The Cowboy's Baby Bargain. Emilie Rose

had business in town, but the deal fell through.” He stiffened his shoulders and looked away.

      “I’m sorry. Perhaps you could reexamine the situation and approach again from a different angle?”

      He cast her a sideways glance. She glimpsed his crooked smile before he faced forward again. “I’m talking like a self-help book again?”

      “Yep.”

      They came to a corner. He flung his arm in front of her when a car unexpectedly zipped out of a parallel parking space and sped past. The protective gesture sent a warmth through her and not just because his palm briefly touched her belly. Heat transferred through silk like nobody’s business.

      “You’re a regular white knight, aren’t you?”

      A flush climbed from his collar. “No, ma’am. You offered to buy my dinner. Not gonna let you renege on it by getting mowed down.”

      She didn’t believe his blustering for a minute. “You’re full of hooey, Caleb.”

      He thumbed the brim of his hat and winked. “And don’t you forget it.”

      Brooke laughed. The sound surprised her. She’d been so driven and focused on building her career over the last few years she couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed. The realization sobered her.

      “Hey, none of that. You start looking like your dog died again and it’ll put me off my food. I’d hate not to enjoy a free meal.”

      They reached the parking lot and her rented Miata. It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision—the likes of which she never gave into—to rent the tiny, red sports car. Running a hand over the black convertible top, she realized she hadn’t let herself examine the sudden need to be wild and free. It must have something to do with the commitment she’d made. If the insemination succeeded her solo days would be over, and she’d be buying a minivan.

      She needed an antacid.

      “Second thoughts?”

      His deep voice jerked her out of her contemplation. “Of course not. I’ve thought it all out. I know exactly what I’m doing.”

      His brows rose and she cringed in embarrassment. He’d meant dinner, not her decision to become pregnant by an anonymous donor with a perfect set of vital statistics. She scrambled to cover her faux pas. “I really do want to try Texas barbecue.”

      Caleb looked skeptical, but didn’t argue. “Then follow me. If your taste buds will fit in that toy car, bring ’em along.”

      His long athletic stride carried him toward a big, silver pickup. Brooke caught herself ogling his behind and yanked herself back in line. What was wrong with her tonight? It must be that she was nearing ovulation. It couldn’t be that she was considering getting wild and crazy with the cowboy.

      Was she? Of course not. She’d never do something so foolhardy, so spontaneous. She wasn’t the type to take unnecessary risks—even if it would distract her from the clinical procedure she’d undergo tomorrow afternoon.

      She opened her purse and dug out an antacid.

      Two

      Caleb checked the rearview mirror one more time. The little red car still tailed him.

      How long would it take for Brooke—if that was her real name—to come to her senses. Ladies like her didn’t waste time on men like him. She was way out of his league. Everything about her—her walk, her talk, her clothes—reeked of culture, class and education. He, on the other hand had none of the above. His ex had made sure he knew it, and he doubted he’d acquired any in the decade since Amanda had left.

      He wasn’t one to pick up a woman in a bar, but it sure beat the hell out of his original plan of drinking himself into oblivion.

      He’d stopped by the courthouse this afternoon hoping whomever had outbid him on the other half of Crooked Creek ranch wouldn’t show up with the cash by the five o’clock deadline. As second highest bidder he’d then buy the property by default, and his debt to his family would finally be repaid. The clerk had told him he’d missed the new owner by minutes. The deed had been signed, sealed and delivered, killing his chance to regain his family’s land.

      He’d already waited ten years. How in the hell long would it take to get this monkey off his back?

      He hit his blinker, indicating the restaurant, and pulled into the well-lit gravel lot. The timber building didn’t look like much, but they served the best barbecue in all of McMullen County, Texas, behind those faded gray doors. He ate here whenever he had business in the county seat.

      Climbing out of his truck, Caleb shoved his keys into his pocket when common sense told him he should’ve been starting the hour’s drive home. Brooke parked beside him. He circled her tiny car and opened her door. When she swung her legs out his mouth went dry. She wasn’t wearing stockings. He had to tamp down the urge to stroke her from ankle to thigh to see if her skin felt as silky as it looked. He settled for taking her hand and pulling her from the low seat. Her grip was strong, but her palms were soft. The sight of her deep pink nails wrapped around his fingers set off internal alarm bells.

      His ex-wife had been big on manicures, although she’d preferred fire-engine red on her talons. She used to do some pretty amazing things to him with her nails. ’Course, that had been before she’d discovered he wasn’t made of clay and that she couldn’t bend him into the man she’d wanted him to become. When she discovered he had a backbone, she’d packed up and left. Her leaving had caused one heck of a lot of problems back home—problems he’d continue wrestling evidently since somebody else still held the deed to his land.

      Brooke smiled up at him, reminding him that her legs weren’t her only asset. She was long and lean, but curved in all the right places. Her eyes were as green as the stock pond on a hot summer day and just as deep. A man could fall in and not want to come out. Short blond hair cupped her chin and framed a face pretty enough to be on the cover of a magazine. Her skin was smooth and pale, as if she didn’t spend much time outdoors—another sign they had nothing in common.

      It was probably the moonlight making her so beautiful—combined with the fact that he hadn’t had sex in longer than he could remember. He’d learned the hard way not to get involved with locals, and he rarely had the time or money to stray far from Crooked Creek.

      He let go of Brooke’s hand and ran a finger under his collar when what he really needed to do was adjust his undershorts. His mind was taking detours and his body seemed happy to follow. Another minute of that trip and his jeans would cut off circulation to some vital parts.

      “What a quaint place.” A soft smile curved Brooke’s lips.

      He wondered if she was insulting the weathered building, but that didn’t sound like sarcasm coming from her lips. His mind shifted to far better ways of passing the time with a beautiful woman, ways that didn’t involve the width of a table or even a sliver of silk between them. Reining in his stampeding hormones took more effort than it should have.

      She’d invited him to dinner. End of story. It was her birthday and she was lonely. He’d decided to accept her invitation because it meant delaying the inevitable of having to look his father and brother in the eye and tell them he’d failed them again. If he’d seen the flare of something more in Brooke’s eyes a time or two it didn’t mean he’d act on it. For crying out loud, he was thirty-eight not eighteen.

      Tell that to his shorts.

      She tipped her head back, studied the starry sky and inhaled deeply. “What a beautiful night.”

      “Yep.” He turned toward the restaurant and tried to deny the desire to taste her soft mouth and feel her slender body beneath his. Having the width of the table between them looked better all the time. As long as he didn’t touch her again he’d be able to corral his urges. He hoped the smell of southern cooking would soon replace the smell of sweet woman in his nostrils.

      An