Expecting the Rancher's Baby? by Kristi Gold

Author:Kristi Gold [Gold, Kristi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488011863
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Ten

He didn’t know why he felt the need to tell her. He didn’t know where to begin. In reality he did know—the day he’d dishonored his dad.

Houston scooted up against the headboard and waited a minute to corral his thoughts before he spoke. “My father called me one night and told me he was under the weather. He asked me to cancel my next event and come home to help out with the ranch. I told him that would mess up my points and I might not make it to the finals. I figured that would be the end of it.”

“But it wasn’t,” Jill said from her place beside him.

“Not by a long shot. He told me I had my priorities screwed up, like he had any right to lecture me on priorities after what he did to my mom and Jen, although I didn’t know about that at the time. Anyway, it’s what I said to him before I hung up that’s been eating away at me for seven years.”

When he paused to take a breath, Jill touched his arm. “You don’t have to continue tonight.”

If he didn’t, he might just keep it bottled up for the next thirty-one years. “No, I want to tell you everything.”

She sat up and tipped her head against his shoulder. “I’m listening.”

He hesitated a second before continuing. “He started lecturing me about responsibilities and how I needed to grow up and be a man, not a boy. Then he said, ‘I love you, son, but I’m not getting any younger. I don’t know how much time I have left.’” A direct quote that had been branded in his brain. “I was so pissed off I told him that with my luck, he’d live forever. He passed away two days later.”

“Oh, Houston, I’m so sorry.”

He sighed. “So am I. Sorry I said it. Sorry I can’t take it back. No matter how many flaws he had, or that he spent a lot of time away from home, when we thought he was away on business, I still loved him. He taught all of us how to rope and ride and tend cattle. He came to our rodeos when he had time. He was stern, but fair, and he told us he was proud more times than I can count.”

“I guess his downfall would have to be falling in love with two women.”

“Three if you count Dallas and Austin’s mom.” He let go a cynical laugh. “I’ve never fallen in love with one woman.” Until now.

The thought sent alarm bells sounding in Houston’s mind. He might care for Jill, but love? Nah. He chalked up the foreign feelings to sex with a woman who’d never been with another man. A great woman who’d trusted him enough to give him what his mother would say was the ultimate gift.

He scooted back down in the bed, taking Jill with him. When he slid his arms beneath her shoulders, she shifted to her side and laid her head on his chest.

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