was making the right decision. Her whole world reeled as she left the doctor’s office.
Twins. She was having twins. It was the last thing she’d expected to hear at her prenatal checkup. And now she knew why she was getting so big so fast, why her wedding gown was already tight. And her babies’ father was the wildest of the Callahans.
Her phone rang, startling her. The display read Rancho Diablo. She didn’t necessarily want to talk to Fiona at the moment, but a friendly voice was probably just what she needed. “Hello?”
“Darla, it’s Sam Callahan. Get your jeans on, doll. We’ll be by in five minutes to pick you up.”
“Why?”
“We’re getting up a convoy to go watch Judah ride. He needs all the hometown support he can get. He’s in the finals, and we’re borrowing Fiona’s party van to take the cheering squad over to Los Rios. So get your boots on and put the cat out for the night.”
She didn’t have a cat, nor any reason to follow this Pied Piper. Nothing good could come of it. “Sam—”
“And we’re picking up Jackie, Sabrina and Julie just for fun. You don’t want to be the only girl left in town, do you?”
Put that way, no. But she was getting married in four days, and she was having twins. She was exhausted.
Then again, the last thing she wanted to do was sit around and think about how her life had spun out of control. And if everybody was going to the rodeo, what harm was there in going, too? “I’ll bring my pom-poms.”
“That’s my girl,” Sam said. “We’ll take good care of you.”
She hung up, feeling like a moth attracted to a bright, hot light. “All right, babies. We’re going to go see Daddy ride a big piece of steak around an arena. Your first rodeo.”
Her children might go to rodeos for years, and they would never know that strong, handsome Judah Callahan was their father. She shivered, thinking about that one wonderful night in his arms.
It would never happen again.
FIONA, RAFE AND JONAS waited as Sam hung up the phone.
“No woman wants to be left out of a party.” Sam grinned. “Just like you said, Aunt Fiona.”
She nodded. “Now remember, when two immovable objects are forced to move into the same space—”
“It’s highly combustible,” Rafe said. “Your play on physics is unique, Aunt.”
She nodded again. “And remember step two… .”
“I feel like a spy,” Jonas said. “You’d better not ever play any of these tricks on me, redoubtable aunt.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t think of it,” Fiona said, her eyes round.
Her nephews grunted in unison, not falling for that, and headed off to pick up the other ladies.
“Did you hear my oldest nephew, Burke, my love?”
“I did.” He placed a gentle kiss against her temple. “I do believe he offered you a challenge.”
Fiona smiled. “That’s exactly what I heard, too. And I wouldn’t dream of not accepting a challenge.”
JUDAH WASN’T NERVOUS about his rides. He’d almost been carried by angel’s wings on every one so far, so high did his bulls buck and thrash, so easily did he hit eight on every ride. Never in his life had he ridden so well. Somehow the bulls he’d drawn were rank, and somehow, he was unbeatable. If rodeo could always be so easy … and yet, in all his years of rodeoing, he’d never ridden like this. He was living in the moment, blessed by the rodeo-loving gods.
And then it happened. He was sitting outside, thinking about his next ride, pondering the bull he’d drawn—Lightfoot Bill was known for tricks, and better cowboys than him had come flying off—when the hometown crowd came whooping and hollering over to him. It wasn’t a huge scene they made, just enough to let him know they’d brought practically every one of their friends, including Darla Cameron.
She was definitely pregnant. Even he, who had little experience with the changes of a woman’s body, could see that the lady he loved was with child. Her tummy protruded despite the pretty blue dress she wore, and if his eyes didn’t deceive him her breasts were taking on the shape of sweet cantaloupes.
Yum.
She was beautiful, Madonna-like. Judah’s heart thundered as he met Darla’s gaze.
His concentration went haywire. “Hello, Darla,” he said, and she said, “Hi, Judah. Good luck.”
And then she went inside the arena, and the other ladies kissed his cheek and wished him a long ride, and his brothers clapped him on the back with hearty thuds, telling him he was the man!
But he didn’t feel like the man. What man wanted to see his ladylove pregnant by another guy? The thought cramped his gut.
He was a wimp. A romantic fool.
He dragged himself inside. A couple of his brothers rallied around, giving him a pep talk he didn’t hear. “Why’d you bring her?” he asked dully.
“Who?” Rafe asked.
“Darla.” He couldn’t speak her name without feeling pain.
“We couldn’t leave her behind,” Sam said. “Now buck up, bro, and think about your ride. I heard Lightfoot took his last rider for a spin into the boards.”
“Yeah.” That rider had busted his leg and would be out for a few months. Judah put his mouth guard in, a preride ritual that always focused his mind on the next few moments.
His mind wouldn’t cooperate. “She’s beautiful,” he said, and Sam said, “What?”
Judah couldn’t form words clearly around the mouth guard and his rattled brain. It didn’t matter. Darla wasn’t his, wasn’t ever going to be his, and that baby she was carrying was going to have a rodeo doctor for a daddy. Not him.
And then he realized why Darla was here. She hadn’t come to see him. Her fiancé—husband-to-be in just a few days—was working the rodeo tonight.
“Well, I’m not going to need his services,” he said, and Sam said, “What, ass? I can’t hear you with that mouth guard in. Why’d you put it in if you were going to go all Oprah on me?”
Lightfoot Bill was in the chute. Judah got on the rails.
It was time to score big. All he needed was to keep riding like he’d been riding—and then it wouldn’t matter that his heart was blown out.
Nothing was about to matter, except hanging on.
DARLA DIDN’T KNOW when she’d ever been so nervous. Jackie held her hand, and Sabrina McKinley clutched her fingers on the other side. “Having any visions?” Darla asked Sabrina. “Only that you’re having twins,” Sabrina whispered back.
Darla
