Knowing she couldn’t explain anything with him kissing her senseless, she placed a hand in the middle of his chest and tried to wedge a space between them.
“Wait, Cordero. I need to talk to you.”
Lifting his head, he looked down at her with bemusement. “I want to talk to you, too, Anne-Marie. But do you know how much I’ve missed you? How much I want to make love to you?”
Just hearing him say he’d missed her should have filled her with gladness, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted to hear he needed her, that he would love her always. But she knew better than to expect those sorts of words from him.
“I — yes. I think I do,” she said huskily. “But —”
He suddenly interrupted her. “Why did you really come here, Anne-Marie? I know I invited you, but you didn’t make any promises about coming to the ranch. I got the feeling that you would probably never come.”
Bending her head, she tried to summon the courage to utter the words that she’d traveled all the way to Texas to say. “You were right. I had no intention of coming here. Because I understood what happened between us was over. And I —” she looked up at him. “To be honest, telling you goodbye was too painful to think about going through again.”
Groaning, he clamped his hands around her upper arms. “So what made you change your mind? If you didn’t want to see me again —”
“I had to,” she blurted desperately, then went on before she could stop herself. “Because I — because I’m going to have your baby.”
He stared at her in stunned silence as moment after moment ticked by. Anne-Marie could only wonder at the questions and images going through his mind.
“A baby,” he finally whispered. “You’re pregnant? For sure?”
Glad that she’d finally released the news, she nodded. “Very. My doctor says the baby will be here in late March or early April.”
With dazed movements, he released his hold on her and sank onto a portion of the bench that outlined the interior of the gazebo. “A baby,” he whispered again as though the word was strange and he needed to practice saying it. “This changes everything.”
Her knees were so weak and shaky that she was forced to sink down beside him. “Yes. There’s no denying that,” she said in a strained voice.
His head swung back and forth. “I’m sorry, Anne-Marie. I shouldn’t have behaved so recklessly that day at the river. At the time I couldn’t think for wanting you. Then later, we used protection and I pretty much dismissed that one time. Guess it’s true that one time is all it takes.”
She looked at him and as her eyes glided over his dark profile all the yearning she felt for the child growing inside her seemed to multiply tenfold.
“No need to be sorry, Cordero. It just happened. But don’t worry. I can deal with it.”
His head reared back. “You can deal with it? Don’t you mean we?”
Bracing herself, she shook her head. “No. I mean you can exercise your fatherly rights if you want to, but I fully intend to raise this baby myself.”
He looked at her as though she’d lost her mind. “Exercise my fatherly rights? What kind of talk is that? This isn’t the same Anne-Marie I got to know two months ago!”
She pursed her lips and tried to steel herself against the pain cracking her heart. “I’m not that same Anne-Marie. I’m pregnant. That makes a woman see everything differently.”
“Different, hell!” he snorted. “You’d better get to seeing them clearly. Because your way is not the way it’s going to be.”
Anne-Marie was suddenly reminded that the Sanchez’s were a rich, prominent family. If Cordero was of a mind to, he could give her a whale of a fight over the baby’s custody. She’d never for once believed he might resort to something like that, but now fear was spreading icy fingers throughout her body.
“What do you mean?”
He reached for her hand and as his fingers tightened around hers, she wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms and weep.
“It means our child is going to grow up in the normal way. With a mother and father living in the same house.”
The implication of his words staggered her. Her eyes widened; her jaw fell. “Are you suggesting marriage?”
“Why yes. That’s the way I see it.”
Jumping from the bench, she turned her back to him and bit down hard on her lip. Why now, she wondered sickly. Why couldn’t he have asked her to marry him before she’d stood on the steps of Cane’s Landing with her heart breaking as she’d waved a final goodbye?
Because he hadn’t wanted to marry you then, Anne-Marie. No more than he really wants to marry you now. This is all about the baby. Nothing more.
“You can put that out of your head,” she whispered firmly, “because I have no intention of marrying you.”
Shooting up from the bench, he moved up behind her and clamped his hands over her shoulders. “I don’t believe I’m hearing you right.”
His arrogant reply had her whirling on him and pride sharpened her words. “Why? Because you think you’re such a prince you can’t imagine any woman turning you down? Well, let me give you a news alert, this woman is saying no!”
Lifting his face toward the vine-covered roof of the gazebo, he sighed with heavy frustration. “Anne-Marie, I don’t understand this — you! This isn’t about you or me! It’s about our baby and what’s best for him!”
Her features hardened. “You think you have to point that out to me? I understand you completely, Cordero. But that isn’t going to sway my decision. In the long run, entering into a marriage that I don’t want would be disastrous for the child.”
His gaze was like a razor, dissecting every inch of her face as though he was trying to discover something that just wasn’t there. “Anne-Marie, I thought I knew you. I thought you were different. I thought you were a woman who would always put others before yourself. What has happened to you? Is this what you think God wants you to do? Raise the baby without a father?”
Stunned that he would resort to such a low blow, she said in a fierce rush, “Don’t question my faith, Cordero. You can’t see inside my heart. When I lay down in the grass with you, you didn’t understand why. And you still don’t!”
With a painful sob, she stepped around him and hurried back to the house.
He caught her before she reached the door and as his big hand grasped her shoulder, she stood frozen, staring into the darkness as tears rolled down her face.
“Maybe I am just a callous ranch hand,” he muttered roughly. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t feel. That baby inside you is mine. And I want to make sure he’s raised right. With a father in the house — his real father!”
“That’s quite something coming from you, Cordero. When not more than two months ago you insisted you never wanted to get married.”
He growled in frustration and Anne-Marie realized she’d never been this nasty to anyone. Why was she lashing out at him like this? It wasn’t right to punish him just because he didn’t love her. That was something she’d been perfectly aware of when she’d given herself to him. Now it was too late for anger or indignation.
“I’m sorry I said that, Cordero. I’m not being fair. And maybe I’m not behaving like myself, either.” Her eyes were full of regret as she turned her head toward his. “I need to rest. I’ve had a terribly long day. We’ll talk about all this tomorrow.”
Dropping his hand from her shoulder, he reached to open the door. “All right. The last thing I want to do is tire you out. But this is not over, Anne-Marie. Not by a long shot.”
No, it was just beginning, she thought dismally, and if the next few days were anything like this one, she didn’t see how she could bear up under the stress.
Once they were back in the great room, Anne-Marie quickly excused herself and hurried up to her bedroom.
From his seat in an armchair, Matt looked at his brother with faint amusement. “That sure didn’t last long. You must be losing your touch, little br
other.”
“Shut up, Matt. Just shut the hell up!” Cordero growled, then stalked out of the room before anyone else had a chance to say another word to him.
The next morning Cordero left the house long before sunrise. A horse buyer was scheduled to meet him at seven and Cordero needed to have the animals saddled and warmed up long before the man arrived.
Earlier, Matt had helped him drive a small herd of heifers into the cutting pen and now, with the buyer watching, Cordero was demonstrating the ability of the last filly he had for sale.
Beneath him he could feel the chestnut filly’s muscles bunch then surge with incredible power. Dirt flew from her hooves and rained on his hat like chunks of hail in a violent rainstorm. Her ears were laid flat against her head, her teeth bared as she watched and outmaneuvered the heifer trying to get past her.
Horse and rider were in the zone. That place where the dance was perfect and it felt as though they were both floating in unison. Normally Cordero lived for these moments. There was nothing more exhilarating than riding a cutting horse, using every ounce of strength and balance he had to stay in the saddle. But this morning the joy was dimmed and he had little patience for the buyer when, a few minutes later in the ranch office, he began to sputter about the price.
“Look, Manning,” Cordero said from behind a messy desk piled with papers, foam cups and pieces of tack that hadn’t yet found their way back to the barn. “Sweet Pea is my favorite filly. She’s only three, but she performs as well or better than a ten-year-old. I don’t have to sell her. In fact —” he propped his elbows on the desk and leaned toward the horse buyer “— I’ve changed my mind. She’s not for sale. And she won’t ever be.”
“But we’re only talking about five hundred dollars difference here, Cordero,” the man began to argue.
“Forget it. She’s mine. She’s gonna stay mine,” he said bluntly.
Sensing he was on a slippery slope, the buyer didn’t argue further and quickly wrote out a check for the horses the two of them had already agreed upon.
Ten minutes later, the door to the small office had barely closed behind Manning when Matt stepped in.
Looking at his brother, Matt motioned behind him. “I just met Manning on the way to his truck. He looked like a mad hornet. What happened? He didn’t buy any horses?”
Cordero slapped a copy of the receipt into the bottom drawer of the metal desk. “Three. And he was lucky to get them. He wanted me to cut the price on Sweet Pea. Damn idiot! Even a kid could see she’s the best one in the lot. That’s why he wanted to steal her.”
Matt lips formed a silent O as he studied his brother’s thunderous expression. “I’m afraid to ask what you told him.”
Cordero rose to his feet. “I wasn’t rude, if that’s what you’re worried about. Well, maybe not too much.” He realized he was behaving out of character but he couldn’t seem to do anything about it. Everything inside of him felt pushed and pulled and twisted until he didn’t know where to turn or what to do to find relief. “I just told him that Sweet Pea was mine and I’ve decided to take her completely off the market.”
“Oh.” Matt nodded and stepped over to a coffeemaker and a stack of foam cups. “Just not quite in those words though, right?”
“No. I don’t think I used that many,” he said grimly.
Matt took his time pouring himself a cup of coffee before he turned back to Cordero.
“Well, that’s your prerogative,” he said amiably. “The filly is yours to keep.”
“Damn right,” Cordero muttered, then walked across the room to a plate glass window that overlooked the cutting pen.
Two Sandbur wranglers were unsaddling the horses that Manning had purchased. It eased him to see Sweet Pea still tied to a hitching post and he realized he never should have put the filly up for sale in the first place. She’d been born on the ranch to a Sandbur mare and since she’d been a tiny colt she’d followed Cordero around like a faithful dog. She was smart and beautiful, but more importantly, she was all heart. She gave him her best, always. And she’d quietly endeared herself to him.
Just as Anne-Marie had.
“Uh, you gonna knock off the rest of the day?”
Matt’s question had Cordero turning away from the window. “I don’t know. Why?”
“Why?” Matt asked with amazement. “You have company, remember?”
Company. Anne-Marie wasn’t company. She was his whole world. Back at Cane’s Landing when he’d stood in the rose garden and told her he’d had to leave, some inexplicable essence had kept whispering to him that he loved her. That he was meant to spend his life with her. But he’d not wanted to heed the voice inside his head or admit to himself the he’d actually fallen in love. Maybe if he’d faced his feelings then, Anne-Marie wouldn’t be refusing to marry him now.
“Yeah,” he said sardonically. “I remember.”
Matt frowned. “Cordero, I’m sick and damned tired of handling you with gloves. Now what’s the problem? Are you mad at Anne-Marie for showing up here at the ranch? If you don’t care about the woman then you need to tell her how it is and send her on her way!”
“Don’t be telling me what to do! Especially when you don’t know anything about it,” Cordero said in an angry blast.
Not about to back down, Matt stalked over to his brother. “Then maybe you’d better tell me how it is. Because I’m not going to put up with you biting my head off!”
Cordero opened his mouth to snarl out a curse word, then at the last moment snapped it shut. Matt was right. He had to get a grip. He had to go back to the house, face Anne-Marie and convince her that he was a man worth marrying.
Wiping a hand over his face, he said, “I’m sorry, Matt. I know I’ve been behaving like a jackass, but I’m —” He paused, heaved out a heavy sigh, then blurted, “Anne-Marie is pregnant with my child. She came here to the ranch to tell me.”
Matt’s expression didn’t falter, but Cordero knew that he’d stunned his brother. He didn’t say anything for long moments, just looked at him as though he was trying to gauge Cordero’s feelings about the matter.
“And that has you angry?” he asked.
Pain flickered inside Cordero’s chest, then took hold and spread upward until his throat was thick. “Not about the baby. I’m upset because — because she won’t marry me.”
“Oh. Why not?”
Cordero’s arms lifted and fell in a helpless gesture. “I wish I knew. I thought —” He stopped and shook his head in anguish. “Maybe I was arrogant to assume she would want to marry me. Maybe I went at everything all wrong. I don’t know.”
Matt looked at him with wry speculation. “You mean you sorta made it an order instead of a marriage proposal?”
Cordero’s eyes slanted sheepishly up to meet his brother’s. Matt always seemed to know him better than he knew himself. “Yeah. Sorta. But I was shocked at the time. And I — want that baby, Matt. I want it with all my heart.”
Stepping forward, Matt placed a comforting hand on Cordero’s shoulder. “And what about Anne-Marie?” he asked gently.
Matt’s question released the pain twisting inside of Cordero’s chest and he found it a relief to answer his brother. “I want her just as much.”
Matt’s fingers squeezed around his shoulder. “Then you need to make that clear to her.”
Nodding with sudden hope, Cordero headed toward the door and jerked it open. “Yeah, you’re right, brother. I need to start all over. I need a ring and roses and —”
“To hell with that!” Matt called after him. “She doesn’t want a ring or roses. She wants your love.”
“She’ll get that, too!” Cordero tossed back at him, then hurriedly stepped out of the office.
Back at the Sanchez house Anne-Marie had slept shamefully late and now descended the stairs to find the house quiet and everyone seemingly gone to work. As she neared the kitchen, she could hear the faint sounds of a radio playing country music and expected to find the Sanchez c
ook when she entered the room. Instead, she found Cordero’s father, Mingo, pouring water into a coffeemaker.
He was a massively built man with broad shoulders and big hands. Except for a white streak running along the right side of his head, his hair was thick and black and curled around his head in an extremely attractive way. She could see a resemblance to Cordero in his face and strong build, but even more so in the man’s charming smile.
“Good morning,” he greeted. “I’m glad you made it up. I was beginning to worry that you were sick.”
A small kitchen table was located at one end of the room. She pulled out one of the chairs and sank into it. “Oh. I apologize for sleeping so late. This isn’t like me at all. I hope you haven’t been waiting on me.”
Smiling, Mingo shook his head. “It’s never a bother to wait on a beautiful woman.” He glanced at the coffeemaker, then opened one of the cabinet doors. “Would you like coffee? It’s decaffeinated — just in case you might be worried about that.”
Anne-Marie’s eyes darted over to Mingo’s back. Had Cordero told his father about their baby? Or had the wise man made his own deductions about her sudden appearance here on the Sandbur? Either way, the idea that he might know she was pregnant with his son’s child was enough to put a rosy blush on her cheeks.
“I would love some,” she told him. “Thank you.”
He set a steaming mug in front of her, then placed a tiny pitcher of cream and a sugar bowl on the table. She stirred in a hefty dollop of cream as Mingo went over to a large gas range and opened the oven.
“Juan left breakfast tacos for you. There’s egg and bacon. Egg and sausage. Or egg, bacon and potato.”
He carried a platter loaded with tacos wrapped separately in aluminum foil over to the table and set it down within Anne-Marie’s reach.
“All these!” she exclaimed. “There’s enough food here for an army!”
Mingo chuckled. “We have lots of eaters around here. And two of them don’t want to fix things for themselves at lunchtime, so they grab these when there’re some left over.”
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