Coming Home to Texas. Victoria Chancellor

is that you marched in here demanding that we get married on your terms. You didn’t even let me be happy about seeing you again before you were telling me your plans and expecting me to play this minimalist role of husband and father.” He pushed his plate aside and leaned closer. “Well, Jodie Marsh, maybe that’s not what I want. Did you ever think of that? Did you ever consider that I might have other plans?”

      She sat back in her chair, feeling as if the floor had shifted beneath her. When they’d first met, she hadn’t considered Travis’s life much at all. She’d never asked him personal details, such as if he had someone back in Texas. Because he’d been so hot for her, she’d assumed he was unattached. “Oh, God. Do you already have a fiancée? A serious girlfriend?”

      Travis laughed. “Relax and finish your dinner, Jodie. You’re eating for two now.”

      “That’s an old wives’ tale. And you didn’t answer my question.” Still, she took a bite of tender chicken and followed it with some potato salad.

      “No, I don’t have a fiancée or a serious girlfriend. What would be the point of getting engaged? I already told you I’d never planned to marry.”

      “Then you never wanted children?”

      A look of pain, maybe regret, passed over his face, but it was gone before she could wonder too much about his past. The one he didn’t want to discuss.

      “I have friends with children. I have a sister who has a son. If I feel the urge to be around the little monsters, I have opportunities.”

      “You think all children are monsters?” she asked.

      “No, I was just joking. I’m actually quite good around them. I can even change diapers.”

      “You have me beat, then, because I don’t have the foggiest idea how to care for a baby.” She took another forkful of food while she waited for him to chide her for being unprepared. “Although I do like children.”

      “No brothers or sisters? No nieces or nephews?”

      Once again he’d surprised her by not rubbing her nose in her inadequacies. “I have a younger sister, Chelsea, who is twenty-seven. My mother divorced when I was three and never remarried.”

      Travis nodded. “I have nothing against children, but since I’d never planned to marry, I didn’t think the opportunity would arise. Also, I like my freedom. I take jobs I want, I travel quite often and I have my ranch to keep me from being bored. I don’t think I’d make a good candidate for a single dad, in the unlikely event I decided to adopt. Which I’ve never seriously considered.”

      “Sometimes nature takes over and we become better parents than we could have imagined.”

      “I’ve heard that. I’ve also seen parents who tried awfully hard and were terrible at the job.”

      “I’m not going to be terrible. I’m going to be a terrific mom. I’m going to ask my mother how she raised such a great kid—namely, me—and then follow her example.”

      Travis laughed. “All that and modest, too.”

      “Darn right.”

      She looked down at her plate and saw that she’d eaten all of her chicken and potato salad, along with a handful of grapes. She and Travis had been talking so intently that she’d been oblivious.

      “Did you have time to unpack?” he asked as he reached for her plate.

      “I don’t mind living out of my suitcase. I’m used to it.”

      “Jodie, why don’t you unpack? You’re going to be here awhile.”

      “I am?”

      “Well, aren’t you going to try to talk me into getting married? Or have you changed your mind?”

      She shook her head. “No. But like I mentioned, I’m on a really tight schedule. I’m counting down nine months!”

      “Giving me a week or so isn’t going to make any difference.”

      “It might!”

      “Jodie, given the fact that we’re both tall and not skinny, I don’t think this baby is going to be a tiny little thing. We’re not going to pass it off as premature.”

      “Well…”

      “Just unpack, relax and enjoy a short vacation in Ranger Springs. Get to know the people. Get to know me.”

      “So I’m supposed to relax while you make the most important decision of my life?”

      “That’s right.”

      “How about you go ahead and decide, then we can both relax?”

      “I’m going to defy my basic nature and not rush into this decision.”

      “You were willing to rush into my hotel suite in Monte Carlo!” she exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him. Probably not the smartest move when she was still trying to get his compliance, but she could only take so much baiting.

      “That was…different.”

      “Make an exception!”

      “About getting married? I can’t do that, no matter how much I like and respect you.”

      “You…you like me?”

      “Of course I like you. Do you think I sleep with women I can’t stand?”

      “No, but—”

      “Even though I like you, I can’t just jump into marriage. I have to think this through.”

      “What do you want, legal agreements? No problem. I’ll have my lawyers draw up a prenuptial. I’ll make whatever promises you need if you’ll just cooperate.”

      “Give me some time, Jodie. I want to do what’s best for all of us.”

      “I know what’s best! I’ve already explained what we need to do and why.”

      “No, Jodie. You know what’s best for your career. I’m talking about our lives and the life of our baby.”

      AFTER THE MEAL, Travis excused himself, saying he had some chores. In truth, he just needed to get away. Away from Jodie’s tempting presence. Away from his chaotic thoughts. Since she’d arrived back in his life a few hours ago, she’d turned his thinking completely around. His future now included a child—and possibly a wife.

      But for how long? Jodie said she expected their marriage to be “temporary.” He didn’t like the sound of that. In his opinion, temporary items tended to be inferior in quality and comfort.

      He liked to build things to last.

      Fortunately the showers had stopped shortly after Jodie arrived. The ground was soft, the dry winter grass slick with rain, but not enough to keep him indoors. He saddled one of the horses he’d purchased from Hank several months ago, glad he had the acres and the time to ride. There was something about being in the saddle that cleared his head, centering him in this suddenly mixed-up world.

      His favorite spot was only a fifteen-minute ride away, just over a small hill and around a stand of pecan and live oak trees he hadn’t yet thinned. He’d have to do that later in the year for firewood. Using a chain saw and a hatchet was right up there with chest thumping for manly pursuits.

      At the base of the hill was a small swimming hole formed by the springs for which the town was named back in the 1880s when a Texas Ranger was shot by outlaws. According to local lore, a widow living nearby had nursed him back to health using water from the spring.

      Travis wasn’t sure whether the story was true or not, but the spring was a refreshing relief from the summer heat. On this cool, late winter day, he wouldn’t be swimming, but he still liked to visit the spot where the water bubbled up from the underground aquifer and ran out into the stream that bisected the town.