Lone Star Baby Scandal

by Lauren Canan

  Her feet wouldn’t move. She wanted to run to the door, throw it open and fall into his arms. But those arms and strong embrace were not hers any longer, if they ever had been. She had no right to expect anything other than a cordial hello followed by mute discomfort and awkwardness.

  The bell rang again.

  “Sophie.” Her mother stood on the threshold between the kitchen and den. “Answer the door.”

  She did as she was asked, and there stood Clay on the porch. He was so tall and big, it seemed impossible that those wide shoulders would make it through the door. He stole her breath. Her eyes bounced from his face to his chest, not wanting to meet his eyes for fear of what she would find there. Pity? Probably. Arrogance? Always. Concern? Probably not.

  “Sophie? Are you going to invite me in?”

  She pushed open the outside screen door and Clay stepped into the room. Unbidden, her eyes went to his handsome face. There was no pity. No arrogance. There was concern and something else she couldn’t quite make out. He looked like hell. His eyes were red-rimmed and he had a grayish pallor to his face.

  “So, how have you been?”

  “Good. Fine. Clay, what are you doing here?”

  “Hello, Clay,” her mother called from the kitchen. “How are you?”

  “Good, Mrs. Prescott, thanks.”

  “Would you like to sit down?” Sophie asked. With the initial shock over, she was finally remembering her manners.

  “Actually, is there someplace we can go and talk in private? Outside maybe?”

  Sophie didn’t want to be alone with him. But she understood Clay well enough to know he would not leave until he said or did what he’d come all this way to.

  “Sure, we can go outside,” she agreed. “I was out there enjoying a beautiful day until someone plopped a helicopter in my backyard, blowing dust up my nose and into my eyes.”

  “Sorry about that,” he said as he opened the front door, indicating she should proceed.

  The small country lane bordered by shade trees at the end of the meandering driveway seemed as good a place as any to talk. Clay shortened his stride to match hers as they made their way along the cool, shadowy path.

  “I screwed up, Sophie. I want you to come back.”

  “No.”

  “Look, I know I reacted wrong when you told me about the baby. I was still riding the high from being in your arms, from making love to you, when you told me. It took a few seconds for what you said to really soak in. Then, I don’t know, I didn’t know what to say. I can honestly say that was a totally new experience for me.”

  “Okay. I get that.”

  “And the Carla thing? Somebody hacked my email account. If you received a text or email asking you to come into my office, they hacked yours, too, because I didn’t send it. Carla got a message, supposedly from me, asking her to come by my office because I wanted to get back together with her. Which was funny because we never were an item to begin with. I did not send that email.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay? What does that mean exactly?”

  “It means that I believe you. It also means that I will absolutely not ruin your life by tying you down to a wife and family. I respect you too much to do that.”

  Suddenly he seized her arm and spun her around. Before she could utter a protest, his lips covered hers in a deep kiss that singed all her senses. His tongue entered the cavern of her mouth, filling her, demanding a response. His lips, his taste, were so familiar. The scent of his aftershave... Then he was pulling back, but not far.

  “I’m in love with you, Sophie Prescott. I want to marry you. Not because you’re pregnant. Not because I feel a responsibility, although both of those things are true. I want you in my life now and forever. I intended to come here the day you arrived and thought, no—give her a chance to calm down. I knew you were angry and I guess you had a good reason to be. Anyway, I made myself stay away until now. But it almost killed me. I need you in my bed, in my arms and in my life. And I always will.”

  The tears welled in her eyes at the sincerity in Clay’s voice. Silently she shook her head. It would be a mistake to accept him, but she’d made plenty of mistakes. What was one more? But he had to know who she was. He had to know she was a criminal. She had to tell Clay about her past, about what she’d done. About how that elderly man had lost his life partly because of her actions. It didn’t matter if he was intoxicated and shouldn’t have been there, as some people had claimed. No one in her group should have been there, either. The bottom line was he had been there and no one had noticed him. And he had died.

  Clay was a hard man, as tough as they came. He’d seen a lot in his life. But he’d never taken another person’s life. She turned away from him.

  “Sophie, please don’t do this.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying, Clay. You don’t know the kind of person you’re talking to. I’m not the innocent you think I am. When Everest was facing all those false rumors, you ran a check on all the employees who’ve been with you the past two years. You should have gone back five years.”

  “What?” He placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him. “What are you talking about?”

  “Me. I’m talking about me. If you had gone back five years, you would’ve found my record. Well, maybe not, because I was seventeen and juvenile records are generally sealed.” She looked up into the handsome face now frowning at what she was saying. “I killed a man, Clay. Me and four friends went into an empty barn to experiment with smoking a cigarette. We screwed up, dropped a match and caught the barn on fire. We thought the barn was abandoned. But there was an elderly man asleep on the hay in the back corner. He died.” She shook her head. “Some mother your kid is going to have, huh?”

  Clay stood before her shaking his head and she steeled herself for his rejection.

  “I caught you off guard again, didn’t I?”

  “Sophie, that sounds like something any teen could have done. You were young. It was an accident. You and your friends didn’t know the man was there.”

  “Not an excuse.”

  “Did you receive any probation?”

  “We had to get jobs after school and pay for the owner’s barn. And we get to spend a lifetime remembering what we did. You don’t want someone like me in your life. It fills me with horror at the thought the baby might someday find out.”

  “Everyone is entitled to make mistakes, Sophie. Granted, burning down a barn might be a little extreme, but by far it’s not the worst mistake that’s ever been made. You didn’t know the man was passed out in the barn. How could you when he was covered with hay?”

  She blinked. More than once. “How did you know about the hay?”

  “Your mom. She called. We talked. She was afraid I had found out about this situation and rejected you because of it. She wanted to make sure I had all the facts. I assured her that was absolutely not the case. I’m in love with you, Sophie. I hope you will believe that. You could never do anything to drive me away.”

  Then Clay dropped to one knee in front of her, his big hands holding hers. “Marry me, Sophie Prescott. If you love me after all I’ve put you through then marry me. Don’t make me go another day without you.”

  The joy she felt could match none other on earth as she bounded into his arms, knocking them both to the ground. Laughing, Clay kissed her lovingly and deeply before helping Sophie to her feet and showing concern that she was okay.

  Her mother and dad and Susan were waiting just inside the door when the couple walked back to the farmhouse and up the steps.

  “I take it congratulations are in order.” Her dad beamed and shook Clay’s hand. “Welcome to the family. And thank you, Clay.”

  “Dad, what are you thanking him for?” Sophie laughed. “Surely I’m not that hard to give away.”<
br />
  “No,” her father replied, moisture forming in his own eyes. “I’ll let Clay tell you. It’s his place to do so. But let me just say it’s thanks to him I can look forward to walking my youngest daughter down the aisle.”

  Clay shrugged. “I just contacted a couple of specialists I know. They arranged the transfer. Luck did the rest.”

  It didn’t take Sophie half a second to realize she owed her father’s life to Clay. He had taken the time and gone to the effort to arrange everything. Her dad’s new heart was thanks to him. Tears misted her eyes as the reality hit home.

  “If you’re ready,” Clay said to Sophie, “we need to be headed out. There are some vital things I need to address on the flight home.”

  After hugs and congratulations all around, Sophie excused herself and entered the bedroom she’d been sharing with her sister. Pulling a small suitcase down from a high shelf in the closet, she set about packing the few things she would need until she could go shopping. Her mother joined her with Susan right behind. Together the three of them, with hugs and laughter, filled more than one suitcase.

  Clay scooped up the bags and after saying good-bye to her family, he walked toward the chopper, Sophie at his side. Clay helped her inside and got in behind the controls. He circled the small house once before taking off toward Indianapolis International Airport.

  “So,” she said, her hand in his, the brilliant four-carat engagement ring glistening in the evening sunlight. “What’s so important that you just have to get to Indianapolis?”

  “The 747 is waiting there. No way can I wait to get you home before I make love to you again. If I recall, you may have changed your mind about flying.”

  Sophie grinned.

  “I feel the need to reinforce that newly found love,” he said, squeezing her hand. “All the way to Texas.”

  Epilogue

  The wedding took place a week later with an impatient Clay still suggesting they elope to Vegas. But Sophie wanted the memory of her wedding day with her family and friends around her. And she insisted on being married in Royal, Texas.

  While Clay wanted to give her the moon—anything she wanted for their special day, as well as the rest of their lives—in the end she kept it simple. A country wedding on the ranch in a small chapel that had been constructed on a rise looking out over the land they both loved so much. Clay looked extraordinarily handsome in his tux—complete with Western boots and Stetson—as he dismounted the black stallion and waited for his bride to walk down the aisle on her dad’s arm.

  Arriving in Clay’s grandmother’s carriage, laced with ribbons of blue and gold and pulled by two white horses, Sophie couldn’t take her eyes off the man of her dreams, her cowboy love forever and always.

  It was a day of love and laughter and best wishes for the future.

  And many more flights on Clay’s 747.

  As she walked toward her future husband, she smiled at the memory.

  “Where are we going next?” Clay whispered, his green eyes twinkling as though he knew exactly what she was thinking. And he did.

  “Does it matter?” she asked and grinned.

  Solemnly he slowly shook his head, his eyes holding hers.

  It didn’t matter at all.

  * * * * *

  Don’t miss a single installment of the

  TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB: BLACKMAIL

  No secret—or heart—is safe in Royal, Texas...

  THE TYCOON’S SECRET CHILD by USA TODAY bestselling author Maureen Child

  TWO-WEEK TEXAS SEDUCTION by Cat Schield

  REUNITED WITH THE RANCHER by USA TODAY bestselling author Sara Orwig

  EXPECTING THE BILLIONAIRE’S BABY by Andrea Laurence

  and

  May 2017: TRIPLETS FOR THE TEXAN by USA TODAY bestselling author Janice Maynard

  June 2017: A TEXAS-SIZED SECRET by USA TODAY bestselling author Maureen Child

  July 2017: LONE STAR BABY SCANDAL by Golden Heart® winner Lauren Canan

  August 2017: TEMPTED BY THE WRONG TWIN by USA TODAY bestselling author Rachel Bailey

  September 2017: TAKING HOME THE TYCOON by USA TODAY bestselling author Catherine Mann

  October 2017: BILLIONAIRE’S BABY BIND by USA TODAY bestselling author Katherine Garbera

  November 2017: THE TEXAN TAKES A WIFE by USA TODAY bestselling author Charlene Sands

  December 2017: BEST MAN UNDER THE MISTLETOE by Jules Bennett

  ***

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  When rancher and single dad Cain Donnelly moves to Copper Ridge, Oregon, to make a fresh start with his teenage daughter, the last thing he wants is to risk his heart again. So why can’t he keep his eyes—or his hands—off Alison Davis, the one woman in town guaranteed to complicate his life?

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  Down Home Cowboy

  by Maisey Yates

  “HEY, BO,” CAIN called , looking around the kitchen and living room area for his daughter, who was on the verge of being late for her second week on the job. “Are you ready to go?”

  He heard footsteps hit the bottom landing, followed by a disgusted noise. “Do you have to call me that?”

  “Yes,” he said, keeping his tone and expression serious. “Though I could always go back to the full name. Violet Beauregard the Walking Blueberry.” She’d thought that nod to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was great. Back when she was four and all he’d had to do was smile funny to get her to belly laugh.

  “Pass.”

  “I have to call you at least one horrifying nickname a week, all the better if it slips out in public.”

  “Is there public in Copper Ridge? Because I’ve yet to see it.”

  “Hey, you serve the public as part of your job. And, unless you’re being a bit overdramatic about how challenging your job is, I assume you see more than two people on a given day.”

  “The presence of humanity does
not mean the presence of culture.”

  “Chill out, Sylvia Plath. Your commitment to being angry at the world is getting old.” He shook his head, looking at his dark-haired, green-eyed daughter who was now edging closer to being a woman than being that round, rosy-cheeked little girl he still saw in his mind’s eye.

  “Well, you don’t have to bear witness to it today. Lane is giving me a ride into town.”

  Cain frowned. He still hadn’t been in to see Violet at work. In part because she clearly didn’t want him to. But, he had assumed that once she was established and feeling independent she wouldn’t mind if he took her.

  Clearly, she did.

  “Great,” he said, “I have more work to do around here anyway.”

  “The life of a dairy farmer is never dull. Well, no, it’s always dull, it just never stops.” Violet walked over to the couch where she had deposited her purse yesterday and picked it up. “Same with baking pies, I guess.”

  “I have yet to sample any of the pie you make.”

  “I’ll bring some home if there’s any leftover,” she said, working hard to keep from sounding happy. At least, that’s how it seemed to him.

  “Are you ready to go, Violet?” Lane came breezing into the room looking slightly disheveled, Cain’s younger brother Finn close behind her, also looking suspiciously mussed.

  Absolutely no points for guessing what they had just been up to. Though he could see that Violet was oblivious. If she had guessed, she wouldn’t be able to hide her reaction. Which warmed his heart in a way. That his daughter was still pretty innocent about some things. That she was still young in some ways.

  Hard to retain any sort of innocence when your mother abandoned you. And, since he knew all about parental abandonment and how much it screwed with you, he was even more angry that his daughter was going through the same thing.