Adrienne deWolfe - [Wild Texas Nights 03] by Texas Wildcat

Author:Texas Wildcat [Wildcat, Texas]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

That night was perhaps the longest one of Zack's life. He didn't dare close his eyes, even after his and Bailey's watch ended, despite his lack of sleep the night before. He sat grimly gulping a fresh batch of coffee, watching Bailey snooze beneath the diamond field of the Texas sky. Her ability to rest so peacefully while he was wound tighter than an eight-day clock only fueled his brain's fever. He worried she was biding her time, waiting for an opportunity to sneak off and find herself some dastardly mistletoe or cotton plant. Hell, just about any green, leafy thing looked dangerous to him now.

After all her talk about not wishing a tainted name on anyone, he was convinced she would do something rash. Maybe not now, maybe not even tomorrow. But the day would come soon. She knew what it was like to suffer the sins of the parents, so it only made sense she would try to rid herself of his seed.

Zack didn't see things like she did, though. He couldn't pretend to understand the unkindnesses she'd suffered at her mother's hands, but since he'd grown up missing the love of any parent, Bailey was going to have a heap of trouble convincing him that being born was worse than not being born at all.

Cord, Aunt Lally, and Uncle Seth had done their best to raise him, and Zack liked to think he'd turned out pretty well. He knew firsthand that other kinds of love could make up for the lack of love from a mother or father. He wasn't saying Cord's love had made the hurt any easier, but a child could overcome the obstacle and turn out stronger for it.

Besides, he wanted his child. He wanted to be a good father too. The very idea of Bailey rejecting his proposal while McTavish lurked on her property, wearing her down day after day with his own offers of marriage, made Zack crazier than a locoed calf. He actually considered the idea of stampeding Bailey into a shotgun wedding. He just wished he could remember a single instance when the groom had dragged the bride to the altar, not the other way around.

The scrabbling of loosened pebbles stole his attention away from Bailey. Setting down his cup, he strained his eyes and ears to pierce the pervasive shadows of cliff and trees. Daybreak was no more than an indigo streak in the inky blackness of the east, and he had to rely on his instincts more than his senses to search for threats beyond the firelight.

The breathless hush of pre-dawn wrapped around him like a mantle. The silence rolled on, broken only by the splash of water over limestone. He wasn't entirely at ease, though, and he found himself rising with his rifle, if for no other reason than to walk off his agitation. After all, Rob and his hound were up on the cliff, keeping their eyes peeled for cougars, coyotes, and desperadoes. Zack might

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