Lauren Canan – Lone Star Baby Bombshell (страница 2)

The outside lamp over the side porch provided dim light against the growing darkness. She tossed the cleaning supplies inside the car, not caring where they landed. Her hands shook so severely it took three tries to insert the key into the ignition of the twenty-year-old Buick. It responded in kind, quivering equally as badly as her hands while the engine struggled to engage. After she’d made several attempts and repeated silent pleas to start, it became clear the old car wasn’t going anywhere.

This couldn’t be happening.

Her cell phone lay on the seat next to her, but even if it found a signal there was no one to call. By now her friends were at the music festival along with most of the county. It was the single largest event of the year in their small community, and she would not spoil their evening even though it was a long walk home. If only Mrs. Jenkins, her babysitter, could still drive. She had a nagging fear in the pit of her stomach that this downward spiral had not yet reached rock bottom.

Resting her forehead against the steering wheel, she closed her eyes, giving in to the memories flooding her mind, to the sharp pain once again slicing her heart into tiny pieces. The best and the worst wrapped up in one package. And the name on the label was Jace Compton.

When she’d first tried to reach him at the cell number he’d provided, she got at a voice mail message that Jace Compton—not Jack Campbell, the name he’d given her when they met—was out of the country. And the mailbox was full. Who was Jace Compton? A call out to the ranch where he’d claimed he worked provided the answer. The man to whom she’d given her heart, body and soul, the man who’d said she was so special he never wanted to let her go, was not Jack Campbell, the ranch hand. He was Jace Compton, an award-winning actor and multi-millionaire living in California, having some fun at her expense. The ranch foreman had given her another number to try, but it was disconnected.

As the memories of that day surfaced once again, shame rolled over her in a mind-numbing wave just as it had for months after she’d learned the truth. She’d been so stupid. Her initial awareness that he looked familiar had been easily dismissed with a “Yeah. I get that a lot.” No doubt he would have had a pat answer even if she’d asked more pointedly. He’d set out to seduce her and she’d fallen hard. She’d wanted to believe him, to trust him, so any suspicions that he might not be who he claimed were ignored.

Weeks after he’d left, when she finally learned his true identity, it seemed as if his picture was everywhere. Photos and headlines depicting the wild beach parties, shocking affairs with married women and his playboy lifestyle in general headlined the rag sheets at the grocery store checkout lines and the celebrity programs on television.

She’d finally managed to track down his manager, who had been clear and threatening. She meant nothing to Mr. Compton. They’d had a fling. So what? Jace had lots of flings. Unless she was prepared for a court battle over custodial rights, which Jace would assuredly win, she should take the manager’s advice and handle the situation herself. Numbly, Kelly had hung up the phone. She hadn’t slept that night. Or the next. She’d just sat in the little wooden chair in her bedroom and stared at nothing while her mind bounced between disbelief and utter devastation.

Nine months later, as she lay in the hospital bed praying for her baby to survive the complications of the birth, one of the hospital volunteers brought Kelly a magazine to read. On the front cover, the charismatic, drop-dead gorgeous Jace Compton had again been named Bachelor of the Year. The handsome face seemed to mock her as the tears spilled over and ran down her face.

Why had he come back?

After a year she thought she’d finally put it all behind her. The tears and sleepless nights, the regrets and countless waves of humiliation as time after time her mind relived how easily she’d fallen for his deception. Yet at the same time, despite the lies, the yearning for his touch refused to go away. The memories of his incredible smile fading to a look of serious intent; the knowing glint in his eyes seconds before his lips covered hers, taking her fully, deeply, until she never wanted him to let her go. His powerful arms holding her, his hard body locked to hers, his hot breath and deep voice teasing, whispering sinful things in her ear, tempting her in ways she’d never imagined, always leaving her gloriously satisfied yet wanting more.

Apparently, he hadn’t had the same sentiments. If those thoughts ever entered his head, he’d quickly pushed them away. From the minute he’d boarded the plane back to California, she’d become a distant memory. To him it had just been a vacation in the north Texas ranching community with her supplying a few fringe benefits on the side.

Two raps on the car window brought her back to the here and now. Determined to keep her anger at bay, she pushed open the door and Jace took a step back. Standing at a height of well over six feet, he was wearing well-worn jeans that hugged long, muscular legs. His left arm rested on the door frame while his right settled on the roof, effectively trapping her within the boundary of his heavy arms. Getting out of the car brought her within mere inches of the hard wall of his chest. Muscles rippled under the ash-gray T-shirt, the sleeves stretching to accommodate thick biceps.

Kelly didn’t want to be this close to him. She didn’t want to look into his eyes, but his large stature blocked everything else as if he was purposely giving her no choice. Finally, she looked up, their gazes locked, and for an instant, time stopped. It was still there. In the deep green depths a flicker of the raw passion that once bound them together with such intensity, a passion that slam-dunked any rational thought into nonexistence.

The scent of expensive cologne surrounded her. In spite of the months of heartache, some small part of her still yearned for his touch, which was nothing short of insanity. What she needed was for him to disappear. Again.

“Please step back and let me pass.” Her voice, raw with unreleased emotion, held fierce determination. He did as she asked and dropped his arms to his side. “I’ll have the car off your property as soon as possible.”

Without a backward glance, Kelly took off down the driveway on foot.

“Don’t you have a phone? Someone you can call?”

She ignored him and increased her pace.

“You want to use mine?” She heard him mutter a curse.

Her complete focus was to get off this property and away from him as fast as possible. Her mind was still reeling from the fact that he was here. He’d bought land and built a large house, usually an indication of permanency. The thought did nothing to brighten her spirits. Somehow she should have prepared for this even though logic was screaming how could you have known? But he had friends in the area. He’d been staying with them when they first met. He’d commented many times that he loved the general region. Why had she never considered the possibility that he would come back? She was an idiot. And now she was going to pay for it.

She didn’t hear the truck on the concrete driveway until Jace pulled up next to her.

“Kelly, you can’t walk all the way to town. It has to be close to six or seven miles and it’s almost dark.”

Hearing him so close once again still had the same effect. Her body came to life as irrational hunger for him ran rampant. She clenched her teeth and pulled the evening air deep into her lungs as tears of resentment burned her eyes. She refused to let them fall. He was right about it getting dark. And he’d guessed right about the distance. But she kept walking. She’d be every kind of fool to climb inside that truck.

In spite of her refusal to stop, he continued to roll along next to her.

“Kelly, get in the truck and let me take you home.”

“No. Thank you.”

The tall gates opened as she reached the end of his property. She went through them and cut to the left onto the white-rock county road. The gravel made it harder to walk, but she refused to slow her pace. The Bar H Ranch was just a couple of miles away. Shea, her husband, Alec, or one of their ranch hands would give her a ride home. In hindsight, she should have called, but her only thought was to get away from Jace. Surely everyone hadn’t gone to the festival. But if they had, she would sit on the porch and wait.

Why did Jace have to come back to Calico Springs? It was a small community where everybody knew one another. Eventually someone would tell him about Kelly Michaels and the baby who almost died when he was born four months ago. And Jace would know. He would do the math and figure out the baby was his. Another wave of panic slammed into her. What was she going to do? What could she do?

The iron gates clanged shut and she realized he was no longer following her. Apparently, he’d only driven to the end of his driveway and turned back. Good enough. The farther away he stayed the better. Taking a deep breath, she willed her heart to slow its pace.