The Texan's Surprise Baby

by Gina Wilkins

  Maggie grinned. “I can’t wait to find out if I’m having a niece or a nephew. I’m going to be the coolest aunt ever.”

  Hannah laughed. “I have no doubt.”

  Sobering, Maggie set her water bottle aside. “You should probably tell your doctor you almost fainted this morning. Your face went so white it scared me.”

  Hannah concentrated on stirring her smoothie with the plastic straw. “Like I said, I was just tired.”

  She had no intention of admitting that the unexpected sight of Aaron Walker standing with the rest of her family in the resort diner had drained all the blood from her head. For a heart-stopping moment, she’d mistaken him for his identical twin. She’d thought Andrew was there to see her, and a dozen panicked questions had flashed through her mind—most notably, had he somehow found out about the pregnancy?

  Aaron had reached out to steady her when she’d swayed, and she’d realized almost instantly that he wasn’t Andrew. Even had he not worn his dark coffee-colored hair longer than his brother, she’d have known the truth with one look at his face. There was something in his eyes that was fundamentally different from Andrew’s, something she couldn’t quite define but recognized nonetheless. She couldn’t say she remembered much more about that meeting with Aaron, other than to make note that Aaron and Shelby had just announced they were a couple and that Aaron would be staying to work in the resort. Which meant it was inevitable that Andrew would eventually visit again to see his brother.

  She rested a hand on her stomach, feeling the baby do a lazy turn inside.

  “Have you decided on names yet?” Maggie asked.

  “Not yet. I’ll wait until I know the sex.”

  Maggie slipped in one more question in the same chatty tone. “Told the dad yet?”

  Hannah gave her a look. While the rest of the family had accepted her refusal to discuss the matter, her younger sister didn’t give up so easily. “No.”

  “Going to?”

  “Yes.” She had always planned to do so eventually, though she’d yet to decide how or when. She’d thought she had two or three more months to figure it out. Now it seemed her time was up.

  As if in confirmation of that acknowledgment, her cell phone chirped to announce a text message. She checked it warily, and was not as surprised as she probably should have been to see the sender’s name.

  “I have to run to town for a little while,” she said, setting her half-empty smoothie cup aside.

  Maggie blinked in surprise. “I thought you were going to rest this afternoon.”

  “I’ve rested all day. There are some things I need to do now because I plan to be back at my desk first thing in the morning.”

  Looking concerned, Maggie rose as Hannah did. “Do you want me to come with you?”

  “No, thanks. I won’t be long.” At least she hoped not.

  “Hannah—”

  She rested a hand on Maggie’s arm. “I’m okay,” she said, trying to sound reassuring. “There’s just something I need to see to, okay?”

  “You’ll let me know if you need me?”

  “You know I will.”

  Even though Maggie didn’t look happy about it, she let her go. Hannah drew a deep breath for courage as she headed for the door.

  * * *

  The public boat launch was set on a cove a fifteen-minute drive away from the Bell Resort and Marina. Shaded by tall leafy trees, it consisted of little more than the launch ramp, a parking lot and a few picnic tables. The place was nearly deserted on this Monday afternoon in mid-June, though a couple of parked trucks with empty boat trailers attached indicated fishermen would return later. A dark gray sports car looked out of place among the pickup-and-trailer combos.

  Parking her own sensible little sedan, Hannah glanced through the windshield at the dark-haired, dark-eyed man who was watching her gravely from one of the picnic tables. He sat backward on the bench, facing the parking lot, his long legs stretched out in front of him. Wearing a blue polo shirt and jeans, Andrew Walker looked casual and relaxed, as though he had nothing more on his mind than an appreciation of the warm, cloudless afternoon. Hannah knew that impression was deceptive.

  It wasn’t their first time to meet alone here. They’d come here to talk when he’d worked for her family early last August, trying to help them clean up the mess her ex-husband—now known in the family as “the evil ex”—had deliberately created. It wasn’t easy finding privacy among her ever-present family at the resort, so she’d brought Andrew here one afternoon to discuss the case frankly, telling him things about her failed marriage she hadn’t confided even to her relatives. She’d ended up sobbing into his shoulder, a memory that still made her cringe with embarrassment, but he’d been so kind and understanding that she’d probably fallen a little in love with him that very afternoon. She’d done her best to hide her feelings for him—feelings she neither trusted nor expected to lead anywhere—until that momentous, wholly unexpected night in December.

  She couldn’t keep procrastinating getting out of her car. She refused to look like a coward in front of Andrew, despite the nerves quivering inside of her. Chin held high, she opened her door and climbed out. She hadn’t gained much weight so far during her pregnancy. Her sister teased her that it looked as though she had a basketball tucked beneath her shirt because the rest of her body was pretty much unchanged. Giving one self-conscious tug to the peasant-styled yellow top she wore with drawstring white cotton pants, she walked toward Andrew.

  He rose as she approached. To give him credit, his gaze focused on her face, not her tummy. He wore his dark coffee-colored hair short, neatly trimmed, brushed off his clean-shaven face. His eyes were almost black. His jaw was firm, his nose straight, lips beautifully shaped, though stern now. He was still the best-looking man she’d ever known—though of course, Aaron looked exactly like him with the exception of a longer hairstyle. Yet looking at Aaron that morning, she’d instantly decided Andrew was still the more handsome—a ridiculous fancy, even though she held that same belief now.

  Bypassing a greeting, Andrew went straight to the question she had expected. “Why didn’t you call me?”

  She cleared her throat, wishing she’d prepared herself somewhat better for this conversation. “What makes you think you’re—”

  “Hannah—” he gave her a look “—don’t even think about it.”

  She sighed in surrender. “Fine.”

  She’d simply been stalling for time anyway. Even if she wanted to—which she didn’t—there was no way she’d convince Andrew he wasn’t the father of this baby. He could count on his fingers as well as any guy. And even though they’d spent only a few short weeks in each other’s company during the ten months since they’d met, he’d gotten to know her well enough that he would have no doubt that night with him had been an anomaly for her.

  “Were you going to tell me?”

  She nodded slowly. “Yes.”

  “When?”

  “Soon. I just—” She paused, then shrugged. “I didn’t know what to say.”

  Both his voice and his expression softened in response to her helpless tone. “I can understand that.”

  She clasped her hands in front of her and looked down at them, unable to meet Andrew’s eyes just then.

  His hands were gentle when they fell on her shoulders, but still her pulse raced in response to his touch. “Are you okay? You haven’t had any problems?”

  She shook her head. “I’m in perfect health. And so is the baby.”

  His gaze lowered then, focusing on her middle. He cleared his throat. “Is it—do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

  “I’ll find out Friday.”

  His eyes rose and she saw the emotions he’d concealed to this point. She had learned during their one night together that the rather stoic control Andrew usually displayed masked an intense, passionate nature. Memories of that passion made her catch her breath, her heart thudding hard against her chest. A muscle flexed in Andrew’s jaw
and the slightest tremor moved his fingers against her shoulders, making her suspect the same images were flashing through his mind. She felt her cheeks warm in a way that had nothing to do with the hot afternoon temperature.

  Andrew dropped his hands a little too abruptly, shoving them into his pockets. By unspoken agreement, they both shifted to put another couple of inches between them.

  “Have you told your family? About me?” he clarified.

  She shook her head. “They have no idea. I never even told them I saw you in Dallas in December.”

  “I see.”

  So much of that fateful evening had hinged on impulse. She’d been in Dallas for an annual holiday gathering with some college friends, and had dropped by Andrew’s office with the excuse of giving him an update about her ex-husband’s sentencing—which he’d already known, having kept up with the case. He’d politely asked her to dinner and they’d had drinks at her hotel afterward. One thing had led to another, and then...

  Automatically, she rested a hand on her stomach.

  “I guess Aaron told you I was pregnant.” She’d known that was inevitable from the moment she’d seen Aaron with Shelby.

  Andrew nodded. “It slipped into our conversation earlier today. Needless to say, it threw me for a loop. I—well, I guess the precautions we took that night weren’t enough. I know there’s always a chance, but still...”

  The awkwardness was unlike him, merely another sign of how shaken he’d been. “You didn’t say anything to Aaron about—”

  He quickly shook his head. “I just threw some things in a bag and headed this way.”

  Normally it was a four-hour drive from Dallas to the resort. Hannah suspected Andrew had made it in less today.

  She twisted her fingers more tightly together. “You’re coming to the resort?”

  “Yes.”

  “Would you—could we not say anything to the family just yet? About your being the father, I mean. We’ll tell them,” she added quickly, when he started to frown, “just not until we’ve had more time to talk privately about...things.”

  To her relief, he nodded to concede that she had a valid point. “We will need to talk.”

  “Yes.” And she dreaded it. Everything was so complicated. “But it’s going to take a while. And I can’t do it now, the family will be wondering where I am. The way I rushed off without an explanation, they’ll be worried if I don’t go back soon.”

  He didn’t look particularly pleased with the delay, but he didn’t try to argue. “So how are we playing this?”

  “We’ll show up at the resort at different times so they won’t know we’ve already seen each other. You can go ahead, I need to stop by the store anyway.”

  “And I suppose you’ll be completely surprised to find me at the resort when you get back.”

  She shrugged, intending to play it exactly that way.

  Andrew sighed and ran a hand over his hair. “Fine. We’ll do it your way. I’ll keep your secret. For now. But somehow or another we’ll have to find opportunities to talk, and soon.”

  She nodded grimly, knowing his patience would last only so long. “We’ll talk.”

  She turned toward her car, only to be stopped by his hand on her arm. “Hannah.”

  Looking up at him, she whispered, “What?”

  “It’s going to be okay.”

  She moistened her lips. “I know.”

  He smoothed a strand of hair away from her cheek. “I’ll see you at the resort.”

  Nodding, she hurried toward her car, resisting an impulse to lay a hand on her cheek where his fingers had touched.

  She drove straight to the grocery store. She had forgotten to bring a list and she was still so rattled from her brief meeting with Andrew that she could hardly think about what she needed. She drifted down the aisles of the store fifteen minutes after parting from him, staring blankly at the shelves and trying to focus on the task at hand rather than the challenges that lay ahead. With yogurt, fresh fruit and a bag of cookies in her cart, she turned a corner only to have her day take yet another downturn as she came face-to-face with her former in-laws, Justine and Chuck Cavender. It was the first time she had seen them since their son had been arrested for embezzlement and attempted extortion against Hannah’s family.

  “Hannah!” Justine’s first startled reaction was pleasure. She and Hannah had gotten along well enough before the acrimonious divorce. But then her gaze lowered and her smile was replaced with a stricken expression. “Oh. You’re—”

  Chuck had never been particularly fond of Hannah to start with—primarily, Hannah suspected, because he’d believed every lie Wade had told about what a terrible wife she’d been. Chuck had enabled, apologized for and deflected blame for his son for all of Wade’s life, which Hannah believed was part of the reason Wade sat in jail now. Wade could be charming, convincing and manipulative—her marriage to him was proof enough of that—but the streak of meanness that lay beneath his amiable mask came straight from his father.

  Chuck snarled at Hannah, “Get out of our way.”

  She scooted her cart as far to one side as she could. She almost apologized for being in his path, but she bit her tongue. She’d apologized too many times to both Wade and his father for things that had not been her fault. She was not sliding back into that pattern now. Chuck shoved his cart forward, almost slamming into hers despite the room she had left him.

  Falling into step behind her husband, Justine gave Hannah a mournful look. “I’d always hoped you and Wade would give us grandchildren,” she murmured.

  “Instead, she sent our boy to prison,” Chuck snapped over his shoulder, discounting Wade’s part in his fate. “And then went slutting around and got herself knocked up when she’s not even married. Personally, I’m glad she isn’t a mother to any grandchildren of ours.”

  Miserably aware of a few gawkers within hearing range, Hannah held her chin high with an effort, moved toward the front of the store with her few purchases, paid as quickly as possible and left with as much dignity as she could scrape together. Her day had gone from bad to worse, but maybe she had needed that awful encounter. It would serve as a painful reminder that her track record with men was not good.

  In the past, she’d seen what she wanted to see, trusted when she shouldn’t have, believed when she should have delved more deeply. She wasn’t that naive, sheltered, starry-eyed girl now. Nor was she the lonely, vulnerable woman who’d been swept into a reckless night of passion by a sexy smile and a gleaming pair of dark eyes. She knew now who she was, where she belonged and what she wanted—and she would do well to keep those things in mind during the coming days.

  * * *

  At half past six, the day was still sunny and warm, the sprawling blue lake still busy with boaters, skiers and swimmers. This time of year, the resort would bustle every day of the week with families taking vacations from jobs and school, and the Bell family would be kept hopping, though Andrew hadn’t heard them complain during the two weeks he’d spent here last summer. With the exception of Shelby’s brother, Steven, they all seemed to love the jobs they’d chosen. Steven had grown restless and would be leaving soon to try his hand at his boyhood dream of firefighting, but Andrew figured there was a chance he’d be back someday to take his place in the family business.

  After passing through the manned entry gate, he took a right on the circular main road through the resort. A two-story lakeside building held the reception office, convenience store and diner, with the private business offices upstairs, and the marina at the back. He parked in front and climbed out of his car. To his right lay the public swimming pool, the sixteen-room lakeside motel and three of the eight cabins. Turning left, he saw the pavilion and playground often occupied by family reunions, corporate gatherings or other events. Beyond the pavilion lay the day-use area, five more stand-alone cabins, RV pads with hookups and tent camping grounds.

  A steady stream of resort guests flowed both ways through the big double glass doo
rs, some in swimwear and cover-ups, most in shorts and tank tops or T-shirts, some carrying bags of purchases as they exited. The marina, store and grill would be open until seven, and Andrew figured the diner would be full now with customers hungry after a day of water sports. The air carried whiffs of boat motor exhaust from the lake and burning charcoal from the campgrounds, scents that had become very familiar to him during his almost-two-week stay last summer.

  He still remembered the first time he’d entered this building after having been hired by the family last year. That was the day he’d met Hannah, who was twenty-seventy then, the eldest of the Bell cousins by a few months. Chagrined that her ex-husband had caused her family so much trouble and anxiety, she’d held her chin high, her emerald eyes glittering with anger and determination. Andrew had taken one look at her and almost swallowed his tongue, his first thought being that she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  He’d managed to keep his distance from her for the most part during the next two weeks only by constantly reminding himself that he was on a job, and that it would be unprofessional of him to get involved with a client. He’d told himself she was too vulnerable, having been so recently divorced and dealing with the painful repercussions of her unfortunate choice of a spouse. They had been surrounded almost constantly by her caring and inquisitive family. Not to mention that he and Hannah had seemed an unlikely couple, with both of them committed to family businesses four hours apart, and with her announcing to all and sundry that she had no intention of getting married or even seriously involved with anyone again for a long time, if ever. Not even thirty himself then, he’d thought that sounded like a wise plan.

  And then she’d shown up at his office in December, and he’d foolishly decided he’d been given an early Christmas gift. Maybe the holiday should have been April Fool’s Day instead, considering the situation he found himself in now.