A BIG SURPRISE—TIMES THREE!

The last time rodeo cowboy Tyler Buckham was in Cowboy Creek, he spent a steamy night with local beauty Shay O’Neill. Back in town for a quick visit, he’s hoping they’ll have another go-around before he heads for his next rodeo. But seeing Shay pregnant—with triplets!—leaves Tyler feeling as if his best horse has kicked him in the gut.

Shay swore she wouldn’t fall for an unreliable cowboy, and Tyler’s playboy past makes him even less likely to settle down. The whole town conspires to push them together, and Tyler insists he wants to do his duty by Shay and the triplets, but Shay knows she can’t count on promises from a cowboy. Besides, Tyler never once mentioned the word love...

“Why are you here?” Shay fought to keep her voice steady.

“Maybe I had the urge for dessert.” Tyler grinned.

“Then you’ll find more of a selection at SugarPie’s.”

“Could be. But maybe what I want’s right here.”

Once, she would have fallen for that line and hoped he wanted her. She was so over that now. So over him.

She slid open the freezer case and reached for an empty ice cream tub. It gave her an excuse to avoid his blue-eyed stare.

But Tyler stepped up beside her. “I’ll get that.”

“Thanks, but I’m pregnant, not incapacitated.”

“I didn’t think you were.” He closed the freezer door. “Let’s just say I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine.”

He looked away, as if he’d only now realized what he had said. He cleared his throat and looked back at her. “I’ll take care of this, then you can take care of a few things for me.”

Unfortunately, his attempt to make his point clearer only filled her mind with more images and memories of their night together.

Suddenly, Shay didn’t feel quite so over Tyler Buckham.

Dear Reader,

If you’ve visited Cowboy Creek before, welcome back! And if this is your first time dropping in, have fun meeting Grandpa Jed and the rest of the gang at the Hitching Post Hotel.

As a writer, I love throwing my characters into the absolute worst situations for them. Take our heroine, Shay O’Neill, for example. She has sworn never to fall for a cowboy, and yet a smooth-talking wrangler steals her heart. For once in her life, she lets that heart rule her head. Then the playboy leaves town without a backward glance long before she discovers she’s pregnant.

Rodeo rider Tyler Buckham is in for a few surprises of his own. As he has more reasons than most men for not wanting to settle down, he avoids permanent entanglements and always takes the proper precautions. But upon his return to Cowboy Creek, he learns the hard way that even the best-laid plans can fall to pieces...

I hope you enjoy Tyler’s and Shay’s attempts to put aside their differences to do what’s best for their not one, not two, but three newborn babies.

You can find out more about the folks from the Hitching Post Hotel, as well as all my books, at: barbarawhitedaille.com. You can also reach me at my mailing address: PO Box 504, Gilbert, AZ 85299. I would love to hear from you!

All my best to you.

Until we meet again,

Barbara White Daille

THE COWBOY’S TRIPLE SURPRISE

Barbara White Daille

www.millsandboon.co.uk

BARBARA WHITE DAILLE and her husband still inhabit their own special corner of the wild, wild Southwest, where the summers are long and hot and the lizards and scorpions roam.

Barbara loves looking back at the short stories and two books she wrote in grade school and realizing that—except for the scorpions—she’s doing exactly what she planned. She has now hit double digits with published novels and still has a file drawer full of stories to be written.

As always, Barbara hopes you will enjoy reading her books! She would love to have you drop by for a visit at her website, barbarawhitedaille.com.

MILLS & BOON

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To Marlene and Vinnie

for the years of friendship,

fun, love and laughter...

and to Rich for all the same and more.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Tyler Buckham’s life in Texas—though he wasn’t sure you could call it a life lately—had become as dry as the Sonoran Desert. He liked the ranch he’d been working for some time now, and yet boredom and restlessness had both begun cropping up with increasing frequency. When he’d first noticed the signs setting in again, it never crossed his mind to turn to what he’d normally do: head out to another rodeo. Try for another prize. Find another buckle bunny to help fill a few empty hours.

That failure to go for what had always worked in the past proved just how stale his life had become.

As a last resort, he had given his notice and hit the road. Everybody needed a change of scenery once in a while. Running to something didn’t have to mean you were running from something else. Or so he told himself.

With an effort, he brought his focus back to the den where he now sat, and looked at the older man across the desk from him. He had met Jed Garland, the owner of the Hitching Post Hotel, last summer, when he’d come to Garland Ranch to stand up as best man when Jed’s granddaughter Tina married Tyler’s friend Cole.

Jed laced his hands across his middle. “Nice to have you back.”

“It’s nice to be back,” Tyler returned, though he felt uncomfortable saying it. He should have visited Cowboy Creek again long before this. Cole had invited him for Christmas, but he’d turned down the offer. Instead, he’d spent the holidays with his folks. Three months later, he was still kicking himself over that mistake.

“Cole will be pleased to see you when he gets home,” Jed told him. “I’ll need to have a talk with that boy, though—he didn’t so much as hint about you coming for a visit.”

“He didn’t know I was headed this way. Stopping by was a spur-of-the-moment idea.”

It was worse than that.

What would Cole and Jed and the rest of the Garlands think if they knew just how close he’d come to passing right by? Though he’d headed to New Mexico deliberately to put Texas behind him, he’d been on the fence about whether or not to visit Garland Ranch.

Fate had taken a hand, pushing him off the highway at the Cowboy Creek town limits. The gas gauge on the pickup had nose-dived, and he’d had to top up the tank. If he could have made it through to the next town, he might have left the hotel and dude ranch behind him in a cloud of road dust.

Instead, he’d given the truck its head the way he did his stallion. Like Freedom, the truck seemed to know exactly where it wanted to go. By the time he’d pulled into the parking area behind the Hitching Post, he had begun to wonder if fate had had this trip in store for him all along.

“Well,” Jed said, “when an idea spurs you on, that’s usually a good sign you should get moving on it.”

“Yeah. And here I am.” He glanced over at the Stetson he had tossed onto one of the small couches in the office. “But speaking of moving, I guess I’ll hit the road again since Cole’s not around.”

“What’s your hurry? He’ll be back in a couple of days.”

Tyler looked at Jed. The man was past seventy, but those clear blue eyes, topped by pure white eyebrows, wouldn’t miss much. At Jed’s scrutiny, he broke eye contact, using the excuse of grabbing his Stetson.

“It’s almost time for lunch,” Jed went on. “Why not stay to eat with us? Then you might as well stick around here till Cole gets home. We’ve got plenty of room in the hotel for you, and a stall out in the barn just standing empty waiting for your mount.”

“I don’t—”

“You know Tina and I will be glad for the visit with you,” Jed went on, as if he hadn’t heard Tyler. “And I know you’re not planning on running off without seeing Paz.”

The mention of Tina’s grandmother, the hotel’s cook, brought back some great memories. He smiled. “She sure took good care of me when I was here for Cole and Tina’s wedding.”

Jed smiled broadly. “Feeding people is what she does best. We don’t like seeing anyone going hungry here. And we’re not fond of empty spaces at the table. We’ll be happy to have you sitting in for Cole and staying with us for a while.”

“I don’t—”

“You won’t be the only guest at the table today,” Jed broke in again. “Shay’s joining us for lunch, too.”

“Shay?” Tyler’s pulse revved up a notch.

“Yeah, Shay O’Neill. You met her at the wedding last summer, remember?”

How could he forget? “Yeah, I remember Shay.” Understatement of the century. The mention of her name brought to mind a handful of other good memories.

“So, that’s decided.” Jed rose from his chair. “C’mon out to the front desk and we’ll find you a room. You haven’t got much time to settle in before we eat. Just a word of advice, though. I’d do my best to show up in the dining room as soon as possible, or you might get done out of something special.”

Yeah, something special like sitting next to Shay O’Neill.

As he followed Jed down the hall to the hotel lobby, his thoughts stayed with Shay. Shay, who was as sweet as the ice cream she sold at the Big Dipper in town. And who was way hotter than any other woman he’d ever seen.

Shay was another reason he should have come back to Cowboy Creek before now. They had had a good time in the few days he had stayed there last summer. No reason they couldn’t have just as good a time while he was here now. Lucky for him, that brief visit had included a night in her bed. He looked forward to having that pleasure again.

Above all, Shay was guaranteed to make him forget his troubles for a while. He needed that kind of forgetting more than he’d realized until this very moment.

* * *

ONCE HE’D SETTLED Freedom in his stall, Tyler made quick work of hauling his duffel bag from the back of the pickup truck to the room Jed had assigned him. Minutes after tossing the bag onto the king-size bed, he was downstairs again and on his way to the dining room.

From up ahead, he could hear more than one conversation going, a child’s shriek and, in a sudden beat of silence, a woman’s familiar laugh. That last sound made him both hard and hungry, but not for anything the Hitching Post might serve for lunch.

The dining room was crowded with Garland family members and hotel guests, yet the instant he paused in the doorway, he spotted Shay. She sat on the far side of the long center table reserved for the Garlands, half turned away from him as she talked with one of Jed’s granddaughters. He recognized the straight, wheat-blond hair that fell below her shoulders and felt like silk against his fingers. He knew when she looked his way he would see eyes one shade lighter than her green sweater. Her cheeks held a natural pink tint. Her lips curved in a soft smile.

Just looking at her from a distance made his pulse speed up and his jeans tighten.

She reached for a cloth napkin and unfolded it. As if she’d given a signal, the folks around him began heading toward the tables. The movement spurred him toward the vacant seat at her side before anyone else could grab it.

As he slid onto the chair, she turned his way.

The smile stayed, but the light pink color drained from her cheeks. He saw her fingers clutch the napkin she had draped across her lap. And then he saw the rounded expanse of belly straining the knitted weave of her sweater.

She was extremely pregnant.

Thoughts of anticipated pleasure flew from his head. Words did, too, leaving him struggling for something to say.

Jed Garland had no such problem. “Shay, you remember Tyler, don’t you?”

She nodded.

“I thought you might.”

Tyler couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. He also couldn’t miss hearing the satisfaction in the older man’s voice. What had brought that on? And why had Jed mentioned Shay’s invitation to lunch but said nothing about her condition? Of course, Jed—and everyone else at the Hitching Post—probably thought he and Shay were just passing acquaintances.

He tried for a casual smile. The one she gave him looked about as sincere as his felt.

“Tyler,” Tina said, “Abuelo says you’re staying with us for a while.”

Shay’s sweater rose, telling him she had sucked in a startled breath. She covered it with a small cough and a grab for her water glass.

The reaction made sense. Obviously, she’d met someone else since they were together last summer. Or she’d already been involved with the man when they’d had their fling. Either way, she wouldn’t want him hanging around, maybe bringing up their brief relationship in some conversation. As if he would. The boys at the ranch back in Texas always said he needed to have “Love ’em and leave ’em” tattooed across his chest. That didn’t mean he’d make a public announcement about a one-night stand. Shay couldn’t know that, but you would think she’d at least give him the benefit of the doubt.

Finally dragging his gaze away, he turned to Tina. He gave her his killer grin—to kill time, to try to pull himself together and recall what she had said... Staying with us for a while. Yeah. He sure regretted that right now. “I’ll be here at least till Cole gets back. I wouldn’t want to miss seeing him.”

“He definitely wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity, either. Meanwhile, we’ll all have the pleasure of your company.”

Not such a pleasure for Shay, considering the way she had reacted to finding him beside her and hearing he planned to stay. But that was nothing compared to the way he’d felt at seeing her.

Well...at seeing her pregnant.

While he liked a roll in the hay as well as any man, he had two rules for those occasions. First, always make sure your companion’s unattached. Two, keep the relationship no strings. Obviously, he had let the first rule go by the wayside when he met Shay, but he sure intended to hold fast to the second.

Shay’s condition now made him cross her name permanently off his interest list.

A waitress passed around several bowls filled with dinner rolls, then began serving the food. He managed to keep up his end of the conversation with Jed and Tina.

Shay apparently was making a deliberate effort to remain turned away from him as she talked to Jed’s granddaughter Jane. Fine by him. The less they had to see of each other, the better. This lunch would soon be over, and considering the short time he planned to stay on the ranch, chances were good he wouldn’t run into her again.

He passed the basket of rolls her way. As she took it from him, he glanced at her left hand. No chunky flashing diamonds, no gold band. And no surprise there. The boys he’d worked with had also filled him in about pregnant women. Namely, that toward the end of a pregnancy, they often gained too much weight to wear their wedding rings.

“Tyler?”

Abruptly, he became aware of Jed waving from the head of the table, attempting to get his attention. The man’s tone made it apparent he’d said his name more than once. Flushing and hoping no one had noticed, he nodded at Jed in acknowledgment.

“If you haven’t got any plans for the afternoon, the girls could use some help.”

The girls meant Jed’s adult granddaughters. “Sure. I’ve got nothing on my agenda.” Besides avoiding Shay. “Need a hand with some heavy lifting?”

Jed nodded. “We’re setting up for a wedding reception, and with Cole away, we’re shorthanded around here. If you wouldn’t mind going along to the banquet hall after lunch, maybe you can lend some assistance.”

“No problem.”

Jed beamed. “Thank you kindly. I appreciate it, and I know the girls and Shay all do, too.”

“Shay?” he blurted, nearly dropping his fork.

To his relief, no one seemed to notice. Jed turned to talk to one of the hotel guests at an adjacent table. Tyler gripped his fork and tried not to look at the woman beside him.

He didn’t feel comfortable being here with her. Judging by her white-knuckled grip on her water glass, she felt the same.

Things had definitely changed between them since the night they had spent together.

Chapter Two

After lunch, Shay hurried out of the dining room as quickly as she could, wanting to put distance between herself and Tyler. She gave a shuddering sigh and rested her hands on the small folding table she had set up near the entrance to the banquet room. The short walk here had left her unsteady on her feet, but for once she couldn’t blame her shaky balance on the extra weight from her pregnancy.

She had never expected to see Tyler Buckham again, not after he’d left so many months before.

Eight months before. But who was counting?

In the short time he had been in Cowboy Creek last summer, she had fallen hard and fast for him. She had let just a few conversations over just a handful of days lead her to fall into his arms. And then she had made the awful mistake of taking him to bed.

The shame she felt about that now ranked right up there with the worst moments of her life, which included the day she finally acknowledged she wasn’t going to hear from him again.

Now she had another item to add to the list—finding Tyler beside her an hour ago in the Hitching Post’s dining room. Well, he wouldn’t hear anything from her, either, about the fact he had gotten her pregnant before he’d left town.

“And he’s not worth worrying about now, babies,” she said under her breath. “Mommy needs to focus on the reason we’re here at the Hitching Post.”

The next wedding reception being held at the hotel was only a day away. And yet with all they still had left to do in the room, she had been demoted to assembling table decorations.

She had spread her supplies across the small table. On the far side of the room, Jane and a couple of the hotel’s waitresses were taking care of the seating arrangements.

Truthfully, setting up chairs would almost be easier on her now than bending over the display cases at the Big Dipper to scoop up mounds of rock-solid ice cream. But she couldn’t argue about being given light duty here, not when she knew the Garlands were only looking out for her.

Which was exactly what she needed to be doing right now for them.

She walked over to the corner of the room to get more of the wedding favors. Before she could lift the carton of vases from the stack, a man stepped up beside her. She nearly jumped a foot in the air.

Then she froze, knowing it was Tyler and refusing to look at him. Yet, without even a glance in his direction, she picked up so many of the same details she had tried not to notice at the dining room table. So many memories from their brief time together.

From the corner of her eye, she caught the scuffed and creased cowboy boots. The well-worn jeans. The snapped cuff of a long-sleeved Western shirt. With one breath, she took in the scent of musky aftershave and of the man himself. Standing so close to him, she couldn’t miss the heat of his body. She forced herself to remember that warmth was only on the surface and didn’t touch his heart.

“So,” he said, “you’re helping out the Garlands this afternoon, too?”

“I work here,” she corrected.

“You gave up the job at the Big Dipper?”

She shook her head and finally glanced at him. “No, I’m doubling up. I’m working my way up to banquet manager for the hotel.” She hoped for that, anyhow. With the babies on the way, she needed more money than she made now.

“Nice.” He sounded impressed.

Good. Let him see she didn’t need anything from him.

“Hey, I’ll give you a hand.” He grabbed the carton. Glass clinked.

“Careful,” she snapped, half out of annoyance at herself for taking so much of him in, the other half out of irritation at his thinking she needed help—or anything else—from him. “Those are fragile.”

Eyebrows raised, he eyed her middle as if to say the same applied to her.

She crossed her arms, intending to stand her ground and stare him down, but the large baby bump made the stance awkward. She lowered her hands to her sides.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I don’t make a habit of dropping things.”

“Oh, really? I’d have said you were an expert at it.” She could have bitten her tongue at the instinctive response, but even that pain wouldn’t have come close to the way he had hurt her.

“What does that mean?”

It was too much to hope he would have just let her statement slide. But why should she let him slide when he had treated her so badly? “Sorry. I suppose I shouldn’t have said that.” She kept her voice down, but still, nerves and anger made her pitch high and her tone arch. “I really don’t know how you are about dropping things. But I sure know how you are about dropping women, since you did such a great job of that with me.”

Abruptly, he shifted the carton. Glass clinked again, and this time she was too annoyed to care. How could he sound so offhand after what he had done?

“I didn’t drop you,” he said. “You knew I was only in town a few days for the wedding. While I was here, we had a good time together, and that was it. I didn’t make any promises.” He looked at her stomach. “Besides, you obviously didn’t waste any time moving on to someone else.”

She swallowed a gasp. He couldn’t possibly think she had slept with him one night and then gone on to someone else the next. Then again, considering how quickly she had wound up in bed with him, why wouldn’t he think that?

As for not wasting time... If he only knew how many sleepless nights she had spent since he had left, especially once she found out she was pregnant. But he wouldn’t know, and she had to stop thinking about that. He had already stolen too much time from her, had already hurt her enough.

“Don’t worry,” he said in a lower tone, “I’m not planning to say anything about what happened last summer. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“My—” The sound of footsteps made her cut herself off. This time she turned. One sneak attack was enough—although no one could have startled her more than Tyler had.

Tina was coming toward them from across the room.

Shay glanced in Tyler’s direction and gestured to the table she had set up. “You can put the carton over there. Thanks.” She forced a smile.

He locked gazes with her. She refused to be the first to look away, which left her staring into his midnight-blue eyes. To her dismay, her stomach did that funny little flip it had taken such a short time to learn months ago.

“Tyler,” Tina said, “thanks so much for agreeing to help us all out. I think Jane’s trying to flag you down. Would you mind giving her and the waitresses a hand with the banquet tables?”

“Sure.” He glanced toward the other side of the room. Then he nodded to them both and ambled away.

Shay tried not to stare after him. She didn’t care where he was going or what he was doing, as long as it wasn’t near her. Let him think what he wanted about her pregnancy, too. She didn’t have to correct his assumption.

“Shay?”

Startled, she turned to stare at Tina. “I’m sorry. What?”

“I said, why don’t you sit and take it easy? It’s hard to be up on your feet, especially when you can’t even see your feet.”

“You should talk,” Shay said, glancing pointedly at the other woman’s middle, then blinking as she recalled Tyler doing the same to her. “You’re not that far behind me.”

“But I’m experienced. And I’m not carrying three babies.”

Shay tried not to wince, not to react at all to what Tina had said. She shot another look across the banquet hall. To her relief, Tyler had reached the opposite side of the room. Even with the acoustics in the high-ceilinged ballroom, he couldn’t possibly have overheard.

“Actually,” Tina said, “I’ll give you a hand, since I have some free time this afternoon.” She took a seat at the table.

Shay followed and returned to her own chair. Again, she couldn’t argue. Tina was only looking out for her. And as one of the Garland family, the other woman was more or less her employer.

She didn’t know what Tyler was doing back here in Cowboy Creek, but for all she knew, Jed might have hired him, too. She might have to face him every time she came to the hotel to work.

The thought was too much for her to consider.

She reached for the ribbon dispenser. Right now, she needed to push aside her reluctance to be near him for even part of this afternoon. She had to focus on the job that was going to help her pay her bills.

And still, she stared across the room.

Tyler had gone down on one knee to inspect something under a table. His broad shoulders strained against his flannel shirt the way her stomach strained against her maternity top. His belt encircled a waist as rock hard as his abs and now slimmer than she was around the middle.

“Shay,” Tina said, “do you mind if I borrow that dispenser before you run out of ribbon?”

Shay looked down at the table in front of her. Her face flamed. While trying to distract her thoughts from Tyler, she had coiled a length of ribbon into a tangled mass around her fingers. She grabbed the scissors and snipped the ribbon free.

Without another word, Tina took the dispenser, then reached for an undecorated vase. Shay sent her an apologetic glance, but the other woman didn’t look her way.

For a while, she managed to focus on the vases and the ribbons and a casual conversation with Tina. Then, all too soon, she found herself tuning in to the thump of Tyler’s boots from the other side of the room, the rumble of his voice as he spoke to one of the women, the sound of his deep laugh as he responded to something one of them said.

A spurt of jealousy hit, an unwanted, unwelcome emotion that twined itself—like the ribbon twisted in her fingers—around her heart.

She should have expected it and been prepared. And she couldn’t let it worry her, because she knew what caused the sudden upswing of emotion.

From the day Tyler had left to the day she finally acknowledged he didn’t plan to contact her again, her up-and-down feelings had run out of control. Late-night anxiety triggered her bouts of insomnia. Stiff-necked tension left her no comfortable position even if sleep had wanted to come. Anger and depression had made her days as uncomfortable as her nights.

There had been no way she would have run after Tyler, no way she wanted an unreliable cowboy in her life. Anger at herself, at how far she had let herself fall, had triggered every one of those reactions. She had simply waited them out, knowing they would pass, and they had. Eventually.

After she had discovered she was pregnant, she had again fought—and won—a battle to get her emotions in check, but there were times, like today, when her hormones won out. Green-eyed jealousy was trying to entice her. She wouldn’t let it succeed. Tyler didn’t mean anything to her anymore. She couldn’t care less who he flirted with now. Though he had fathered her babies, he was a free man.

She didn’t plan to do or say anything to change that.

* * *

WHEN HIS YOUNGEST GRANDDAUGHTER, Tina, entered the kitchen, Jed Garland took notice. Her grin made him sit back in his chair and nod in satisfaction.

Paz, standing near the refrigerator, stopped and turned their way.

“Tyler went for the bait, did he?” Jed asked.

“I don’t know about that.” Tina laughed. “But as you would put it, let’s just say Jane had him well and truly hooked by the time I left the banquet hall. He’s helping with the table setups, though his attention keeps wandering, and so does Shay’s. I’m now beginning to think you were right all along. You’re some matchmaker, Abuelo.”

“I try,” he said modestly.

Both she and Paz laughed out loud.

“I’m curious,” Tina said. “Tyler seemed so reluctant to help after you told him Shay would be working with us. I’m surprised he’s cooperating now. What did you say to him after the rest of us left the dining room?”

“I simply mentioned that no able-bodied man would let a woman in Shay’s condition get overworked.”

“Mentioned?” Paz repeated.

Chuckling, he looked over at the hotel cook. She had worked for him for more than twenty years now, since before they had this granddaughter in common and long before those gray streaks had started threading through her hair. “Well, maybe a bit stronger than mentioned. What do you think of his reaction?”

She crossed the room to take the chair beside Tina’s. After a glance toward the kitchen door, she smiled at them both. “I think it has proved your point. If we didn’t already believe that Tyler is the daddy of Shay’s babies, I would surely think so now.”

He nodded. “We’d have had to be imbeciles not to have caught on months ago. The boy’s reactions today only confirm he and Shay had something going on.”

“True,” Tina said. “I was watching, and the look on his face when he stood in the doorway and saw her was priceless. So was Shay’s when she found him sitting beside her. But I’m feeling a little guilty you didn’t tell either of them ahead of time that they would see each other at lunch.”

He shook his head. “There’s a lot to be said for shock value. And there’s even more to be said about keeping those two on their toes. Jane and the other girls are still with them in the banquet hall, aren’t they?”

Tina nodded.

“Good. Nothing like holding something a man wants within his sight but just out of reach. I’m betting the longer he has time to question things, the more eager he’ll be to stick around to get answers. And in the long run, the more Shay will benefit.”

“Yes.” Paz nodded. “We have to think of Shay.”

“We do,” he agreed. “It’s best we all pretend ignorance for as long as we can. Then they’ll never suspect we’re trying to get them together.”

“You think this plan is a good one, Jed?” Paz asked.

“Of course, I do. And it’s not just me and the girls who believe in it.”

Tina gasped. “You talked to Mo?”

“I did, just before lunch. And she’s in complete agreement. Shay puts on a good act when she’s with any of us, but her grandma said she’s been moping for months now at home. And that’s not good for her.”

“Especially in her condition,” Paz said in alarm.

“Exactly. Well, don’t worry. We’ll be keeping her much too busy to worry about anything...except Tyler.”

“You are a devious, scheming man,” she said, shaking her head.

“Thank you,” he said with a grin.

Chapter Three

“We need that table over here,” Jane called across the banquet room.

“No problem.” Tyler turned in midstride, rolling the round table on its edge across the hardwood floor toward the space she indicated. “You ladies sure do know how to put a man to work around here.”

“Are you complaining?”

“Heck, no. Hard labor is my middle name.” Though Jane laughed, he couldn’t keep from wincing. Head down, he busied himself with pulling out the legs of the table and tightening the supports. Then he crossed back to the wheeled cart and took down the next table.

The phrase he’d jokingly tossed out—hard labor—had made him think of Shay and her pregnancy. Where was the man who had gotten her into that state? There had to be someone in the vicinity. A husband. A boyfriend. Someone. Despite her lack of a wedding ring, for all he knew, she had married that someone a week after he had left town.

It looked to him as though she might be ready to have her baby at any minute. But what did he know about that, either? After lunch, she had stood from her seat beside his and lumbered away. Except for the rolling gait of a saddle-sore greenhorn, from the back she seemed just the way she had when he’d met her months ago. Quite a few months ago.

For a moment, his thoughts got hung up on the time frame. But only for a moment. He couldn’t have been the one to get her pregnant. After all, when he had said something about her moving on to someone else as soon as he’d left town, she hadn’t denied it.

“Hold up, Tyler,” Jane called. “The reception’s in this room, not on the patio.”

To his chagrin, he saw he’d overshot his mark and was almost to a pair of doors leading outside. “Got it,” he said, forcing a laugh. Abruptly, he turned back and took the table to the appropriate spot.

As he continued to work, Shay remained absorbed in her vases and ribbons. Every time he attempted to set up a table closer to her, Jane sent him to another area of the room.

Maybe that was for the best. He and Shay didn’t have anything left to say to each other. And they couldn’t have talked much, anyway, with Tina or Jane constantly by her side. It was as if they were standing guard over her. Every time Jed stopped by the room, even he seemed to take up a protective stance. Because...

Because she was due to have that baby at any minute?

Despite his own reassurances to himself, he did some quick mental math. The results caused him to pull his bandanna from his back pocket. It took him two tries to wipe the cold sweat from his face.

“You okay, cowboy?” Jane called teasingly.

Across the room, Shay looked up from her work.

“Ma’am,” he said to Jane, “I’ve had a change of heart. You’re about working me to death here.” He grinned. “Even the hired hands ought to be entitled to a cold drink now and then, don’t you think?”

He saw her fighting to hide a smile. She made a show of glancing at her watch. “Well, I suppose we can spare you for a minute.”

“Good.” He ambled across the room, deliberately avoiding Shay and Tina and aiming straight for the corner table a few yards from them. Earlier, one of the waitresses had brought in a jug of sweet tea. He filled a glass.

After a mouthful of the drink, he turned to look at the two women. Both were pregnant. Was there something in the water around here? He eyed his tea glass and swallowed a laugh. Then he looked at Shay’s belly again, and his sense of humor deserted him.

He needed to act normally around her, as though he didn’t have a care in the world. Which he didn’t. Hoping for a casual approach, he headed toward their table. From across the room he saw Jane start their way, too.

He came to a stop beside Shay, not too near, but close enough to see the long sweep of her lashes as she kept her eyes down, her gaze focused on her work. Close enough to smell the same flowery perfume she had worn last summer when he’d danced with her at the wedding and, a few nights later, when he had slept with her in her bed.

He gulped another mouthful of sweet tea and nearly choked on it.

Shay never looked his way. The chances she would even throw a glance at him seemed less likely by the second. That only made him more determined to get her attention. He gestured toward the vases lined up on the table. “Looks like this is going to be one big wedding.”

He stood facing Shay, but Tina answered instead. “The biggest we’ve had here yet,” she said emphatically.

He knew she was the financial genius in the family. “The thought of all that income must make your accountant’s heart beat faster.”

She laughed. “You must have heard that phrase from Cole.”

“I did.” He looked at Shay. Another, more intimate memory of them together flashed into his mind. “What makes your heart speed up?” he blurted.

“Heartburn,” she said flatly.

He blinked. Maybe that was a symptom of pregnancy. Or maybe she was just pulling his leg.

“This worker is due for a break, too,” she said, bracing her hands on the table. She seemed to have trouble pushing herself to her feet. Afraid she might overbalance and fall over the chair, he held it steady for her just as he’d done in the dining room after lunch. And just like then, she gave him a curt, dismissive nod. “Tina, I’m going for a walk. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Good idea,” he said. “I feel the need to stretch my legs, too.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re not—”

“—thinking of leaving us, are you?” Tina finished. “Tyler, I’m surprised at you. We’ve still got so many tables to set up.”

“We certainly do,” Jane said. “And we’ve run into a little problem over there.” She pointed to the far side of the room. She raised her brows.

Tina smiled.

Shay turned and left the room.

Shrugging, he followed Jane across the banquet hall. He’d been roped into helping again, and danged if he could think of a single good excuse that would cut him loose.

Somehow, he managed to carry on a conversation with Jane and the rest of the women while his brain focused on the topic of Shay’s baby. The first chance he had to find her alone, he wanted an answer to the question that continued to nag at him:

Just how far along is she?

* * *

FOR THE REST of the afternoon, Jane kept him hopping. The closest Tyler got to Shay was when he set up chairs at the tables in the area near where she was working.

He had just come within yards of her when she pulled a cell phone from the bag she had hooked over the back of her chair. After checking the display, she turned to Tina. “I need another break. And I missed a call from my grandmother.”

“Give Mo our regards,” Tina said.

Shay nodded. This time she appeared to have less trouble getting up. She also seemed to be in a hurry, as if she wanted to get out of her seat before he could lend his help.

He watched her walk off.

A few minutes later, Tina left the ballroom, too.

Time ticked away, and neither of the women returned.

Eventually, Jed and Paz stopped in the doorway and surveyed the setup. Tyler tucked the final two chairs beneath a table, then sauntered in their direction.

“Looking good,” Jed said.

Tyler eyed the room and tried to see it from the older man’s perspective. All the tables had been covered with long white cloths and shorter pale blue ones, but only half the sets of silverware wrapped in white napkins had been put in place. And there were no decorations around the room yet.

He gestured to the folding table at which Shay and Tina had been sitting. “Looks like two of your helpers have deserted you.”

“Tina had to go back to work in her office,” Paz said.

“And Shay left,” Jed put in, answering Tyler’s unspoken question.

“Left?” he asked, startled. Then he backpedaled, trying to downplay his interest. “I mean, I thought she was in charge of table decorations.”

“She is. But she got a call from her grandma and said she had to go home.”

Jed made the statement so calmly, Tyler couldn’t jump to the conclusion that anything was wrong. He also couldn’t keep from wondering whether Shay had wanted to avoid him. At that thought, the hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention. She had no reason to stay away from him now. He’d assured her he wouldn’t bring up their past.

He thought back to Cole and Tina’s wedding and what had happened a couple of days after, and couldn’t help rechecking his math. But even if the dates tallied, that didn’t have to mean a thing. They’d seen each other less than a handful of times. They’d slept together once. What were the chances she’d gotten pregnant from what amounted to a one-night stand? A heck of a lot slimmer than her waist right now, that was sure.

He focused on his surroundings again and found Paz looking his way. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear he saw sympathy in her gaze.

“Shay told me to tell Jed she was sorry,” she explained. “Her grandmother is fine. I think it was Shay who wasn’t feeling well. Tina will call her in a little while to make sure she arrived home.”

“Good idea.” Jed nodded.

“If she felt that sick,” Tyler said, “you’d think she’d have called her husband to pick her up.”

“Doesn’t have a husband,” Jed returned.

“No novio—boyfriend—either,” Paz added.

Exactly the question Tyler’s mental mathematics had caused him to consider all afternoon. But asking Jed or Paz about Shay’s pregnancy would only bring more unwanted attention to his interest in a woman he should only barely know.

* * *

SHAY STRETCHED OUT on her friend’s couch, putting her tired feet up in hopes of easing the swelling. She pulled the afghan from the back of the couch and spread it over her, but even the weight of the knitted wool couldn’t banish the chill she felt.

Layne came from the apartment’s small kitchen carrying a tray with a couple of mugs and a plate of cookies. When she held out one of the steaming mugs, Shay took it gratefully.

Though she hadn’t eaten much of her lunch at the Hitching Post, she couldn’t even look at the cookies. When she got home, she would have to have something. Not now. The way her stomach felt at the moment, she almost didn’t want to risk a sip of tea, either. But she needed the warmth. Needed the mug to hold on to.

She sighed again and glanced at Layne, the only person who knew the truth about her pregnancy. “Tyler’s going to figure out the timing, if he hasn’t already. Even if he’s not the type to keep track of dates—” or to keep track of his conquests “—he’ll remember the month of the wedding. So many brides get married in June.”

As if to challenge that tradition, Layne and her ex-husband had remarried at the Hitching Post just this past weekend.

Shortly before that, Jed’s widowed granddaughter, Andi, had gotten married, too. Those newlyweds were still away on their honeymoon.

Like Tina, Shay had always dreamed of a June wedding and lots of children. Her dreams never included having those children first or raising a family on her own.

But she wouldn’t be alone. She had Grandma and Layne and the Garlands, and the rest of her friends. They were all she needed. All her babies needed, too.

“He’ll figure it out,” she said again. “Or maybe someone at the Hitching Post already told him my due date.”

“Is that so bad?” Layne asked quietly. “You’re going to tell him, anyway, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not.” A flash of anger left her breathless. But it was fury at her own actions that caused tears to rise beneath her hurt. What a fool she had been to fall for Tyler’s dark good looks, his great pickup lines and his pretense of genuine interest. Well, he had truly been interested in something, anyhow. In getting her into bed. And she had made it all too easy for him. She tightened her fingers around the mug. “He slept with me—once—and never looked back. Why would I chase after him to tell him the news?”

“Because he’s the father.”

“No, he’s not.”

Layne’s eyes opened so wide, Shay couldn’t help but laugh. Then, sobering, she slumped against the couch cushion. “Of course he’s the father. I don’t...”

I don’t sleep around. But she had. One single time.

She glanced across the living room to where Layne’s little girl lay sleeping in her playpen. Layne’s new husband had left a few minutes ago, taking their son into the kids’ room to read him a story.

“Don’t worry,” Layne said, “they’ll be good for an hour or more.”

Shay nodded. Still, she lowered her voice, as much out of reluctance to confess the truth as from the worry she would be overheard. “I only meant that Tyler wouldn’t be a real father. How could he be? And why would I want him to be, when he didn’t care enough about me to come back again, or even to call or send me a text?”

“You don’t know what happened after he left.”

“I don’t want to know,” she said flatly. “I don’t want to know anything more than I do already—that he was so hot and such a sweet-talker. And I was such easy pickings.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Why not? You know it. I know it. And worst of all, he knows it, too.”

“I know you, Shay. You wouldn’t have slept with him if you didn’t care about him.”

“I can’t believe this.” She stared down at her tea. “At the wedding, the two of us just clicked.”

“I know you did.”

As the groom’s sister, Layne had attended the wedding last summer, too. At the reception, she had witnessed Shay’s first meeting with Tyler. So had almost everyone else in Cowboy Creek. “The day after the wedding,” Shay said slowly, “he came to the Big Dipper with Jane and Pete and the kids. He came back every day. He borrowed a truck from Jed.”

She had already told Layne all that, but not the rest. “The night before he planned to leave, he showed up again. It was so beautiful out, and after I closed up the shop we went for a walk. We wound up at my house and...and Grandma was out at her bridge club. And I guess you can figure out the rest.” She blinked. “I didn’t plan it.”

“But you wanted it to happen,” Layne said softly.

Shay nodded.

“Because you cared. And because you thought he cared about you.”

“Yes.” She shrugged. “What difference does it make what I thought? Obviously, I was wrong.” At least, on one of those counts. “And how can I ever face him again?”

“He’s not just passing through?”

She shook her head. “Oh, I’m sure he’ll be leaving soon enough. But...”

“But he came to see Cole,” Layne guessed. “And Cole’s gone to Denver to check out that new stallion for Jed.”

“Right. Tyler’s staying until he gets back. And I’ve got to go to work at the Hitching Post again. We’ve got the wedding tomorrow night.” She winced, filled with guilt about the way she had sent along an apology with Paz earlier, and then escaped from the hotel.

Still, she couldn’t regret leaving. The Hitching Post was not the place for a reunion with Tyler. She’d needed to get away. Needed to get some space while she figured out how to do what she knew she had to do. Tell him the truth about her pregnancy.

She had to tell him about the children she would soon be having. Not one child. Not two. But three small, unexpected babies, already growing and thriving inside her. Already very much loved.

Not his babies.

Hers.

“How did you get away from the hotel today without having to talk to Tyler?” Layne asked.

Shay explained about the missed phone call, which she had noticed on her cell phone at the best possible time. “Grandma just wanted to remind me not to hurry home, since she had plans to be out for supper at SugarPie’s.” The sandwich shop in town was one of Mo’s favorite hangouts, and Sugar Conway, the owner, was one of her best friends. “It gave me a reason to leave the banquet room. Once I was away from everyone,” she confessed, “I used the call as an excuse to run. Which is going to make going back tomorrow even more awkward.”

“Couldn’t you just call in sick?” Layne asked.

She almost choked on a laugh. “I wish. But I can’t let Jed and everyone else down. Besides, I need the money. Neither of my part-time jobs comes with insurance.”

“I thought you told me you had money from your parents.”

“I do. From their life insurance policies. So at least I won’t have to worry about the hospital bills.”

She didn’t want to think about those policies and what they represented—the mom and dad she had lost years ago. Money couldn’t take their place in her life. But in reality, she had lost them both long before the accident that had taken them away. Her dad had chased the rodeo and her mom had chased her dad, and as a result, she had never really had them in her life to begin with. All the more reason for staying away from Tyler.

How could she have let herself...

How could she have slept with a rodeo cowboy?

“Grandma practically raised me,” she said in a low voice. “I know how much she loves me, and I know she’ll help me out. But I’m trying to save up as much as I can for everything else the babies will need. I have to report to the Hitching Post tomorrow.”

She looked at Layne. “But I’m just dreading having to walk back into that hotel and see Tyler again. Or having to face any of the Garlands. Everyone else in Cowboy Creek must know the situation, too. What did I think?” she added, rolling her eyes. “That I could hide my head in the sand like an ostrich, and they wouldn’t figure out the timing as soon as they saw my stomach getting bigger?”

Layne smothered a laugh. “Sorry. That’s some visual. But if hiding the truth was your goal, I’m afraid you can forget it. Take it from a mom twice over. Nobody around here messes up the math on a pregnancy.” Sobering, she added, “I know you don’t want to tell Tyler the news, Shay. But you should think about it. Before someone else does.”

“People ought to respect my right to privacy,” she snapped.

“In this town? No. Someone, sometime, is bound to tell him—out of the goodness of their heart, though. You know that.”

“Oh, I do know. They’ll have the best of motives, thinking they’re making things easier and doing me a favor.”

“Exactly. The longer you wait, the more you run that risk. And worse, the more gossip and speculation will fly.”

“I know that, too,” she mumbled. Her eyes blurring, she stroked her stomach and sighed.

Chapter Four

Tyler patted the stallion’s flank, then left the stall.

In the corral outside the barn, a few of the hotel guests were saddled up, looking stiff and serious as they took instruction from some of the cowhands.

He headed across the yard to the Hitching Post.

The wind had picked up a bit, but the midafternoon sun had gotten stronger. Together, they kept the temperature at a comfortable level. Too bad they couldn’t do anything about his temperature. Since yesterday, he had jumped from hot to cold and back again every time he thought of Shay.

As he reached the hotel, the back door opened. Pete, Jed’s ranch manager and Jane’s husband, came out of the hotel and down the porch steps. “In for the day?” he asked.

Tyler nodded.

“Whenever you’re needing another ride, you’re welcome to any of the mounts here.”

“Needing?” Tyler echoed.

Pete shrugged. “The way you tore out of here after lunch, I’d have said you were looking for more than just time in the saddle.”

“Yeah.” All morning, he had helped Tina and Jane in the ballroom again. Shay hadn’t been around, and no one had mentioned her name.

They had released him from duty just before lunch, and afterward he and Freedom had done some hard riding on Garland Ranch. The long trek had been designed to help him outrun his thoughts. Instead, it had only given him more time alone, ample time to envision what he’d seen yesterday.

Shay, with her belly so big she looked like she might give birth at any moment. Not that he was an expert on pregnancy. But he could count. And he still didn’t like the numbers he’d come up with.

“The ride doesn’t seem to have done you much good,” Pete said. “Or else that expression of yours is saying you hit a cactus patch somewhere out on the ranch.”

“I hit something thorny,” he agreed, wondering just how much the other man could help him. Pete had two kids of his own. He certainly ought to know something about the stages of pregnancy. He might also know when Shay was due to have her baby.

But he didn’t intend to stand there gossiping about her with Jed’s ranch manager. Or even to discuss her with Jed. He had to talk to Shay. All day, he’d replayed their conversation in his mind. Her lack of reaction when he had said he would keep her secret told him he couldn’t be the daddy. But he needed her to tell him herself.

“See you later.” Tyler made his way into the Hitching Post. A short walk down the hall took him to the wide doorway of the hotel’s kitchen.

Paz stood near a counter, where light glinted off a knife resting on a cutting board filled with raw vegetables. She broke off from what she was saying to gesture toward a large coffeemaker on one counter. “Coffee is brewed there.”

“Thanks.”

At the large table, Jed sat with a mug in front of him. “Take a load off,” he invited, waving at an empty chair.

Tyler filled a mug and took his seat at the table.

“As I was saying,” Paz said to Jed, “Tina talked with Shay and told her we won’t need her for the reception tonight. Shay’s planning to work at the shop instead, but she said she’ll be here tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good.”

Not so good for him. Tomorrow afternoon seemed a long time away. And if the Garlands herded her like a stray mare again, chances were good he probably wouldn’t get to talk to her alone. He couldn’t let this opportunity pass him by. “Shay seems to be pretty far along.”

“She is,” Paz confirmed. “She has just a few weeks left.”

“We’re trying to keep her from overdoing it,” Jed put in. “That’s why we appreciated your help yesterday and this morning. You deserved the break after lunch. Enjoy your ride?”

“Yeah,” he said, not satisfied with changing the subject but unwilling to push the issue. “It felt good to get out.”

“Of the hotel?”

“Just out. On horseback.” What had those all-knowing blue eyes seen to make Jed ask that question? He couldn’t tell the man the truth.

Last night, he had spent the evening with the Garlands and their hotel guests. And yeah, between that and today’s stint in the ballroom, then at the crowded lunch table, he had felt the need to get out of the hotel, to get away on his own. To put some space between him and the Garland family. Along with Jed and Paz, and not counting the absent newlyweds, that included two granddaughters, one of their husbands and a handful of kids. A lot of Garlands to go around. He’d needed some breathing room.

Maybe it was having all the other hotel guests there, too, that left him feeling boxed in. Maybe it was just the fact he’d grown up without brothers or sisters and had gotten used to the quiet.

But mostly, he suspected it had to do with needing to escape his thoughts of Shay. Like that had worked.

“Cole ought to be back tomorrow,” Jed said.

“Good. I’m looking forward to seeing him.” Heck, he needed the diversion. “He’s flying in from Denver?”

“Driving. He was making a couple of stops along the way.” Jed took another sip of coffee. “Paz and I were just talking about you before you walked in.”

“Me? What’s up?”

“With this reception going on, we’re all going to be tied up most of the evening. I’m afraid you’ll be on your own.”

“No problem. I’m sure I can find something—” or someone “—to keep me occupied.”

* * *

SHAY SLID THE decorated cake into the large freezer in the Big Dipper’s workroom. Their ice cream cakes were always in demand for birthdays and other celebrations. And though SugarPie’s bakery supplied the wedding and party cakes for the Hitching Post, the Dipper always took care of the hotel’s ice cream orders.

She didn’t want to think about the hotel or about the man she had last seen there yesterday. She touched her stomach. “I probably should have stayed to talk to him,” she murmured to her babies, “but the two of us were never alone.” She laughed softly. “And I don’t mean because you three were there with me.” She sobered again. The thought of having her conversation with Tyler in front of any of the Garlands had done her in, making her run at the first opportunity.

With a sigh, she closed the freezer door securely, then returned to the empty front room of the shop.

They did a booming business in the warmer months, good enough for her boss to pay her a decent wage all year round. Unfortunately, the job was only part-time. As she had told Layne, she needed her income from the Hitching Post, where they paid her an even better part-time rate.

As if the thought of Layne had summoned her, the door to the shop opened and she stepped inside.

“What brings you here?” Shay asked in surprise.

“A pint of chocolate-marshmallow swirl, for one thing.”

“You’re not pregnant again, are you?”

Layne laughed. “That’s what Jason asked. No, I’m not. But the craving was a good reason to get me over here.” She went to the small freezer off to one side of the room.

“Like you need a reason for ice cream.” Shay leaned against the counter instead of taking the high stool out from beneath it. She didn’t trust herself on the stool. After growing so much in the past few weeks, she was finding it harder to keep her balance even with her feet flat on the floor.

Layne set her container on the counter. After looking around the still-empty shop, she said, “I stopped in at the L-G to pick up a few groceries this afternoon and ran into Mo. We had quite a chat.”

The look of excitement on Layne’s face made Shay blink in surprise. “A chat about what?”

“Your hours.”

Again, Shay blinked. Her hours wouldn’t have given anyone reason to feel excited...unless Grandma had heard something from Jed about giving her more work time.

“Mo told me you were here tonight and not helping out at the Hitching Post.”

“Oh. That.” Usually, she waitressed at the receptions and parties.

“Yes, that. What did you think we talked about? What happened?”

“I don’t know for sure. Tina called earlier today and told me they wouldn’t need me for the reception. They’re probably worried I’ll go into labor in the middle of the dance floor.”

Layne laughed. “You know that’s not it.”

“Well, maybe not.” She shrugged. “She did say Jed wants me to come out to the Hitching Post tomorrow afternoon. I hope he’s planning to give me more hours.” Or a raise.

“I hope so, too, at least until it’s time for you to stay off your feet. Which is getting close, isn’t it?”

“Don’t you start, too. I saw Dr. Grayden Thursday morning. The babies are doing fine, and he said I’m still good to go with the date we’ve scheduled for my C-section. And he and my specialist in Santa Fe gave me their okay to continue working.”

“With no restrictions?”

“I just have to take things easy,” she admitted.

“We all realize that. So remember, if Jed doesn’t offer you as many extra hours as you’d like, it’s because everybody out at the ranch is concerned about you.”

“You could have fooled me,” Shay said as she rang up the purchase. “Jed might be, but Tina and Jane spent more time falling all over Tyler than they did watching out for me. I was glad they kept him occupied—and away from me.” They had kept him busy on the other side of the room, except for that short time he had stood next to her. She had continued working, had forced herself not to look up, yet she had been as aware of him as if he’d plopped himself down in the center of all the vases on the table in front of her.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do about talking to him?” Layne asked.

“Not yet.” Sighing, she scooped up the pile of pennies in the cash register drawer and let them trickle through her fingers. “I know you’re right. If I don’t tell him, someone else will. But I want to do it my way. In my own time.”

“Which still means not at all,” Layne said wryly. “Otherwise, you would have managed to talk to him at the ranch yesterday.”

Shay reached for the twenty-dollar bill Layne held out. “I couldn’t have, with everyone around.”

“That makes sense. With news like yours to share, you’re going to need some time alone with him.”

Her insides turned as cold as a tub of ice cream. It had nothing to do with the freezer case beside her and everything to do with the picture Layne’s words had formed in her mind. “At the rate things are going, it doesn’t seem likely that’s going to happen.”

But even as she said the words, she knew she was going to have to make it likely. No matter how she felt about Tyler, he was going to have to learn the truth. And she wanted to be the one to break the news to him.

The one to tell him he had gotten her pregnant, and she didn’t want him anywhere near her or her kids.

As she handed Layne the change, she saw, beyond her, a customer standing outside the glass-paned front door. She curled her fingers against her empty palm and swallowed a groan of frustration.

Tyler swung the door open. When he stepped into the shop, the temperature suddenly seemed to rise by a hundred degrees.

He nodded at her and removed his Stetson.

Layne looked toward the door. “Well, hi there. It’s been a while.”

“Yeah, it has.”

Layne said something else; Tyler replied. Shay saw their mouths moving, but panic seemed to have closed her ears.

“Well.” Layne turned and sent Shay a sympathetic glance as she reached for the sack with her ice cream. “I’d better get home before this melts,” she said brightly. In a lower voice, she said, “Good luck with your private chat.”

Not here. Not now. “You don’t have to go,” she protested just as Tyler opened the door again. For a moment, she held on to the hope he planned to leave. But he was only being polite for Layne.

Too bad he hadn’t been a gentleman for her.

She flushed, knowing she was at least half to blame for winding up...together with him. At least half to blame, if not much more, for believing in something that wasn’t meant to be.

He closed the door behind Layne and turned Shay’s way.

The room seemed to spin—not a symptom of pregnancy she had experienced before. She put her hands on the counter in front of her. “Don’t tell me they’ve sent you here from the Hitching Post for ice cream.” She fought to keep her voice steady. “I happen to know what’s on the menu for the reception tonight, and everything’s covered.”

“Nobody sent me here. But everyone’s all tied up, and I had time on my hands.”

“Really? You didn’t have Jed to talk to?”

“He said he’d be busy all night at the reception.”

She frowned. “That’s strange. He always makes an appearance, but he’s never stayed the entire time, except at his granddaughters’ weddings. Well, then, what about Pete?” Jane and her husband lived in the manager’s house on Garland Ranch. “And if he’s busy, you’ve got plenty of cowhands to hang out with.”

“Maybe I had the urge for dessert.”

“Then you’ll find more of a selection at SugarPie’s.”

“Could be. But maybe what I want’s right here.”

Once she would have fallen for that line and hoped he wanted her. She was so over that now. So over him.

She slid open the freezer case and pulled out an empty ice cream tub. It gave her the excuse to walk away, to go into the workroom and avoid his blue-eyed stare. Shaking her head in disgust at herself, she crossed to the big freezer.

She had been all too good at analyzing his expression these past couple of days. She had seen the surprise on his face after he noticed the size of her stomach, had witnessed his frustration as she stood to leave the banquet hall. And just a minute ago, she had clearly read the determination in his eyes.

As she pulled open the freezer door, cold air blasted her. With luck, it would shock some sense into her. Hands shaking, she reached up to the top shelf for another tub of butter-pecan ice cream.

Just as he had yesterday, Tyler stepped up beside her. Again, she nearly jumped out of her shoes.

“I’ll get it.” He grabbed the tub she intended to take off the shelf.

“Thanks, but I’m pregnant, not incapacitated.”

“I didn’t think you were.” He slammed the freezer door shut. “Let’s just say I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine.”

The image that followed his words stole her breath.

He looked away, as if he’d only now realized what he had said. He cleared his throat and looked back at her. “I’ll take care of this, then you can take care of a few things for me.”

Unfortunately, his attempt to make his point clearer only filled her mind with bittersweet images and memories. Tyler flirting with her at Cole and Tina’s reception... Tyler’s hand brushing hers as they walked the streets of Cowboy Creek on a moonlit night... Tyler kissing her thoroughly as he ran his fingers through her hair...

She had to get her thoughts and this conversation back on track. “Take care of a few things?” she repeated.

“Questions.”

This close, he seemed to tower over her. It wasn’t a menacing stance, just a result of the difference in their heights. She had grown up as one of the tallest girls in school, and after meeting Tyler at the wedding, she had liked that he made her feel petite. She still liked it. His towering didn’t bother her.

It was his nearness that left her feeling shaky. This close and at this stage in her pregnancy, her rounded stomach nearly brushed his flat abs. This close, she could see every darker fleck in his dark blue eyes, making her wonder if any of her babies would have eyes the same shade.

She didn’t move. He didn’t, either. After a moment she realized she stood leaning back against the freezer door. The cool metal sent another shiver through her. The cold tub he held in one arm, so close to her, added to her chill.

And still, they stood as frozen as two ice cream sandwiches.

Finally, she tore her gaze away, breaking whatever spell had captured her, and pushed past him. It took effort for her not to run. “If you intend to help me, you can put that tub in the freezer case up front.”

As he followed, she heard his boots on the tile floor behind her. She should have heard him in the ballroom yesterday and here in the workroom a few minutes ago. But, no, both times she had been so wrapped up in thoughts of him, she hadn’t noticed his approach. Not good at all when she needed to stay in control any time she was near him.

She had lost control with him once, and look what had happened.

At the freezer case, he slid the tub into the empty space. To her relief, he then walked back around to the front of the counter.

Through the plate glass of the front window, she saw a family walking up to the shop. Her heart tripped a beat, whether from anxiety or elation, she wasn’t sure.

“You can’t stay here,” she hissed.

“Why not? It’s a store.”

“But we can’t talk here. Or now.” Behind him, the door opened. She waved to the Walcotts and their two kids. The family went to their favorite table near the front of the store, and she glanced up at Tyler again. “Please go,” she murmured.

“You’ll talk to me when you get off work.”

He hadn’t made it a question. “Yes,” she said between clenched teeth.

“What time do you finish up?”

She could tell him a lie. Give him a later time. Or, if the shop stayed as quiet as it was at the moment, she could tell him the truth, then rush through closing and leave before he returned.

Anything to avoid the conversation she didn’t want to have.

He must feel as uneasy as she did about their impending talk, or why wouldn’t he just have blurted out the crucial question and been done with it?

As wonderful as all her options for evading him sounded, she knew she couldn’t be that devious. She sighed and admitted, “I’ll be done in a couple of hours.” At least that would give her time to collect her thoughts and plan exactly what she would say.

“All right, then,” he agreed.

Relieved, she sagged against the counter.

“I’ll just stick around,” he added.

“But... I’m working.”

“We covered that. And I’ve got nowhere to go except back to the Hitching Post. No sense in my driving all the way out there just to turn around and come back. Give me a triple dip of that butter pecan.”

When she hesitated, he shot a glance toward the front table, where the Walcotts were still deciding on their own order.

He faced her again and leaned across the counter, bending down so close she could feel his breath against her cheek as he spoke quietly into her ear. “The Garlands corralled you at the Hitching Post yesterday. Then you ran off from the banquet room and never came back. And now, thanks to your customers, you’ve been saved by the bell. In case you weren’t counting, that’s three strikes for me. Do you seriously think I’m going to walk off and let you make yet another escape?”

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