Barbara White Daille - The Cowboy's Triple Surprise

“We all realize that. So remember, if Jed doesn’t offer you as many extra hours as you’d like, it’s because everybody out at the ranch is concerned about you.”

“You could have fooled me,” Shay said as she rang up the purchase. “Jed might be, but Tina and Jane spent more time falling all over Tyler than they did watching out for me. I was glad they kept him occupied—and away from me.” They had kept him busy on the other side of the room, except for that short time he had stood next to her. She had continued working, had forced herself not to look up, yet she had been as aware of him as if he’d plopped himself down in the center of all the vases on the table in front of her.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do about talking to him?” Layne asked.

“Not yet.” Sighing, she scooped up the pile of pennies in the cash register drawer and let them trickle through her fingers. “I know you’re right. If I don’t tell him, someone else will. But I want to do it my way. In my own time.”

“Which still means not at all,” Layne said wryly. “Otherwise, you would have managed to talk to him at the ranch yesterday.”

Shay reached for the twenty-dollar bill Layne held out. “I couldn’t have, with everyone around.”

“That makes sense. With news like yours to share, you’re going to need some time alone with him.”

Her insides turned as cold as a tub of ice cream. It had nothing to do with the freezer case beside her and everything to do with the picture Layne’s words had formed in her mind. “At the rate things are going, it doesn’t seem likely that’s going to happen.”

But even as she said the words, she knew she was going to have to make it likely. No matter how she felt about Tyler, he was going to have to learn the truth. And she wanted to be the one to break the news to him.

The one to tell him he had gotten her pregnant, and she didn’t want him anywhere near her or her kids.

As she handed Layne the change, she saw, beyond her, a customer standing outside the glass-paned front door. She curled her fingers against her empty palm and swallowed a groan of frustration.

Tyler swung the door open. When he stepped into the shop, the temperature suddenly seemed to rise by a hundred degrees.

He nodded at her and removed his Stetson.

Layne looked toward the door. “Well, hi there. It’s been a while.”

“Yeah, it has.”

Layne said something else; Tyler replied. Shay saw their mouths moving, but panic seemed to have closed her ears.

“Well.” Layne turned and sent Shay a sympathetic glance as she reached for the sack with her ice cream. “I’d better get home before this melts,” she said brightly. In a lower voice, she said, “Good luck with your private chat.”

Not here. Not now. “You don’t have to go,” she protested just as Tyler opened the door again. For a moment, she held on to the hope he planned to leave. But he was only being polite for Layne.

Too bad he hadn’t been a gentleman for her.

She flushed, knowing she was at least half to blame for winding up...together with him. At least half to blame, if not much more, for believing in something that wasn’t meant to be.

He closed the door behind Layne and turned Shay’s way.

The room seemed to spin—not a symptom of pregnancy she had experienced before. She put her hands on the counter in front of her. “Don’t tell me they’ve sent you here from the Hitching Post for ice cream.” She fought to keep her voice steady. “I happen to know what’s on the menu for the reception tonight, and everything’s covered.”

“Nobody sent me here. But everyone’s all tied up, and I had time on my hands.”

“Really? You didn’t have Jed to talk to?”

“He said he’d be busy all night at the reception.”

She frowned. “That’s strange. He always makes an appearance, but he’s never stayed the entire time, except at his granddaughters’ weddings. Well, then, what about Pete?” Jane and her husband lived in the manager’s house on Garland Ranch. “And if he’s busy, you’ve got plenty of cowhands to hang out with.”

“Maybe I had the urge for dessert.”

“Then you’ll find more of a selection at SugarPie’s.”

“Could be. But maybe what I want’s right here.”

Once she would have fallen for that line and hoped he wanted her. She was so over that now. So over him.

She slid open the freezer case and pulled out an empty ice cream tub. It gave her the excuse to walk away, to go into the workroom and avoid his blue-eyed stare. Shaking her head in disgust at herself, she crossed to the big freezer.

She had been all too good at analyzing his expression these past couple of days. She had seen the surprise on his face after he noticed the size of her stomach, had witnessed his frustration as she stood to leave the banquet hall. And just a minute ago, she had clearly read the determination in his eyes.

As she pulled open the freezer door, cold air blasted her. With luck, it would shock some sense into her. Hands shaking, she reached up to the top shelf for another tub of butter-pecan ice cream.

Just as he had yesterday, Tyler stepped up beside her. Again, she nearly jumped out of her shoes.

“I’ll get it.” He grabbed the tub she intended to take off the shelf.

“Thanks, but I’m pregnant, not incapacitated.”

“I didn’t think you were.” He slammed the freezer door shut. “Let’s just say I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine.”

The image that followed his words stole her breath.

He looked away, as if he’d only now realized what he had said. He cleared his throat and looked back at her. “I’ll take care of this, then you can take care of a few things for me.”

Unfortunately, his attempt to make his point clearer only filled her mind with bittersweet images and memories. Tyler flirting with her at Cole and Tina’s reception... Tyler’s hand brushing hers as they walked the streets of Cowboy Creek on a moonlit night... Tyler kissing her thoroughly as he ran his fingers through her hair...

She had to get her thoughts and this conversation back on track. “Take care of a few things?” she repeated.

“Questions.”

This close, he seemed to tower over her. It wasn’t a menacing stance, just a result of the difference in their heights. She had grown up as one of the tallest girls in school, and after meeting Tyler at the wedding, she had liked that he made her feel petite. She still liked it. His towering didn’t bother her.

It was his nearness that left her feeling shaky. This close and at this stage in her pregnancy, her rounded stomach nearly brushed his flat abs. This close, she could see every darker fleck in his dark blue eyes, making her wonder if any of her babies would have eyes the same shade.

She didn’t move. He didn’t, either. After a moment she realized she stood leaning back against the freezer door. The cool metal sent another shiver through her. The cold tub he held in one arm, so close to her, added to her chill.

And still, they stood as frozen as two ice cream sandwiches.

Finally, she tore her gaze away, breaking whatever spell had captured her, and pushed past him. It took effort for her not to run. “If you intend to help me, you can put that tub in the freezer case up front.”

As he followed, she heard his boots on the tile floor behind her. She should have heard him in the ballroom yesterday and here in the workroom a few minutes ago. But, no, both times she had been so wrapped up in thoughts of him, she hadn’t noticed his approach. Not good at all when she needed to stay in control any time she was near him.

She had lost control with him once, and look what had happened.

At the freezer case, he slid the tub into the empty space. To her relief, he then walked back around to the front of the counter.