The Cowboy's Baby: A BWWM Billionaire Cowboy Pregnancy Romance (5 page)

For a moment, Alyssa just stared at him as if he’d grown a second head. Certainly, it was rare that he put his foot down with her. He understood that she was difficult and needed a bit of leeway – but this,
this
he could not abide. They were talking about their baby – his prodigy. Of all the things he’d given up for her – let her have, let her
ruin
– this wouldn’t be one of them.

“
Fuck
you, Danny.” Alyssa’s words came low and swift. “Fuck you, and fuck her. If you want her, I’m more than happy to leave you to it. I don’t have to put up with this shit.” She turned on her heel to stomp back into the house, leaving a nonplussed Daniel in her wake. Cursing lowly, he sank back down into his chair.

What was she going to do now?

He’d seen Alyssa do any number of things when she got riled up. Break vases and plates, scratch up cars, once she even put a golf club through his sixty four inch TV. All of those things could be replaced. Eventually, she’d calm down, and they’d be able to talk somewhat more rationally.

Daniel was taking a calming sip of his beer when, ten minutes later, the Latina waltzed out onto the front porch with two suitcases in tow. His eyes widened as she breezed past him and down the steps toward the gleaming silver Porsche he’d bought her for her last birthday. Immediately, he started after her.

“Alyssa, wait. Honey, please.”

“No Daniel. If you want to be with your little whore, then go ahead.” Alyssa yanked the back door to the car open, stowing her suitcases inside before turning back to him with a deep scowl. “I’m just giving you what you want.”

“She’s not
mine
.” Daniel felt his heart sinking as a sense of helplessness enveloped him. Out of all the stunts that Alyssa had pulled, she’d never walked out on him. Not once. She had to be painfully serious. “She’s having our child, Alyssa. This is important. Maybe the most important thing we’ll ever do.”

“The most important thing
you’ll
ever do.” Advancing on him, the Latina pressed a single finger into his chest, her eyes burning with rage. “
You
wanted this goddamn baby, Daniel. Not me. I’ve listened to you bitch about it for the past year before deciding, out of the goodness of my heart, to appease you. But now, I see you only want to use it as an opportunity to go behind my back. So, take your skank, take you’re sniveling, snot-nosed brat and go directly to hell.”

Her words stabbed like a knife into his chest, twisting so brutally that Daniel was momentarily rendered speechless. She…didn’t want a baby? She’d never even mentioned such a thing to him. He’d been under the impression that she wanted to be a mother – that they were on the same page. But in reality, she’d been lying to him for all these months.

He watched her go, trying to pull in a steady breath and failing. As Alyssa slid into her car before shutting the door soundly and burning rubber, he felt as if the entire world were crumbling down on him.

Alyssa didn’t want to have a baby with him. She never had.

And now she was gone, to who knows where for God knew how long.

In a daze, the rancher sauntered back to his chair to drop into it, taking up his beer once more. He took a swig, the liquid bland in his mouth. What the hell was he going to do now? He was alone in his immense ranch house, now facing the possibility of a child without a mother to raise it. Drawing a hand over his face, he sighed, his chest aching with hollow emptiness.

Fucking Christ.

How was he going to tell Esme?

***

Chapter Three: Filling the Gaps

Christ, it had been a long day.

As she strode out to her car, rubbing her lower back, her breath hissed out between her teeth. She’d been working at Enid’s newest Brazilian steak house for the past three weeks and it wasn’t getting any easier. There was very little room for creative work, of course, and she didn’t try to push such things; but even fitting into the new environment was a struggle.

It took her at least a month to get used to a new restaurant setting – and of course, the head sous chef here was no less odious than the one at her previous place of employment. He liked to take credit for others’ hard work, meaning that her pristine cuts of meat disappeared in the wide valley of his ego. Esme could already sense she wouldn’t be able to stay in this position long. It was mostly prep work – and even that was ruined for her by her domineering supervisor.

It seemed days now lasted far longer than they used to; and though the young woman tried to tell herself that it was because she was disillusioned with her chosen career, there was at least one other thing that she knew must have a huge part in the way she felt.

Pregnancy.

Though Esme thought she’d read a mountain of books and articles to prepare herself for the process the day after she’d been inseminated – which, in and of itself, had been an other-worldly experience – there was nothing she could have done to prepare her for the bevy of changes taking over her body.

It had only been two weeks since she’d been proclaimed officially pregnant, and already, her everything was out of whack. She went through weird mood swings where one moment she wanted to watch a girlie movie and the next she wanted to destroy something. There were times when she couldn’t even
enter
the kitchen – much to her horror – because her newly sensitized nose had a line to her very iffy stomach. Her back ached, her breasts were tender, and worst of all, she was
ridiculously
horny.

Constantly.

Of course, if it had been a while since she’d been laid, Esme always got kind of antsy. She tended to be particular about the men she dated, and even more particular when it came to hopping into bed with someone. One night stands weren’t her thing. Her restaurant shifts usually went too late to allow such a thing anyway.

Even so, she usually found herself woefully disappointed when it came to sex. Perhaps it was just that she waited too long between interludes and found herself painfully unsatisfied when things didn’t meet her expectations, or maybe it was just that her expectations themselves were too high.

Now, sex was pretty much all she could think about.

She found herself eying random men on the street as she ran her errands, thoughts passing through her head so in clandestine that she thought it must be ridiculously obvious what she was fantasizing. Still, she hadn’t been caught yet, so she supposed she should be thankful for that. As the young woman slid into her car, taking a seat behind the wheel, she placed a hand over her flat stomach through the chef’s coat she wore.

It was still hard to believe that she was going to swell up like a balloon. She’d been slender and athletic all her life. Her first nutrition appointment was this Friday, where she was sure she’d be told to give up all the junk food and goodies that she loved in favor of rabbit food. She’d already thrown out all the alcohol in her house, which had been painful enough, but she was pretty sure she was going to fight for her Twinkies.

The appointment would also mark the first time she would see Daniel Hartsford and his girlfriend since the day the paperwork had been signed. The very thought made the young woman’s stomach clench in a mixture of anticipation and uneasiness. It had been bad enough to see the man
before
her hormones had gone haywire. His crystal clear blue eyes, devastating good looks and southern drawl had done things to her she couldn’t have imagined, and ultimately, she’d been glad her job interview had saved her from spending another moment in his presence.

It was clear exactly how Alyssa felt about Esme eying her man – apart from the woman already being a straight up bitch anyway, she was also possessive – and so, of course, Esme had done her utmost to try and stay out of the couple’s affairs – at least, anything that didn’t involve her carrying their child.

At the doctor’s appointment, however, she’d be faced with their dysfunction again; and more poignantly, she’d be faced with Daniel Hartsford himself. It was already all over the news that the man had decided to have a child via surrogate with his partner of three years, but thankfully, very strict privacy contracts kept her out of the spotlight. It wasn’t however, the threat of exposure that worried Esme the most.

It was the fear that her bat-shit insane pregnancy body wouldn’t be able to keep from jumping his bones on sight – right in front of his girlfriend. Could she help it if the man was a long, tall drink of Texan sunshine? He practically oozed allure – from the Stetson cocked at an angle on his head to the stubble she ached to feel against the more tender parts of her body…

What the hell was wrong with her?

The man was in a happy relationship – well, a relationship, at least – and she was just the surrogate! Was she utterly losing her mind? He was a multi-billionaire who could have absolutely anything he wanted and the only reason she was in the picture at all was because he wanted a child.

She had no business being interested in him, even if her pregnancy body was all for it.

Taking a deep breath, Esme closed her eyes, trying to shut out everything from the way her hormones felt to the thoughts swirling desperately in her mind. When she had the doctor’s appointment with Hartsford and his woman, she would be perfectly cordial. She would nod when she was supposed to and take any abuse the bitch could dish out with a smile. After all, she was really doing this for the baby – for it to be born into a healthy family who would surround it with love and affection.

Daniel, she had no doubt, would love the child with every fiber of his being. It was clear in every glance, in every word, that he wanted a child more than anything else in the world. And why shouldn’t he? The man was getting to the age where the desire for family began to weigh down on one – the do or die period.

Whether Alyssa was on the same page or not…she certainly wasn’t making things easy for Daniel…or Esme. The young woman could only hope that Daniel’s desirable dish came around in time for her child to be born. “Or else your mom might be crazy, little bean.” Glancing down at her stomach in the darkness, she spoke lowly to the miniscule life growing within. The moment after she had, she felt as though she
should
feel ridiculous for talking to a child that wasn’t even hers. But when the sensation didn’t come, she merely smiled, rubbing her flat abdomen lightly.

Her moment of Zen was interrupted by her phone buzzing in her pocket. Esme jumped, scrambling to extract the device from where it vibrated against her thigh. “Hello?”

There was a moment of hesitation before a very familiar Texan drawl answered her. “Esme?”

A jolt of immediate arousal shot down her spine, making the young woman sit up ramrod straight as her eyes widened. Of course, she knew that Daniel had her number, and that they were bound to be in contact throughout her pregnancy – but to get a call from him at eleven thirty on a Tuesday night – she hadn’t been expecting it at all.

“Mr. Hartsford!” The words escaped her in a shocked rush before she managed to compose herself, clearing her throat. “Mr. Hartsford, hello. Hi. Yes, this is Esme.”

“How are you?”

At least he was kind enough not to skip the pleasantries. “Fine.” A bundle of raging hormones and crazy cravings, but other than that, she was about as well as could be expected. “Great. Yourself?”

There was another pause – this time long enough to cause her genuine discomfort. “Esme, I actually called you to talk about something fairly important. I’m sorry to contact you so late. I hope I haven’t woken you.”

The young woman arched a brow in surprise. Something important? Did the business mogul have some specific nutrition plan he wanted to go over with her before the doctor’s appointment on Thursday? A supplement he might want to discuss? It struck her as a bit late for that but she supposed a concerned father was a concerned father.

“You haven’t woken me at all. I was just getting off work, actually.”

“Were you?” The man’s voice came back registering slight surprise, and for a moment Esme thought he might be intrigued enough to actually ask her where she worked. Of course, she was disappointed. “Esme, I know it’s a bit late notice, but would you be available to meet for breakfast tomorrow morning? Around nine?”

“Um…sure? I’m alright with that. Is there…some kind of emergency?”

“No emergency. Just something we have to discuss.”

We? ‘We’ as in he and she alone?

The moment the thought crossed Esme’s mind, guilt suffused her. Why on earth would she think that Daniel wanted to see her alone? Of course Alyssa would be coming along. This meeting was probably something of her contriving. The woman certainly seemed demanding enough to bother her beau at close to midnight.

“Ok. No problem.” What else could she say? She certainly couldn’t deny the man – not when his voice sounded like hot, succulent caramel dripping from a spoon.

“How’s Reginald’s Tavern? Off 471?”

One of the most expensive English breakfasts in town. Esme had always wanted to go but had never been able to afford it. Now, Hartsford’s generous stipend gave her more than enough to pay the restaurant a visit. Several, if she chose. “Sounds good to me.” Her hungry belly growled at the fact, and her lips curved as she remembered she was eating for two now.