Baby's First Christmas. Laura Marie Altom

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СКАЧАТЬ off more than she could handle with him. Zach was nothing like her ex, a man easily led by his groin and whichever way the wind was blowing at the time: Blonde, brunette, redhead. “Look, you were a great fantasy, but—”

      He stopped her in the act of crawling out of the truck bed. “If you’re going to be easy about this, you can ride in the front seat. If you’re going to be difficult, you ride in the back and I’ve got some throwing rope to make sure of it. But you leaving is not an option. It’s one of my issues, you see.”

      He grinned at her. Jessie pressed her lips together. “I have a business convention I have to attend. It’s really important. We’re presenting holiday looks for the upcoming season. This being September, I’ve got to get the wares on the road.”

      “I sympathize.” He nodded. “But you can clearly see that your car is leaking something.”

      Jessie stared at the ground in horror. Something was leaking from her precious T-bird!

      “I can’t have you running off around the world to Saks Fifth Avenue and the like if you’re carrying my child.”

      “I’m not!”

      He leaned against the truck, crossing his arms. “Let me share with you the problem. My brother fell in love with a woman, and they were supposed to get married. They were in the middle of getting married, in fact, but she got cold feet at the altar, and before we knew what was happening, Liberty went running off faster than a greased piglet in a pig race.”

      “That has nothing to do with me,” Jessie said, trying to sound like she didn’t care. However, she could see where Zach would empathize with his brother.

      “Well, it turned out Liberty was pregnant,” Zach continued, ignoring her, “though she didn’t tell Duke. She was afraid to, and then the little old ladies in our town, and the men, too—you’ll meet them all soon enough—well, the Tulips Saloon Gang got involved—”

      “Gang?” Jessie whispered.

      “Gang.” Zach nodded. “You don’t know anything about issues until you meet the Gang.”

      She blinked, not wanting to get drawn into this sexy man’s loony life. “I’ll call you if I’m pregnant.”

      “You wouldn’t,” Zach said. “And then I’d be like Duke almost was, with a son of mine wandering around out there, never knowing that his daddy was a caring man who wanted to play football with him and teach him to hunt and shoot beer cans. Budweiser beer cans only, which is how my great-horned beast out there got his name, Brahma Bud. I keep my life simple, as you’ll learn.”

      “Oh, no,” Jessie murmured, the impact of her flyaway good sense dawning on her. “Where is the rewind button on my life?”

      IT WASN’T HEROIC of him to do what he was doing to the flitty woman who’d blown into town, but it wouldn’t be fair if he had a son that never knew its father. Zach was quite satisfied that he’d made the best possible decision considering the circumstances.

      His sister, Pepper, would tell him he should have kept his pants zipped, and he should have, but he didn’t regret making love to that little firecracker out there staring sadly at her car, which had been towed to the drive of the Triple F Ranch. He watched Jessie through the window, smiling when the family dog—who was supposed to be Duke’s dog but couldn’t be trained to one person—greeted Jessie with a big doggie smile and a wave of a golden plumed tail. Her name was Molly, or Jimbo if other members of the town of Tulips were asked.

      Zach grinned. Jessie knew nothing about issues until she met the citizens of Tulips. It was time to introduce her, even though he’d be painted as the black villain of the piece—a part which he’d relish, much as Duke had.

      Actually, his older brother had suffered under the good-hearted critiquing of the town’s elders. But Zach was prepared for it. He knew what he’d done—and he was prepared to pay the price.

      He would take his critiquing in stride, because every time the elders tried to point out the error of his ways, he’d just think about Jessie’s partially nude body and smile like Molly-Jimbo with a new bone.

      “OH, MY,” Pansy Trifle said when Zach walked through the heavy glass-and-wood doors of the Tulips Saloon.

      Helen Granger stood, her hands on her hips. “This is Ladies Only Day, Zach.”

      “I know,” he said, with a most regretful tone, to the room at large, “so I’ve brought you a lady.” He tipped his hat to all of them, and gave Jessie a gentle push. “Take good care of my friend from Saks Fifth Avenue.”

      He left, a broad grin on his face. Very soon he would be in big trouble with the elders of the town, and he was going to enjoy being the cause of all the uproar.

      In the meantime, he had a T-bird to “hide,” just in case Ms. Saks decided to take a fast hike, à la Duke’s wife, the cagey Ms. Liberty Wentworth.

      History would not be repeating itself.

      Chapter Three

      Helen and Pansy stared at the newcomer with surprise, sympathy and curiosity. Nervously, Jessie said, “I’m not really from Saks.”

      The ladies in the room laughed.

      “Sit down here,” Ms. Pansy said, patting an antique chair. “Zach must want us to get to know you better or he wouldn’t have brought you here.”

      “Which makes him even nuttier than we’d previously surmised,” Helen said. “I’ll get you a cup of tea while Pansy introduces you to everyone. Then we’ll be more than happy to advise you on whatever problem that Forrester male is giving you.”

      Following some brief introductions, Jessica told her story. “Well, you see,” Jessie said, after being introduced, “I hit his steer. Or maybe it was a bull. I’m not certain of the proper terminology.”

      Pansy looked at her. “Not Brahma Bud?”

      “I’m afraid so.”

      “Oh, my,” Helen said. “I do hope Bud’s all right. Zach’s had him since he was a child. Won’t part with him.”

      Jessie blinked. “I didn’t realize it was a pet.”

      “Well,” Pansy said, “it was a gift from his parents. So it’s a link with the past, you might say.”

      “I might have been a bit callous,” Jessie said. “I might have called Bud a hunk of steak or something. I don’t remember. I was very angry.”

      “Why were you angry, dear?” Pansy asked gently.

      “I was in a hurry to get somewhere,” Jessie said, “and the bull—do you call it a bull or a steer?”

      “Not important,” Helen said, dropping a lump of sugar into her teacup. “Continue, please.”

      Jessie sighed, realizing they didn’t want to have to explain something to her that was plainly obvious to everyone in the room. “There are places I need to be. Bud stopped me. He wouldn’t move. I thought maybe he was hurt or in shock, but I really barely СКАЧАТЬ