Lorna wanted to say she had a book of baby names at home that the couple could borrow, but she kept silent. Elizabeth wouldn't have known she was pregnant, though Jake would have noticed. He was in the café whenever he had errands to do in town, but Lorna didn't remember seeing Elizabeth there. "Congratulations again," she said, and watched the couple head for a corner booth, hand in hand. Then she looked back at her date. Surely the topic of babies would lead to questions of his own, but the man kept silent.
Very silent.
She excused herself to go to the ladies' room, which fortunately was behind her. At least she didn't have to walk past him, her belly on the same level as his nose. Once she was in the privacy of the ladies' room, she blinked back tears – those damn tears came way too easily these days – and wondered once again if she should bring up the subject herself. By the way, I'm pregnant, she could say. Did you see that I resemble a kangaroo? Notice anything different from the last time you saw me?
No, not that one. The last time he saw her she was naked in bed beside him. She wished he hadn't left without saying goodbye. The coward had bailed out at dawn's early light and hadn't been seen again. She supposed he was embarrassed; Lord knew she certainly was. And then she'd discovered he'd had a job in Huntsville and wasn't expected back in Beauville until January, when he would take over for Matt Jacobs at the beginning of the year. She'd waited, telling herself it didn't matter if he didn't remember. She remembered. She always would.
Well, if he wasn't going to say anything, she wasn't going to say anything. This gave her more time to decide what to tell him and made her feel less guilty for not telling him sooner.
Lorna splashed some water on her face and dried her skin with a paper towel. There. She looked presentable, at least for someone carrying around a little human being who liked to kick his mommy every time she sat down for more than five minutes.
She would tell the man nothing. The stupid sheriff would have to figure it out for himself.
* * *
He let his breath out the minute Lorna left the table. It felt damn good to breathe again, because he'd been on edge since he'd caught on the woman was going to have a baby. Meaning there had been someone else before him.
And he still wanted her. He must be some kind of pervert, lusting after a pregnant woman. He glanced over his shoulder to where Jake sat next to Elizabeth. But there was a man in love with his pregnant wife and who looked like he wanted to make love to her, so maybe he wasn't a pervert after all. Jess had heard they'd met when she and her niece came out to visit the Dead Horse Ranch last summer. Jess would have bet a month's salary that there had been no one-night stand in their past to complicate things.
Jess looked down at the empty dessert plate in the middle of the table. They'd gotten all the way through dessert and he still hadn't managed to apologize to her for that night. That was the reason for this whole date to begin with. That, and wanting her to like him and see that he wasn't normally a fool.
She returned from the ladies' room too soon, before he figured out what he was going to say next.
"Would you like anymore to drink?" was all he could think of.
"No, thank you." She was polite and sweet and about as obtainable as the moon. She belonged to someone else, he told himself. She was having his child. "Tell me about the Johnsons," she said, as if she was really interested. "Have you known them long?"
"Jake's my age. We played football in high school. I used to own a ranch near the one where he used to work. Now he and Elizabeth have their own place south of town."
"Is Elizabeth from around here?"
"No. She's from back East somewhere." He drained the rest of his coffee and wondered if it was time to take Lorna home. "I guess we should go."
"All right." He thought she might have looked disappointed, but he figured he must have imagined it. He'd tried real hard to make sure she had a good time, but he was no master of small talk or dinner conversation. She'd looked like she was enjoying herself, but maybe that was because she liked the food. She'd eaten every bite of her small steak, baked potato and broccoli. She'd given him most of the pie, but he knew she'd liked that, too.
He had redeemed himself, so why was he sorry the evening was over?
Ten minutes later he walked her up the stairs to her front door. She found her key in her purse and unlocked the door before turning to smile up at him. "Thank you for dinner," Lorna said.
"Thank you for rescuing me at the wedding reception." He watched her cheeks turn pink and worried that he shouldn't have brought that up again.
"You don't owe me anything. You helped me with Texas Tom, so it was the other way around, remember?"
He didn't think so, not if his foggy memory was any indication. It probably would be rude to apologize for making love to her, especially if he didn't regret it for one second.
Jess paused, then leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Good night."
"Good night." She opened the door and slipped inside, leaving Jess on the porch to decide that he had done his duty; from now on he would leave this woman alone. She had her life and he had his.
The thought depressed him.
* * *
Lorna watched the sheriff's car drive away before she sank onto her couch and leaned back against the cushions. Her back hurt and she had to get up at five, but she wasn't the least bit sleepy. She kicked off her shoes, wriggled her bare toes and rested her feet on the coffee table. The baby executed a couple of somersaults, making her smile.
"Your daddy's not very bright," she told her abdomen. "But that's okay. I don't think he wants to be a daddy right now."
She'd always thought she loved Jess, since she was thirteen and he was the handsomest boy she'd ever seen. She'd grown up thinking that no matter what, he would be hers. His marriage disappointed her, but she decided she'd outgrown her childhood crush and had a couple of boyfriends in college. While working in Dallas, she heard about his divorce, but it wasn't until that night of the wedding that she'd realized just how much he still mattered to her.
Their lovemaking had been a surprise, something to treasure as a special memory. But now she knew firsthand unexpected passion often led to other surprises, such as the little being inside of her now.
"Don't worry," she whispered. "I'll love you enough for him and for me."
* * *
A soft hand touched his waist, tickled his skin in an alarmingly arousing way. He shifted, wanting to make love to her. His arousal was almost painful, evidence of his reaction to having that sweet-smelling female snuggled up against him. Somehow he managed to lift away her tangled nightgown, which left him access to the most inviting body he'd ever had the privilege to touch.
He didn't know who she was, though her yellow curling hair brushed his shoulder as she moved closer to him. She had the breasts of a goddess, perfect and heavy in his hands, with nipples that begged for the kind of attention that only he could give.
Heaven, Jess thought, pushing the sheet out of his way. He had died and gone to heaven and he was making love to…he didn't know her name. Ah, he sighed, nameless sex. Even better, even more mysterious. She shivered when his fingers swept up her thighs to that intimate place where he would soon join his body with hers…
She shifted, moved closer. She opened her eyes – light blue eyes the color of the sky in the morning – and smiled at him, and he fitted himself into her and—
Didn't use a condom? Jess opened his eyes and gasped for air. The motel room was too cold, the air-conditioning humming so loud that, for a moment, Jess didn't know where he was. Certainly not in bed making love to Lorna Walters.
He blinked and willed his memory to focus on that night. He'd had way too much to drink He'd passed out – in her bed? He woke in the middle of the night and took a shower; he remembered a pink bathroom, a pink towel, perfumed soap. And then…he remembered making love to the woman in the bed.
The next thing he knew it was dawn. Think, Sheridan. Think about condoms. Thin
k about condom wrappers on the floor.
He remembered nothing on the floor but a bath towel, his clothes and his cowboy boots. He had made love to Lorna six months ago without using protection? Had he been that stupid?
Jess switched on the light and swung his legs to the floor. He reached for his cell phone and punched in Chelsea's home phone number. The woman answered in seven rings.
"Chelsea. It's Sheridan."
"Okay," she said. "What's going on?"
"You knew Lorna Walters was pregnant."
"How could you miss it?" She yawned. "Is she okay? I mean, is this an emergency?"
"How pregnant?"
"Huh?"
Jess didn't have the patience to explain the fads to his secretary. "You know everything that goes on in town and you knew she was pregnant. That's why you looked at me funny when I told you I had a date with her."
"Let me think. Take a deep breath or something." He heard her fumbling with something. "Do you know it's four o'clock?"
"Chelsea—"
"Let's see," she drawled. "I'd better get emergency pay for this."
"I'll take you to lunch."
"She's due the same time as my cousin. I remember that much, because we were talking about it at the café and she said the date and I said, 'oh, that's the same time as my cousin' and she said she was due the fourth and my cousin is due the third and—"
His patience snapped. "What month?"
Chelsea sighed. "April. Because we were talking about my grandmother, who was born on April Fool's Day and—"
"Thanks." He hung up. Lorna was due April fourth, so there must be a way to find out when she conceived. He called the Marysville hospital and asked to speak to a nurse in obstetrics.
"This is Sheriff Sheridan in Beauville." He used his most authoritative voice. "Quick question. If a woman is due April fourth, what was the day she conceived?"
"This is who?"
"Sheriff Jester S. Sheridan in Beauville, ma'am. I'd be real grateful for your assistance." He waited, hoping like hell that the nurse would take pity on him or at least believe that this was an official call.
"Just a minute, Sheriff. I might have one of those charts around here in a drawer somewhere."
He waited for what felt like an eternity. When the answer came, Jess dropped the phone on his big toe.
* * *
"It's my baby."
Lorna wished she hadn't opened the door. Jess didn't look happy. In fact, he looked downright terrible. He wore the same plaid shirt and khaki slacks from the night before, only the shirt was only half-buttoned, the slacks wrinkled and his usually neat hair was mussed, as if he had run his fingers through it a hundred times.
"It's my baby," he repeated, his dark eyes intent upon her face. "Isn't it?"
"Of course," Lorna said and stepped back to let him enter the house.
Jess looked surprised as he stared down at her. His hands held her shoulders. "It's my baby?"
"Yes." She stepped back and he released her.
"And you weren't going to tell me?"
"I was," she insisted, trying to wrap her robe around her midsection. It was times like this when she really missed her waist.
"When?"
"I thought you'd know." She noticed that he glanced at her abdomen and winced. That certainly wasn't very fatherly. "When you saw I was pregnant," she added. "I thought when you saw me you'd assume—"
"Assume I was going to be a father? Assume that one night in July when I was drunk I got someone pregnant?"
"It was a little bit of a surprise to me, too," Lorna told him, crossing her arms over her chest. "I have to get ready for work, so—"
"So we…had sex and didn't use any protection. That wasn't real smart, Lorna."
"There were two of us in the bed," she pointed out. "I've never bought a condom in my life, and before you I had sex twice. Twice. It was in college and my boyfriend supplied the, uh, protection."
A guilty expression swept over his handsome face. "I should have known better, I know. I hadn't, uh, been with anyone since my wife left."
So they were two inexperienced single people about to have a child. Lorna took pity on him. At least she'd had six months to get used to the idea. "Would you like some coffee?"
He gave her a blank look, so she repeated the offer. "No," he said. "I came here to find out if I was going to be a father, not to have breakfast."
"Well, you found out. Now I have to go to work."
"And then what?"
"What do you mean?"
"After you have the baby, you can't work and take care of a baby."
"I have some money saved. And I own this house. I'll figure it out."
"We'll get married." He didn't look happy about it. "I'm not crazy about the idea, but there's no choice. The baby is going to need a father. And I'm willing to do my duty to you and the child."
"Do your duty?"
"Yes." He straightened to his full height, every inch the protective male. "We don't know each other very well, but we're going to be parents. I think that calls for sacrifice."
"Sacrifice?"
"Besides," he said, obviously warming to the subject, "I don't want everyone in town knowing our business. We can say we've been secretly married since last summer."
"No one will believe that for a minute. And I don't—"
"Then we'll get married as soon as we can get a license." His frowned deepened. "We can drive to Dallas and do it so we don't have everyone around here gawking at us."
"I don't want to marry you." Not under these conditions, she didn't.
"I don't want to marry you either. You think I'm happy about this?" He threw his hands out, as if to emphasize his frustration. Lorna turned and headed toward the kitchen. "Where are you going?"
"You may not need coffee, but I do," she said, needing a break from the conversation more than she needed caffeine. He followed her into the small kitchen. She could feel his eyes on her as she retrieved a mug from the cupboard and filled it. "How did you figure all of this out, Sheriff?"
"I asked my secretary if she knew when you were due."
"Ah. The infamous Chelsea." She stopped every morning for a blueberry muffin and a cup of coffee, cream no sugar.
And she always had plenty to talk about. "So you counted backward."
"I checked with a nurse," he said. He leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms over his chest. "It was easy enough to figure out."
Lorna sat down at the small corner table, but she didn't ask Jess to join her. She took a sip of her coffee and looked at the dock above the refrigerator. She was going to be late for the first time in five and a half months, but Charlie would forgive her. He'd worry, though, so if she didn't get in to the café soon she knew he'd be calling her. "You could have asked me while we were having dinner."
"The thought that it was mine never crossed my mind." Her eyebrows rose at that statement, but she let him continue without interruption. "Nevertheless, we have a problem here. The sooner we face it the better."
"You can face anything you want," she said, sipping her coffee as if she didn't have a care in the world. "But I'm not going to marry you just to help you fulfill some sense of duty."
He gave her a blank look. "You don't have a choice. My son is not going to be born a bastard."
"My daughter is not going to grow up with parents who don't love each other and who only got married to save the sheriff some embarrassment."
"Daughter? Did the doctor tell you that?"
"Out," Lorna said, pointing her finger toward the front of the house. "Get out."
He didn't argue with her, although he opened his mouth and then closed it, as if he'd realized he'd said enough for one morning.
"Duty," she muttered, hurrying into the shower. Whatever happened to her dreams of happily ever after?
* * *
Chapter 6
«^»
"You owe me a lunch," his secretary reminded Jess.
"Why?" Ji
mmy Carter, the overeager deputy, looked up from his computer. "What's going on?"
"Never mind," Jess told him. He tried to concentrate on his paperwork. There was always paperwork, especially since there seemed to be more and more regulations every year.
Chelsea grinned. "It's private."
"Nothing's private in this town," the younger man grumbled.
"You're just cranky 'cuz Bobby's dating both the Wynette twins again." Chelsea poured Jess a fresh cup of coffee and placed it on his desk. "You two have the worst luck of any men I've seen."
"Don't get me involved in this conversation," Jess warned. He had enough trouble trying to do his work while thinking of Lorna down the street at the Coffee Pot, just a few blocks away. He didn't intend to embarrass himself by going over there. Unless he got real hungry for lunch. Jess looked at the clock. Ten-thirty was too early for a burger and fries and a glimpse at his future wife.
"It's not fair," Carter said. "Calhoun gets all the women in town. A fine upstanding man like myself can't get diddly-squat when it comes to female attention." He looked over at his boss. "I heard you were out with the waitress at the café last night. Is Bobby Calhoun goin' out with her, too?"
"No." Jess looked at the phone and wished it would ring. A bank robbery right now would certainly take his mind off impending fatherhood. He'd never been so frightened in his entire life than he'd been since he found out he was going to be a daddy. What if it was a girl? Girls were delicate creatures and had feelings and cried a lot. He hoped for a boy. At least with a boy he could teach him guy stuff. And talk about football.
"Lorna's real pretty," the young man continued. "How old do you think she is?"
"Too old for you," Chelsea said. "And she's pregnant."
"I didn't say I was interested. I just wondered how old she was." He punched some buttons on the keyboard. "Darn thing's frozen again."
"Let me see." Chelsea hurried over to his side and leaned over his shoulder. Carter was too busy staring at the monitor to realize that the secretary was enjoying her close proximity to Carter, but Jess didn't miss it. "Here. Let's start over and I'll see what I can save."
BLAME IT ON BABIES Page 6