A Baby on the Ranch. Stella Bagwell

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СКАЧАТЬ “I’m sorry, but no.”

      “I’m sorry, too,” he murmured as his eyes flicked regretfully over her face. “Because I think you’re turning away from a wonderful, loving family.”

      Her gaze fell to his big brown fingers wrapped around her pale hand. To have such a man as Lonnie Corteen sitting here holding her hand and talking about family was unbearably sweet. So much so that she knew she had to pull away from him. She had to quickly put an end to this whole disturbing episode. Not only the story of the Ketchums, but also her time with this man.

      Pulling her hand from his, she slowly pushed herself to her feet. “I understand you’re only the messenger and you’re trying to help. But I’m really not up to this. In fact, I’m very, very tired. I’m going to have a bite to eat and lie down.”

      She was asking him to leave and Lonnie certainly couldn’t argue. But it bothered him that nothing was settled. It also bothered him to say goodbye to the woman. He felt an unexplainable need to hang around and protect her. From what, he didn’t know. Hell, it looked as though he was the only one giving her a problem.

      “Yeah. Maybe you should,” he agreed. Rising to his feet, he collected his hat from a spot on the floor near the armchair. As he settled it down on his forehead he looked to see she was about to rise to her feet. Swiftly, he waved her back down. “No need for you to get up, Katherine. I’ll see myself out. But there is something I need to know before I leave.”

      Her brows arched with question. “Yes?”

      “When can I see you again?”

      She sat straight up and stared at him. “What do you mean?”

      “I can’t leave town with things as they are. We’ve got to talk about this. You’ve got to decide what you’re going to do so that I can tell the Ketchums.”

      Katherine said in dismay, “I can’t tell you something like that now!”

      “What about tomorrow?”

      She smacked a palm against her forehead. “No! I don’t—I don’t even want to think about it tomorrow or the next day! Just go back to Hereford and tell the Ketchums…tell them I’m Celia McBride’s daughter and that’s all I want to be!”

      He was closer to the door than to her, but her words caused him to return to the couch and look down at her. “I can’t do that, Miss Katherine. It wouldn’t be good for them or for you.” He grimaced as he studied her bright cheeks against her pale, pale face. “Do you have a friend you can call? Someone who can come sit with you? You looked pretty peaked, and I don’t like the idea of leaving you alone.”

      Squaring her shoulders, she pressed her lips into a straight line of disapproval. “I don’t need anyone. I’m not a weak woman, Mr.— I mean, Sheriff Corteen. Not physically or mentally. I’ll be just fine. Don’t worry about me.”

      Lonnie would worry about her, but there wasn’t much he could do about her situation. Especially when she didn’t want his help. Sighing to himself, he walked over to the door. “All right, I’m leaving. But I’m not leaving Fort Worth. Not until we’ve hashed this all out.”

      Lonnie stepped out into the cold night and, across the room, Katherine fell back weakly against the pile of throw pillows.

      “I’m telling you, Seth, this isn’t going to work,” Lonnie said into the phone the next morning as he sat on the edge of his motel bed and swigged weak coffee from a foam cup. “You or Victoria or Ross will have to come here and try to talk some sense into the woman. She doesn’t believe a thing I say.”

      The Texas Ranger on the other end of the phone let out a long sigh. “Look, Lonnie, I’m not a bit surprised the woman doesn’t believe the story you told her. My Lord, it sounds crazy even when I hear it myself. Obviously she’s going to need some time to let all this sink in.”

      Lonnie reached for one of the fresh doughnuts he’d collected from the motel lobby. A continental breakfast wasn’t like biscuits and gravy, but it would do until he got home.

      “Well, that’s probably true,” Lonnie agreed. “But I sure can’t hang around here while it sinks. I’ve got a county to see after.”

      “I understand that, Lonnie. If you have to go home, you have to go home. But I was sure hoping you could persuade her to talk to us. She’s our sister, we’d like for her to be a part of the family.”

      Lonnie swallowed a huge bite of the doughnut before he replied. “I tried, Seth. And to tell you the truth, I probably pushed her a little too much. Uh, I haven’t told you this part yet. But the woman is expecting a baby. Real soon,” he added while recalling the sight of her bulging waistline. “And I felt bad about giving her such a shock. But once I was there, I didn’t have much choice.”

      “A baby!”

      “Yep. In about three weeks, she said.”

      “Is she married?” Seth asked.

      Lonnie reached for another doughnut as he tried not to think about Katherine being pregnant and alone. “No. Seems like she doesn’t want to be, either. I guess the daddy must have left her bitter about that. Anyway, she appears to be pretty much all by herself. Celia died a couple of years back from kidney failure.”

      Seth was silent for a few moments, and Lonnie figured his friend was thinking the same thing he’d been thinking since he’d met Katherine McBride last night. She was obviously going to need help. A woman shouldn’t bear a child and then come home to an empty house.

      “That’s not good, Lonnie. Not good at all.”

      “Well, I could be wrong. She may have plenty of friends who might see after her. I don’t know. I tried to ask her about that last night, but she’s pretty touchy and more or less put me in my place before I could get anything out of her.”

      “Hmm. That’s a surprise. You always were good with women. That’s why I wanted you to meet with Katherine. I thought if anyone could talk to her, you could.”

      Lonnie snorted with disbelief. “Me, good with women? Seth, something must have happened to you since you’ve gotten married. I’ve had one…well, one girlfriend in my lifetime, and that was an experience I wish I could forget. Other than helping them cross the street or listening to their civil complaints, I don’t know anything about them.”

      Except that they were unpredictable and capable of dealing a man more pain than any bullet from a criminal’s gun, Lonnie thought grimly.

      Seth chuckled. “Don’t feel badly, Lonnie. None of the rest of us men know about them, either. But you seem to be able to communicate with them. That’s why you’ve got to go back and try to reason with the woman. She needs to go to the ranch where Victoria can keep an eye on her. And since Victoria is expecting a baby herself, it would make it even better if the two women could be close.”

      Seth’s sister, Victoria Ketchum Hastings, was a medical doctor with a busy practice in Aztec. She was also married to the under sheriff of San Juan County, New Mexico, and the two were expecting their second child in January.

      “I’m sure Katherine has her own obstetrician. At this late stage of things she probably wouldn’t want to leave Fort Worth and change to a different doctor.”

      “Hmm. СКАЧАТЬ