Rodeo Nights by Patricia McLinn

Author:Patricia McLinn [McLinn, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Romance, Contemporary Romance
ISBN: 9780373099047
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 1994-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

* * *

“PREGNANT?” SHE WHISPERED , not ready to face the second part of what he’d said.

“Carrying my baby,” he said roughly, still focused on the bit of leather in his hands. “That time you were late. The week before...”

The week before Cory Lloyd had been killed in the rodeo arena, riding bulls. Competing with his best friend in the world, Walker Riley.

She drew in a breath, hoping it would steady her. But it only allowed a muffled sob to escape, and Walker looked at her for the first time.

He was on his feet, before her in an instant. The leather slipped to the dusty floor of the barn, forgotten, as he swore under his breath, wiped his hands on his jeans, then took her face between his hands.

“God, Kalli, don’t cry. I didn’t mean to make you cry. Not ever.”

He wiped away the trail of moisture with the side of his thumb, the rough skin softened by the infinite gentleness in the touch.

“It’s okay, Walker. It’s okay. It’s just that I didn’t know... I didn’t know...”

“You didn’t know what, Kalli?”

Within his hold, she shook her head.

“I thought— I didn’t think you’d even remember that. It was just a few days. And...and you didn’t want a baby.”

“Didn’t want a baby,” he repeated woodenly.

“I thought you were glad when it turned out I wasn’t pregnant.”

He laughed, a grating sound that matched the harsh lines of his face. But his hands stayed gentle as he dropped them to her shoulders.

“Glad? Glad to see you crying because for those few days, you’d been dreaming and planning, talking up a storm about our baby, then found out there wasn’t one?”

“I’m sorry, Walker. I’m sorry. But you never said– You never told me.”

“I never told you a lot of things.” With the barest hint of pressure, his hands guided her to the bale of hay and induced her to sit. He dropped down beside her. His hands curved around her upper arms as they faced each other, knees bumping, but neither bothering to pull away. “Like I was scared spitless.”

“But, why would you—”

A jerk of his head stopped her question. “And if we’re being honest here, yeah, I got to admit that, mixed in with all the other feelings when we found out you weren’t pregnant, there was a sliver of relief that I wasn’t going to be revealed as a horse’s rear end quite so soon. Hell, I didn’t admit it to myself for a couple of years, but it’s the truth.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You were thrilled with the idea of being a mother, flying up there with the eagles. And you expected me to feel the same about being a father, but I didn’t know squat about it.” His hands dropped from her. He rested his forearms on his thighs as he stared straight ahead. “My own father’d been dead so long, I only had vague memories and some family stories. What did I know about being a father, having a family? A family! God, I was going to have a family to provide for and that scared me even more.

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