A Sweet Life-kindle

by Andre, Bella

  Delaney cut Rebecca off with a warning look. “Don’t say it. Don’t say I told you so. I’m not in the mood.”

  Rebecca grabbed her jacket from one of the hooks along the far wall. “Okay, I won’t. I know how it feels to hear it. People have been shaking their heads at me for years.” She grinned. “But I told you so.”

  Delaney propped a hand on her hip. “You’re also the one who said ‘What are the odds of running into Joe Schmoe Donor from Boise way out here in Dundee?”’

  A guilty expression washed over Rebecca’s face, and she quickly changed the subject. “How are your assertiveness training lessons going?”

  “I dropped out.”

  “Why?”

  “Because life is teaching me everything I need to know.”

  Rebecca chuckled. “We make quite a pair, don’t we?

  I’m too bold and you’re not bold enough.”

  “If Conner tries to take this baby away from me, he’ll find out just how bold I can be,” Delaney vowed, but she’d scarcely gotten the words out of her mouth when the louvered door swung open and Conner came in from the hall. Delaney gave Rebecca an apprehensive look, wondering how much he’d overheard, but if he’d caught any of their conversation, he gave no indication. “What did the doctor say?” he asked.

  Surprised by the question, Delaney exchanged another glance with Rebecca. “Nothing, really. He gave me a prescription for some prenatal vitamins. That’s about it.”

  He hooked his thumbs in his pockets and leaned one shoulder against the wall near the entrance. “Did he say anything about the weight you’ve lost?”

  Conner had noticed? “He’s hoping the morning sickness will ease. It usually does.”

  “Who’s your doctor?”

  “His name’s Wiseman. He’s in Boise.”

  “Isn’t there a closer obstetrician?”

  “There’s a general practitioner who delivers babies,” Delaney said. “But I don’t want to go to him. The whole town will know my situation in a matter of hours if I do. And I’m not in any hurry to spread the word. Why rush to be snubbed?”

  “I think it’s a little late to keep this under your hat,” Conner said.

  Delaney felt a jolt of anxiety. “Why?”

  “Someone’s talking. Roy mentioned the baby to me just the other day.”

  “He knows I’m pregnant?”

  “He knows more than that. He knows I’m the father.”

  “But how—” Delaney started, then stopped. Rebecca had been awfully quiet during this conversation. Surely she hadn’t mentioned anything to anyone at the salon.... “Rebecca?”

  Ducking her head, Rebecca grabbed her purse. “Wow, is it that late already? Gotta go. I’ve got appointments lined up all day.”

  “How could you, Beck?” Delaney asked. “I told you not to tell anyone.”

  Rebecca jerked her head at Conner. “Well, he already knew, so the danger was over. And everyone was guessing that it was Billy Joe or Bobby, because we’ve been seen with them so often. No one would believe me when I said they had it all wrong.” She shrugged. “So I gave them a few details.”

  “Like...”

  “The father of your baby’s new in town, someone they’d never suspect, stuff like that.”

  “In other words, you led them straight to Conner.”

  “Would you rather have them think it was Billy Joe or Bobby?” Rebecca asked.

  “No,” Conner said. Then he shoved away from the wall and left the room.

  “No?” Rebecca repeated, her eyes round. “What are we supposed to make of that?”

  Delaney shook her head. “I really don’t know.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  WITH DELANEY and everyone else gone, the night was far too quiet as Conner sat in his study, half-heartedly flipping through the latest issue of Idaho Cattlemen. Since coming to Dundee, he’d pored through every ranching magazine he could lay hands on, trying to learn the business, trying to gain some bit of information that might help him put the Running Y in the black. But now that his grandfather had listed the ranch for sale, he no longer saw any reason to bang his head against that wall. Roy might think he was giving up too easily, but he knew his uncles. They wouldn’t be happy until they had the money from the ranch to invest in another hotel or office building or winery in California. They didn’t care that the Running Y hailed back to Clive’s roots, that it stood for something beyond profit. To them, it was all about dollars and cents. Nothing else mattered.

  So why was the idea of letting go bothering him so much? With the ranch on the market, he no longer had to worry about failing. The big question—whether or not he could follow in his grandfather’s footsteps—would never be answered, and he could simply tread water until the ranch and all its problems disappeared. For whatever reason, his uncles had given him a graceful out. But somehow, taking that out made Conner feel more like a failure than if he’d kept fighting.

  He tossed the magazine aside and considered calling his mother. He wanted someone to tell him there wasn’t anything more he could do, that the fate of the Running Y was out of his hands. Then maybe he could really let himself off the hook. But he knew she’d probably agree with Roy about giving up too soon, so he frowned and shoved the phone away. He couldn’t beat Stephen, Jonathan and Dwight. Not when they stood together. They’d always had too big an advantage.

  “You gonna sit there all night, staring into space?” Roy said, poking his head through the doorway. He smelled as if he’d doused himself with an entire bottle of Brut cologne.

  Conner blinked and focused on his foreman. “I thought you went into town with the others.”

  “No, Isaiah has a date, and Grady and Ben say they’re too tired. What about you? You wanna go to the Honky Tonk?”

  Conner winced at the memory of his last visit, when he’d sat alone for hours and drunk himself silly. It had hardly been a rip-roaring good time, and he hadn’t been back since. “I don’t think so. Place was dead when I was there.”

  “That’s because you went in the middle of the week. No one here parties in the middle of the week. We got too much work to do. But it’s Friday night, and the Honky Tonk’s always packed on Friday night. Come see for yourself.”

  “I don’t know,” Conner said. “I should really...” He let his words fade because he wasn’t sure what he should be doing anymore. Now that the ranch was passing out of his control, almost everything on his “to do” list seemed to have little point.

  “Come on,” Roy said, adjusting the new hat he wore on social occasions. “It’s time you got out.”

  Conner had never dreamed someone would say that to him—to his grandfather, yes, but not to him.

  “Delaney will probably be there,” Roy added.

  Conner shrugged as though that didn’t matter, but she was becoming such a regular fixture at the ranch that he was beginning to feel her absence whenever she was gone. Especially when she went home on the weekends....

  But that was only because he couldn’t look out for her if she wasn’t around, couldn’t make sure she was taking care of herself for the baby’s sake, he decided.

  “So?” Roy demanded.

  “Sure,” Conner said. “Why not.”

  “DON’T LOOK NOW, but Conner just walked through the door,” Rebecca said, nudging Delaney as they waited at the bar for their drinks.

  “Great,” Delaney said. “I can’t escape him anywhere.”

  “Why do you think he came? I’ve never seen him here before.”

  Delaney frowned and allowed herself a covert glance across the room. She could easily see Roy and Conner cutting through the crowd, making their way to a table. Roy had scrubbed up and was wearing a western shirt and his dress hat, which added a few inches to his height. Conner looked more casual. He wasn’t wearing a hat, just the Wranglers that fit him so well and a thick fleece sweatshirt that he probably considered dressing down but went a long way toward accentuating his powerful shoulders and drawing female
attention. Sliding a hand in one pocket, he paused to respond to someone who’d spoken to him, and when he shifted, Delaney saw it was Gloria Palmer, an old friend of hers from high school.

  “He’s probably here for the same reason we are,” she said, feeling a stab of possessiveness she told herself she had no right to feel. “Just looking for a little entertainment.”

  “Ignore him,” Rebecca said. “Don’t let him ruin your fun.”

  Delaney accepted the soda water Rebecca handed her and pressed through the crowd until she reached the darts area in the corner, where Billy Joe and Bobby waited for them.

  “I just hit a triple bull’s-eye,” Billy Joe announced, pointing at a red-tailed dart smack in the middle of the board. “See that and weep, ladies.”

  “It doesn’t count,” Rebecca said with a shrug. “We haven’t started another game yet.”

  “What do you mean, it doesn’t count?” Billy Joe complained. “I knew we were going to start another game, so I went first.”

  “There’s your problem,” Rebecca told him. “I was supposed to go first.”

  “What do you think, Laney?” Billy Joe asked.

  Only half listening, Delaney returned to the conversation. “What?”

  He gestured at the dartboard. “I think I should get to keep that triple bull, don’t you? This is our third game, and it’s my turn to start.”

  “You started last time,” his brother told him.

  “So?” Billy Joe argued. “If Rebecca was marrying me, I might let it slide. But she’s rejecting us both for some guy in Nebraska, as if anybody would want to live there. Anyway, Laney thinks I should get to keep it, don’t you, Laney?”

  “Sure,” she said, “whatever,” and threw another glance over her shoulder to see Conner laughing with a small group near the jukebox.

  Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Don’t listen to her. She lost her ability to reason about five minutes ago.”

  “No, I didn’t,” Delaney protested. “What is it you wanted to know?”

  Billy Joe cocked an eyebrow at her. “You’re not drinkin’ now, are ya, honey? Because that’s not good for the baby. Even I know that.”

  She held up her soda water. “I’m not drinking.”

  “Then, what’s wrong?” Bobby asked. “You feelin’ sick again?”

  “No, not tonight.”

  “Well, if you’re feelin’ sad ’cause you wanna give that baby a daddy, darlin’, you just let me know,” Billy Joe said. “Because you don’t want no millionaire’s grandson, no siree. You want a real man like me.”

  Delaney laughed. Thanks to Rebecca, just about everybody she saw knew about Conner and the baby. Billy Joe and Bobby had been teasing her all night, telling her she had to name the baby Billy Bob, after both of them. But she didn’t mind the secret being out in this setting. It was the people who decided her job future who worried her. When they learned about her situation, she doubted there’d be too much laughter.

  “Your turn,” Rebecca said, after throwing her three darts and winding up with a double seventeen.

  “Nice start,” Delaney said.

  “She didn’t start, I did,” Billy Joe corrected. “And I got a triple bull.”

  Delaney threw her own darts and landed a bull’s-eye on her first, and a twenty on her third. But she was having a tough time concentrating with Conner Armstrong only half a room away and every available woman in the place—and some who weren’t so available—fanning herself at the sight of him.

  “He’s not that handsome,” she muttered, but even Rebecca seemed to disagree.

  “Laney, you can call that man a lot of things, but unhandsome isn’t one of them.”

  “Whose side are you on?” Delaney asked, looking over her shoulder yet again. Only, this time she found Conner staring right back at her and nearly dropped her drink. Immediately glancing away, she set her glass on the small round table where they kept their darts, grabbed Billy Joe’s arm and demanded he dance with her. He seemed a little befuddled by the sudden move, but he obliged, and a few minutes later, his brother and Rebecca joined them on the floor.

  “What’s up with you girls tonight?” Bobby asked, scratching his head as they all turned slowly in a circle to Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance.”

  “Conner’s here,” Rebecca explained. “The millionaire’s grandson?” Rebecca nodded. “That’s him.” Billy Joe smiled. “Where?”

  “Don’t look now,” Delaney cried. “He might be watching us.”

  “Then, let’s give him a show, darlin’.” Pulling her into a much tighter embrace, he buried his face in her neck and clung to her as though they were lovers.

  “I think you’ve had too much to drink,” Delaney said, squirming until she could maneuver them into a position that was a little more respectable. But he only laughed and dropped a quick kiss on her lips.

  “Let’s see how he likes that,” he said, but Rebecca and Bobby weren’t laughing with him, and the moment Delaney looked up, she saw why. Conner was charging through the dancers, practically shoving them to one side. And he was coming straight for her.

  She gazed up at Billy Joe. “I don’t think he liked it.”

  “I don’t think so, either,” he said, sobering.

  Delaney didn’t have a chance to say any more before Conner took hold of her arm.

  “I believe this is my dance,” he said.

  Billy Joe hesitated, but after a moment, he stepped back. “Sure. I was just congratulating her on the baby.”

  “Fine,” Conner said. “We appreciate it.” But his body language said he didn’t appreciate Billy Joe at all, and Billy Joe knew enough to clear out.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Delaney asked, as Conner slipped his arms around her waist.

  “Dancing.”

  She tilted back her head to see his face. “You had no right to break in.”

  “You’re carrying my baby. I think that gives me some rights.”

  Delaney tried to stop dancing, but he pressed his hand against the small of her back and kept her swaying with him to the music.

  “Don’t you agree?”

  “That would depend on what kind of rights you mean,” she said. “You’re acting as though you have some say over what I do.”

  “What’s wrong?” he asked. “You already got what you want from me and now you’re not interested in any more?” Not interested in any more? Delaney could feel his body only a heartbeat away, and remembered how he’d made love to her. He’d used his hands and his mouth to relax and excite her in ways she’d never imagined, then struck a rhythm that carried her with him, swiftly and easily, until she forgot all self-consciousness and everything else—except him. He’d been part of every thought, every sensation, and was now so inextricably connected to her ideal of the perfect lover that she wondered if anyone else would ever compare.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say.” She glanced at the people around them as if the sight of the familiar might take her mind off being in Conner’s arms again. “I can’t undo what happened in Boise.”

  Rebecca touched her shoulder from behind. “Laney, we’ll be over at the darts.”

  “Great. I’ll go with you,” she said, and started to step away, but Conner locked his hands behind her back.

  “She’ll meet you later,” he told Rebecca.

  Rebecca looked at Delaney, obviously trying to determine whether or not she should get involved, and Delaney waved her on. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll be over in a minute.”

  Rebecca hesitated another second, but finally nodded and left, and Delaney watched Conner’s eyes follow her friend across the floor.

  “Your partner in crime,” he said. “She means well.”

  “And what about you, Laney? Do you mean well?”

  Delaney could smell his cologne, feel his breath on her face. His hands gently massaged her back and held her closer, making her wonder where he was going with all this. Was he still trying to punish her in s
ome way? His anger obviously hadn’t cooled. Delaney wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to forgive her. So why was he dancing with her now?

  “Do you want to hear another apology? Is that what you want?” she asked, letting her confusion show in her voice. He frowned at her, then shook his head and suddenly released her. “I don’t know what I want,” he said, and walked off, leaving her standing on the dance floor staring after him.

  CONNER DOWNED the contents of his glass, hoping the alcohol would calm the conflicting emotions inside him. He was angry—but that was okay. Considering the circumstances, anger was a reasonable reaction. What wasn’t so reasonable was the jealousy that twisted inside him every time he saw Delaney dancing or laughing with someone else. The child she carried belonged to him. But she didn’t. As she’d informed him, he had no say over what she did, and he couldn’t figure out why her freedom to interact with other men bothered him so much.

  Except she owed him something, didn’t she?

  He couldn’t decide. What had happened in Boise was simply a one-night stand. He’d had brief encounters with other women, women from whom he wouldn’t have accepted any claims later on. But this time there was a baby involved, and a baby was a tie that could never be broken. That meant they owed each other something. In his mind, Delaney had no business milling about the singles’ scene. Only she was still single. And he was here tonight, wasn’t he? If she shouldn’t be acting as though she was available, did that mean he shouldn’t, either?

  “Looks like you’re having a great time. I’m glad I brought you,” Roy said, turning back from a conversation he’d been having with a small group of men at the table next to them.

  “I’m having a blast,” Conner replied, just as sarcastically, but before he could say more he noticed the tall blond cowboy he’d once met at the feed store approaching their table.

  “Hey, Josh,” Roy said. “How’s the horse-breeding business?”

  Josh nodded at him. “Roy. Can’t complain. How’s things at the Running Y?”

  Roy shook his head. “Could be better. You remember Conner Armstrong, don’t you?”