Coming Home to Texas. Victoria Chancellor

Should he marry Jodie—even temporarily? The idea didn’t set well with him. He and Jodie needed to find a compromise, but all she wanted was a temporary husband to satisfy her contract.

      He didn’t want to be anyone’s disposable husband. But did he want to be a permanent part of Jodie’s life when he’d sworn he’d never marry again?

      Chapter Three

      Jodie spent some time soaking in the big bathtub in Travis’s guest suite, wondering where he’d gone so suddenly after the early dinner he’d served her. It had been dark for several hours and he hadn’t returned. Should she go looking for him? Call someone? Where would she report a missing rancher? Dialing 9-1-1 seemed extreme when the man in question was probably just avoiding further discussion of their situation.

      She sighed and decided the water was too cool to stay in any longer. She rose from the tub, then went through her nightly ritual of brisk towel-drying and moisturizing. Her skin was one of her best features. She took very good care of her assets.

      After dressing for bed in a short gown and longer robe, she wandered into the bedroom. She wasn’t used to having so much free time. She should have picked up a new novel to read, but she hadn’t been thinking clearly. She’d just impulsively booked a flight to Texas to talk to Travis.

      The father of her baby.

      “Could you want to be a daddy, Travis?” she murmured as she looked out the window. There were lights in the barn, but she didn’t know if they were automatic or if it meant someone was working in there. If Travis was there, avoiding her.

      The house was so quiet that she turned on the small CD player she found in the entertainment cabinet. After searching through several country-western stations, she located one that played some generic sort of easy listening. Curled up in a chair where she could see the barn, she let the tension drain out of her as the music flowed in. She shouldn’t be sleepy, but she was, perhaps because of the time zone change, perhaps because of the pregnancy.

      Outside the window, a branch from a tree swayed in the night wind. She felt the hypnotic pull, aware that she was drifting off, but not caring at the moment. She was safe and warm, she’d presented her plan to Travis, and all she could do was wait for him to agree.

      TRAVIS REMOVED HIS BOOTS in the mudroom, walked quietly over the cold slate floors, then toward the master bedroom. Before he went looking for Jodie, he needed a shower and a change of clothes.

      He hadn’t found solace at his favorite spot, but he had been able to think while he’d cleaned out stalls. His barn now sported the cleanest floors, the most spotless feed buckets and the neatest tack room in the entire Hill Country.

      And he’d come to some conclusions. He needed to throw out his vow to never marry again. Jodie had presented him with the one reason that would get him back to the altar—a child. He wouldn’t have married for companionship or sex or any other reason since he could have all those things without the problems a wife represented. His past experience had made him associate marriage with manipulation, frustration and disappointment. But that was marriage based on love—or more accurately, two people who thought they were in love. He and Jodie didn’t suffer from that delusion. If they married, it would be for sound, logical reasons.

      He stripped quickly and eased beneath the warm water, grateful that he’d installed a top-of-the-line shower stall with multiple jets of water to soothe tired muscles. Big enough for two. Not that he expected Jodie to open the glass door and join him, but that was exactly how their baby had been conceived.

      Thinking back, he even knew the date. January fourth. He counted forward nine months. That meant their child would be born around October first. By Halloween, he could get one of those cute costumes for the baby. By Christmas, he’d have a son or daughter to buy gifts for. The idea was mind-boggling, nearly surreal, since Jodie looked exactly the same as she had when they’d first met.

      He certainly hadn’t planned on having children—since he’d sworn never to marry again—but now it was almost all he could think about. Unlike his own father, he wanted to be a dad who changed diapers and took his child to the mall and read stories to him at night.

      Would Jodie try to exclude him from their baby’s life, just as she’d tried to make all the decisions about their relationship? Their marriage?

      He showered quickly, dried off and dressed in comfortable sweats. The house was silent as he made his way down the hall. The few lights on automatic timers revealed no sign of his guest. She hadn’t been in the kitchen, or if she had, she was one neat person. Not a glass or spoon was out of place.

      He silently climbed the steps. Walking softly in his socks, he paused outside the guest bedroom. The faint sound of music filtered through the thick oak door. He knocked softly.

      She might be sleeping. He’d heard that pregnant women needed lots of naps and a good night’s sleep. If so, he didn’t want to bother her. But the urge to check on Jodie, to make sure she was comfortable, overwhelmed his need to respect her privacy—and his good sense. He slowly turned the knob and eased open the door.

      By the soft glow of an accent lamp, he saw her curled up in a chair beside the window. Her feet rested on an ottoman and she’d hugged her arms around herself, tugging her robe tight. She should be wrapped in a soft throw or blanket, but she hadn’t taken the time to do so before she’d fallen asleep.

      He leaned down and looked out the window. She’d been watching the barn, he realized. Was she worried about him? Had she thought he’d gone off and deserted her?

      He should have been more forthcoming about where he was going and how long he would be gone. He should have been more thoughtful, but he wasn’t used to having someone around. He’d had a few guests beside his sister Kate and her family, but no one else had ever lived in this house. He’d designed and built it after his divorce, when he’d moved to Ranger Springs to escape life in the city.

      There was usually no one around to wonder what he was doing in the barn or to worry about him working through meals in his studio or to care whether he stayed out late at Schultze’s Roadhouse. And he liked it that way, he reminded himself.

      He pulled a soft throw from the bench at the foot of the bed and draped it over Jodie. She stirred but didn’t awaken. He tucked the ends around her feet and she opened her eyes.

      “Travis,” she sighed. Her husky, sexy voice invaded his mind and body like a mild electric current, putting him on alert. This was no time for sexual desire or any feelings that would sidetrack him. His focus would stay on what he had to say, because he had to make Jodie understand his position.

      “You must be tired,” he said.

      “I’m blaming it mostly on the time zone changes.”

      “I’m thinking it has something to do with the baby.”

      “Could be,” she murmured as she stretched. “Other than being a little more tired than usual, I haven’t noticed any changes.”

      “No morning sickness?”

      “No. I’ve been lucky.”

      “I’m glad. That doesn’t sound like fun. I remember listening to my sister Kate and Kerry Jacks talk about their pregnancies. I thought then that pregnancy would be really tough on women who worked outside the home.”

      “I sure wouldn’t want to have a lot of assignments, especially if I had to fly, if I were sick every morning.”

      “You’ll be cutting back on your assignments now, right?”

      “Very soon. Even though I’m plus size, a round tummy is going to show. I’ll probably stick with chest-high shots and my cosmetics obligations through the pregnancy.”

      “But you won’t be working all the time, will you?”

      “No, of course not.”

      “Because I want you to take care of yourself