you did a nice job, Wyatt,” she murmured and then added, “Really,” in case he thought she was just mouthing empty words.
Wyatt frowned. His guard was up, but even so he could feel her getting to him.
She always could.
His resolve kicked in. He wasn’t going to allow himself to be set up for another bout of mind-numbing disappointment, he thought fiercely. He’d barely survived the last time and had just gotten to the point where he was breathing regularly.
He couldn’t go through all that again.
He wouldn’t be able to survive it.
His dark blue eyes narrowed as he looked at the woman he had believed would be by his side forever. The joke was on him, he thought bitterly.
In the beginning it seemed as if Fate had purposely thrown them together when he’d left home and embarked on making a name for himself outside the oppressive Colton sphere of interest.
All of his life he’d been overshadowed by his family and his last name. When his father, Russ, wouldn’t allow him to do what he’d wanted to do—insisting instead that his oldest son get a business degree so he could take over the family business—Wyatt had abruptly dropped out of college, left his family and taken to the road.
His father had all but gone into a rage when he’d learned that his firstborn was following the rodeo circuit.
It was on that same circuit that Wyatt had met Bailey-Ann Norton.
A rodeo brat whose father took her with him as he went from town to town, following the circuit, Bailey had never known another life. Eventually she’d become a barrel racer.
Their attraction was immediate and strong, but she hadn’t thought there was any serious commitment on his part. That hadn’t happened until Wyatt had learned his beloved grandmother had died, leaving him a sizable amount of land right outside of Roaring Springs, Colorado.
It seemed like an omen, the next step in his desire to make something of himself apart from his father’s almighty influence. Tired of the aches and pains he’d accumulated as a bull rider, Wyatt decided to change his plans—again. He’d asked Bailey to marry him and help him create a home and a ranch.
He remembered that Bailey had never looked more beautiful than when she had smiled up at him and cried, “Yes!”
They’d returned to Roaring Springs and started building their home and the ranch he envisioned.
He’d thought things were going well. Obviously he’d thought wrong. A few years into their marriage, Bailey had suddenly left him.
Wyatt felt as if he’d been gut-shot.
It had taken him all this time to get over her, to get on with his life and finally become whole again.
And now she was back!
Why was she here?
It made no sense to him.
He wanted to know. “Did you come back here just to give the place a once-over?” he snapped, a cold edge in his voice.
Bailey’s courage almost failed her then. But she had come this far—she couldn’t just back out now. She had to tell him why she’d sought him out after all this time.
“No,” she answered Wyatt quietly, “that’s not why I’m here.”
“Then why are you here, Bailey?” he demanded.
Bailey took a deep breath, hoping her voice wouldn’t crack. She raised her head slightly, doing her best to look and sound as if she was in command of herself, in command of the moment. She knew that her ex-husband didn’t like displays of weakness. He valued bravery, even in an enemy, which she knew was the way he probably thought of her. At least to start with.
Her dark eyes met his.
You’ve got this, Bailey, she told herself. Her voice sounded as if it was echoing in her head as she answered his question.
“I’m here because I want to have a baby and I want you to be the father.”
His eyes might not be playing tricks on him but his ears had to be, Wyatt thought. He couldn’t have heard what he thought he’d just heard.
“Say what now?” he asked, unabashedly staring at Bailey.
Wyatt vaguely remembered that when they’d first gotten married they had discussed having children, but they had decided it would be best to wait a few years. At the time he’d felt their energy had to be focused on making a go of the ranch. But, he remembered thinking, they would have plenty of time for kids later.
The subject had never come up again. In the beginning they’d been too busy with the house and the ranch, and then, when there might have been a better time to start a family, Bailey had taken off.
“A baby,” she repeated, her eyes on his. “I want to have a baby, and whatever our differences might be, I still think that you’re the best man I ever knew and I want you to be the father.”
Wyatt was attempting to process the words he had just heard. Moving like a man who couldn’t quite feel his legs, he walked farther into the sprawling living room and sank onto the comfortably worn leather sofa. Once sitting, he indicated that Bailey should sit on the sofa, as well.
When she did, only then did he speak.
“Just like that?” Wyatt asked her, astonished. “I don’t hear from you for six years and then you walk back into my life, telling me you want me to be the father of your baby?” Even as he said the words out loud he couldn’t quite believe this was happening. Bailey had always been so levelheaded, so sensible, and this was a totally irrational request. “Why?” He wanted to know. “Isn’t there anyone else around?” he demanded.
“I don’t want just ‘anyone,’” Bailey told him softly. “I want you.”
It couldn’t be as simple as that. There had to be something more to it, he thought. Something she wasn’t telling him. He frowned. “Assuming I believe you—”
“You should,” Bailey interjected. Why would he think she was lying? She’d never lied to him before, she thought defensively.
“Assuming I believe you,” Wyatt deliberately repeated. “Why a baby now, all of a sudden?”
Bailey took a breath before answering. She supposed he had a right to know.
None of this, including coming out here, had been easy for her. She wasn’t the type who asked for favors. On the contrary, she had always gone out and gotten whatever she wanted or needed all by herself.
But this time was different. This time she couldn’t be the lone wolf. She needed help.
“Because I’m running out
