Coming Home to Texas

by Victoria Chancellor

  JODIE FELL BACK AGAINST the bed and threw her arm over her eyes, certain she wouldn’t be able to sleep even though Travis had suggested she “rest up” before dinner. Just as he’d strongly suggested she would stay with him rather than find a hotel somewhere.

  She wished she could make the past five weeks go away as easily as she could shut her eyes and block out the gray Texas day. Or change just that one moment when she’d decided to step into the shower with Travis. She hadn’t given a thought to protection and apparently neither had he. And now they were both paying the price.

  No, she shouldn’t think that. The baby was completely innocent. And Jodie realized she was already starting to have feelings for the tiny life, even though it was bad timing for a pregnancy.

  In all honesty, she didn’t wish she’d never met Travis. Or fallen into his bed so easily. Or anything about that weekend—but she did wish they had been more careful. A baby hadn’t been part of her plans for the near future, despite the fact that she was getting to the age where she had to start seriously considering having children…or not. No, this wasn’t great timing, but then, Travis certainly had good genes to give to a child. He was tall, fit, muscular and intelligent, never mind gorgeous, and had a terrific personality. Otherwise she wouldn’t have fallen for him so quickly and completely.

  He’d been a great guy, a fantastic lover. She’d seriously regretting leaving him on Monday to return home. He’d seemed equally sad that they’d had to part so soon.

  But did he call? She shook her head. Not once. Of course, she hadn’t called him, either, despite the fact he’d left her with a card. Just in case, he’d said. They’d both agreed they weren’t looking for a relationship, just a brief fling. They’d known their lives weren’t compatible. He was Texas; she was California. He was laid-back in his established profession; she was hard-charging about her rising career.

  Apparently her egg and his sperm hadn’t realized how incompatible they were outside the bedroom. The little critters had teamed up at the first chance to make a baby.

  Jodie let her hand drift to her stomach. Somewhere inside a tiny life nestled, completely unconcerned about the problems of the two irresponsible adults. She couldn’t let her baby down. She’d make a darn good single mother. Of course, she’d allow Travis to have visitation if he wanted to be part of the child’s life. She wasn’t unreasonable. On the other hand, she wouldn’t push for money or anything else.

  Her mother had provided a good home for her. Jodie planned to do the same for her baby. Her father hadn’t wanted to be part of their family and they hadn’t needed him—financially, emotionally or in any other way. Jodie had always believed that independence was the key to happiness.

  A soft knock interrupted her thoughts. It took a moment for her to remember where she was—Travis’s guest bedroom. Because, as he’d explained, Ranger Springs had only a two-room bed-and-breakfast, which was probably full for the weekend. She’d never been in a town without several hotels and motels—and had certainly never thought about staying in one for a couple of days while Travis digested the fact that he was going to be a father.

  “Jodie?”

  She swung her legs off the bed, feeling a little light-headed when she stood. She steadied herself with a hand on the nightstand just as the door swung open.

  “What’s wrong?” Travis’s voice showed his genuine concern and, for a moment, she wanted to once again have him hold her. She heard him stride quickly across the room, but didn’t risk looking up. She didn’t want to make herself any more dizzy than she already felt.

  “I got up too quickly. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Are you sure? Have you been to the doctor yet?”

  “Yes and yes. I’m sure I just need to eat a bite.” She probably had been overdoing it a bit, flying from coast to coast, then stopping in Texas. Not to mention the stress of facing Travis and breaking the news so abruptly.

  “Good, because I came to tell you that dinner’s ready. It’s not fancy, but maybe that’s best on your first day here. You can get some more rest after we eat.”

  “I’m not that fragile, Travis,” she claimed, rising to her full five-foot-eleven height. Even then, she wasn’t eye level with him. She liked a big, tall man. She didn’t like to think she was superficial, but she didn’t date shorter, slightly built men because they made her look huge in comparison. With her height and generally “sturdy” and athletic build, she preferred a man she could look up to.

  “Yes, but you are pregnant. And based on what you told me last month, I’m sure your schedule has been a little hectic lately. A few days in the Texas Hill Country is just what you need to relax.”

  What she needed was a husband, but she didn’t say that out loud. She was certain Travis would come to the same conclusion…hopefully very soon.

  “I am hungry, and I’m glad we’re not going out. I’ve eaten every meal in a restaurant with my agent, publicist or executives for potential endorsement deals for the past five days, and I could really use a night off.”

  “Good. Well, I’ll leave you to freshen up. Come down to the kitchen whenever you’re ready.”

  Jodie nodded, then added, “Thanks for understanding about my schedule, Travis, but just so you’re clear, I don’t have days to lie around the Hill Country. I have decisions to make.”

  “You’ve already decided to have this baby, right?”

  “Yes. That isn’t up for discussion.”

  “Good, because I don’t want to argue about that.”

  She nodded again. At least Travis wasn’t the type to suggest she make this “little problem” go away.

  Within a few minutes she’d splashed water on her face, brushed her hair and dabbed on a little lip gloss. There was no reason to appear glamorous when she didn’t need to pose for the cameras. Besides, Travis had seen her many times over their one weekend together without makeup. Or without clothes, for that matter.

  He’d just never seen her pregnant and desperate enough to ask a man she’d known for only three days to marry her.

  What if he didn’t say yes?

  Chapter Two

  “So I hear you have a very attractive lady visitor,” Hank McCauley taunted on the phone line.

  Travis ground his teeth and silently wished his friend a slow and painful injury.

  “Not that it’s any of your business,” he replied, glancing toward the second-floor hallway that wrapped around the great room like a balcony. He hoped Jodie didn’t walk in on him having this conversation. “She’s my guest, so butt out.”

  “Hey, I heard she came into the Four Square Café looking for directions to your ranch. It’s not my fault most of your friends and neighbors were there to gawk.”

  “I’ll bet you were gawking most of all.”

  “I don’t gawk at other women much since Lady Wendy and I tied the knot.”

  “Too bad she didn’t put a zipper on your mouth.”

  Hank chuckled. “She likes my mouth way too much to mess with any modifications.”

  Travis rolled his eyes. Hank could be completely outrageous. They’d known each other since their freshman year at the University of Texas. Hank had later dropped out to pursue his rodeo career, but Travis had gone on to get his master’s degree in architectural design. They’d lost touch for a few years while Hank was on the circuit. Now they were neighbors and best friends again.

  Although, Travis reminded himself, with friends like that, he didn’t need any enemies. The gossip mill at the café would be going full steam for several days.

  For at least as long as Jodie stayed in town. Alone with him at his ranch.

  “So who else were you jawin’ with downtown?” He glanced at the clock over the wet bar. “It’s too late for lunch.”

  “There was another meeting of the Fourth of July committee, which lasted longer than usual. They’re getting an early start this year, planning a big parade and celebration. So yeah, basically everyone was down here and talking about you and J
odie Marsh.”

  “I suppose they all know by now who she is.”

  “Yep. Very intriguing. Of course, I had to tell them I played a role in getting you two fixed up over in Europe.”

  “Prince Alexi did most of the ‘fixing up,’ if I remember correctly.” Travis, Hank and his wife, Lady Gwendolyn, and Carole and Greg Rafferty had visited Prince Alexi and Princess Kerry—a former Ranger Springs native and Carole’s sister—along with the new little prince Alexander, in Belegovia in January. The country was building a new cultural center and wanted Travis to design the facility. That’s where he’d been when the lot of them had arranged a blind date in Monte Carlo with Jodie, whom Alexi knew through their charitable activities.

  A date that had quickly turned into a passionate weekend.

  “Heck, Travis, you’re the best entertainment we’ve got since most of us are married now. We’re depending on you for a little controversy.”

  “Well, just leave it alone, okay? When I’m ready to tell you snoops anything, I’ll give you a call.”

  “Tell us anything? Like what? Don’t tell me the blind date got really serious. Not with Travis the Confirmed Bachelor Whitaker!”

  “I’m not telling you anything. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a meal to prepare for a lady.”

  “Cooking for her, too. That does sound serious.”

  Travis started to hang up the phone, but Hank shouted, “Wait! Wendy wants you and Jodie to come for dinner Wednesday night. Seven o’clock, okay?”

  Travis sighed. He supposed the social engagement was necessary, even if he wasn’t ready to share Jodie with his friends and neighbors. “All right. See you tomorrow.”

  “Anyone I know?” Jodie’s sexy, husky voice tore his thoughts away from his friends and neighbors and back to the woman who had just complicated his life. Not that she’d done it all alone. No, he’d participated very actively.

  “Just Hank McCauley. He’s as nosy as coon dog on the first day of hunting season.”

  “I thought he was nice.”

  “You just don’t know him well.”

  “He’s a good friend of yours, isn’t he?”

  “The jury’s still out on that one,” Travis replied with a shake of his head.

  Jodie chuckled. “You really are a private person, aren’t you?”

  “I try to be. That’s why I bought this ranch. I wanted to get away from the congestion and hectic pace of a big city, plus I wanted to get a few horses and run a few head of cattle. I like living in a small community, but my neighbors can be bigger gossips than the tabloids.”

  “Oh, I’ll bet they’re considerably nicer.”

  “That’s true.” Travis looked over Jodie’s fresh face, glossy lips and lush figure. No one would suspect she was an internationally known model. Or that she was pregnant. She truly did appear to be “the girl next door.”

  “The cosmetics company made a good choice when they decided you would be their new representative.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “You look so young and fresh. So ordinary, but in an extraordinary way, if that makes any sense.”

  “Thanks…I think.”

  “My thoughts were extremely complimentary even if my words didn’t convey my feelings.”

  She turned away, looking a bit embarrassed. “In that case, thanks again.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Famished. How may I help?”

  “Why don’t you get some glasses out of that cabinet,” he said, gesturing with the salad tongs, “and decide what you’d like to drink.”

  He turned his attention back to the roasted chicken he’d fixed in his smoker last night. It was his favorite meal, although he never let on to his cattle-ranching friends that he preferred chicken over a nice big steak. Folks had been run out of Texas for less.

  When he turned to get the potato salad out of the refrigerator, he and Jodie collided. With a gasp, she stepped back.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I’m not used to having someone else in the kitchen.”

  “My fault,” she said breathlessly, looking flushed and adorable. “I’m not used to being in someone else’s kitchen.”

  He did his best to ignore the feeling of Jodie’s breasts brushing against his arm, but like the proverbial elephant in the room, he could barely think of anything else. Despite the distraction, though, within a few minutes they had the meal on the table.

  “So,” he said after they’d started their salads, “tell me again why I should break every promise I made to myself about getting married again.”

  “I’VE ALREADY EXPLAINED about the contract, the morality clause and my career. I don’t see how it could be any more clear.”

  “What about how you feel about having this baby? How you’d feel about getting married? I don’t think either one was in your plans for the near future.”

  “No, they weren’t, but the pregnancy happened. I can’t change that.” Some women might, and that was fine for them, but eliminating “the problem” wasn’t something she could do. Not when she had other options. She was going to have this baby, even if it meant giving up the contract—which she wasn’t about to admit to Travis. Her mother and her agent had always told her to negotiate from a point of strength. Never admit your weaknesses. Compromise, but don’t settle.

  “I’m glad to hear it. Now, you’ve told me all the logical reasons why you need to get married. Tell me how you’re feeling about it.”

  Wow, this was a reversal. A man asking her to talk about her feelings? Had she entered an alternate universe when she’d driven across the Ranger Springs city limit? “I feel like I should do the right thing. I feel like I want this baby to have a mother who can provide for him or her.”

  “That’s just more logic. What about getting married? How are you going to react to us living together as man and wife? Are you ready to compromise, or have you even considered me in your plans?”

  “I…of course I’ve considered you.” She wouldn’t have considered marrying someone she couldn’t tolerate. But then, she wouldn’t have gotten pregnant by a man who was repulsive. “I didn’t think marriage—especially a temporary marriage—to me would be that distasteful.”

  “I’ve been married before and I made a vow that I never would again. I don’t make vows lightly, Jodie. There’s a reason I’m against the institution of marriage.”

  “Why? What happened to make you bitter?”

  “Who said I’m bitter? There are other reasons to want to avoid the state of matrimony.”

  She couldn’t think of any. “So, what happened between you two?”

  “I don’t talk about that time in my life.”

  “Oh, but it’s fine to grill me about my life?”

  “Ask me whatever you want to know about my life right now and I’ll answer the questions. But I didn’t ask you about your past and I don’t want to discuss mine.”

  “Just tell me this. Is there anything in your past that would damage my career if we were to marry and the information was leaked to the media?”

  He thought for a moment. Took another bite of salad, chewed and swallowed. “No.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay then. What’s the problem? We liked each other well enough five weeks ago. I’m not that difficult to live with. As I mentioned, I won’t even be around all that much. Why, you’d hardly know I was here.”

  “And this is supposed to make me feel better…why?”

  “Because I’m not asking much from you in the way of compromise! I’m trying to be thoughtful.”

  He pushed his half-eaten salad aside. “I’d like to be thoughtful before we stand in front of a minister.”

  “A justice of the peace or even an Elvis impersonator at a wedding chapel would be fine with me, as long as the marriage is legal.”

  “I’m not running away to Las Vegas or going to some county clerk’s office to get married.”

  “Fine. Then we’ll do whatever you’d like. After all, you
’re doing me—and the baby, of course—a favor by agreeing to marry me.”

  “Okay, then answer this. What’s in it for me?”

  Jodie immediately thought of twisted sheets and hot, damp bodies. Not that they’d talked about having a sex life after the ceremony. Pushing the image aside, she sighed. “The knowledge that you’re doing the right thing?”

  “Maybe you don’t know me very well. Maybe I’m not the kind of guy who wants to do the right thing. Maybe I’m irresponsible and selfish.”

  She didn’t think for a minute that was the case. Travis had been a generous and inventive lover—not the kind of man who thought only of himself. “I’m not buying that line. I think you’re a man who would acknowledge his child, who would try to help that child’s mother out of a difficult situation.”

  “And you’re basing this on…?”

  “Just what I know about you! You’re a nice guy, Travis Whitaker. I wouldn’t have gone to bed with you on our first date if you hadn’t been.” She pushed aside her salad bowl, surprised to note she’d eaten most of the healthy green stuff without ever thinking about it.

  He looked amused as he calmly cut into his roasted chicken. “Okay, maybe I’m a fairly nice guy. At least most of the time. When I’m not dealing with a temperamental client or an incompetent contractor. Or a stubborn cow or a nosy friend. But that doesn’t mean I’m good marriage material. You can’t be sure I’d be a good father.”

  “I think you’d try. And besides, if you don’t want to be a part of this baby’s life, you don’t have to be. I’m not trying to force you to take part in parenting if that’s not what you want. I have the money to hire a nanny, to pay for the best schools and to give this child a wonderful future. I’d like for you to be a part of his or her life, but it’s not necessary.”

  “It’s necessary to me.”

  “Then what’s the problem?” She felt like throwing up her hands in exasperation. They kept having circular arguments, with Travis revealing as little as possible about how he felt, but asking her to bare her soul.

  “The problem is that you marched in here demanding that we get married on your terms. You didn’t even let me be happy about seeing you again before you were telling me your plans and expecting me to play this minimalist role of husband and father.” He pushed his plate aside and leaned closer. “Well, Jodie Marsh, maybe that’s not what I want. Did you ever think of that? Did you ever consider that I might have other plans?”