And Cowboy Makes Three (Cowboys To The Rescue 2) (17 page)

Read And Cowboy Makes Three (Cowboys To The Rescue 2) Online

Authors: Martha Shields

Tags: #Contemporary, #Romance, #Fiction, #Forever Love, #Adult, #Bachelor, #Single Woman, #Sensual, #Hearts Desire, #Harlequin Treasury, #Series, #Cowboys, #Rescue, #Family Life, #Western, #Millionaire, #Groom, #Wyoming, #Rancher, #Marriage, #Deceptive, #Tycoon, #Relationships, #Marriage Minded, #General Romance, #Silhouette, #1990's

BOOK: And Cowboy Makes Three (Cowboys To The Rescue 2)
13.69Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
“Wait just a dern minute,” Claire exclaimed. “I’ll be the one taking you two no matter what Uncle Jake says.”
J.J. shook his head. “No, Aunt Claire. You can’t ride until you have your baby. We don’t have any cousins, and we want some. Don’t we Matt?”
After Matt nodded, J.J. grabbed the sleeve of his brother’s jacket and hauled him away.
Claire glowered at her husband. “You’re teaching those boys to be every bit as pigheaded as you are. Pregnant women are not helpless.”
Jake stepped into the stall and grabbed her shoulders. “I didn’t say you were helpless, angel. I just don’t want anything happening to you.”
“You mean the baby.” But her retort didn’t have much strength. At close range, she could see fear in his eyes.
He hauled her against him. “You
or
the baby. Hank told me your mother lost two babies between him and Travis, both from riding accidents. It took her a year to recover after the last one.”
“But—”
“No buts this time. You’re not going to ride until after you have this baby, and that’s final.”
Claire jerked out of his arms, making the mare shy to the side of the stall. “All right,
Jake
,” she spat. “You want me to love you, but you certainly don’t make it easy.”
“Claire...” He grabbed for her, but she ducked under his arm and stormed out of the barn.
The boys whooped when they saw her, then ran back in.
“Traitors!” she called after them. “You’ve known me all your lives.”
Cowboys in the making, that’s what they were. Trained by the best—her brother. On that thought, she made a beeline directly for the corral, where Travis and Hank were working with the horses Travis would use in the National Finals Rodeo.
Luckily for her mood, Hank sat on the fence, his back to her. Slapping a hand on each of the Ws on the back pockets of his jeans, she shoved.
“Whooaa!” Hank’s arms flailed as he tipped over, his hat flying off, but to her utter disgust, he landed on his feet. He spun to glare at her. “What the hell are you doing?”
“You sorry excuse for a skunk! You told Jake not to let me ride, didn’t you?”
“Of course not.” He picked up his hat and dusted it off. “I just told him what happened to Momma.”
“Same thing.”
“You want to lose your baby?”
“Of course not, but I’m a good rider and I—”
“So was Momma,” he pointed out. “But accidents happen, and you never know when. You don’t even ride regularly anymore.”
Since she couldn’t refute that, she crossed her arms over her chest. “So I can’t ride for nine whole months?”
He placed his hat back on his head. “Alex doesn’t.”
“Because you won’t let her.”
“She does it because I ask her not to, and because she wants to take care of the life she’s got inside her.”
Claire lifted her chin. She hated admitting when her brother was right. “I care about my baby.”
Hank’s face softened. “I know you do. Sometimes things just have to be pointed out to you with a little more force than is necessary with most people.”
She took a step forward and wrapped her fingers over a plank of the fence. Maybe if she knew what made Hank tick, she’d be able to figure out her husband. “Why are you so protective of everyone, Hank? Especially Alex. She can’t breathe without you telling her how much air to take in.”
Hank’s gaze shifted to the other side of the corral where Travis exercised a gelding. “Alex is the sun in my life. If something happened to her, life as I know it would cease to exist.”
Claire had never heard her brother talk like a poet. “Why, Hank, that’s beautiful.”
“The kids are important to me, too. And you and Travis. I’d do anything to keep you all safe. Anything.” His blue eyes locked back into hers. “Even if it means doing something you don’t like.”
“So you do it out of love,” she murmured.
He smiled wryly. “No other reason is worth the grief you give me over it.”
“Are you sure it’s not some perverted need for power? That’s what I always thought.”
“I know.”
She searched his face. “Well, I’m sorry, Hank. I can’t thank you for smothering me, but I’m glad you love me.”
Hank patted her hands through the fence. “Cut Jake some slack, Claire. He seems to love you as much as I love Alex. You’re carrying his baby. He’s got a right to protect it, and you.”
“What’s wrong?” Travis asked as he pulled his horse up beside Hank.
“Nothing,” Claire murmured.
She turned in time to see Jake lead a roan gelding out of the barn. J.J. and Matt were right behind with their horses.
Love was Hank’s excuse. What was Jake’s?
As she watched her husband help Matt onto his horse, she suddenly knew exactly what she wanted from her marriage. She wanted to be as necessary to Jake as Alex was to Hank. She wanted him to need her like all living things need the sun.
Claire frowned. That didn’t sound very independent. In fact, it sounded downright
de
pendent.
But what did it matter? She wasn’t likely to get her wish. Jake didn’t need anything or anyone. He had so much money, he could buy whatever he wanted—except love. Love was the one thing money couldn’t buy...and it was the one thing she could give him.
With a blinding flash of insight, Claire knew she loved Jake. Despite her determination not to, despite his pigheaded, arrogant nature, she was in love with her husband.
It explained a lot—like why she needed him to need her. But knowing what her uncharacteristic yearning meant didn’t mean she liked it.
After Jake mounted, his eyes found hers across the gravel road separating the barn from the corral. After staring for a long minute, he guided his horse over, leaned down and kissed her. Then he rode away, his nephews in tow.
She loved him.
If Hank was right and Jake loved her, too, loving him was a good thing.
If Hank was wrong, Jake would swallow her whole. Claire Eden would never be heard from again.
 
“You feeling okay?” Jake asked. He reached across the Jeep and took Claire’s hand.
She pulled her eyes away from the Rocky Mountains that stretched along the western horizon as they headed back to Denver. They’d dropped the Edens off at the Greeley airport with promises of a Wyoming Christmas at the Garden. They were also planning to spend a few days with them in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks, when Travis competed in the National Finals Rodeo. Travis had pulled out that morning, headed to Twin Falls, Idaho, to pick up his team roping partner, then to Las Vegas.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “Why?”
“You’re awfully quiet.”
She rubbed her hand across his. “Just thinking.”
“About what?”
“About how nice it is not having kids arguing in the back seat.”
He squeezed her hand, then took his away to downshift as he passed a slow truck. “Better get used to it. We’ll soon have our own.”
Claire twisted in the seat so she could look at him more comfortably. His smile was a more interesting view, anyway—though there’d been times during the past two days when she’d told him to put a sock in it. “Except for this one, we’ve never discussed how many kids we want. Have you thought about it?”
He glanced at her, then back to the road. “Will you be able to have more?”
“I think so. Dr. Freeman said getting pregnant pretty much makes the endometriosis go away. I should be able to have as many as we want.”
“How many do you want?” he asked.
She lifted a hand, palm-up. “I don’t know. Until I found out I had to have a baby, having kids was too far into the future for me to worry about.”
After a moment of silence, Jake said, “If we can, I think we should have more than one. I was an only child, and it was damn lonely.”
Remembering what the foreman had said about Jake’s childhood, Claire knew exactly how lonely he’d been. Was that why he’d been so protective she sometimes wanted to scream? She hadn’t considered his smothering attentions in that light. Maybe now that he had a family—which included all the Edens—he didn’t want to lose it. It wasn’t love, but at least it was something she could understand.
Her heart softening for the lonely little boy inside the man, she leaned across the bucket seats and slid her arm along his shoulders, to remind him he wasn’t alone anymore. “All right, we’ll have at least two, then go from there. How far apart?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Is it better for them to be close in age? Would it be easier on you to space them out?”
“I don’t know.” Then she chuckled. “Sure is a lot about being parents we don’t know, isn’t there?”
He grinned. “I guess we’ll learn as we go along.” .
“I know I don’t want my children spaced as far apart as me. Hank and Travis are. Hank’s fourteen years older than me. He was more like a father than a brother. And though Travis is only four years older, that’s still too much.”
Jake nodded thoughtfully. “I think Hank and Alex’s kids are spaced about right. They’re close enough to play together, but not too close.”
“Yes, Alex got her way on that issue.”
“According to Hank, Alex gets her way on most things.”
Claire paused to consider that. “Now I think about it, you’re right. I guess my big brother isn’t the tyrant I thought he was all these years.”
Jake sent her a wry glance. “Even though he’s a cowboy?”
“Yes, even though he’s a cowboy.” Claire gave her husband a playful slap on the back of his head, then ruined the effect by running her fingers up through his hair. She loved the way the spikes tickled her palm. “But I’m beginning to think cowboys aren’t so bad. Especially one certain one.”
His smile was pure male. “Unbuckle yourself, woman, and slide over here.”
“And leave the protection of my seat belt? I’m shocked you would even suggest such a thing, Lord Protector. Besides, you’re the designated driver. Can’t have you drunk with lust.” She laid a hand on her stomach. “We’ve got a little one to think about now.”
He glowered at her. “I can see Baby Anderson is going to put a serious crimp in my style.”
She rolled her eyes. “Somehow I doubt it.”
He pulled her hand from around his neck, laced their fingers, then held it on his thigh. “Not tonight, at least. We’ve only got about eight more months to be alone. I intend to make the most of them.”
A shiver played along her spine. “Is that a promise or a threat?”
He grinned. “Both.”
Chapter Eleven
 
W
hen Claire woke at dawn the next morning, her first thought was that she wasn’t startled anymore at waking up in Jake’s penthouse. Her second was that her stomach was trying to crawl up her throat. She barely made it to the bathroom in time.
A moment later a strong hand grabbed her shoulders. “What is it?” Jake asked. “Morning sickness?”
“Well since it’s morning and I’m sick, I guess so,” she snapped, not feeling especially charitable toward him as she hung over the toilet.
Jake didn’t reply, just held her until she finally sat back. He straightened, ran a washcloth under cold water, then folded it and pressed it to her forehead.
“This is all your fault, you know,” she said weakly, though she had to admit the cool, wet cloth he held against her skin felt good.
“I know,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry.”
She expected him to point out that she wanted a baby, too. That he patiently took her abuse didn’t help her pique at all. “This isn’t going to be any fun if you’re not going to fight back.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m not going to argue with you. Your being pregnant is my fault. I don’t want you to suffer having my baby.”
“Our baby.”
“Our baby,” he corrected. “If I could, I’d be sick for you.”
“That’s easy to say when you can’t, isn’t it?” she complained. “I bet all men say that.”
He smiled ruefully. “You’re feeling better, I see. Can I get you anything to help settle your stomach?”
Claire sighed and leaned back against the wall. “Alex said crackers should help.”
He stood immediately. “I’ll see what we’ve got”
“Saltines,” she told him. “Nothing else.”
He nodded. “If we don’t have any, I’ll run out and get some.”
“Yeah, right. At six in the morning? You probably don’t even know where a grocery store is, much less one that’s op—” Her argument scattered when he bent and picked her up. “I can stand by myself, you know.”
“You weren’t making any effort to,” he pointed out.
She sniffed. “I was gathering my strength.”
He placed her on, the edge of the bed. “Well, gather it here. As a matter of fact, why don’t you stay home today? You could—”
“Oh, no.” She stood abruptly, then had to put a hand on his chest to steady herself against the dizziness. When she recovered, she frowned up at him. “You’re not going to treat me like an invalid just because I’m pregnant. How would that look to my employees? I’ll be fine as soon as I have a few crackers.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” He paused at the door and glanced at her. “You going to be this ornery the whole time you’re pregnant?”
She lifted her chin, but couldn’t stop a smile from creeping across her face. “If I want to.”
He smiled back. “You’re just yanking my chain.”
“No reason I should be the only one to suffer,” she told him. “We’re in this together, aren’t we?”
Three long strides brought him back to her side. He placed a hard quick kiss on her forehead. “Forever.”
 
“No peeking.”
“I was just scratching my nose.” Claire lowered her hand from the silk scarf covering her eyes. “I wish you’d tell me what this is all about.”
“You’ll see.”
Jake sounded like an excited little boy on his way to Disney World—which worried her. He usually acted this way when he’d bought her something expensive.
“I thought we were going out to lunch,” she complained.
“We are, to a very special place.”
“Why are you being so secretive?”
“Almost there.”
Two minutes later he pulled into what felt like a driveway and killed the engine. “Ready?”
“I’ve been ready ever since we left the office....” Her voice trailed away as he pulled the scarf from her eyes.
They were sitting in a driveway. A two-story brick house with an endless number of gables loomed before her. The lack of landscaping told her construction wasn’t quite finished. The For Sale sign in the yard had a big Sold banner across it.
Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach.
“Do you like it?” he asked eagerly.
“You bought it?” she somehow asked around the lump in her throat. Surely not. Surely he would tell her he hadn’t actually signed a contract.
“Three days ago. Come on. I want to show you inside.” Jake came around and opened her door.
She didn’t take the hand he held out. “Why?”
“We can’t live at the penthouse with children. The railing on the terrace is entirely too dangerous.”
“Yes, but—” During the three days they’d been back in Denver, they’d gotten along better than they ever had. They worked well together at the office, and they still made fantastic love every night—even though she was already pregnant. She’d just begun to trust him, just begun to think he might actually care for her. Then he went and did something like this.
She cleared her throat. “You didn’t talk to me about buying a house. Don’t you think I’d want a say in where we live?”
He looked genuinely confused. “We did talk about it, the second night we were back. I told you I was going to look for a house because you were so busy and sick. You told me to go ahead.”
She thought back and vaguely remembered him saying something right after they’d made love. “I was half asleep. I thought you meant you’d find a few, and we’d make the decision together.”
Suddenly he looked worried, as if he’d just realized what he’d done. “I probably would’ve, but I had to move quickly. There were other buyers interested. It’s perfect, Claire. It’s only ten minutes from the office, and though there’s not a huge backyard, it’s big enough for kids to play in.” He paused. “I wanted to surprise you.”
She swallowed hard. “Congratulations. You succeeded.”
“I’m sorry. I thought you—” His eyes bleak, he ran a hand back through his hair. “Do you want me to cancel the contract?”
She frowned. “That would probably cost a lot, wouldn’t it?”
“A few thousand dollars. No problem.” He waved away the paltry sum. “But why don’t you look at it first? I think you’ll like it. When I walked in, it felt like you.”
For the sake of a few thousand dollars, she certainly would take a look, and so swung down from the Jeep.
Claire loved the house the minute she walked in the door. Though the rooms were large, they had a casual feel which was very different from the cold formality of the expensively decorated penthouse. The walls were painted in warm earth colors, and the carpet being laid was deep enough to sink into and never be heard from again. It was the kind of house she could see kids running around in.
Jake trailed after her as she silently made her way through the rooms downstairs. He watched her as she looked around, but didn’t say anything until they reached the dining room. On the carpet was spread a white brocade tablecloth. A sumptuous lunch, complete with candelabra and silver serving pieces, waited for them. A bottle of champagne chilled in a silver ice bucket.
“It’s nonalcoholic,” he told her, breaking the silence. “I thought we’d celebrate...” He shrugged.
She turned away. “Let’s look upstairs.”
With a grim face, he led her up the carpeted stairs. “I’ve got a surprise. I had a room decorated. That’s one reason I didn’t tell you before now.”
“Let me guess. You’ve already got a king-size bed in the master bedroom so we can ‘christen’ the house.”
He kissed her quickly when they reached a wide hallway, as if afraid she’d pull away. “Actually, I planned to do that on the tablecloth downstairs. No, this is—” he flung open a door “—the nursery.”
Claire froze. Blue. He’d had it decorated in a soft, baby blue.
She took a few steps in and looked around, her eyes wide, her heart beating dully. A white wooden crib dominated the room that also sported a changing station complete with a sink big enough to bathe the baby, and a cozy corner with a cushioned rocking chair alongside shelves lined with children’s books. Everything was swathed in the same fabric lining the walls.
The kicker, however, was the motif. Baby cowboys dressed only in hats, diapers and boots rode their trusty rocking horse mounts around the waist-high border. They also rode across pillows, comforters and the bumper pad. They even dangled from a mobile above the crib.
Claire wound up the mobile. It played “Happy Trails.”
Finally she turned back to Jake.
He leaned against the doorjamb, but his stance was anything but casual. “So? What do you think?”
Think? She was trying her hardest not to. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she clenched her hands at her sides. “You’ve done a very thorough job, haven’t you?”
“Well, I had a little help. Luckily I found a decorator willing to work around the clock to—”
“Not only have you decided where we’ll live, you’ve decided what sex our baby’s going to be.”
Her cold tone brought a wary look to his dark eyes. “What?”
She swept an arm around the room. “It’s blue, Jake. Blue means a boy.”
“It does?”
“Oh, come on. Everyone knows that.”
“I didn’t. Why should I? I’ve never been around babies, or even people having babies. I never paid any attention to what color you put them in. What did people do back before there was the possibility of knowing beforehand?”
Was it possible he didn’t know? “They decorated in a color other than blue or pink. You must’ve given the decorator some indication, or they would’ve done it in yellow or green or something else.”
He rubbed his chin. “Now that you mention it, he did ask what color I wanted it. When I said blue, he congratulated me. He was a little weird anyway, I just thought...”
“Can’t you see what you’ve done?” Claire’s voice was shaky, but she went on. “You’ve put us back on square one.”
He strode across the nursery and took her hands in his. “Don’t say that. I swear I thought I was helping.”
“I thought you understood I don’t want to be left out of any decision that affects me. But after all we’ve been through, you don’t know anything about me, do you? You haven’t learned a damn thing.”
“Please let me explain. You’ve been working so hard learning the ropes at Pawnee. You’re sick in the morning and tired at night. I feel helpless because I can’t do anything for you. This was something that needed to be done, something I could do. So I did—I thought with your blessing.” He slid his hands up to her shoulders, his eyes desperate. “Say you forgive me, Claire. Say you’ll let me do the things I can to help you. You can’t do everything. You’re damn terrific, but you’re not Super Woman.”
Claire studied his earnest face. He seemed sincere, and she wanted to believe him more than she wanted the sun to rise tomorrow.
Another piece of her independence slipping away.
Then she reminded herself of the vow she’d made their first day at the Bar Hanging Seven. She’d sworn not to push him away like his father had, not to accuse him of trying to control her every movement. She wasn’t doing a very good job keeping her promise, was she?
She still didn’t trust him not to hurt her. How could she when she loved him so much, and he didn’t love her?
But she wanted him to love her, to need her, so it was up to her to teach him what love was. Patience was the key. Patience, and an abiding hope that someday he’d understand.
Sliding her arms around his waist, she leaned into him. “You’ve done a very bad thing.”
His arms tightened around her. “I’m sorry. I was under the impression you knew what I was doing.”
“I know. That’s why I’m not walking out of here right now.”
He lifted her chin. “So you forgive me? You want to keep the house?”
“I shouldn’t give in on this. It’s just rewarding bad behavior.”
“Will it help if I swear I won’t buy any more houses without asking your permission?”
“No. What will help is if you promise to include me in any future decisions that concern me or the baby.”
“I will. I swear.” He gathered her close and kissed her.
She sighed when he pulled away. “This might sound contradictory, but I do want you to help me, Jake. I need your help, and I need you.”
A month ago the intensity on his face would’ve frightened her. “I need you, too, angel. I need you to need me.”
“Do you need me, Jake? Do you really?”
“More than birds need wings to fly.”
As they sealed their declaration with another kiss, a tear escaped Claire’s tightly closed eyes.
She believed him. Progress—at last.
 
At half past six two days later, Jake pushed open the door to Claire’s outside office. “Mrs. Hamby. You’re still here.”

Other books

The Age of Dreaming by Nina Revoyr
Switched by Amanda Hocking
Cast Into Darkness by Janet Tait
El Lector de Julio Verne by Almudena Grandes
The Disciple by Michael Hjorth
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Marrying the Marquis by Patricia Grasso