by Helen Lacey
Tess was tense beside him, but he knew her well enough to realize she wouldn’t make a scene in front of his sister or Mrs. B. He also knew he’d be in for one hell of a telling-off when they were finally alone.
“Boss?”
Mitch turned his head toward the door that led to the mudroom. Wes stood by the door, hat in his hand.
“Yes?” Mitch asked.
“Dolly’s in some trouble.”
Mitch released Tess’s hand. “I’ll be back soon,” he said quietly, “so we can talk some more.”
He excused himself and strode across the room, grabbing the spare Stetson he kept on the hook by the back door. He followed the other man through the door and out of the mudroom, and headed for the stables. Sure enough, Dolly was in trouble. Her foal was breech, and quickly Mitch called the vet hospital in town. He had handled breech births before, but wasn’t about to take any risks with Dolly’s safety. He soothed the agitated mare as best he could and waited for the vet to arrive.
Ryan Holt had taken over old Doc O’Rourke’s practice a year earlier. Mitch had confidence in the younger man’s skill, and two hours later, the mare gave birth to a healthy colt. It was past twelve o’clock by the time the colt was on his feet and suckling his mother.
In between helping to deliver the foal, he fielded calls and texts from three of his brothers. Ellie, it seemed, had taken it upon herself to announce the news of Tess’s pregnancy to the family. He replied as casually as he could, saying Tess was moving back to Cedar River and he’d speak to them all soon to explain the situation in more detail.
He was placing hay in a net by the door when he spotted Tess walking toward him. Ellie had been back and forth all morning, checking on the foal, then doing a happy dance when the colt arrived because it meant they would be keeping him, instead of sending the foal to the Alvarez ranch in Arizona. There were two more foals due in the next couple of months and another round of insemination planned for three of his best brood mares. It was a busy time at the ranch. But not so busy that Mitch could ignore what was most important.
Tess.
She’d had remained in the house and Mitch was surprised she hadn’t embraced the opportunity to take off and put some space between them. Instead, she’d stayed. Now Mitch figured they were about to pick up the conversation that had ended in the kitchen.
“Hey,” he said, and continued to stuff hay in the net, ignoring the way his stomach twitched as she walked toward him, her hips swaying, looking so effortlessly beautiful he was struck by an inexplicable surge of attraction for her.
“We need to talk,” she said flatly, hands on hips, chest heaving.
“Sure.”
She came closer and gestured toward the stall. “Can I?”
He nodded. “Of course, take a look.”
She peered over the stall and he watched her face light up when she spotted the gangly colt nuzzling his mother’s flank. “Oh, he’s so adorable. What’s his name?”
Mitch half shrugged. “Fluffy.”
He saw her smile fractionally and tied the hay net onto the door, and Dolly moved forward eagerly. He was close to Tess. Close enough that he could pick up the faint trace of her perfume above the scent of horse and hay and sweat, and it reached him on a sensory level.
“You’re not serious?” she asked, brows raised.
His mouth curled. “Would you like to do the honors?”
She looked intrigued for a moment, but then her expression flattened. “Not my business.”
“Is that your way of avoiding the inevitable?” he enquired, and locked the stall door.
“Nothing is inevitable.”
“We are,” he reminded her, and gestured toward her belly. “One unreliable condom saw to that.”
She sucked in a breath. “I’m not going to... I’m not about to...”
“Marry me?” he said when her words trailed off. “Sure you will.”
She glared at him. “Sometimes you are an arrogant ass, Mitch. I’m not going to marry you. I don’t love you. You don’t love me. What we had is over.”
“What we had,” he said harshly, flinching inwardly at the way she could dismiss their past so easily, “doesn’t matter one iota. We’re having a child together... That’s all that matters, Tess. A child who needs both his parents.”
“He’ll have both his parents,” she assured him. “Just not living in the same house. And definitely not married.”
“Then, as I said earlier, I want shared custody,” he shot back.
She made an irritated sound. “Are we back to that again. It’s not feasible. I’ll be living in town and you can see as much of the baby as you—”
“Half,” he said again. “And no compromise.”
“That’s your problem,” she said, clearly annoyed. “You won’t compromise on anything. You never would.”
“I guess we’re both stubborn and uncompromising,” he said. He grabbed his shirt from the peg by the stall door and shouldered into it as he took a few steps. “Maybe we should have put that on the divorce papers.”
He headed for the entrance and heard her pacing after him. “We’re not done, Mitch. We need to work this out.”
“After lunch,” he said, throwing the words over his shoulder. “You’re invited, of course.”
“I’m not staying for lunch,” she huffed, and met him by the door. “Stop being so damned bossy.”
He grinned. “Part of my charm,” he said, and noticed a car barreling up the driveway. A vehicle he recognized instantly. “Joss is here.”
She frowned. “Does he usually—”
“No,” he said quickly. “Ellie called him.” As his brother’s familiar tow truck pulled up outside the house, Mitch spotted another car turning in through the gates. “And Hank.”
“What?”
“His patrol car just turned off into the driveway.”
She was still frowning. “Two of your brothers? Are we having a family reunion?”
“They’re probably just curious and want to see you.”
Her mouth curled. “Great. The return of the evil ex.”
“My brothers care about you,” he reminded her, and began to walk from the stables.
“I know.” She sighed. “But I know they blame me for the way things worked out.”
“They blame me,” he assured her. “They think I should have done anything to make you stay.”
The truth, he thought. Mitch was always compelled to tell the truth. Maybe it was a throwback to Billie-Jack and his father’s inability to be honest about anything except how much he loved liquor. Whatever the reason, Mitch had always wanted to be a better man than Billie-Jack and mostly believed he was. Except for his relationship with Tess. It was his one failure. The one thing he hadn’t been able to do successfully.
But fate, it seemed, had given him the opportunity for a do-over.
And he intended to take it.
* * *
Tess had always liked Mitch’s brothers. Particularly Joss and Hank. They were identical twins, although Hank was taller and broader and had a scar down the left side of his face from a car accident when he was fourteen. Joss, who wore his hair longer and pulled back in a ponytail, was the charmer and an easygoing man who had a likable manner and clearly adored his two young daughters. He was also a widower and owned his own auto repair shop in town. Hank was the chief of police, a role he’d had for a few years. He was rock-solid and the kind of person to go to in a crisis. Mitch had done an amazing job at steering his younger siblings into adulthood.
He would, she realized, make an incredible father.
Of course she’d always known he would be a wonderful parent. It was part of the reason she’d fallen in love with him so many years ago. There was an elemental strength about Mitch. He was a no-nonsense kind of man...honest and driven by a kind of inn
ate integrity she suspected had something to do with his father bailing on the family at a crucial moment in time. But Mitch hadn’t failed them. He’d fought to keep the kids together and won the right when he was eighteen.
Loving him had been easy. Until it had all started to go wrong.
And now she was back.
It was like someone had flicked a rewind switch on her life and she was stepping into her old footprints. It was too much to think about, but the memories were acute.
When they were first dating, Mitch had taught her how to ride, and Tess had discovered a love of the land she never knew she possessed. There was something elementally peaceful about being on horseback, with the sun on her arms and the breeze gently touching her face. Often, they would ride around the ranch and find a secluded spot, tether the horses to a tree and then lay down a blanket, for making out or making love. The memory pierced her through to the core. Once, a lifetime ago, loving Mitch had been as essential to her as breathing. Leaving him had been the most difficult thing she had ever done...but necessary. A marriage based on ultimatums wasn’t what she wanted—but there was no reasoning with Mitch.
By the time her resolve returned, they were halfway across the yard. Tess did a couple of double steps to match his stride. She grasped his arm and he stopped, looking down.
“What?” he asked.
“Please don’t say anything to them about us...you know...”
“Getting married again? Too late,” he said quietly. “I think Ellie has already let that cat out of the bag.”
She frowned. “We’re not getting married, Mitch...and I don’t want to have an argument with you about it in front of your family. All I want is for us to be civil and come to an arrangement about the baby.”
“We will,” he said. Tess suspected she should have felt reassured, but she didn’t.
“We’ll talk about this later.”
“Right,” he said, and grabbed her hand. “Later.”
Tess was about to snap something out in response, but Joss came toward her, arms outstretched. “Hey, Tess, it’s great to see you.”
Tess untangled her fingers from Mitch’s hand, quickly hugged his brother and then stepped back. “You, too. How are the girls?” she asked.
“Good, at school and staying at the in-law’s tonight,” he replied, and grinned, eyes widening as he took in her protruding belly. “I see you’ve been busy.”
She smiled, faintly embarrassed by his teasing. “A little. I guess you...know.”
He nodded. “Ellie called,” he confirmed, and winked just as Hank moved around the car.
“I suppose there was no point in telling her not to call you,” she said and frowned.
“Nope,” Joss replied. “You know Brat,” he said and grinned again, using the nickname she suspected they still affectionately used for their much-loved little sister.
She nodded and hugged Hank and, once they were done getting reacquainted, Mitch said he needed to get cleaned up, so they all headed for the house. Ellie and Mrs. Bailey were still in the kitchen, busy preparing lunch, and Tess took a seat at the table.
Surreal.
It was the only word that fit. The only thing that made sense.
Tess watched as her former family laughed and chatted and pitched in to prepare the food they were about to eat. They were all clearly curious about her sudden reappearance and pregnancy and asked a few questions, although nothing too probing. She figured Mitch had somehow instructed his brothers to keep their enquiry to a minimum. Even Ellie was a little more subdued than she had been earlier that afternoon, maybe the result of Mitch’s directive to quell her enthusiasm for all things that had to do with babies and marriage.
She’d texted her own sister earlier and said she’d be arriving later than expected and would message once she’d left the Triple C. Annie’s responding texts had been full of surprise and query, and Tess knew she had a lot of explaining to do once she came face-to-face with her stepsister.
“So, Mitch said you’re moving back to town?” Hank enquired quietly.
Tess nodded. “That’s the plan. It’s a safe town, after all.”
“It is on his watch,” Joss said, and grinned. “Crime rate has never been lower.”
“That’s because you’ve grown up and aren’t wreaking havoc,” his brother returned. “Joss is very civilized these days...none of that boyhood hell-raising anymore.”
Joss laughed. “We all know Lara civilized me.” His expression revealed melancholy. They all knew how much he had adored the wife he had lost to a swift and aggressive form of cancer many years earlier. “These days I’m quite the pillar of the community.”
“Business owner, member of the local chamber of commerce, former PTA president at the local elementary school. Yep,” Hank teased, “you are extraordinary.”
Tess smiled at the brothers’ banter. They had the strong bond of twins, and were also clearly best friends. It made her happier knowing she’d returned to town and would be able to spend time with her stepsister. She’d missed Annie so much over the past few years, although her sister had visited her in Sioux Falls several times. She was grateful her child would have such a loving aunt and she was grateful for Joss and Hank, too. They would both be wonderful uncles and great role models for her son.
“Yeah, Mr. Chief of Police,” Joss teased. “Glad you can recognize greatness in your midst.”
“My humble brother has become quite the real estate magnate, too,” Hank said with mock disapproval. “How many places do you own now?”
Joss shrugged. “A few. I like to keep busy,” he explained, and tugged uncomfortably at his collar.
Everyone laughed, and Tess thought how nice it was to spend time with people whose company she had always enjoyed. The Culhanes were good people, and Mitch had done a wonderful job at raising his siblings.
“So, when’s the wedding?”
It was Joss who spoke. Joss, who was watching her over the rim of a beer bottle. Joss, who had clearly decided to disregard the warning she knew Mitch would have dished out.
Tess took a calming breath. “We’re not—”
“When we make that decision,” she heard her ex-husband respond quietly. “You’ll be the first to know.”
Tess turned her head and spotted Mitch standing in the doorway, freshly showered, wearing dark jeans and a long-sleeved black T-shirt, and looking effortlessly masculine and so gorgeous she had to catch her breath. His dark hair gleamed. His green eyes glittered. He was everything she remembered—too sexy for words. Strong. Intense. Everything she’d once loved. And now the father of her child. But she wasn’t going to get swept up in memories of the life they’d once shared. The past couldn’t be changed or erased, and their history was too complicated to simply latch on to the moment and pretend it hadn’t happened.
Lunch was soon served and Mitch sat next to Tess, while Ellie took a spot to her left and chatted endlessly about the ranch and her studies and how thrilled she was that the new foal would be staying on the Culhane ranch. Mitch briefly explained about Ramon Alvarez and his investment in the Triple C, to which Ellie responded with a tale about how the man once had mistaken her for a ranch hand.
“I still don’t have to like him.” Ellie grimaced. “No matter how good his horses are.”
“You protest too much,” Joss remarked as he helped himself to a hefty serving of lasagna. “And you know what they say about that.”
Tess listened as they bantered, with both Joss and Hank taking turns to make fun of their sister and teasing her about crushing on her sworn enemy. Mitch was quiet and concentrated on his food, but she felt him watching her. They had always had a kind of unspoken connection—a way of communicating with very few words. Nothing had changed on that score. Divorce hadn’t dissolved their awareness of one another. In fact, Tess suspected the time apart had actually amplified it.
Once lunch was done, they all pitched in to clean up, since Mrs. Bailey had retired to her own cabin before they’d sat down to eat. But not before she’d made Tess promise they would have a real chance to catch up very soon. It wasn’t long before Ellie, Joss and Hank headed for the front living room and Tess was left drying the last of the dishes while Mitch put the plates and cutlery away.
“This is cozy.”
She looked sideways, saw he was watching her and felt her spine straighten automatically. “No, it’s ridiculous. I really should go home.”
“Home?”
“Well, to Annie’s.”
One brow cocked up. “That’s not your home.”
“It will be for the moment,” she replied, folding the tea towel, startled by how familiar the chore of standing in Mitch’s kitchen, doing dishes, actually felt. “Until I find my own place. And stop being such a control freak.”
“Habit,” he quipped. “I don’t want you living at my cousins’.”
“Not your business.”
His gaze shifted to her middle. “You think?”
“This is a baby, Mitch, not property or a head of cattle or a new colt. You are this baby’s father, but you don’t own this child. Or me. You don’t make my decisions for me.”
He didn’t react to her veiled insult. Instead, he closed the pantry door and sighed impatiently “Can I at least help you find somewhere to live?”
“Which means, can you pay for it, right? Then, no...you can’t. I have enough money saved to support myself until the baby comes, and then I intend going back to work part-time. I’ve already enquired at a couple of the local schools.” She saw his expression darken, clearly frustrated, and she sighed. “Look, I’m not deliberately trying to be difficult, but I didn’t come here to step back into my old life. I returned to Cedar River to have the baby, to offer you involvement with our child. And I genuinely want that, Mitch.”
“But on your terms,” he said, his gaze narrowing. “Right?”
Tess shrugged slightly. “I’m happy to meet you halfway.”
“If that were true,” he shot back, “you’d be upstairs in our old room, unpacking your bags.”