“There’s one more thing that we haven’t covered.”

“What would that be?” For the life of her, Summer couldn’t imagine what there was left to be decided after their many conversations on the subject.

“We’re going to start acting like we’re a couple,” Ryder stated.

“You mean, as if we’ve fallen in love?” Things just kept getting more complicated with every conversation they had.

“It’s easier to go with that than it is to try and explain everything.” He leaned over and briefly pressed his lips to hers. “Besides, that’s what people are going to think anyway. We might as well go along with it.”

“Does that mean we’ll be openly affectionate toward each other?” she asked, liking the way his kiss made her feel warm all over.

“Yup. That’s what people do when they’re …involved.”

She frowned. “Do you think we can be convincing?”

“Let’s see…” he said.

About the Author

KATHIE DENOSKY lives in her native southern Illinois on the land her family settled in 1839. She writes highly sensual stories with a generous amount of humor; her books have appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list and received numerous awards, including two National Readers’ Choice Awards. Kathie enjoys going to rodeos, traveling to research settings for her books and listening to country music. Readers may contact her by emailing kathie@kathiedenosky.com. They can also visit her website, www.kathiedenosky.com, or find her on Facebook, www.facebook.com/Kathie-DeNosky- Author/278166445536145.

A Baby Between Friends
Kathie DeNosky

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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One

Ryder McClain’s temper flared as he stared at the five men grinning at him like a bunch of damned fools. Having spent their teen years together on the Last Chance Ranch, a home for boys that the foster care system had labeled lost causes, he loved all of them. In all ways except by blood, they were his brothers. However, at this moment, nothing would be more satisfying than to wrap his hands around their throats and throttle every one of them.

“I’m only going to say this one more time and then I expect you all to drop it,” he said through gritted teeth. “I brought Summer Patterson to the party tonight because she’s a friend who didn’t have any other plans. Period. There’s absolutely nothing going on between us.”

“Sure, if you say so, bro.” Jaron Lambert’s skeptical expression indicated that he didn’t believe a word Ryder had just said. “And I’ll bet you still believe in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, don’t ya?”

“I’ll give you all a hundred-to-one odds that the lady in question has other ideas,” Lane Donaldson said, rocking back on the heels of his handcrafted Caiman leather boots. A highly successful, professional poker player, Lane used his master’s degree in psychology to read people like an open book. In this instance, the man was definitely reading the wrong chapter.

“Yup. I’d say she’s cut you from the herd and getting ready to measure you for a saddle,” Sam Rafferty added, laughing. The only married one of his foster brothers, Sam and his wife, Bria, were throwing the party to celebrate the renewal of their wedding vows, as well as Bria’s pregnancy. “You might as well face it, Ryder. Your bachelor days are numbered.”

“You’re just hoping one of us will join you in the pool of the blissfully hitched,” Ryder said, blowing out a frustrated breath. “But as far as Summer and I are concerned, that’s not going to happen—now or in the future. Neither one of us have any intention of being anything more than best friends. End of discussion.”

Smiling, T.J. Malloy paused with his beer bottle halfway to his mouth. “Ryder, did you get kicked in the head by a bull at the last rodeo you worked? That might explain you not being able to see what’s as plain as your hand in front of your face.”

“Well, now, this makes things a whole lot easier for me,” Nate Rafferty said, smirking as he turned toward the dance floor where Summer stood talking to Bria and her sister, Mariah. “As long as you’re not interested, I think I’ll just mosey on over there and ask the little lady to dance.”

Ryder knew that his brother was baiting him, but without a second thought, his hand came down like a vise-grip on Nate’s shoulder. “Don’t even think about it, Romeo.”

“Oh, so you have staked your claim,” Lane said smugly.

“No, I haven’t.” Ryder’s jaw was clenched so hard that he wouldn’t be surprised if it took a crowbar to pry his teeth apart. “But Summer doesn’t need Nate’s brand of grief.” He thought the world of his foster brother, but Nate Rafferty had a love ’em and leave ’em philosophy that had left a string of broken hearts across the entire Southwest and then some. “No offense, Nate, but you’re the last thing she needs.”

“He’s got you there, Nate,” Sam said, nodding. The only two biological siblings of the group, Sam and Nate couldn’t have been more different. The older of the two, Sam had never even come close to having the wild streak that his younger brother Nate had.

Nate shrugged. “I can’t help it if I love the ladies.”

“You take your interest in women to a whole other level,” Ryder said, shaking his head in disgust. “Leave this lady alone and we’ll get along just fine. Cross that line and you and I are going to have one hell of a big problem, bro.”

He chose to ignore the knowing looks his brothers exchanged and, in favor of doing them all bodily harm, walked away. For one thing, he didn’t want to ruin Sam and Bria’s reception by getting into a knockdown, drag-out brawl. And for another, he made sure he never raised a fist in anger to anyone for any reason. He had been down that road once, when he was a teenager, and the results had damned near ruined his life. He wasn’t going to risk going down it again.

“Ryder?”

Turning at the sound of the familiar female voice, he watched the pretty blond-haired woman with the bluest eyes he had ever seen walk toward him. He and Summer had been best friends for the past few years, and although any man would be lucky to call her his woman, Ryder had avoided thinking of her as anything but his friend. Anything more between them and he would feel obligated to tell her the reason he had finished growing up at the Last Chance Ranch. That was something he didn’t care to share with anyone and why he didn’t intend to enter into a serious relationship with any woman. Some things were just better left buried in the past. Besides, he didn’t want to take the chance of losing the easygoing friendship they had forged by becoming romantically involved with her. He suspected she felt the same way.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, her expression reflecting her concern.

Letting go of his anger, Ryder shook his head as he smiled at the petite woman standing next to him. “No, I just got tired of listening to my brothers’ bull.”

She smiled wistfully. “You’re lucky. At least you have brothers to irritate you. I’ve never had that problem.”

Ryder felt as guilty as hell. As aggravating as his foster brothers could be at times, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind they would all be there for him no matter what—the same as he would be for all of them. They meant the world to him and there wasn’t a day that went by he didn’t thank the good Lord above that he had them in his life.

But Summer had never had anything like that. Over the course of their friendship, he had learned she was the only child of an older couple who, during her senior year in college, had been killed in the small plane her father owned. With their deaths, she had been left with no family at all.

“Yeah, they sure can be a thorn in my side sometimes.” As the last traces of his anger dissipated, he grinned. “But I guess after all these years I don’t have any other choice but to keep them.”

She laughed. “Good idea, cowboy. But seriously, your family is great. I know some of your brothers from seeing them compete at the rodeos we’ve worked, but I’d never met Sam’s wife and her sister. They’re very nice and I think it’s wonderful that you all have stayed so close over the years.”

When Ryder noticed Nate eyeing Summer like a fox sizing up an unguarded henhouse, he shot his brother a warning glare, then asked, “Have you had a chance to dance yet?”

“Only the line dances,” she answered, glancing at the dance floor Sam had his hired hands construct in one of the barns for the celebration.

“I thought I saw Sam’s head wrangler ask you to dance a little earlier,” he said, frowning.

“I suppose he was nice enough,” she replied, shrugging one slender shoulder. “But I wasn’t in the mood to dance then.”

“Well, if you don’t mind a cowboy with two left feet and the worst sense of rhythm this side of the Mississippi, I’d be honored to stand in one spot with you and sway in time to the music,” he offered.

Her eyes filled with humor. “I thought all Texas cowboys took pride in sashaying around the dance floor doing the two-step or the stroll.”

“You know me better than that, darlin’.” As the band started playing a slow, dreamy country tune, he shook his head in mock disgust and placing his hand to her back, guided her out onto the dance floor. “This is one Texan who doesn’t sashay, prance or shimmy anywhere. Anytime. Ever.”

“I beg to differ with you,” she murmured, placing her hands on his biceps when he rested his at her trim waist. “I’ve seen you when you’re dancing with a two-thousand-pound bull. You have some pretty smooth moves, cowboy.”

“That’s because it’s my job.” He shrugged and tried to ignore the warmth of her soft palms burning his skin through the fabric of his chambray shirt. “If I don’t get those old bulls to dance with me, a bull rider gets run over.”

“Don’t you have a degree in ranch management?” she asked. “I would have thought you’d be content to stay home and run your ranch instead of traveling around the country playing chicken with a bulldozer on hooves.”

“Yup, I’m a proud graduate of Texas A&M.” He put himself between her and a couple enthusiastically two-stepping their way around the dance floor in an effort to keep them from bumping into her. “But I have a good, reliable foreman I pay quite well to check in with me several times a day. He gives me a full report on how things are going, I tell him what I want done and he sees that it’s taken care of. That frees me up to be out on the rodeo circuit saving knuckleheaded bull riders like Nate and Jaron.”

As Summer gazed up at him, she frowned. “I don’t think I’ve ever asked, but why did you choose to be a rodeo bullfighter instead of a rider?”

“One time when our foster dad, Hank, was teaching us all to rodeo, one of the training bulls got loose and tried to mow down Jaron. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but I jumped in the arena and put myself between the two of them to keep that from happening. It turned out that I was pretty good at distracting a bull and getting it to chase me.” He shrugged. “I’ve been doing it ever since.”

“In other words, you like being a hero,” she said, smiling.

Laughing, he shook his head. “Nah. I’m in it for the adrenaline rush, darlin’.” It was an easier explanation than admitting that he had always felt compelled to protect others from danger at the risk of his own safety.

When the song ended, Ryder led her off the dance floor and after finding an empty table for them, made sure she was comfortably seated before he went to get them a couple of drinks. He frowned as he made his way to the bar. His arms still tingled where she had rested her hands, and for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why. That had never happened before. Had his brothers’ ribbing put ideas in his head about Summer?

As he continued to ponder the strange sensation, he looked up to see his brothers watching with no small amount of interest. They all wore the same sappy, know-it-all grin, making him want to plant his fist in all of their guts.

Ryder was extremely grateful that their foster father had instilled a strong sense of family among the boys he helped guide through their troubled teenage years. As Hank Calvert always told them, once they were grown they would appreciate having each other and a little bit of history together that they could look back on since none of them had any other family to speak of. And that’s the way Ryder felt…most of the time. But at other times—like right now—having brothers could be a real pain in the ass.

As Summer waited for Ryder to return with their drinks, she absently watched the dancers form a couple of parallel lines and begin to move in unison to a lively tune. She couldn’t get over how much she was enjoying herself. Normally she turned down all invitations from the men she worked with, no matter what the occasion or the circumstances. But Ryder was different. They had been best friends from the time she took the job as public relations director for the rodeo association southwestern circuit, and for reasons she couldn’t explain, she trusted him. He was honest, didn’t play the games that most men did, and despite his above average height and muscular build, she didn’t feel at all threatened by him.

Of course, that might have something to do with the way he had run interference with some of their more aggressive male coworkers when she first started working for the rodeo association. From the day they met, Ryder had made it a point to remind all of them that she was a lady and should be treated as such. He had shown her nothing but his utmost respect, and it hadn’t taken long before they had developed an easy, comfortable relationship. And not once in all the time she had known him had he indicated that he wanted anything more from her than to be her friend.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t say the same for a lot of the men she knew. Most of them fell into two categories—blatant flirts who made it clear what they wanted from a woman, and the seemingly harmless type who lured a woman into a false sense of security before revealing their true hidden agenda. It was the latter group that was the most dangerous. The flirts were easy to spot and, once rebuffed, usually moved on to set their sights on another female. But the men with hidden agendas were nothing more than predators hiding behind a facade of sincerity.

As she absently stared at the dancers, a shiver slithered up her spine. Regrettably, she had learned that lesson the hard way. But it was one she never, as long as she lived, intended to forget.

“Would you mind if I join you, Summer?” Bria Rafferty asked, from behind her. “After that last dance, I need a minute or two to catch my breath.”

Turning to glance over her shoulder, Summer smiled at the pretty auburn-haired woman. “Please have a seat.” She looked around. “Where’s the rest of the clan?”

“Sam, Nate, T.J. and Lane are in a lively debate about the differences between breeds of bucking bulls and which ones are the hardest to ride.” Bria laughed as she pointed to the other side of the barn. “And Mariah and Jaron are arguing again about whether I’m going to have a boy or a girl.”

“What are you and Sam hoping to have?” Summer asked, smiling when Bria lowered herself into the chair across from her.

“I don’t care as long as the baby is healthy,” Bria said, placing her hand protectively over her still-flat stomach.

“What about your husband?” Summer was pretty sure she already knew the answer. “What does Sam want?”

The woman’s smile confirmed her suspicions. “Sam says he doesn’t care, but I think he’s secretly hoping for a boy.”

Summer smiled. “Isn’t that what most men want?”

“I think it’s because men want a son to do things with, as well as carry on their family name,” Bria answered.

“Not to mention the fact that females of all ages are a complete mystery to most men and they’d rather not have to deal with raising a child they can’t understand,” Summer added.

Grinning, Bria nodded. “Well, there is that.”

While one of her guests stopped to congratulate Bria on her pregnancy, Summer couldn’t help but feel envious. Nothing would please her more than to have a child of her own—a son or daughter to love and to love her in return. She had been so lonely since her parents died that she craved that sense of belonging again, that connection with a family. Having a child of her own would help restore some of those ties and if the plan she had come up with over the past six months worked, she would accomplish just that.

“When is your baby due?” she asked as the guest moved on.

“In early spring.” Bria glowed with happiness and Summer knew it had to be because she had just entered her second trimester. Ryder had mentioned that almost a year ago Bria and Sam had lost a baby in the early weeks of pregnancy—a baby they had both desperately wanted.

“It won’t be too much longer and you’ll know for sure whether you’re having a girl or a boy.” She hoped one day in the very near future to experience the joys of expecting a child herself and learning if she would be having a son or daughter.

“Sam and I have decided we don’t want the doctor to tell us.” Bria laughed. “But the closer it gets to having the sonogram, the more I think Sam is going to change his mind.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He keeps asking me if I feel like I’m carrying a boy.” The woman rolled her eyes. “Like I would know.”

“Men just don’t have a clue.” Summer marveled at the misconceptions some men had. “If there’s a bigger mystery to a man than a woman it has to be pregnancy.”

Grinning, Bria nodded. “Exactly.”

“Would you like for me to get you something to drink, Bria?” Ryder asked, returning to the table. He handed a soft drink to Summer, then set a bottle of beer on the table in front of the empty chair beside her.

“Thank you, Ryder. But I think I’m going to go see if Sam is ready to cut that humongous cake he insisted we had to have.” Bria rose to her feet. “I’m pretty sure he wanted to support the old saying that everything is bigger in Texas.”

Summer glanced over at the giant, four-tiered cake in the center of the refreshment table. “The cake is beautiful, but I have to agree with you. It’s definitely worthy of the axiom.”

“I hope you have plenty of room in the freezer,” Ryder added, chuckling as he pulled out the chair and sat down. “From the size of it, I’d say you’re going to have about half of it left over.”

Nodding, Bria flashed a smile. “I won’t have to make a birthday cake for any of you for at least another year. I can just thaw out some of this one, put a candle on it and sing ‘Happy Birthday.’”

“She makes each of us a dinner and a cake for our birthday,” Ryder explained as Bria walked across the barn toward her husband. “All of us that is except for Jaron. He’s crazy for her apple pie, so she makes a couple of those for him and sticks a candle in the middle of them.”

“I think it’s wonderful that you’re all so close,” Summer said wistfully.

Having spent the past several years alone on her birthday and holidays, she coveted Ryder’s family gatherings. She was sure if he had known, he would have insisted that she join them. But she hadn’t let on because she didn’t want that, hadn’t wanted to be reminded of all that she had lost. That was the main reason she had taken the job of the on-site PR person for the rodeo association. She was constantly on the move from one town to the next coordinating the many rodeos held throughout the southwestern circuit, and she was always so busy that she didn’t have time to think of how lonely her life had become. She was, however, glad that Ryder had invited her to his family’s celebration tonight. It made her more certain than ever that she had made the right decision to start her own family.

“Did your foster father celebrate with you all before he passed away?” she asked, curious to hear about how they had come together and bonded as a family.

“Bria made sure to include Hank and her sister, Mariah, in all of our get-togethers,” Ryder replied. “Family is everything to Bria and we all appreciate that. It helps us stay close and in touch with what’s going on with each other.”

Watching Ryder from the corner of her eye, she admired him and his foster brothers for the change they had made in their lives and the tight-knit bond they had formed. They might have been brought together because of their troubled youth, but with the help of a very special man, they had all learned to let go of the past and move forward. Through dedication and hard work, all six of them had become upstanding, highly successful men, and in the process, they had remained just as close, if not closer, than any biological siblings.

When Bria and Sam finished cutting the beautiful Western-themed cake, then invited their guests to have some, Ryder rose from the chair beside her. “I’ll go get us a piece of cake, then if you’d like we can dance a few more times before I take you back to the hotel.”

“That sounds like a pretty good plan, cowboy,” she said agreeably.

He had invited her to spend the weekend at his ranch, but she had decided against it, opting to stay in a hotel room in a nearby town instead. For one thing, speculation about their friendship had already surfaced with some of the other rodeo association contract personnel on the circuit, and she didn’t feel the need to supply the busybodies with more fodder for their rumor mill. And for another, she wanted to discuss her future plans with Ryder on the drive back from the party. Depending on his reaction, staying at the Blue Canyon Ranch with him could become a bit awkward.

An hour later, after congratulating the Raffertys once again on their renewed nuptials and Bria’s pregnancy, Summer let Ryder help her into the passenger side of his pickup truck, then anxiously waited for him to come around and climb into the driver’s seat. This was the part of the evening she had anticipated for the past two weeks—ever since making the decision to ask for his help.

“Are you cold?” he asked, sliding into the driver’s seat. “I can turn on the heater.”

“No, I’m fine. But thank you for asking.” There was a little nip in the evening air, signaling that autumn had arrived, but she had been too distracted to notice.

“I hope you had a good time,” he said, starting the truck and steering it down the long drive toward the main road.

“I really enjoyed myself,” she reassured him with a smile. “Thank you for asking me to attend the party with you.”

When Ryder turned onto the highway, he set the cruise control then turned on a popular country radio station. “You’ll have to come back for one of our birthday get-togethers sometime.”

“I’d like that,” she said, realizing she meant it.

They fell into a comfortable silence and while Ryder drove the big dual-wheeled pickup truck through the star-studded Texas night, Summer studied his shadowed profile. If she’d had any doubts about her choice before attending the party with him, watching him throughout the evening had completely eradicated them. Ryder McClain was the real deal—honest, intelligent, easygoing and loyal to a fault. And it was only recently that she’d allowed herself to notice how incredibly good-looking he was.

With dark brown hair, forest-green eyes and a nice, effortless smile, he would be considered extremely handsome by any standards. But combined with his impressive physical presence and laid-back personality, Ryder McClain was the type of man most women fantasized about. His wide shoulders and broad chest would be the perfect place for a woman to lay her head when the world dealt her more than she felt she could handle. And the latent strength in his muscular arms as he held her to him would keep her safe and secure from all harm.

“Summer, are you all right?” he asked, startling her.

Slightly embarrassed and more than a little disconcerted with her train of thought, she nodded. “I was just thinking about the evening and what a nice time I had,” she lied, unsure of how to start the conversation that would either help her dream come true—or send her in search of someone else to assist her.

“I can’t think of any of our get-togethers when we haven’t had a lot of fun,” Ryder said, beaming.

“Even when your brothers irritate you like they did tonight?” she teased.

His rich laughter made her feel warm all over. “Yeah, even when we’re giving each other a wagonload of grief, we still enjoy being together.”

“From what you said earlier, I take it you were the one in the hot seat this evening?”

She was pretty sure she knew the reason they had been teasing him. Due to the demands of both of their jobs there had been very few occasions she and Ryder had been seen together anywhere but at one of the many rodeos they both worked. It was only natural that his brothers would speculate about their relationship, the same as their coworkers had done when she and Ryder started hanging out regularly at the rodeos they were working.

He shrugged. “As long as they’re bugging me, they’re leaving each other alone.” Grinning, he added, “A few months back, we were all on Sam’s case about what a stubborn, prideful fool he can be.”

“Was that when he and Bria were having a rough patch in their marriage?”

“Yup.”

“Do you always know that much about each other?” If he agreed to help her, she wasn’t certain she would be overly comfortable with his family knowing about it.

“It’s hard to hide things from the people who know you better than you sometimes know yourself,” he acknowledged.

“So you don’t keep any secrets from each other? Ever?”

“There are some things that we don’t tell each other, but not very many.” Turning his head to look at her, he furrowed his brow. “Why do you ask?”

She had purposely waited until they were alone in his truck and it was dark so she wouldn’t have to meet his gaze. But the time had come to make her case and ask for his assistance. Considering the state of her nerves and the gravity of her request, she only hoped that she would be able to convey how important it was to her and how much she wanted him to help her.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately…” she began, wishing she had rehearsed what she was about to say a bit more. “Although I’ve never had a sibling, I miss being part of a family.”

“I know, darlin’.” He reached across the console to reassuringly cover her hand with his much larger one. “But one day, I’m sure you’ll find someone and settle down, then you’ll not only be part of his family, you can start one of your own.”

“That’s not going to happen,” she said, shaking her head. “I have absolutely no interest in getting married, or having a man in my life other than as a friend.” Ryder looked taken aback by the finality in her tone. They had never discussed what they thought their futures might hold and she was sure her adamant statement surprised him. Making sure her words were less vehement, she added, “I’m going to choose another route to become part of the family I want. These days, it’s quite common for a woman to choose single motherhood.”

“Well, there are a lot of kids of all ages who need a good home,” he concurred, his tone filled with understanding. “A single woman adopting a little kid nowadays doesn’t have the kind of obstacles they used to have.”

“I’m not talking about adopting a child,” Summer said, staring out the windshield at the dark Texas landscape. “At least not yet. I’d really like to experience all aspects of motherhood if I can, and that includes being pregnant.”

“The last I heard, being pregnant is kind of difficult without the benefit of a man being involved,” he said with a wry smile.

“To a certain degree, a man would need to be involved.” They were quickly approaching the moment of truth. “But there are other ways besides having sex to become pregnant.”

“Oh, so you’re going to visit a sperm bank?” He didn’t sound judgmental and she took that as a positive sign.

“No.” She shook her head. “I’d rather know my baby’s father than to have him be a number on a vial and a list of physical characteristics.”

Ryder looked confused. “Then how do you figure on making this happen if you’re unwilling to wait until you meet someone and you don’t want to visit a sperm bank?”

Her pulse sped up. “I have a donor in mind.”

“Well, I guess if the guy’s agreeable that would work,” he said thoughtfully. “Anybody I know?”

“Yes.” She paused for a moment to shore up her courage. Then, before she lost her nerve, she blurted, “I want you to be the father of my baby, Ryder.”

Two

Never at a loss for words, Ryder could only remember a couple of times in all of his thirty-three years that he had been struck completely speechless. At the moment, he couldn’t have managed to string two words together if his life depended on it. Summer asking him to help her have a baby was the last thing he’d expected.

To keep from driving off into a ditch, he steered the truck to the side of the road, shifted it into Park, then turned to gape at the woman seated in the truck beside him. How in the world was he supposed to respond to a request like that? And why the hell was his lower body suddenly indicating that it was up for the challenge?

Shocked, as well as bewildered, his first inclination had been to laugh and ask her who it was she was really considering. But as he searched her pretty face, Ryder’s heart began to thump against his ribs like a bass drum in a high school marching band. He could tell from the worry lines creasing her forehead that she wasn’t joking. She was dead serious and waiting for him to tell her he would father her child.

“I know this comes as a bit of a surprise,” she said, nervously twisting her hands into a knot in her lap. “But—”

“No, Summer,” he said, finally finding his voice. “An unexpected gift or winning a few bucks in the lottery is a surprise. This is a shock that rivals standing in ankle-deep water and grabbing hold of a wire with a few thousand volts of electricity running through it.”

She slowly nodded. “I’m sure it was the last thing you expected.”

“You got that right, darlin’.”

Ryder took a deep breath as he tried to figure out how to proceed. He knew he should ask some questions, but he wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to know first. What made her think that she wouldn’t one day meet the right guy to change her mind about getting married and having the family she wanted? Why had she decided that he was the man she wanted to help her? And how did she figure she was going to get him to go along with such a cockamamy scheme?

“We’re going to have to talk about this,” he said, deciding that he needed time to think. Starting the truck’s engine, he steered it back onto the road. “We’ll stop by the hotel long enough for you to get your things and check out of your room. Then we’ll drive on down to the Blue Canyon.”

“No, I think it would be better if I stay at the hotel instead of your ranch,” she said, her tone adamant. “It might look like we were—”

“Seriously?” He released a frustrated breath as he glanced over at her. “You’re worried about what people might think, but yet you want me to make you pregnant?”

“That isn’t what I’m asking,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t want you to make me pregnant. I’m asking you to put a donation in a cup for a clinical procedure in a doctor’s office.”

Ryder grunted. “Don’t you think that’s splitting hairs? The bottom line is, you’d be pregnant and I’d be the daddy.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t expect you to support the baby or help raise him or her,” she insisted. “My parents left me more than enough money so that I never have to worry about taking care of myself and a child.”

He barely resisted the urge to say a word she was sure to find highly offensive. Did she know him at all? She wanted him to help her make a baby and then just walk away like it was nothing?

Not in this lifetime. Or any other for that matter.

“Summer, we’re going to wait to finish this conversation until after we get to my ranch,” he said firmly. He needed time for the shock of her request—and the irritation that she didn’t want him to have anything to do with his kid—to wear off before he was able to think rationally.

“No, I’d rather—”

“My housekeeper, Betty Lou, will be there with us so you don’t have to worry about how things are going to look,” he stated, wondering why she was so concerned about gossip. It wasn’t like there wouldn’t be plenty of that going around if he lost what little sense he had and agreed to help her—which he had no intention of doing. But he needed to get to the bottom of what she was thinking and why she was willing to risk their friendship to make her request.

He cleared his throat. “You’ll have to admit that what you’re asking of me is pretty massive, and we need to talk it over—a lot. Staying at my ranch until we have to take off for the next rodeo in a couple of days will give us the privacy to do that.”

She didn’t look at all happy about it, but she apparently realized that going to the Blue Canyon Ranch with him was her best chance of getting what she wanted. “If that’s the only way you’ll consider helping me—”

“It is.”

He didn’t want to give her any encouragement or mislead her into thinking he was going to assist her. But he needed to talk to her and make her see that there were other alternatives to have the family she wanted besides going around asking unsuspecting men to help her become pregnant.

She took a deep breath then slowly nodded. “All right. If you won’t consider helping me any other way, I’ll go to your ranch with you.”

They both fell silent for the rest of the drive to the hotel and by the time she gathered her things, checked out and they drove on to the Blue Canyon, it was well past midnight.

“It’s late and I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty tired,” he said when he turned the truck onto the lane leading up to his ranch house. “Why don’t we get a good night’s sleep, then we can hash this all out after breakfast tomorrow morning?”

She nodded. “I suppose that would probably be best.”

Parking in the circular drive in front of the house, Ryder got out and walked around to open the passenger door for her. “I guess before we go inside I’d better warn you. You’ll need to steer clear of Lucifer.”

“Who’s that?” she asked, looking a little apprehensive.

“Betty Lou’s cat,” he answered, reaching into the back of the club cab for her luggage while she gazed up at his sprawling two-story ranch house.

“Oh, I won’t mind being around him,” she said, turning to smile at him. “I adore animals.”

Ryder shook his head. “You won’t like this one. I’m convinced he’s the devil incarnate.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He barely tolerates people.” Ryder carried her bag to the front door, then letting them into the foyer, turned to reset the security system. “He hisses and spits at everyone who crosses his path, except Betty Lou. And there are times I think she walks on eggshells around him.”

“You get chased by the biggest, meanest bulls the stock contractors can offer on a regular basis…and you’re afraid of a house cat?” she asked with a cheeky grin.

Relieved that the awkwardness that followed her request seemed to have been put aside for the moment, he shrugged as he led her over to the winding staircase. “I know what to expect with a ton of pissed-off beef. But that cat is a whole different breed of misery. He’s attitude with a screech and sharp claws. Sometimes he likes to lurk in high places and then, making a sound that will raise the hair on the head of a bald man, he drops down on top of you as you walk by.” Ryder rotated his shoulders as he thought about the last time Lucifer had launched himself at him through the balusters from the top of the stairs. “He’s sunk his claws into me enough times that I’m leery of walking past anything that’s taller than I am without looking up first.”

“Then why do you allow your housekeeper to keep him?” she asked when they reached the top of the stairs.

He’d asked himself that same question about a hundred times over the past several years—usually right after the cat had pounced on him. “Betty Lou thinks the sun rises and sets in that gray devil. She adopted him from an animal shelter after her husband died and when she took the job as my housekeeper, I didn’t think it would be a big deal for her to bring him along with her. I like animals and besides, I’m gone a lot of the time anyway, so I don’t have to be around him a lot.”

“That’s very nice of you,” she said, sounding sincere. “But it’s your house. You shouldn’t have to worry about being mauled by a cat.”

Ryder shrugged. “I don’t see any reason to be a jerk about it when Lucifer means that much to her. I just try to steer clear of him as much as possible when I do make it home for a few days.” Stopping at one of the guest bedrooms, he opened the door, turned on the light for her, then set her luggage beside the dresser. “Will this be all right? If not, there are five other bedrooms you can choose from.”

He watched her look around the spacious room a moment before she turned to face him. “This is very nice, Ryder. Did you decorate it?”

Her teasing smile indicated that she was awaiting a reaction to her pointed question. He didn’t disappoint her.

“Yeah, right. I just look like the kind of guy who knows all about stuff like pillows and curtains.” Shaking his head, he added, “No, I hired a lady from Waco after I bought the ranch to come down here and redecorate the house.”

“She did a wonderful job.” Summer touched the patchwork quilt covering the bed. “This is very warm and welcoming.”

“Thanks.” He wasn’t sure why it mattered so much, but it pleased him that she liked his home. “I bought it right after I sold my interest in a start-up company my college roommate launched while we were still in school.”

“It must have been quite successful,” she said as she continued to look around.

He grinned. “Ever heard of The Virtual Ledger computer programs?”

“Of course. They have a program for just about every kind of record-keeping anyone could want.” Her eyes widened. “You helped found that?”

He laughed out loud. “Not hardly. I know just enough about a computer to screw it up and make it completely useless. But my roommate had the idea and I had some money saved back from working rodeos during the summers. I gave it to him and he gave me 50 percent of the company. Once it really took off, I sold him my interest in the company and we both got what we wanted out of the deal.” He took a breath. “He has total control of The Virtual Ledger and I have this ranch and enough money to do whatever I want, whenever I want, for the rest of my life.”

“Then why do you put yourself in danger fighting rodeo bulls?” she asked, frowning.

“Everybody has to have something that gives them a sense of purpose and makes them feel useful. Besides, I have to watch out for boneheads like Nate and Jaron.” When she yawned, he turned to leave. “Get a good night’s sleep and if you need anything, my room is at the far end of the hall.”

Her smile caused a warm feeling to spread throughout his chest. “Thank you, Ryder, but I’ll be fine.”

Nodding, he quickly stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him. What the hell was wrong with him? Summer had smiled at him hundreds of times over the past few years and he had never given it so much as a second thought. So why now did it feel like his temperature had spiked several degrees?

He shook his head as he strode toward the master suite. Hell, he still hadn’t figured out why his arms had tingled where she rested her hands when they danced at the party. And why did the thought of her wanting him to be her baby daddy make him feel twitchy in places that had absolutely no business twitching?

When Summer opened her eyes to the shaft of sunlight peeking through the pale yellow curtains, she looked around the beautifully decorated room and for a brief moment wondered where she was. She was used to awakening in a generic hotel room where shades of beige and tan reigned supreme and the headboard of the bed was bolted to the wall. But instead of spending the night in a hotel as she’d planned, she had agreed to accompany Ryder to his ranch.

Her breath caught as she remembered why he had insisted she come home with him. After weeks of trying to find a way to bring up the subject and ask him to be the donor for her pregnancy, she had worked up her courage and made her request. And his answer hadn’t been “no.” At least, not outright.

He thought they needed to talk it over and although his insistence that they stay at his ranch had made her extremely nervous, she had agreed. She needed to reassure him that she would sign whatever document was needed to ensure that she would be solely responsible for the baby and that he would be under no obligation. She was sure that once he understood that, he would be more inclined to help her.

As she threw back the covers and got out of bed to take a shower, she thought about what Ryder would want to discuss first. He would probably start off with wanting to know why she didn’t feel she would ever meet a man she wanted to marry. Or he might try to convince her that, at the youthful age of twenty-five, she had plenty of time and should wait to make such a life-changing decision.

Standing beneath the refreshing spray of warm water, she smiled. She might not have practiced the way she worded her request as much as she should have, but she was armed and ready with her answers for their upcoming discussion about it. She knew Ryder well enough to know he would try to talk her out of her plans, and she had painstakingly gone over the way she would explain her reasoning and how she would frame the responses she intended to give him. Once he realized that she was completely serious, along with the promise of a legal document relieving him of any commitment to support or help raise the child, surely he would agree.

Anxious to start their conversation, she toweled herself dry, quickly got dressed and started downstairs. Halfway to the bottom of the staircase, she stopped when she came face-to-face with one of the largest gray tabby cats she had ever seen.

“You must be Lucifer,” she said tentatively. From Ryder’s description of the cat, she wasn’t sure how he would react to encountering a stranger in his domain.

She hoped he didn’t attack her as she walked past. But instead of pouncing on her as she expected he might, the cat gazed up at her for a moment, then letting out a heartfelt meow, rubbed his body along the side of her leg.

Reaching down, she cautiously stroked his soft coat. Lucifer rewarded her with a loud, albeit contented purr. “You don’t seem nearly as ferocious as Ryder claimed you were,” she said when he burrowed his head into her palm, then licked her fingers with a swipe of his sand-papery rough tongue.

When Summer continued on down the stairs, Lucifer trotted behind her as she followed the delicious smell of fried bacon and freshly brewed coffee. “Good morning,” she said when she found Ryder seated at the kitchen table.

“Morning.” He rose from his chair as she entered the room, and Lucifer immediately arched his back and hissed loudly at Ryder. “I see he’s still the same happy cat he’s always been,” Ryder said sarcastically as he shook his head. “Would you like a cup of coffee, Summer?”

“Yes, please. It smells wonderful.”

“Just a little cream?” he asked. They had met for coffee so many times over the past few years, he knew exactly how she liked it. Just as she knew he always liked his coffee black.

“Yes, thank you.” She smiled. “You know, I think Lucifer likes me. He rubbed against my leg and let me pet him when we met on the stairs.”

“See, I told you it’s just you he has a problem with, Ryder.” The woman standing at the stove chortled.

“I don’t know why.” He looked as if he might be a bit insulted by her comment. “Most other animals don’t seem to think I’m all that bad of a guy.”

“Maybe you aren’t home enough for him to get used to you,” Summer suggested.

“Whatever.” Shrugging, he walked over to take a mug from one of the top cabinets, then poured her some coffee. “Betty Lou Harmon, I’d like for you to meet my friend, Summer Patterson.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Harmon,” Summer said warmly as the older woman turned from the stove to face her.

“It’s real nice to meet you, too, child. But don’t go bein’ all formal,” the housekeeper groused, shaking her head. “You call me Betty Lou the same as everybody else, you hear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Summer said, instantly liking the woman. With her dark hair liberally streaked with silver and pulled back into a tight bun at the back of her head, her kind gray eyes and round cheeks flushed from the heat of the stove, Betty Lou looked more like someone’s grandmother than a rancher’s housekeeper.

Wiping her hands on her gingham apron, she waved toward the trestle table where Ryder had been seated when Summer entered the room. “You find yourself a place to sit and I’ll get you fixed up with a plate of eggs, bacon, hash browns and some biscuits and gravy.”

“I don’t eat much for breakfast,” Summer confessed, hoping she didn’t offend the woman. She seated herself in one of the tall ladder-back chairs at the honey oak table. “Normally all I have is a bagel or toast and a cup of coffee.”

“Well, you’d better eat a hearty meal this mornin’ if you’re goin’ horseback ridin’ down to the canyon with Ryder,” Betty Lou said, filling a plate and bringing it over to set on the table in front of her.

“We’re going for a ride?” Summer asked, crestfallen. She thought they were supposed to discuss her request.

“I thought I’d show you around the ranch,” Ryder said, nodding as he brought her coffee over to the table. When Betty Lou went into the pantry, he lowered his voice and leaned close to Summer. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk and no one around to overhear the conversation.”

“We could have done that in my hotel room,” she reminded him.

He raised one dark eyebrow as he sat back down at the head of the table. “For someone who is so concerned with appearances, you haven’t thought of the obvious, darlin’.”

Ryder’s intimate tone and the scent of his clean, masculine skin caused her pulse to beat double time. “Wh-what would that be?” she asked, confused and not at all comfortable with the way she was reacting to him.

“How do you think it would look with us being alone in your room for several hours?” He shrugged. “I doubt anyone would be convinced we were just talking or watching television.”

“Oh.” She hadn’t thought of that. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Now eat,” he said, pointing to her plate.

“Aren’t you going to have breakfast?” she asked, taking a bite of the fluffy scrambled eggs.

He took a sip of his coffee and shook his head. “I ate about an hour ago.”

When she finished the last of the delicious food, Summer smiled at Betty Lou when she walked over to pick up the plate. “That was wonderful. Thank you.”

The woman gave her an approving nod. “That should tide you over until you eat the sandwiches I packed for the two of you.”

“We won’t be back in time for lunch?” Summer asked, turning to Ryder. “How far away is the canyon?”

“It’s not that far.” He gave her a smile that made her radiate from within. “But there’s a creek lined with cottonwoods that runs through the canyon, and I thought you might like to have a picnic along the bank.”

“I haven’t done something like that in years,” she said, happy that he had thought of the idea. Going on an outing like the one Ryder suggested was one of the many things she had enjoyed doing with her parents.

“You do know how to ride a horse, don’t you?” he asked. When she nodded, he unclipped his cell phone from his belt. “Good. I’ll call the barn and have my foreman get the horses saddled and ready for us.”

A half hour later as he and Summer rode across the pasture behind the barns, Ryder watched her pat the buckskin mare she was riding. With the autumn sun shining down on her long blond hair, she looked like an angel. A very desirable angel.

He frowned at the thought. They had never been more than friends, and until his brothers started ribbing him about taking her to Sam and Bria’s wedding vows renewal celebration, he had purposely avoided thinking of her in that way. So why was it all he could think about now? Of course, her making her plea last night for him to be her baby’s daddy sure wasn’t helping matters.

“I’m glad you thought of this, Ryder,” she said, distracting him from his confusing inner thoughts. “I love going horseback riding. I used to do it all the time. But after I took the job with the rodeo association, I sold my parents’ farm and all of the horses and I don’t get to ride much anymore.”

“Was there a reason you couldn’t keep it?” he asked. She said she had plenty of money, so that couldn’t be the cause of her selling everything.

She stared off into the distance like the decision might not have been an easy one to make. “With all the travel required for my job, it just didn’t seem practical to hang on to it.”

“I realize you have to arrive in a town a few days before a rodeo in order to get things set up for the media and schedule interviews for some of the riders, but couldn’t you have boarded one of the horses and ridden on the days that you do make it home?” he asked, knowing that was what he would have done.

He could understand her not wanting to hold on to her parents’ home without them being there. It would most likely be a painful reminder of all that she had lost when they were killed. But he didn’t understand her not keeping at least one of the horses if she liked to ride that much.

“I don’t go home,” she answered, shrugging one slender shoulder. “I just go on to the next town on the schedule.”

“You don’t go back to your place on the few days we have off between rodeos?” They normally met up in the next town for the next rodeo and had never traveled together before. It appeared that although they were close friends, there was a lot that they hadn’t shared with each other.

But he still couldn’t imagine going for weeks without coming back to the ranch. Besides Hank Calvert’s Last Chance Ranch, the Blue Canyon was the only place he had ever been able to truly call home. And a home of his own was something he never intended to be without again.

“I…don’t have a place,” she admitted, looking a little sheepish. “I know it sounds bad, but I couldn’t see any sense in paying for the upkeep on my parents’ home or rent on an apartment when I’d only be there a few days out of the month.”

Reaching out, he took hold of the mare’s reins as he stopped both horses. “Let me get this straight. You live out of hotel rooms and you don’t have a place to call your own?” When she nodded, he asked, “Where do you keep your things?”

“What I can’t pack into the two suitcases I take on the road with me, like furniture and family keepsakes, I keep in a storage unit in Topanga, California, not far from where my parents lived.” When he turned loose of the buckskin’s reins and they continued on toward the trail leading down into the canyon, she added, “It’s much cheaper than paying to keep them in an apartment I’d never use.”

Shocked by her revelation, he shook his head. “So for all intents and purposes, you’re homeless.”

“I guess it could be construed that way.” She nibbled on her lower lip a moment as if she might be bothered by it more than she was letting on. “But as long as I’m traveling like I do, I don’t mind.”

“How long have you lived this way?” he asked, still trying to wrap his mind around what she had told him.

“About three years.”

He had been friends with her all that time and not once had he suspected that she lived the life of a nomad. What else was there about her that he didn’t know? And how the hell did she plan on taking care of a baby with that kind of lifestyle?

When they reached the canyon’s rim, they fell silent as Ryder rode the bay ahead of her to lead the way to the meadow below. But he couldn’t stop thinking about her lack of roots. Why did she want a baby when she didn’t even have a home? What was she going to do with the poor little thing, raise it in a series of hotel rooms while they traveled from one rodeo to the next for her job? That wasn’t any kind of a life for a little kid.

Ryder didn’t know what her reasoning was, but he had every intention of finding out. He knew from personal experience that it was important to a kid to have a place to call home.

Leading the way to the spot along the bank that he had in mind for their picnic, he reined in the gelding. “How does this look?”

“It’s great,” she said, stopping the buckskin mare beside his horse. “There’s plenty of shade.” She pointed toward one of the cottonwoods. “And under that tree looks like the perfect place to put the blanket.”

Dismounting the bay, he dropped the reins to groundtie the horse, then moved to retrieve the rolled blanket he had tied to the back of the gelding’s saddle, along with the insulated saddlebags holding their lunch. From the corner of his eye, he watched Summer jump down from the mare’s back and start doing some stretches to loosen up after the ride.

He briefly wondered if she was having muscle cramps, but he quickly forgot all about her possible discomfort as he watched her stretch from side to side, then bend over to touch her toes. Her jeans pulled tight over her perfect little bottom caused his mouth to go as dry as a desert in a drought. When she straightened, then placed her hands on her hips to lean back and relieve pressure on her lower back, he sucked in a sharp breath. Her motions caused her chest to stick out and for the first time since he had known her, he noticed how full and perfect her breasts were.

Ryder muttered a curse under his breath and forced himself to look away. This was Summer. She was his best friend and he’d never thought of her in a romantic light. So why now was he suddenly taking notice of her delightful backside and enticing breasts?

Disgusted with himself, he shook his head and tucking the picnic blanket under his arm, finished unfastening the insulated saddlebags from the bay’s saddle and carted everything over to the spot beneath the cottonwood that Summer had pointed out. His fascination with her feminine attributes was probably due to the fact that he hadn’t been with a woman in longer than he cared to remember—and he’d have to be blind not to notice that Summer was a damned good-looking woman with a set of curves that could tempt a eunuch. He wasn’t at all comfortable thinking of her in that way, but there was no denying it either.

As he set the saddlebags down and unfolded the blanket to spread it out on the ground, he gave some thought to his dilemma. He was a normal, healthy adult male who, like any other man, needed to occasionally get lost in a woman’s softness. Once he got back out on the rodeo circuit, he needed to take a trip to one of the local watering holes in whatever town he was in and strike up a cozy little acquaintance with a woman who wasn’t looking for anything more than a real good time. Maybe then he would stop having inappropriate thoughts about his best friend.

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