The Cowboy's Triple Surprise. Barbara White Daille
He needed to act normally around her, as though he didn’t have a care in the world. Which he didn’t. Hoping for a casual approach, he headed toward their table. From across the room he saw Jane start their way, too.
He came to a stop beside Shay, not too near, but close enough to see the long sweep of her lashes as she kept her eyes down, her gaze focused on her work. Close enough to smell the same flowery perfume she had worn last summer when he’d danced with her at the wedding and, a few nights later, when he had slept with her in her bed.
He gulped another mouthful of sweet tea and nearly choked on it.
Shay never looked his way. The chances she would even throw a glance at him seemed less likely by the second. That only made him more determined to get her attention. He gestured toward the vases lined up on the table. “Looks like this is going to be one big wedding.”
He stood facing Shay, but Tina answered instead. “The biggest we’ve had here yet,” she said emphatically.
He knew she was the financial genius in the family. “The thought of all that income must make your accountant’s heart beat faster.”
She laughed. “You must have heard that phrase from Cole.”
“I did.” He looked at Shay. Another, more intimate memory of them together flashed into his mind. “What makes your heart speed up?” he blurted.
“Heartburn,” she said flatly.
He blinked. Maybe that was a symptom of pregnancy. Or maybe she was just pulling his leg.
“This worker is due for a break, too,” she said, bracing her hands on the table. She seemed to have trouble pushing herself to her feet. Afraid she might overbalance and fall over the chair, he held it steady for her just as he’d done in the dining room after lunch. And just like then, she gave him a curt, dismissive nod. “Tina, I’m going for a walk. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Good idea,” he said. “I feel the need to stretch my legs, too.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re not—”
“—thinking of leaving us, are you?” Tina finished. “Tyler, I’m surprised at you. We’ve still got so many tables to set up.”
“We certainly do,” Jane said. “And we’ve run into a little problem over there.” She pointed to the far side of the room. She raised her brows.
Tina smiled.
Shay turned and left the room.
Shrugging, he followed Jane across the banquet hall. He’d been roped into helping again, and danged if he could think of a single good excuse that would cut him loose.
Somehow, he managed to carry on a conversation with Jane and the rest of the women while his brain focused on the topic of Shay’s baby. The first chance he had to find her alone, he wanted an answer to the question that continued to nag at him:
Just how far along is she?
* * *
FOR THE REST of the afternoon, Jane kept him hopping. The closest Tyler got to Shay was when he set up chairs at the tables in the area near where she was working.
He had just come within yards of her when she pulled a cell phone from the bag she had hooked over the back of her chair. After checking the display, she turned to Tina. “I need another break. And I missed a call from my grandmother.”
“Give Mo our regards,” Tina said.
Shay nodded. This time she appeared to have less trouble getting up. She also seemed to be in a hurry, as if she wanted to get out of her seat before he could lend his help.
He watched her walk off.
A few minutes later, Tina left the ballroom, too.
Time ticked away, and neither of the women returned.
Eventually, Jed and Paz stopped in the doorway and surveyed the setup. Tyler tucked the final two chairs beneath a table, then sauntered in their direction.
“Looking good,” Jed said.
Tyler eyed the room and tried to see it from the older man’s perspective. All the tables had been covered with long white cloths and shorter pale blue ones, but only half the sets of silverware wrapped in white napkins had been put in place. And there were no decorations around the room yet.
He gestured to the folding table at which Shay and Tina had been sitting. “Looks like two of your helpers have deserted you.”
“Tina had to go back to work in her office,” Paz said.
“And Shay left,” Jed put in, answering Tyler’s unspoken question.
“Left?” he asked, startled. Then he backpedaled, trying to downplay his interest. “I mean, I thought she was in charge of table decorations.”
“She is. But she got a call from her grandma and said she had to go home.”
Jed made the statement so calmly, Tyler couldn’t jump to the conclusion that anything was wrong. He also couldn’t keep from wondering whether Shay had wanted to avoid him. At that thought, the hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention. She had no reason to stay away from him now. He’d assured her he wouldn’t bring up their past.
He thought back to Cole and Tina’s wedding and what had happened a couple of days after, and couldn’t help rechecking his math. But even if the dates tallied, that didn’t have to mean a thing. They’d seen each other less than a handful of times. They’d slept together once. What were the chances she’d gotten pregnant from what amounted to a one-night stand? A heck of a lot slimmer than her waist right now, that was sure.
He focused on his surroundings again and found Paz looking his way. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear he saw sympathy in her gaze.
“Shay told me to tell Jed she was sorry,” she explained. “Her grandmother is fine. I think it was Shay who wasn’t feeling well. Tina will call her in a little while to make sure she arrived home.”
“Good idea.” Jed nodded.
“If she felt that sick,” Tyler said, “you’d think she’d have called her husband to pick her up.”
“Doesn’t have a husband,” Jed returned.
“No novio—boyfriend—either,” Paz added.
Exactly the question Tyler’s mental mathematics had caused him to consider all afternoon. But asking Jed or Paz about Shay’s pregnancy would only bring more unwanted attention to his interest in a woman he should only barely know.
* * *
SHAY STRETCHED OUT on her friend’s couch, putting her tired feet up in hopes of easing the swelling. She pulled the afghan from the back of the couch and spread it over her, but even the weight of the knitted wool couldn’t banish the chill she felt.
Layne came from the apartment’s small kitchen carrying a tray with a couple of mugs and a plate of cookies. When she held out one of the steaming mugs, Shay took it gratefully.
Though she hadn’t eaten much of her lunch at the Hitching Post, she couldn’t even look at the cookies. When she got home, she would have to have something. Not now. The way her stomach felt at the moment, she almost didn’t want to risk a sip of tea, either. But she needed the warmth. Needed the mug to hold on to.
She sighed again and glanced at Layne, the only person who knew the truth about her pregnancy. “Tyler’s going to figure out the timing, if he hasn’t already. Even if he’s not the type to keep track of dates—” or to keep track of his conquests “—he’ll remember the month of the wedding. So many brides get married in June.”
As if to challenge that tradition, Layne and her ex-husband had remarried at the Hitching Post just this past weekend.
Shortly before