The Cowboy's Secret Twins

by Carla Cassidy

  He had no idea if he trusted her, hadn’t spent enough time with her to know if he even liked her, but that didn’t stop him from wanting a repeat of what they’d shared on that snowy night.

  “Good. We’ll make it a Christmas to remember,” he said and stood.

  She backed toward the doorway, as if eager to escape him. “I’m going to take the boys upstairs for their morning naps. I’ll see you later.”

  “Melissa,” he said, stopping her before she could disappear from the room. “I don’t even know your last name.”

  She smiled, the first real smile he’d seen from her, and the gesture lit her up from the inside out. “Monroe. Melissa Monroe.”

  The minute Melissa left the study Henry leaned back in his chair and gazed thoughtfully out the window. From this vantage point he could see the carriage house in the distance. It was a two-bedroom self-contained cottage that was occasionally used as guest quarters.

  Henry had been living there before his father’s death. His heart constricted as he thought about his dad. Not a day went by that Henry didn’t miss him. Big Henry, as he’d been called, had not only been father, but he’d also been friend and mentor to his only son. The two of them had worked side by side running Randolf Enterprises, which was comprised of not only the ranch but also oil wells and enormous financial holdings.

  There were people in town who were threatened not only by the financial power Henry possessed, but also by his decision to run for the position of mayor and clean up the corruption he knew ran rife through the city offices of Dalhart.

  He had a couple suspicions of who might have taken those shots at him, but suspicions didn’t work for an arrest. He also suspected that whoever had shot at him hadn’t really tried to kill him but rather was just warning him, hoping he’d decide not to run for mayor.

  Those gunshots didn’t scare him half as much as the idea that Melissa might not allow him to be as big a part of the boys’ lives as he wanted.

  “Henry?” His mother entered the study, her features worried. “Is she going to stay?” She sat in front of him in the chair that Melissa had vacated.

  “She didn’t tell you?”

  “I was in the kitchen speaking with Etta about dinner. Melissa took the babies and went upstairs before I got a chance to ask her.”

  “She’s staying until after Christmas.” He leaned forward. “I don’t quite know what to make of her. The story she told me about some cyber friend giving her directions here sounded more than a little bit shady.”

  “You think she’s after money?”

  “It certainly looks like she could use it.” He frowned as he thought of the rusted old car out front, the frayed robe that had hugged her curves that morning.

  Mary leaned back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. “You want to tell me how this happened?”

  Henry grinned at her. “You need a lesson in biology?”

  She scowled at him. “You know what I mean, Henry. I’ve never heard you mention this woman’s name before and yet she shows up here with two babies who are obviously yours.”

  “Remember the blizzard we had at the beginning of December last year? The night I couldn’t get home from Hilary’s because of the whiteout conditions?”

  “That was the night you broke up with that woman.”

  Henry nodded. “I was on my way home when the conditions got impossible to drive in. As I pulled over to the side of the road I saw another car there and Melissa was inside. I had no idea how bad the weather was going to get and I’d just passed the old Miller place and knew it was vacant, so I got her out of her car and we holed up there for the night.”

  Mary raised a hand. “That’s all I need to know about the particulars. Is it possible she knew who you were?”

  Henry pulled a hand down his lower jaw. “I don’t know. I suppose anything is possible. I’ve always been so careful. I’ve always recognized how vulnerable I was to gold diggers.”

  Mary arched an eyebrow upward. “Need we mention Hilary’s name?”

  Henry smiled as he thought of the woman he’d been dating and had broken up with the afternoon of the blizzard that had brought him and Melissa together.

  “Hilary might be a gold digger, but she never kept that fact a secret,” he replied. Since the day of their breakup the attractive brunette hadn’t stopped waging her battle to become Mrs. Henry Randolf III. She called him or came by at least once a week in an attempt to seduce him back into her arms.

  Mary straightened her back and sniffed indignantly. “That woman couldn’t wait to marry you and have me shut up in a nursing home someplace. The evil witch.”

  And that had been the very reason Henry had broken up with Hilary. It was at the moment she mentioned that she thought it would be uncomfortable living with Mary and that Hilary had been searching for a nice nursing home for the older woman when Henry had recognized there would never be a future with her and certainly not a marriage.

  “You don’t have to worry about that,” he said to his mother. Once again he leaned back in his chair and cast his gaze out the window.

  “I never really thought about having kids,” he said softly. “But now that they exist I want them here with me. I want them to grow up here on the ranch and learn the family business. I want to teach them like Dad taught me.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting one little thing? Melissa might not want to move here. She might have a perfectly fine life, perhaps with a boyfriend or family of her own.”

  Henry frowned thoughtfully. “I find that hard to believe. I mean, according to her story she took off from her home to meet some cyber friend and spend Christmas with her. If Melissa has family or a boyfriend, why didn’t she stay home to spend Christmas with them?”

  “I’m sure I don’t know. You know her better than I do. But, Henry, you have to remember that just because you want something doesn’t mean you can have it. You’re talking about a woman here, not a business deal.”

  Mary stood. “All I know is that I intend to enjoy each and every minute of having those babies in this house. And now I’m going to go make a shopping list. There’s only two shopping days left before Christmas and suddenly I’m in the mood to shop.”

  She practically floated out of the study. Henry hadn’t seen his mother this happy since his father had been alive.

  Even though he’d had the entire night to process the fact that he was now a father, he still wasn’t sure how this was all going to work. The first thing he would have to do was get to know Melissa, find out if she’d come here looking for easy street or if the story she’d told him was true.

  But before he could do that he had some phone calls to make. He’d promised Melissa a Christmas to remember and Henry never broke a promise.

  His mother was wrong about one thing—this was a business deal. Melissa had what Henry wanted and all Henry had to figure out was what price he’d have to pay to get it.

  Chapter 3

  Melissa stood at the window and watched as a car pulled up out front and Mary got into the car’s passenger side. When the vehicle pulled away Melissa wondered if she should be doing the same thing—driving out the main gates and heading for home.

  Behind her in the playpen the two boys had just fallen asleep. They usually napped for about an hour in the morning and the same amount of time in the afternoon.

  Restless energy coursed through Melissa and she moved to the window on the opposite side of the room to gaze out at the pastures, corrals and outbuildings on the land. In the distance she could see what appeared to be a carriage house.

  The dusting of snow that had fallen the evening before had melted beneath the warmth of the sunshine. It was a beautiful day, cold but clear.

  A whisper of noise whirled her around and she saw Henry standing just outside the room in the hallway. He motioned to her and she left the room. “I thought maybe while the boys napped you might want to have a cup of coffee with me. I’d like to get to know you, Melissa.”

 
; Once again nervous energy fluttered in her chest. Of course he wanted to know her better. She was the mother of his children. “And I’d like to get to know you better,” she agreed. “Coffee sounds wonderful.”

  She checked on the boys to make sure they were still asleep, then followed him down the staircase to the dining room where Etta, the Randolf cook, carried in a tray laden with two cups of coffee, cream and sugar and two small plates with slices of cinnamon coffee cake.

  Henry introduced the older woman to Melissa. “Etta has been keeping the Randolf family well fed for the past twenty years.”

  “And it’s been a pleasure,” Etta replied. Then with a friendly smile at Melissa she turned and left the dining room.

  Melissa pulled a coffee cup before her and wrapped her fingers around it. As Henry watched her she felt ill at ease and wasn’t sure what to say, where to begin.

  “This is awkward, isn’t it?” he finally said.

  She flashed him a grateful smile. At least he felt it, too. “Terribly awkward,” she agreed. “I know you have no reason to believe me, but it’s important to me that you know that I don’t just fall into bed with strangers I meet.”

  She couldn’t hold his gaze and instead looked down at her coffee as she continued. “That morning the man I’d been dating for two years, the man I thought I was going to marry, let me know that he had found a new girlfriend, somebody sexier than me.” She felt her cheeks warm with her confession. “That night I just…It all went more than a little crazy.”

  He laughed, a low chuckle that was both pleasant and surprising. She looked up at him sharply, wondering if he were laughing at her.

  “It seems fate had a hand in our meeting that night. I was coming home after ending a relationship with a woman I’d been dating for over a year. Maybe we were both a little reckless that night.”

  “But that’s not who I am,” she replied. “I’m usually not reckless.”

  He took a sip of his coffee, eyeing her over the rim of his cup. “And yet you took off with an address to an unknown place given to you by a woman you’ve never met before.”

  “A calculated risk,” she replied. “If I didn’t like the looks of the place when I arrived, I wasn’t going to stop.” She tugged on a strand of her hair in frustration. “Okay, it wasn’t the brightest thing in the world to do,” she conceded.

  She wasn’t about to tell him that it was an aching loneliness that had driven her to meet MysteryMom. Although she loved her boys more than anything else on the face of the earth, she’d been hungry for adult conversation. The idea of spending the holiday alone had depressed her.

  She reached for one of the plates and a fork. Whenever she was nervous she wanted to eat and it was impossible to ignore the heavenly scent of the cinnamon that wafted from the coffee cake.

  “Okay, let’s start with the basics,” he said. “Henry James Randolf, thirty-five years old, rancher and oilman. I’m a Taurus. I like my steak rare and sunrise rides on my horse. I’ve been told that I’m stubborn but I don’t necessarily see that as a fault. I’m not a big drinker but I do like a glass of scotch or brandy in the evenings. Now, your turn.”

  “Melissa Sue Monroe, thirty years old. I’m a Libra and I like my steak well-done. Before I got pregnant I was working to build my own interior design business. I’ve never been on a horse and my drink of choice is an occasional glass of wine. Oh, and I’ve been told I have a bit of a stubborn streak, too.”

  He smiled, although she noticed that the gesture didn’t quite warm the blue of his eyes. “What about family?” he asked.

  She shook her head and paused to take a bite of the cake. “I don’t have any. My father left when I was five, told my mother he wasn’t cut out for family life. I never saw him again. My mother passed away two years ago and since then it’s just been me…and of course, the boys.”

  “You have friends who give you emotional support?”

  “My best friend lives in Oklahoma, so I don’t see her very often. As far as other friends, to be honest the birth of the twins has pretty much put an end to any social life for me.”

  “How’s your interior design business?”

  She considered lying. She thought about telling him that she was wildly successful, but he was obviously an intelligent man. He only had to take a glance at her car and note the worn condition of her clothing to know that the money wasn’t rolling into her household.

  “Nonexistent,” she finally said. “The pregnancy was difficult and for the last three months of it, I couldn’t work. Since then it’s been just as difficult. The boys have required all my time and energy.” She raised her chin. “But after the holidays I’m going to try to get back to work.”

  She took a sip of her coffee and wished he didn’t smell exactly like she remembered from that snowy night, a scent of clean male and wintry air and a faint whisper of spicy cologne. It was a fragrance that stirred her with memories of warm hands and hot kisses.

  “How have you been supporting yourself?” he asked.

  “I had a small inheritance from my mother.” She shifted positions beneath the intensity of his stare and took another bite of her coffee cake.

  “You have a boyfriend? Somebody significant in your life?”

  A small laugh burst from her. “Definitely not. The only males in my life wear diapers and drool.”

  This time the smile that curved his lips warmed the blue of his eyes. “At least they’re cute when they drool.” His smile faded. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help through the pregnancy. I’m sorry you had to go through it all alone and I promise you won’t be doing it all alone now.”

  She wasn’t sure why his words, rather than comforting her, filled her with a new burst of apprehension. Maybe if she really knew him, knew what kind of a man he was, she wouldn’t feel so worried about what he might have in mind for her and the boys.

  “Having grown up without a father figure in my life, I understand how important the role of father is and will be to my boys. I want you to know that I’m open to a discussion about visitation for you,” she said.

  “There will be time to discuss the particulars of that over the next couple of days,” he replied. He took a sip of his coffee and leaned back in his chair. “So, are you originally from Amarillo?”

  She nodded. “Born and raised there.” This was the kind of talk they might have had if they’d been on a date, the kind they should have had that night instead of falling on each other like two sex-starved teenagers.

  “Do you have somebody special in your life? A woman you’re seeing? I don’t want my presence here to make any problems for you,” she said.

  “You don’t have to worry. There’s nobody special. I don’t intend for there ever to be anyone special.” There was a firm finality in his voice.

  She took another sip of her coffee. God, the man was so good-looking she couldn’t imagine the women in the area leaving him alone. “Your mother mentioned that you were a confirmed bachelor.”

  “I am. The only reason I might have entertained the idea of marriage would have been to have a son to pass the ranch to when I died. You’ve managed to give me two without the nuisance of a marriage.”

  Nuisance of marriage? Funny how different they were, Melissa thought. She’d wanted to be married for a very long time, had always thought that by the time she turned thirty she’d be part of a family like she’d never had growing up.

  She still hoped for that someday. The only difference her dream had from reality was that in reality her boys would have their real daddy and then maybe eventually they’d have a loving, caring stepfather.

  But at the moment, any kind of relationship with a man seemed impossible. She was just too tired to even think about romance. She’d been tired for months, not that she minded. The twins were more than worth any exhaustion they caused.

  “You look tired, Melissa,” he said as if he’d read her thoughts. “I hope you’ll take your time here and allow my mother and me to help so that y
ou can get some extra rest. It can’t be easy dealing with twins all by yourself.”

  “I’m fine,” she assured him. “It’s gotten easier since they sleep through the night most of the time now.”

  “Still, I hope you’ll let us take some of the burden for the next couple of days.”

  “They aren’t a burden. They’re my joy,” she exclaimed a bit more vehemently than the situation warranted.

  He leaned forward and reached out and brushed the corner of her mouth. “You had a little cinnamon,” he said as he pulled his hand back.

  She grabbed a napkin and wiped her mouth and tried to ignore the electric jolt his touch had shot through her body. He just swiped your mouth, she told herself. A simple, casual touch and yet she felt it from head to toe.

  A loud knock sounded on the front door and he pushed back from the table. “You might want to come with me to answer it,” he said. “I think it’s for you.”

  “For me? Who would be here for me?” She got up from the table and followed him to the front door.

  He looked outside, then smiled and this time his smile warmed her completely. “It’s Christmas, Melissa. Christmas has officially arrived at the Randolf house.”

  Henry opened the door to allow in the four ranch hands who maneuvered a huge evergreen tree through the door. The boughs were tied down and Hank and Tim, the ranch hands bringing up the rear, carried between them a huge pot to stand the tree in.

  “It was the biggest one old man Keller had on his lot,” Charlie said as they carried the tree into the living room.

  “Melissa, can you help me move the coffee table?” Henry asked.

  She quickly grabbed one side and he grabbed the other. They moved the table out of the men’s way. “Just set it up in the corner,” he instructed.

  “That’s the biggest tree I’ve ever seen,” Melissa said, her eyes round with wonder.

  Henry smiled. “I told them to get the biggest one they could find. We’ll decorate it this evening after dinner.”