My Baby, My Bride

by Tina Leonard

Duke made a mental note to run through a guide of old movies very soon. “I’d love some.”

  “You sit down.” Liberty gestured to the kitchen table. “Would you like milk with that?” she asked, turning her back so that she could snatch a note from her pocket. A Recipe For Romancing Your Stubborn Sheriff was scrolled across the top in Pansy’s pretty writing. Taking a deep breath, Liberty quickly read the first “tip” of the recipe.

  Smile and be of good cheer, but also, keep your “gown” down.

  Not an easy “ingredient” to follow! She and Duke had enjoyed making love, and even a simple touch had always ignited fireworks between them. This new awkward formality between them didn’t feel anything but forced—and yet, the situation they were in was difficult.

  Never being touched by Duke again wasn’t what her heart wanted, even if her mind and practical nature overwhelmed her innermost feelings. He was a sexy man, and she’d never been able to tell him no—except at the altar. How could she love him so much and know they could never live together and be happy?

  Maybe she had been the one who’d needed to change.

  “Is everything all right?” Duke asked, and Liberty whirled around.

  “It’s fine. I’m sorry, Duke.” She quickly cut a piece of cake and laid it in front of him, but he caught her hand as she put the plate down.

  “You look beautiful, Libby,” he said. “I miss you.”

  She stopped, caught by the fire in his gaze. “Even as round as I am?” she asked softly.

  A slow, hot grin lit his face. “I’ve never seen you sexier.”

  She heard scratching at the door and backed away from him, her heart racing. “I believe that would be the other woman in your life,” she said. “I’ll let her in.”

  She wasn’t surprised when Molly made a bee-line for Duke and the kitchen. She heard Duke laugh.

  “So the smell of cake called you home like Lassie,” Duke told the dog. “You’re a faithless cur.” He fed her a tiny bite with an apologetic shrug at Liberty. “She won’t leave crumbs on your floor.”

  “I can sweep if she does.”

  Duke looked down at his dog. “Dogs really don’t eat cake,” he told her. “Men don’t sweep up after dogs if they make a mess eating cake.”

  “Men do sweep,” Liberty said, and Duke nodded, still looking at his cake-eating dog with some resignation.

  “For you, Liberty, I would sweep,” Duke said. He couldn’t help adding, “but I guess a gentleman doesn’t sweep a lady off her feet and make love to her.”

  The doorbell rang almost as loud as the sudden beating of Liberty’s heart. She remembered making love with Duke—she remembered feeling that nothing and no one could ever keep them apart.

  Except a baby, Liberty thought unexpectedly. I don’t want Duke romancing me because of the baby!

  She suddenly felt the ache in her abdomen return. “That’s Pansy and Helen. Eat and tell me if I got the recipe right.”

  “It’s perfect!” She heard his words as she fled the kitchen and escaped the heat of his eyes.

  “Okay, forget ‘down,’ my gown was in great danger of coming off,” she muttered, opening the door to her friends with some relief.

  “Mmm, pound cake,” Helen said, and Liberty hugged her. “I’ve been looking forward to this all day.”

  “I have a sheriff in the kitchen with a big piece,”

  Liberty said, hugging Pansy.

  “Piece?” Pansy asked. “Doesn’t Duke always carry a gun? Or were you speaking metaphysically?”

  “Cake,” Liberty said with a sigh. “You certainly have a fanciful mind, Pansy. By the way, your recipe was very helpful.”

  “I didn’t give you a pound cake recipe,” Pansy said. “My pound cake comes out like a brick.”

  “She meant the recipe,” Helen said, nudging her friend.

  “Oh,” Pansy said, her face lighting up. “You think we might be giving good advice for a change?”

  “I don’t know,” Liberty said. “I didn’t get past the first ingredient. Just staying calm around Duke is a feat for me. So I smiled and—”

  “And obviously you’re dressed,” Helen said with a sniff.

  “Yes,” Pansy said, “we feel that a man who gets the milk from the cow—”

  “No,” Helen said, “we’re too far past that. The cow is long gone and in the process of having a calf.” She smiled at Liberty. “We’re hoping better communication between you two, some easy camaraderie, might break the ice that’s been forming ever since you returned.”

  “Ladies,” Duke said, tipping his hat as he walked into the foyer. “It’s good to see you, but I must be off.”

  “Must you go, Duke?” Pansy asked. “We don’t mean to run you out. We just have a little pinning and tucking to do.”

  He shook his head. “The cake was delicious,” he told Liberty, and kissed her square on the lips, surprising all three women into silence. “Let’s watch that movie soon,” he said, and walked out.

  The click of the door closing behind him was deafening.

  Helen blinked. “Well!”

  Pansy giggled. “He reminds me of Cary Grant. I do believe he was trying to act suave and debonair.”

  Liberty’s lips still tingled from the kiss he’d landed on her. For a quick peck, he’d managed to impart an awful lot of “want you” into it! “That wasn’t like Duke at all. He’s never done anything like that. He always stays to make trouble.”

  “Romance is a beautiful thing,” Pansy said.

  “And there can never be too much of it,” Helen agreed.

  “I don’t know if I can resist him,” Liberty said, “if he’s going to go all soft and gentle on me.”

  “Stick to the recipe,” Helen advised. “It’s working.”

  “And besides,” Pansy said, “we want to conduct an experiment.” She smiled innocently at Liberty. “We want you to spend a day in Duke’s office with him.” Holding up an imperious hand, she continued, “I know it doesn’t sound exciting. Heaven knows it may even sound dull as dishwater.”

  Liberty wondered if they understood just how tempted she was by Duke. This gown-down business was going to be harder than they thought if close proximity was suggested. “I have my bridal business to keep me busy,” Liberty said. “I don’t want to be in Duke’s office. And I’m trying to decorate a nursery.”

  “We can help with that,” Helen said, “but you need to spend a day walking in Duke’s boots so you can appreciate him better. And vice versa.”

  “Vice versa?” Liberty asked.

  “Oh, yes,” Pansy said, “Duke needs to spend a day with you in your business, so he can better appreciate you! That’s the assignment,” she finished, satisfied.

  “He’ll never agree,” Liberty said.

  “Oh, he already has,” Helen said. “He said being with you in your bridal boutique might be the closest he ever got to seeing you in a wedding gown.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “I suppose,” Liberty said the next day as she walked into Duke’s office, “Swap Day is a good idea. It’ll give me a chance to see what it’s like to be the sheriff.” She set a picnic basket down on Duke’s desk. He stared up at her, completely surprised.

  “Are you bringing me lunch?”

  She gave him a soft smile. “How do you know I didn’t just bring enough for myself?”

  He grinned. “Sounds like you’re softening.”

  “I’m not.” She hung his hat on a hook by the door. “I’m bringing us lunch in case we have to work through the noon hour. Besides, I get hungry more often now.”

  His grin widened. “Eating for two.”

  “No, I’m eating just for myself, thank you. This is pound cake and there are sandwiches.” She looked inside the basket. “Oh, and cottage cheese and vegetables for baby. You can share the vegetables if you like.”

  “No, thanks. I’ll stick with cake.” He propped his boots on the desk. “So what brings you in here?”

  She looked at hi
m. “You agreed to Swap Day, did you not?”

  “In theory. I agreed to something. I’m not sure what the old gals pinned me to.”

  “If you don’t want to do this—”

  He grabbed her hand playfully, as if to keep her from escaping. “I’ll do anything with you.”

  Liberty pulled her hand away. “Then you can’t keep making remarks to Pansy and Helen or anyone like ‘the closest you’ll ever get to seeing me in a wedding gown is working at the shop with me.’” She slapped his hand lightly when he reached for her again. “Seriously, Duke. You get them all riled up. Swap Day wouldn’t even have entered their heads if you didn’t always say such things.”

  “Actually,” Duke said, “I asked them for their advice.”

  “Oh?” Liberty put her hands on her hips. “On how to annoy me?”

  “About how to make you happy,” Duke said simply.

  “I see,” Liberty said. She was surprised and touched. “That’s so sweet, Duke.”

  “That’s me,” he agreed, “the sweetest guy in Tulips.”

  She nodded. “Great. Now where do I start?”

  He smiled in a wolfish sort of way. “Anywhere you’d like. The only things that are off-limits in here are the copper box in Mr. Parsons’s cell—er, home—and my dog.”

  She laughed. “Your dog does as she pleases.”

  “Yes, so don’t try to change her.” Duke scratched his head. “Why is it that I have no pliable females in my life?”

  “Because no one can be pliable around you, Duke,” Liberty said tartly. “You’re so hardheaded and stubborn and opinionated that a female just feels like she needs to stand up for herself or be taken completely over.”

  “Hmm,” Duke said. “Okay. Maybe you can start your day by answering that ringing phone, please.”

  “Hello, Sheriff Duke’s office,” she said. “Yes, he’s in.” She handed him the phone.

  “That’s not the way to do it,” he said. “Mr. Parsons asks who it is and what they want and then sometimes doesn’t even give me the phone. He handles it himself.”

  “That’s lazy,” Liberty said. “Take your call.”

  He grunted. “Hello?”

  Liberty watched him as he listened, thinking that he was handsome and kind in his own way, and a secret part of her was thrilled that she was having a baby with him.

  “I have to make a run,” he said after he’d hung up. “You don’t want to make this one with me.”

  “Swap Day means we stick together.” She tagged along behind him to the official sheriff’s car. “We’re going formal?” Duke usually drove his truck everywhere despite having a refurbished car donated by the town.

  “For this one, yes. You could stay here and answer the phone—”

  Liberty got in the car. “I could, but if anybody wants you, they know how to find you. That’s if, and a big if at that.” She gave him a sweet smile as he started the engine. “Besides, Swap Day is about learning to appreciate each other’s worlds and getting to know each other better. How can I get to know you if I’m just answering your phone?”

  He shrugged. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “Actually, I didn’t hear a warning.”

  “True,” he said, “but it was implied.”

  “Oh,” Liberty said, looking at Duke carefully—was that a flush turning his brown skin somewhat ruddy? “Duke, where are we going?”

  “To Flo Simmons’s place,” he said briskly, trying to sound nonchalant. Flo was the town man magnet, and Liberty hoped this run wasn’t a common occurrence.

  “This should be an interesting view into your world,” Liberty said. “I’m so glad I’ll have a front-row seat.”

  He gave a grunt that she deciphered as annoyance. Smile and be of good cheer, she remembered from the recipe, but it was hard when Duke was moody like this! “I can see why Pansy and Helen think your brother and sister might enjoy the sheriff seat more than you do,” she said. “It seems to make you grumpy.”

  “It’s not the job, it’s the girl,” he replied.

  “Oh? Who?”

  “You. You’re determined to get under my skin today.”

  “Are you trying to tell me you didn’t want me to come with you?” she asked. “This doesn’t seem that exciting or dangerous to me.”

  He grunted again, and Liberty shrugged. “If grunting is your main mode of communication as a sheriff, no wonder everyone keeps away from you.”

  So he sighed instead. Liberty laughed. “I guess that’s better.”

  They parked outside Flo’s house.

  “You could stay in the car,” Duke said. “I’ll only be a minute.”

  Liberty blinked. That was definitely a noninvitation. She watched Duke walk up the sidewalk, then decided there was no reason to sit in the car. They were supposed to be getting to know each other better and trying to understand each other’s jobs. So she followed Duke to the porch.

  The front door opened and Flo flew into Duke’s arms, sobbing. Liberty blinked, smelling perfume and maybe some incense coming from inside the house.

  “It’s been so difficult, Duke!” Flo said. “Everything is just so hard on me these days!”

  She was wearing a purple negligee, Liberty noted, so perhaps the only hard thing she wanted on her was Duke. “Excuse me,” Liberty said. “Flo, you’d best put a bathrobe on.”

  “Liberty?” Flo detached herself from Duke. “What are you doing here?”

  “Playing deputy,” Liberty said, feeling Duke’s gaze on her, “and if you don’t get some clothes on, I’m going to be playing ‘I Shot The Sheriff.’”

  Embarrassed, Flo stepped back inside the house and peeped around the door. All Liberty could see now was blond frazzled curls, red lips and a disappointed woman, which meant that was all Duke could see, too, and Liberty felt pretty good about it.

  “I didn’t know you were busy, Sheriff,” Flo said. “Sorry for the trouble. Maybe I’ll just handle my problem myself.”

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” Duke asked, and Liberty gave him the slightest of pinches.

  “I’m fine. Thank you. Thank you for coming out. Liberty, it’s good to see you.” She closed the door.

  “Well,” Liberty said, “I didn’t realize your job was so dangerous, Sheriff.” She headed down the walk and got into the car.

  “Now, Liberty,” he said, “I didn’t know she was going to be dressed like that.”

  Liberty sniffed and looked out the window. “It’s not worth discussing.” She laid a hand on her stomach, feeling somewhat nauseated.

  Duke didn’t say anything else on the drive back, so neither did she. But Liberty realized that calls from lonely divorcées were part of his job. It wasn’t his fault that he was a big handsome man whose job it was to be at the beck and call of the citizens of Tulips. She’d have to accept that, but it wasn’t a cheering thought. Perhaps, selfishly, she couldn’t help thinking about the fact that purple negligees weren’t exactly part of her life right now, and might not be for a while. Women were going to throw themselves at Duke—after all, they lived in a town full of women who were single for one of a thousand reasons.

  “How have you managed to stay single so long?” she asked, knowing she sounded disgruntled but not ashamed of it.

  “You,” he said. “I’ve always known there was only one Liberty who could set me free.”

  More pleased than she cared to admit, Liberty said, “You didn’t look like you wanted to be free of Flo’s arms.”

  He laughed. “Are you jealous?”

  “Yes.” She got out of the car when he parked and went inside the sheriff’s office. “Hello, Mr. Parsons.”

  “Hi, Liberty.” He was searching for something inside his cell. Duke came in and watched him for a moment, as did Liberty.

  “Something wrong?” Duke asked.

  “You didn’t take the box, did you?” Mr. Parsons asked.

  “No,” Duke said, feeling slightly cold inside as he watched his el
derly friend become more agitated. “It was there when we left. I’m positive of that because I told Liberty that was the one thing off-limits to anyone in here besides my floozie of a dog.”

  Mr. Parsons straightened. “It’s gone.” His face was a mask of worry. “The sheriff trusted me with that, and I let it get taken.”

  Duke resisted the urge to say that he’d suggested a more secure place for the town’s documents. Sympathy held his opinion back on that. “Who would be interested in it?”

  Mr. Parsons shrugged. “Could be anyone, I guess.”

  Liberty shook her head. “Even I didn’t know the box was important until today. I’m sure it will turn up. I should probably go,” she said to Duke.

  “Wait,” Duke said, following her out. “I detect a chill on this fine September day.”

  “No,” Liberty said, “but it’s clear from your last call that your job isn’t that difficult. I think I’ve seen enough to appreciate it.”

  “Pacifying depressed townspeople is very difficult,” Duke said, walking beside her. Liberty wasn’t getting away from him in a temper in order to stew over something that had not happened—would never have happened—with Flo. He caught enough trouble for things that he’d actually done.

  “And if some handsome man wraps me in his embrace and tells me how terrible life is—”

  “I’ll think he’s a pathetic weasel,” Duke said, “and I’ll question your choice of friends.”

  She stopped to stare up at him. “Duke, it can’t always be your way. I have feelings, too.”

  He kissed her hand. “Your feelings are my feelings.”

  “Not really.” When she tried to take her hand away from his, he pulled her close and kissed her gently on the lips. That kept her retreat from happening, and Duke wondered if he had grabbed her at the altar and laid one on her if this whole dilemma could have been avoided.

  “Your problem is not that you don’t spend enough time with me,” he said against her mouth, “but that we don’t spend enough quality time together. In bed, where time counts.”

  “Yeesh,” Liberty said, pulling away. “If you were talking to a less suspicious woman my dress would already be off.” She headed toward her house.