The Cowboy's Secret Twins

by Carla Cassidy

  “We could string popcorn and cranberries.” She flushed and shook her head as if irritated with herself. “That was silly of me. I’m sure you have lovely expensive ornaments.”

  He could tell she was embarrassed and he found that oddly endearing. “Actually, I’ve always wanted to do a tree the old-fashioned way. I think it would be fun to string popcorn and cranberries.”

  The look she gave him was so sweet, so grateful, that he once again felt a stir of desire deep in the pit of his stomach. When he’d brushed the trace of cinnamon from her lip moments earlier, he’d wanted to kiss it off.

  He focused on watching his men wrestle the tree into the stand. Something about Melissa touched him, a vulnerability, a wistfulness in her eyes that he hadn’t seen in a woman’s eyes for a very long time.

  He still didn’t trust her. The only woman Henry really trusted was his mother, who had no ulterior motive for loving him. Any other woman he’d ever allowed close had ultimately shown herself to be more interested in the Randolf fortune than in whatever Henry could offer her as a man.

  He didn’t know if perhaps Melissa was just smarter than them all and had managed to trap him like none of the other women had managed to do.

  Once the men had the tree up and the ropes off, Henry introduced Melissa to them. “These are some of the best ranch hands in the state of Texas,” he said. “That’s Hank and Tim, Ben and Mike and Jacob and that rascal with the black hat is Charlie, my right-hand man.”

  Melissa’s eyes had glazed over and he smiled at her. “Don’t worry, there won’t be a test later,” he said.

  She laughed and the sound of her musical laughter shot a rivulet of warmth through him. “Good, because you lost me at Hank.” She smiled at all the men. “But it’s nice to meet you all.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Henry said to her as the men began to head for the front door.

  In the entry he touched Charlie’s shoulder and motioned for Charlie to stay behind while the rest of them got back to their work.

  “You heard about the shots fired last night?” he asked.

  Charlie nodded. “Jimmy talked to a couple of us late yesterday evening.”

  “I want all of you armed while on the property until we know what’s going on,” Henry said. “And I’d like to work a couple of you in shifts so that somebody is always working the house. Talk to the men and see what kind of schedule you can arrange.”

  Charlie’s eyes narrowed. “You looking for more trouble?”

  Henry released a small sigh of frustration. “To be honest, I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but twice now somebody has taken potshots at me and I don’t like the idea of anyone on my property attacking me or mine.”

  “We’ll work out a schedule and I’ll get it to you this afternoon,” Charlie replied.

  “Thanks, Charlie. I really appreciate it,” Henry replied.

  “It’s no problem. We can’t let the boss get hurt.” With these words he stepped out the door.

  Henry watched him catch up to the other men. Charlie was a good worker, always pitching in for even the dirtiest jobs. When Henry had broken up with Hilary he’d worried that he was going to lose Charlie. Hilary was Charlie’s sister and Henry had feared that Charlie might feel compelled to stop working for him because of sibling loyalty. But Charlie had assured him that he wasn’t going anywhere and that he didn’t get involved in his sister’s affairs.

  Henry had gotten the impression that there was no love lost between the two. In any case, he was grateful that he hadn’t lost Charlie. Good workers were hard to find.

  In fact, he was going to have to let Hank go. He’d noticed the tall, thin man had smelled like a brewery despite the fact it wasn’t even lunchtime. Henry had already warned him twice about drinking on the job. There wouldn’t be any more warnings.

  He closed the front door and returned to the living room to find Melissa gone. She’d apparently gone upstairs to check on the twins. He walked over to the large floor-to-ceiling windows and gazed out to the outbuildings in the distance. The tree was only the first of the deliveries that would take place over the next two days.

  The brief conversation he’d had with her over coffee had told him exactly what he needed to know. She had no family and he suspected she had few friends. That would make what he had in mind much easier. All he had to do was convince Melissa that his plan was in the best interest of them all.

  He looked up as he heard the sound of her coming down the stairs, a baby on each hip. He hurried to meet her halfway and took one of the boys from her.

  As he scooped the little one from her arms he tried not to notice the warmth of her body, that scent of her that half dizzied him with memories.

  “Which one do I have?” he asked.

  “Joey,” she replied.

  “How can you tell the difference?” The little boy snuggled against Henry’s chest, as if aware that he was held in loving arms. Once again the heart that Henry didn’t know he possessed filled with a strange wonder and a fierce sense of protectiveness.

  “Once you get to know them better, it’s easy to tell them apart by their personalities,” she said as they hit the landing. “But the quickest way is that Joey has a tiny scar in his right eyebrow. He was reluctant to be born and the doctor had to use forceps.”

  Henry looked at the little boy in his arms and noticed the tiny scar at the corner of his eyebrow. Joey grinned up at him and reached for his nose. Henry laughed as he dodged the little hand.

  James kicked his feet and wailed, his face turning red as Melissa wrestled with him. “He’s hungry and he has no manners,” she said.

  “Ah, a boy after my own heart,” Henry replied. “Let’s go to the kitchen and get them some lunch.”

  The kitchen was a huge room although Henry and Mary rarely took meals there. This was Etta’s space but it was also the easiest place to feed two hungry little boys.

  Etta was in the process of preparing lunch, but smiled with welcome as they all entered. Henry got the car seats that were serving as high chairs and placed them in the center of the large oak table, Once the boys were settled he watched Melissa prepare two small bowls of cereal.

  As she approached the table he held out his hand for one of the bowls.

  “You might want to put on a hazmat suit,” she warned as she gave him one of the bowls and a small baby spoon. “They not only like to eat cereal, they also like to blow it and spit it and play in it.”

  Feeding Joey was a pleasure like Henry had never known before. The kitchen filled with laughter as he and Melissa spooned cereal into their waiting mouths, off the front of their shirts and themselves.

  “Well. this sounds like fun,” Mary exclaimed as she came into the kitchen.

  “Ah, the shopper is home,” Henry said as he wiped off Joey’s face then handed him his bottle.

  “Randy is putting my purchases upstairs in my room.” She smiled at Melissa. “It’s been far too long since this house had such laughter in it. And the tree, it’s going to be just lovely.”

  “Melissa thought it would be fun to string popcorn and cranberries for the tree,” Henry said.

  Mary clapped her hands together. “What a lovely idea. We’ll have a real old-fashioned tree trimming. I’ll make hot cocoa and we’ll play Christmas music and have such fun.”

  Melissa looked from Mary to Henry. “You both are so kind,” she said and once again he saw a touch of vulnerability in the depths of her eyes.

  “Nonsense, you’re family now,” Mary replied.

  But she wasn’t family, Henry thought. She was still a stranger. And she would never really be family, he mentally added. Sure, he had a strong physical attraction to her and she was the mother of his boys, but she would never be anything more than that to him.

  His father had spent a lot of years warning Henry about the women who would want him for his money, women like Hilary who would turn themselves into whatever he wanted or needed to access the kind of lifestyle he could
provide for them. As far as his father was concerned, aside from his wife, Mary, women were cunning creatures to avoid except for the occasional physical release, and then only if protection was used.

  “I was lucky, boy,” his father would often say. “I was poor as a church mouse when I met your mother. I never had to worry about if she loved me for my money or for myself. You won’t have that luxury. You’ll never really know if a woman loves you or your money.”

  He knew without a doubt that Melissa hadn’t set out to seduce him that night. There was no way she could have orchestrated the blizzard and the two of them being on the road at the same time in the same place.

  What he didn’t know was that once fate had placed them in that position, had she recognized him and taken a calculated risk of getting pregnant? It had been a mutual seduction that night. She’d been as willing a participant as he had been.

  He frowned thoughtfully as he watched her coo and sweet-talk the two little boys. But if that was the case, if she’d recognized him that night before she’d slept with him, why hadn’t she contacted him the minute she realized she was pregnant? Maybe she’d been afraid he’d talk her into an abortion.

  One thing was clear. Henry wanted his boys living here with him and he would achieve that goal with or without Melissa’s help.

  Chapter 4

  The afternoon seemed to fly by. Melissa was shocked when two baby cribs were delivered and Henry had them set up in the room across from hers. And the beds weren’t all. High chairs were also delivered, fancy high chairs that seated infants then changed to accommodate toddlers, along with boxes and packages in all shapes and sizes.

  “This isn’t necessary,” she’d protested. “We’re only going to be here a couple of days.”

  “Then things will be more comfortable for the couple of days that you’re here,” Henry had replied.

  Dinner was a pleasant meal with the boys happily seated in their new high chairs and most of the conversation between Mary and Melissa. Henry had been quiet, watching Melissa with an enigmatic gaze that made her overly self-conscious and more than a little bit nervous.

  After dinner they all gathered in the living room for the tree-trimming party. Mary supplied thick thread and needles to string the popcorn and cranberries that Etta provided, and Henry carried the two high chairs into the room and placed the boys in the seats.

  “Why don’t I put the lights on while you two make the garland?” Henry asked.

  Mary smiled at Melissa. “He’d do anything to get out of using a needle and thread.”

  “Sewing is a woman’s work,” Henry replied.

  “Stubborn and a male chauvinist, what a surprise,” Melissa exclaimed.

  “I’m not a male chauvinist,” he protested. “I just don’t like needles.”

  “Okay, then stubborn and a bit of a wuss,” Melissa replied teasingly.

  Mary laughed in delight. “Finally, a woman who can put you in your place, Henry.”

  Henry looked at Melissa and in the depths of his eyes she saw a flicker of heat that stirred something wild and hot inside her.

  “Ouch!” she exclaimed as she pricked her finger with the needle. She instantly put her finger in her mouth and Henry’s eyes flamed brighter.

  “And that’s why I don’t like needles,” he finally said and turned his attention to the string of Christmas lights.

  There was definitely something between them, she thought. Something hot and hungry. She wasn’t in love with him, didn’t know him well enough to gauge exactly what she thought of him. But there was no denying the strong physical attraction that existed between them.

  “I always wanted to do a tree like this,” Mary said. “Old-fashioned and simple. Big Henry was into flash and gaudy.” A soft smile curved her lips. “That man wouldn’t know simple if it tapped him on the head.”

  “You miss him,” Melissa said.

  Mary leaned back against the sofa cushion, the smile still lingering on her lips. “He was stubborn as a mule, ridiculously opinionated and could make a saint weep with frustration, but yes, I miss him each and every day.” She tapped her heart with a finger. “But he’s still with me in here.”

  That’s what Melissa wanted, what Mary and Big Henry had apparently shared, a love that would last through eternity. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said and covered Mary’s hand with hers.

  Mary smiled and gave her hand a squeeze and then released it and began to string popcorn once again. “Thank you. I’m just sorry he’s not here now to meet his grandsons. He would have been so pleased to know that there will be another generation.”

  “I’m going into town tomorrow and thought you might like to take the ride with me, Melissa,” Henry said. “Mom can babysit the boys for an hour or so.”

  “I’d be happy to do that,” Mary agreed.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Melissa said hesitantly. She’d never left the boys for a minute since their births.

  “I promise I won’t beat them or chain them to their beds,” Mary said gently.

  Melissa laughed. “That never entered my mind.” She looked at Henry. “Aren’t you afraid to go out? I mean it was just last night that somebody shot at you…at us.”

  “I won’t be a prisoner in my own house,” he said with a tone of steel in his voice. “Besides, I’ve got my men watching the grounds and we’ll be safe in town. Nobody would risk trying to hurt me with so many other people around.”

  Melissa was torn. She was reluctant to leave the boys for any amount of time, yet there was a tiny simmer of excitement as she thought of an hour or two without them. The idea of a trip into town was appealing, but she was surprised by how cavalier he was about somebody trying to hurt him.

  “I keep telling you that I don’t believe my life is really in danger, that I think somebody is just trying to aggravate me, trying to manipulate me into throwing in the towel on my plans to be mayor,” he said.

  “Okay, I’ll go with you,” she finally said, unsure if it was just another reckless decision on her part.

  “Good. We’ll plan on going after breakfast and we’ll be home before lunchtime,” he replied.

  “It will be fine, dear.” Mary reached over and patted Melissa’s hand. “I remember the first time I left Henry with somebody. He was just about the twins’ age and Big Henry had decided I needed a night out. I must have called home a dozen times to check on Henry in the two hours we were gone. Big Henry finally decided to bring me home.”

  Melissa smiled. “They’re getting to the age where if you blink you feel like you’ve missed a first.”

  “I’ve already missed too many firsts,” Henry said with a touch of vehemence.

  He would make a good father, Melissa thought. Whenever he looked at the boys she saw a fierce love shining from his eyes. As crazy as it sounded, there was a tiny part of her that wished that same expression were in his eyes whenever he gazed at her.

  She recognized the foolishness of such a wish. He was a confirmed bachelor and in any case he was the kind of man who could choose from a harem of successful, beautiful women if he ever did decide to end his bachelorhood.

  She’d be a fool to entertain any kind of happily-ever-after ideas where Henry was concerned. He was right in that they were forever bound because of the boys, but the ties that bound them would be dual parenting and nothing more.

  When the phone rang Henry went to answer, leaving Mary and Melissa alone. Melissa looked at the woman who had been so kind to her.

  “I can’t imagine what you must think of me,” she said.

  Mary smiled. “I certainly wouldn’t want anyone to look at some of the things I’ve done in my life and make a judgment. I’m not about to do that to you.”

  “I appreciate that,” Melissa replied gratefully.

  As Melissa thought about all the ways coming here could have been so terrible, she was even more grateful to Mary and to Henry for their welcome, for embracing the boys and her into their home.

  As Hen
ry came back into the room James exploded in one of his rich belly laughs. Henry froze, the look on his face one of sheer wonder and delight.

  “What’s so funny, little man?” he asked as he leaned down and picked up the rattle James had dropped. He handed the rattle back to James, and James promptly threw it on the floor once again and looked at Henry and laughed. Henry laughed as well and picked up the rattle and once again gave it to James, who tossed it over the edge of the high chair tray yet again.

  Melissa laughed. “That’s his new game and he’ll play as long as you will.”

  Henry’s eyes sparkled with a new warmth she hadn’t seen there before. “They’re amazing, aren’t they? It’s obvious already that they’re smart.”

  Melissa smiled. It was fun to see him being a proud daddy, certain that his boys were more intelligent and cuter than any other babies on the face of the earth.

  The rest of the evening passed quickly. They drank hot cocoa and strung the popcorn and cranberry garlands on the tree, then added tinsel and ornaments that had been in the Randolf family for years.

  Mary knew the history of each and every ornament and Melissa was entranced by the stories she told.

  “I picked these up while I was out today,” Mary said as she grabbed a box from the bookcase that Melissa hadn’t noticed. She took the lid off the box and pulled out two ornaments and handed them to Melissa.

  The ornaments were little cowboys and each sported the words Baby’s First Christmas. For a moment as Melissa gazed at them her heart was too full to attempt speech. “I don’t know what to say,” she finally managed to sputter. A sudden mist fell in front of her eyes. She quickly blinked them away. “Once again, thank you for your kindness.”

  “Pick a good spot and hang them on the tree,” Mary said. “It’s the beginning of a new tradition. There will be an ornament every year for each of the boys to add to the collection. When they leave home and have their own trees, they can take them with them.”

  Melissa got up from the sofa and approached the tree, vividly aware of Henry’s eyes on her. She’d felt him watching her all evening long, an intense, almost predatory gaze that had kept her in a state of anticipation.