Victoria Chancellor - Coming Home to Texas

“I am hungry, and I’m glad we’re not going out. I’ve eaten every meal in a restaurant with my agent, publicist or executives for potential endorsement deals for the past five days, and I could really use a night off.”

“Good. Well, I’ll leave you to freshen up. Come down to the kitchen whenever you’re ready.”

Jodie nodded, then added, “Thanks for understanding about my schedule, Travis, but just so you’re clear, I don’t have days to lie around the Hill Country. I have decisions to make.”

“You’ve already decided to have this baby, right?”

“Yes. That isn’t up for discussion.”

“Good, because I don’t want to argue about that.”

She nodded again. At least Travis wasn’t the type to suggest she make this “little problem” go away.

Within a few minutes she’d splashed water on her face, brushed her hair and dabbed on a little lip gloss. There was no reason to appear glamorous when she didn’t need to pose for the cameras. Besides, Travis had seen her many times over their one weekend together without makeup. Or without clothes, for that matter.

He’d just never seen her pregnant and desperate enough to ask a man she’d known for only three days to marry her.

What if he didn’t say yes?

“So I hear you have a very attractive lady visitor,” Hank McCauley taunted on the phone line.

Travis ground his teeth and silently wished his friend a slow and painful injury.

“Not that it’s any of your business,” he replied, glancing toward the second-floor hallway that wrapped around the great room like a balcony. He hoped Jodie didn’t walk in on him having this conversation. “She’s my guest, so butt out.”

“Hey, I heard she came into the Four Square Café looking for directions to your ranch. It’s not my fault most of your friends and neighbors were there to gawk.”

“I’ll bet you were gawking most of all.”

“I don’t gawk at other women much since Lady Wendy and I tied the knot.”

“Too bad she didn’t put a zipper on your mouth.”

Hank chuckled. “She likes my mouth way too much to mess with any modifications.”

Travis rolled his eyes. Hank could be completely outrageous. They’d known each other since their freshman year at the University of Texas. Hank had later dropped out to pursue his rodeo career, but Travis had gone on to get his master’s degree in architectural design. They’d lost touch for a few years while Hank was on the circuit. Now they were neighbors and best friends again.

Although, Travis reminded himself, with friends like that, he didn’t need any enemies. The gossip mill at the café would be going full steam for several days.

For at least as long as Jodie stayed in town. Alone with him at his ranch.

“So who else were you jawin’ with downtown?” He glanced at the clock over the wet bar. “It’s too late for lunch.”

“There was another meeting of the Fourth of July committee, which lasted longer than usual. They’re getting an early start this year, planning a big parade and celebration. So yeah, basically everyone was down here and talking about you and Jodie Marsh.”

“I suppose they all know by now who she is.”

“Yep. Very intriguing. Of course, I had to tell them I played a role in getting you two fixed up over in Europe.”

“Prince Alexi did most of the ‘fixing up,’ if I remember correctly.” Travis, Hank and his wife, Lady Gwendolyn, and Carole and Greg Rafferty had visited Prince Alexi and Princess Kerry—a former Ranger Springs native and Carole’s sister—along with the new little prince Alexander, in Belegovia in January. The country was building a new cultural center and wanted Travis to design the facility. That’s where he’d been when the lot of them had arranged a blind date in Monte Carlo with Jodie, whom Alexi knew through their charitable activities.

A date that had quickly turned into a passionate weekend.

“Heck, Travis, you’re the best entertainment we’ve got since most of us are married now. We’re depending on you for a little controversy.”

“Well, just leave it alone, okay? When I’m ready to tell you snoops anything, I’ll give you a call.”

“Tell us anything? Like what? Don’t tell me the blind date got really serious. Not with Travis the Confirmed Bachelor Whitaker!”

“I’m not telling you anything. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a meal to prepare for a lady.”

“Cooking for her, too. That does sound serious.”

Travis started to hang up the phone, but Hank shouted, “Wait! Wendy wants you and Jodie to come for dinner Wednesday night. Seven o’clock, okay?”

Travis sighed. He supposed the social engagement was necessary, even if he wasn’t ready to share Jodie with his friends and neighbors. “All right. See you tomorrow.”

“Anyone I know?” Jodie’s sexy, husky voice tore his thoughts away from his friends and neighbors and back to the woman who had just complicated his life. Not that she’d done it all alone. No, he’d participated very actively.

“Just Hank McCauley. He’s as nosy as coon dog on the first day of hunting season.”

“I thought he was nice.”

“You just don’t know him well.”

“He’s a good friend of yours, isn’t he?”

“The jury’s still out on that one,” Travis replied with a shake of his head.

Jodie chuckled. “You really are a private person, aren’t you?”

“I try to be. That’s why I bought this ranch. I wanted to get away from the congestion and hectic pace of a big city, plus I wanted to get a few horses and run a few head of cattle. I like living in a small community, but my neighbors can be bigger gossips than the tabloids.”

“Oh, I’ll bet they’re considerably nicer.”

“That’s true.” Travis looked over Jodie’s fresh face, glossy lips and lush figure. No one would suspect she was an internationally known model. Or that she was pregnant. She truly did appear to be “the girl next door.”

“The cosmetics company made a good choice when they decided you would be their new representative.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You look so young and fresh. So ordinary, but in an extraordinary way, if that makes any sense.”

“Thanks…I think.”

“My thoughts were extremely complimentary even if my words didn’t convey my feelings.”

She turned away, looking a bit embarrassed. “In that case, thanks again.”

“Are you hungry?”

“Famished. How may I help?”

“Why don’t you get some glasses out of that cabinet,” he said, gesturing with the salad tongs, “and decide what you’d like to drink.”

He turned his attention back to the roasted chicken he’d fixed in his smoker last night. It was his favorite meal, although he never let on to his cattle-ranching friends that he preferred chicken over a nice big steak. Folks had been run out of Texas for less.

When he turned to get the potato salad out of the refrigerator, he and Jodie collided. With a gasp, she stepped back.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m not used to having someone else in the kitchen.”

“My fault,” she said breathlessly, looking flushed and adorable. “I’m not used to being in someone else’s kitchen.”

He did his best to ignore the feeling of Jodie’s breasts brushing against his arm, but like the proverbial elephant in the room, he could barely think of anything else. Despite the distraction, though, within a few minutes they had the meal on the table.

“So,” he said after they’d started their salads, “tell me again why I should break every promise I made to myself about getting married again.”

“I’VE ALREADY EXPLAINED about the contract, the morality clause and my career. I don’t see how it could be any more clear.”