The Cowboy's Secret Twins. Carla Cassidy

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       Chapter 1

      Melissa Monroe couldn’t help but wonder if she was making a huge mistake. A fierce case of déjà vu filled her as she drove the Texas road. The lonely highway, the snow coming down from the overcast sky and the Christmas carols playing on the car radio all evoked memories of the last time Melissa had driven on this particular road.

      It had been just a little over a year ago, only at that time the snow hadn’t been comprised of pretty little flakes lazily drifting down, but rather a blizzard whiteout condition that had eventually forced her to pull over.

      A sexy stranger in tight jeans and a cowboy hat had rescued her. He’d told her his name was James and they’d ridden out the storm together in a vacant farmhouse.

      It had been a wild and crazy night and she’d acted completely out of character. The consequences of her actions that night were in two car seats in the back.

      Joey and James, who were a little over four months old, had been completely unplanned and unexpected, but since the moment she’d realized she was pregnant, they had been desperately wanted and loved.

      She glanced back now to check on them and smiled. Snug as bugs they were in their little blue coats and matching hats. They’d been sleeping for the better part of an hour and Melissa hoped to get where she was going before they woke up demanding another meal.

      Thirty minutes ago she’d passed the place in the road where she’d had to pull over during the storm a year ago. It was just outside the small town of Rockport, Texas. She was now ten minutes from the Texas town of Dalhart and her final destination.

      On that night a year ago she’d been on her way from her home in Amarillo to visit a friend in Oklahoma. Tonight she was on her way to someplace just on the other side of Dalhart.

      Tightening her hands on the steering wheel, she hoped she wasn’t on some kind of a wild-goose chase. Suddenly all kinds of doubts crashed through her mind. Maybe she was a fool to trust her cyber friend, a woman she’d never met in person but had bonded with over the past year in a chat room for single moms.

      MysteryMom had been a source of support, information and friendship over the past year. She’d helped Melissa through the difficult pregnancy. Then once the twins were born she’d been a font of advice on everything from colic to diaper rash.

      MysteryMom and Melissa’s best friend, Caitlin, were the only two people on earth who knew about the circumstances of the twins’ conception.

      Melissa suspected that MysteryMom had given her directions to her place, that she was bringing Melissa to her home for a face-to-face meeting and to spend the holidays together.

      For the past couple of weeks Melissa had been depressed. Christmas was only four days away—the twins’ first Christmas—and she hadn’t even had any extra cash to buy a tree or a single present.

      She’d always dreamed of giving her children the kind of Christmas she’d never had, with family gathered close and laughter in the air. It wasn’t all about a lack of money that had depressed her, but certainly financial worries played a role.

      She’d been working at building her own interior design business when she’d found herself pregnant. The pregnancy had been difficult and the business had fallen by the wayside. Since the twins’ birth Melissa had been living on her savings, which were dwindling fast.

      It had been all she could handle to take care of newborns, but after the first of the year she was determined to somehow provide for them and delve back into her work.

      She slowed as she reached the Dalhart city limits. According to the directions MysteryMom had sent her she was to turn off the main highway and onto a country road approximately ten miles from where she was now.

      With a new burst of nervous tension kicking up inside her, she pulled into a restaurant parking lot and grabbed her cell phone from her purse and punched in Caitlin’s number.

      “Are you there yet?” Caitlin asked when she answered.

      “According to the map I’m about fifteen minutes from the place,” Melissa replied.

      “How’s the weather? I heard they were calling for snow.”

      “It’s been spitting a bit, but nothing to worry me,” Melissa replied.

      “I don’t know why you just didn’t plan on coming to my place for Christmas instead of taking off on this adventure of yours.”

      Melissa smiled into the phone. “You’re going to have so many fancy parties to attend, the last thing you need is me and the boys hanging around.” Caitlin was single and gorgeous and working up the corporate ladder at blinding speed. “Besides, look what happened the last time I was on my way to visit you.”

      “It’s not my fault you got stuck in a blizzard and then decided to kick it with some sexy stranger.”

      “True, it wasn’t your fault. I’ve decided it was all Tom’s fault,” Melissa replied and tried to ignore the faint pang of her heart at the thought of her ex-boyfriend.

      “Ah, don’t even mention that snake’s name,” Caitlin replied. “I thought he was a creep when you first starting dating him and he definitely proved me right.”

      “Water under the bridge,” Melissa replied. “Anyway, I just wanted to check in with you and let you know I’m almost there.”

      “You’ll call me when you arrive? Tell me all about this MysteryMom of yours?”

      “Definitely.”