The Cowboy's Secret Twins

He frowned and tightened his grip on Joey, who wiggled like a little worm. “What do you mean, you didn’t expect me? You came here. You knocked on my door. Who else would you be expecting?” He sat in a chair across from the sofa as Joey leaned his head against his chest. To Henry’s surprise his heart knocked hard.

“I thought I was coming to spend the holiday with a woman I met last year on the computer.” Once again her cheeks warmed with color. “We met in a chat room for single pregnant women and she’s been a wonderful source of support through my pregnancy and single parenting. She goes by the name of MysteryMom. She gave me this address, e-mailed me directions and told me to come here.”

He eyed her suspiciously. The story certainly didn’t have any ring of truth to it. “And how did she find me?”

Melissa raised a hand that trembled slightly to tuck a strand of shiny hair behind her ear. “I don’t know. When we first got close I told her about the blizzard in Rockport and you coming to my rescue. All I knew about you was that your name was James and that you drove a black pickup with a license plate number that started with tin.”

TIN-MAN, that’s what his plate read. An old girlfriend who had proclaimed that he had no heart had dared him to get the personalized plate, and he never backed down from a dare.

“When I first realized I was pregnant,” she continued, “I went back to Rockport and asked around about you, but nobody had any clue who you might be. Somebody tried to kill you.”

He blinked at the unexpected change of topic. “I think it was a warning, not a real attempt on my life. Our current mayor was diagnosed with cancer and has decided to resign. The city council has called an emergency election to be held in two months. I decided to run for the position and somebody apparently doesn’t like my politics.”

James began to fuss, waving his fists in the air and kicking his legs. “They’re hungry,” Melissa said. “If you could just show me to the kitchen, I’ll fix them bottles, then we’ll be on our way.”

“On your way? You can’t leave now,” he protested. “It’s dark and getting later by the minute and I don’t know if the person who fired that gun earlier is really gone from the area.” He stood with Joey in his arms. “You’ll stay here tonight and we can discuss everything further in the morning.”

She stood and gazed at him with somber eyes. “You haven’t even questioned if they’re yours or not.”

For the first time since he’d opened his door to her, he offered her a smile. “They look just like me. They even have my cleft chin. And I know we used no protection that night.”

“I’m not here to cause you any trouble,” she replied.

Henry nodded, although he wasn’t so sure about that. “Let’s go into the kitchen and get those bottles ready,” he said.

Time would tell if she had really been led to his doorstep by some mystery cyber friend or if she was just another woman who had recognized who he was on the night of the blizzard and had found a way to cash in on the Randolf fortune.

Chapter 2

Melissa snuggled down in the bed in a guest room fit for a princess. The twins were sound asleep in an old playpen that Henry had found in the attic. It had been dusted off and the padding covered with a crisp, clean sheet. The boys were clad in their pajamas and sleeping beneath a cashmere throw that was as soft as a cloud.

She’d called Caitlin just to let her friend know that everything was all right and that it hadn’t been MysteryMom’s home she’d come to, but rather the man who was the father of her boys. She’d promised to let Caitlin know everything that happened when she returned home in the morning.

She was exhausted now, but sleep refused to come. The night had been filled with far too many surprises. The first had certainly been the sight of Henry as he’d opened the door. The second had been the bullets that had come precariously close to both her and her babies.

Even after the trauma of the shooting had passed she hadn’t been able to get a read on Henry. He’d said little as he’d helped her bottle-feed the boys. She knew he had to be as stunned to see her as she’d been to see him.

They hadn’t spoken much, just attended to the boys’ needs, then he’d shown her to her room for the night with the promise that they’d talk further in the morning.

She didn’t know what would happen. She had no idea what to expect from him, if he intended to be part of the boys’ lives or not.

She’d resigned herself at the time of their birth to the fact that Joey and James wouldn’t know their real father. At least now she wouldn’t have to tell them the humiliating story of how she’d gotten pregnant by a stranger in a vacant farmhouse during the middle of a snowstorm.

MysteryMom must have somehow traced him with the partial license plate letters Melissa had mentioned. She obviously had resources Melissa didn’t have. If MysteryMom had hoped for some kind of happy ending for Melissa, she was functioning in the world of make-believe.

Despite the intimate night they’d shared, Melissa and Henry didn’t know each other at all. He hadn’t even given her his real name that night.

Certainly he was in a social position to date all kinds of sophisticated, successful women. And the last thing Melissa was looking for was a man in her life.

Tom’s betrayal still burned bright in her heart and if that wasn’t enough, she had two little boys to raise. She didn’t want a man. She didn’t want anything from Henry, except for him to be a father for her boys.

She’d been hoping to spend Christmas someplace where the spirit of the holiday was everywhere. There was no sign of Christmas in the Randolf home and in any case she didn’t belong here.

First thing in the morning she’d be on her way back home to her little apartment and maybe on the way home she’d stop at a discount store and buy one of those little metal trees in celebration of the twins’ first Christmas.

She finally fell asleep and dreamed of that night with Henry in front of the fire he’d built to warm them through the snowy night. The heat of the flames had been nothing compared to the fire in his kisses, the warmth of his hands on her body.

When she woke up bright sunshine drifted through her bedroom window, not the faint light of dawn she was used to, but full sunlight that let her know it was late.

The boys!

She shot up and looked at the playpen. It was empty. She jumped out of bed and yanked on her robe. Henry had gotten her suitcase from the trunk of her car the night before despite her protests that the gunman might still be out there lying in wait for him. She’d held her breath until he was back in the house safe and sound.

Now her breath caught once again in her throat as she raced out of the bedroom and down the grand staircase to the lower level of the house.

She heard voices coming from the formal dining room and headed there, her heart beating frantically as all kinds of irrational fears whirled through her head. She flew into the room and stopped short.

The boys were in their car seats on the polished mahogany wood of the huge table. Henry’s mother, Mary, stood in front of them, shaking a rattle at first one, then at the other as they bubbled with laughter.

“Melissa,” Mary said with a smile that faltered as Melissa sagged against the doorjamb. “Oh, dear, we frightened you, didn’t we?”

“I woke up and they were gone. I wasn’t sure what to think.” Melissa’s heart slowed its frantic pace.

“It was Henry’s idea really,” Mary said. “You looked so tired last night and he thought it would be nice if you got to sleep in a bit this morning. So we sneaked into your room around dawn and grabbed these two little bundles of love and brought them down here. We gave them each a bottle and then I gave them a little sponge bath and changed their clothes. I hope you don’t mind.”

Melissa wanted to be angry that they’d obviously riffled through the diaper bag and taken her boys from their bed. But the look on Mary’s face as she gazed at the twins made it impossible for Melissa to maintain anger. Besides, if she were perfectly honest with herself the extra couple of hours of sleep had been glorious.

“You know, I never thought I’d live to see grandbabies. Henry is quite the confirmed bachelor so I’d resigned myself to the fact that there would probably never be grandchildren.” She smiled at the twins. “But these two are like gifts from heaven.”

Melissa smiled. “You haven’t changed one of their messy diapers yet. That might change your mind about gifts from heaven.”

Mary laughed. “Oh good, you have a sense of humor. I’m so glad. And now if you’ll get dressed I’ll have Etta make you some breakfast. Henry and I have already eaten.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Melissa replied. “I’m not much of a breakfast person and besides, I’d like to get back on the road as soon as possible.” She not only wanted to get back to Amarillo, but she was still determined to stop someplace on the way home and pick up a few things to bring Christmas to her tiny apartment.

At that moment Henry appeared in the opposite doorway. He seemed bigger than life, his presence sucking some of the oxygen out of the air.

He looked like the rugged, handsome cowboy she’d met on the road that night. Clad in a pair of fitted jeans and a flannel shirt that emphasized the width of his broad shoulders, he let his gaze sweep the length of her before he smiled and said good morning. Even though he smiled, his eyes remained shuttered, enigmatic.

Melissa was suddenly aware of the fact that her robe was tatty and frayed and her hair was probably sticking out in every direction. She hadn’t even washed her face before hurrying down the stairs.

“I’m just going to run upstairs and shower. I’ll be right back.”

“When you come back down I’d like to have a talk with you,” Henry said.

She nodded and backed out of the dining room then escaped back up the stairs. There had been an edge in Henry’s tone of voice when he’d said he wanted to talk to her that worried her.

This whole trip had been a nightmare. The unexpected presence of a man she’d never thought she’d see again, bullets splintering a door and now the promise of a conversation she had a feeling she didn’t want to have.