Heidi Hormel – The Convenient Cowboy (страница 7)
She was sitting propped against the pillows when he came out of the bathroom, about half the soda gone. Her just-below-the-chin, deep brunette hair was messy, and dark circles still ringed her eyes, but she no longer looked whiter than the sheets.
“Good. You’re ready.”
He refilled his coffee and shoved their stuff into the duffel. They had to get going now.
“Just leave me here.”
“Can’t afford the room for another night.” He opened the dresser drawers, looking for any stray items.
“I’ll be sick again.”
“You have the ginger ale, and I’ll stop at a drive-thru for breakfast. You need food.”
“I’ll get a taxi and meet you at the ranch.”
“No taxi will take you that far out of town.”
Olympia curled into a ball. “No.”
He’d had less trouble with Calvin when he was little. “Olympia, I will carry you downstairs if I have to. We’re going.”
She sighed dramatically and slowly sat up. “If I get sick, it’s your fault.”
“I’m willing to take the risk.”
Olympia walked over to him, pushing at her hair. “Okay. I’m ready.”
“You’re going in that?”
“What does it matter? We’re just headed home.”
“Don’t you, um, want to...well, maybe...a bra?”
She glanced down. “What? Nothing’s showing, is it?”
Was she making a joke? He could see her nipples and the generous curve of her breasts! He could imagine them filling his hands, soft but firm. He dug in the duffel and pushed her bra at her. His face had to be red. The last time he’d blushed about a girl’s bra had been in the eighth grade.
“I need to wash my face, too.” She strolled to the bathroom with her bra hooked on her finger. Was she putting an extra swing in her walk?
Spence adjusted his stance, wishing that his hangover was worse, bad enough that all he could think about was the pounding pain in his head. Instead, he remembered holding on to those hips as... He refocused his inner dialogue, telling himself to check the room for more of their stuff. Think about Calvin. Recite legal code. Remember what it felt like when he turned eighteen and his parents, who were on a cruise, didn’t even call to wish him a happy birthday. That did it. Calvin would never know that kind of disappointment and hurt.
Olympia’s touchy stomach growled when she got a deep whiff of the smell of cumin, chili and sizzling meat that hung over the restaurant. Good thing because if she’d run to the bathroom, Spence’s very smart doctor brother would figure out everything. Her stomach did a tiny flip as she thought about the pages that Spence had proposed adding to their prenup to “address the ongoing custody and care of any issue of said marriage” after they’d discovered she was pregnant last week.
“So how’re things going? That rescue horse working out?” her new brother-in-law asked. “Jessie wanted me to find out.” Payson was as tall as Spence but a little thinner and much darker. She wondered how two brothers from the same parents could look so different.
“He’s doing fine. I’m getting him sorted out. Why couldn’t Jessie come with you?” She hoped she didn’t sound desperate. Being surrounded by MacCormack men made her nervous.
“She has a new crop of therapists to introduce today. But I’m supposed to warn you that we’ll be down to see you before I fly back to Philadelphia.”
“I thought you were done with the East Coast?” Olympia swallowed hard and told her brain to calm down. Getting him to talk about his program at Children’s Hospital would stop him from focusing on her. Could he see the pregnancy glow or something?
“Not yet,” Payson said. “My contract with Children’s runs through the end of next year. Even with a lawyer in the family, I couldn’t get out of it. Jessie and I keep reminding ourselves that it’ll be over soon. Plus, she’s so busy, she doesn’t notice whether I’m there or not.” Payson’s smile moved only the very corners of his mouth.
“That’s not true and you know it,” Spence said. “Plus, how are you two supposed to give Calvin a little cousin if you aren’t even in the same state?”
Olympia wanted to kick Spence. How dare he talk about pregnancy and babies? He’d promised her that he wouldn’t say a word tonight about the baby, but had added that they couldn’t keep the pregnancy secret forever.
“I don’t need a birds-and-bees talk from my little brother,” Payson said with a slight edge as his smile disappeared.
Olympia felt Spence stiffen beside her. She dug her hand into his thigh as the increased tension went right to her now-unsettled stomach. How could she endure months of sickness?
Spence relaxed just a fraction and answered in his cowboy drawl, “Well, there, pardner, just wanted to make sure y’all know how it’s done.”
She scrambled to say something that would get the two of them off this path. “I heard Molly is getting her own YouTube channel?
“That pony already had a swelled head. The video of her at our wedding got ten thousand hits.” He shook his head. “The kids bring their phones and tablets, take videos of her, upload them and then show them to her. I swear she watches.”
“If she needs an agent, tell Jessie to give me a call,” Spence said just as the waitress came to the table with their order.
Olympia surveyed her meal. Soup and salad. Nothing spicy. Nothing with any flavor. She still wasn’t sure if she could eat it and keep it down. Her soda had stayed put, so she lifted a spoonful of the broth. At the same time, Spence raised an overflowing burrito to his mouth. She caught a whiff of chili and beef. Nausea rose, then his arm brushed the side of her breast, causing her nipple to tighten. Her body didn’t know whether to be sick or get ready to do the nasty. She jerked away and spilled a little soup.
Payson’s gaze zeroed in on her.
She put her head down. She had to stay calm in order to keep from racing to the bathroom. She wasn’t ready—and might never be ready—for Payson and Jessie to know about the baby. Which was totally stupid because unless she went somewhere far away, everyone would know she was pregnant eventually. She pushed her meal away. Spence gave her the stink eye, but she didn’t care.
“Something wrong with the food?” Payson asked, a forkful of tamales on the way to his mouth, dripping with guacamole and salsa verde. She averted her eyes from the green goo.
“I had a big lunch.”
He ate his bite and gave her another long stare. “So you’re boarding horses and rescues at the ranch...where my brother is currently living?”
“Ha-ha,” Spence said. “I know you and Jessie think it’s hilarious that I’m living on a ranch, but if it gets me Calvin, I’d even clean the stalls.”
“You think this’ll work?”
Spence nodded and talked about the custody. All she could think was,
“I’ve got animals to take care of. We almost ready?” She knew how rude she sounded. She didn’t care. When she was outside, the hot dry air settled her down by short-circuiting the rush of fear that hit her when she imagined Payson asking what she and Spence were hiding. What would they tell him? Jessie? They knew the marriage was a sham.
* * *
TWO DAYS AFTER the near disaster of a dinner, Olympia visited Muffin, the rescue that Jessie had recently asked her to take on. The horse, true to form, backed away from her, teeth bared. The paint gelding had bad habits and a quick temper—probably abused in his past. He was wary of humans, and the feeling was mutual. He’d bitten Olympia three times and stomped her foot. Her ranch was home to him and three other horses, not enough to cover the bills since only two were paying customers.
“Seven months, Muffin. I can do this for seven months. Otherwise no feed for you.” In a little over half a year, she’d have the baby, and...she’d be free of Spence and ready to hit the rodeo circuit. No way would she feel sad about leaving her fake cowboy. Plus, Rickie would have the cash she needed for school. She smiled thinking about her sister, with her red hair and long legs—nothing like Olympia. Made sense for her and Rickie, since they only shared James DNA. Olympia vaguely remembered Rickie’s slow-talking dad, an Oklahoma cowboy who hadn’t stuck around for his daughter’s birth.
While she and Spence lived together, money should be a little less tight. Olympia might be able to figure out a way to trade for or get the funds to buy a barrel racer. Then she’d be ready to hit the circuit running—so to speak.
Muffin shook his head, his mane going in six directions. Olympia smiled at the gelding’s goofiness and not just the fact that the less-than-pleasant animal had been given such a girlie handle. Jessie said that he’d been named for his unnatural love of muffins—butter-rum ones, in particular. She wasn’t ready to break down and bribe him with those treats...yet. She reached over the stall to put the bucket of feed in place. Muffin showed his teeth. “Silly horse,” Olympia said. “Biting the hand that feeds you is a bad idea.” She checked his water, then moved on to the boarders.