Baby's First Christmas. Laura Marie Altom

curves had bewitched him, and all of her attitude set off raging emotions inside him.

      Duke must have felt just this way about Liberty.

      He had never wanted to be like Duke, despite the fact that, to him, his sheriff brother was pretty much a hero in all ways. If not a hero, then a major example of what a good man should be.

      But he’d never wanted to be out-of-his-mind wild over a woman, and he sure as hell had never wanted to get one pregnant out of wedlock.

      That would spell commitment for certain, and he hated everything about the sound of that particular word.

      “I’ve been seeing twins,” he murmured, going for jackass and making it pretty well, he thought. That should run her off quicker than wildfire, which he needed her to do if he was going to escape this growing dilemma and the future his brain was imagining.

      “I don’t care,” she said, laughing, “if you’re dating triplets. Or quadruplets.”

      He scratched his chin, noticing she wasn’t leaping out of the back seat. In fact, they felt rather companionable together, their legs stretched out along the soft leather. She fit him very well. “Got a sister?” he asked, trying to save himself.

      She gave him a thorough eyeing. “Really working those issues, aren’t you?”

      She wasn’t falling for it. Women always fell for his routine! Jessie got out of the car, fixed her skirt and hair and pulled a huge carpetbag-sized purse from the front seat. She rummaged around in it, fishing out a pair of red panties. “Close your eyes.”

      “I can’t,” he said. “Watching you is the most fun I’ve had lately.”

      She shrugged, reaching under her skirt to shimmy her lacy panties into place. He felt himself wanting her again. She had impossibly long legs and nothing he didn’t want to see. She was an intriguing beauty, tempting his eyes. Silently, he handed her the panties he’d previously removed and tossed to the floor. She snatched them from him, stuffing them into the carpetbag.

      The panties went into the carpetbag. He realized with a pang and a worrisome erection that she was used to traveling or undressing because most women didn’t carry a change of underwear in their purse. “Don’t suppose you’re going to change your bra, too?”

      She shook her head at his hopeful tone. “Hand me the one you took off.”

      It was soft and silky, like her. He wanted her where he could enjoy her for hours, without the top and skirt, which had been left on out of necessity. He’d been lucky to discard her bra and panties, actually, because he’d discovered she had a cute shy side despite her projected carefree attitude. “You’re beautiful,” he said, knowing she was that way without trying to be.

      “It’s my business,” she said. “It’s all a mirage.”

      There, he thought, that’s an answer to scare the hell out of even the baddest, bootwearing hardass around.

      Jessie was thinking through the birth control issue, more concerned than she was letting on. The truth was, she’d been fitted with a vaginal ring when she and her boyfriend had gotten serious enough to discuss marriage. But they hadn’t had sex in the past couple of months, as he’d claimed to be working late—an excuse she was to learn was code for: Your chief business rival and I aren’t just discussing the latest spring palette after-hours. So she hadn’t been wearing the ring when she’d left the city and the man behind.

      Babies had been the first thing on her agenda, following a wedding. But there was no reason to tell that to Zach. He seemed like the worrying type. Any other man would have simply let her drive off into the sunset. Then again, he had issues, as he’d calmly and proudly admitted. She decided to keep her desire for a baby a secret. “I’ve got to go, cowboy,” she said.

      “My name is Zach,” he said, sounding a bit cross about it.

      She nodded. “I know.”

      “No, you didn’t,” he said. “Jessie T., you’re not a good liar. You forgot my name.”

      She looked at him.

      “You’re not even on birth control, are you?”

      He was going to be difficult. “Are you?” she asked, stalling for time. “Maybe you were wearing a condom and I didn’t notice.” She would have noticed, definitely, because it had been skin-on-skin passion, nothing between her and him in the most wonderful connection a man and woman could share.

      His jaw set. “Great. This is my worst nightmare.”

      She didn’t usually have a temper but irritation crept into her. More like raging than creeping. “It’s none of your affair.”

      “Well, now,” he said, his voice a stony drawl, “that’s where you’re wrong, Miss Jessica. One thing about us Forresters is that we make everything our business. After you’ve been in Tulips for a while, you’ll know this to be true.” He snagged her car keys from the ignition. “Come on, city girl. No doubt you’re going to make me crazy for the next month, but there’s always a little hell to pay for a little pleasure.”

      She grabbed for the keys but he held them above her head. “You can’t keep me here.”

      “I’m not keeping you,” he said, scooping her up to deposit her into his truck bed. “Your car is out of commission.”

      “No, it’s not,” Jessie protested. She’d bitten off more than she could handle with him. Zach was nothing like her ex, a man easily led by his groin and whichever way the wind was blowing at the time: Blonde, brunette, redhead. “Look, you were a great fantasy, but—”

      He stopped her in the act of crawling out of the truck bed. “If you’re going to be easy about this, you can ride in the front seat. If you’re going to be difficult, you ride in the back and I’ve got some throwing rope to make sure of it. But you leaving is not an option. It’s one of my issues, you see.”

      He grinned at her. Jessie pressed her lips together. “I have a business convention I have to attend. It’s really important. We’re presenting holiday looks for the upcoming season. This being September, I’ve got to get the wares on the road.”

      “I sympathize.” He nodded. “But you can clearly see that your car is leaking something.”

      Jessie stared at the ground in horror. Something was leaking from her precious T-bird!

      “I can’t have you running off around the world to Saks Fifth Avenue and the like if you’re carrying my child.”

      “I’m not!”

      He leaned against the truck, crossing his arms. “Let me share with you the problem. My brother fell in love with a woman, and they were supposed to get married. They were in the middle of getting married, in fact, but she got cold feet at the altar, and before we knew what was happening, Liberty went running off faster than a greased piglet in a pig race.”

      “That has nothing to do with me,” Jessie said, trying to sound like she didn’t care. However, she could see where Zach would empathize with his brother.

      “Well, it turned out Liberty was pregnant,” Zach continued, ignoring her, “though she didn’t tell Duke. She was afraid to, and then the little old ladies in our town, and the men, too—you’ll meet them all soon enough—well, the Tulips Saloon Gang got involved—”

      “Gang?” Jessie whispered.

      “Gang.” Zach nodded. “You don’t know anything about issues until you meet the Gang.”

      She blinked, not wanting to get drawn into this sexy man’s loony life. “I’ll call you if I’m pregnant.”

      “You wouldn’t,” Zach said. “And then I’d be like Duke almost was, with a son of mine wandering around out there, never knowing that his daddy was a caring man who wanted to play football