baby’s father turned out to be a first-class jerk. So he’s out of the picture. Completely.”
He stroked a thumb and forefinger over his chin as he regarded her thoughtfully. “That’s...unfortunate. The baby needs a daddy. There isn’t any chance—”
“No!” she blurted before he could finish. “Shortly after he learned I was pregnant, he signed away all his paternal rights to the child. Since then, he’s already moved on and married someone else.”
“Is that the way you wanted it? Surely making him pay child support—”
Shaking her head, she said, “I don’t need or want his money. Not that he actually had any money of his own, anyway. Besides, it’s more important to me to have him totally out of my child’s life.”
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you.”
The empathy in his blue eyes was more than her frazzled emotions could bear and she purposely dropped her gaze to the yogurt. “Well, better now than later.”
She began eating the yogurt, but it took effort to get each bite past her tight throat. She needed to get out of here, she thought—away from his perceptive gaze and unsettling presence.
After a long stretch of silence, he asked, “Have you already made reservations for a room in town?”
Focusing on the yogurt, she scooped out the last bite. “Uh, no. With it being early spring before vacationers hit the highways, I was hoping there would be plenty of vacancies.”
“I’m sure there will be. But I...”
When he failed to go on, she looked up. “What? Is there some place in town I shouldn’t stay?”
A faint smile tilted the corners of his lips. “No. That wasn’t what I was about to say. I was thinking it would be far better if you’d come home with me.”
Chandler watched her eyes grow wide, her jaw drop. No doubt she was thinking he was some sort of pervert with a fetish for pregnant women. And he could hardly blame her.
It wasn’t like him at all to invite a woman, a stranger at that, to spend the night at his family home. In fact, he’d never done such a thing. Sure, he’d taken home plenty of strays to nurture. But none of those strays had been the two-legged kind with pretty brown eyes and a shy smile.
“Home—with you?” she asked, her voice little more than a squeak.
“I’m speaking as a doctor, Roslyn. You’ve just suffered a fainting spell. I’d feel better if you weren’t alone,” he reasoned.
Her head began to swing back and forth. “I don’t want to sound ungrateful, Mr. Hollister, but I don’t know the first thing about you.”
Lifting his hat from his head, he thrust a hand through his hair, then levered the hat back in place. His body was crying for food and a bed. But he was a long way off from either.
“Then I’ll tell you a few things. The Hollister family has lived in Yavapai County for more than a hundred and seventy years and have owned and operated Three Rivers Ranch for just as long. My younger brother Joseph is a deputy sheriff for the same county and my sister, Vivian, is a park ranger over at Lake Pleasant State Park. Holt, another younger brother, has the reputation of being one of the best horse trainers in the southwest. And our mother, Maureen, is tougher than all her kids put together.”
“Earlier, you mentioned your older brother, Blake. The ranch manager. I assumed he was the only sibling you had.”
The surprise in her voice suggested she wasn’t from a large family. He wanted to ask her if that was the case, but decided now was hardly the time.
“The Hollisters are a big family and we’re all very close. I failed to mention I have another younger sister besides Vivian. Camille is living in the southern part of the state on one of our other ranches, Red Bluff. As for Three Rivers, Blake and his wife and three children live there, along with me, Holt and Mom. Vivian and her daughter used to live there, too, but she married recently and moved up to Camp Verde. So you see, there will be plenty of chaperones around the place.”
“It sounds like you have a reputable family,” she said after a moment. “And it’s very hospitable of you to offer, but I’d feel like an intruder. A room in town will be perfectly fine.”
“Not if you start feeling ill and need help. Trust me, we have plenty of spare rooms in the ranch house. Along with a cook and a housekeeper. You won’t be an intrusion. Far from it. Mom loves company. We all do.”
She didn’t reply and Chandler could see she was softening to the idea.
“I’m a stranger to you,” she argued, but with far less enthusiasm. “For all you know I could be dishonest. A con woman or some evil person out to steal you blind.”
Long years of working with the public had taught Chandler all about people. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to see a person’s true character. Other times all it took was a look into their eyes. He’d spotted plenty of emotions in Roslyn’s brown eyes, but none of them had been close to sinister.
“You’re not a con woman. You’re alone and driving cross country, when you really should be home with your feet up,” he added pointedly.
She winced at his last remark and Chandler decided then and there that she was most likely running from someone. If it wasn’t the baby’s father, then it had to be someone who’d been putting pressure on her. He hated to think a lovely girl like her had reached such a point in her life. Moreover, if he was smart, he wouldn’t get involved with her, even for one or two nights. But Trey had hit the mark when he’d said that Roslyn seemed “kinda lost.” And Chandler was a sucker for any animal or person who needed to find their way back home.
“Okay,” she said, relenting. “I can see you’re a gentleman. And it would be nice to really rest for a night.”
Chandler was more than pleased at her answer. He was downright joyous. It was a reaction that had the sensible side of him silently cursing. What the hell was he thinking? He didn’t have time to concern himself with the welfare of a pregnant runaway.
Still, Chandler couldn’t keep a grin off his face. “Great. I’ll get busy locking up the clinic and then we’ll head on out to Three Rivers. While I take care of things you might want to visit the ladies’ room. It’s a long, bumpy ride to the ranch.”
“Thank you. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.”
He rose from the couch and offered her his hand. “Let me help you down the hall. I want to make sure you’re steady on your feet before I leave you on your own.”
She laughed. “If you’re this attentive to your animal patients, you must have a whopping business.”
The sound of her laughter was genuine and sweet, and eased some of the fatigue from Chandler’s weary body. “Let’s just say I can’t remember a day when my schedule wasn’t booked solid.”
With her little hand wrapped around his, he helped her from
