The Cowboy's Triple Surprise. Barbara Daille White

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СКАЧАТЬ said, glancing pointedly at the other woman’s middle, then blinking as she recalled Tyler doing the same to her. “You’re not that far behind me.”

      “But I’m experienced. And I’m not carrying three babies.”

      Shay tried not to wince, not to react at all to what Tina had said. She shot another look across the banquet hall. To her relief, Tyler had reached the opposite side of the room. Even with the acoustics in the high-ceilinged ballroom, he couldn’t possibly have overheard.

      “Actually,” Tina said, “I’ll give you a hand, since I have some free time this afternoon.” She took a seat at the table.

      Shay followed and returned to her own chair. Again, she couldn’t argue. Tina was only looking out for her. And as one of the Garland family, the other woman was more or less her employer.

      She didn’t know what Tyler was doing back here in Cowboy Creek, but for all she knew, Jed might have hired him, too. She might have to face him every time she came to the hotel to work.

      The thought was too much for her to consider.

      She reached for the ribbon dispenser. Right now, she needed to push aside her reluctance to be near him for even part of this afternoon. She had to focus on the job that was going to help her pay her bills.

      And still, she stared across the room.

      Tyler had gone down on one knee to inspect something under a table. His broad shoulders strained against his flannel shirt the way her stomach strained against her maternity top. His belt encircled a waist as rock hard as his abs and now slimmer than she was around the middle.

      “Shay,” Tina said, “do you mind if I borrow that dispenser before you run out of ribbon?”

      Shay looked down at the table in front of her. Her face flamed. While trying to distract her thoughts from Tyler, she had coiled a length of ribbon into a tangled mass around her fingers. She grabbed the scissors and snipped the ribbon free.

      Without another word, Tina took the dispenser, then reached for an undecorated vase. Shay sent her an apologetic glance, but the other woman didn’t look her way.

      For a while, she managed to focus on the vases and the ribbons and a casual conversation with Tina. Then, all too soon, she found herself tuning in to the thump of Tyler’s boots from the other side of the room, the rumble of his voice as he spoke to one of the women, the sound of his deep laugh as he responded to something one of them said.

      A spurt of jealousy hit, an unwanted, unwelcome emotion that twined itself—like the ribbon twisted in her fingers—around her heart.

      She should have expected it and been prepared. And she couldn’t let it worry her, because she knew what caused the sudden upswing of emotion.

      From the day Tyler had left to the day she finally acknowledged he didn’t plan to contact her again, her up-and-down feelings had run out of control. Late-night anxiety triggered her bouts of insomnia. Stiff-necked tension left her no comfortable position even if sleep had wanted to come. Anger and depression had made her days as uncomfortable as her nights.

      There had been no way she would have run after Tyler, no way she wanted an unreliable cowboy in her life. Anger at herself, at how far she had let herself fall, had triggered every one of those reactions. She had simply waited them out, knowing they would pass, and they had. Eventually.

      After she had discovered she was pregnant, she had again fought—and won—a battle to get her emotions in check, but there were times, like today, when her hormones won out. Green-eyed jealousy was trying to entice her. She wouldn’t let it succeed. Tyler didn’t mean anything to her anymore. She couldn’t care less who he flirted with now. Though he had fathered her babies, he was a free man.

      She didn’t plan to do or say anything to change that.

      * * *

      WHEN HIS YOUNGEST GRANDDAUGHTER, Tina, entered the kitchen, Jed Garland took notice. Her grin made him sit back in his chair and nod in satisfaction.

      Paz, standing near the refrigerator, stopped and turned their way.

      “Tyler went for the bait, did he?” Jed asked.

      “I don’t know about that.” Tina laughed. “But as you would put it, let’s just say Jane had him well and truly hooked by the time I left the banquet hall. He’s helping with the table setups, though his attention keeps wandering, and so does Shay’s. I’m now beginning to think you were right all along. You’re some matchmaker, Abuelo.”

      “I try,” he said modestly.

      Both she and Paz laughed out loud.

      “I’m curious,” Tina said. “Tyler seemed so reluctant to help after you told him Shay would be working with us. I’m surprised he’s cooperating now. What did you say to him after the rest of us left the dining room?”

      “I simply mentioned that no able-bodied man would let a woman in Shay’s condition get overworked.”

      “Mentioned?” Paz repeated.

      Chuckling, he looked over at the hotel cook. She had worked for him for more than twenty years now, since before they had this granddaughter in common and long before those gray streaks had started threading through her hair. “Well, maybe a bit stronger than mentioned. What do you think of his reaction?”

      She crossed the room to take the chair beside Tina’s. After a glance toward the kitchen door, she smiled at them both. “I think it has proved your point. If we didn’t already believe that Tyler is the daddy of Shay’s babies, I would surely think so now.”

      He nodded. “We’d have had to be imbeciles not to have caught on months ago. The boy’s reactions today only confirm he and Shay had something going on.”

      “True,” Tina said. “I was watching, and the look on his face when he stood in the doorway and saw her was priceless. So was Shay’s when she found him sitting beside her. But I’m feeling a little guilty you didn’t tell either of them ahead of time that they would see each other at lunch.”

      He shook his head. “There’s a lot to be said for shock value. And there’s even more to be said about keeping those two on their toes. Jane and the other girls are still with them in the banquet hall, aren’t they?”

      Tina nodded.

      “Good. Nothing like holding something a man wants within his sight but just out of reach. I’m betting the longer he has time to question things, the more eager he’ll be to stick around to get answers. And in the long run, the more Shay will benefit.”

      “Yes.” Paz nodded. “We have to think of Shay.”

      “We do,” he agreed. “It’s best we all pretend ignorance for as long as we can. Then they’ll never suspect we’re trying to get them together.”

      “You think this plan is a good one, Jed?” Paz asked.

      “Of course, I do. And it’s not just me and the girls who believe in it.”

      Tina gasped. “You talked to Mo?”

      “I did, СКАЧАТЬ