CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Dustin chewed a toothpick and gazed up at the sky. Despite the fact that it was cold outside and a fresh dusting of snow lay on the ground, it was a nice day. The sky was blue, the cattle were healthy and behaving. The fences were mended and his horse was in a high-spirited mood.
Should have been a good day. He should have been thinking about the upcoming winter, of all the things around the ranch that would need doing as the cattle got fatter, readying to have their calves in the spring. Thinking about how much hay they had, and if it would last them the winter or if they’d need to purchase some from a neighbor. If they were going to breed one of the horses this year or wait until next year. If the farm equipment needed a tune-up. A cowboy had to do a dozen tasks a day of any and every kind, and normally his head was full of a to-do list that kept him busy but never bored.
He was bored now, though. He looked at the mountains in the distance and didn’t feel pleasure at the sight of them. Instead, he wondered if he should cash out his savings and buy that boat he’d been thinking about. He had a call in to a salesman down in Florida, but he hadn’t pulled the trigger yet. Hadn’t felt like the right time, but as every day crawled past and Dustin couldn’t concentrate, he figured that time was getting closer and closer.
Eli rode up next to him, eyeing the cattle that were churning up the thin layer of snow. “You look like you’re a million miles away.”
He only nodded. “Just thinking about the spring.”
“Gonna be a busy one. Herd’s bigger than ever.” He held his reins lightly, watching the cattle.
“I know.” They’d talked with the owner of the ranch last spring, held back some of the heifers from sale because with four cowboys on the ranch—Dustin, Eli, Jordy, and Old Clyde—they could handle more, bring up profits. Price told them that if they got the ranch in the black, there’d be a healthy bonus for them come next summer, and it was something they were all looking forward to, even if it meant they were edging close to five hundred head of cattle right now.
“Meant to talk to you,” Eli said slowly, guiding his horse alongside Dustin’s high-stepping one. “Jordy wants to go into the navy after calving in the spring. Said he wants to see the world.”
Dustin grunted. “He’s a good kid.”
“He is. But that’s going to put us short one trained ranch hand, and you’ve had a restless look in your eyes. I’m wondering if I need to make plans for both of you leaving.” Eli gave him a piercing look. “Me and Clyde can manage if we have to. Hire one of the local boys to help out if we need, for a time. Just letting you know so you don’t feel trapped.”
“I haven’t decided,” he admitted. But he’d called about the boat last week, and he’d been looking up beaches in Florida for a while. He wasn’t quite decided . . . not entirely. “I’ll let you know.”
Eli nodded and rode away. That was Eli. Didn’t mince words, didn’t ask a friend to stay. Didn’t complain that they’d be shorthanded. He just told things how they were, and if it meant more work for him, then he’d just knuckle down and handle it. He didn’t mention that Cass would also have a new baby and that would eat into his time. Eli would just handle it, like he did everything else.
Still, Dustin wasn’t sure if he wanted to stick around if the only people at the ranch were him, Old Clyde, and the loving couple and their new baby. Be damn awkward, especially because Dustin suspected Old Clyde didn’t have many more years of ranching in him. Clyde knew everything forward and backward, of course, but he ached most mornings (even if he wouldn’t admit it) and was slower to mount and dismount his horse.
Dustin knew he was needed on the ranch . . . didn’t mean that Florida wasn’t mighty tempting, though.
Might be time for him to move out. Wyoming didn’t hold much for him anymore.
They were heading in at sunset when Eli checked his phone and then kicked his horse into a gallop, dashing toward the house. Uh-oh. Dustin followed behind at a swift trot, worried. Eli usually ignored his phone, but the closer Cass got to her due date, the more he checked it just to make sure that his wife was all right.
Either Cass was in labor, or something was wrong.
When he rode in, he saw that Eli had abandoned his horse at the hitching post in front of the barn, and Dustin took both horses inside, then unsaddled and brushed them down. If Eli needed help, he reckoned that he’d call or text, or at least come out to the barn. If Cass was having her baby, he’d let them have a few minutes alone. Once the horses were taken care of, he glanced down at the empty stalls. Jordy and Old Clyde were still out, most of the dogs with them, but they’d be coming in soon for dinner.
Well, if Cass was feeling poorly, Dustin supposed he could make dinner, too.
He headed inside, and took off his boots in the mudroom, then hung his hat. From the living room, he could hear Cass sobbing, and Eli calming her. “No, baby, it’s all right. I won’t let her eat it.”
“She’s a dog!” Cass wailed. “That’s what dogs do when someone’s sick! I’m sorry!”
“Ain’t your fault. Now, stop crying and hush,” Eli comforted. “I’ll clean it up.”
Ugh. Dustin could guess what that was about and he didn’t want to picture it. Eli had the patience of a saint with all of Cass’s crying lately. He said it was just hormones, and he took it all like a champ. Dustin, well . . .
Wait.
There was more than one woman crying in the living room?
Puzzled, he headed out of the kitchen and poked his head out.
Cass stood in the middle of the living room, her face blotchy from crying as she wrung her hands. Joy—Cass’s big dog—wagged her tail happily at her owners’ feet, and Eli had his hands on his wife’s shoulders, trying to calm her. Watching Dustin from the middle of the room, a blue harness on him, was a familiar-looking white Boston terrier.
That meant . . .
His heart squeezed in his chest. He stepped out of the kitchen and into the sprawling living area, looking for familiar red hair. There, by the window. He’d been unable to see her from the kitchen itself, and right now she had her back turned to him, her face practically pressed against the glass of the front window as she held on to the curtain. She wore an ugly, bulky brown sweater that she practically swam in, but he didn’t care.
She’d come back.
And . . . she was crying?
His heart squeezed in his chest again as he stepped forward—and Eli put a hand out. “Watch it, man. There’s been . . . ah, an accident.”
Dustin glanced down. It looked like there had been several accidents all over the rug, which explained why Cass was crying. It was hard being sick and pregnant. He sidestepped the worst of it and moved to the window. “Annie?” This had to be a dream, he thought. He was imagining the soft red hair that fell in waves to her shoulders, the pale, freckled skin.
But then she turned around and looked at him.
It was her—and he drank in the sight of her face as if he’d never seen a woman before. He drank in every freckle, every pale eyelash, the full pink lips, the sad green eyes. She’d been crying, too, and he wanted to hug her and let her know that everything was all right.
It didn’t matter that she’d abandoned him, had cut him off without a word.
She was back. She was going to explain everything, and then it would all be okay. He could forgive and forget.
But as he moved forward, she shifted. She turned to face him and her hand went on top of her sweater, outlining a very large stomach.
A pregnant stomach.
Dustin stopped. Stared.
Annie burst into fresh tears.
Oh, hell. “Hey, hey,” he murmured, moving to her side. “If you’re not happy to see me, just say so.” He hoped the joke would earn him a smile.
Instead, she only sobbed harder, her hands covering her face.
Behind him, Cass gave a choked little sound, as if she was about to start crying, too. “Dustin,” Eli warned.
“Right. Come on, Annie. You and I should go talk.” Before she could protest, he slid an arm under her knees and around her back, hauling her against him. Jesus, she definitely weighed more than he’d imagined, thanks to the pregnancy. He didn’t stagger, though, and he wasn’t about to put her down, no matter the little sounds of protest she made in her throat as he held her.
Spidey barked at him, his leash dragging behind him.
“Come on then, Spidey. You too, Moose.” He headed down the long hall to his room. Naturally it was the furthest from the living quarters, but he managed to open his door and carefully deposit Annie on his bed. Even as he did, he winced at his room. It wasn’t very tidy. He had clothes everywhere, and the bed wasn’t made. Then again, he wasn’t expecting company, so he couldn’t be blamed for it. Even so, he flicked an old T-shirt off the foot of the bed and fluffed the pillows for Annie. “Lie down.”
“S-stop being so n-nice to me,” she cried.
He noticed his boat pamphlets sitting on the nightstand and swept them into the drawer, then slammed it shut. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re being n-nice to me and I ghosted you,” she sobbed. “You should hate me.”
“I might hate you,” Dustin agreed, gazing at her huge belly. “First tell me if that’s mine.”
She gasped, glaring up at him through her tears. Her eyes were brilliant green, and he wanted to smile at her indignation—and the pillow she tried to launch at him. “You ass! Of course it’s yours! Would I be here if it wasn’t?”
“I don’t know. You tell me. I didn’t think you were the type of girl to run out of town after we had sex, but here we are.”
Annie tried to sit up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. “This was a mistake,” she muttered. “I’m leaving—”
“No, you most certainly are not,” Dustin told her, grabbing her ankles and putting her feet back up on the bed. “You need to relax and stop crying, and then we can have an adult conversation about what the hell’s going on and why there’s so much puke in the living room.” And why you’re pregnant, though he didn’t add that last part. She was a little prickly at the moment.
Her hand went to her brow, and he noticed there was a greenish cast to her pale skin. Uh-oh. “I got upset, and when I get upset, with the baby pressing against my stomach, it all sort of comes up.” She grimaced, fluttering her other hand over her rounded belly. “And then I threw up, and that made Cass sick, which made me sick again and . . .”
“Right. Well, don’t worry about it. I’ll get it cleaned up. Do you need some water? Something to eat?”
She gave him a miserable look. “No.”
“Can you stop crying long enough for us to talk, or should I leave you alone?”
Two fat tears slid down the sides of her face. “No.”
Dustin heaved a sigh. Her weeping was tearing at his chest, making the burning anger he’d been carrying for the last few months dissolve. Yes, he was still mad, but it was hard to yell at a crying pregnant woman. “No, you don’t want me to leave, or no, you don’t want to talk?”
“I’m not sure what I want,” she admitted.
Yeah, well, that made two of them. “You want to tell me how this happened, then?” He gestured at her belly.
She sat up in bed, her eyes narrowing in anger. “Are you serious?”
“Yep.”
Her jaw clenched before she answered. “Well, when two people start to kiss—”
“You know what I meant.” He liked her sass more than her tears. His mouth twitched with amusement.
“Probably when the condom broke.”
“I thought you got a morning-after pill?”
“I did. It didn’t take. Apparently they don’t take if you’re ovulating.” Annie’s hands slid to her belly and she caressed it. “I never thought about the ovulating thing. A couple of weeks after I got home, I started to get sick. Strong smells bothered me. Took a pregnancy test and . . . yeah.” She shrugged and gave him a defiant look. “And I’m keeping it.”
“I figured that much.” Her belly was enormous and he tried to count back in his head. “How far along . . .”
“Thirty weeks. Ten more to go, more or less.” She shifted on the bed, clearly uncomfortable.
Dustin moved to her side, adjusting pillows and fluffing one so she could put it behind her head. She lay back, sitting up and propped up by the pillows in his bed. She was beautiful. Pregnant as hell, but still beautiful. Fierce longing shot through him, mixed with pleasure. She was pregnant with his baby. His woman. His Annie. And she was carrying his son . . . or his daughter.
The thought humbled him and filled him with joy all at once.
This was what he wanted, he realized. More than any boat, more than escaping the mountains or seeing the world. He wanted Annie in his life, and he wanted their baby. He’d never wanted anything so fiercely in all his life, and the thought staggered him.
Was this how his father had felt when he’d married his mother after getting her pregnant? Suddenly he understood.
And Dustin wasn’t going to let Annie get away again. “So what happens now?” He kept his tone casual, easy. If he pushed too hard too fast, she’d go running again.
Annie’s brows drew together and she gave him a funny look. “What happens now? In ten weeks, I’m having a baby, that’s what happens.”
“I meant, what about us?”
She looked worried. “Dustin, there is no ‘us.’ Whatever we had died when I left Wyoming.” A flash of guilt crossed her face and she seemed sad. “I wanted to tell you about the baby just to be nice. You don’t have to be in our lives. I’m not asking for child support. I’m not asking you to put your name on the birth certificate. I’m not asking for anything, but I thought you should know that there will be a baby.”
Not be involved? Not be with her? That wasn’t what he wanted at all. He crossed his arms over his chest. “And what if I want there to be an ‘us’?”
Annie’s expressive eyes grew even sadder. “After what happened, I don’t think there can be an us.”
He moved to the bed, took her hand in his. “Thing is, I don’t know what happened. You left and wouldn’t talk to me. You want to tell me what it was so I know how to handle it when it comes up again? So I can fix it for the future? Because I don’t want you running off again. I want you to stay so we can figure this out.”
She bit her lip, gazing down at their joined hands. For a moment he thought she was going to pull away, but she only sighed and looked up at him, leaving her hand in his. “So after you left . . . that night . . .” Her cheeks flushed bright red. “I went to the pharmacy to get a morning-after pill.”
“Okay.” He waited.
“And then I met some woman there with big blonde hair who called me a skank and told me that she was your girlfriend.” Annie’s look turned accusing.
“What?” He did a double take. “Theresa? Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. And I was feeling vulnerable and . . .” She spread her hands. “All of these things just added up and I thought I’d been lied to.”
“Wait wait wait. What things added up?” Dustin jumped off the bed, pacing, because he was getting pissed all over again—not at her, but at Theresa. At the situation. Hell, at the world. “What are you talking about?”
She wrung her hands again. “The looks people were giving me in town. The fact that everyone that knows your name smirks and talks about what a Lothario you are.”
“A Lothario . . . and you believed them?” He shook his head. “Annie, I’ve never done more than a date or two with any girl around here. I certainly never slept with any of them.”
“Yes, but how did I know that? And everywhere I went, people were telling me what a manwhore you were. Everyone was warning me about you and how you were going to use me. I freaked out.” She kept twisting her hands. “I’m never the girl anyone pursues. I didn’t think you liked me for me, and I felt stupid.”
“And you didn’t think to ask me about this?” He crossed his arms over his chest, trying not to get angry.
“It was a vulnerable moment,” Annie said defensively. “And Theresa was beautiful. Just your type.”
“My type,” he said, voice flat. “Blonde and loud?”
“Like I said, it was a mistake. Cass corrected me.” She tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. “And I realize I was a jerk to run off.”
“Yeah. Double jerk for deciding not to tell me about the baby until now.” He couldn’t decide if he was pissed or relieved that he hadn’t done something wrong. Either way, he’d lost eight months he could have spent with her, watching her belly grow, sharing those moments with her . . . and sharing a bed.
When she buried her face in her hands again, though, he felt like an ass. This couldn’t be easy for her, either. Dustin moved back to her side and sat down on the bed next to her, hugging her against his chest. She was back, and that was all that mattered. “I’m sorry.”
“You have a right to be mad,” Annie told him. “I shouldn’t have acted the way I did.”
“In a way, I understand it. A little. Though I’m still frustrated that it took eight months to bring you back.”
“Reshoots,” she told him, straightening a little and wiping her face.
“What?”
“I’m here for three days because of reshoots for the movie. After that, I’m going back to Los Angeles.”
His entire body stiffened in angry frustration. “So you didn’t come back to see me or tell me about our child. I’m just an afterthought in your career.”
“That’s not how I meant it,” she said softly. “I was hiding—I admit that—and being forced back here forced me to be brave.” Annie turned toward him, her eyes big and sad. “I don’t want you to feel obligated about any of this. We used a condom. You don’t have to be part of the baby’s life. I know you don’t want to end up like your father.”
“I’m not thinking about my father right now. I’m thinking about you and me. Are you going to give me a chance?”
“A chance for what?” She looked genuinely confused.
“A chance to show you that I care for you? That how I feel for you doesn’t have anything to do with my father, or Theresa, or the baby, or anyone else? It’s how I feel about Annie Grissom?” He took her hand and placed it over his heart. “This has been broken for eight long months.”
Her eyes went soft, her expression so sad that it made him ache all over. “I’m sorry I hurt you,” she whispered.
“Then make it up to me. Give me a chance to get to know you again.”
She bit her lip. “All right. When I get my room number in town, you can—”
“Nope,” Dustin told her quickly. “You can stay here with me. My bed’s more comfortable than the hotel room and this will give us a chance to spend time together. And I can take care of you.” When she hesitated, he brushed a sweaty lock of hair back from her face. “You were sick earlier. You’re tired. I can see circles under your eyes. Let me take care of you, Annie. You and our baby.”
Her gaze slid to his mouth, as if she was thinking about kissing him. “I need to be at the hotel at six in the morning so the crew bus can take me out on location.”
“Not a problem. I’ll pick you up, too.”
“And is it okay if Spidey stays, too?”
He chuckled. “As if I’d part you two. I’m surprised you still have him.”
“I couldn’t give him away. He’s my buddy.” She smiled, the expression tentative, and it broke his heart. He wanted to hug her all over again. She hesitated. “Are you sure it’s all right if I stay with you?”
“Of course.” He didn’t add that he wanted to tackle her if she thought about leaving. He didn’t want her to leave his sight at all. Not until he’d convinced her that she belonged at his side.
Annie nodded. “Do you mind if I lie down, then? I’m tired and I’m not feeling so well. Being pregnant means I get tired easily.”
Immediately he felt like an ass. Of course she didn’t feel well. She’d been sick in the living room and here he was, grilling her about their relationship. “You lie down and I’ll get you some crackers and hot tea.”
“Decaf, please,” she told him, and he nodded.
He helped her get adjusted in the bed, tucking her under the blankets. She looked small and fragile despite her belly, and it made him want to protect her, to keep her safe from anything that might upset her.
She had to let him help her, though, and that was going to be the sticking point.
When he was satisfied that she was comfortable, he went out into the kitchen and put on the kettle. Eli was in the living room, and Dustin could hear the carpet steamer running. He dug around for crackers, found some, and then headed over to Eli just as the man was wrapping the cord, his task finished.
“Just so you know, Annie’s going to stay with us for a few days,” he told Eli.
The other cowboy just nodded.
“And I’m gonna need to take care of her. Driving her to her shoot and picking her up and all.”
“You do what you need to do,” Eli told him. “Ain’t a problem.”
“Thanks, man.”
Eli studied him. “You want me to clean out the baby’s room so she has somewhere to stay?”
The baby’s room? With Cass’s delivery date so close? The ranch’s bedrooms were all being used except for the small office, and Eli and Cass had recently painted it and converted it to a baby’s room, complete with crib and white, lacy blankets and stuffed animals. It was ready for the baby. Cass wouldn’t mind, though. She had a big heart. And Annie would probably find it adorable . . .
But he wanted her with him.
“No, she’s staying with me,” Dustin said. When Eli opened his mouth to speak, Dustin cut him off. “If anyone asks, there’s no extra room in the house. None at all. She stays in my bed.”
“You want me to lie,” Eli said slowly.
“Yes.”
“All right then.” He smirked.
He went back to the kitchen and waited for Annie’s tea. Damned thing seemed to take forever, and he was impatient to get back to her. While he waited, he went and found her car keys and moved her car to the carport, getting her luggage out of the back so she’d have something to change into. As he crossed the living area, he noticed that Moose was curled up in the big dog bed by the fire, and Spidey was a little bundle at his side, still wearing his leash and harness. He snapped his fingers. “Come on, boys. You can come lie down, too.”
The dogs got up, trotting over to him. Moose’s fluffy tail wagged so widely that he nearly knocked down Spidey, who just watched him with his big, dark eyes. He scratched Moose’s head and then bent down, unharnessing Annie’s dog before heading on to the bedroom, pets at his heels.
Crackers. Tea. Right. He set the suitcase inside, made sure the dogs were settled, helped Spidey into bed with Annie (who was sleeping), and then went back for the tea and crackers. When he returned to the room a moment later, though, she was sitting up, trying to reach one foot.
“Here,” he told her. “I’ll get that.” Dustin set the beverage and snacks down on the nightstand and then knelt in front of her. Her boots were loose, soft, fuzzy things, but when he pulled one off, he saw that her entire foot itself was swollen. “Is this normal for pregnant ladies?” he asked, a little worried.
“Unfortunately, yes,” she told him between yawns. “Happens every time I’m on my feet for longer than five minutes.”
“Well then, I’ll make sure you stay off of them.” He tugged her other boot off and then rubbed her arches. When she gave a little moan of pleasure, he gritted his teeth, because his cock didn’t seem to understand that she was pregnant. “You just relax and I’ll rub your toes for you. Maybe we can make the swelling go down.”
“You’re so nice to do this for me,” she told him, sighing. When he said nothing, she added, “I’m sorry I was so awful to you. I was . . . scared.”
“Scared?” He had to ask. He’d told himself that he wasn’t going to push her, but some things you couldn’t let lie. “Scared of what?”
“You and me, I guess.” Spidey pushed himself into her arms and she held him close, lying back on the blankets with him tucked against her side as Dustin rubbed her feet, flexing and massaging each toe to try and make her comfortable. “I’ve always been the dumped, never the dumper. It’s hard to date in Hollywood or in the movie business when you don’t have breast implants or hair extensions or any of that. Guys expect a certain look. My mother aggressively pursues that look. I . . . don’t. And of course, there’s the fact that my father told my mother that she should abort me when he found out she was pregnant.” She toyed with one of Spidey’s ears. “I saw Theresa, and heard her words and . . . I just assumed the worst.”
“Yeah, you did.” He gently propped her feet up onto a pillow, then pulled the blankets close to her. “You could have talked to me.”
She kept fussing with the dog’s ear, avoiding eye contact. “I just thought I’d been stupid. You never wanted me to come over, remember?”
“Just because I figured we’d have more privacy in town. Guess that was wrong.”
“Mmm. That didn’t help things, though. I felt like I’d ignored all the warnings everyone gave me about how much of a player you are.”
He’d never paid much attention to his reputation around town. Never thought it’d be a bad thing to be known as a flirt and a player—after all, it’d keep the expectations in check. If no one figured he was much for a relationship, there shouldn’t be any hurt feelings when the inevitable split came. But now he saw that it was a problem. Now that there was Annie in his life—and a baby on the way—it was time to fix things.
“Maybe after you finish the movie reshoots,” Dustin began slowly, “you could stay with me for a while.”
“Why?”
“So we can get to know each other. So we can see how we want to tackle being parents together.” When she didn’t say anything, he decided to try and sweeten the deal. “I mentioned a while back that Cass ruined the ranch dogs. They beg all the time now, wanting scraps. It’d be nice to have them trained properly, especially the young ones. And I’d take care of you, of course.”
“I’ll think about it,” she murmured.
“You do that,” he said. “Now drink your tea.”
After he managed to get half a cup of tea and some crackers into her, he noticed that she was starting to droop, her eyelids closing. Dustin helped her undress, avoiding looking at her body so she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. He managed to get her into one of his shirts, and it hung loose all over her except across the belly, where it was tight. He still liked the sight of it, though. Then, she crawled back into bed and was asleep in moments.
He set the alarm for early—not that he needed it, but she might—and then slid into bed next to her. She immediately turned and snuggled against him, tucking her body against his. Dustin cautiously put his arm around her, touching her belly.
His child was in there. They’d made that together.
He’d lost so much time with her already. He wasn’t going to lose another minute, he decided.