I talk to you.”
She saw a glint in his eyes that told her he’d gotten the message. “You should have tried harder—Told her the reason.”
“The day we broke up and you left, I was devastated.”
“If I remember correctly, you were the one who told me to get out,” he challenged.
Mallory remembered everything about that last night. They’d made love. She told him she loved him…and he told her he was leaving for Austin to join the rangers. “You chose to leave.”
“I told you before we started dating, that our relationship couldn’t go beyond the summer because I would be leaving for training. Besides, you were returning for college.”
“That was my father’s plan. I wanted to go with you, and you didn’t want me. You let me know that being a Texas Ranger was all you wanted.”
His jaw tightened. “So to punish me you didn’t tell me about my baby and you married another man.”
“It wasn’t like that.” She stood and went to the window. “I was so hurt. My world ended when you went off to Austin. I was convinced you’d find someone else…and forget all about the naïve college girl back home.”
She took a breath, and continued. “About three weeks later, Alan came to the ranch with his father. I hadn’t seen him since we graduated high school. We’d dated off and on, but mostly we used to be friends.” She looked at Chase’s stone-cold glare. “I had just learned I was pregnant… I was shocked and scared. And, yes, I told Alan. He listened to me, let me cry it out. He told me he’d always love me…that he’d take care of me and the baby. He asked me to marry him right then.” She left out the part about Buck’s trouble with the ranch, and Alan’s father stepping in as a business partner.
Chase’s fists clenched. “Nice to know you forgot me so quickly.”
“I didn’t!” she gasped. If he only knew how much she’d loved him. She also didn’t tell him she was terrified to be a single mother. “I didn’t decide to marry him until after I tried to call you several times, but you never returned those calls.” She paused for his explanation. She got none. “You weren’t coming back to me, were you?”
His gaze never broke with hers. “Doesn’t seem to matter now. You didn’t give me the chance.”
“It seems answering my phone call would have given you a big chance.” She felt tears well. Even after all these years, why did it still hurt so much? Pride was fighting with her emotions. “So when Alan asked me to marry him, I accepted.”
“After all these years of your silence—when you’ve been living happily ever after with my child—you expect me to believe anything you say.”
CHAPTER THREE
MALLORY WAS FUMING. How dare he?
“I didn’t think you wanted us.” She lowered her voice. “You didn’t call me, or see if I was okay.”
He glared at her for a long time. “So you just hopped into bed with another man to find a more favorable father for your baby.”
“No, it wasn’t like that. We—” She stopped. There was no reason to tell Chase about how long it took her to give herself to her husband.
“You what, Mallory?” he prodded. “Found it easy to give yourself to another man.”
“No, it wasn’t easy. You knew you were the first man…and how much I loved you.” She took a breath. “It was you who didn’t want me… And I was convinced you didn’t want our baby, either.”
He was silent as he glared at her. “If I’d known we created a child that night, I never would have left you.”
She closed her eyes. “I didn’t know that. I was young and scared, Chase. And so unsure that I could compete with your dream.” She tried to stay calm. “And you had always made it clear that avenging your uncle’s death, and being a ranger came first in your life.”
Chase’s gaze moved from hers, not before she saw a flash of his own guilt, too. So she’d hit a nerve. He wasn’t so righteous now.
“Maybe I was wrong to turn to Alan, but he said he loved me…that he’d love Ryan.” She hesitated and that caught his attention.
“What happened?” he repeated. “What did Hagan do? Did he change his mind about the boy?”
“Nothing at first, he was a good husband… and good to Ryan. But he wanted more children….”
“But what?” Chase coaxed.
“I agreed, but I never got pregnant and Alan learned he couldn’t father a child. After that our marriage was never the same. And his relationship with his son was… strained.”
“Stop calling him that,” Chase said angrily. “Ryan is my son.” His hands clenched. “What I want to know is was the boy punished for your husband’s…inadequacy?”
“No! And stop interrogating me like a criminal. Alan never lifted a hand to Ryan.” Her husband had saved that for his wife. “We separated not long after that.” Her voice softened. “About two years ago Alan was killed in an accident.”
“It still doesn’t excuse what you did, Mallory. You kept my son from me.”
She wasn’t about to tell him her recent plans to find him. He wouldn’t believe her. “And you ran out on me,” she emphasized. “I was miserable and lonely, and I turned to another man who promised to love me. I never got any promises from you.”
Chase opened his mouth to argue when a child’s cries drew their attention.
“Ryan,” Mallory gasped as she ran to the stairs and hurried up to his room. Chase was right on her heels.
She pushed open the door, rushed to the bed and eased down beside her son as he was thrashing around on the mattress. “Ryan, wake up, honey.”
The boy gasped and sat up. “Mom!” he cried and hugged her. “They’re coming after me again.”
“No, honey.” She held him close. “Those men are in jail. They can’t hurt you anymore.”
Chase stood at the door feeling awkward as he watched Mallory rock her son back and forth. This was all so new to him. How do you learn how to be a father? How do you make up all those lost years?
Maybe he should just walk away. Who would know? He saw the boy’s tears in the dim light and something tightened around his heart. Ryan had stolen that same heart the second Chase walked into the shack to find the eight-year-old trying to be so brave.
No, he was staying put. “Ryan…” He walked inside and stood at the end of the bed.
“Chase…” Ryan quickly wiped his eyes. “You’re still here.”
He nodded. “Your mom and I were talking. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Sometimes after something bad happens, people get scared again.”
“Grown-ups,
