His Texas Runaway. Stella Bagwell
to beware.
He said, “Don’t worry about it. This is normal hours for me.”
She took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the chicken. “Have you had this clinic very long?”
“Twelve years,” he replied. “It’s my second home.”
“Where’s your first home? In town?” The questions came out of her before she could stop them. But thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind.
“No. I live about twenty-five minutes from here. On Three Rivers Ranch.”
“You have a ranch?”
“Partly. It’s owned and operated by the Hollister family. My brother Blake is the general manager, but my mom has the final say-so over everything.”
She shook her head. “Sorry. I’m being nosy.”
“Not really.” He gestured toward the mound of baby covering most of her lap. “When are you due?”
“About four weeks. That’s why I’m...making this trip now, before there’s a chance I might go into labor.”
“I’m not an OB, but I’d say there’s a chance you might go into labor sooner than that.”
Her cheeks burned with hot color. “I just look that way because I’m—I’ve gained a little extra weight these past couple of weeks.”
“No. I don’t mean you look big. It’s just the way you’re carrying. But like I said, I’m not an OB.”
No. But he’d probably seen plenty of pregnant animals, she thought. Oh, God, what was she doing here in this Arizona town, without one friend or acquaintance within a thousand-mile radius? Had she lost her mind?
No, you’ve not lost your mind, Roslyn. You’ve finally found it. Along with the guts to be your own person, live your own life, deal with your own mistakes.
“I should be fine until I get to California,” she said, wishing she felt as positive as she sounded.
“You have relatives there?”
She didn’t know a single person in California. She’d chosen that state because it was as far west as she could get from Texas. Also, her late mother, who’d originally lived in Redding, had left Roslyn a small house and piece of property there.
“No. I, uh, own a place in Redding.”
“That’s where you intend to settle?”
The chicken leg eaten, she put down the plate and he handed her the carton of yogurt. It was topped with blueberries, one of her favorite flavors.
“That’s my plan. I’ve never been there before, but I’ve heard the town is pretty.” Oh, Lord, why had she told him that? Now he was probably thinking she was completely irresponsible and chasing after pipe dreams. But this man’s view of her wasn’t important. Once she walked out of this clinic, she’d never see him again.
“Uh, I guess you’re wondering why I’m traveling alone. Without a man.”
“The question did cross my mind,” he admitted.
Her gaze fell to his left hand. There was no wedding band on his finger. But given the man’s occupation, he might choose not to wear one. He could be going home to a woman tonight. One that would be waiting for him with a smile on her face and love in her heart. Or was that sort of fairy-tale life even real? She wondered bitterly.
Dipping the spoon into the yogurt, she said, “I’m not married. And don’t plan to be—at least, not anytime soon. The baby’s father turned out to be a first-class jerk. So he’s out of the picture. Completely.”
He stroked a thumb and forefinger over his chin as he regarded her thoughtfully. “That’s...unfortunate. The baby needs a daddy. There isn’t any chance—”
“No!” she blurted before he could finish. “Shortly after he learned I was pregnant, he signed away all his paternal rights to the child. Since then, he’s already moved on and married someone else.”
“Is that the way you wanted it? Surely making him pay child support—”
Shaking her head, she said, “I don’t need or want his money. Not that he actually had any money of his own, anyway. Besides, it’s more important to me to have him totally out of my child’s life.”
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you.”
The empathy in his blue eyes was more than her frazzled emotions could bear and she purposely dropped her gaze to the yogurt. “Well, better now than later.”
She began eating the yogurt, but it took effort to get each bite past her tight throat. She needed to get out of here, she thought—away from his perceptive gaze and unsettling presence.
After a long stretch of silence, he asked, “Have you already made reservations for a room in town?”
Focusing on the yogurt, she scooped out the last bite. “Uh, no. With it being early spring before vacationers hit the highways, I was hoping there would be plenty of vacancies.”
“I’m sure there will be. But I...”
When he failed to go on, she looked up. “What? Is there some place in town I shouldn’t stay?”
A faint smile tilted the corners of his lips. “No. That wasn’t what I was about to say. I was thinking it would be far better if you’d come home with me.”
Chandler watched her eyes grow wide, her jaw drop. No doubt she was thinking he was some sort of pervert with a fetish for pregnant women. And he could hardly blame her.
It wasn’t like him at all to invite a woman, a stranger at that, to spend the night at his family home. In fact, he’d never done such a thing. Sure, he’d taken home plenty of strays to nurture. But none of those strays had been the two-legged kind with pretty brown eyes and a shy smile.
“Home—with you?” she asked, her voice little more than a squeak.
“I’m speaking as a doctor, Roslyn. You’ve just suffered a fainting spell. I’d feel better if you weren’t alone,” he reasoned.
Her head began to swing back and forth. “I don’t want to sound ungrateful, Mr. Hollister, but I don’t know the first thing about you.”
Lifting his hat from his head, he thrust a hand through his hair, then levered the hat back in place. His body was crying for food and a bed. But he was a long way off from either.
“Then I’ll tell you a few things. The Hollister family has lived in Yavapai County for more than a hundred and seventy years and have owned and operated Three Rivers Ranch for just as long. My younger brother Joseph is a deputy sheriff for the same county and my sister, Vivian, is a park ranger over at Lake Pleasant State Park. Holt, another younger brother, has the reputation of being one of the best horse trainers in the southwest. And our mother, Maureen, is tougher than all her kids put together.”
“Earlier, you mentioned your older brother, Blake. The ranch manager. I assumed he was the only sibling you had.”
The surprise in her voice suggested she wasn’t from a large family. He wanted to ask her if that was the case, but decided now was hardly the time.
“The Hollisters are a big family and we’re all very close. I failed to mention I have another younger sister besides Vivian. Camille is living in the southern part of the state on one of our other ranches, Red Bluff. As for Three Rivers, Blake and his wife and three children live there, along with me, Holt and Mom. Vivian and her daughter used to live there, too, but she married recently and moved up to Camp Verde. So you see, there will be plenty of chaperones around the place.”
“It