Kristine Rolofson - Blame It On Babies

Lorna asked.

“I guess that was an unusual night for both of us.” Jess believed anything she told him, he realized. But he still had the nagging sense that there was something else she hadn’t told him.

“I’d like to take you to dinner,” he said, sounding as casual as possible while he thought about what her body felt like. And how sweet she tasted when she parted her lips for his kiss. He wanted her more than he wanted to breathe.

“It’s not necessary,” she replied. “Honest.”

“I’d like to anyway.”

“I can’t.”

“Are you involved with someone else?” Jess wondered, ignoring a fierce stab of jealousy.

She shook her head.

“Then you’re free to have dinner with me Friday night.”

“Mr. Sheridan, I really can’t go out with you.”

“Call me Jess,” he said. “I’ll pick you up at seven.” He turned quickly and went down the porch steps. He didn’t want to hear her objections, didn’t want to hear her refuse his invitation.

He was a patient man. He could wait until Friday.

Dear Reader,

Welcome once again to Beauville, Texas!

Blame It on Babies was such fun to write, especially when it opened with Jake and Elizabeth’s wedding in the town square. Pookie is there, wearing a tux in honor of the festivities, and so are all the cowhands from the Dead Horse Ranch. A waitress serving barbecued ribs at the reception and a bitterly divorced wedding guest end up together at the end of the evening. Six months later, Jess and Lorna’s volatile romance gives the townspeople lots to talk about!

You’ll meet these characters again, plus some other familiar friends, in my next book, Blame it on Texas, a Harlequin single title available in March 2001. You’ll see what happened to Elizabeth and Jake, plus learn a few of the town’s best-kept secrets, when the Good Night Drive In is turned into a retirement home and Dustin Jones, former cowhand at the Dead Horse Ranch, meets up with his first love.

I love hearing from readers, so please let me know what characters you’d like to see again in future Beauville stories.

Best wishes!

Kristine Rolofson

P.O. Box 323

Peace Dale, RI 02883

HARLEQUIN TEMPTATION

765—BILLY AND THE KID

802—BLAME IT ON COWBOYS*

Blame it on Babies

Kristine Rolofson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

JESS SHERIDAN HAD NO USE for weddings. He was only attending this one out of respect for the man standing next to the bride, an impressively beautiful woman he’d seen shopping in town a few times. She’d looked pleasant enough…but didn’t they all?

Until the ring went on their finger, that is.

He watched Jake Johnson kiss his bride and applauded with the rest of the Beauville residents as the justice of the peace pronounced them married. Then he acknowledged Jake’s grin as the groom walked Mrs. Johnson back up the makeshift aisle toward the blue-and-white striped tent set up in the corner of the park. There’d be a makeshift bar in that tent, considering the amount of ice he’d seen being unloaded in that direction. No one would go thirsty this afternoon, not if the rumors were true about Jake sparing no expense to celebrate his sudden wedding to someone he’d known only a few weeks. The man was taking a chance, Jess figured, but no one had asked his opinion so he kept it to himself.

A cold beer would go down real good right now, considering a July afternoon in Texas had to be what hell felt like. Lucky he was used to it, like most folks around here, or else they’d expire before the barbecue ribs and corn bread were served over in the Grange Hall across the street. Jess looked around and saw some of the hands from the Dead Horse looking as if they were as thirsty as he was. Young Calhoun looked pale, probably hungover, if the rumors were right about him being dumped before getting married himself and drowning his sorrows in Jack Daniels ever since.

The kid spotted him, which made Jess wish he’d hurried to the beer tent a little faster.

“Sheridan!”

“Calhoun.” Jess braced himself for an onslaught of questions, but the group of men from the Dead Horse seemed uncharacteristically silent. “Nice wedding,” was all he could think of to say. Inwardly he wondered if Jake would be able to keep his ranch after the divorce or would his wife carry a bag of money back to wherever it was in New England she came from.

“What a shindig!” The young man wiped his brow with the back of his sleeve. “I’m glad that’s over. Jake made us wear these neckties.”

“And iron our shirts,” Old Shorty griped. “But Miz Elizabeth sure looked pretty, didn’t she?”

“Yeah. Most brides do.”

Dusty Jones, the cowhand closer to his own age than the others, gave him a sharp look. And then he smiled, as if he knew darn well what other things Jess had been thinking.

“She’s a nice lady. And they’ll do just fine,” the man declared. “Jake’s a happy man today.”

Bobby sighed. “I should’ve been a married man last week. Amy Lou and I were gonna get married on the Fourth of July.”

Shorty rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, your heart’s been broken a few hundred times before this one, so you’ll get over it.”

“I saw the Wynette twins heading toward the beer tent,” Dusty said. “You might drown your sorrows in that direction.”

Calhoun brightened, his broken heart obviously forgotten with the news that the blond barrel racers were starting to drink. Billy Martin, his ever-present cohort, looked more cheerful, too. “Well, I guess we’d all better get us a cold beer.”

Shorty shook his head. “We’re supposed to go into the line,” he told them. “Shake Jake’s hand and kiss the bride and all that.”

“The receiving line,” Jess felt compelled to point out, “starts over there by the bar.”

He would have laughed at the expression of relief on the men’s faces, but he didn’t think anything was funny today. In a few short hours he was leaving Beauville, and he didn’t care if he never returned. “Where’s Roy?”

“He elected to stay at the ranch,” Bobby said. “He’s not much for crowds.”

“I’d better go get that dog,” Shorty said. “I promised Miz Elizabeth I’d keep him out of the sun.”

“And away from the ladies,” Bobby added. “The little critter likes to pee on just about anything.”

“Better keep Billy away from the ladies too, with his luck,” Shorty joked, earning an elbow in the ribs from Marty.

“He’s right. I have the worst damn luck with women,” the young cowboy grumbled, but his gaze was on the beer tent. The receiving line was moving right along.

“I think I win that prize,” Jess said, tipping his hat lower on his forehead. The four men stared at him, then looked at the ground, the beer tent, the sky and the two matronly ladies who walked past them.