THE MAVERICK'S THANKSGIVING BABY

by Brenda Harlen

  “So?”

  “You know about the rivalry between the Crawfords and the Traubs,” he reminded her.

  “I thought Nina and Dallas getting married had put an end to all of that.”

  “Their wedding might have started to bridge the divide,” Jesse allowed. “But the tension between the two families is still there, beneath the surface, with this ongoing one-upmanship. If Dallas’s family is all going to be there, then Nina’s family all needs to be there to show that we’re just as supportive as they are.”

  “Sounds...exhausting,” Maggie decided.

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “And mostly I don’t care, but since Nina asked...”

  “You feel obligated.”

  He nodded. “But if you don’t want to—”

  “I’m not going to be your excuse for begging off,” she told him.

  “I wasn’t going to use you as an excuse, but only because I didn’t think of it,” he admitted. “I was just going to say that you aren’t under the same obligation, so if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to.”

  “And give your parents another reason not to like me?” She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  He frowned. “My parents don’t dislike you.”

  “They think I trapped you into marrying me.”

  “No, they don’t,” he denied, uncomfortable to realize that she believed such a thing, and that he’d done nothing to reassure her. “They do have some concerns about the fact that we got married quickly and don’t know each other very well, but they’ll come around.”

  “Before or after our child graduates from college?”

  He smiled at her wry tone. “Hopefully before.”

  “Well, in the meantime, I would like to go to the holiday pageant with you.”

  “You would?”

  “Sure,” she agreed. “What time does it start?”

  “Seven o’clock. But we should probably be there by six-thirty if we want to get a seat in the auditorium.”

  “Are you expecting the show to sell out?”

  “There’s not a lot of entertainment in Rust Creek Falls,” he reminded her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It hadn’t taken Maggie long to realize the trick to tolerating the frigid Montana weather was layers. Lots of layers. So she started with long johns under her dark jeans and a long-sleeved knit top beneath a bulky cable-knit sweater in pale pink. Then she added some dangly earrings, just for fun.

  She didn’t miss the cocktail parties and dinner meetings that were so much a part of her life in LA, but she did miss dressing up and feeling pretty. In need of a little extra boost, she added mascara to her lashes and a darker than usual shade of gloss to her lips.

  Jesse was ready and waiting for her when she came downstairs. He’d showered and changed into a clean pair of jeans with a dark blue V-neck sweater over a lighter blue crewneck T-shirt. He hadn’t bothered to shave, and the dark shadow on his cheeks and jaw made him look even more rugged and sexy—and made her heart slam against her ribs.

  It was the closest thing they’d ever had to a date. She wondered if he would hold her hand, and chided herself for the flutters of anticipation that danced in her tummy.

  She’d had sex with him—more than once even, but not at all since their wedding—and now she was desperate for any sign of interest or affection.

  Sometimes when he looked at her, she thought she saw a flicker of heat, a glimpse of desire, but then he’d look away, leaving her to wonder if she’d only imagined it. She didn’t understand why he’d pushed so hard for her to marry him, and then completely withdrawn once his ring was on her finger.

  He looked at her, his gaze skimming from the boots on her feet to the top of her head, lingering at certain spots in a way that made her breasts ache and her thighs tingle. But when he spoke, it was only to say, “You’re going to want a hat. It’s cold outside.”

  “It’s November in Montana—of course it’s cold outside,” she noted drily. But she found the new pink hat and matching gloves she’d bought on a recent trip into Kalispell and put them on.

  “How many hats do you own?”

  “Hopefully enough.”

  “You do know that you can only wear one at a time?” he teased, flicking the pom-pom on top of her head.

  “I like to accessorize.”

  “You look good in pink,” he told her.

  She was surprised—and pleased—by the compliment.

  “And in skirts,” he said. “Although I haven’t seen you in one since we got married.”

  “And you probably won’t until spring,” she warned. “There’s no way I’m baring my legs in this weather.”

  “That’s too bad—because yours are spectacular. Especially when you wear those heels that make them look a mile long.”

  The comment seemed to surprise him as much as it surprised her. But she kept her tone light when she said, “So you’re a leg man, are you?”

  “I like your legs,” he admitted, his gaze skimming down her body, then slowly up again. “Actually, I like every part of you.”

  “Really?”

  “You’re a beautiful woman, Maggie,” he said.

  She blew out an unsteady breath. “And you’re a confusing man.”

  He held her gaze for a long minute, as if there was something more he wanted to say. But in the end, he only asked, “Are you ready to go?”

  * * *

  As soon as they got to the doors of the auditorium, Maggie realized that Jesse had not exaggerated the popularity of the event. Although there was still more than half an hour before the pageant was scheduled to start, almost all of the seats were taken.

  “This is quite the gathering,” Maggie noted.

  Jesse shrugged. “Folks around here will take their entertainment any way they can get it.”

  “Or maybe they appreciate the time and effort that the teachers and students put into the productions.”

  “Maybe,” he allowed, guiding her closer to the front, where his sister and the rest of the family were sitting.

  Looking around as they made their way down the center aisle between the rows of seats, Maggie was surprised by how many familiar faces were in the crowd.

  Caleb Dalton was there with his fiancée, Mallory Franklin, whose niece Lily was singing in the choir and one of the angels in the pageant. In addition, Maggie recognized several members of the Rust Creek Falls Newcomers Club, including Vanessa Brent—recently engaged to Jonah Traub—Jordyn Leigh Cates and Julie Smith. She knew some of their stories—Lily Franklin had played a big role in bringing her aunt and the boss’s son together; Vanessa had met Jonah while they were both working on-site at the soon-to-be-completed Maverick Manor—and that some of the others were still looking to lasso the cowboy of their dreams.

  She also knew that several of the single newcomers probably envied her the attention of the handsome cowboy she’d married. But while she might have Jesse’s ring on her finger, she didn’t have the one thing she really wanted: his heart.

  Although she was undoubtedly a newcomer, too, she’d married Jesse so quickly after moving to Rust Creek Falls that a lot of people viewed her as his wife first, forgetting that she was also a transplant. Which was funny, because Jesse never did. In fact, she didn’t think a single day had gone by since they’d married that he hadn’t made at least one passing reference to the life she’d left behind in LA.

  He wants you to stay, but he’s afraid you won’t.

  Nina’s words echoed in the back of her mind as Maggie took a seat beside her husband. In the row immediately in front of them was Jesse’s sister with her husband. On the other side of Nina were her parents, and on the other side of Dallas were his. The Hatfields and the McCoys of Rust Creek Falls playing nice—or at least pre
tending to—for the sake of their children and grandchildren. Seeing them here together gave Maggie hope that the baby she was carrying might also succeed in bringing her and Jesse closer together.

  * * *

  As far as school plays went, Jesse decided it was entertaining. But not quite entertaining enough to keep his attention on the stage while he was seated beside his bride. He wasn’t usually so easily distracted, but being close to Maggie made it impossible for him to focus on anything else.

  With every breath he took, he breathed in the scent of her skin—something light and spicy. The scent was too subtle to be perfume, so he guessed it was probably some kind of lotion she rubbed on her body. A conclusion that tantalized his mind with the mental image of her delicate hands smoothing fragrant lotion over the bare, silky skin of her shoulders, her arms, her breasts...

  The sound of applause jolted him back to the present. He automatically put his hands together as the kids on stage took a bow.

  “There will now be a fifteen-minute intermission,” the eighth-grade emcee announced. “Please help yourself to the cookies and hot drinks available outside.”

  The auditorium was suddenly filled with the sound of chair legs scraping against the floor as parents and grandparents and other guests hurried for the snacks.

  “Do you want anything?” he asked Maggie.

  She shook her head as she rose to her feet. “Just to stretch my legs.”

  He noticed that several older kids, not in costume, were on the stage now, pushing aside the long table that had been the setting of the Thanksgiving feast to set up a makeshift stable for the upcoming nativity scene.

  “It’s hard to believe that we’re going to have a son or a daughter up on that stage someday,” he said.

  “Not for several years yet,” Maggie pointed out to him.

  “I know, but it started me thinking... Do you know if our baby is a boy or a girl?”

  She shook her head. “Do you want to know?”

  “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “In some ways, I think it would make planning easier.”

  “We’d know whether to buy pink or blue burp cloths.”

  He smiled in response to her teasing. “There is that.”

  “I have an appointment for an ultrasound tomorrow. We should be able to find out the baby’s gender, depending on his or her position.” She hesitated a second, then said, “I know it’s short notice, but you could come with me, if you want.”

  “I’d like that,” he immediately replied.

  “I should have asked you before, but you’ve been so busy...” Her explanation trailed off.

  Yes, he’d been busy making himself busy, and he suspected that she knew it. But he still couldn’t admit it to her now, because that would also require admitting that he didn’t know how to be the husband she wanted—the husband he wanted to be to her.

  Before he could manufacture an appropriate reply, Tara Jones—the third-grade teacher—stopped beside them.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Crawford—how wonderful to see you here tonight.”

  Although her greeting encompassed both of them, she seemed to be speaking to Maggie, making Jesse suspect that she was a client. Her next words dispelled that theory.

  “I know I said it before—but I have to thank you again for all of your help with the costumes and props.”

  “I really didn’t do very much,” Maggie said.

  “We would never have had everything ready on time without you,” Tara insisted. Then she turned to Jesse. “In case your wife didn’t tell you, she made thirty pilgrim hats and an equal number of native headbands, painted the starry sky for the nativity scene and designed the wings and halos for the angels.”

  “You might want to save your thanks until after the pageant, in case the sky falls down.”

  Tara chuckled. “It’s not going to fall down. And even if it did, it wouldn’t matter. What matters is that you gave us the extra hands we desperately needed to get everything done in time for tonight.”

  Maggie smiled. “And that the kids all seem to be having a good time.”

  “They definitely are,” the teacher agreed. “And now I’m going backstage to make sure their costumes are on before we continue the show.”

  Jesse waited until she was out of earshot before he turned to his wife. “I didn’t know you’d helped out with this.”

  “I put in a few hours when I had nothing to do at the office,” Maggie admitted, settling into her chair again as the other audience members began to return to their seats.

  “It sounds like you put in more than a few hours.”

  She shrugged. “I had time on my hands.”

  He impulsively reached for one of those hands—it was small and soft in comparison to his, but for all of its delicacy, it was also strong. Not unlike Maggie herself.

  She was a California girl experiencing a Montana winter, and he wondered if it was only her first or also her last. If she made it through the season, would she stay through the spring and the summer? How long would she last so far away from the bright lights of the big city? And how long did she need to stay before he stopped anticipating that she’d pack her bags and hightail it back to LA?

  Right now, she seemed happy enough, and he hadn’t been doing anything to make her happy. He’d been leaving her to her own devices, certain she would get bored and be gone. Maybe he was pushing her away, or at least testing her steadfastness. And yeah, it had only been a couple of weeks, but so far, she’d stuck. Which got him to thinking... What if he actually let her know that he wanted her to stay? What if he made an effort to make her want to stay?

  There was a connection between them—he’d felt it from the first. It was real and strong. She made him want to open up to her in a way that he hadn’t opened up to a woman in a long time, to share not just his home but his life and his heart, and that was more than a little scary.

  Watching her watch the kids onstage, he let himself consider the possibilities. Maybe she could grow to love Montana—and him—enough to want to stay. Maybe they really could raise this child—and other children—together.

  But there was still a part of him that was afraid to let himself believe, certain that as soon as he started to plan for their future together, she’d knock him down and stomp on his heart.

  Don’t make Maggie pay for what Shaelyn did to you.

  Nina’s words echoed in the back of his mind.

  He knew that most of his family had had concerns when he’d told them that he and Maggie were getting married—and why. And although only ten days had passed since the wedding, Nina had become her new sister-in-law’s biggest cheerleader.

  But not her only supporter. Ben Dalton had nothing but praise for the young attorney he’d taken on. And even Sutter had mentioned how appreciative Paige was of Maggie’s work at the law office, because it freed her father up to spend more time with his family.

  Obviously their faith was well-placed. She was willing to tackle whatever legal issues were assigned to her, she was studying for her exams, and even outside her area of expertise she’d stepped in to help where help was needed. She was making an effort to fit in, to be accepted by the community, and the residents of Rust Creek Falls were starting to give her a chance—which, he realized, was more than he’d done.

  Even while she’d been reciting her vows, he’d been holding his breath, waiting for her to announce that she’d changed her mind.

  But despite his best efforts, he’d got used to having her around. He looked forward to seeing her at the breakfast table in the morning and having dinner with her every night. He enjoyed talking to her about his day and hers, and he enjoyed the silence when they didn’t feel like talking. He felt comfortable around her—except when being in close proximity to her was decidedly uncomfortable because she tempted him to want more, t
o believe they could have more.

  They were connected by their baby and their marriage. But he’d meant it when he’d told her he wasn’t looking for love, and he knew that he needed to maintain some kind of boundaries between them if he was going to protect his heart. He was already sharing his name, his house and almost every part of his life. If he shared his bed, there would be no more boundaries between them, nothing to prevent him from falling the rest of the way in love with her.

  It was that certainty that prevented him from giving in to the ever-growing desire he felt for her.

  At least for now.

  * * *

  Maggie had been referred to Dr. Gaynor in Kalispell by her ob-gyn in Los Angeles, and the first time she met her, she was impressed by the doctor’s warmth, compassion and efficiency. Dr. Gaynor didn’t believe in overbooking her patients, which meant that while emergencies did occasionally arise, it was unusual for there to be more than one or two women in the waiting room.

  So it didn’t surprise her that she was taken into an exam room at 10:59 a.m. for her eleven o’clock appointment, or that the doctor entered the room only three minutes later.

  It did surprise her when the doctor said to Jesse, “You must be the husband.”

  He nodded and offered his hand. “Jesse Crawford.”

  “Susan Gaynor.” She must have noticed Maggie’s surprise, because she smiled. “The last time I saw you, you said that you might be getting married,” the doctor reminded Maggie. “This time, you came with a man and a ring on your finger.”

  “We got married on the fifteenth,” Maggie confirmed.

  “Congratulations,” Dr. Gaynor said to both of them. “And thank you—” her gaze shifted to Jesse “—for taking the time to come here today. It’s always nice to see a husband supporting his wife through her pregnancy.”

  “I’m happy to be here,” he said sincerely. “And to do anything I can to help Maggie over the next five months.”

  “The next five months are the easy part,” the doctor teased. “The real challenges—and joys—come with the baby.”