Beth Cornelison - Rancher's Deadly Reunion

“I don’t really like her. I love her.” Brady gave them a woeful look. “I want to marry her. But she turned me down. Flat. It’s over.”

Pam’s heart ached for Scott’s younger brother, but she could see Piper McCall’s side, too. “I’m sorry you’ve been hurt, Brady, but Piper’s leaving for college doesn’t have to be the end of your relationship. Give her the space she needs to spread her wings. Eighteen is kinda young to get married. You both have plenty of time to—”

“What about the baby?” he muttered, his eyes filling with tears. “She thinks I only wanna marry ’cause of the baby. But...I love her. And not just ’cause of the baby like she thinks.”

Scott exchanged a startled look with Pam, then asked cautiously, “What...baby?”

“Ours.” He ducked his head and heaved a shuddering sigh. “Mine and Piper’s. She’s pregnant.”

Something sharp and bitter pierced Pam’s heart. She didn’t want to resent anyone’s pregnancy, but she couldn’t help it. She and Scott had been trying for five years to have a baby—and failing. She worked hard to shove her pain down and focus on the issue at hand. “You...you’re sure? She’s sure?”

“Pretty sure. We didn’t use protection a few weeks back.” He glanced up with a guilty expression and raised a hand, “Stupid, I know. Don’t lecture me. But we were caught up in the moment and—” He expelled a harsh breath. “She’s been sick. She claimed she just had a stomach bug, but...” Brady shook his head, adding, “And every now and then, she just...puts her hand on her belly. Not her stomach but lower. I don’t even think she realizes she’s doing it, but I noticed. So she finally took a test and... I thought if we got married... I want to do the right thing for the baby.”

Pam’s stomach knotted, and her thoughts spun off in a hundred directions. Brady and his girlfriend had created a baby together by accident, when she and Scott couldn’t have the one they craved so deeply. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair! She shoved to her feet, putting a hand to her mouth and struggling to hold back the frustrated scream in her throat.

Scott sent her a worried look. He knew where her mind had gone. He was likely thinking the same thing but had to be brave in front of his brother.

“Brady, I’m sorry, man. I don’t know what to say.” Scott rubbed his hands on his sleep pants and divided a glance between her and his brother.

“I thought we had somethin’,” Brady mumbled, his eyes blinking closed for a moment. He was about to pass out from the looks of it. “But she doesn’t care. About me...or my baby...” He swiped at his face. “She can’t get out of town fast enough. Don’t think she wants to keep the baby...it’ll mess up her college plans. That’s all she talks about lately. Goin’ off to that snotty school and leavin’ Boyd Valley in the dust. Leavin’ me in the dust.”

Scott cast a side look to Pam. “Hon, I think Brady could use some coffee. Do you mind?”

She clenched her trembling hands, trying to hide their shaking. “I think he’s beyond coffee. I’ll get him a pillow and blanket so he can sleep it off.”

She pivoted on her heel and stalked out of the living room and down the hall to the linen closet, fighting back tears. Brady had gotten a girl pregnant. Without even trying. By mistake. Pam swallowed hard. What would Piper McCall do with the baby? Keep it? Put it up for adoption? Abort it? Her gut clenched hard, churning with nausea at the idea of Piper getting rid of the baby. Scott’s niece or nephew.

It wasn’t fair! She swiped at a tear that tickled her cheek. Then stilled.

Scott’s niece or nephew. His blood relation. An idea began to form, like a tickling at the nape of her neck. The tingling spread over her scalp as the idea grew stronger. Her heart thrashed in her chest, resolve solidifying.

She jolted when Scott touched her shoulder. “He’s out.”

“I want the baby,” she said, barely a breath.

“I know. It’s crazy. It’s cruel fate that he—”

She spun to face her husband. “No. I want that baby. Brady’s baby is your family. If she’s planning to give it up or is thinking she’ll get rid of it...”

“Pam?”

She was starting to hyperventilate. Grabbing the front of her husband’s T-shirt, she met his gaze with a pleading look. “We can call George in the morning. He has all kind of connections with adoption agencies around the country. I bet he knows people in Boston. That’s who she’d contact, right?”

“Pam—”

She shook the fistful of his shirt. “Listen! Surely with this kind of head start, George can alert his people, find out what she plans to do with the baby, find out if she plans to give it away and pull whatever strings he has to to get the baby for us.”

Scott didn’t say anything for a moment, his expression sad but thoughtful. “If Brady knew we had his child, he’d—”

She shook her head vehemently. “ No . We can’t tell Brady. Piper can’t know it’s us trying to adopt. It’ll be our secret. A closed adoption. If they knew it was their baby, it would be too hard, too complicated.”

Scott wiped the tears she hadn’t even realized she’d shed from her cheeks and kissed her forehead. “I know how much you’re hurting, how much you want a baby. But I don’t see how this would work. We’ll adopt another—”

“It can work. We’ll explain everything to George, and he’ll make it work. He’s the best adoption attorney out there. I know he can do this.”

Scott was shaking his head, and she released him with a shove. “So you won’t even try? We’re talking about your niece or nephew! This was meant to be. I feel it!”

Scott ducked his head, his breathing heavy and quick. When he lifted his chin again and met her gaze, a spark of determination lit his eyes. “All right. I’ll call George in the morning.”

Piper was leaving town. Ken Grainger watched the evidence play out on his computer screen. Thanks to the tracking program he’d installed on her computer on a weekend when the accounting office was abandoned, he could see everything she did on her work computer. Getting access to her personal laptop had been a bit harder, but he’d rather enjoyed the challenge. He was even able to access her laptop camera and watch her in her apartment. Well, as far as the camera angle allowed. But he’d caught a few glimpses of her walking through her living room in her towel last week, and he was still enjoying the fantasies that peek created for him.

He shoveled another spoonful of cereal in his mouth, then wiped dribbles of milk from his chin with his sleeve. He chewed and followed the movement of her cursor as she booked her flight for Denver.

Ken frowned. He knew she was from Colorado, but she typically didn’t go back to her family’s ranch except at Christmas and for a brief visit around Mother’s Day. An October visit was unusual, and this break from her normal pattern didn’t sit well with him. Why was she going now? What was he missing?

He grumbled a curse under his breath. He had to find a way to hack her new cell phone. He was missing so much valuable information by not being party to her texts and phone calls. Putting that kind of hacking in place would take a little more planning. Cunning.

He grinned as she typed in her credit card number to purchase the airline ticket. Challenge accepted. Piper was worth the effort and the expense involved. He would convince her, some way, that they were soul mates, destined to be together, and anyone who interfered with that destiny would pay the price.