The Maverick's Secret Baby (Montana Mavericks: Six Brides For Six Brothers Book 4)

by Teri Wilson

Finn’s blood boiled at the sound of Oscar Ellington’s condescending tone. He glanced around, trying to figure out how he’d already been identified. Sure enough, there were security cameras stationed in four different corners of the mansion’s veranda.

  He stared the closest one down. “I’ve come all the way from Montana. The least you can do is open the door.”

  “We’re in the middle of dinner. Like I said, it’s not a good time.”

  Seriously? He wasn’t even going to come to the door?

  Finn didn’t know why he was surprised. The man had disowned his own daughter—his pregnant daughter, who’d always been daddy’s little princess until she’d started calling the shots in her own life. Why would he suddenly be reasonable just because Finn had been on a wild-goose chase across the country?

  He rang the bell again. Once, twice, three times.

  “Am I going to have to call the police?” Oscar bellowed over the intercom.

  If he wanted a screaming match, Finn was more than game. He yelled at the intercom, “Call whoever you want. I’ve come to take my wife home, and I’m not leaving here without her.”

  Across the street, a security guard’s car rolled to a stop. Maybe Oscar wouldn’t need to call the cops. It looked as though the neighborhood watch had that covered.

  He beat on the door with a fist. He was done wasting time with the stupid bell and the prissy little intercom. Oscar needed to come outside so they could discuss the situation like men.

  But the next voice to come over the intercom wasn’t Oscar’s. It was Avery’s.

  “Finn? Is that you?”

  He nearly wept with relief at the sound of her soft Texas twang. Less than twelve hours ago, she’d been naked in his bed, and now they were talking through a speaker.

  He fixed his gaze on the closest security camera. “Avery, baby. It’s me. I’ve come to take you home. Whatever is wrong, we can fix it. Please, you’ve got to let me fix it.”

  “Can’t you see that she’s made her choice? My daughter wants nothing to do with you. For the last time, I’m ordering you to vacate the premises.” Oscar’s tone wasn’t any more sympathetic than it had been before Avery joined the discussion, and somehow Finn doubted what he was saying was true.

  Avery was running scared, but had she really told her father she wanted nothing more to do with him? He didn’t want to believe it, but despair had begun to tie itself in knots in the pit of his stomach. He needed to see his wife. He needed to look her in the eye and tell her everything would be all right if she would just come home.

  Every muscle in his body tensed. If Oscar didn’t open the door, Finn was going to tear it down with his bare hands.

  “Daddy, stop,” Avery pleaded.

  She was crying again, damn it. What was her father thinking? She was pregnant. If he hurt her...if he hurt the baby...

  Heat flushed through Finn’s body. He felt like he was on the verge of some kind of breakdown, breathing in ragged gulps until he felt like he was choking.

  And then, by some miracle, the door swung open.

  His head jerked up. He wasn’t sure whether to expect Avery or her father as hope and dread danced a terrible duet in his consciousness.

  But it was neither of them. Instead, an older woman with Avery’s kind eyes stood on the threshold. “You must be Finn. I’m Avery’s mother, Marion.”

  “Hello, ma’am.” Finn tipped his hat. “I’m sorry for the...ah...disruption. But—”

  She held up her hands. “Don’t apologize. I understand this is a volatile situation, and I want to invite you in so we can all discuss this like reasonable adults.”

  He nodded, wanting to trust her but fully expecting Oscar to appear out of nowhere and slam the door in his face.

  “Please, Finn.” She held the door open wide, and for better or for worse, he stepped inside.

  * * *

  Avery had never thought she’d see the day Finn Crawford would be standing inside the house where she’d grown up, but here he was...in the flesh. And much to her irritation, that flesh looked even better than she remembered it. Was it possible that her husband had gotten even more handsome in the twelve hours or so since she’d last seen him?

  It wasn’t, right? Which meant the reason the sight of him sent shivers through every nerve ending of her body was because she’d missed him. She’d missed him more than she could fathom, but that didn’t mean she was going to simply stand by and let the two men in her life argue over her as if she was one of their cattle.

  At the moment, Finn and Oscar were staring daggers at each other with nothing but her mother’s antique Chippendale coffee table between them to prevent an epic physical altercation. It was beyond ridiculous, and Avery was over it.

  “Have you two completely lost your minds?” she spat.

  They both started blaming each other at once, her father bellowing on about Maximilian, and Finn insisting that Avery pack her bags immediately and head back to the Ambling A. The crystal chandelier hanging overhead nearly shook from all the yelling.

  Avery clamped her hands over her ears as tears streamed down her face. How was she supposed to make sense of anything when they were behaving this way? Maybe she should forget about Montana and Texas altogether and go raise her child on a desert island somewhere.

  “Everyone, just settle down,” her mother said calmly. “Or I’ll call the police on both of you.”

  Oscar reared back as if someone had slapped him. Avery probably did as well, seeing as she’d never heard her mother speak to him like that before. Finn cast cautious glances all around.

  Marion crossed her arms and continued, “Now that I have everyone’s attention, why don’t we all sit down? I told Finn we were going to have an adult conversation, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

  No one moved a muscle. Finn and Oscar seemed to be engaged in some kind of alpha male contest to see who would comply first.

  “That’s it.” Avery threw up her hands. “I’ve had enough of both of you.”

  Finn plopped down on the closest armchair so quickly it looked he was playing a game of musical chairs.

  “I’m sitting. I’m ready.” He fixed his gaze on her father. “Let’s discuss this, Oscar. Man to man.”

  Her father sat, but not without commentary. “Fine, although there’s not much to discuss. Avery left you to come home. I think that says it all.”

  Finn glanced at Avery, and the pain in his face was visceral. “With all due respect, sir. I’m Avery’s husband, and her home is with me.”

  They were getting nowhere. Avery didn’t know whether to cry or knock both their heads together.

  “Enough,” her mother said sharply. “This isn’t for the two of you to decide. It’s between Finn and Avery, no one else.”

  A tiny spark of hope ignited deep in Avery’s soul. Finally, someone had said it. Whatever she and Finn felt—or didn’t feel—for each other should be between them. She should have never agreed to marry him until the family drama had been sorted out, but she had.

  She’d exchanged vows with Finn, all the while thinking she could protect herself from the feelings that came from a genuine relationship. So long as there was a wall between them, she’d be safe. In the end, though, it hadn’t mattered how many bricks she stacked—she fell in love, anyway.

  She loved Finn. Whether or not he loved her back no longer mattered. Her heart belonged to Finn Crawford, whether he wanted it or not.

  Her mother’s gaze shifted from Avery to Finn and back again. “You are having a baby together. This baby will bond you together for life.”

  The vows from their simple country wedding ceremony echoed in her mind, beating in time with her heart.

  Until death do you part.

  Marion’s eyes narrowed, and for a moment, Avery felt as if her mother could see straight into her soul. “I
think I know how each of you really feels about the other, but this is not for me to decide. You two need to figure it out...together.”

  She was right. Of course she was, but they still hadn’t tackled the biggest elephant in the room—the angry bull elephant more commonly known as Oscar Ellington.

  “As for you.” Marion squared her shoulders and turned to face her husband. “I’ve stood for your nonsense long enough. You had no business cutting Avery off like you did. She’s our daughter, our own flesh and blood, and you’ve been holding on to some silly grudge against Maximilian Crawford for far too long.”

  Oscar’s face went three shades of red. Maybe four. It reminded Avery of the bright leaves back in the maple forest near Rust Creek Falls.

  He seemed to know better than to interrupt, though. Marion Ellington rarely criticized her husband. Almost never, as far as Avery could remember. But her patience had finally cracked, and she was apparently finished holding her tongue.

  “Either you give Avery back her inheritance—and her job—or I will leave you, Oscar Ellington. This is no idle threat. I will walk right out that door.” She pointed to the front door with a trembling hand.

  All eyes in the room swiveled toward Oscar. Avery didn’t dare breathe while she waited for him to respond.

  The silence stretched on for a long, loaded moment until he finally nodded. “As you wish.”

  Oscar’s voice was quiet. Contrite.

  When he turned a tender gaze toward Avery, her heart gave a tight squeeze. But what she nearly mistook for heartbreak was something else entirely—it was her heart, and her family, mending back into one unified piece after weeks of shattered silence.

  “Your mother is right, sweetheart. I love you no matter what. If you want to stay married to a Crawford, I might not like it, but I’ll learn to live with it.” With a deep exhale, Oscar faced Finn full-on. “You obviously feel passionately about my daughter. I love her with my whole heart, and if you do, too, then I suppose it’s possible for us to find some common ground.”

  A surreal feeling of euphoria washed over Avery. It started in her chest and spread outward, leaving a tingling surge in its wake.

  Her father had just said everything Avery had wanted to hear from the moment she’d first realized she was pregnant. Before she’d even set foot in Rust Creek Falls, she’d lain awake nights, wishing and hoping for something like this to happen. It just seemed so impossible, and once he’d called her with the devastating news that he was cutting her off, she’d given up every last shred of hope.

  Thank God for her mother.

  If she hadn’t intervened, they might never have gotten here. But she had, because that’s what mothers did. They sacrificed all for their children. Avery was only beginning to understand the depth of that kind of unconditional love.

  She rested her hand on her belly and fixed her gaze on Finn’s. The feud was over. There was no longer anything standing between them. At long last, they could be together—really together—without the devastating heartbreak of being cut off from her family.

  But now that all the obstacles had finally been torn down, Avery was no longer sure where she and Finn stood. A part of her—a very large, very real part—wanted to cross the room and throw herself at him the same way she had in the pasture at the Ambling A and in the cool quiet of the sugar bush at the syrup farm. Why shouldn’t she? What her father thought no longer mattered.

  But she’d left.

  She’d finally given herself to Finn, and in the heady romance of the afterglow, she’d run away.

  They could get past that, though, couldn’t they? Everything had turned out for the best. Finn had followed her all the way here. And yet...

  Finn was still sitting quietly on the rose damask sofa in the room where her mother threw tea parties. He hadn’t uttered a word in response to what her father had just said.

  I love her with my whole heart, and if you do, too, then I suppose it’s possible for us to find some common ground.

  This was the moment where Finn was supposed to confess his feelings. It was the only way to respond to that sort of statement, wasn’t it?

  I love Avery, too.

  That’s what Finn should be saying right now. Why wasn’t he?

  Please. Avery implored him with her gaze. Her feelings had to be written all over her face. Couldn’t he see it? Please, please say it.

  But suddenly Finn couldn’t seem to look at her. The passion and fury that had driven him to fly all the way to Texas and practically beat down the door to the Ellington estate seemed to drain right out of him before her eyes.

  He frowned down at his hands, folded neatly in his lap. Those hands had touched her in ways no one else ever had before. Those hands knew every inch of her body—every secret place, every soft, silken vulnerability. Avery couldn’t look at them anymore without craving the exquisite pleasure of his skin against hers.

  When Finn finally spoke, it was in a voice she’d never heard him use before. Quiet. Calm...terrifyingly so. “Can I have a word alone with Avery, please?”

  “Of course,” her mother said, rising to her feet as she shot a meaningful look at Oscar.

  “Yes, yes.” He stood as well, pausing to give Avery a kiss on the top of her head before they left the room. “I love you, honey. Remember that, okay? You have our support.” He lingered for a moment, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. “Whatever you decide.”

  It was strange seeing her father so unsure of himself and only underscored the gravity of what had just occurred. And what might happen next.

  “I know.” Avery reached out and squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”

  Finn’s expression betrayed little as her parents left the room and closed the French doors, shutting them alone together inside. Avery no longer cared what exact words he uttered; she just wished he would say something. Anything.

  “I—” She started to apologize for her disappearing act, but at the same exact time, Finn began talking, too.

  “Avery—”

  They both stopped abruptly and stared at each other. Another day, another time, they probably would have laughed. Neither one of them did so now, though. Avery’s chin went wobbly like it always did when she was trying not to cry.

  “This changes things,” Finn finally said.

  She blinked. “What does?”

  “This.” Finn gestured vaguely at their surroundings—the antique rotary telephone, the gilded wall mirror that had been passed down from generation to generation of Ellingtons, the grandfather clock with its familiar tick-tock that Avery would have recognized blindfolded.

  The room they were sitting in hadn’t changed a bit since Avery’s childhood. She could have drawn a picture of it from memory and not missed a single detail.

  “You’re back in the fold,” he said. There wasn’t a drop of bitterness in his tone, and Avery was suddenly unsure whether that was a good sign or a bad one.

  “I guess I am.” She nodded. “But shouldn’t that be a good thing? My father is finally letting go of whatever happened between him and Maximilian. He won’t stop you from seeing the baby anymore.”

  “And you’re no longer disinherited,” he added with a sad smile. “Which means you no longer need me.”

  Wait, that wasn’t what it meant at all. Was that why he was acting so strangely all of a sudden? He thought the only reason they were together was because she’d had no place else to go?

  Isn’t it, though?

  No.

  She tried to swallow, but her throat had gone bone dry. It wasn’t the only reason—not anymore. Deep down, it had never been the only reason. Finn was the father of her baby, but it was more than that, too. She’d wanted to exchange vows with him in that dusty old courthouse. She’d just been too afraid to admit it because Finn had never been the marrying type.

  Oh, no.

 
Avery’s heart plummeted to the soles of her feet. That’s what the sudden change in Finn’s mood was all about. He didn’t want to be married. He never had. He’d just proposed because of the baby and now that there was no feud standing between him and his child, he was trying to let her down gently.

  “You don’t need me to support you and the baby,” he said, spelling things out in a way that hurt more than she ever thought possible. As if all along she’d only been interested in the Crawford money.

  “That’s not true.” She shook her head.

  Stop it, she wanted to say. Just stop saying these things and tell me you love me.

  “I think you need some time alone to figure out what it is you want, sweetheart.” The kindness in his voice almost killed her. She’d rather he yell and scream than look at her the way he was looking at her right then...with goodbyes in his eyes.

  Sure enough, he unfolded himself from the chair he was sitting in and loomed over her. Just as Avery expected, he already had one foot out the door.

  She stood on wobbly legs and forced herself to meet his gaze. Where was the man who’d pounded on the front door with his fists, insisting he wasn’t going anywhere without his wife by his side? She needed that man, whether he realized it or not. She loved that man.

  “You know where to find me when you make up your mind.”

  They were the last words her husband said to her, followed by a chaste kiss on the cheek and a walk through the foyer to the front door.

  And just like that, he was gone.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Avery couldn’t seem to make herself move as the door shut softly yet firmly behind Finn. She wanted to go running after him. She wanted that more than anything in the world, but it was as if a physical force was holding her back, keeping her rooted to the spot.

  He’d come all the way to Texas from Montana—for her. When she’d first spotted him on the security camera, she’d nearly wept with relief. If he’d chased her all the way to Texas, that had to mean he loved her.

  Right?

  She’d seen enough rom-coms to know that at some point, every good love story culminated in a grand romantic gesture. This was it. Finn had followed her to enemy territory so he could win her back.