The impulsive touch didn’t last nearly long enough. Cody grabbed her hand and pulled it to his lips. He brushed a kiss across her knuckles and saw the instantaneous spark of desire in her eyes. “I’ll try to watch the defensiveness, if you’ll do something for me.”
She regarded him with conditioned wariness. “What?”
“Bring Sharon Lynn out to White Pines this weekend,” he coaxed persuasively. At the flare of panic in her eyes, he pulled out his strongest ammunition—her fondness for Harlan. “I think seeing her would do Daddy a world of good. With Mother gone, he needs something positive in his life, something to cheer him up. You should have seen the look in his eyes this morning when I told him she was mine.”
The hint of wariness in her eyes fled and was promptly replaced by astonishment. “You told him?”
“I did. But it wasn’t news. He’d figured it out the first time he saw her, the same as Jordan had.”
Her mouth gaped. “And he didn’t do anything about it? I’m amazed he didn’t haul your butt straight back here or offer to set up a trust fund for the baby or something.”
“Frankly, so am I. Maybe he’s learned his lesson about manipulating.”
Melissa’s expression was every bit as skeptical as his own had to be. “Okay,” he said. “He probably has a scheme we don’t know about yet. Even so, are you willing to take a chance? Will you bring her out? It’s time she learned something about her father’s side of the family.”
He was playing to her sense of fairness and it was clearly working. He could practically read her struggle with her conscience on her face.
“I’ll bring her,” Melissa finally agreed with obvious reluctance. “On one condition—no tricks.”
Cody regarded her innocently. Now that he’d gotten her basic agreement, he could go along with almost anything she demanded. “What kind of tricks?”
“No preachers lurking in the shadows. No wedding license all signed and ready to be filled in.”
He feigned astonishment, even though he thought she might actually have a very good idea, one that hadn’t even occurred to him until just that minute. “Would I do that?”
“In a heartbeat,” she said. “And even if you had an attack of conscience, Harlan wouldn’t. No conspiracies, okay?”
“Cross my heart,” Cody said, already wondering if there was some way to pull off such a wedding.
Melissa’s gaze narrowed. “Why doesn’t that reassure me?”
“And you accused me of a lack of trust,” he chided.
“I’m not the one whose brother threw a surprise wedding in place of a rehearsal,” she said, reminding him of the sneaky trick Jordan and Kelly had pulled on his parents to avoid the out-of-control celebration his mother had planned for their wedding. The whole town had gossiped about that little stunt for weeks.
“I’m glad you mentioned that,” Cody taunted. “It does give me some interesting ideas.”
“Cody Adams, I am warning you…”
“No need, sweet pea. I’m not fool enough to take a chance on getting rejected in front of my family and the preacher. When you and I get married, it’ll be because you’re willing and eager.”
“‘When,’ not ‘if’?” she chided.
“That’s right, darlin’. Only the timing is left to be decided,” he declared with far more confidence than he felt. He unloaded the last of their packages under Melissa’s irritated scrutiny. Apparently, though, his certainty about their future had left her speechless. He considered that a hopeful sign.
“See you on Saturday,” he said, escaping before he had a chance to put his foot in his mouth. “Come on out about eight. You can have breakfast with us.”
Besides, he thought, if Melissa was there by eight, that gave him most of the day to convince her to have a wedding at sunset.
* * *
Melissa debated bailing out on her day at White Pines. Handling Cody was tricky enough without having to worry about Harlan’s sneaky tactics at the same time. Still, she couldn’t very well deny Harlan the chance to get to know the granddaughter he’d just officially discovered he had.
That was what ultimately decided her, or so she told herself as she dressed Sharon Lynn in bright blue corduroy pants, a blue and yellow shirt, and tiny sneakers. She brushed her hair into a halo of soft curls around her face.
“Ma? Bye-bye?”
Proud of Sharon Lynn’s expanding vocabulary, she nodded. “That’s right, my darling. We’re going to see your daddy and your granddaddy.”
Sharon Lynn’s face lit up. She reached for the new toy duck that was never far from sight. “Da?”
Melissa shook her head at the instant reaction. Obviously Cody had had an incredible impact on his daughter in just one visit. Did he have that effect on all women or just those in her family? She tickled Sharon Lynn until she dissolved into a fit of giggles.
“Yes, Da,” she told her approvingly. “We’re going to see Da.” And she, for one, was nervous as the dickens about it. Sharon Lynn clearly had no such qualms.
When Melissa pulled her car to a stop in front of the house at White Pines, she drew in a deep, reassuring breath, trying to calm her jitters. It was going to be just fine, she told herself, even as she fought the overwhelming sense of déjà vu that assailed her.
How many times had she driven out here, filled with hope, anxious to spend time with the man she loved, only to leave bitterly disappointed by his refusal to commit to anything more than a carefree relationship? Everything had always seemed more intense out here, the air crisper and cleaner, the terrain more rugged, the colors brighter. Similarly, her emotions had always seemed sharper, too—the bitter sorrow as well as the blinding joy.
Once she had dreamed of this being her home, the place where she and Cody would raise a family. Now with the snap of her fingers and a couple of “I do’s,” her dream could come true. But Cody’s proposal, forced only by the existence of a child for whom he felt responsible, had tarnished the dream. She doubted it could ever recapture its original, innocent glow.
“Da, Da, Da!” Sharon Lynn screamed excitedly, bouncing in her car seat as Cody strode across the front lawn. He was wearing snug, faded jeans, a T-shirt that hugged his broad chest and worn cowboy boots. He looked sexier and more masculine than any male model ever had in GQ.
Before Melissa could fight her instinctive reaction just to the sight of him, he had thrown open the door and lifted his daughter high in the air, earning squeals of delight for his effort.
“Hey, pumpkin, I could hear you all the way inside the house,” he teased the baby. “Your grandpa Harlan said you were loud enough to wake half the county. He’s thinking of getting you geared up for the hog-calling contest at the state fair. What do you think?”
Melissa noted he reported his father’s reaction with unmistakable pride. He glanced her way just then and the humor in his eyes darkened to something else, something she recognized from times past as powerful, compelling desire. Whatever was behind his proposal of marriage, the one thing she couldn’t doubt was Cody’s passion. He wanted her and he was doing nothing to hide that fact from her.
“Thank you for coming,” he said, his expression solemn.
“I told you I would.”
He shrugged. “You never know, though. Sometimes things come up.”
Suddenly, for the first time Melissa was able to pinpoint the most devastating problem between them. Neither of them had so much as a shred of trust left for the other.
She didn’t trust Cody not to leave again. She didn’t trust him not to rip her daughter away from her.
And worse, to her way of thinking because she knew he had a right to feel as he did, he didn’t trust her to keep her promises. She had kept the secret of his daughter from him. He had to wonder if he could trust her to be honest with him about anything.
All at once she was unbearably sad. Regrets for the open, honest relationship they had once shared tumbled through her, leaving her shaken.
Before she realized he’d even moved, Cody was beside her, Sharon Lynn in his arms.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his expression filled with concern.
“Of course. Why would you think I wasn’t?”
“Maybe it has something to do with the tears.”
She hadn’t even realized she was crying. She brushed impatiently at the telltale traces. “Sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize, for heaven’s sake. Just tell me what’s wrong.”
“An attack of nostalgia,” she said, knowing it was only partially true. “Nothing to worry about.” She plastered a smile on her face. “Come on. Let’s go inside before Harlan falls out of that window he’s peeking through.”
Almost as if he’d heard the comment, the curtains fell back into place and a shadow moved away from the downstairs window. Cody grinned at her.
“He can’t wait to meet Sharon Lynn. If you think I’m bad, wait until you see the room he’s fixed up for her visits.”
The implications of the lighthearted remark sent panic racing through Melissa. If Harlan had fixed up a room, then he clearly intended for Sharon Lynn to be at White Pines a lot. Was this visit just a prelude to the custody battle her mother had warned her about? Cody might not be willing to fight her in court, but Harlan was another matter. With Mary dead and his life stretching out emptily in front of him, who could tell what kind of crazy notion he might get into his head.
Apparently her fears must have been written on her face, because Cody halted again. “Melissa, you don’t have to worry,” he reassured her. “It’s just a room. You know Harlan. Everything drives him to excess.”
“You’re sure that’s all it is?”
“Very sure. You don’t have anything to worry about from Harlan.” That said, he winked at her. “I, however, am another matter entirely. I’ve given up on winning you with diapers and juice and toys.”
“Oh?”
“I intend to win you with my sexy, wicked ways.”
He was up the front steps and in the house before she had a chance to react. When she could finally move again, her legs wobbled and her pulse was scampering crazily.
Suddenly any threat Harlan might pose dimmed in importance. Cody was the one she needed to worry about. Always had been. Always would be.
Chapter Nine
At the precise instant that Cody and Melissa entered the front door at White Pines, Harlan stepped into the foyer. His prompt presence indicated that he had indeed been watching for Melissa’s arrival and was eager for an introduction to his granddaughter.
Cody studied his father’s face closely as Harlan’s gaze honed in immediately on Sharon Lynn. For the first time since the funeral, there was a spark of animation in his dark eyes. And when he glanced at Melissa that animation included her, only to be quickly replaced by questions, unanswerable questions Cody hoped he wouldn’t get into right off.
To stave them off, Cody crossed the wide sweep of wood floor and woven Mexican rug to stand in front of his father, Sharon Lynn still perched in his arms.
“Daddy, meet your granddaughter, Sharon Lynn.”
The baby responded to the cue as if she’d been coached. A dimpled smile spread across her face as she held out her arms to be transferred to her new grandfather’s embrace. Harlan accepted her with alacrity.
“You are a mighty fine young lady,” he told her, his expression sober, his eyes unmistakably welling up with rare tears. “I’m very glad to be welcoming you to the family.” His gaze shifted then to encompass Melissa once more. “It’s good to see you again, girl. We’ve missed you around here.”
Cody saw the sheen of tears spring to Melissa’s eyes and realized more than ever what he had cost them all by running off as he had. His parents had always accepted that Melissa would one day be his wife. They had approved of her spirit, her kindness and her unconditional love for him. Melissa had been present on most family occasions, welcomed as if their relationship had been sealed.
Though he’d never asked his parents if they had continued to see her, he had suspected Melissa wouldn’t feel that same sense of belonging after he’d gone. He knew from his father’s comment just now that she had indeed stayed away and that her absence had hurt them all, costing them a relationship they held dear. The severing of ties had been as complete as if he and Melissa had been married and then divorced in an incredibly acrimonious manner that had forced everyone to choose sides.
“Thank you, Harlan,” she said, stepping closer to be enveloped in a fierce hug that included Sharon Lynn. “I’ve missed you, too. And I’m so terribly, terribly sorry about Mary.”
“I know you are. Mary thought a lot of you, girl. She always hoped…” At a warning glance from Cody, he allowed his voice to trail off, the thought left unspoken.
It hardly mattered, though. The damage had already been done. Melissa’s cheeks turned bright pink. Cody could feel the blood climbing up the back of his neck, as well. His father surveyed them both, then gave a brief nod of satisfaction as if he’d learned something he’d hoped for.
“Come on, then,” Harlan said, his voice laced with a telltale trace of huskiness. “Let’s go have some breakfast, before we all turn maudlin and start bawling.”
To Cody’s relief, his father left the subject of the past untouched beyond that single, oblique reference. Either he was far too fascinated by the child he held or he recognized that it was not a conversation to be held in the baby’s presence.
There was no mistaking, though, that more questions lingered in his eyes. Cody guessed they would be as much about the future as the past. He also knew there were no answers his father would like hearing, not yet anyway. Harlan had the same impatience as his sons. He liked things settled to his satisfaction. Between Cody and Melissa nothing was settled at all.
Sharon Lynn patted her grandfather’s face, then glanced to her mother for approval. “Da?” she questioned.
Cody scowled as he realized that he wasn’t unique in his daughter’s view. He caught Melissa’s grin and realized how pitiful it was to be jealous of his own father.
Unaware, as Cody had been, that it was Sharon Lynn’s universal name for any adult male, Harlan beamed at her. “Damn, but you’re a smart one,” he praised. “You and I need to have ourselves a little talk. What other words do you know?”
“Ma and bye-bye,” Melissa offered. “It limits the conversations tremendously.”
Cody noticed that his father didn’t seem to mind. He seemed perfectly content to carry on a one-sided conversation with his granddaughter. It was probably the first time in years someone hadn’t talked back to him.
The distraction also kept Harlan from touching the eggs and bacon he normally couldn’t wait to eat on the weekends. Possibly that was the most telling indication of all of Sharon Lynn’s power over this new male in her life.
“So, Sharon Lynn, have you ever seen a horse?” Harlan inquired.
Cody chuckled as his daughter tilted her head, a quizzical expression on her face as she appeared to give the question serious consideration.
“I’ll take that for a no,” Harlan said. “In that case, I think it’s about time to fix that. Can’t have a rancher’s baby who doesn’t know about horses. Maybe we’ll even go for a little ride.”
Cody glanced at Melissa to check her reaction to the instantaneous bonding between Sharon Lynn and his father. To his astonishment, the color had drained out of her face. Clearly the idea of Sharon Lynn going off with Harlan panicked her in some way. What he couldn’t figure was why.
“Harlan, I really don’t think—” she began.
“Don’t worry about a thing,” Harlan reassured her, cutting off her words. “I had every one of my boys up on horseback when they were no bigger than this. She’ll fit right on the saddle in front of me. She’ll be just fine. I guarantee I won’t let her tumble off.”
Harlan and the baby were out the door before Melissa could offer the firmer protest that was clearly on the tip of her tongue.
Cody knew better than to argue with Harlan. He also knew that Sharon Lynn would be perfectly safe with his father. However, he could see that Melissa wouldn’t believe it unless she witnessed their adventure on horseback with her own eyes. He put down his fork.
“Come on,” he said. “You’ll be worrying yourself sick, if you’re not right alongside them.”
“She’s too little to be riding a horse,” Melissa complained, her complexion still pale as she followed him outside. “She’ll be terrified.”
“I doubt that,” Cody said. “You’re projecting your feelings onto her. You never were much for horses. I guess you were more of a city girl than I realized.”
She shot him a wry look. “Hardly that.”
He grinned at her. “I don’t know. About the only time I could get you into the barn was when I wanted to tumble you into the haystack.”
“Cody Adams, that is not true,” she contradicted, patches of bright color flaring in her cheeks. “Besides, that has absolutely nothing to do with Sharon Lynn and this crazy idea Harlan has of getting onto a horse with her.”
“Stop fussing. She’s just the right age to be introduced to riding. Kids her age have no fear. It’s not like Daddy’s going to put her on the horse, hit its rump and send her galloping around the paddock. He’s going to be in the saddle, holding her.”
“I suppose,” Melissa said, but her gaze immediately sought out some sign of Sharon Lynn the minute the barn came into view.
The little cutie was hard to miss. She was squealing with delight from her perch atop the fence around the paddock. Misty, the oldest, smallest and gentlest of their mares, had come to investigate. Sharon Lynn’s eyes were wide with excitement as she patted the white blaze on Misty’s head.
“This is Misty,” Harlan was explaining quietly, his grip firm on the horse’s bridle. “Can you say that? Misty.”
“Mi’ty,” Sharon Lynn dutifully repeated, surprising all of them.
The Cowboy and His Baby Page 10