When she would have opened her truck door, he held fast to her hand, waylaying her. “Don’t take this the wrong way...”
Uh-oh. She suddenly tensed, not liking his tone. “Cole, please. Let me go.” When he didn’t, every nerve in her body went on high alert. “Please,” she repeated.
He hesitated, his thumb caressing the back of her hand, then blurted, “Vi, are you by any chance...pregnant?”
No! He couldn’t have guessed. How could he? Men weren’t that astute. Especially single, childless ones.
Panicking, she brushed him aside. “Why would you even think that?”
“I bunked with a friend and his wife for a few months last summer. She was pregnant. Had a lot of the same stuff wrong with her that you do. Tired. Throwing up. Dizzy. Moody.”
“Moody!”
He outright laughed. “It wasn’t an insult.”
“Glad you find me so funny.” She concentrated on trying to hold down the contents of her stomach. “And, in answer to your accusation, don’t be silly.”
“No reason to get defensive.” He released her hand, only to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. His touch was gentle and, there was no mistaking it, affectionate. “If you were pregnant, we’d need to make some decisions.”
He assumed he was the father. She didn’t know whether to be appalled at his arrogance or flattered that he took for granted she didn’t go to bed with just anyone and at the drop of a hat.
“It’s hot.” Sweat pooled between her breasts. “I need to get out of the sun.”
“Let’s go to the ranch house. No one’s home till suppertime.”
She shook her head, which only exacerbated her nausea. “We have nothing to talk about.” Yet.
He stepped closer. “You’re saying there’s no chance you’re pregnant?”
Her reply was to double over and throw up on his boots.
Cole set a paper plate with a slice of dry toast in front of Vi. “Here you go.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
She watched him intently as he slid in beside her at the kitchen table. Despite her earlier protests, he’d convinced her to accompany him to the ranch house.
“Eat up before it gets cold.”
She did as he told her, delicately nibbling on a corner of the toast and following it with a sip of herbal tea.
“Have you decided what to do?” The question was foremost on his mind. Her answer would dictate the course of their conversation and, possibly, impact the rest of their lives.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“For what?”
“Not asking if I was sure the baby’s yours.”
“We’ve worked together awhile now. I know you’re a person of integrity and would tell me if I wasn’t the father.”
She nodded, examining the toast before taking another bite.
“Too done for you?” he asked.
“It’s perfect.”
“I pride myself on my toast. That and heating canned soup are my specialties.” He offered her a grin.
She sighed. So much for his stab at humor.
“Fortunately for me,” he continued, “Raquel’s a wizard in the kitchen. If not, I’d starve.”
At the mention of his late father’s longtime companion, Vi become even more quiet. Cole didn’t ask why. The Dempsey family dynamics were unusual to say the least and gave him his own share of somber moments.
Odd as it might seem, Cole liked Raquel, though he had plenty of reasons not to. She’d been his father’s mistress for over thirty years, living with him the last twenty-five. She was also the reason Cole’s father had cheated on, then divorced, his mother. The reason he’d ignored his two legitimate sons for most of their lives in favor of their half brother.
But Raquel was kind to Cole and Josh and doted on Josh’s two children, whom she regularly babysat. She insisted on cooking big breakfasts and dinners every day, which the entire family shared, sparing Cole from relying on his own pathetic culinary skills.
She also wasn’t responsible for his father’s actions. August Dempsey had made his own choices. At any time, he could have reached out to his sons and included them in his life. As far as Cole was concerned, the blame lay entirely with his father.
It had been six months since he and Josh had returned to Dos Estrellas, and they were still struggling to find their places. Josh was doing a better job of fitting in than Cole, undoubtedly because he’d met and fallen in love with Cara, a family friend of Raquel’s.
He also didn’t resent their father to the degree Cole did. Josh’s heart was unencumbered and free to love. Cole’s was weighed down and locked tight.
Vi finished her toast and propped an elbow on the table.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Everything.” She let her hands drop to her lap. “I think Raquel might have figured out I’m pregnant.”
“She’s pretty observant.”
“So are you, apparently.”
“Not really.”
“You guessed easily enough.”
“Well, about that.” At her raised brows, he admitted, “I wasn’t entirely honest with you earlier.”
“You don’t have a friend whose wife was pregnant?”
“That part’s true. He’s a good friend of mine.” Cole shifted. “There was this other pregnant woman.”
Vi stared at him pointedly. “My, you get around.”
He immediately regretted opening his mouth. She might not appreciate this story. “It was a long time ago and doesn’t matter.”
“Then why not tell me?”
Talk had flowed easily between them the night they’d spent together. He’d revealed things about himself only his brother knew. How Cole’s anger at his father, and his mother’s bitterness, had tainted his entire life, prompting him to leave at eighteen and pursue a career in rodeo. The hardships endured during his years on the circuit. The rewards, which were few and far between.
Opening up to her now shouldn’t be so difficult. Yet it was. That night, Vi hadn’t been pregnant with his child. She’d been a woman he was attracted to and wanted to become better acquainted with. A woman he genuinely liked.
And because he liked and respected her, he supposed he owed her the truth about the kind of man she’d gotten herself tangled up with.
“I once dated a woman who was pregnant.”
Violet gasped softly. “You have a child?”
“No.” He shook his head. “She said the baby was mine, and I believed her. After about two months, I found out she was lying.” It happened when he’d almost reconciled himself to the prospect of becoming a father. “Another cowboy was the dad. Seems when he left her high and dry, she went after me. I’d asked her out a few times before, which I suppose made me an easy target.”
“How did you find out?”
“Josh and I were competing at the Frontier Days Rodeo, and one of my buddies clued me in. I told Josh, and he insisted