Her Cowboy Daddy

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  “What’s up?” Jeb asked, from the living room sofa, as she passed by.

  Aware he had never looked more sexy and relaxed than he did at that moment, Cady shrugged. “I’m about to find out.”

  Smiling, Jeb got up to join her, and they walked together toward the front door.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Momma! Daddy!” the boys cried jubilantly, when they entered the kitchen early the next morning and found Cady and their parents gathered around the table. “You’re home!”

  Suki and Hermann grinned at the warm welcome and took their three offspring into their arms. “We missed you all so much we finished up our work early and got in late last night!” the jet-lagged Suki told them.

  With furrowed brow, Dalton asked, “Where’s Our Friend Jeb? He’s not in his bed.”

  “He went back to his ranch last night and slept there,” Cady explained.

  And while she knew it was the logical thing to do, she still felt bereft. It may have been foolish, but she had gotten used to seeing him first thing in the morning, and the last thing at night.

  “But we want him to stay here!” Finn pouted. “We want you both to stay here with us, Aunt Cady!”

  Micah climbed out of his mother’s arms and onto Cady’s lap. He wrapped his arms around her neck. “Stay here,” he commanded.

  “Oh, honey, I wish I could,” Cady said, rubbing the two-year-old’s back. “But I’ve got to get to Houston. I have a lot of stuff to get caught up on there.”

  That was an understatement. She had a nursery mural to decide on, a baby to help usher into the world, adoption proceedings to get through, a maternity schedule to arrange, babysitters to find…. The list went on and on.

  Plus, it was time to get back to her real life, Cady told herself firmly, and relinquish the fantasy she’d been living for the past couple weeks.

  “We understand.” Suki smiled as she poured all the adults more coffee.

  Hermann nodded. “We can’t thank you enough. Jeb, too.”

  Cady had some gratitude of her own to express, so on her way out of Laramie County, she stopped by Jeb’s ranch.

  She saw him out in a field, standing amid the crop of new black baldie calves and their mamas, pumping fresh water into the troughs. Her heart beating quickly, she walked out to join him. He looked good in the morning sunshine, his straw hat drawn low across his brow. Wondering if he had missed her last night as much as she had missed him, Cady couldn’t help admiring how his chambray shirt clung to the solid muscles of his chest and shoulders, the way the worn jeans gloved his rock hard thighs.

  “Hi.”

  A bleating calf brushed up against Jeb’s leg. He directed it toward its mother, then smiled back. His glance sifted over Cady’s tailored slacks and sleeveless linen blouse. “Headed back to Houston?”

  Cady wished that wasn’t the case. If only she could stay here indefinitely… “It’s time.”

  He nodded in understanding, an inscrutable expression in his eyes. “I figured as much.” He went back to pumping water, the muscles in his back and shoulders straining against the fabric of his shirt.

  Cady edged closer still, being careful where she stepped. “I want to thank you for all you did for us. The boys and I wouldn’t have made it if you hadn’t helped out.”

  He offered an aimless shrug. “Sure you would have. It just would have been a lot louder and more chaotic, but you would have figured out a way to survive the uproar.” When the troughs were full of fresh water for the brood cows and their calves, he turned back to her, his expression confident. “You always do.”

  She lifted a hand to shade her eyes from the summer sun. “I think you’re giving me a lot more credit than I’m due.”

  “Or vice versa.” Jeb touched her shoulder gently, turning her toward the pasture gate. Together, they walked through the field. He let her exit first, then followed, shutting the gate behind them. “Maybe the point is we make a good team.” He steered her to the shade of a nearby tree. “What happened last night, anyway?”

  Cady settled against the rough bark of the live oak. “What do you mean?”

  He tipped up the brim of his hat. “You were upset with me.”

  Guilt mixed with embarrassment. “I was tired.”

  “No,” Jeb corrected, deadpan. “You were disappointed I wasn’t going to buy that bull. And for the life of me I can’t figure out why. Unless…you’re against artificial insemination by strangers for bulls, as well as humans…?”

  Cady couldn’t help it—she laughed at the notion. “Believe me, it has nothing to do with that,” she said, echoing his droll tone.

  Jeb sobered. “Then what does it have to do with?”

  Your inability to commit to anything or anyone long-term, or so it would seem. Unable to say that, however, without coming across as judgmental, she sidestepped the issue and said as honestly as possible, “The whole conversation just reminded me that you and I lead very separate lives. You’re here… I’m in Houston.”

  He frowned in obvious confusion. “The distance has never stopped us from seeing each other before.”

  Cady drew in a jerky breath. “I know.” Wary of revealing too much, she moved around him and headed toward her car.

  “But now it’s different.” Once again, Jeb fell into step beside her.

  The heels of her sandals clicked as she reached the paved drive. “It shouldn’t be. I know.” She increased her pace to her car and grabbed for the handle on the driver’s door. “That was the agreement.”

  He stopped her, a hand to her wrist. “Then maybe it’s time you and I came up with a new agreement,” he told her solemnly.

  Cady caught her breath and looked up into the smoky depths of his eyes.

  “I want us to be lovers, Cady,” he told her softly, tenderly encircling her wrist. “I don’t care if it is long distance. As long as we find a way to keep building on everything we have enjoyed this week.”

  JEB HADN’T MEANT to blurt out the words or proposition Cady that way. Knowing how skittish she was, he had intended to slowly work up to taking the next big step in their relationship.

  But as he had feared, instead of welcoming the suggestion with all her heart, Cady hesitated.

  Her eyes were as troubled as her low voice as she said, “Like you told me, we don’t have to decide anything right now.”

  The problem was, Jeb wanted to wrest some sort of promise of a future together from her right now. He was sure, deep down, that was what she wanted, too. If only he could get her to admit it.

  Cady reached in through the open car window and got her phone. She sighed, seeing the 2 Missed Calls message on her screen, and diverted her attention to that. “Hang on a minute. I’ve got to…oh my goodness, Jeb! The Stork Agency has been trying to get hold of me!”

  She punched in another command and put the phone to her ear. As she listened to the messages left on her voice mail, her face turned pink, then white, then pink again.

  Cady’s jaw dropped. “They’re taking Tina Matthews to the hospital. She’s in labor!”

  She punched in the number with trembling fingers, heard the error chimes, then did it again, slower and more carefully this time. Her eyes still locked with Jeb’s, she exhaled in relief as the call finally went through. “Hi. It’s Cady. Yes, I’ll be there. Unfortunately, I’m about four hours away.” She paused. “I’ll see if he can be there, too. Yes.” She smiled. “See you soon.”

  Cady ended the call and gazed into Jeb’s eyes. “I know it’s a lot to ask…”

  “Hey.” Jeb angled his thumb at the center of his chest. “I’m Zoe’s godfather.” And the man who wants to have you and your baby in my life forever. “Of course I’ll be there, too.”

  CADY WAITED FOR JEB to throw some things in a bag, and then she led the way in her car. He followed in his pickup truck. Which was good, since they didn’t have to talk further about his proposition, when she felt incapable of doing so. And bad, because she really could have used him r
ight by her side during the 232 mile trek.

  Once at their destination, they parked in the garage, met up in the center aisle and walked toward the hospital entrance. As if sensing how much she needed him, he reached over and took her hand.

  Cady reveled in the warmth and strength of his grasp.

  “Nervous?” He leaned down to whisper in her ear.

  She whispered back, “My knees are wobbling.”

  He let go of her hand and pulled her into the reassuring curve of his body. His arm tightened around her shoulders and he bent to press a kiss in her hair. “It’s going to be okay.”

  When he said it like that, she could almost believe him. Cady drew a bolstering breath and pushed her mounting anxiety aside. All she wanted to feel right now was excitement. “You’d think I was the one having the baby!” she complained.

  Jeb winked. “In a way, we both are.”

  Cady smiled at the thought of Jeb being little Zoe’s godfather, and she, little Zoe’s mom.

  She reached in her purse and put her hand on the ultrasound photo she had brought with her. Maybe it was silly, but knowing she had it reassured her.

  Together, she and Jeb stepped through the automatic glass doors.

  Minutes later, they were walking up to the desk in the maternity wing.

  “I’m here to see Tina Matthews,” Cady said.

  The nurse pointed to their left. “She went thataway.”

  Cady and Jeb looked down the corridor. Sure enough, the pregnant teen was walking down the hall, in a hospital gown, robe and slippers. She had one hand pressed to the middle of her back, another to her tummy. With her were two people Cady had never seen before. But she could guess who they were by the striking familial resemblance, when they turned and headed back Jeb and Cady’s way.

  Seeing them standing there, Tina broke into a wide smile. She lifted her hand in an enthusiastic wave. “Come and meet my folks! Mom and Dad, I want you to meet Cady Keilor. She’s going to adopt Zoe. And this is Jeb McCabe—he’s going to be her godfather.”

  Hands were shaken. Hellos said.

  “I’m surprised to see you on your feet,” Cady said, happy that she had apparently made up with her parents.

  Tina rolled her eyes at her current predicament. “They’re hoping walking will speed up my labor.”

  “As slow as it’s going,” Mrs. Matthews said, “they think it could be up to twenty-four hours before she actually delivers. Maybe even more.”

  Tina groaned. “Mom. Please. Don’t say that. I don’t think I can do this for that long.”

  A kind-faced nurse joined them. “It’s a first baby, Tina, honey. And first babies are known for being slow.” The nurse turned to Cady and Jeb. “We’re only going to allow two people in the delivery room with her.”

  Tina looked at Cady with a mixture of urgency and apology. “And I want it to be my mom and dad. Okay?”

  “YOU’RE TAKING THIS awfully well,” Jeb said as the two of them left the hospital, only a few minutes after they had arrived.

  Cady paused beside her car and lifted her hands in a helpless manner. “What could I say? If I were in Tina’s place, I’d want my parents at my side, too. Besides, the nurse said she’d call me when the time was near, so I could be on the premises for the big event.”

  “In the meantime, it looks like we have some time to kill,” Jeb said.

  No joke. Twenty-four hours loomed ahead of them like an abyss. Cady sighed. “What do you want to do?”

  He put his hands on her shoulders. “Go on a date.”

  Ignoring the comforting warmth of his palms, Cady echoed, “A date?”

  Jeb winked and leaned in close. “You know. The thing where a guy and a gal get dressed up and go out together and do something fun. Like dinner and a movie…”

  Cady fought the unexpected thrill coursing through her, and backed up against the car door. “I know you mean well, but…I’m not sure I could concentrate enough to be decent company.”

  Jeb dropped his hands to his sides. “Then what would you like to do?” he asked gently.

  She could feel his body heat, and breathed in the enticing scent of his masculine cologne. “Go back to my place.”

  His gaze lingering on her lips, he flashed a tantalizing half smile. “With or without me?”

  Cady struggled to get a handle on the need welling up inside her. Like the fact that she no longer wanted to adopt this baby completely on her own, but wanted Jeb involved, too, as the steady male presence in the child’s life. And maybe—if she was completely honest—hers, too…

  She swallowed. “What do you think?”

  They barely made it in the front door to her loft when Jeb put his bag down and swung Cady off her feet.

  She luxuriated in the feeling of being held against his broad chest. With her heart aflutter and her libido in overdrive, she teased, “If this is about me owing you an entire night in your arms…”

  He carried her to her bed and set her down beside it. “I think it’s about us owing each other an entire night in one another’s arms.”

  Cady couldn’t say she didn’t want that, too. Making hot, passionate love with Jeb was the best way she knew to forget everything that was worrying her.

  She wound her arms around his shoulders and offered her lips up to his. “Then let’s go for it,” she said.

  The first touch of their lips was electric, hot, enticing. His hands moved down the small of her back, his tongue swept inside her mouth and she tasted the male essence of him. She arched against him, enjoying the long, delicious kisses, the feeling of being what he wanted and needed, too.

  Still kissing her, he unbuttoned her blouse and drew it off, unfastened the clasp on her bra. Cool air assaulted her skin. Seconds later, the warmth of his callused palms moved slowly, lovingly upward, over her ribs. Her nipples heated and swelled as he cupped her breasts. The tingling deepened with the suction of his mouth, and so did her yearning to have him inside her.

  Cady moaned and felt her knees go weak.

  Aware she had never felt as soft and womanly as she did with him, she unclasped his belt buckle and lowered the zipper on his jeans. Touched him until his body throbbed and demanded more. All the while she was wishing she could tell him he was the one for her, and always would be. That she wanted them to be more than lovers, or friends, or loving attendants to the baby she was soon to adopt.

  She wanted Jeb to love her as much as she now knew she loved him. In that all-or-nothing, we-have-to-be-married-to-be-truly-happy way. But realizing those words carried the weight of an emotional commitment Jeb might not ever be ready to make, she concentrated on what they were able to bring to each other instead.

  Friendship. Understanding. A feeling of being loved and appreciated, even if the actual words were never said. And physical fireworks unlike any she had ever dreamed existed.

  And now, with the baby she had wanted forever just hours from being born, her own family ready to be made, Cady knew her life was finally on the brink of being complete.

  JEB DIDN’T KNOW what he had done to deserve a woman like Cady. He didn’t care. All he knew was that in the course of the last ten days, everything had changed. He and Cady had gone from being friends to lovers. And though she had yet to promise him she would be his woman from here on out, the way she surrendered to his kisses told him everything he needed to know.

  He could no longer imagine his life without her in it, and as her hands swept over his body, molding and exploring, he suspected she felt the same.

  Together, they finished undressing and eased down onto the bed, the wildness in Cady matching the un-tamed part of him. He moved onto his back and pulled her on top of him, kissing her all the while. Then rolled, so they were on their sides. And again, so she was beneath him, her legs spread wide.

  “Now,” she whispered.

  “Not so fast,” he told her, sliding lower.

  She laughed quietly, then moaned as his lips made a detour around and over her breasts. S
he threaded her hands through his hair and caught his head as he worked the nipples into tender points of desire. “Jeb…”

  Enjoying the erratic rhythm of her breath and the trembling of her limbs, he caressed the insides of her thighs, the gentle slope of her ribs and the nip of her waist. “I know you want me,” he whispered back, “but I want to take our time….”

  Her spine arched as he dipped his tongue into her navel, and she whimpered again, this time in acquiescence.

  Pleased at her response, he went lower still, enjoying the delicate floral fragrance of her perfume, the silky warmth of her skin. Loving the way she yielded to him, he brought her nearer and found the sweet perfection. Held her as she went over the edge. Then moved upward again.

  Love filled her eyes as he eased her back against the pillows and settled between her legs. Their lips met again. He drew her flush against him, pouring everything he felt, everything he had ever needed and wanted, into the kiss. Her body heated, as did his. She rose up to meet him. He lifted her hips and plunged deep, sliding all the way home, their bodies taking up the rhythm of tender acceptance and driving need.

  Again and again he loved her, knowing he wanted her as he had never wanted anyone before. And only when he was sure she knew how important they were to each other, and always would be, did he let the rightness of the moment draw them all the way in, propelling them into ecstasy and beyond.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The phone rang at 4:45 A.M. Cady awoke with a start and extricated herself from Jeb’s arms. Shaking her head to clear the cobwebs, she mumbled a sleepy hello. Listened intently and then, with a mixture of anticipation and excitement filling her heart, said, “I—we—will be right there. Thanks so much for calling.”

  Jeb lifted an eyebrow as she put the receiver back in the charger. “Tina?”

  Thrilling at the way he looked, lounging naked in her bed, Cady related, “The nurse predicts that Tina will deliver Zoe in the next hour.”