms. Three quick strides brought them to the edge of the bed. Sweeping the comforter off the mattress, he dropped his bride-to-be on the soft white sheets. Her blouse parted, slipping off her shoulders and drooping low over her breasts. The hem of her skirt rode high on her thighs, flirting with the plain cotton of her underpants. She had the longest legs he’d ever seen—the ankles narrow, the calves trim—legs perfectly fashioned to wrap around a man and never let go.

  “This would probably be a good time to pick a fight with you,” she said.

  His brows drew together. “Come again?”

  She sat up, wrapping her arms around her knees. “Don’t you remember how you promised to end any further disagreements?”

  The memory clicked in place and he rapidly thumbed buttons through buttonholes. “I believe it had something to do with stripping off my clothes until you gave in.” He tossed his shirt to the floor, chuckling at her sigh of satisfaction. “You should have seen your expression when I changed outside of Freddie’s.”

  A faint blush touched her cheeks. “I figured you did it on purpose so you could show off all those ripples.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you. I did it because you’d practically ripped the shirt off my back while we were in that café.” He reclined on the bed next to her, playing with the dangling drawstrings of her blouse. “I know it was an accident, but—”

  “You think so, huh?” Her smile gave him an idea of what Adam had faced in the Garden of Eden.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Are you saying it wasn’t?”

  She shrugged, the rolling movement giving him a glimpse of heaven. “You ended up with your shirt off, didn’t you?”

  “And you, sweet liar, ended up with a blush that went from the top of your head all the way down to your tippytoes.” He tugged at her drawstring, fascinated by the slow downward slide of her blouse. “Not that that stopped you from starin
g.”

  “Ty...” Her throat moved convulsively. “I’ve never done this before with anyone except Lonnie.”

  “I know, and I won’t rush you.” And he didn’t His movements were slow and nonthreatening, clothes sliding first from her body, then from his own. “What’s going to happen tonight won’t be anything like what you shared with him.”

  She closed her eyes, praying he was right. “Promise?”

  “I promise.” He gathered her close. “Honesty and trust, remember?”

  Her laughter sounded strained. “It must have slipped my mind.”

  “That’s okay. It hasn’t slipped mine.” He smiled down at her. “Just focus on the ripples and you’ll do fine.”

  She reached for him, reassured by his solid strength. “There are so many it might take me a while.”

  “That’s what I’m counting on.”

  Then the long night crept across the room, offering them shadows in which to conceal their intimate whispers and contain their husky laughter. Only the moon dared eavesdrop on the lovers, playing across soft, feminine curves and hard, bronzed angles and turning their bed into a silvered nest. And in those twilight hours, Ty won himself a bride, won her with a love so deep and so profound there was no more room for fear or doubt or independence. Their joining mated them. Completed them. Made them whole.

  And Cassidy... That night, Cassidy finally accepted the truth.

  Ty really wasn’t Lonnie.

  The phone rang, dragging Ty from a sound sleep. He rolled over with a groan, knocking the receiver off the hook. By the time he’d found it, he’d succeeded in waking Cassidy.

  “What’s wrong?” she murmured. “Who is it?”

  “I’ll tell you in a minute. ’Lo?”

  “That Cassidy’s voice I’m hearing?” Willie’s voice boomed across the line.

  “None of your business, old gal.”

  She chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes. Good on ya, boy. Listen, sorry to interrupt your Fiesta fun, but I’m afraid you’ll have to cut it short.”