Joanna Sims - High Country Christmas

“London...” He groaned. “You feel like heaven to me.”

Tyler sank the full length of his shaft within her willing body. He hadn’t expected it, and neither had she, but London climaxed. She knew that they were far away from prying ears, so she threw her head back and cried out loudly as waves of ecstasy rolled out from her core and fanned out over the rest of her body. Tyler held on to her tightly, held himself steady, and waited for her to ride the waves until their very end. Once she was breathless and clinging to him, Tyler gave her exactly what she had demanded from him in the beginning. He made love to her with more passion than he’d even known he was capable of. He kissed her harder and loved her harder than he had ever loved another woman before. He tried to show her with every inch of his body how much he cared about her. His unrestrained passion drove London to a second orgasm, and at the sound of her joyous cries, Tyler found his own powerful release.

Tyler kissed her lips, her neck, and then slowly eased his body away from hers. Side by side, and on their backs, they let the chilled air cool their skin.

London was the first to speak. “I have to admit...your way has its benefits.”

Tyler laughed. “I’m glad you approve.”

He was encouraged when she didn’t pull her hand back when he reached for it. He knew, in that exact moment, that he loved London. Perhaps he had loved her for a long time and out of self-preservation never admitted it to himself or to her. He loved her. He was in love with her. He needed to tell her how he felt...he would tell her. But not tonight. Tonight, for the first time in his life, Tyler would sleep with his arms around the woman he loved.

* * *

The following morning, the bright sunlight brought with it a heavy dose of reality. London had sprung out of bed, shaken Tyler to awaken him and then rushed downstairs so she could take the pregnancy tests. While she was in the bathroom, Tyler got dressed and waited on the love seat for her. She emerged from the bathroom carrying four tests. She sat down next to him and, one by one, laid the tests out in front of them on the coffee table.

“I feel bad putting pee sticks on your mom’s table.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Tyler stared hard at the tests. “There’s bleach under the sink. What are we looking for?”

London pointed to each test. “Plus sign, plus sign, two lines, two lines.”

“If we see a plus sign or two lines, it will mean that yes, you’re pregnant?”

She nodded. “And a negative sign or one line means that I’m not pregnant.”

“I...think I see a second line on this one...” He leaned forward to get a closer look at one of the tests. “Do you see a second line, too?”

London’s body crumpled forward, her hands pressed tightly into her stomach. She didn’t want to see it, but she did see a second line. And then, to make matters worse, she saw a plus sign, too. One by one, the tests came back positive. She was pregnant with Tyler Brand’s child.

London stared at the four positive tests, her hand over her mouth to stop herself from saying something horrible she might regret later. She wanted to scream and curse and throw something so hard that it would shatter into a thousand pieces. But she couldn’t. So she just sat there, staring and knowing that going to Tyler’s room that night had been a terrible mistake.

Tyler was staring at the four positive tests as well. Even though he’d known this was a real possibility, he still felt a little bit in shock. And he didn’t know what the heck he should say to London. He had the certain feeling that anything he said was going to be wrong.

“You’re pregnant,” Tyler said robotically.

She looked at him as though he was the dullest nail in the toolbox before she stood up, gathered up the offending tests and shoved them back into the bag.

“I know ,” she snapped at him.

“Do you want to talk about it now?”

“No.” She jerked a knot into the top of the bag to make certain that the tests wouldn’t fall out when she threw them away. “I don’t want to talk about it. We should head back.”

Tyler was actually relieved she didn’t want to talk. They both needed some time to adjust to the idea. In his family, there was no such thing as pregnancy without marriage. He was just getting used to the idea of being in love for the first time and now he was on track to be a father. Other than his responsibility to ranching, maturity had never really been high on his priority list. Babies and marriage, especially with a woman like London, would take all manner of maturity.

He cleaned up downstairs while London tackled the loft. She quickly made the bed and then sat down on the edge of the mattress to look out the window. The world outside that window was so pretty and peaceful and simple. She placed a hand on her flat stomach.

Pregnant.

She quickly began to mentally count out the months in her head. If she kept the baby, she’d still be able to finish her last semester as planned. But she would be very pregnant by graduation and she wouldn’t be able to hide it.

“What have I done?” London closed her eyes tightly and forced the flood of emotions bubbling up inside her back down. There was no sense getting all weepy. It wouldn’t do her a bit of good.

London stood up, plumped the pillows and then headed down the spiral staircase. Tyler was waiting for her; he watched her closely but didn’t detect any hint that she might have been crying while she was upstairs. He wasn’t all that surprised—she had a stiff-upper-lip attitude. Even so, at the door, he put both hands lightly on her shoulders and waited for her to look at him.

“London...I promise you,” he said sincerely. “It’s going to be okay.”

“That’s not a promise you can keep, Tyler.”

“Yes, it is.” Tyler wrapped his arms tightly around her body, a body that seemed to be trembling from the inside out. “Yes. It is.”

Chapter Four

They returned to the ranch undetected and went their separate ways. They both had jobs to do there, and those jobs weren’t going to wait from them to sort out their problems. At the end of his day, Tyler found London in the foaling barn watching over his mother’s mare.

“How’s she doing?” Tyler asked London quietly.

London glanced at him to let him know that she had heard him before she focused her attention back to Rising Star. She had moved the mare into the foaling stall located at the quieter end of the stable. Horses liked quiet, dimly lit areas to give birth and often waited until nighttime to foal.

London used a calm, quiet voice to answer his question. “She’s been showing some pretty strong signs that she’s going into labor. Her nipples are thicker and hanging down lower...”

“Any sign of waxing?”

London nodded. Some mares developed a waxy coating on their nipples a couple of days before giving birth, which signaled that they were getting ready to foal. “I was just about to tie up her tail and put down a fresh bed of hay for her.”

“I’ll grab the hay.”

While London set herself to the task of wrapping Rising Star’s thick, long tail up and out of the way of the birth canal, Tyler stacked fresh bales of hay outside the stall. They worked in silence, methodically preparing for the birth. Once the tail was wrapped, London left the stall to mix a warm, soapy solution. When she returned with a bucket and sponge, Tyler had already spread the hay around the stall, creating a soft, clean bed for Rising Star.

London quickly washed Rising Star’s teats, udder, hind legs and muscular buttocks. Tyler grabbed the feed and water buckets, and then they both left Rising Star alone, in peace. They had done everything they could do to help the mare have a successful birth, but the rest was up to her. All they could do now was wait. Watch and wait.