Colton Cowboy Standoff. Marie Ferrarella

      “I have wanted a child of my own ever since I was a kid. A child I could love. A child I could give the kind of emotional support and material things to that I never had when I was growing up.” She paused for a moment, turning on the sofa to look into his eyes. To appeal to him. “But I need you to make that happen.”

      Wyatt was having trouble wrapping his head around what she was telling him. He kept coming back to the fact that she was the one who had walked out on him, not the other way around. She was the one who had sent the divorce papers. She’d obviously wanted nothing more to do with him then, and now here she was, asking him to make a baby with her.

      It just didn’t add up.

      “What changed your mind?” He measured out the words slowly.

      He’d lost her. “I don’t understand,” she told him.

      “Well, you didn’t seem to want to stay with me six years ago,” Wyatt reminded her, “so what’s changed?”

      “Nothing.” That wasn’t strictly true, she thought, so she rephrased her statement. “At least, not my opinion of you,” she amended. Because she could see that she’d managed to further confuse him, Bailey tried again. “I didn’t marry you because you were a Colton or because you’d suddenly inherited your own ranch. I married you because you were a good, decent man.”

      He waited for that to make sense to him. When it didn’t, he asked, “If that’s true, if that’s how you felt, why did you leave?”

      Bailey shook her head. There was no point in going into all that now. She wasn’t here to fix a broken marriage with a man she couldn’t forget. She was here to try to salvage something for her future.

      “That’s complicated.”

      “And yet you thought it was worthwhile to come back,” he said, mystified.

      And then she realized why he was confused, why he was holding back.

      “I came back just to get pregnant,” she explained. “I’m not planning on staying once that happens,” she assured him, thinking he was worried he was going to be saddled with her, at least until the pregnancy was over. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll be out of your hair the moment I know that you were successful getting me pregnant.”

      “Even breeding horses involves more romance than this,” Wyatt told her.

      “I’m not looking for anything from you except your ‘donation,’” Bailey said, trying to get her point across to him while attempting to resist his sexy gaze. “You won’t be on the hook for child support or any sort of money at all. Really,” she emphasized.

      Wyatt looked as if he had his doubts about what she’d just said. “If that’s the case, just how do you plan on taking care of this baby if and when I say yes and you do get pregnant?”

      “I can take care of us,” Bailey answered.

      “I asked you how,” Wyatt repeated, still waiting for a concrete answer that made sense to him.

      She hadn’t planned on opening up her life to him once again, but now it seemed that she had to...but she refused to let him break her heart again.

      “Do you remember when I told you I wanted to become a veterinarian?” she asked.

      It had been one of the reasons why she’d finally left him. Because becoming a veterinarian had always been a dream of hers and he had asked her to put it on hold for him until after they got the ranch up and running.

      Just as he’d asked her to hold off on having babies. Everything she’d wanted, everything that had meant anything to her, he’d asked her to put on hold—until she felt as if all of her was on hold in deference to him.

      “Judging from the look on your face, you don’t remember,” Bailey concluded. “Well, I did it.” She saw him raise a quizzical eyebrow. He still wasn’t following her, she thought. “I became one,” she told him. “I became a veterinarian and started up a small practice of my own. That means that I’ll be able to pay for this baby when he or she arrives.”

      Bailey took a breath then continued. “So, as I said, all I need from you is your ‘donation.’” She held her breath as she nervously searched his face. “What do you say?”

      Wyatt remained silent for a while, as if honestly considering her question and thinking it over. But when he spoke, it wasn’t to give her an answer, positive or otherwise.

      “I don’t know, Bailey,” he told her. “This is a big decision.”

      “It doesn’t have to be,” she pointed out, trying not to sound as frustrated as she felt. She hadn’t come all this way to hear him turn her down. “Men have one-night stands all the time. You could think of it that way. Or you could think of it as making love to an old girlfriend for old times’ sake.”

      “But you weren’t my girlfriend,” Wyatt pointed out, his eyes narrowing. “You were my wife.”

      Bailey shrugged, shoving down the emotions threatening to overwhelm her. “Same thing.”

      Wyatt shook his head. “Not really. There’s a big difference.”

      She squared her shoulders, bracing herself for the answer she didn’t want from the man she’d never forgotten. “So it’s no?” she asked, too disappointed to try to hide her reaction.

      “No, it’s not no...” he began.

      “Then it’s yes?” she asked excitedly.

      “It’s not that, either,” he told her before she could get carried away, although he hated seeing that light in her eyes go out. It reminded him of the way things used to be when they were first married and anything seemed possible. “I already said that I’ll have to give this some thought,” he explained. “Getting together to create a baby is a big step.”

      “I know. That’s why I’m asking you,” she stressed. “I told you, you’re the best man I know.”

      One of them had to be logical, he thought. It didn’t look like it was going to be her, so he’d been elected.

      “Flattering as that is, I wouldn’t be such a ‘best man’ if I just jumped right into this without considering all the ramifications,” he told her.

      “There aren’t any,” Bailey insisted. How did she get that across to him? She felt desperate. He had to say yes.

      “I’m afraid I’d have to disagree with you,” Wyatt told her. “This would be a little person we’d be bringing into the world.”

      “A little person you wouldn’t be required to do anything for,” she reminded him again.

      Maybe if he approached this a different way. “You came to me, right?”

      Bailey blew out a breath. “Obviously.”

      “Why?”

      She closed her eyes, struggling to keep her emotions in check. “I already told you. I came to you because you are the only person I want to be the father of my child.”

      He nodded. “I’m assuming that has something to do with my character.”

      “Obviously,” she agreed, wondering where he was going with this.

      “Well, this is part of my character. I’m not jumping right into this. I have to think about it,” Wyatt told her.

      Bailey knew that look. She could see that there was no talking him out of this. His mind was made up. Sighing, she surrendered. “All right,” she said. “How long are you going to think about it?”

      “Until I make up my mind,” Wyatt answered evasively.

      She’d meant it when she’d said she wanted him for her baby’s father. That meant that she had to go along with him in this.