Coming Home to Texas

by Victoria Chancellor

  She sat back in her chair, feeling as if the floor had shifted beneath her. When they’d first met, she hadn’t considered Travis’s life much at all. She’d never asked him personal details, such as if he had someone back in Texas. Because he’d been so hot for her, she’d assumed he was unattached. “Oh, God. Do you already have a fiancée? A serious girlfriend?”

  Travis laughed. “Relax and finish your dinner, Jodie. You’re eating for two now.”

  “That’s an old wives’ tale. And you didn’t answer my question.” Still, she took a bite of tender chicken and followed it with some potato salad.

  “No, I don’t have a fiancée or a serious girlfriend. What would be the point of getting engaged? I already told you I’d never planned to marry.”

  “Then you never wanted children?”

  A look of pain, maybe regret, passed over his face, but it was gone before she could wonder too much about his past. The one he didn’t want to discuss.

  “I have friends with children. I have a sister who has a son. If I feel the urge to be around the little monsters, I have opportunities.”

  “You think all children are monsters?” she asked.

  “No, I was just joking. I’m actually quite good around them. I can even change diapers.”

  “You have me beat, then, because I don’t have the foggiest idea how to care for a baby.” She took another forkful of food while she waited for him to chide her for being unprepared. “Although I do like children.”

  “No brothers or sisters? No nieces or nephews?”

  Once again he’d surprised her by not rubbing her nose in her inadequacies. “I have a younger sister, Chelsea, who is twenty-seven. My mother divorced when I was three and never remarried.”

  Travis nodded. “I have nothing against children, but since I’d never planned to marry, I didn’t think the opportunity would arise. Also, I like my freedom. I take jobs I want, I travel quite often and I have my ranch to keep me from being bored. I don’t think I’d make a good candidate for a single dad, in the unlikely event I decided to adopt. Which I’ve never seriously considered.”

  “Sometimes nature takes over and we become better parents than we could have imagined.”

  “I’ve heard that. I’ve also seen parents who tried awfully hard and were terrible at the job.”

  “I’m not going to be terrible. I’m going to be a terrific mom. I’m going to ask my mother how she raised such a great kid—namely, me—and then follow her example.”

  Travis laughed. “All that and modest, too.”

  “Darn right.”

  She looked down at her plate and saw that she’d eaten all of her chicken and potato salad, along with a handful of grapes. She and Travis had been talking so intently that she’d been oblivious.

  “Did you have time to unpack?” he asked as he reached for her plate.

  “I don’t mind living out of my suitcase. I’m used to it.”

  “Jodie, why don’t you unpack? You’re going to be here awhile.”

  “I am?”

  “Well, aren’t you going to try to talk me into getting married? Or have you changed your mind?”

  She shook her head. “No. But like I mentioned, I’m on a really tight schedule. I’m counting down nine months!”

  “Giving me a week or so isn’t going to make any difference.”

  “It might!”

  “Jodie, given the fact that we’re both tall and not skinny, I don’t think this baby is going to be a tiny little thing. We’re not going to pass it off as premature.”

  “Well…”

  “Just unpack, relax and enjoy a short vacation in Ranger Springs. Get to know the people. Get to know me.”

  “So I’m supposed to relax while you make the most important decision of my life?”

  “That’s right.”

  “How about you go ahead and decide, then we can both relax?”

  “I’m going to defy my basic nature and not rush into this decision.”

  “You were willing to rush into my hotel suite in Monte Carlo!” she exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him. Probably not the smartest move when she was still trying to get his compliance, but she could only take so much baiting.

  “That was…different.”

  “Make an exception!”

  “About getting married? I can’t do that, no matter how much I like and respect you.”

  “You…you like me?”

  “Of course I like you. Do you think I sleep with women I can’t stand?”

  “No, but—”

  “Even though I like you, I can’t just jump into marriage. I have to think this through.”

  “What do you want, legal agreements? No problem. I’ll have my lawyers draw up a prenuptial. I’ll make whatever promises you need if you’ll just cooperate.”

  “Give me some time, Jodie. I want to do what’s best for all of us.”

  “I know what’s best! I’ve already explained what we need to do and why.”

  “No, Jodie. You know what’s best for your career. I’m talking about our lives and the life of our baby.”

  AFTER THE MEAL, Travis excused himself, saying he had some chores. In truth, he just needed to get away. Away from Jodie’s tempting presence. Away from his chaotic thoughts. Since she’d arrived back in his life a few hours ago, she’d turned his thinking completely around. His future now included a child—and possibly a wife.

  But for how long? Jodie said she expected their marriage to be “temporary.” He didn’t like the sound of that. In his opinion, temporary items tended to be inferior in quality and comfort.

  He liked to build things to last.

  Fortunately the showers had stopped shortly after Jodie arrived. The ground was soft, the dry winter grass slick with rain, but not enough to keep him indoors. He saddled one of the horses he’d purchased from Hank several months ago, glad he had the acres and the time to ride. There was something about being in the saddle that cleared his head, centering him in this suddenly mixed-up world.

  His favorite spot was only a fifteen-minute ride away, just over a small hill and around a stand of pecan and live oak trees he hadn’t yet thinned. He’d have to do that later in the year for firewood. Using a chain saw and a hatchet was right up there with chest thumping for manly pursuits.

  At the base of the hill was a small swimming hole formed by the springs for which the town was named back in the 1880s when a Texas Ranger was shot by outlaws. According to local lore, a widow living nearby had nursed him back to health using water from the spring.

  Travis wasn’t sure whether the story was true or not, but the spring was a refreshing relief from the summer heat. On this cool, late winter day, he wouldn’t be swimming, but he still liked to visit the spot where the water bubbled up from the underground aquifer and ran out into the stream that bisected the town.

  Usually the peaceful spot helped him relax. But today, as the sun set and the sky turned to deep pink and mauve, he knew he didn’t have answers. Should he marry Jodie—even temporarily? The idea didn’t set well with him. He and Jodie needed to find a compromise, but all she wanted was a temporary husband to satisfy her contract.

  He didn’t want to be anyone’s disposable husband. But did he want to be a permanent part of Jodie’s life when he’d sworn he’d never marry again?

  Chapter Three

  Jodie spent some time soaking in the big bathtub in Travis’s guest suite, wondering where he’d gone so suddenly after the early dinner he’d served her. It had been dark for several hours and he hadn’t returned. Should she go looking for him? Call someone? Where would she report a missing rancher? Dialing 9-1-1 seemed extreme when the man in question was probably just avoiding further discussion of their situation.

  She sighed and decided the water was too cool to stay in any longer. She rose from the tub, then went through her nightly ritual of brisk towel-drying and moisturizing. Her skin was one of her best features. She took very good care of her as
sets.

  After dressing for bed in a short gown and longer robe, she wandered into the bedroom. She wasn’t used to having so much free time. She should have picked up a new novel to read, but she hadn’t been thinking clearly. She’d just impulsively booked a flight to Texas to talk to Travis.

  The father of her baby.

  “Could you want to be a daddy, Travis?” she murmured as she looked out the window. There were lights in the barn, but she didn’t know if they were automatic or if it meant someone was working in there. If Travis was there, avoiding her.

  The house was so quiet that she turned on the small CD player she found in the entertainment cabinet. After searching through several country-western stations, she located one that played some generic sort of easy listening. Curled up in a chair where she could see the barn, she let the tension drain out of her as the music flowed in. She shouldn’t be sleepy, but she was, perhaps because of the time zone change, perhaps because of the pregnancy.

  Outside the window, a branch from a tree swayed in the night wind. She felt the hypnotic pull, aware that she was drifting off, but not caring at the moment. She was safe and warm, she’d presented her plan to Travis, and all she could do was wait for him to agree.

  TRAVIS REMOVED HIS BOOTS in the mudroom, walked quietly over the cold slate floors, then toward the master bedroom. Before he went looking for Jodie, he needed a shower and a change of clothes.

  He hadn’t found solace at his favorite spot, but he had been able to think while he’d cleaned out stalls. His barn now sported the cleanest floors, the most spotless feed buckets and the neatest tack room in the entire Hill Country.

  And he’d come to some conclusions. He needed to throw out his vow to never marry again. Jodie had presented him with the one reason that would get him back to the altar—a child. He wouldn’t have married for companionship or sex or any other reason since he could have all those things without the problems a wife represented. His past experience had made him associate marriage with manipulation, frustration and disappointment. But that was marriage based on love—or more accurately, two people who thought they were in love. He and Jodie didn’t suffer from that delusion. If they married, it would be for sound, logical reasons.

  He stripped quickly and eased beneath the warm water, grateful that he’d installed a top-of-the-line shower stall with multiple jets of water to soothe tired muscles. Big enough for two. Not that he expected Jodie to open the glass door and join him, but that was exactly how their baby had been conceived.

  Thinking back, he even knew the date. January fourth. He counted forward nine months. That meant their child would be born around October first. By Halloween, he could get one of those cute costumes for the baby. By Christmas, he’d have a son or daughter to buy gifts for. The idea was mind-boggling, nearly surreal, since Jodie looked exactly the same as she had when they’d first met.

  He certainly hadn’t planned on having children—since he’d sworn never to marry again—but now it was almost all he could think about. Unlike his own father, he wanted to be a dad who changed diapers and took his child to the mall and read stories to him at night.

  Would Jodie try to exclude him from their baby’s life, just as she’d tried to make all the decisions about their relationship? Their marriage?

  He showered quickly, dried off and dressed in comfortable sweats. The house was silent as he made his way down the hall. The few lights on automatic timers revealed no sign of his guest. She hadn’t been in the kitchen, or if she had, she was one neat person. Not a glass or spoon was out of place.

  He silently climbed the steps. Walking softly in his socks, he paused outside the guest bedroom. The faint sound of music filtered through the thick oak door. He knocked softly.

  She might be sleeping. He’d heard that pregnant women needed lots of naps and a good night’s sleep. If so, he didn’t want to bother her. But the urge to check on Jodie, to make sure she was comfortable, overwhelmed his need to respect her privacy—and his good sense. He slowly turned the knob and eased open the door.

  By the soft glow of an accent lamp, he saw her curled up in a chair beside the window. Her feet rested on an ottoman and she’d hugged her arms around herself, tugging her robe tight. She should be wrapped in a soft throw or blanket, but she hadn’t taken the time to do so before she’d fallen asleep.

  He leaned down and looked out the window. She’d been watching the barn, he realized. Was she worried about him? Had she thought he’d gone off and deserted her?

  He should have been more forthcoming about where he was going and how long he would be gone. He should have been more thoughtful, but he wasn’t used to having someone around. He’d had a few guests beside his sister Kate and her family, but no one else had ever lived in this house. He’d designed and built it after his divorce, when he’d moved to Ranger Springs to escape life in the city.

  There was usually no one around to wonder what he was doing in the barn or to worry about him working through meals in his studio or to care whether he stayed out late at Schultze’s Roadhouse. And he liked it that way, he reminded himself.

  He pulled a soft throw from the bench at the foot of the bed and draped it over Jodie. She stirred but didn’t awaken. He tucked the ends around her feet and she opened her eyes.

  “Travis,” she sighed. Her husky, sexy voice invaded his mind and body like a mild electric current, putting him on alert. This was no time for sexual desire or any feelings that would sidetrack him. His focus would stay on what he had to say, because he had to make Jodie understand his position.

  “You must be tired,” he said.

  “I’m blaming it mostly on the time zone changes.”

  “I’m thinking it has something to do with the baby.”

  “Could be,” she murmured as she stretched. “Other than being a little more tired than usual, I haven’t noticed any changes.”

  “No morning sickness?”

  “No. I’ve been lucky.”

  “I’m glad. That doesn’t sound like fun. I remember listening to my sister Kate and Kerry Jacks talk about their pregnancies. I thought then that pregnancy would be really tough on women who worked outside the home.”

  “I sure wouldn’t want to have a lot of assignments, especially if I had to fly, if I were sick every morning.”

  “You’ll be cutting back on your assignments now, right?”

  “Very soon. Even though I’m plus size, a round tummy is going to show. I’ll probably stick with chest-high shots and my cosmetics obligations through the pregnancy.”

  “But you won’t be working all the time, will you?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Because I want you to take care of yourself and the baby. I don’t want you to overdo it.”

  “I won’t.” She frowned. “But why the concern? I’m healthy. I’m not expecting any complications.”

  “Can’t I be concerned? I care about you. And this is my baby, too, right?”

  “Right.” She paused, then shifted in the chair, bringing his attention to her full breasts.

  “So…where were you tonight?”

  He looked back into her eyes. “Just doing some chores.” She didn’t have to know that he had a helper who cleaned the stalls and maintained the tack for him when he was busy with a project or out of town. “Thinking, too.”

  “Oh? About what?”

  “Us. The baby. What you want to do about it.”

  She shifted in the chair, sitting up straighter. “Did you come to any conclusions?”

  He could tell that what she really wanted to ask was, “Have you decided to do things on my terms?”

  “Yes, I did.” He reached for her hands, noting they were cool and dry. He felt tiny tremors pass through her body, as though she was trembling in anticipation. “First, I have to ask you something.”

  “What?”

  “Do you think what we felt in Monte Carlo was real?”

  “What do you mean, real? I certainly wasn’t fak
ing anything!”

  “I mean, do you think the immediate attraction we felt was genuine? Or was it a fluke? When you look back on that time, do you say to yourself that you were stupid? Or do you remember the weekend fondly?”

  “Well…I think we were irresponsible that one time, but overall, I don’t think anything that happened was stupid. I don’t think we reacted to each other any differently there than if we’d been introduced in New York or L.A. And despite the inconvenient timing of this pregnancy, I can’t say that I’m sorry that we made a baby together.”

  “For the record, I’m happy about the baby, too. It took me a while to get used to the idea, since I hadn’t planned to get married or to have children.”

  “Well, it hasn’t been so long. I just showed up on your doorstep right after lunch.”

  “True, but I’m an intuitive kind of guy. I just needed some time to think about us in relation to this…new development.”

  “Still, this was a pretty big shock, I think.”

  “I’m glad you told me right away, though.”

  “It was only fair, especially since I also asked you to marry me right away.”

  “Speaking of marriage, I’ve been giving it a lot of thought.”

  “And?”

  “I understand your position about your career and the contract you signed.”

  “I feel a big ‘but’ coming on,” she said, pulling her hands away from his and tugging her robe tighter.

  “I also believe that having two parents is best for a child.”

  “Best, perhaps, but not necessary.”

  “The thing is,” he continued, deciding to ignore her comments for the moment. She could get him into a tangential conversation far too easily. “I’ve been giving your ideas on marriage a lot of thought. And I simply don’t agree with your premise.”