The Maverick's Baby-In-Waiting. Melissa Senate

sales clerk cringed. “Sorry. I’m always putting my foot in my big mouth. You could have been brother and sister, too.”

      “We’re definitely not,” Jensen said. “I’ll take three race car beds,” he added to the clerk. “And they must be delivered this afternoon by one. Oh, and I’d like the beds personalized with the names across the fronts. Jared, Henry and Katie.”

      “Did you want the butterfly bed for Katie?” the salesclerk asked, pointing at the pink-and-purple bed.

      Jensen shook his head. “Apparently, Katie loves cars just like her brothers, so a race car it is. Her favorite color is orange, so maybe her name can be stenciled in orange.”

      The manager nodded. After Jensen gave the delivery information, she said, “I’ll make sure everything is correct and delivered with bows by 1:00 p.m. to the Stockton residence in Rust Creek Falls.”

      “Thanks,” Jensen said. Then he turned to Mikayla. “And thanks for your help. I never would have thought to buy the beds. They’re perfect.”

      She managed a smile. “Well, ’bye,” she said too brightly and practically ran down the aisle to the checkout.

      Crazy thing was, the moment she stopped, she missed being around him.

      * * *

      Well, the woman was definitely not trying to find herself a husband—and a rich one, at that, Jensen thought. She couldn’t get away from him fast enough.

      He wondered why. Most single women flirted with him outright, making no mistake of their interest. Mikayla Brown’s interest was less than zero.

      As he watched her wheel her cart to the checkout, Jensen stood about fifty feet away, partially blocked from view by a giant stuffed panda he pretended interest in buying. He was trying to come up with some reason to stall her, to talk to her more, maybe offer to take her for coffee—decaf—or an early lunch.

      Why, though? he asked himself. The woman is about to have a baby! And the last thing Jensen planned to be was anyone’s daddy. Maybe in ten years. Or never. But definitely not in a couple of months.

      “I’d like to put twenty-five dollars down on the crib I have on layaway,” he heard Mikayla say to the cashier. “And I’d also like to add this car seat and snap-in stroller to my account.”

      A crib and car seat on layaway. Jesus. He knew not everyone could afford everything they wanted right then and there, and racking up debt on credit cards wasn’t a great idea, but these seemed to be necessities for a newborn. It killed him.

      When she left the store with her meager purchase of a crib sheet and two pairs of cotton pajamas, grand total $24.52, he walked up to the cashier.

      “I’d like to pay off the balance of Mikayla Brown’s layaway items,” he said. “The woman who just left.”

      “Oh, she sure is lucky to have a guardian angel,” the woman said. She typed in Mikayla’s name into the computerized cash register. “Ah, the crib, a bassinet, diapers, wipes, a changing table and pad, and an infant car seat with a snap-in stroller.”

      Just the basics, Jensen realized. He could do a lot better than that for her. “Does she have a wish list?”

      “Oh, yes,” the woman said. “Helps our expecting mothers keep track of what they’d like, particularly for registries for baby showers.”

      “I’ll pay off the layaway and also take everything on the wish list,” Jensen said.

      The woman’s mouth dropped open. “Wow, you’re like a summertime Santa Claus.” She punched in a bunch of keys. “I can have everything delivered to Ms. Brown’s address—Sunshine Farm in Rust Creek Falls—by late this afternoon. We have everything in stock here, and instant delivery is how we keep folks from going to the big-box store outside town.”

      “Thanks for all your help,” Jensen said.

      He felt much better as he exited the store into the bright August sunshine. He couldn’t have Mikayla Brown, but he could help her out.

      He lifted his face as the refreshing breeze ruffled his hair. This was a perfect morning for a long ride. Walker kept horses and had told Jensen to take one out whenever he wanted. A ride would clear his head, hopefully ridding it of Mikayla’s beautiful face and her not-so-great life situation. He had to forget her.

      So why the hell couldn’t he?

      “Last place I’d ever expect to see you, Jensen,” called out a familiar voice.

      Jensen turned to find his brother Walker and Walker’s wife, Lindsay, exiting their car in the parking lot of the baby store and heading toward him.

      “I came out here to pick up some gifts for the potty party,” he said. “Try saying that five times fast.”

      Lindsay laughed, tossing her long brown hair behind her shoulder. “Us, too. Oh, Jensen, I keep meaning to tell you. I’ve heard through the grapevine that several women in town are very interested in meeting you. Everyone keeps asking me, ‘Is he single? Seeing anyone? Should I tell my sister to go for it?’”

      Walker shook his head with a grin. “I told you, Lindz. They’re all wasting their time.”

      She playfully socked her husband in the arm. “Oh, come on. Until I hear it from the man himself, I won’t believe you. Who wouldn’t want to meet the love of their life?”

      No wonder Lindsay was such a good lawyer. She put it right out there. No escaping the truth.

      “I’m open to a dinner out or seeing the sights around the county,” Jensen said. “But beyond that—no. I’m not looking for a relationship.”

      “Every time a Jones man says that, one finds him,” Lindsay said. “So beware.”

      Jensen froze as the image of Mikayla Brown putting two mere packages of baby pajamas on the checkout came to mind.

      “Told you,” Walker said to his wife. “Look up the word bachelor in the dictionary and you’ll find a little photo of my kid brother—the ladies’ man Jensen Jones.”

      “Ladies’ man?” Jensen said on a laugh. “I haven’t taken out one woman since I’ve been in Rust Creek Falls.”

      “Yeah, because Dad’s been after you to get the hell out of here before some woman gets you to put a ring on her finger.”

      “Don’t you have three stuffed animals to buy or something?” Jensen grumbled at his brother.

      Lindsay cracked up. “We most certainly do. Come on, Walker. You’ve been ragging on your baby brother since he was born.”

      “I owe you, Lindsay,” Jensen said.

      He wasn’t anti-commitment in general. Just for himself. And maybe even just for now. For the next few years, at least. Maybe when he was forty he’d settle down.

      But as he watched his brother and his wife walk hand in hand into Baby Bonanza, once again he was struck by how alone in the world he was. He’d never really felt that way before, except when Adrienne betrayed him.

      What in the hell was going on with him?