Having His Baby. BEVERLY BARTON

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      One

      The baby in her arms whimpered. Donna lifted Susan and Hank’s son to her shoulder and crooned comforting, nonsensical words into the infant’s ear. Sighing, she stretched her back, which ached unbearably. A symptom of late pregnancy and the fact that she had been on her feet too long today. But this was such a special event. A wedding. Susan Williams, one of her best friends, had married the man of her dreams, the only man she’d ever truly loved. The father of her child. Donna sighed as she watched the happy couple cut their wedding cake.

      Just as Susan pushed a piece of cake into Hank Bishop’s mouth, his sister Tallie cried out from the hallway, then burst into laughter.

      “My God, Jake! I can’t believe it’s really you! After all these years you’ve come home,” Tallie said. “You’re too late for the wedding, but the reception just started.”

      “You don’t mean our big brother actually came home for your wedding,” Caleb Bishop said. “Will wonders never cease. He didn’t bother making the trip for Tallie’s wedding or for mine.”

      “Well, this does make the day perfect, doesn’t it?” Susan said. “All three Bishop brothers together for the first time in...how long?”

      “Nearly eighteen years,” Hank said, slipping his arm around Susan’s waist as he led her over to meet the new arrival.

      Donna Fields froze to the spot as she watched the Bishop family greet the tardy guest. They had called him Jake and had welcomed him as their long lost brother. But that couldn’t be, Donna thought. It just wasn’t possible!

      Suddenly she felt light-headed. The room spun around and around. She couldn’t faint. Not now. Not while she was holding little Lowell Bishop.

      Donna called out to Danny Bishop, Caleb’s twelve-year-old son. “Danny, will you take Lowell for a few minutes? I need to check on something in the kitchen.”

      “Sure thing, Miss Donna.” The tall, lanky boy reached out and accepted the tiny bundle.

      “Just take him over to your aunt Tallie if he puts up a fuss.”

      “Will do,” Danny said.

      Donna wanted to run. As fast and as far as her shaky legs would carry her. Unfortunately, she couldn’t maneuver very fast in her present condition. She was as big as a barrel. Dr. Farr had told her that if she hadn’t gone into labor by tomorrow, he intended to induce labor. She’d be so glad to get the birth over with and hold her precious little daughter in her arms.

      Donna eased past several people gathered at the back of the dining room, smiling and nodding as she made her way toward the kitchen. She swung open the door, then closed it behind her and took a deep, calming breath. She had to get out of this house—away from the eldest Bishop brother! Dear God in heaven, why had he shown up today? Hank and Caleb’s mysterious big brother had stayed away for more than seventeen years. No one thought he’d attend the wedding. But here he was—big as life and twice as dangerous.

      Donna’s heart raced so hard and fast that the drumming roared in her ears. Of all the men on earth, why him? Maybe she’d been hallucinating. Maybe she had imagined that Jake Bishop looked like J.B. After all, for the past nine months, ever since she’d said goodbye to J.B. at the airport, she had been unable to erase his memory from her mind. And when she had discovered that, despite the precautions they’d taken, she was pregnant with his child, the big, sexy cowboy had been on her mind constantly.

      Take another look at Jake Bishop and make sure he really is your J.B. from the Blue Bonnet Grill. She eased the kitchen door ajar slightly and peered through the crack. The large, broad-shouldered man had his back to her. She quickly scanned his body from the top of his silky black hair to the heels of his snakeskin boots. He was the same height and size as J.B. Had the same coal black hair. The same dark complexion.

      His deep, hearty laughter rumbled loudly. Donna’s heart caught in her throat. Oh, God, she knew the sound of that laughter. The big man turned just enough to give her a glimpse of his face. The bottom dropped out of her stomach. This was no hallucination. No wild imaginings. Jake Bishop and J.B.—her weekend cowboy, the father of her child—were one and the same.

      She couldn’t let him see her. She had to leave before the two of them came face-to-face. But her purse and car keys were upstairs on Susan’s bed. How could she slip upstairs without being seen? The house was filled with wedding guests. She’d just have to chance it. There was no other way. Besides, maybe, if she kept her head down and her face diverted, J.B. wouldn’t recognize her. After all, the last time he’d seen her, she’d been thirty-five pounds lighter and actually had a waistline.

      Another of those annoying back pains hit her the moment she walked through the kitchen door. She stopped abruptly, waiting for the pain to subside: As the last ripples of discomfort eased away, Donna took a deep breath, glanced quickly in J.B.’s direction, then jerked her head downward when she realized he was looking directly at her. As she made her way around the room, doing her best to avoid being noticed, a strange sensation came over her.

      “Oh, God, no!” she pleaded under her breath just as her body betrayed her. Her water broke, sending what felt like a tidal wave down her legs and onto the floor. She stood there helpless and mortified.

      “Oh, hell’s toenails,” Tallie shouted “Donna’s water just broke. Call Dr. Farr.”

      Within seconds, Tallie Bishop Rand, Susan Bishop and Sheila Bishop hovered around Donna. She prayed that their bodies protected her from J.B.’s curious stare. But within seconds, she realized that her prayer hadn’t been answered.

      “Donna?” J.B.’s voice boomed like СКАЧАТЬ