Her car was sitting by the side of the road with a flat tire, and she was bending over the open trunk. He couldn’t see her face, but there was no mistaking that bright hair or that battered little car.
Ryan speeded up, hoping that Mike wouldn’t notice her. That hope was dashed almost instantly.
“Look! There’s Tess!” he shouted. “And she has a flat!” He looked at his father, his face at first eager, then crestfallen. “Aren’t you gonna stop?”
Ryan opened his mouth to tell him that these days liberated women changed their own flat tires, but before he could, Tess straightened up and turned around with the jack in her hands.
Ryan’s head whipped around as he zoomed past her. “What the—?” His eyes bulged and his jaw dropped.
He snapped his mouth shut then opened it again to cut loose with a stream of colorful curse words that had Mike gaping, stomped on the brake and brought the Cherokee to a screeching halt on the shoulder of the road.
He stabbed his son with an irate glare. “She’s pregnant! Why the hell didn’t you tell me she was pregnant!”
Chapter Three
“Me!”Mike squeaked. “Why should I? I thought you knew!”
“No, I didn’t know. How the hell would I kn—” Ryan stopped and raked a hand through his hair, aware that the anger he was heaping on his son was misdirected; it was himself he was furious with.
A pregnant woman, for Pete’s sake. A pregnant widow!
“Uh…are we going to help her?” Mike asked cautiously. He watched his father, his young face puckered with anxiety and hope.
Biting off another sharp curse, Ryan turned his face away and stared out the window. He did not see the traffic whizzing by nor feel the buffeting of its backdraft.
His emotions warred. He felt guilty as hell.
But dammit! He was angry, too. He had the inescapable feeling that he was being sucked into a situation against his will. It was as though he’d fallen into a raging torrent and was being dragged inexorably toward a waterfall, no matter how hard he fought against it.
He gritted his teeth. Dammit! Tess Benson wasn’t his problem. For several moments he sat ramrod stiff and stared into the distance, his face grim. His fingers clenched and unclenched around the steering wheel. A muscle along his jaw worked. Finally, as though drawn by a magnet, his gaze slid to the rearview mirror.
“Oh, what the hell!” he snapped, and reached for the door handle. “C’mon. Let’s go give her a hand before she hurts herself.”
“Yes! Yes!” Making a fist, Mike bent his arm and jerked it downward in one sharp pump of victory before scrambling out of the car and racing after his father.
With a face like thunder, Ryan stomped back toward the disabled car, his long strides eating up the ground. Mike had to break into a trot just to keep up.
When they rounded the end of the vehicle Ryan came to an abrupt halt, his frustration and fury soaring to even greater heights at the sight of Tess on her knees inside the trunk, trying to drag out the spare tire.
“Will you…come out of…there!” Grunting and straining, Tess tugged at the tire with all her might, but she couldn’t budge it. Unable to reach the spare because of her girth, she had climbed up into the trunk to get closer, but she still couldn’t get a good grip on the tire. Huffing and puffing, she sat back on her heels, perilously close to tears. What was she going to do?
She looked around forlornly. The traffic zipped past her as though she were invisible. Weren’t there any white knights left in the world?
The thought had barely flitted through her mind when a pair of hard hands hooked under her arms from behind.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” a furious voice barked in her ear. Tess let out a frightened squeal but she was plucked out of the trunk as though she weighed no more than a sack of groceries.
Just as unceremoniously, she was plunked down on her feet and released. The instant she gained her balance she spun around—and gasped.
“You!”
Ryan McCall stood before her with his fists planted on his hips, his feet spread aggressively wide, glaring down at her as though he were contemplating mayhem. “Are you crazy?” he shouted. “Don’t you know you shouldn’t be climbing around in the trunk of a car or trying to lift a heavy tire?”
“Of course I know,” Tess fired back. “But I have a flat that needs changing. What else could I do? The nearest gas station is at least three miles away.”
“You can stand by the side of the road and look helpless until a good Samaritan comes along.”
“Oh really? If I waited for some big strong man to help me I’d be here all day.” She gestured toward the unending stream of traffic rushing by. “In case you haven’t noticed, chivalry doesn’t exactly seem to be in vogue these days.”
“Don’t worry, Tess. Dad’s real good at fixing tires. He’ll have it done in no time.”
Tess’s head whipped around. “Mike!” She had been so stunned by Ryan’s sudden appearance, she hadn’t even noticed his son hovering beside her.
“Just stand back and stay out of the way,” Ryan ordered, and swung around to the car.
“No, wait! Stay away from there!” Tess rushed forward and grabbed his arm. “I don’t want or need your help, Mr. McCall.”
“Don’t be an idiot. You can’t change this tire. If you won’t think of yourself, at least think of your baby.”
Giving her a disdainful look, he shook off her hand and, with infuriating ease, reached into the trunk and lifted out the spare. He bounced it experimentally on the ground and immediately erupted in another colorful burst of profanity.
Alarmed, Tess took a hasty step back, her eyes growing wide at the fierce expression on his face.
“This thing is flat, too! Woman, don’t you have a lick of sense? Driving around on half-bald tires without even a decent spare?”
“I…I didn’t know the spare was flat.”
“You didn’t know? That’s no excuse. You drive the damned car—you’re suppose to know what shape it’s in.”
“But…you see…my husband always took care of those kinds of things. I don’t know anything about cars.”
“Then you better learn. You don’t have a husband now,” he said heartlessly. He turned away and walked around to the side of the car to retrieve the jack, muttering a stream of invective and criticism.
It was too much for Tess. The tears that came so easily these days welled up. She struggled for control, but Ryan McCall was more than her overwrought nerves could take. He was the last person she had expected—or wanted—to see. Moreover, he was obviously furious and giving his assistance grudgingly.
Tess’s face crumpled, and she burst into tears. “Daaad!”
Mike’s anguished wail brought Ryan whirling around. “What? What’s wro—? Aw, hell.”
“Come quick, Dad! Hurry!” Mike’s face wore a look of horror. His frantic gaze jumped back and forth between his father and the weeping woman. Wanting to give comfort but afraid to touch her, he hopped around Tess, shuffling from one foot to the other, his hands hovering over her heaving shoulders.
Ryan stomped to the rear of the car and threw the jack into