She had no idea what room he was staying in.
As the owner of a B and B, she was well aware of a guest’s safety and privacy rights. Now that she was here, there was only one thing she could do.
She walked up to the reception desk and smiled at the young man there, whose name tag said Ron.
“Hi, Ron. I’m here to see one of your guests. Sloan Holden.” The guy looked uncomfortable and started to say something, but her patience and nerves were on thin ice. She interrupted. “I’m aware that you’re not permitted to give out room numbers. I was hoping you could call and just let him know Maggie Potter is here to see him.”
“Of course.” Ron looked relieved that she didn’t push the issue.
Maggie’s heart pounded as he picked up the phone, dialed and waited for an answer. She pulled the belt a little tighter on her water-resistant coat with sweaty hands and realized her pulse was racing. How had all those women sneaked into his room and stripped naked to wait in his bed? It would take more nerve than she had. Obviously she wasn’t cut out to be a stalker groupie.
Finally she heard Ron say, “Yes, sir. I’ll send her right up.” The guy replaced the phone and said, “He’s in the suite on the top floor.”
“What’s the room number?”
“He said he’ll be waiting for you.”
Maggie wanted to grill this young man like raw hamburger. Did Sloan sound happy that she was here? Angry? Or worse—annoyed? There was only one way to find out and she wasn’t hiding from it anymore. She braced herself and stiffened her spine, then walked around the corner to the elevator and rode it to the top floor of the lodge.
When the doors opened, she saw an arrow on the wall directing visitors to the rooms. She followed the hall to the suite and found out why she didn’t need to know a number.
Sloan was standing in the doorway.
Maggie’s breath caught and she couldn’t look at him hard enough. It felt like a lifetime since she’d last seen him. The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up and his gray slacks were wrinkled, indicating a lot of sitting behind a desk. His dark hair looked as if he’d dragged his fingers through it countless times. Most of all, there were lines in his face, deeper than she’d ever noticed. He looked tired and she badly wanted to smooth the weariness away.
“Maggie.” His voice wasn’t as enthusiastic as she would have liked.
“Hi.” She met his gaze. “I thought about being naked under this coat, but showing up here at all makes me feel really vulnerable.”
When he didn’t say anything, she started talking. “You were right about me. I was carrying around a lot of baggage about my husband’s death and subconsciously felt it was wrong for me to be happy. Survivor’s guilt and regrets that he died before his daughter was born. That makes me sound a little crazy, but it’s really more complicated than that. I was afraid to let anyone in. I was terrified of caring again and being hurt. And not just me this time. Danielle, too. She wouldn’t miss her father because she never had a chance to know him. But she was getting to know you.
“What if you left me? She would be devastated, too.” Maggie took a deep breath and prayed that he would say something. But he just stared at her, intensity darkening his eyes. Fortunately she was almost finished, because he probably wanted her gone.
“I tried so hard to keep you out. For Danielle’s sake, but mostly for me. The thing is, I just couldn’t keep you out. I fell in love with you, Sloan.”
Maggie looked at him and waited. And waited some more. Then her heart squeezed tight to hold back the pain.
“Okay, then. I’ll take your silence as a sign that you aren’t on the same page. I’m sorry I bothered you.” She stepped back and started to turn away.
Sloan reached out, took her arm to stop her and simply said, “Stay.”
“Why? You have nothing to say to me.”
With his index finger, he traced the collar of her raincoat. “I just got an image of you naked under this coat and words failed me.”
“I’m not sure I believe that.” But hope blossomed inside her. “You’re probably the most smooth-talking man I’ve ever met.”
“Normally I am, but not where you’re concerned.” He pulled her into the suite and closed the door. “If you hadn’t come to me, I was going to you. Prepared to wear you down with sheer persistence.”
“Josie said you left because you were running away. Why?”
“I didn’t want to be hurt. Just like you.” He sighed. “But the longer I was away, the more I knew I had to fight for you. I couldn’t let you go without trying.”
“Really?”
“God’s honest truth.” He curled his fingers around her arms. “I love you, Maggie. Pretty much since I showed up on your doorstep. You’re everything I ever wanted and thought I’d never find. If I’d known my dream was here in Blackwater Lake, I would have come to town sooner.”
Happiness flooded through her. “I think things happened exactly the way they were supposed to. I might not have been ready for love before now. And missing out on loving you would have broken my heart. Sooner? Later?” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter because we have the rest of our lives to be together.”
“Starting now,” he said, his gaze on hers. “I want a family with you. I love that little girl of yours as if she was my own.”
“She’s missed you terribly. Keeps trying to go upstairs to find you.” She smiled. “It was watching her turn to you like she would a father that freaked me out.”
“Don’t be,” he pleaded. “I’ll be the best father to her that I know how to be. Marry me, Maggie.”
“You’re willing to give up your standing as one of the world’s most eligible bachelors?” She grinned up at him.
“More than you will ever know,” he said fervently. “Marry me.”
“You’re not going to miss the women showing up in your room?”
“The only woman I’d miss if she didn’t show up in my room is you. Please say you’ll marry me, Maggie.”
“On one condition.”
“Anything,” he said.
“You’ll move back into the house.” She met his gaze. “Into my room.”
“Wow. You drive a hard bargain.” He grinned. “Done. Now please put me out of my misery, because I want more than anything to marry you.”
“Yes,” she said.
He breathed a sigh of relief and pulled her against him. “Is Josie with Danielle?”
“She is.”
“Do you think she would mind giving her breakfast in the morning?” There was a gleam in his eyes that was both passion and promise.
“I think that could be arranged. Why?”
“Because I’d really like to unbutton that coat and find you naked.”
“All night?”
“And for the rest of our lives,” he said.
And so much for their bargain not to get personal. This one worked for her so much better.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from HAVING THE COWBOY’S BABY by Judy Duarte.
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Having the Cowboy's Baby
by Judy Duarte
Chapter One
Carly Rayburn was back in town. Not that there’d been any big announcements, but news traveled fast in Brighton Valley. And even if it didn’t, not much got past Ian McAllister.
She’d had a singing gig in San Antonio, but apparently that hadn’t panned out for her, which was too bad. She had a dream to make it big in country music someday, a dream Ian no longer had. But he couldn’t fault her for that.
Jason, her oldest brother, said she’d be staying on the Leaning R for a while, which wasn’t a surprise. It seemed to Ian that she came home to the ranch whenever her life hit a snag. So that’s what she would do, right after attending Jason’s wedding in town.
As the foreman of the Leaning R, Ian had been invited to the ceremony and reception, but he’d graciously declined and sent a gift instead. The only people attending were family and a few close friends, so Ian would have felt out of place—for more reasons than one. So he’d remained on the ranch.
Now, as darkness settled over Brighton Valley, he did what he often did in the evenings after dinner. He sat on the front porch of his small cabin and enjoyed the peaceful evening sounds, the scent of night-blooming jasmine and the vast expanse of stars in the Texas sky.
The Leaning R had been in Carly’s family for years. It was run-down now, but it had great potential. It was also the perfect place for Ian to hide out, where people only knew him as a quiet cowboy who felt more comfortable around livestock than the bright lights of the big cities. And thanks to his granddaddy, who’d once owned a respectable spread near Dallas, that was true.
He glanced at the Australian shepherd puppy nestled in his lap. The sleepy pooch yawned, then stretched and squirmed.
“What’s the matter, Cheyenne?” He stroked her black-and-white furry head. “Is your snooze over?”
When the pup gave a little yip, Ian set her down and watched as she padded around the wooden flooring, taking time to sniff at the potted geranium on the porch, her stub of a tail wagging. Then she waddled down the steps.
“Don’t wander off too far,” he told her. “It’s dark out there, and you’re still getting the lay of the land.”
The pup glanced at him, as if she understood what he was saying, then trotted off.
Ian loved dogs. He’d grown up with several of them on his granddad’s ranch, but after he’d moved out on his own, he hadn’t been able to have one until now. Fortunately, his life was finally lining up the way he’d always hoped it would. Once the Leaning R went on the market, as Carly’s brother said it would, Ian was prepared to buy it. As the trustee and executor of the Rayburn family estate, Jason was in charge now. The only thing holding him back from listing the property was getting Carly and their brother Braden to agree to the sale.
But Braden had his own spread about ten miles down the road, and Carly had no intention of being a rancher. When she’d left Brighton Valley the last time, she’d been hell-bent on making a name for herself. With her talent, there was no reason she wouldn’t. There was always a price for fame, though, and Ian just hoped she was willing to pay it.
He reached for his guitar, which rested beside him near the cabin window, and settled it into his lap. As he strummed the new song he’d written, the chords filled the peaceful night. He might love ranching, but that didn’t mean he’d given up music altogether. He just played for pleasure these days, in the evenings after a long workday. He’d learned the hard way that it beat the hell out of opening a bottle of whiskey to relax.
Now, as he sat outside singing the words to the tune he’d written about love gone wrong, he waited for Carly to return from the wedding she’d come home to attend, waited to see if anything had changed. To see if, by some strange twist of fate, she’d decided that she wanted something different out of life.
He’d only played a few bars when his cell phone rang. He set the guitar aside and answered on the third ring.
“Hey, Mac,” the graveled smoker’s voice said. “How’s it going?”
It was Uncle Roy, one of the few people who called him Mac and who knew how to contact him. “Not bad. How’s everything in Sarasota? How are Grandma and Granddad?”
“They’re doing just fine. Mama’s cholesterol is a bit high, but the doctor put her on some medication to lower it. Other than that, they’re settling into retired life out here in Florida and making friends.”
Ian was glad to hear it, although he’d been sorry when his grandparents had sold the family ranch. But his granddad had put in a long, successful life, first as a rodeo cowboy, then as a rancher. And Grandma had always wanted to live near the water. So Ian couldn’t blame him for selling the place and moving closer to his sole remaining son—even if Ian felt more like his uncle’s sibling than a nephew.
“Say,” Roy said, “I called to let you know that it’ll be their fiftieth wedding anniversary next month—on the fifteenth. So me and your aunt Helen are planning a party for them. We’re going to try to keep it a surprise, although I’m not sure if we can pull it off. But it’d be great if you could come.”
“I’ll be there.” Ian wasn’t sure what he’d do about finding someone to look after the Leaning R for him, but there was no way he’d miss celebrating with the couple who’d raised him.
“Dad said you’re thinking about buying that place where you’ve been working,” Roy added.
“That’s my plan.”
“You made an offer yet?”
“Not yet.” But Ian was ready to jump the minute the place was officially on the market.
“What’s the holdup?”
“The ranch is held by a trust, and the trustees are three half siblings. They’re not quite in agreement about selling. At least, they didn’t used to be. I think it’s finally coming together now.”
“What was the holdup?”
“A couple of them wanted it to stay in the family, but no one was willing to move in and take over.”
Uncle Roy seemed to chew on that for a while, then asked, “You sure it’s a good deal?”
“Damned straight. The widow of the man who originally owned it took good care of it, but her grandson, the previous trustee, was some sort of big-shot, corporate-exec type who let it go to the dogs. It’s a shame, too. You should have seen what it once was—and what it could become again with a little love and cash. I’m looking forward to having the right to invest in it the way Mrs. Rayburn would have if she were still alive.”
“Well, Helen and I’ll be praying for you. I hope it all works out. I know having your own place and running a spread has been a dream of yours for a long time.”
And that dream had grown stronger these past three years. “Thanks, Uncle Roy.”
“Never did understand why you wanted to give up the good life, though. Dad says you were always a rancher at heart and not a performer. And he knows you best. But damn, boy. You sure could play and sing.”
Ian still could. It was the fame he’d never liked. He’d always been an introvert, and even though he hadn’t been the lead singer in the group, the gigs had gotten harder and harder to handle without a couple of shots of tequila to get him through the night.
So when the lights had grown too bright, the crowds too big and his fear of following in his alcoholic father’s stumbling boot steps too real, he’d left the groupies and Nashville behind for the quiet life of a cowboy.
“Listen, I gotta go,” Roy said.
“Give everyone my love. I know it’s an hour later there and Granddad turns in early, so I’ll call them in the morning.”
“Don’t forget—that party’s a secret,” Roy added.
“I won’t.”
When the line disconnected, Ian scanned the yard for Cheyenne, only to find her sniffing around near the faucet in the middle of the yard.
Then he began strumming his guitar again.
Not everyone understood why he’d given up the life he’d once led, but Ian was happy here on the Leaning R. Only trouble was, Carly had swept into his life and turned it upside down for a while.
And now she was back.
* * *
Carly Rayburn gripped the wheel of her red Toyota Tacoma, the radio filling the cab with the latest country-western hit. She was still dressed in the pale green dress she’d worn as the maid of honor at her half brother’s wedding, although she’d slipped on a denim jacket to ward off the evening chill and traded her high heels for her favorite pair of cowboy boots.
Under normal circumstances, she usually came up with an excuse for why she couldn’t attend weddings. For one reason, she found it difficult to feign happiness for the bride and groom because she was skeptical of the whole “until death do us part” philosophy.
But then, why wouldn’t she be? Her father had a daughter and two sons by three different women. Then, after her parents’ divorce, her mom had gone on to date a series of men, all celebrities who’d moved in and out of Carly’s life as if it were a revolving door. So was it any wonder she thought “true love” was a myth and only something to sing about?
Today, however, when she stood at the altar and watched her oldest brother, Jason, vow to love, honor and cherish Juliana Bailey for the rest of their lives, she had to admit to not only being surprised by the rush of sentiment, but also feeling hopeful for the newlyweds, too. And that was a first.
Now, as she steered her pickup toward the Leaning R Ranch, she found herself happy for Jason and Juliana yet pondering her own future, which was now up in the air. Five weeks ago, she’d thought she’d finally gotten her start with a singing gig at a nightclub in San Antonio, but a stomach bug had ended that, leaving her between jobs again.
For the most part, she felt a lot better now. But every time she thought the virus was a thing of the past, it flared up again. Like today, at her brother’s reception. She was going to have a glass of champagne, but before she could even take a sip, a whiff of the popping bubbles set off her nausea. Yet now she was fine again.
The Widow's Bachelor Bargain Page 20