Cowboy's Baby: A Secret Baby Ranch Western Cowboy Romance

by Crowne, K. C.

  “Is it Jess?”

  “Nope. You know what they say about speakin’ of the devil?” I held the vibrating phone up so Mama G could get a look at who was calling.

  “Shit,” she grumbled, putting her hands on her hips. “Guess we gotta get a little reminder that it’s not all ice cream and butterscotch.” She nodded toward me. “Take care of your business, boy. And make sure she knows she’s not gettin’ a damn dime more.”

  “Don’t worry. I have no intention of givin’ in to her,” I promised. I answered the call as I left the kitchen. A conversation with Amy was the last thing I wanted to deal with, but I couldn’t ignore her – she’d make damn sure I didn’t.

  “Wyatt,” she began, her voice as curt and prim as ever. “How’s the day finding you?”

  I reached my room in the house and shut the door behind me. “Let’s cut the pretend-pleasantry bullshit and get right to it. What do you want, Amy? Why you callin’ me?”

  “I told you I was going to keep the pressure on you until I got an answer about the settlement. And that’s what I’m aiming to do right now. Not about to let you forget about me – it’d just break my heart.”

  The joy I’d been running on the entire day took a backseat to the anger Amy inspired. Jess was the only woman I wanted to see, and Amy was the last one. This shit had to end. I wasn’t in a mood for beating around the damn bush.

  “Alright, Amy,” I said. “You want an answer? You’re gonna get one – you’re not getting a thing more than what we both agreed to in the divorce. My offer was more than fair, and you’re gonna take it so we can put all this behind us. You wanna say no, spread some bullshit lies about me? That’s your call. But I’m lettin’ you know right now that I’m gonna fight you every step of the way. You wanna get dirty? We’ll get dirty.”

  There was a long silence, a calculated one on Amy’s part.

  “That’s how you feel?”

  “That’s how I feel. Ridiculous as hell I’ve let you take things this far. But I’m lettin’ you know right here and now that if you want a sugar daddy, you’re gonna have to find someone else. And that’s all there is to it.”

  “I’m disappointed to hear that, Wyatt. I was thinking you’d be reasonable about this.”

  A few choice words came to mind, but damned if I was going to let myself get drawn into a petty argument with Amy. That’d be playing right into her hands.

  “I’m being as reasonable as I need to be. The ball’s in your court, Amy. Leave it alone and go on with your life.”

  “No, the ball’s in your court, Wyatt. Simple as that.”

  I shook my head. “Nothin’ about this is gonna be simple. You’ve made certain of that.”

  “Well,” Amy huffed. “You want a fight, you’re going to get one. Can’t wait to make my case for the judge. I’m sure he’ll find what I have to say very, very persuasive.”

  The line went dead. Amy had always wanted to get in the last word. Fine – I’d let her have it.

  I took a seat on the edge of the bed. My phone was still in my hand, and it buzzed as soon as I put my rear on the mattress. It was a text from Jess. I smiled, noting how a simple text from the woman I loved was enough to push away all the bad feelings Amy managed to drag up.

  Hey! Just made it into town. Drive was fine. Miss you already!

  A few heart emojis followed the text. I’d never been an emoji man myself, but that didn’t mean I didn’t like to see them.

  Good to hear. Miss you, too.

  I sent the text and laid back on the bed, my hands folded together behind my head. Shit was only going to get more complicated in the next few months. But I was ready. With a woman like Jess by my side, how could I not be?

  Chapter 20

  JESS

  The moment I stepped into my tiny studio apartment I wanted to leave. All it made me think about was the ranch and Wyatt’s cozy little cabin.

  I stared at the pitiful room, noting the lack of décor or personality or anything that would make the studio appealing in the slightest to live in. More memories came back, none of them good. I remembered nights in the front of the computer, a half-eaten container of one kind of take-out or another next to me as I poured over work.

  Made a hell of a lot of sense. This was the home of a woman who worked and slept and ate when she had to. How the hell had I let myself live this kind of life for so long? How the hell had I tolerated it? It was so lonely, so meaningless. Sure, maybe I’d been making a decent living, but what for what purpose had I been doing it?

  I went through my desk, sorting through documents that looked important, ones that might give me some leads on clients when I made it back to Patterson. There were some bank statements inside, recent ones that let me know I had a small nest egg saved up. Not that it mattered; Wyatt was the kind of man who likely wouldn’t let me pay.

  I didn’t care a bit about the money he and his family had. But knowing he was looking out for me, protecting me, it was hard to describe just how damn good it made me feel.

  And there was the little matter of the baby. I placed my hand on my belly as I’d done again and again since I’d found out. I needed to go to a doctor to confirm, but the handful of pregnancy tests I’d taken were proof enough.

  More than that, I knew. I felt something different inside, like my body was telling me for certain I was carrying Wyatt’s child. I almost wanted to leave right then and there, forget about my things and the apartment and my work and everything else that felt like a weight keeping me from my new life in Patterson.

  But I had to do the responsible thing. I sorted through some more papers, finding my landlord’s number and giving him a ring, letting him know I’d be breaking the lease. I was satisfied after the phone call, knowing one more loose end had been snipped off.

  Then there was the matter of packing my stuff. The more I went through my belongings, however, the more I realized there wasn’t anything much worth saving. Aside from my clothes, there were no sentimental items, no keepsakes.

  I did find a single picture of my parents, my heart stopping when I fished it from the back of the closet and held it in my hands. It was a shot of them on some beach, Mom wearing a colorful sarong and Dad with a pair of trunks and Hawaiian shirt, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses. Longing surged through me as I regarded the picture. I placed it in one of the boxes, wiping tears from my eyes as I continued packing.

  As I cleaned, something came to mind, something that I kept in the nightstand. Opening one of the drawers, I found the small, black pistol. I let out a scoff as I regarded it, remembering that I’d bought it years ago for self-defense and never once had needed to use it. I couldn’t believe I actually owned a gun.

  Muscle memory took over as I held it, and without thinking I rolled up one of the legs of my pants and strapped the holster to my ankle. Part of me wanted to take it off, but I figured I might as well bring it with me to Wyatt’s – he likely knew his way around a gun.

  I cleared all the plates and bowls and such out of the cupboards. I wouldn’t need them, so I neatly placed them in one of the boxes, wrote free on the side in sharpie, and took them out to the curb. The evening was getting on, and once I’d set the box down on the curb outside of my apartment, I decided to get a good night’s sleep before leaving the next day. The sooner I left my old life behind and started my new one, the better.

  My arms ached as I headed back to my apartment. As soon as I reached the top of the stairs, however, I saw Amy by my door seated in a porch chair. I stopped short when our eyes met. The color drained from my face, but Amy seemed more than happy to see me, a big, wolfish grin spreading across her pretty features.

  “Jess,” she called as she stood up. “So good to see you back in town. Got a few minutes to chat?”

  I started toward the door. A conversation with Amy was the last thing I wanted. “Nope,” I said. “You and I are done. Nothing else to say.”

  She put her hands on her slim hips and shot me a harsh glare. “No
, you’re still on the hook with me. We signed a contract, remember? It was stated in very clear terms that after my payment, you’re mine. And we’re done when I say we are.”

  I let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m breaking the contract. We’re finished. I’ll give you your retainer back.”

  Amy’s hand fell on mine as I put the key in the lock. She was close enough to me that I could smell the sharp florals of her undoubtedly overpriced perfume. She gripped my hand hard, hard enough to hurt.

  “Let go of me,” I said as I tried to jerk my hand away from hers.

  “You want to get rid of me, fine. Let’s go inside and talk about this contract. How’s that sound?”

  My heart raced. There was anger in her voice, the kind that made me uncertain of just what she was capable of.

  “I’m giving you a chance to talk this over,” she said. “Like two grown women. You want to tell me to screw off? Fine. But you should ask Wyatt if you want to find out how stubborn I can be when it comes to getting what I want.”

  Moments passed as I tried to figure out what to do. I sighed and said, “Okay, fine. We can talk.”

  “Good girl,” Amy said with a bright smile as she released her hand. “I knew you’d see reason.”

  Without another word, I turned the key and opened the door. Amy followed me into the apartment, stepping into the middle of the space and glancing around.

  “This is cozy,” she said, her voice a lesson in sarcasm. “I always forget that people actually live in apartments like this.”

  “You wanna talk about the job?” I asked. “Or did you come here to insult me along with threatening me?”

  She turned and tossed her small handbag onto the couch before placing her hands on her hips again. Amy had the confidence of a woman who was in total control of the situation, and I didn’t like it one bit. She was either desperate and hiding it, or she had some trick up her sleeve.

  “You want to talk, let’s talk,” she said, gracefully sitting on the couch and crossing her legs.

  I sat in the chair across from her. “Like I said, I’ve got no idea what we need to talk about.”

  “There’s plenty,” she commented. “I hired you to do a job, and I expect you to finish it. I spoke with Wyatt earlier, and he so graciously informed me that he was ready to get dirty with this fight. I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but if that’s what he wants, that’s what he’s going to get.”

  I did my best to suppress a smile. Amy was no doubt the kind of woman who’d be more than happy to put a man through hell to get what she felt she deserved. But I was happy to hear Wyatt was ready to fight.

  “I don’t know what this has to do with me.”

  “Are you kidding?” she asked hotly. “I paid you to spy on him, and I refuse to believe you didn’t find anything at all.”

  I thought about the camera. I’d put it on my desk drawer when I’d come in, planning to deal with it last. After all, it’d been the thing that’d gotten me into so much trouble with Wyatt. I could’ve left it with him, but I hadn’t wanted it there to remind him of how I’d betrayed him, how I’d lied to him. I glanced at it, remembering the last pictures that had been taken. I didn’t want Amy to see those.

  I shrugged at her. “There’s nothing, Amy. And finding out there was nothing is a big part of the reason I’m putting an end to you and I working together. Wyatt’s a good man, and I took this contract because you told me something completely different.”

  “Oh, please,” she scoffed, getting up and wandering into the kitchen. “Let me guess. He pulled the whole cowboy with a heart of gold shtick with you? That aw, shucks crap that makes him seem like a sweetheart who’s a little rough around the edges? That’s how he got me too, Jessica.” She opened my cupboards, looking through each. “Where are all your dishes? You got any booze in here? I’d kill for some vodka.”

  Amy pulled open the cupboards above the fridge and found a couple of bottles inside. She grabbed the vodka and made herself a drink with some of the ice in the freezer, then took a long, slow sip.

  “There we go,” she sighed, relief settling over her features. “That’s what I needed.”

  I wanted to put the conversation back on track and hopefully get Amy out of my apartment and my life as quickly as possible. A tinge of fear ran through me as I remembered Amy didn’t know about what had been happening with Wyatt and me. She sure as hell didn’t know about the baby. And she couldn’t know.

  “I spent time with Wyatt after the accident,” I confessed. “He’s a good man with a good heart. And from my point of view, you’re the one who’s making this more difficult than it has to be.”

  “Wow,” she snorted. “Amazing to hear Wyatt’s words coming out of someone else’s mouth. He’s got you good and trained, doesn’t he?” She took another long, slow sip of her drink, her blue eyes locked on mine. “You’re a pretty woman.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Another pulse of fear ran through me.

  She shrugged, continuing her wandering. “Just saying that Wyatt has a way with women. He can be charming, sweet when he wants to be, but he also knows how to go from hot to cold.” She glanced at me. “It’s exactly what sucked me in, thinking I’d be able to break through that rough exterior and see the man underneath.”

  It wasn’t an inaccurate way of describing Wyatt. But her saying it was an act…well, that was bullshit. I’d known him long enough to understand that the good-hearted man I knew was the real deal. No one faking it would treat his animals the way he did. No one faking it would’ve been able to make his eyes light up as they had when we’d talked about the baby.

  “Be that as it may,” I said, trying to sound professional. “You two clearly have a lot to work through. And I don’t feel right in the least getting in the middle of it.”

  “Are you kidding?” she asked, rolling her eyes at what she must assume was my foolishness. “That’s your job, sweetheart. And that’s what I’m paying you for.”

  “I’ve met you, and I’ve met Wyatt. That means I’m too involved in what’s going on between you two for me to remain professional. If it’s a matter of money, I’m happy to refund what you’ve paid me.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “It’s more than money. Much, much more than money. It’s about getting what’s mine. And if you want to break this contract, I’ll be happy to get you into court right alongside of him.” Amy tossed back the rest of the drink, glancing at my desk as she set down her glass. “Or you could give me what you have. If there’s something worth my time, maybe I’ll be a touch more amenable to cutting you loose.”

  She rose and walked to the desk, snatching up the camera. My heart skipped a beat as soon as it was in her hands.

  “Let’s see if you’ve got anything juicy on here,” she said, turning it on. “Maybe something that’ll really give me a leg up.”

  Nausea ran through me. I knew what was on that camera: the pictures Wyatt had taken of the two of us in the barn. She didn’t realize how accurate she was with the term “leg up.” I shot up from the couch and flew over to Amy, reaching for the camera.

  “Give me that!” I cried. “You can’t go through my things!”

  Amy threw out her hand and grabbed my shoulder, holding me in place with a surprising strength. “You’re still under contract, Jessica. As far as I’m concerned, whatever’s on here is mine just as much as yours.”

  She pressed the button to bring up the reel. My stomach sank at the exact moment the color drained out of her face. My arms dropped to my sides – there was no point in fighting. The damage had already been done.

  “What the fuck is this?” she asked furiously, holding out the camera so I could see the picture on it. The shot was of me and Wyatt post-sex, me totally naked and Wyatt with his arm wrapped around me. Both of us wore the biggest smiles on our faces, total afterglow bliss.

  “It’s not what it looks like,” I offered weakly, knowing it was the lamest excuse I could come up with.

&nb
sp; “Not what it looks like?” she asked shrilly. “It’s a picture of you after fucking my goddamn husband! And you’re going to tell me it’s not what it looks like?”

  “First of all, he’s your ex-husband,” I reminded her.

  A strange calm fell over her, which totally freaked me out. Something was on Amy’s mind, and to say it made me ill at ease would’ve been the understatement of the century.

  She flicked her eyes up at me, those blue orbs burning with hate. “You’re coming with me.” The words came out with a razor edge.

  “What?” I asked, totally dumbfounded. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I said you’re coming with me.”

  “Coming with you where?” I backed away slowly, not wanting to be anywhere near her.

  “You’re coming to my apartment. And when you’re there, you’re going to tell me everything that happened between you and Wyatt. ”

  Amy was doing her best to stay calm as she spoke, but I could easily sense the barely restrained rage in her voice. The woman seemed on the verge of a total meltdown, and I didn’t want to be anywhere near her when it happened.

  “That’s not gonna happen, Amy. Wyatt is a single man, free to be with whomever he chooses. You have no say in that anymore.”

  Amy sucked in several slow breaths. “If you don’t want to play nice, we’ll do it the hard way.”

  “What?”

  “Last chance, Jessica,” she threatened, her eyes locked onto mine.

  “I’m not coming with you.”

  “The hard way it is.” Amy sprang toward me. She grabbed my shoulders and shoved me to the ground. I landed with a thud, pain shooting out from my hip where I hit the floor. “You’re…coming…with…me!” Her voice cracked as she held me down. I struggled, but Amy was surprisingly strong.

  “Let me go!” I tried to shove her off, her blonde hair and ice blue eyes flashing in front of me as I did.

  Her hand shot down to my flailing leg, landing on the gun at my ankle. She stopped, pushing my leg down with both hands and pulling up my pant leg, revealing the gun. Amy grabbed it out of the holster and pointed it at me. I raised my hands without thinking. If it were only me, I might’ve put up more of a fight, but with the gun in play, I wasn’t risking the life of my child.