Baby's First Christmas. Laura Marie Altom

fatherhood, a woman you only met once, your worst fears realized, telling your brother—” She paused. “I can’t decide which of those nerves of yours is most rattled.”

      “You may have a point.” He rubbed his chin. “I don’t know how to act. Mainly, I don’t want you to go away before I get to know you better. That’s my biggest worry now.”

      He meant it, even if sounded silly. How could he do the right thing for her, and for his children, unless he knew who Jessie Farnsworth really was?

      “These kids of mine are going to matter to me a lot,” he said gruffly. “I know you’ve got a busy life, but…marry me, Jessie.”

      Chapter Seven

      An offer of marriage from Zach was the last thing Jessica had expected from him. Her heart took a dizzying leap. If only it were that easy.

      “I know you’re not the marrying kind,” he said, “but we could probably work out a satisfactory arrangement.”

      She blinked. “Arrangement?”

      “Yeah. I don’t know what. But something we could both live with.”

      The front door opened, and they moved away from each other. Duke walked in, sleet spilling off his hat. “Howdy,” he said to Zach. “Well, hello, Jessie.”

      “Hi, Duke,” she said, sending a worried glance Zach’s way. Her composure had deserted her with the marriage proposal. Surely he hadn’t been serious!

      Yet a secret part of her wondered what marriage to Zach might be like.

      “Hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Duke said. “Liberty says she needs some bolts of plastic covering she stored in one of the barns. I’m not sure which one. Hellish weather to search four barns but at least you made it in before the storm, Jessie. I heard the roads were freezing up just east and north of Tulips. It’s on its way here.”

      Zach frowned. “Plastic covering?”

      “Yeah. There should be several rolls of it. Big enough to cover the carpet in a wedding chapel.”

      “I never saw bolts of plastic,” Zach said.

      “You don’t go into all the barns regularly,” Duke said. “Jessie, you look well. Are you in for a couple of days?”

      She shook her head. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

      Duke looked from Jessie to Zach. “Well, good to see you all the same. I’m off to root around out there.”

      “No!” Zach crammed a hat on his head and pulled his keys from his pocket. “I’ll look. You stay here and keep Jessie company.”

      Duke looked bemused. “I don’t think I should do that, Zach. I believe she came to see you.”

      Zach nodded. “That’s true. So I’ll just head off now and do that looking around for you. I’ll call you if I find any of the plastic. In the meantime, grab some soup off the stove and try to warm up.”

      Duke looked at him. “Hell, Zach, you wouldn’t have even known I was at the ranch if I hadn’t walked in. Just pretend like you don’t know I’m on the property and go on doing what you were doing.” Duke turned to leave. “You’re acting nuttier than a Christmas fruitcake, which, by the way, the ladies whipped up for us. Full of pecans and things. Be sure to stop by my office and have a bite, Jessie. The Gang can cook for certain, and this is the time of year when they really get their aprons on. Our neighboring-town baker, Valentine, has challenged them to a poppyseed cake bake-off, and that’s a holiday snack I look forward to.”

      Zach slid out the door while his brother was completing his polite goodbye to her. Jessie looked at Zach’s retreating back, surprised. “He definitely doesn’t want you to get chilled,” she told Duke.

      “He is one strange apple that fell off our family tree. If I didn’t know better, I’d think there was something in one of the barns he didn’t want me to see.”

      “Oh,” Jessie said. “I thought strange was his normal behavior.”

      “I can see why you’d think that.” Duke sighed. “Come on. I can’t leave you here alone, though my brother has no manners. You can sit in my nice warm truck while we search. Who would want to get married the first week in December, anyway?” he grumbled, holding Jessie’s elbow as she walked so she wouldn’t slip.

      Jessie shook her head. “Liberty’s brave to handle gowns and wedding details. I’d be too worried to have brides as my clientele.”

      They got in Duke’s truck. “Zach says you do makeup for conventions of women. That sounds just as challenging as brides. Women in search of beauty would terrify me.”

      Jessie smiled. “Female dreams aren’t scary. Really, they’re not. Females want what males want.”

      “I’ve only been married a couple of months and haven’t figured that out yet,” Duke said with a chuckle. “What the hell?” Stopping the truck, he shone the brights into the barn, which Zach had obviously reached at a breakneck speed.

      Jessie squinted into the darkness. “Looks like a whole lot of plastic wrap covering something big.” She got out of the truck and followed Duke.

      Zach was busily tucking the plastic onto a large roll, while diligently keeping his back to whatever object he was removing the plastic from.

      “What the hell?” Duke asked. “You didn’t use Liberty’s wedding aisle-covering stuff, did you, Zach?”

      “Quite by accident,” Zach said. “You two go on back to the house and get warm. I’ll be done in a jif and bring this plastic with me.”

      “Yeah, but what the hell you used it for is what I want to know,” Duke said, approaching Zach. But Jessie already knew.

      “My car!” she said. “You jerk, you never got it repaired.” Anger flooded her. “Which means it was never broken in the first place.”

      “Well,” Zach said, and he would have said more, but Jessie turned away so she wouldn’t slap the excuse right out of his mouth before he could tell her any more lies.

      She got into Duke’s truck without saying a word. Duke also got in, leaving the plastic wrap behind, and silently started the engine. Unable to stop herself, Jessie peeked at Zach. He stood forlornly in front of her car, which was still half-covered with wrap. Sleet began pelting the roof of the truck and bounced off the barn roof.

      “Storm’s coming in,” Duke said gently. “I’m sure not making excuses for my brother, but you don’t want to drive that pretty car in this weather, anyway. It’s not good for a convertible.”

      She was too mad—and too hurt—to speak.

      Duke sighed. “I’ll drive you into Pansy’s. One of the old gals would just love to put you up for the night. Or longer. They’ll pamper you thoroughly.”

      She nodded. He turned the truck around, leaving Zach.

      “I’d like to say something good about my kid brother—”

      “You should arrest that car thief, Sheriff.” The words came out a whole lot more bitter than she wanted them to sound.

      “I never considered that,” Duke said. “You have a point. But you don’t really want him locked up, do you?”

      She sighed. “He’d just get on your nerves while you tried to work.”

      “Are you sure you don’t know my brother very well?”

      Well enough to be having children with him. “Better than I’d like to, at this point.”

      “When the weather clears and it’s safe for you to drive out from the ranch, I’ll make certain Zach gets your car to you, in complete working