The Cowboy's Pride and Joy

by Maureen Child

  How was it possible to feel so much so quickly? Jake’s instincts were kicking in with a force that shocked him. He suddenly knew that he would do anything to protect a child he hadn’t known existed an hour ago. That boy was a part of him and no one would keep Jake from him. He’d already missed too much. Damned if he’d miss another minute. But for now, he needed some answers. Keeping his gaze fixed on the baby, he said quietly, “Anna, take him into the kitchen. Give him a cookie or something.”

  “You don’t give a baby a cookie, Jake Hunter,” she snapped. “But I think a banana would be welcome if that’s all right with his mama.”

  “Oh, Luke loves bananas. Thank you, Anna,” Cassie said, dropping a quick kiss on the baby’s head.

  His son loved bananas. Good to know, Jake told himself, still looking at the boy who had him hypnotized. His heart did another sharp squeeze in his chest as the kid laughed and clapped his tiny hands together.

  Anna smiled at Cassie, then narrowed her eyes on Jake. “Anyway, I know how to take care of a baby without your advice, Jake Hunter,” she grumbled and took the diaper bag from Cassie. “Don’t you worry, honey, I raised four of my own. The boy will be fine with me. You come on in and have some tea once you’re done with him.” She shot Jake a death glare as she swept past him, carrying his son.

  Astonished, he looked after his supposedly loyal housekeeper for a long minute. This was nuts. Suddenly he was the bad guy here? How did that make sense?

  “What the hell did I do?” he demanded of no one in particular. “I didn’t know I had a kid, did I?”

  Anna kept walking, her quick steps sounding like gunshots in the stillness. He turned away abruptly and his gaze swung to Cassie, standing there staring at him. Jake had the satisfaction of seeing her features tighten and her lips go bloodless.

  “I know you want an explanation and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” she said in a rush, as she slid out of her heavy jacket to reveal a red sweater that reached to her thighs, and black jeans tucked into knee-high boots. She shoved the sleeves of her sweater up to her elbows.

  Damn, she looked good. Having a baby had ripened her curves, made her even more desirable than she had been, and that was saying a lot.

  Not the point.

  “Start with why you called my grandfather to arrange a ride here from the airport. Why didn’t you call me? Hell, while we’re on it, why didn’t you call me when you found out you were pregnant? When you had the baby?”

  “I called Ben this morning because I didn’t want to explain all of this to you over the phone.” She pushed her hair back from her face and took a breath. “And I didn’t want you to meet your son in the airport.”

  “That takes care of today,” he ground out, crossing his arms over his chest. “Now explain the last fourteen months.”

  She took a breath and blew it out. “That’ll take time. And there’s something you have to know, first. The reason I’m here.”

  “You mean,” he cut in, “the reason you’re finally telling me about my son.”

  “Yes.” She reached into her bag, pulled a piece of paper out and crossed the room. Thrusting the page at him, she ordered, “Read that.”

  It only took a second or two and in that time, the temper he’d thought was as high as it could go burst past the breaking point. “My mother is going to sue you for custody of my son?”

  Cass wrung her hands, tugging at her fingers, then started pacing back and forth across the huge room. While she walked, she threw glances at him. “My sister Claudia told your mom about Luke, and two days later, I got that in the mail. She’ll do it, Jake. Elise Hunter will take my baby if you don’t stop her.”

  “No one’s going to take your baby from you,” he muttered, gaze running over the few sharp and to-the-point sentences on the heavy stationery his mother preferred. “No judge would allow it.”

  “She’s rich,” Cass muttered. “I’m not. She can hire a fleet of lawyers and I can’t.” She stopped in front of him, tipped her head back and stared up into his eyes. “I won’t lose my son. You have to do something.”

  Those fog-gray depths were filled with pain and worry, tugging at something inside him, awakening a protective streak he hadn’t felt since he’d left the military. Back then, you watched your buddies’ backs. You looked out for them all like family. Risked your own life to save theirs and never gave it another thought. Back home, he’d felt that same sense of loyalty to his grandfather, mother and sister—but with Cassie, that urge to defend came roaring through his blood like a battle cry.

  Crumpling the paper in one hand, he walked to the phone on a side table near the couch. He grabbed the receiver out of its cradle, stabbed in a few numbers and waited for his mother to answer her private line. When she did, Jake didn’t waste time on niceties.

  “What’s this bull about you trying to take Cassie’s baby from her?”

  “Well hello, Jake. So nice to hear from you. I’m very well, thanks for asking. And you?”

  Cool, her voice had that dismissive tone he knew she used on business rivals. “I’m great,” he ground out, gaze flashing to Cassie. “I just found out I’m a father and that my mother’s trying to take my kid. How’s your day going?”

  Cassie’s face flushed but her gray eyes were still clouded by worry.

  “I won’t have my grandson raised by a woman who can’t afford to take care of him properly,” his mother said tightly.

  “He’s my son and you’re not taking him from his mother,” Jake told her. “Hell, what made you think I’d allow that?”

  “You’ve turned your back on your family, Jake,” his mother said and he thought he heard a note of hurt coloring her words. “You cut me and your sister out of your life. How was I to know you’d feel differently about your son?”

  “I didn’t cut you out, mother. I cut the company out of my life. There’s a difference.”

  “Not to me,” she insisted. “You’ve locked yourself away on the mountain, Jake, and you worry me. You’re so closed off, so self-contained, you don’t need any of us. Well, that baby is a Hunter and if you won’t do the right thing by him, then I will.”

  Furious now, his gaze firmly locked on the woman staring at him helplessly, he reminded his mother, “I wasn’t given the chance to do the right thing. Nobody told me about that baby. Until five minutes ago I didn’t know he existed.”

  “Well,” his mother said softly, “now that you do know, what’re you going to do about it?”

  That was the question, wasn’t it? He didn’t have an answer. How the hell could he know what to do when the world as he’d known it had been upended in his face? Could he have five damn seconds to think?

  “I’ll let you know,” he snapped and hung up. Tossing the phone onto the couch before he could smash the damn thing in his fist, he faced Cassie. “That’s done. She won’t be making a grab for the baby again.”

  “You don’t know that,” she whispered and he heard fear in her voice.

  “I’ll make sure of it.”

  A part of him wanted to go to her, pull her into his arms and hold her. Soothe her fears. Ease the worry shimmering around her like a stormy aura the color of her eyes. But a greater part of him was aching from betrayal.

  From the fact that this woman had kept his son from him. Had kept his son’s existence a secret.

  “You should have told me.”

  She paled. “Maybe.”

  “Maybe?” He stalked toward her and inwardly cringed when he saw her dart backward a couple of steps. He wasn’t trying to scare her, for God’s sake. He only wanted answers. Explanations. But maybe he was too furious right now to hear them. Stopping in his tracks, he snorted a harsh laugh. “You really think I’d hurt you?”

  “No, of course not.” She shook her head and once again shoved both hands through he
r hair. It had grown, hanging down now to the middle of her back. With her jerky movements, long ropes of that dark blond silk fell over her shoulders to lay against her breasts. Rubbing her fingertips across her forehead, she murmured, “It’s just been a long day. Luke didn’t like the airplane ride. The passengers didn’t like a crying baby. Then they couldn’t find my luggage and the ride up the mountain road was terrifying and I just feel like...”

  The tightness in his chest eased a little watching her. She’d had as rough a day as he was having. “Nice day, huh?”

  Her head whipped up, her gaze locked on his, and whatever she saw there had her shoulders relaxing and a glint of humor sparking her eyes. “I’ve had better.”

  “Me, too.” He still wanted to know. Needed to know. Everything. But there were things he had to do and he had to have some time to think. “Come on. I’ll walk you to the kitchen.”

  Surprised, she asked, “We’re not going to talk?”

  “Later. Storm coming. Have to get the animals ready for it.”

  A strangled laugh slipped from her. “And we’re back to cowboy-speak. That hasn’t changed, anyway.”

  “Plenty else has,” he said just as shortly, stopping only long enough to grab his hat and jacket. “And I’m gonna want to hear it all.”

  In the kitchen, Anna was seated at the table, holding the baby on her lap. On the floor, a big yellow Lab sat beside her, his nose on the baby’s legs. The dog winced every time the baby patted his head, but otherwise, didn’t move.

  “A dog?” Cassie said. “You got a dog?”

  The Lab pushed to his feet and came across the room to welcome Cassie with a snuffle and a few dozen licks. While Cassie heaped praise on the dog, scrubbing his ears, Jake could only think how much he wanted her hands on him.

  “When did you get a dog?” she was asking.

  Before he could answer, Anna did. “He got him right after you left the last time. Hardly a week before we had a puppy running around the house.”

  Jake glared at his housekeeper, but she paid him no mind at all.

  He’d once told Cassie he didn’t have a dog because he had enough animals to care for. But the truth was, after she left a year and a half ago, the damn house had been too quiet. Too...empty.

  So he bought a dog for company. What was the big deal?

  The baby shouted a babbled greeting and lifted his arms for his mother. Jake scowled, tugged his hat on and buttoned his jacket as he headed for the back door. “Come on, Boston. Work.”

  “Boston?” Cassie echoed the dog’s name and Jake flinched as embarrassment swept through him.

  Grinding his teeth, he managed, “I’m from Boston, too.” When she didn’t say anything to that, he added, “We’ll talk later.” He waited for the dog to join him, then opened the door to the blowing wind and snow.

  There were heavy ropes strung between the back door of the house all the way across the yard to the barn. Ropes also hung between cabins and between the main house and his grandfather’s place. When the predicted blizzard hit, the wind-driven snow would be so thick, flying so fast, a person could get lost between the house and the outbuildings. Without that rope to cling to, you could wander off track and freeze to death before anyone had a chance to find you.

  But for now, the wind was light and the only snow blowing was lifting off the drifts and mounds already on the frozen ground. Jake hunched into his jacket and headed for the barn and stables. Beside him, Boston’s tags jingled like music as the big dog jumped from snow pile to snow pile.

  Inside the barn, warmth engulfed him and the scents of hay and horses welcomed him. Here was the peace he’d built for himself. Here was where his world made sense. Boston ran the length of the center aisle and dropped to the ground beside Jake’s grandfather, standing at one of the stalls.

  A jolt of anger shook Jake. He stalked across the distance separating them and finally stopped alongside the older man.

  Ben didn’t even look at him. “Charlie tells me the boy looks just like you. Can’t wait to see him.”

  “You knew.” Betrayal was a living, breathing pain in his chest. This old man had been one of the centers of Jake’s life. When he’d come home from war, he’d come to this ranch—as much for the steadiness of this man as for the peace of the mountains. “You knew and didn’t say a damn word.”

  Ben scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck and squinted up at Jake. “I knew when your mother found out. Couple days is all.”

  “It’s more warning than I’ve had.” Jake gritted his teeth. “You should have told me.”

  “Thought about it.”

  “Doesn’t count.”

  “Your mother thought this way was best.”

  “My mother wants to take that baby away from his mother.”

  Ben snorted. “Your mother wants you to step up for that baby.”

  Stunned and insulted, Jake stared at him. Did his family really think so little of him? Did they actually believe that he wouldn’t do the right thing by his own blood?

  “I didn’t know about him. Hard to step up for something when you have no idea it exists.”

  “Well, now you know.” Ben’s still sharp eyes narrowed on him. “What’re you gonna do about it?”

  “Wish to hell people would stop asking me that,” Jake muttered.

  * * *

  Cass was still feeling jumpy hours later.

  Sure, thanks to Jake she didn’t have to worry about any plans his mother might have to try to take Luke from her. But now she had to deal with Jake.

  “How’d he take it?” Claudia asked.

  “Stunned. Shocked.” Angry, she added silently. Clutching the phone a little tighter to her ear, Cass kept her voice low, since Luke was sleeping in a crib beside her. “He wasn’t happy, let’s put it that way.”

  “But after you explained...”

  “I didn’t get the chance,” Cass admitted with a sigh as she dropped onto the window seat and stared out at the view she’d been dreaming about for months. “After he called his mother, he walked out. He hasn’t been back to the house since.”

  “So, drama queen meets drama king,” Claudia mused. “A match made in, well, okay. Maybe not heaven.”

  Rolling her eyes, Cass countered, “Easy enough for you to take this so lightly. It’s not your life.”

  “I’m not taking it lightly,” Claud argued. “But Cass, you couldn’t just go on forever not telling him. And you know it.”

  “Maybe,” she admitted. Far off in the distance, dark clouds roiled, twisting in the wind, moving ever closer. “But I don’t like being pushed into it, either.”

  “Look on the bright side,” her sister said. “Hard part’s over. He knows about Luke. Now you just have to work it out between you.”

  “That is the hard part. He’s not even talking to me, Claudia. He’s—” She broke off and stared as Jake and his dog emerged from the barn and headed for the house. The big yellow dog jumped and rolled in the snow drifts like a clown and Jake looked fierce. Seemed his mood hadn’t improved any in the hours since she’d seen him last.

  “He’s what?”

  “He’s coming,” Cass told her sister. “I’ve got to go.”

  “Okay, good luck!”

  She was going to need it. Over the last few hours, Cass had been settling into the room she’d used when she was here the last time—at least the room that had been hers until she’d begun staying in Jake’s bedroom. Of course, that wasn’t going to happen this time. She hadn’t come back here for sex.

  Her body tingled and she frowned.

  Just thinking about sex with Jake was enough to make her body hum and her brain shut down. But she needed to be able to think rationally. To talk to Jake and make him understand why she’d done what she’d done. To tell him what her pla
ns were for their son. And then, she had to get out of Montana. This time for good.

  Downstairs, she heard the kitchen door slam and shivered. He was inside now and probably headed for her. So she stood up, squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. A quick glance into the crib had her smiling. Sleeping soundly, her son was in his favorite position, sprawled spread-eagle, much like his father. As she watched, Luke reached for a tuft of his own black hair and rubbed it between his fingertips.

  Her heart filled to bursting and her spine straightened. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for this baby. No one she wouldn’t face. Nothing she wouldn’t dare.

  Cass felt Jake before she heard him. The man still moved like a ghost, and she wondered if that came naturally to him or if it was a holdover from his time in the military. Either way, it didn’t matter once she turned her head to look at him, framed in the open doorway. The yellow Lab slipped past him and went first to Cass, his nails clicking on the hardwood. After she’d given him a pat, the dog stuck his nose between the rails of the crib, snuffled, then lay down right beside it, as if taking up guard duty for the tiny boy inside.

  Jake, though, didn’t come in, just looked at her, then shifted his gaze to the crib and the sleeping baby. “Where’d you find the crib?”

  His voice, though low, was rough and harsh.

  “Anna had Charlie bring it down from your attic. She said your grandfather stored the family stuff up there and that you wouldn’t mind Luke using your old crib.”

  “It’s fine.” His features tightened and a muscle in his jaw clenched. “You should have told me.”

  Cass flushed and she felt the heat of it sting her cheeks. She could give him excuses, tell him the rationalizations that she’d run through in her mind over and over during the time they’d been apart. Heck, she’d even rehearsed exactly what she would say on the plane ride out here. But now that it was time...now that she was looking into his lake-blue eyes, she couldn’t do it.