The Cowboy's Baby Bargain

He’d Tracked Her Down.

Her memories hadn’t done this cowboy justice. She’d forgotten how handsome he was. Six feet of solid muscle. And oh what he could do with those muscles.

“Caleb.”

A passion so hot she nearly ignited replaced the surprise in his eyes, and then he scowled. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

“I live here. I bought the ranch.”

“You bought the ranch?” His voice was filled with anger and disbelief.

“Yes,” Brooke replied, “for my motivational retreat.”

His broad shoulders relaxed. “Good. Then you won’t need the pastures.”

“Why are you concerned about my land?” she asked.

“I live next door. For the last ten years I’ve leased acreage from the previous owner for my herd. I need to continue.”

He lived next door. All she had to do to be reminded of the night she’d lost control and loved every minute of it was look over the fence. She struggled for calm and reason. “Caleb, I think you’d better come inside….”

The Cowboy’s Baby Bargain
Emilie Rose

www.millsandboon.co.uk

EMILIE ROSE

lives in North Carolina with her college sweetheart husband and four sons. This bestselling author’s love for romance novels developed when she was twelve years old and her mother hid the books under sofa cushions each time Emilie entered the room. Emilie grew up riding and showing horses. She’s a devoted baseball mom during the season and can usually be found in the bleachers watching one of her sons play. Her hobbies include quilting, cooking (especially cheesecake) and anything cowboy. Her favorite TV shows include the Discovery Channel’s medical programs, ER, CSI and Boston Public. Emilie’s a country music fan because there’s an entire book in nearly every song.

Emilie loves to hear from her readers and can be reached at P.O. Box 20145, Raleigh, NC 27619 or at http://www.EmilieRose.com.

Thanks, Dad,

for always being there for me and my boys. And thanks to Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, my support team.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

One

Brooke Blake picked up her beer, sipped and grimaced. Success was an acquired taste. Evidently, so was the bitter, yeasty brew in the longneck bottle. But she was determined to experience everything her new home state had to offer—including the beer bottled here.

Glancing at her watch, she granted herself ten minutes to brood over the contradictory state of her life. Professionally, her success as a bestselling motivational author and speaker continued to rise, but her credibility was in jeopardy because personally, she needed a lifestyle makeover. She’d failed to achieve her most important goal ever.

She’d calculated and taken all the appropriate steps, but her goal of having a family by her thirty-fifth birthday had eluded her. What had she overlooked in her approach? Opening her Day Planner, she flipped back until she found her five-year plan.

The door of the bar opened. A draft of fresh air stirred the smoke hovering over the room and ruffled the pages of her planner. Lifting her gaze to the mirror behind the bar, she studied the cowboy’s reflection when he paused to survey the room. Until the door closed behind him the fading afternoon light silhouetted his slim hips and broad shoulders. Nice, but alas, not her type. The only Remingtons she wanted to possess were cast in bronze and made to sit on a mantel. This guy looked like he could have posed for the artist. All he needed were chaps, a horse and a lariat thrown over his shoulder.

He crossed the hardwood floor with the grace of an athlete and the presence of a man used to leading not following. She was abundantly familiar with the type and had discovered that most of them felt threatened by a successful woman.

Specifically her.

He made his way toward the bar and stopped behind her, catching her gaze in the mirror. She hoped he hadn’t considered her scrutiny an invitation, but was prepared to correct him if he had. Unwanted attention was a part of her job. She turned to face him and forgot all about the polite rejection she’d mastered years ago.

The cowboy’s reflection in the cloudy mirror hadn’t done him justice. The hard angles and planes of his face were too rough to be classified as handsome, but she found him compelling regardless. Dark stubble covered a stubborn, square jaw with an incredibly sexy cleft. In his long-sleeved chambray shirt, opened just enough to reveal dark chest hair, and Wranglers snug enough to reveal rather impressive territory, he could have stepped right off the pages of a calendar geared toward women with Wild West fantasies.

Specifically, not her. She preferred the academic type.

His gaze drifted over her the way the lazy stream wandered over her new ranch—slow and easy with numerous detours. His eyes, the rich brown of coffee beans, affected her like a shot of espresso. Unwelcome awareness rippled through her, settling in the pit of her stomach.

He removed his hat, revealing thick, glossy hair the same coffee-rich shade. “Mind if I sit?”

His voice was middle-of-the-night-secrets deep, and his soft, full lips were made to whisper sweet nothings in some woman’s ear. But not hers. She liked her men more refined, more…urban, but for a moment she wondered what it would be like to make love to a man as primitive as this one. She seriously doubted it would be the kind of silent, civilized coupling to which she’d become accustomed. This man would be earthier, noisier. More adventurous.

Shutting down her improper, but stimulating, mental meanderings, she straightened her shoulders and glanced around the room. She’d been so intent on discovering the glitch in her goals that she hadn’t noticed the bar filling. The only empty seat was the one beside hers.

Her type or not, the cowboy would be sharing her space. She lifted her purse from the stool beside her and hung it on the wooden slatted back of her own. “Be my guest.”

“Thanks.” As he settled his long, lean frame onto the stool his knee brushed her thigh. She wondered if he’d done it on purpose, but he didn’t try to extend the contact. “’Scuse me, ma’am.”

Instead of rubbing the tingling spot where they’d touched, she clenched her hand around the amber bottle in front of her and lifted it to moisten her suddenly dry mouth. She shuddered as the now tepid beverage filled her mouth and then forced herself to swallow. She’d never acquire a taste for this stuff.

Cowboys, on the other hand, were a different story. If the ones she would encounter once she moved into her new home looked and smelled as good as this one she probably wouldn’t have any trouble finding the right man to settle down with her on her ranch. However, she would prefer one a little less rough around the edges. A cultured cowboy—if there were such a thing.

She picked up her pen and wrote in her planner. Failure is a temporary condition. She felt slightly better so she added another line. Any goal is attainable if approached in the proper manner. So where had she veered off the path to her goal of finding a husband?

The men in her life thus far had either resented the time she devoted to her career or wanted to ride on the coattails of her success. She drew a vertical line on the page and listed their names in one of two categories: Users or Losers.

In her peripheral vision she saw the cowboy settle his hat on his opposite knee and lift a finger to signal for the bartender. She could feel his assessing gaze on her. “I would have taken you for a chardonnay drinker.”

She shrugged without looking his way and forced down another noxious sip of beer. It grew more disgusting by the moment. “You’d have been right, but when in Rome…”

The bartender approached. “What can I get you?”

“Tequila. Straight. Better make it a double shot. You have any white wine back there for the lady?”

“Sure. Coming right up.”

She didn’t want him to get the idea that she was here to pick up a man. That would have to wait until she’d moved into her new home, and then she’d be looking for Mr. Right, not Mr. July. A vision of the cowboy wearing nothing but a staple in his navel flashed in her mind. The image practically jolted her out of her seat. Nudie magazines had never been a favorite of hers, and yet here she was with visions of cowboy buns dancing in her head.

She turned quickly and their legs bumped again—this time her fault. “Pardon me. You don’t have to buy me a drink.”

“I do if I don’t want to watch you making that face. Looked like you were choking down cough medicine.”

She hadn’t blushed in years, but to her surprise heat climbed her cheeks. She tucked her chin and ran a fingernail beneath the edge of the bottle’s label. “I’ve never been crazy about beer.”

“No kidding.” She heard laughter in his voice. Out of the corner of her eye she studied his big, tanned hands. Numerous scars crisscrossed the backs, but his nails were clean and neatly trimmed. He shelled a peanut from the bowl on the bar one-handed and popped it into his mouth. “So what are you crazy about—besides making lists?”

Brooke closed her planner. She absolutely refused to discuss her failures, and it was no one’s business that she’d have to start on her goal of having a family alone. She wasn’t about to confess to some stranger that tomorrow she had an appointment to be artificially inseminated.

The uneasy feeling in her stomach intensified. Her hands started to shake. She’d thought it out, plotted the pros and cons, and chosen the most appropriate donor. He was blond like her and came from a similar academic background. He’d been carefully screened, had no known medical problems, and was the genetically ideal choice.

Pasting on a sympathetic smile, she faced the cowboy and turned the conversation in a different direction. “I’m crazy about my work, but let’s not talk about me. You ordered a double. It sounds as if you’ve had a rough day.” She was a master at pulling information from others and at making even the most pessimistic see the brighter side.

“Worse than some. Better than others.” He pulled out his wallet and laid a bill on the bar. “Nobody died.”

A smile twitched her lips at his dry humor. “That’s always positive. Any permanent damage?”

“Prob’ly not.”

The bartender slid their drinks onto the counter. Brooke reached for her purse.

The cowboy shook his head. “It’s on me.”

“Well…thank you, but I really don’t think—”

“No buts. Just a drink. I’m not looking for more.”

Taken aback by his frankness, she blinked at him. “Neither was I.”

“Then you shouldn’t come in here dressed like that.”

“What’s wrong with my suit?” The lavender silk had cost the earth and she dearly loved it. The short skirt showed her legs, and the loosely belted jacket accentuated her waist. She’d bought it when her first book hit the New York Times bestseller list. It was her lucky suit. She saved it for her most important occasions. Today qualified. She’d closed on a quaint little ranch fifty miles south of Tilden, Texas.

The rolling hills and sprawling house were almost exactly what she pictured when she closed her eyes and visualized her dream home, but the property would be so much more than just her home. It was perfect for both business and personal reasons. She’d turn the former dude ranch into a corporate retreat, a place to do her life’s work without the incessant traveling. It might be a little rustic for her needs right now, but with a little paint, elbow grease and a bulldozer or two, she’d whip the property into shape.

He sipped his drink and winced at the bite of raw liquor. “Besides looking good enough to eat, you’re dressed like money. This bar is close enough to the courthouse that some of the delinquents drop in. Better keep your purse in your lap.”

Flustered by his backhanded compliment, she glanced around the room again, this time noting the less than professional—all right, seedy— appearance of the other clientele and pulled her purse into her lap. She hadn’t noticed earlier because she’d been rushing to find a seat and examine her new deed. For the first time in her life she owned land. She patted her bag. Just knowing the deed was inside filled her with a sense of accomplishment. One goal out of three wasn’t a total washout.

“One of the clerks recommended the barbecue here.”

He pointed to the low sanitation rating on the wall. She decided to skip the food and pretend she hadn’t noticed he didn’t wear a ring on his left hand. It wasn’t important because she wasn’t interested in him that way.

“And you might not want to check out every man who walks in the door the way you did me.”

Embarrassment flamed her face. She set her wineglass down with a thump that would have broken more fragile stemware. “I did no such thing.”

He eyed her over the rim of his glass. “What color are my boots?”

“Brown—” Another wave of heat scorched her. “Oh, for goodness’ sake. Ninety-nine percent of the men here are wearing brown boots.”

He pointed his finger like a toy gun and pulled the imaginary trigger. His grin displayed almost-perfect white teeth and a twinkle lit his dark eyes. “Gotcha.”

She bit her lip to keep from smiling back. “That wasn’t nice.”

“At least you’ve quit scowling over that book like somebody shot your dog. Not kidding ’bout the bar, though. Watch your stuff and don’t leave alone. Let me know when you’re ready to go. I’ll walk you out.”

Why would a stranger do such a thing? Whatever the reason, she’d take the gallant cowboy up on his offer. “Thank you. I wouldn’t want to spend my birthday at the police station filling out a report.”

“Birthday?”

“Yes, I’ve tacked another year of wisdom and experience onto my belt.”

One dark brow rose and a crooked half smile tilted his lips. “You really believe that cr—baloney?”

Brooke cringed as she sipped the acidic wine. “Affirmation is essential to good health and prosperity.”

He looked skeptical. “Believing will make it so, huh?”

“Of course. You’ll only get out of life what you truly believe you deserve.”

He sipped his drink. “You sound like a self-help book.”

She should since she was quoting chapter thirteen of her first book. Brooke snapped her teeth shut. It was terribly difficult to keep herself from trying to convert this nonbeliever. “You don’t believe in self-prophecy?”

“If folks got what they deserved the world would be a whole different place. Probably a better one. I take it the wine’s no better than the beer?”

Obviously she hadn’t managed to conceal her shudder as well as she’d thought. “It’s not one of California’s finest.”

“Sweetheart, I hate to tell you, but you’re a long way from California.”

Before she could respond a fight broke out in the back corner. Just like a bad B movie, one man broke a chair over another’s head. Others jumped up to join in.

Her cowboy muttered a curse. “The place around the corner will suit you better.”

“I hardly think—” She broke off when a beer bottle came sailing through the air toward her head. In an instant the cowboy had snaked an arm around her waist and yanked her off her chair and practically into his lap. She found her face plastered against a warm chest with the cowboy’s rough palm protecting her face. Her hand was…well, somewhere it shouldn’t be. She snatched it back, but her skin tingled from the unexpected intimacy.

The sound of breaking glass and the bartender’s blistering language splintered the air. Brooke peered between the cowboy’s fingers and realized in disbelief that she was in the middle of a barroom brawl—a first for her.

She’d barely had time to register the sound of a steady heartbeat beneath her ear when her cowboy stood, putting himself between her and the chaos. He scooped up her Day Planner and purse from where they’d landed on the floor and shoved both in her hands. “Let’s go.”

The noise level had risen dramatically, but if she wasn’t mistaken, he was ordering her to leave. “Excuse me?”

He shoved his hat on his head, scowled at her, and leaned forward to growl in her ear, “You’re not going to be stupid about this are you?”

She had an IQ in the genius range and opened her mouth to tell him so. A chair flew through the air and crashed less than a yard away. One of the legs broke off and skidded her way, but the cowboy’s booted foot stopped it before it hit her. She forgot what she was going to say.

“Let’s go,” he repeated, grabbing her by the elbow and dragging her toward the door even though neither of them had finished their drinks. Since he had no trouble cutting a path through the exodus of other patrons, she followed in his wake until they’d reached the sidewalk and cleared the entrance. He stopped beneath a streetlight. It blinked on as if sensing their presence in the dusk.

“Where’re you parked?”

Looping her purse strap over her shoulder, she wondered why she didn’t tell him to take a hike. “By the courthouse, but—”

“Did you want dinner before you hit the road? If you do, I’ll walk you to the restaurant around the corner and buy you another drink before I go.” It wasn’t the most gracious invitation she’d ever heard.

She was an independent woman. She shouldn’t find his behavior gallant or attractive, but she did. None of the men in her life had ever made her feel so…protected. It was a peculiar feeling, one she wanted to explore.

“Why don’t you join me for dinner instead?”

He blinked. His lashes were as lush and sexy as the rest of him. “What makes you so sure I’m not one of the courthouse delinquents?”

She was very good at reading people. Her cowboy’s gaze was direct and his body posture said he had nothing to hide. “You have an honest face.”

He laughed. It was a deep rumbling sound that reached down inside her and stirred things up. “Haven’t you ever heard that you can’t judge a book by its cover?”

Studying people was her vocation. Written somewhere in her notes for her next book were the words: No one ever enters your life at the wrong time. Her job was to discover why him and why now. She had to find out what it was about this primitive man that pulled a response from her. “I’m willing to risk it if you are. Can you recommend a place with good Texas-style barbecue?”

His eyes narrowed. “I’ve never let a woman buy my dinner.”

Pride she understood. The men of her acquaintance seemed to have an abundance of it. “I owe you. That bottle would have hit me, and the chair came awfully close. Consider it an opportunity to experience another dimension.”

“You’re talking like a self-help book again.”

She wouldn’t tell him why. “I tend to do that.”

“It’s only dinner you’re buying. Understand?” Even in the fading light she could see the dull flush climbing his neck.

The thrill shooting through her at his implication shocked her. What would it be like to buy a man’s attentions? She tamped down the inappropriate thought because she wasn’t that type of woman. No, her conscience prodded, you’re the kind who buys a stranger’s sperm and has it sterilely inserted by a doctor at a fertility clinic.

She wasn’t making a mistake, was she? Of course not, she’d considered every angle. Not only was she emotionally and physically ready to become a mother, she had very little time to accomplish the feat. Her own mother had been in full-blown menopause by the time she’d turned forty, topped off by a complete hysterectomy at forty-five. If she wanted a baby her intuition warned her it was now or never. She couldn’t waste any more time waiting for Mr. Right to father her child.

That funny feeling started in her stomach again. She tried to ignore it because it was too late for doubts, too late to cancel tomorrow’s appointment—even if she wanted to, which she didn’t. She considered digging an antacid from her purse. She’d eaten a bottleful since deciding to go through with the insemination, but that was okay. The baby would benefit from both the antacids and the prenatal vitamins she’d started last month after paying the deposit on the vial of sperm.

“Please, join me for dinner. I—I’m sick of my own company.” It was a painful admission. She’d always believed you had to be content with yourself before you could be content with anyone else, but tonight she didn’t want to be alone with her own thoughts. Her doubts. Her fears.

He ran a hand over his jaw. Immediately she recalled the raspy texture of his palm against her own cheek and wondered what it would feel like scraping against her belly, her breasts. The uneasy feeling in her stomach turned into something else all together. Warmth prickled from her thighs to her breasts.

“I promise not to attack you over the appetizers.” She hoped he didn’t notice the tremor in her voice.

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” His reluctance wasn’t flattering. “Best place for barbecue is about two miles north of town. We’ll have to drive. I’m parked near the courthouse, too. You can ride with me or follow.”

Despite her foolhardy decision to have dinner with a total stranger, she wasn’t stupid enough to get into a car with one. Besides, the restaurant was in the same direction as her motel. “I’ll follow you.”

He offered a large, tanned hand. “Name’s Caleb.”

She was so used to being recognized from her public appearances that it never occurred to her that she’d have to introduce herself—not even here in the middle of nowhere, Texas. “Brooke.”

No recognition flared in his eyes, but then she doubted cowboys read many goal-actualization books. His hand swallowed hers. During the brief formality her senses registered a multitude of things: strength, heat, rough calluses and gentleness. He handled her like she might be breakable instead of trying to prove his masculinity by crushing her hand the way some men did.

Her pulse kicked up a notch. Her breathing became shallow. A smile tugged her lips at the irony of being physically attracted to a man so wrong for her. Fate, it seemed, had a wicked sense of humor.

Maybe she’d fantasize about Caleb tomorrow while the doctor did his thing.

Caleb released her and turned toward their cars. She lengthened her stride and she could tell he shortened his. Pent-up energy marked his every step.

The man truly was a work of art. She was admiring the shadows cast beneath his cheekbones by the streetlights when he turned unexpectedly and caught her staring. “You in town for long?”

“No. Just passing through. Tomorrow I fly to…Dallas.” Her stomach tightened again. She told herself it was anticipation not nervousness or doubt. “And you?”

“I had business in town, but the deal fell through.” He stiffened his shoulders and looked away.

“I’m sorry. Perhaps you could reexamine the situation and approach again from a different angle?”

He cast her a sideways glance. She glimpsed his crooked smile before he faced forward again. “I’m talking like a self-help book again?”

“Yep.”

They came to a corner. He flung his arm in front of her when a car unexpectedly zipped out of a parallel parking space and sped past. The protective gesture sent a warmth through her and not just because his palm briefly touched her belly. Heat transferred through silk like nobody’s business.

“You’re a regular white knight, aren’t you?”

A flush climbed from his collar. “No, ma’am. You offered to buy my dinner. Not gonna let you renege on it by getting mowed down.”

She didn’t believe his blustering for a minute. “You’re full of hooey, Caleb.”

He thumbed the brim of his hat and winked. “And don’t you forget it.”

Brooke laughed. The sound surprised her. She’d been so driven and focused on building her career over the last few years she couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed. The realization sobered her.

“Hey, none of that. You start looking like your dog died again and it’ll put me off my food. I’d hate not to enjoy a free meal.”

They reached the parking lot and her rented Miata. It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision—the likes of which she never gave into—to rent the tiny, red sports car. Running a hand over the black convertible top, she realized she hadn’t let herself examine the sudden need to be wild and free. It must have something to do with the commitment she’d made. If the insemination succeeded her solo days would be over, and she’d be buying a minivan.

She needed an antacid.

“Second thoughts?”

His deep voice jerked her out of her contemplation. “Of course not. I’ve thought it all out. I know exactly what I’m doing.”

His brows rose and she cringed in embarrassment. He’d meant dinner, not her decision to become pregnant by an anonymous donor with a perfect set of vital statistics. She scrambled to cover her faux pas. “I really do want to try Texas barbecue.”

Caleb looked skeptical, but didn’t argue. “Then follow me. If your taste buds will fit in that toy car, bring ’em along.”

His long athletic stride carried him toward a big, silver pickup. Brooke caught herself ogling his behind and yanked herself back in line. What was wrong with her tonight? It must be that she was nearing ovulation. It couldn’t be that she was considering getting wild and crazy with the cowboy.

Was she? Of course not. She’d never do something so foolhardy, so spontaneous. She wasn’t the type to take unnecessary risks—even if it would distract her from the clinical procedure she’d undergo tomorrow afternoon.

She opened her purse and dug out an antacid.