Colton Cowboy Standoff. Marie Ferrarella

almighty influence. Tired of the aches and pains he’d accumulated as a bull rider, Wyatt decided to change his plans—again. He’d asked Bailey to marry him and help him create a home and a ranch.

      He remembered that Bailey had never looked more beautiful than when she had smiled up at him and cried, “Yes!”

      They’d returned to Roaring Springs and started building their home and the ranch he envisioned.

      He’d thought things were going well. Obviously he’d thought wrong. A few years into their marriage, Bailey had suddenly left him.

      Wyatt felt as if he’d been gut-shot.

      It had taken him all this time to get over her, to get on with his life and finally become whole again.

      And now she was back!

      Why was she here?

      It made no sense to him.

      He wanted to know. “Did you come back here just to give the place a once-over?” he snapped, a cold edge in his voice.

      Bailey’s courage almost failed her then. But she had come this far—she couldn’t just back out now. She had to tell him why she’d sought him out after all this time.

      “No,” she answered Wyatt quietly, “that’s not why I’m here.”

      “Then why are you here, Bailey?” he demanded.

      Bailey took a deep breath, hoping her voice wouldn’t crack. She raised her head slightly, doing her best to look and sound as if she was in command of herself, in command of the moment. She knew that her ex-husband didn’t like displays of weakness. He valued bravery, even in an enemy, which she knew was the way he probably thought of her. At least to start with.

      Her dark eyes met his.

      You’ve got this, Bailey, she told herself. Her voice sounded as if it was echoing in her head as she answered his question.

      “I’m here because I want to have a baby and I want you to be the father.”

       Chapter 2

      His eyes might not be playing tricks on him but his ears had to be, Wyatt thought. He couldn’t have heard what he thought he’d just heard.

      “Say what now?” he asked, unabashedly staring at Bailey.

      Wyatt vaguely remembered that when they’d first gotten married they had discussed having children, but they had decided it would be best to wait a few years. At the time he’d felt their energy had to be focused on making a go of the ranch. But, he remembered thinking, they would have plenty of time for kids later.

      The subject had never come up again. In the beginning they’d been too busy with the house and the ranch, and then, when there might have been a better time to start a family, Bailey had taken off.

      “A baby,” she repeated, her eyes on his. “I want to have a baby, and whatever our differences might be, I still think that you’re the best man I ever knew and I want you to be the father.”

      Wyatt was attempting to process the words he had just heard. Moving like a man who couldn’t quite feel his legs, he walked farther into the sprawling living room and sank onto the comfortably worn leather sofa. Once sitting, he indicated that Bailey should sit on the sofa, as well.

      When she did, only then did he speak.

      “Just like that?” Wyatt asked her, astonished. “I don’t hear from you for six years and then you walk back into my life, telling me you want me to be the father of your baby?” Even as he said the words out loud he couldn’t quite believe this was happening. Bailey had always been so levelheaded, so sensible, and this was a totally irrational request. “Why?” He wanted to know. “Isn’t there anyone else around?” he demanded.

      “I don’t want just ‘anyone,’” Bailey told him softly. “I want you.”

      It couldn’t be as simple as that. There had to be something more to it, he thought. Something she wasn’t telling him. He frowned. “Assuming I believe you—”

      “You should,” Bailey interjected. Why would he think she was lying? She’d never lied to him before, she thought defensively.

      “Assuming I believe you,” Wyatt deliberately repeated. “Why a baby now, all of a sudden?”

      Bailey took a breath before answering. She supposed he had a right to know.

      None of this, including coming out here, had been easy for her. She wasn’t the type who asked for favors. On the contrary, she had always gone out and gotten whatever she wanted or needed all by herself.

      But this time was different. This time she couldn’t be the lone wolf. She needed help.

      “Because I’m running out of time,” Bailey confessed.

      That was twice he’d been caught off guard in the space of less than ten minutes.

      “You’re dying?” Wyatt asked in a hushed, stunned voice as he stared at her in disbelief. Bailey had always been so bright, so lively. He couldn’t begin to imagine her being felled by some sort of terminal disease.

      “No,” Bailey quickly answered, wanting to correct any misimpression he might have gotten. “I’m not dying. But my chances of getting pregnant are.”

      She looked pretty healthy to him, Wyatt thought, confused. He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

      Why couldn’t he just say yes to her request? Why did he need this all spelled out for him?

      “This isn’t easy for me to talk about,” Bailey told him, wanting to beg off from making any elaborate explanations.

      “Take your time,” he told her. “You came out all this way to talk to a man you turned your back on, so this has to be important to you,” he surmised, waiting for her to speak up.

      Bailey didn’t know if he was being incredibly sensitive or if he was just being sarcastic. Either way, she knew she was going to have to ride this out and answer his question. Wyatt was her only hope and that meant she had to make him understand so that he would agree to father this baby.

      Taking a deep breath, she plunged into the explanation she was afraid he would find as embarrassing as she did. Or at the very least, confusing.

      But there was no way around it.

      “My cycles have always been inconsistent...” she began, her throat feeling particularly dry.

      “Cycles?” Wyatt questioned, not really sure what she was talking about.

      Okay, she’d state it another way, Bailey thought, still trying to be delicate about her explanation. “My time of the month.”

      The light suddenly dawned on Wyatt. “Oh.” He avoided her eyes as he said, “Go on.”

      She started to get more technical. It felt somehow less embarrassing that way. “I found out that was caused by polycystic ovarian syndrome.”

      “Okay,” he said only because he wanted her to get on with it so that they could get to the end of all this. He was a horse breeder and didn’t understand terms that weren’t directly involved with the care and breeding of his herd.

      She could tell by the way Wyatt had just said “okay” that he didn’t understand what she was telling him. Bailey tried again. “Because of that condition—it’s called PCOS—my getting pregnant becomes harder and harder the older I get.”

      “You’re just in your midthirties,” Wyatt pointed out.

      She took that to mean that she’d finally gotten through to him and he was starting to understand her dilemma.

      “Exactly,”