High Country Baby

by Joanna Sims

  “Ready.”

  She had no idea where she was heading once she returned to the ranch—would she stay in Montana and get a job working at a local bank? Would she move to Seattle or Chicago? Would Clint go through with their agreement and try to give her a child? Was she pregnant already? And how would she explain that to her family? It was rare that she didn’t have the answers; she had always been the woman with the planner and a plan. Now she was on the “no plan” plan.

  “Hey—isn’t this where we met?”

  Taylor stopped her mare and waited for Clint to ride up beside her.

  “Not my finest hour,” he mused. “Half drunk with my pants down.”

  She looked at his profile. How far they had come from that first moment. She had hated the idea of Clint being with her on this journey, but in the end, she couldn’t imagine taking this trip without her cowboy.

  “A couple more hours and we’ll be back at the ranch,” Clint told her.

  “I know.” She caught his eye. “I’m really going to miss...all of this...”

  She was going to say that she was going to miss him, but she didn’t want to pressure him to return the sentiment. What happened on the CDT would stay on the CDT and the chances that things would stay the same between them were very next to nil.

  “Clint—if you change your mind about our agreement when we get back...” She needed to let him off the hook. The closer they got to the ranch, the more it was starting to hit her that the protective bubble they had been living in for nearly a month was about to burst.

  “Hey...” He held her gaze to reassure her that he wasn’t going to back out. “I could’ve already hit the bull’s-eye, you know.”

  He wanted to make her laugh and see her smile. It worked. Taylor replied with a laugh. “If you did...it would be a true miracle. And I would be the happiest woman on earth.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Taylor!” Barbara Brand, her aunt and first lady of Bent Tree Ranch, hugged her as though she was surprised that she had made it back alive. “Let me get a good look at you!”

  Her aunt Barb was dressed in slim, dark-wash blue jeans, a cranberry button-down shirt that, tucked in and belted, looked polished as always and smelled like vanilla with a hint of light musk.

  “You’ve lost weight.” Her aunt put her hands on Taylor’s cheeks and smiled at her affectionately.

  Taylor looked down at her full figure that felt less full. “I thought so—my jeans are looser.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  Taylor wasn’t surprised that her aunt wanted to feed her—Barb was an excellent cook and loved to spoil her family with food.

  “I am—but I really need to take a shower. A hot shower.”

  Barb nodded her agreement and lowered her voice. “You are a bit ripe.”

  Taylor laughed at her aunt’s attempt at diplomacy. She knew that she stank. She’d given up on trying to fight it a week into the trek—she’d always sweated through her deodorant thirty minutes into her day on the trail.

  “Clint—you’ll take care of all of this...” Barb turned her attention to the cowboy, who had been quietly standing nearby with the two horses and mule.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Clint tipped his hat to Barb and then caught Taylor’s eye for the briefest moment.

  “Thank you, Clint.” Barb said. “And thank you for watching out for my niece.”

  And, just like that, their lives shifted. For a month, they had been alone together and they made the rules. But now they were back at the ranch. Here, Clint was an employee and she was family.

  “Go on and get yourself cleaned up.” Barb physically turned Taylor around and gave her a gentle push in the direction of her cousin Tyler’s log cabin. “The guest room’s all set up for you. When you’re done, head over to the main house for something to eat. You want breakfast or lunch?”

  “Breakfast!” After a month of protein bars, trail mix, and fish, she’d earned a splurge. “Pancakes, please...with a mountain of butter and a boatload of syrup!”

  Once inside her cousin’s rustic log cabin, which had been built strategically near the main farmhouse, she stripped out of her filthy clothing, turned the hot water on full blast and stood beneath the steaming water until the water started to turn tepid as the hot water began to run out. A hot shower had never felt that good. In fact, she couldn’t remember a time when a genuinely clean bath towel felt this good on her skin.

  Once her body was damp dry, she wrapped the towel around her chest and went to the kitchen to hunt for a step stool. She found one in the pantry and carried it back to the bathroom. Just like a typical man, Tyler didn’t have a full-length mirror in the house. When her cousin returned from Virginia, Taylor was confident that his new bride, London, would fix that bachelor design flaw. Until then, she was going to have to be creative in her attempt to get a full view of her post-CDT body.

  Back in the bathroom, she used her towel to wipe off the condensation on the mirror hanging above the sink. The mirror wasn’t completely clear—but it was clear enough. Naked, in front of a mirror, hadn’t happened in years. She usually averted her eyes when she got out of the shower to avoid seeing the shape her body had adopted during the middle and later portions of her thirties. For so long she had hated how she looked in clothing, much less how she looked disrobed.

  “Here goes nothing.” Taylor dropped the towel to the floor and stepped up onto the sturdy little handmade step stool.

  In the still-foggy mirror, she could see her body from the knees upward. She started at her changed body—not as transformed as she would have liked—but it was undeniably different. She turned to the side, her hands skimming the flesh to combine the tactile with the visual. Her breasts still drooped way too much without a bra, this was true, yet her stomach was much flatter than it had been when she left for the CDT.

  “Wow.” She faced the mirror again.

  Her figure, which was still full, had this wonderful hourglass curviness to it now. She had a waist! Her thighs were thinner and the hardened muscles from a month of riding and hiking had shaped her legs beautifully—there was actual space between her thighs now. Actual space! It wasn’t a tiny, petite, thin-framed naked body, but it was a very sexy, curvy body.

  “Not bad.” Taylor said to her reflection. “Not perfect—but...better.”

  The head-to-knee examination of her body made her want to indulge in pancakes less. If she was going to keep her post-CDT body, she was going to have to watch out for her weak spot, sugar.

  * * *

  “Seconds?” Her aunt held up the bowl of pancake batter.

  Taylor had a mouthful of the last giant bite of pancakes soaked with sweet maple syrup and salted melted butter. She shook her head no quickly before her aunt took her silence as a yes, as she was known to do. Once the batter hit the griddle, Taylor would be locked into another stack.

  “I’ll just save the batter for later, then.” Barb took a roll of tinfoil out of a drawer.

  “It was so good, though, Aunt Barb,” Taylor said after she had devoured that last bite. “Thank you.”

  Her aunt smiled with pleasure. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. Coffee?”

  Taylor brought her dirty dishes to the sink. “I’ll make it.”

  “Thank you, sweetheart.”

  Taylor went to the cabinet where the coffee had been located prior to her trek; it wasn’t there.

  “Where’d the coffee go?”

  “Oh—I moved it.” Her aunt closed the refrigerator door. “Look in the last cabinet—first shelf.”

  Taylor smiled as she retrieved the coffee. She remembered from when she was a kid that her aunt had a reputation in the family for rearranging her kitchen whenever she was upset or stressed. Taylor scooped coffee into the filter and then pressed the On button on the coffeemaker.
While she helped her aunt clean up the kitchen, Taylor told Barbara, in animated language, all about her once-in-a-lifetime trip on the CDT.

  There were a few details that she didn’t reveal—the pregnancy deal she had struck with Clint was a secret she intended to keep until she became pregnant. If her scheme didn’t work, then she didn’t see any reason to tell anyone in the family beyond her sister, Casey.

  “Well...” Barbara sat down at the kitchen table with her coffee. “I’m glad that you made it back safely. You got in touch with your parents, yes? I know your mom has to be sick with worry.”

  Taylor joined her aunt at the table with her own cup of freshly brewed coffee and shook her head. That was just her aunt Barb being nice. Her mom, a die-hard socialite, wasn’t worried—she was angry. Her mother was angry about how the divorce reflected on the family. Her mother hadn’t approved of the divorce, particularly since Christopher’s family were active members in their country club. And her mother was angry that she had quit her career for any other reason than to raise socialite grandchildren. Vivian Bartlett-Brand and Taylor, although genetically mother and daughter, had rarely seen eye to eye on any topic; she had given up on ever obtaining her mother’s approval around the time she turned thirty.

  “I’ll shoot her an email.”

  Her aunt looked at her over the rim of her coffee mug—a look that bordered on disapproval. It was a fact that there wasn’t any love lost between Barbara and her mother, but her aunt would still expect Taylor to show deference to her.

  “Do you know what you’re going to do next?” Her aunt pursued a different subject.

  “I was hoping it would be okay if I hung out at the ranch a little longer.”

  “You are welcome to stay here for as long as you want, Taylor. If you like, you can stay in Tyler’s guest room until he gets back.”

  “Thank you.” She liked staying in Tyler’s guest room. His house was close to the main house, but offered a level of privacy she would need if Clint decided to go through with the handshake deal they had made.

  “Any word on that?” she asked her aunt.

  Tyler’s new wife had a child from a previous marriage and was embroiled in a custody battle. Until the situation was resolved, London’s son, J.T., had to remain in Virginia. And, until London was free to be with him in Montana, Tyler was dedicated to sticking it out in Virginia.

  “No.” Barbara sighed. “I’m afraid it’s going to drag out much longer than any of us ever suspected.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me, too.” Her aunt smiled a small, melancholy smile. “I hate that I’m missing so much of Maggie’s life. When she was born, I always imagined her here—at the ranch—just across the way.”

  Soon after Tyler and London’s daughter, Maggie, was born, they left Montana for Virginia to fight for the right to raised J.T. at Bent Tree Ranch. They had been gone several months before Taylor had arrived at the ranch.

  “Well...no sense dwelling on the negative when you can dwell on the positive.” Her aunt put her hand on Taylor’s hand. “I’m blessed that you’re here after so many years.” Barb stood up. “And I’m blessed that Sophia and Luke are back in Montana with me. You haven’t met their children yet, have you?”

  “No.” Taylor joined her aunt at the sink. “I’ve seen pictures.”

  “They’re joining us for dinner tonight, so you’ll get to get to know their three little ones all at once.”

  Taylor rinsed out her cup and set it, upside down, in the drainer. “Do you need help fixing dinner?”

  “Sophia’ll be here to help around four, if you still feel like helping out.”

  Taylor headed back to the cabin after agreeing to meet her cousin-in-law, Sophia, and aunt in the kitchen at four. On the porch, Clint had piled up her belongings from the trip. She couldn’t deny the fact that she was disappointed that she had missed him. It was odd not to know his every move now that they were back in civilization. Where was he now? And, when would she see him again?

  * * *

  “Taylor! You look incredible!” Casey Brand exclaimed loudly. “Holy cannoli!”

  Taylor had moved away from the computer camera so her younger sister could get the full image of her post-CDT figure.

  “Be honest.” Taylor sat back down at the breakfast bar. “Can you really tell the difference?”

  “I swear, Taylor. You look like you dropped two sizes at least. Your clothes must be huge on you now. You’re going to need a whole new wardrobe!”

  Her jeans were looser in the waist and in the legs, but she still had her birthing hips. And, just maybe, they might actually come in handy.

  “I might—but not the kind that you think.”

  “That was cryptic.” Casey’s eyebrows lifted suspiciously. “What’s up?”

  Taylor felt as though she had to tell someone about her bargain with Clint. Casey was the only person she knew she could trust a hundred percent.

  “You can’t tell another living soul, Casey...” Taylor told her sister.

  “Spill it!” Her sister leaned into the camera. “Start at the beginning and tell me everything!”

  Spilling the beans was exactly what she needed. For the next hour, she shared all of those juicy CDT experiences that she would never share with the rest of the family. But Casey, who had always been more open about sexuality, would be proud of her for having a hot fling with a Sam Elliott look-alike cowboy.

  “Wait. Wait, wait, wait!” Casey flipped backward onto her mountain of decorative pillows dramatically and then popped back upright with an amazed expression on her face. “Are you telling me that you could be pregnant right now?”

  Taylor looked down at her flatter stomach. “It’s possible.”

  On her last visit with the fertility doctor, her blood tests confirmed that she wasn’t out of the procreation game just yet. Close, but the door wasn’t completely shut.

  “And this cowboy...”

  “Clint.” Taylor filled in the name for her sister.

  “So...this cowboy, Clint...he already made his deposit before you made your deposit?”

  Taylor laughed. “Several deposits, actually.”

  “Holy cannoli.” Her sister gave an amazed shake of her head. “I, for one, applaud you.”

  “You know, Mom and Dad won’t be applauding me.” Taylor frowned a little.

  Casey waved her hand like she was swatting a pesky fly. “Please—Mom’s too busy trying to convince Dad that they need a new yacht for their annual migration. She won’t even notice you’ve got a kid until it’s old enough to talk.”

  “True.” Taylor couldn’t disagree. Their mother had always been obsessed with keeping up with the Joneses.

  “Darn it—I’ve got to get myself ready for work tomorrow. But I want a play-by-play on this new project of yours. Swear! Hi to Uncle Hank and Aunt Barb!”

  They ended the video chat with a promise to make time each week to catch up. She was lucky—her sister had always been her best friend, and she would always keep Casey in the loop. If she did succeed in pulling off the nearly impossible and she did get pregnant with the cowboy’s baby, she would need her sister’s unwavering support more than ever.

  * * *

  A week had gone by since she returned from the CDT. In some ways it had gone by so quickly. She loved meeting her three little second cousins, Danny, Abigail and Annabelle; she had enjoyed reconnecting with her cousin, Luke, and his wife, Sophia. But, there was a noticeable hole in her daily life that Clint used to fill, and it worried her that she hadn’t seen him since they had returned. She had watched out for him, and she would be lying to herself if she didn’t acknowledge that it bothered her that he hadn’t sought her out since their return.

  “Look how handsome you are,” Taylor greeted the gangly colt vying for her attention
. “I’ve heard so much about you, Rising Star...”

  The young colt whickered softly, his ears perked forward, eyes wide at the prospect of getting one of the small apples she had in her hand.

  “Here you go, handsome boy.” Taylor fed the horse one of the apples and took the opportunity to rub the young colt’s neck.

  “I knew I recognized that voice.”

  Taylor spun around. She recognized that voice. That deep, sexy, rough-around-the edges voice that could only belong to her cowboy sent shivers skipping down the middle of her spine, from the nape of her neck to her lower back.

  “Where have you been?” Her question was much more honest and much more raw than she had intended.

  “Brock had me moving the herd. I got back late last night.”

  He was a sight for sore eyes, as the saying went. His beard had been clipped back, and his long hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck.

  “I’ve been looking for you.” He stared hard into her eyes.

  “I was afraid I’d never see you again.”

  Clint’s eyes narrowed a little, then he grabbed her hand and started walking toward a small office at the far end of the barn. Taylor knew that Clint wanted to take her to a private place—she could read it in his eyes. He wanted the same thing she wanted: a stolen moment alone.

  Clint closed the office door behind them and locked it. Wordlessly, he took her into his arms and kissed her. He broke the kiss, spun her around so her back was pressed into his body. He wrapped his arms around her, filling one hand with her breast while the other hand slipped behind the elastic waistband of her bohemian skirt and down into her panties.

  “Oh...” Taylor’s head dropped back onto his shoulder, her eyes closed.

  “You missed me,” Clint murmured into her neck.

  The minute her ears had heard his voice again her body had started revving up—when he slipped his hand into her panties, she couldn’t pretend to be aloof.

  The cowboy pulled her tighter into his body, his teeth grazing the skin of her neck. “My body’s been hurting for you.”