The Cowboy's Pregnant Bride

“You got a mind of your own at college.”

“I did. My mom was really into art, and among other things, she’d given me an appreciation for it, too. So I majored in art history, maybe to feel close to her more than anything, since her death was still pretty fresh, then decided that I wanted to work with children through the arts.” She stopped, and brought her explanation back on topic. “Anyway, I started to date other men—regular guys, some who didn’t have a penny to their name. But, what do you know, I finally met someone my mother would’ve highly approved of.”

Much to Annette’s surprise, Jared went ahead and fixed the drape canopy over the bassinet—something that she had expected him to save for her. “He was Mr. Right. Right?” he said.

“Ultimately, I came up with a few other choice names for Brett besides ‘Mr. Right,’ but at that point, I thought that’s what he was. The perfect man for me. He was charming, could talk for hours about what we both enjoyed and he was friendly to everyone. His family just happened to be rich, and he was a star athlete. He courted me in a whirlwind, and when he proposed, I said yes.”

Jared slowly fixed the ruffled skirt to the bottom of the bassinet. “Then you got pregnant.”

He had that tone of voice again—almost as if he was mired in something so deep and thick that he couldn’t make his way out of it.

Almost as if, once upon a time, he’d had his heart torn out of him just as thoroughly as hers had been.

As Jared waited for her to answer, he stood and parted the drape canopy of the bassinet. With every piece of baby furniture he’d seen today there came figments of imagination—a little girl in this frilly cradle, in the bath, in the room where Annette’s child would soon be coddled by Bambi blankets and with as much love as a mother could give.

But that baby would have only half of a family, just as he’d made sure his own girl had, before she’d found a whole one with another man.

He’d never seen Melissa in those cute baby outfits with footsies attached to them. He’d never given her a bath. He hadn’t even been there when she was born because that had been the role of her new father, and Jared had stayed away, knowing that he wasn’t welcome. And knowing that he didn’t even deserve any part in her life, after he’d chosen his one true love—the rodeo—over everything else.

So why had he stuck around here today, putting things together for Annette if it was so painful?

The answer was easy: he kind of liked that he knew her secret and that he was even a teeny, helpful part of this baby’s life, putting together his or her first furniture.

It even made him feel as if, for a fantasy-filled moment that would never materialize, he was a kind of family man who had atoned for his mistakes.

Maybe that’s why he’d started tossing questions Annette’s way when he’d never done much of that before.

“Didn’t your fiancé want the baby?” he asked now as he rested his hand on the rim of the bassinet. “Why would he have married you if he didn’t want a family?”

“I never told him about the baby.” Annette slid down the wall until she came to the shag carpet, seeming exhausted just at the thought.

Jared wanted to pull her close to him, ease his hand down the hair that she’d worn long today. Even in her khaki pants and loose sweater, she still possessed that higher-class vibe that had struck him much earlier. Now he knew the reason.

If he’d thought she was out of his league before, there was no denying it now. To think—a rodeo bum and a woman who had an art history degree.

What a pair.

“Why didn’t you tell him about the pregnancy?” he asked.

“I was going to. I thought he’d be just as happy as I was, but then...” She shook her head. “I took the pregnancy test right before the wedding ceremony. I hadn’t done it before because everything was in such chaos—dress fittings, last-minute details, rehearsal dinners. By the time the big day rolled around, I realized that... Well, I had an idea something was different about me.”

He supposed she’d missed her period and was just too much of a lady to say it in front of him.

“Then what happened?” he asked.

“I ignored what everybody always says about keeping the bride and groom away from each other before the ceremony. It’s supposed to be bad luck if you see one another at that point, right? But I rushed to his dressing room, anyway.” She fidgeted with the edge of her sweater. “He wasn’t alone.”

Jared tensed up.

Annette noticed. “I see you guessed it. I wasn’t the only member of the bridal party who was saying ‘I do’ that day. And the worst part of it was that she was a friend. A good one, I thought.”

“Annette...”

“No, don’t be sad for me.” She tugged down the sleeves of her sweater, wrapping her hands in them, making her appear more soft and vulnerable. “Something came over me at that moment, just as she was fixing her dress and he was telling her to get out. I knew deep down that I could never love him after that. I felt stupid because I’d never even guessed he’d do something so awful.”

“You’re not stupid.”

“Okay, maybe ignorant is the better word because I never had all the information I needed about him. Looking back, I should’ve known that he was staying out late for more than oil company meetings with his family. Or that he was taking midnight calls in his study from more than business partners. Maybe I didn’t want to believe anything was wrong and I ignored the details.”

Jared couldn’t believe any man could be so idiotic as to play a woman like Annette. But maybe Casey, his ex-wife’s husband, had thought something similar about him.

Annette said, “I called the wedding off then and there. Turns out that Brett didn’t have the same conclusion in mind.”

“He wanted to go through with it, even after that?”

“Yes. He actually tried to justify himself. He told me that his father had been doing it for years and his mom didn’t seem to mind. ‘Everyone does it,’ he said. It was all very Kennedy-esque.” She laughed shortly. “Then there was the topper—he tried to apologize for me seeing him in the act.”

It struck Jared that she had a maturity that went beyond her years. Maybe that came with the class she carried, even in a small-town waitressing uniform.

“I imagine,” Jared said, “that you put him in his place.”

“I did.” Her face went pink, but she didn’t add any more.

Something about her reaction made a protective streak flash through him, but when she got to her feet before he could go over to help her up, he realized that Annette didn’t need any help from anyone.

And that was fine by him, seeing as how knowing this much about her lent him a sense of responsibility that hadn’t been there before. It was a strange feeling for a man who’d never wanted any of it in his life.

She strolled over to the bassinet, just as if she hadn’t revealed anything about herself to him. “You did a great job. Thank you so much for everything.”

“It was nothing.” But that wasn’t true. This afternoon had been something.

When she smiled up at him, it was as if his bones turned to hot water, which was apt considering that, if he got too much deeper into her, that’s what he’d be in.

Hot, scalding, bubbling water that was likely to strip him bare.

“You have that journal with you?” she asked.

“It’s in my coat pocket.”

“Mind if I read it while you see to the garden?”

“Not at all.” He absently stroked the whiskers on his chin. “There’s something I was going to mention about that garden, though.”

“What?”

“I’m afraid I’ll make a mess of it.”

She widened her gaze. “How much of a mess?”