The Rancher’s Baby Bargain

by Jackson, Mary Sue

  “I—” Linda’s points made too much sense. “I have a teaching job lined up in Portland. I’m on a sabbatical, not a first retirement.”

  “The University of Montana’s only a two-hour drive if you’re dead set on teaching.”

  Lucy huffed, looking away. Linda was manipulating her. It was an unavoidable fact. She looked Linda in the eye. “You’re trying to steer my decisions. It’s manipulative, Linda.”

  Aiden’s mother’s mouth dropped open. “I am not. I’m just putting all your options out on the table where you can see them.”

  “I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do.” Lucy couldn’t stop the subtle whine in her voice, to her great shame. “I’m an adult. I don’t need you to push me into my decisions.”

  Linda held both hands up in the air. “I’m sorry if I…crossed a line. But everything I said is in your best interest.”

  “Well.” Lucy pursed her lips. “You made some good points, but—”

  “Here’s the truth. If you want to go back to Portland and live your life, then I’ll fly up as often as you’ll have me.” Something in Linda’s face softened. “As long as you’ll let me, so that I can visit my grandchild. And help you, of course.”

  A warmth grew behind Lucy’s heart, spreading out into the rest of her, and a knot that had threatened to develop in the back of her neck relaxed. The farther along she got in her pregnancy, the more Lucy worried that it might be too much. It wasn’t something she would ever admit out loud. It bothered her most keenly on her midnight walks to the bathroom and back. What would she do in an emergency? Who did she really trust in Portland? All of her friends were in academia and were just as busy as she was.

  “It’s a curse,” Linda said, breaking into her thoughts.

  “What is?” Lucy couldn’t fathom what she was talking about.

  “I know what’s best for people.” Linda chuckled ruefully. “My kids hate me for it, but it’s who I am.”

  “Aiden doesn’t hate you. He just—” She stopped herself. “I’m sorry. It’s not my place.”

  “He just what?” Linda fixed Lucy with a stare that seemed to pin her in place.

  She had to consider her words carefully. “He feels a lot of pressure from…the family…to work the ranch, even though he’d be better at running his brewery. And happier, too.”

  Linda nodded, her forehead wrinkling. “That doesn’t come from me. He got all of that from his father. Aiden’s father was…” She shook her head, her face a picture of exasperation and affection. “He was all about tradition and the family, always the family. I’ll admit that I backed him up when our kids still lived with us, and I might have been too hard on them. I couldn’t ever stop Andrea from doing exactly what she wanted to do, but Aiden…I haven’t been able to convince him that his instincts when it comes to the ranch serve his father, not himself.”

  Lucy’s head spun. Linda had a gravitational pull all her own. She held the center of the Harper family in her hands.

  Linda reached out and put a gentle hand on Lucy’s arm. “I’ve got to run to a showing. But think about what I’ve said, all right? Make the best decision for you. And not for anybody else.” She winked at Lucy. “That’s what I’d tell Aiden, too.”

  Lucy watched her go, then paced back into the living room and threw herself on the couch.

  Should she stay?

  Should she go?

  And would it be so bad to be part of Aiden’s family?

  Twenty-Five

  “None of this fits.”

  Lucy’s exasperated outburst floated out into the hall moments before she appeared at the living room door. Aiden, from his position on the couch, had a full view of Lucy framed by the door. He struggled not to laugh at the sight of her.

  Her belly had popped into a nicely rounded bulge, perfect for his hands, and though Lucy had bought plenty of classy maternity outfits for going out in public, she’d been getting by with her existing comfortable clothes.

  She scowled at him, tugging at the hem of her T-shirt. A gentle curve of belly showed beneath the hem.

  “How did this happen?” She frowned, clearly frustrated. “It’s like the baby burst into existence overnight.”

  “In a way,” Aiden said, spreading his hands in front of him. “The baby did come into existence overnight.”

  Lucy stuck her tongue out at him. “If you want to play that game, it came into existence over the course of an afternoon. But all your funny jokes aren’t making this T-shirt fit. And I can’t stand it anymore.”

  “So sensitive.” Aiden stood up from the couch and headed for the stairs, brushing a kiss against her temple as he went by. He opened his dresser drawer.

  Lucy called up after him. “What are you doing?”

  “Solving your problem.” He called down, sliding the dresser drawer shut again. Back at the bottom of the stairs he held out one of his old football T-shirts to Lucy.

  She held it up in front of herself as if she had just pulled it off the rack in a store. “It’ll definitely fit,” she said, then pulled it close and breathed it in. “Smells good, too.”

  “What, you think I’d hand you a dirty shirt?”

  “A gentleman like you? Never.” Lucy didn’t bother going to another room to change. She stripped off her too-small T-shirt, giving Aiden a clear, unobstructed look at her.

  Lucy was gorgeous. Utterly gorgeous. The curve of her belly sang of life, and the rest of her body followed suit. Her breasts had grown, too—they were on the verge of spilling out of her cups. Aiden swallowed hard. He wasn’t going to point out something Lucy already knew, but he found it so unbearably sexy that the words escaped him anyway.

  He caught her wrist, stopping her from pulling his shirt over her head.

  “What?” Lucy said, as coy a word as he’d ever heard.

  There was no response but to pull her in close and kiss her. Soft at first, then harder, and by the time Aiden broke away, Lucy was panting.

  “Let’s get these off you.” He knelt in front of her and tugged down the lounge pants she wore, exposing teal panties that hugged her in all the right places. Lucy, Aiden’s shirt still dangling from one hand, allowed herself to be picked up and carried upstairs to the bedroom where Aiden put her on the bed and drank her in.

  “Your cheeks are pink,” he told her, appreciating the color.

  “I’m…a little bit exposed.”

  He kissed the side of her neck, laughing against the delicate skin there. “I’ve seen it all before, you know.”

  “Not this way.” Lucy stretched and curled toward him as if to hide herself. “It’s different every day. I never know what I’m going to see in the mirror.”

  “Yourself.” Aiden kissed along her jawline then down to her collarbone. “All the same lines and bones there always were, but with new curves.” He ran his hand over her belly. “I love them.” His voice was husky, and he met Lucy’s hopeful gaze.

  “You really think so? I’m not one of those women who hates on her body, but this is…” She made a face. “It’s different.”

  “It’s perfect. Know what else is?”

  “What?”

  He slid his hand down lower, and lower…and lower.

  Lucy sucked in a little gasp when he stroked a fingertip over her clit, then another inch down toward where, he found, she was already wet. “This. You. Everything. Perfect.” The feel of her against his fingers, needy and clenching, stole his powers of speech for a moment. Finally, he managed, “And I want more of it.”

  Lucy’s hips told the story of her needs. “Take it,” she said, stretching her hands above her and curling her fingers into the pillows. “Take me.” Another deep breath. “That sounds so ridiculous, take me, take me—”

  “It sounds like an invitation.” He took his fingers away, earning a delightful little whimper from Lucy. Aiden positioned himself over her and turned that whimper into a moan, and then a series of moans and then—as hard as he could, as carefully as he could, witho
ut putting any pressure on that delicious curve of her belly—into a cry that shook the farmhouse.

  * * *

  After they had both recovered, Lucy retrieved the shirt from Aiden’s bedroom floor.

  “This is so comfortable,” she said, hugging it to herself. “Softest shirt in the world.”

  “It’s been washed about ten thousand times.” She could bet. Aiden leaned back against the pillows on his bed, and Lucy saw all those memories—days on the practice field and Friday nights under the lights—flash through his eyes. A little grin lifted the corner of his mouth. “You know, the first time I saw that shirt on a girl, it was high school, and that girl was Holly Jackson.”

  Lucy raised her eyebrows at him. “Seriously?”

  “What?” He folded his hands behind his head and studied her, his eyes tracing her curves. “You look better in it.”

  She frowned down at the T-shirt. “It’s a bit tainted now.”

  Aiden sat up. “You’re joking, aren’t you? That was years ago. She’s history now.”

  “Yeah, and during that history, you never would have given me a second look.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “It’s fact.”

  “I did look at you. I noticed you. But…”

  The but hung in the air between them. It was a little stab to Lucy’s heart, the things that Aiden left unsaid. The truth was that even if Aiden had noticed her, the two of them would have been oil and water in high school. And not because their personalities were incompatible. No. Their social circles didn’t mix. Lucy’s cheeks burned, even after all this time. Aiden was a good man, and he hadn’t been cruel in high school. But there were certain lines neither of them tried to cross.

  “You want to finish that movie we were watching?” Before she could answer, Aiden flung his legs over the side of the bed and came across the room to kiss her cheek. “I know we got a little distracted, but it was a good one.”

  “Sure.”

  Lucy settled in on the couch next to him, hating and loving the T-shirt at the same time. The plot of the movie began to get away from her, drowned out by all the thoughts spinning through her head. Holly Jackson, it turned out, wasn’t so bad. She was enthusiastic about Lucy’s cleaning solution, and both times she’d met with Holly and Andrea, she’d been cordial and encouraging.

  It was almost like they could be friends, as adults.

  Lucy shook her head, trying to clear away this whirlwind. It wasn’t Holly’s fault that she and Aiden had hardly spoken in high school. And it wasn’t Holly’s fault that she was worried right now. Only it made Lucy think, and think hard. Maybe she was just the latest in a long line of women that Aiden chose because they wouldn’t work out. If a relationship never succeeded, he could focus all his energies on the ranch.

  Had she walked into a trap?

  Had she planned herself a business deal and fallen in love in spite of all her precautions? The bitter woman at that house they toured swam back into her mind. Rachael Miller. She’d been so sad and so angry. At the time, Lucy had blamed her for it.

  Aiden threaded his fingers through hers. “You look like you’re a million miles away. Is everything all right?”

  She looked back at him, putting a big smile on her face. “Just pregnant and tired,” she said.

  But inside, the thought shouted itself, again and again.

  What if Lucy was headed for that same future?

  Bitter, angry, and alone?

  Twenty-Six

  The rain beat down on the pavement outside Lucy’s parents’ house, the sky a murky gray. Aiden hopped out of his truck and jogged to the door. The collar of his shirt still got soaked along the way, but all things considered, he’d avoided most of the rain. He gave a quick knock at the door and turned the knob, stepping inside and out of the humid air.

  “Luce?”

  “Yeah?” Her reply was more of a grumble, and he went through to the living room and found her sitting sideways on the couch, her laptop perched on her lap. She frowned at it as if it had personally insulted her. For all he knew, it had.

  “What’s going on?” He picked up her legs, sat down, and replaced them over his lap. It was so natural, so comfortable, that Aiden never wanted it to end. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to seal in the memory.

  “Your sister.” Lucy typed, her fingers heavy on the keys. “She wants to throw me a baby shower. Along with Holly.”

  “That—” Aiden couldn’t think of a single reason to be unhappy about that. “That sounds nice.”

  “Well, they’re trying to throw it before I go back to Portland. That’s not for another month, but I’m supposed to come up with this baby registry now. And this website—” She stabbed at the trackpad. “It’s the worst thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life.”

  It was such hyperbole that Aiden laughed. “That bad, huh?”

  She glared at him. “Yes. It is that bad.”

  “I can add the items, if you tell me what you want.”

  “That’s what’s making this even worse.” Lucy closed the laptop with a sharp click. “I’m going down a rabbit hole.”

  “Of baby stuff?”

  “Of customer reviews.” Lucy rested her head against one of the throw pillows on the couch and sighed. “Everybody has an opinion about all of these things. One person’s heaven is another person’s hell, and it’s impossible to say which of them has the right opinion while I’m sitting here on this sofa.”

  “You don’t want to take a guess at it?”

  “Aiden.” Lucy flopped her arm over her eyes. “This is my first baby. This might be my only baby. I don’t want to get stuck with a set of swaddling blankets I hate. Or worse…” She uncovered her face and looked at him, eyes wide. “A blunder.”

  He nodded solemnly. “That’s perfectly…understandable.”

  “Don’t make fun of me.”

  “I’m not. I’m saying…” Aiden grinned at her. “This clearly needs more research. Who could expect you, a successful scientist, to choose all your baby gear from a crappy website?”

  “Andrea did, apparently,” Lucy grumbled, though a matching grin lit up her face.

  “It’s decided, then.” Aiden patted her legs, then lifted them carefully off his lap and set her feet on the floor. “Are you ready?”

  Lucy giggled. “Ready for what?”

  “To go to the store, obviously. You need to try this stuff out in person.”

  She looked at him skeptically as he rose from the couch and took his keys out of his pocket. “And where are you going? Back to the ranch?”

  “Are you kidding? It’s raining out. And, as much as I hate to admit when anyone other than me is right, you probably were. I delegated everything to the ranch hands for the day, so my schedule is wide open.” Aiden shrugged. “I have all day to fill. And I’d rather spend it with you.”

  Lucy’s eyes sparkled. “You don’t have to do this, you know. The closest big baby store is an hour and a half away. It would mean a little road trip, and at the end of it, there’s only going to be miles and miles of baby stuff. And babies. You would be surrounded by babies. Are you sure you’re up for that?”

  “How many times do I have to say it? I am more than up for that,” Aiden said. “Would I prefer my own baby to hang out with? Yes. Yes, I would. But, obviously, the baby we made together isn’t prepared for his or her grand entrance yet. So, in the meantime…”

  “In the meantime, you’re willing to drive a pregnant lady three hours to look at baby stuff?”

  “That’s exactly what I mean. Now get your purse so we can go.”

  * * *

  “Okay. Are you ready to tackle this?”

  Lucy had come out of the bathroom—the first place she’d rushed after their arrival—and stood next to Aiden, looking out over the store.

  It was much larger than he’d anticipated. This was no baby boutique like the kind they had downtown at home. Aiden had walked past that one hundreds of times on the
way to the hardware store. And that boutique, which was called Bundles of Joy, was basically for window shopping, he’d realized. This place had more baby gear than he ever could have dreamed when he glanced in the front window at the neat display of tiny outfits.

  “Yeah. I’m ready.” He should have brought provisions. With this amount of stuff, they could be in the store for hours, comparing and contrasting and then comparing and contrasting again with online reviews. That’s the kind of shopper his mother was. She researched all the options, took in all the data, and then purchased.

  But with a store this size? Yikes.

  “Good. Let’s go.” They went to the big center aisle, and Lucy paused, taking her phone out from her purse. “I’ve got a list of matters and don’t-matters. I figure things like baby clothing doesn’t really matter—if people get it for us, the baby will wear it.”

  The us hit his ears like the sound of pure joy. Us. He had to stop himself from asking her exactly what she meant by it. Did it mean she’d be staying in town for the long term? Did it mean they could go forward with the admittedly hot relationship they had?

  “What matters,” Lucy continued, “are things like strollers. Cribs. The equipment that we’ll—I mean, I’ll—” The happy bubble inside his chest shrank several sizes. Lucy must have noticed the look on his face. “We’ll,” she said firmly. “The things that we’ll be using every day when we’re with the baby.”

  “Let’s do it,” Aiden said, more confused than ever.

  He expected her to use him for his strength—the strollers were stored up high—and Lucy considered the first one he took down. But then she turned to him. “What do you think?”

  “What do I think?”

  “That’s what I said, big guy.”

  He took a deep breath, then put his hands on the handle and gave it a push back and forth. It felt flimsy. Not nearly substantial enough for a child of his. “I don’t love it.”