Lone Star Daddy

by Stella Bagwell

  “I didn’t know whether you would prefer iced tea or beer with your meal,” Alexa told him as he stepped into the room. “So I gave you both.”

  A plate piled high with food was already laid out on the table. Next to it was a basket full of bread rolls, an assortment of condiments and the two drinks. She gestured for him to take a seat.

  “Aren’t you going to have any?” he asked as he pulled out a chair.

  “I would, but I’ve already eaten,” she told him.

  “Then surely you can join me with something to drink,” he suggested politely.

  She studied him for a long moment, as though she couldn’t quite decide whether joining him would be the right thing to do. Jonas tried not to let her attitude offend him. After all, she’d already gone out of her way to be gracious. No one said she had to cozy up to him.

  “All right. Since it’s decaffeinated, I suppose I could have a glass of tea,” she told him as she went over to the counter to fetch the drink.

  “You’re not supposed to have caffeine?” he asked curiously.

  “It’s not healthy for the baby, so I try to limit the stuff.”

  She carried the tea back over to the table and took the chair across from him. He glanced up from his plate to see her stirring a spoonful of sugar into her glass. There was a small ruby and silver ring on her right hand, but nothing on her left. The lack of an engagement ring spoke volumes to Jonas.

  “Sorry if my questions sound silly. I don’t know much about women having babies. Cows and horses are more my line.”

  Tonight, without a hat and a button-down shirt, he looked different somehow, Alexa thought. Younger and sexier, if that was possible. His brown hair was the color of a pecan streaked with shades of coffee and honey. The waves stuck out in damp disarray about his head, as though he’d had an expensive razor cut to make his hair look purposely messy. But Alexa very much doubted he spent his money on such vain things. It didn’t fit his nature, she decided, as her gaze dipped down to his corded arms. They had a farmer’s tan that ended at the cuffs of his T-shirt, and Alexa found herself wondering what his chest looked like beneath the white T-shirt.

  Swallowing at the nervous tightening in her throat, she asked, “You don’t have any children of your own?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’m divorced. Have been for six years.”

  The revelation jarred her. For some reason, she’d pictured him as always being a single man. To think that he’d once loved and married a woman put him in a whole new light.

  “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

  One thick shoulder shrugged. “You weren’t. And it’s not a secret.”

  What had happened? Alexa wondered. Had he been at fault for the breakup of his marriage? Or his wife? Was his ex the reason he’d left Texas?

  Forget it, Alexa. This man’s personal life is not your business. Besides, you have your own problems to think about.

  After a short stretch of silence, he said, “So you’ve been living in Santa Fe. Did you like living in the city?”

  Alexa slid her fingertips up and down the side of the ice-cold glass. “It was okay.” At least it was okay until everything with Barry had gone wrong, she thought grimly. “I worked at the state capital building as an aide to a senator.”

  Feeling his gaze on her, she darted a glance at him and was surprised to see that he actually looked curious. Most men, especially the outdoor type, never showed much interest in her job. Maybe her first impression of Jonas Redman had been right. He wasn’t an ordinary man.

  “You like that sort of thing—working in government?”

  From out of nowhere a bit of shyness struck her, and she looked down at the tabletop rather than at him. “It’s interesting to me. But mostly I like helping serve the public.”

  “How did you get the job with the senator? I suspect there were plenty of applicants waiting in line.”

  Lifting her gaze back to him, she was relieved to see he was now focusing on his plate rather than her face. “I honestly don’t know how I happened to land it. At the time I was working in the Ruidoso mayor’s office and trying to finish up college.” She chuckled with fond remembrance. “What I lacked in experience, I made up in enthusiasm, I suppose.”

  He looked at her and smiled, and for a moment Alexa felt as though everything around her stopped. The expression warmed his face and hinted at a softer side to the iron cowboy. It also endeared him to her, pulled her toward him in a way that caught her by complete surprise.

  “Are you planning to go back? I mean, after your baby is born?”

  A soft sigh escaped her as she turned her gaze away from him and toward the row of windows to their right. Even though it was dark, a distant outdoor lamp illuminated a part of the ranch yard. At the moment, nothing was stirring except for the wind ruffling the leaves on the aspen trees. “I—I’m not sure. I think I need a little time to make up my mind about that.”

  “I’m curious about one thing,” he said.

  His comment jerked her gaze back to his. “What’s that?”

  He reached for another roll and proceeded to tear it down the center. “I’ve been wondering about your feelings for this ranch. It appears your father and brother put their lives into making it go. Were you never interested in it?”

  Interested? Once she’d loved every inch, every blade of grass, every cow and horse on the place. Even before she’d started kindergarten, she’d followed her father around, watching him tend to everything, from a sick calf to a broken fence. He’d put her in the saddle before she’d been able to walk, and from her early childhood up until Mitch’s death she’d had one purpose in life, and that had been to help run the ranch, to do her part in making it grow and prosper. The accident had turned her away from everything she’d once loved, and now, after all this time, she was frightened to let herself love it again.

  “Of course I was,” she said stiffly. “The ranch has always been my home.”

  His plate nearly empty, he put down his fork and leaned back in his chair. Alexa hated the way her eyes were drawn to the broad width of his chest, the bunching of his biceps as he folded his arms together.

  “Well,” he said casually, “most women don’t get involved with the grit and grime of everyday ranch life. Quint says your mother doesn’t ride at all. Do you?”

  His question seemed so absurd to Alexa that she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Which only prompted him to look at her in a calculating way.

  “I didn’t realize that was a funny question,” he said as her laughter ebbed to a soft chuckle.

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.” She leaned toward him and smiled, with the first confidence she’d felt in a long, long time. “If I wasn’t so pregnant, I bet I could outride you, Jonas Redman.”

  His hazel eyes suddenly glinted with interest; at the same time, a grin tugged at one corner of his mouth. “That’s a bold statement. Especially since you don’t know me.”

  “Maybe. But I know myself. I’ve been riding since before I could walk. In spite of Mother’s protest.”

  “She didn’t want you to do those types of things?”

  Alexa grimaced. “Mother was always a worrier. She did her best to keep Quint and me from doing anything she considered risky. But Dad won out on the riding and…other things.”

  “In other words it was the risk she opposed. It wasn’t that she wanted her daughter to do more feminine things.”

  “That’s right. You see, Mother had—well, she had two sons by her first husband that she…had to give up for a long time. And I guess she protected me and my brother because she was afraid she’d lose us, too.”

  Now why had she gone and told him all that? Alexa wondered. It wasn’t like her to share family matters with strangers. Especially such things as her mother had gone through.

  Because Jonas doesn’t feel like a stranger. Because something about him is easy and calm and inviting.

  “That’s only human,” he said softly
. “We want to cling to what we love the most.”

  A long rush of air passed her lips, and she realized her heart was thumping hard behind her breasts. When she’d heated Jonas’s supper for him, she’d not expected to join him, much less have such a personal conversation with the man. She’d planned to go about her business or pretend to have more important things to do and politely leave the kitchen.

  He hadn’t allowed that to happen, and now all she could think about was that the two of them were alone, that only a wall would be separating them as they slept.

  Dear God, what was the matter with her? Were her hormones going crazy all of a sudden? Since her break with Barry, the idea of even looking at another man had repulsed her. And Jonas Redman wasn’t her type at all. No, cowboys were off-limits. Forever.

  And now politicians are off-limits, too. What are you going to do, Alexa? Quit men entirely because you happen to be a bad judge of character? You’ve tried passion, and you’ve tried logic. Is there anything left?

  Clearing her throat, she slowly rose to her feet. “Uh—it’s getting late. Is there anything else you’d like before I head upstairs?”

  Pushing his chair away from the table, he also stood. “I’ve had plenty. Thanks.”

  He picked up his dirty plate, glass and beer bottle. “Where do I put these?” he asked.

  She motioned to the sink. “Just put them there. Sassy will put them in the dishwasher later.”

  Alexa left the kitchen, but he quickly caught up to her in the living room, just before she reached the staircase. When his hand came under her elbow and his arm circled around the back of her waist, she stopped in her tracks and stared at him.

  “May I ask what you’re doing?”

  His solemn expression didn’t waver. “You’re not going up those stairs without me to help you.”

  Her first instinct was to laugh, but she bit back the urge. As she looked at his face, she realized he was seriously concerned for her, and suddenly the idea that he cared that much for her well-being caused tears to sting the back of her eyes.

  “I have to go up and down them during the day, Jonas,” she said softly.

  “Yes. But it’s late and you’re tired. I’m here now. So don’t argue.”

  A smile tugged at her lips. “All right. It would be nice to lean on your strong arm.”

  “That’s better,” he said huskily, then urged her forward.

  He purposely kept their climb at a slow pace, and although Alexa realized he was taking it easy for her sake, she was quickly wishing the task would end. Having Jonas’s arm locked firmly around her, feeling the warmth of his hard body pressing against the side of hers, was doing strange things to her senses.

  Once they reached the landing, she expected him to release her, but his arm remained at her back and his fingers stayed curled around her arm until they reached Alexa’s bedroom door.

  “Here we are,” he said, “and you’re not even breathing hard.”

  No. But her heart was hammering, and every nerve in her body sizzling, she thought. “Thank you, Jonas. Good night.”

  Dropping his hold on her, he started to his room, only to pause and look over his shoulder at her. “You know, after your baby gets here, I might just put you to that riding test.”

  She pushed a smile on her face. “I’ll be ready.”

  Who was she kidding? Alexa thought bitterly as she entered the bedroom and shut the door firmly behind her. She’d not been on a horse in years. She’d not even touched a bridle or saddle or even pulled on a pair of boots since she moved away from the Chaparral.

  What in heck had she been doing, telling Jonas all that stuff, acting as though she remembered how to be a cowgirl? Why had she told him such things in the first place? Why had she wanted him to know that part of her life? In Santa Fe, she’d kept that part of her past all carefully tucked away, while she tried to be a smooth, polished lady, rubbing elbows with powerful people in powerful places.

  Dear God, she’d believed she’d matured into an intelligent woman, one wise enough to make good, practical choices for herself. But all that careful planning and the cautious approach she’d taken with Barry had been for naught. Now she was afraid to trust any man. And even more afraid to trust herself.

  Chapter Three

  Nearly a week later she was sitting in a small office off the downstairs den, writing the last payroll check, when a knock sounded at the open door.

  Expecting it to be Sassy, wielding a dusting cloth, she was more than surprised to see Jonas. The past few days she’d spoken to him only twice, as he’d helped her up the stairs at night. Those conversations had been brief and polite, ending far before Alexa had wanted them to. And one evening, as she’d sat out on her balcony, she’d happened to spot him walking across the ranch yard.

  “Hello, Jonas,” she said now, her heart skipping to a hard, fast beat. “Won’t you come in?”

  He politely removed his hat as he stepped into the room, and as Alexa looked at him, she couldn’t help but notice a hint of fatigue on his face. Apparently he considered it his obligation as the ranch’s general manager to work day and night.

  “I don’t want to interrupt,” he said as he crushed the brim of his hat between his fists. “I’m heading into town to the feed store and I wondered if you’d like to ride in with me. Since Reena told me that you’ve not been off the place, I thought you might need a change of scenery.”

  She was more than shocked by his invitation. Especially since he’d not so much as exchanged a word with her since their night in the kitchen.

  Alexa glanced down at her red jersey top and blue jeans. “I’m not exactly dressed for going to town. But I suppose it doesn’t matter.” She began to gather the papers scattered in front of her. “Can you give me five minutes to put all this stuff away and tidy up?”

  “Sure. I’ll be waiting on the front porch,” he told her.

  He disappeared out the door, and Alexa hurriedly locked all her paperwork in a file cabinet. Once that was done, she fetched her purse, swiped on a dab of lipstick and headed to the porch.

  When she stepped outside Jonas was speaking into his cell phone, but when he spotted her, he abruptly ended the call and slipped the instrument in his pocket. Alexa didn’t catch any of his words, but from the sheepish expression on his face, she wondered if he’d been speaking to another woman.

  “If the call was important I’ll go back in and wait,” she told him.

  “I’ll deal with the call later,” he said briskly, then gave her a half smile. “I’m glad you decided to go with me.”

  “I am, too,” she said and realized it was true.

  He’d pulled one of the ranch’s trucks to the front of the drive so that Alexa had only a short distance to walk. After he helped her into the cab, he settled himself behind the wheel and turned the vehicle down the long lane lined with tall ponderosa pines.

  “I normally send one of the hands in to town to fetch things we need,” he said as they reached a graveled country road. “But Quint wants me to take a look at some new horse feed made from coconuts. It’s high-powered protein, and supposedly it takes half as much to feed one horse. I’m skeptical, but if he thinks it’s worth looking into, I’ll keep an open mind.”

  “Grandfather must have put Quint on to the idea of the coconut feed,” Alexa said. “He’s always looking at new things in the industry.”

  “From the way Quint talks, your grandfather is quite a character. Just how old is he, anyway?”

  “Abe is eighty-four. But he thinks he’s forty-four.”

  “Hmm. Well, I admire him without ever having met him. Any man that can keep an open mind about progress at that age has to be a good man.”

  Beneath lowered lashes, Alexa allowed her gaze to sweep over the long length of him. His jeans were faded and worn, but his brown boots were expensive ostrich, and his green-and-white-striped shirt had a tailored look to it. Since she’d just written out the payroll, she knew exactly what the ranch wa
s paying him for his services. It was a handsome amount, but not the sort that would support wearing a couple-hundred-dollar pair of boots in a cow pasture. The idea made her wonder if he’d come from a moneyed family. Yet if that were the case, he’d probably be working his own ranch instead of someone else’s, she decided.

  “If you’d like, we’ll drive over to Apache Wells, my grandfather’s ranch, some time soon, and I’ll introduce you,” she said after a moment. “Gramps always likes company, and I’ve not seen him in a while.”

  He glanced at her and she could see her invitation had surprised him. Frankly, she’d surprised herself. This past week, she’d done her best to keep the man pushed out of her thoughts. Yet each night when she’d climbed the stairs to her bedroom, she’d missed him at her side. Missed the warmth of his hands, the tender concern on his face. And later, in bed, she’d wondered what kind of lover he might be.

  “That’s sounds nice,” he said.

  For some reason the baby must have known her thoughts needed to be hauled back to order. He or she was doing flips and kicks, and Alexa unconsciously splayed her hand over the movement in her stomach.

  “You’ve been very busy this week,” she commented. “I’ve not seen you coming and going in the house.”

  He darted another glance at her, then frowned as he noticed her hand pressing against her abdomen. “What’s wrong? Are you hurting?”

  “No. Everything is fine. The little guy is just doing a tumbling act, that’s all.”

  His features relaxed. “Oh. So you know it’s a boy?”

  Alexa shook her head. “No. I’m old-fashioned. I want to learn the sex of the baby the natural way.”

  “Is that what you want? A boy?”

  Shrugging, she looked out the window. Whenever he talked to her about the baby, it made her sad. His interest seemed genuine, and she could only wonder why Barry couldn’t have been an honorable man, a father her child could have admired and looked up to. Instead, he’d been bent on acquiring power and money in ways that would no doubt eventually land him in deep trouble.