With anticipation vying with anxiety, he ushered Tess out the front door of the ranch house and handed her into the passenger seat of his truck. So far, so good.
“I can’t help thinking you have an ulterior motive,” she said as he put the truck in gear.
“Why’s that?” He didn’t dare look at her as he drove. She might see something in his eyes.
“Number one, you shaved off your beard. That had to take a couple of weeks to grow, so why shave it now unless it has something to do with me?”
“My beard grows really fast. It only took about nine days.”
“All right, but the timing is still suspicious. Yesterday afternoon you had a bushy beard. Then I tell you I’m pregnant and the next morning you appear with a close shave. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”
“I got the impression you didn’t like it.” They reached the paved road and he accelerated.
“I didn’t dislike it. I just... What difference does it make, anyway? There’s no reason for you to try to please me. We’re ships who passed in the night.”
“We didn’t just pass. We moored in the same spot and produced a dingy.”
That gave her the giggles. “I shouldn’t have introduced a nautical reference. It makes no sense in Wyoming. We’re landlocked.”
“Okay, let’s compare ourselves to a couple of Conestoga wagons that ended up gathered around the same campfire and produced a little buckboard.”
Her laughter was now out of control. “Stop! Don’t be funny! This is a very serious situation we’re in.” But she couldn’t seem to keep a straight face.
And it was catching. Soon he was laughing right along with her. When he pulled over onto the side of the road next to the trail leading up to Lion’s Rest Rock, he was out of breath. Shutting off the engine, he glanced at her and grinned. “Enough. You’ll need both energy and lung power to walk up this trail.”
“Is it really that steep?”
“Not too bad, but I can guarantee you one thing. It’s more of a challenge while you’re laughing.”
“Okay. I’ll do my best to forget I’m having a little buckboard.”
He gazed at her. All that laughter had made her eyes sparkle like sapphires under a high-intensity lamp.
“I assume people hike this trail hoping to spot wildlife.”
“Some do, but that’s not really what the rock is known for.”
Understanding flashed in her eyes and her cheeks turned pink. “Zeke Rafferty, if you think you’re going to get me alone up there so we can do that, you have another think coming!”
“I don’t, I swear! That’s the furthest thing from my mind.” Not exactly true, but it was down the list a ways. It didn’t rank higher than number three and, considering how pretty she looked, he thought that was damned noble of him.
“So what is on your mind, then?”
“We need to talk, figure stuff out. The view from there is real nice. You can watch the morning shadows move down the mountains as the sun gets higher.”
“You seem to know this spot pretty well.”
“I do, but not for the reason you’re imagining. I used to come up here in the early morning so I could think about things when nobody else was around.”
“Come on, Zeke. A guy who looks like you must have had plenty of girlfriends in high school. I can’t believe you didn’t bring them here to make out.”
“You don’t have to believe me, but the fact is, I didn’t.” He opened his door. “It was too special.” He hopped down and walked around to her side, but she was already out.
She gazed up at him, her expression tender. “I do believe you. And you’re right about the beard. I like you better without it. Lead the way.”
He took off before he did something stupid and kissed her. As he climbed, he monitored his pace so he wouldn’t wear her out getting to the top.
“You can go faster. I’m in shape. I go for a run every morning.”
He turned around so abruptly they almost slammed into each other. “You run? Is that okay?”
“My doctor says it’s fine unless I notice any problems after a run. She’s in favor of women exercising throughout their pregnancy. It’s just the horseback riding she cautioned me about. And the bungee jumping.”
His stomach lurched. “Bungee jumping?” The mischievous twinkle in her eyes clued him in. “You’ve never bungee jumped in your life, have you?”
“Nope. Just teasing you.”
No kidding. Standing inches away from her, he was teased by a whole bunch of things—the scent of her shampoo, the curve of her cheek and the sound of her breath. He knew the pleasure her kiss could bring and he craved that pleasure again. But he’d promised that wasn’t why he’d brought her up there.
“We’d better get a move on.” He turned around and started back up the trail. “We want to get there before the sun hits that rock.”
Fortunately it was still shaded when they reached the end of the trail. He should have thought to bring a blanket for her to sit on, but then she might have questioned his honorable intentions.
She walked out onto the rock and sucked in a breath. “Gorgeous. Thank you for bringing me up here. Now I wish I’d brought a camera, or at least my phone.”
“We can come back another time.”
She turned toward him. “No, we can’t, Zeke. It’ll be better for all three of us if we make a clean break.”
“I don’t want a clean break.” He dropped to one knee. “I don’t have a ring to give you, but I’ll get one today. Tess Irwin, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
“Are you crazy?” Tess stared at Zeke in dismay while a voice in her head screeched, This isn’t happening! Dear God, this isn’t happening! “We barely know each other.”
His jaw tightened. “We know each other well enough to make a baby. That’s a little more intimate than a handshake, Tess. You knew me well enough to get naked with me. Marriages have been built on a lot less.”
“But I don’t want to be married. I’ve been there and it wasn’t a whole lot of fun. And I thought we were in love! You and I don’t even have that going for us.”
He rose. “What if that’s for the best? What’s wrong with getting married for the sake of the kid?”
“Everything. In eighteen years or so this baby will be ready to create a life of his own. What then? Will we stay married after he goes off to college or a job in another state? Will we stare at each other across the breakfast table and wonder what the heck we’ve done to ourselves for the sake of the kid?”
He glanced down at his boots. She noticed they had a light layer of dust on them, though they’d started the walk dust-free. When he looked up again, his gaze was bleak. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
“But we have to.” She should have figured out what he was planning when he appeared this morning in clothes that looked almost new, recently polished boots and a clean-shaved jaw. Yet she’d never dreamed he’d do a complete one-eighty and propose after announcing in April that he’d never marry or have kids. He’d blindsided her because she didn’t know him