Home to Wyoming

by Rebecca Winters

  Buck buried his face in her hair. “I pray to God you’re right about that. I couldn’t lose you now. I just couldn’t.”

  “You’ll never have to. But to help you feel better, why don’t we go pick her up so you can find out for yourself and be happy.”

  “I am happy. Too happy. I’m afraid I’m going to wake up.”

  “Well, I can tell you this. You are awake and have been kissing me until my lips are swollen, my hair is a complete mess and your beard has given me a rash. While we drive home, I need the time to make myself somewhat presentable. You know Johnny. He’ll take one look at us and know exactly what we’ve been doing. That child is positively dangerous.”

  Laughter pealed out of Buck. Life didn’t get better than this. He wrapped his arm tightly around her shoulders. With the taste of heaven on his lips, he started the engine. It took a while for them to reach the turnoff for Carson’s new house. He couldn’t get enough of Alex. Before they came out of the trees, he stopped the car while they kissed as if they were making up for years of deprivation. Her passion had set him on fire.

  Suddenly, there was a knock on the window. Buck was so far gone, Alex was the one who had to separate them. He raised his head and looked around. Two cute faces stared at them through the window on the front passenger side of the car. Buck lowered it.

  Johnny’s eyes had rounded. “Whoa, Uncle Buck!”

  “Hey, sport. How’s everybody?”

  “Good.”

  “Hi, Buck.”

  “Hi, Red.”

  “Is your daddy okay?”

  “He’s going to be fine.”

  “That’s good.” A smile broke out on her face. “I’m glad you’re back.”

  “We are, too.” Alex opened the door so Jenny could climb in and hug her.

  Johnny looked as if he was going to explode. “I’ve got to tell Mom and Dad! I’ll be right back.” He took off running, six guns and all.

  Buck was glad the three of them were alone for a moment. “What have you and Johnny been doing all day?”

  “We watched Moppy for a long time.”

  “So she finally came out of hiding?”

  “Yes. Carson told us where to sit and wait.”

  Buck grinned. “What else did you do?”

  “We looked for bad guys.”

  “Is that what you were doing just now?”

  “Yes.”

  He leaned over to kiss the tip of her nose. “I hope you didn’t think your nana and I were bad guys.”

  A giggle escaped her. “No.”

  “So you like me a little bit?”

  “A lot.”

  “Well, guess what?”

  “What?”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” she said back to him without missing a beat.

  His heart was melting. “Do you love me enough to let me marry your nana and we’ll all live at the ranch together?”

  Her face lit up with joy. “I want you to get married.”

  “Then if it’s all right with you, that settles everything.”

  “Goody!” She sounded like someone else he knew. “Now I’ll have my own daddy. I’ve got to go tell Johnny!” She kissed his cheek, and then her nana’s, before she backed out the door and raced away.

  Alex leaned over to kiss his lips. “I guess you got your answer, Daddy.”

  “I guess I did.”

  “I think maybe we’d better drive to the house before we get caught again by the big guys because we’re doing something we shouldn’t be.”

  “Wouldn’t Carson just love that—I’d never be able to live it down.” After a cough, Buck started the car. When they arrived in the clearing, the whole family was outside waiting for them. He kissed one corner of her luscious mouth. “There’s no rest for the wicked.”

  She laughed gently. The minute she got out, Alex ran over to hug Tracy and thank her for watching Jenny. Carson just stood there with a huge grin on his face. “What did I hear about a wedding?”

  “It’s not going to happen for a while.”

  Johnny frowned. “How come?”

  “Because we have a lot to figure out.”

  “No, you don’t. Dad says you can live in the downstairs of the ranch house now that we’ve moved out.”

  That kid killed him. Buck exchanged an amused glance with Carson. “We’re thrilled to hear the good news about your father.”

  “Me, too. Thanks for everything, for keeping Jenny happy. Now it’s our turn. Do you two gunslingers want to come with us? I’m going to follow Alex into town in the Jeep so we can return her rental car. While we’re there, we’ll grab a hamburger. How does that sound?”

  “Hooray!” The kids were ecstatic.

  “I’ll keep Jenny with me tonight,” Alex said. “There’s a lot we have to discuss and we need to tell my parents.” She looked down at the girl. “Your great-grandparents are going to be overjoyed.”

  “Great-grandparents?” Johnny piped up.

  “That’s right, sport,” Carson spoke up. “You have to remember Alex is a grandmother. So her parents are Jenny’s great-grandparents.”

  “Then they’re really, really old.”

  Alex gave Johnny a hug. “I think they’re about the same age as your Grandma and Grandpa Baretta. When they come to the wedding, you’ll see for yourself.”

  Buck laughed. “Don’t try to figure it out, Johnny. I still haven’t.”

  And I don’t care because I’m so happy I’m going to burst.

  * * *

  “DARLING?”

  She heard Buck’s whisper from the hallway. There’d been so much excitement all evening, Jenny had barely just fallen asleep.

  Alex tiptoed out of Johnny’s old bedroom but didn’t shut the door. Buck drew her across the hall to the master bedroom. “We need to leave this door open, too, in case she wakes up and calls out.”

  “Let’s hope she doesn’t.” He gathered her in his arms and gave her a long, languorous kiss. The absence of desperation was heavenly. She’d gone after Buck today and had found him with split-second timing. The thought of him chasing her clear to California was too much to comprehend. For the first time in her life she felt complete.

  “I love, love, love you, Buck Summerhayes. I only have one concern.”

  “What?” He drew her down on the king-size bed and stretched out beside her.

  “Did you mean it when you said we wouldn’t be getting married for a while? You know I’m planning to get a job right away. We’ll be able to afford it, or is there something you’re not telling me?”

  “That’s not it.” He kissed her throat, and then her mouth. “I don’t want you to feel rushed.”

  She rolled over so she was half lying on top of him. “I’m almost forty-one, and time is flying by. You wouldn’t be getting cold feet all of a sudden, would you?”

  “Cold feet? Woman, what you talking about?”

  “You still haven’t answered my question.”

  “I’d marry you tomorrow if it were possible.”

  She took a shaky breath. “Then let’s do it, if not tomorrow then the next day.”

  He rolled her back over and stared down at her. “You’re serious...”

  “Yes. I want your baby. It’s been my fantasy since I met you. I’ve given it a lot of thought and have decided Jenny needs a sibling.”

  “I had no idea this was going on in your mind.”

  “All it took was meeting the man of my dreams. As soon as I got pregnant with Christy, Kyle left the state. I never knew what it was like to have a husband who loved me and would help me raise our child. When Frank asked me to marry him, I put away any thoughts of having a baby, because he was too old to start over again on a secon
d family.”

  “You’d really be willing to go through another pregnancy?”

  “For you, I’d do anything. I don’t know how come I’m so lucky that you came into my life. That’s why I don’t want to wait a couple of months for a ceremony. If we got married this week, we could be expecting a baby in that amount of time. Your mom had you at forty. Why can’t I? I’m in excellent health and had no problems carrying Christy. Am I moving way too fast for you? It’s just that you’re going to be the most spectacular father.”

  He clutched her to him. “You’ve made me the happiest man alive. We’ll see about getting a wedding license tomorrow. Carson will know of a justice of the peace.”

  “I’m so glad you’re okay with that.” She kissed him over and over again.

  Buck started to laugh.

  “What?” She smiled.

  “If we’re blessed enough to have a baby soon, be it a boy or girl, then he or she will be Jenny’s aunt or uncle. But Jenny will be almost eight years older. Can you imagine Johnny having to wrap his mind around that when he’s still struggling over the great-grandparent thing?”

  Alex buried her face in his shoulder, trying not to laugh out loud. But that didn’t stop the bed from shaking.

  * * *

  ALEX WAS MANNING the front desk at the ranch house when the landline phone rang. She picked up. “Teton Valley Dude Ranch.”

  A woman with a voice Alex didn’t recognize asked to speak to Mr. Lundgren.

  “I’m afraid he’s out of town at the moment.” Carson had gone back to Cleveland with Tracy and Johnny to visit the Baretta side of the family for a few days. “This is Alex Summerhayes.” She and Buck had been married by a justice of the peace a little over three weeks ago. “May I help you?”

  “My name is Kit Wentworth. My son and I are scheduled to fly in this Friday from Maine, but there’s been a problem and I’m afraid we won’t be able to come until Saturday. If that’s impossible for you to change now, I’ll certainly understand.”

  Alex remembered this was the third war widow who’d received a letter from the ranch. She immediately felt a connection to the woman. “I can’t answer for him. If you’ll give me your number, I’ll have Mr. Livingston, his partner, call you back as soon as possible.” He’d be taking care of this family.

  “Thank you very much.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  After hanging up, she tried reaching Ross on his cell phone. She got his voice mail and left a detailed message. Buck had taken some guests down the Snake to shoot the rapids and wouldn’t be back for another hour.

  It was almost time to check on the kids, who’d been swimming in the pool. To her relief, Willy breezed into the foyer. “Hi, Alex.”

  “Hi, yourself. I’m glad you’re here. I’ll see you later.” She had something important she had to do before she got Jenny.

  Alex rushed to the back of the ranch house and pulled a home pregnancy test out of the dresser drawer. For the past few days, she’d been sleepier than usual and remembered she’d felt that way before she found out she was pregnant with Christy.

  This was her third day of testing. If an obstetrician knew what she was doing, he’d tell her she’d put way too much pressure on herself and was bound to be disappointed. She promised herself that if she got another negative reading, she’d let a week go by before trying it again.

  Fearful of the same result, she waited a few minutes, and then looked at it, bracing herself.

  Pregnant.

  No. She didn’t believe it. But there it was. The instructions said the result was 99% accurate.

  A new kind of happiness permeated her body.

  Where was her husband? She had to tell him! He’d go crazy when he found out he was going to be a father. While her mind spun with all the changes that would be taking place in their lives, it dawned on her she needed to check on the children.

  She ran out of the bedroom and down the hall to the back door, almost colliding with Buck. “Oh—you’re back!”

  “Whoa, darling—” He caught her in his arms. “What’s the big hurry?”

  “The kids are still in the pool.”

  “They’ll be fine.” He kissed her soundly. “Let me wash my hands and then I’ll go with you.”

  Uh-oh. “You can’t go in our bathroom. Use Jenny’s.”

  “Why?” He coughed.

  “Just because.”

  “Just because you told me not to, I’m going in.”

  “No, Buck. Wait—” She wanted to plan something special for tonight to give him the news, but he was gone in a flash.

  She started down the hall after him.

  There was no sound. Maybe he hadn’t seen the test, but she’d been in such a hurry, she’d left it in plain sight.

  When she walked into the bedroom, her husband was just coming out of the bathroom. He reached her in two long strides and drew her into his arms. For a full minute he just rocked her. His quiet sobs of joy told her that he knew what it was like to feel complete. This was only the beginning.

  * * * * *

  Watch for the final story in the

  DADDY DUDE RANCH series,

  HER WYOMING HERO, coming October 2013,

  only from Harlequin American Romance!

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  Chapter One

  Skyler Harrington smoothed her new cream-colored pencil skirt as she took her seat at the corner table at La Cantina. She pointed at the enormous platter of nachos that sat on the table between her and her two best friends, India Pike and Elissa Mason. Elissa was in the midst of grabbing a nacho laden with beef, sour cream and gooey cheese.

  “Glad to see you all waited for me,” Skyler said.

  India nodded toward Elissa, who was now stuffing said nacho into her mouth. “She threatened to start gnawing on her arm if we didn’t get something to eat pronto.”

  “What?” Elissa said around her food. “I was starving. You try unloading a truckload of shrubbery and see if you’re not hungry.”

  She had a point. While each of them owned her own business, Elissa’s plant nursery required more physical labor than India’s clothing boutique or Skyler’s inn.

  “Plus,” Elissa said as she pointed another nacho at Skyler, “you were late.”

  Skyler’s forehead scrunched as she reached for her phone to check the time. It was exactly one minute after six, and she knew she’d been at the restaurant more than a minute already.

  Elissa laughed.

  Skyler lifted her narrowed gaze to her friend, who was teasing her yet again about her preference for being places on time, or better yet, early. “I don’t know why I’m friends with you.”

  Elissa smiled. “Because I’m so lovable.”

  “That’s debatable.”

  “You let her get you every time,” India said.

  “One of these days maybe I’ll figure out what she finds so funny about my punctuality.”


  “You call it punctuality, I call it inability to go with the flow,” Elissa said.

  “I can go with the flow.” It made her twitchy, but she could do it. “I’m not as big of a stick in the mud as you seem to think.”

  “Oh, really? When was the last time you really let go and didn’t plan your day out to within an inch of its life?”

  Skyler opened her mouth but then couldn’t think of an answer that wouldn’t prove Elissa’s point. “I have a lot of responsibilities, people depending on me.”

  “And we don’t?”

  “Hey, I’m not that different from India.” At least India before Liam Parrish strode into town with his cowboy boots, a Stetson and two very long legs. India’s well-ordered life had gone topsy-turvy in two seconds flat. Not that Skyler blamed her. Liam wasn’t just good-looking. He also was a really good guy and would become the closest thing Skyler had to a brother when he and India got married in a few weeks.

  Skyler grabbed a nacho and scraped most of the toppings off of it back onto the platter.

  “You’re getting rid of all the good stuff,” Elissa said.

  “A little goes a long way. Now I’ll actually be able to taste the chip.”

  Elissa rolled her eyes. “Can’t even eat a nacho without overthinking it.”

  “I’ll remind you of that when your arteries get clogged with cheese.”

  Elissa just smiled, stuffed another nacho in her mouth and mmmed her taste buds’ appreciation.

  Skyler didn’t know whether she wanted to throw something at Elissa or give in and eat a heaping nacho herself.

  After the waitress took their orders, Skyler turned her attention to India before Elissa had the chance to start bugging the living daylights out of her again.

  “So how are the final plans for the wedding going? Is there anything else you need me to do?”

  India’s eyes lit up at the mention of her upcoming nuptials, causing Skyler’s heart to warm. After everything she’d been through, India deserved to be happy.

  “I don’t think so. You’ve done so much already, both of you.”