A Baby on the Ranch

Katherine studied Lonnie’s rugged features as if she wanted to remember them always.

“I think you’re right,” he whispered.

She smiled as he touched his lips to hers. The taste of him was rich, tempting and oh, so delicious. She wanted to feel his closeness, his strength, breathe in the unique scent of his hair and skin.

“I think it’s time I should be thanking you,” she said.

His brows lifted and the corners of his lips turned up with amusement. “I’ve never been thanked for a kiss before.”

Her expression was suddenly serious. “I’m not talking about the kiss. I want to thank you for delivering my baby. I believe you saved both our lives.” There was a soft glow in her eyes. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Dear Reader,

Well, the wait is over—New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer is back, and Special Edition has got her! In Carrera’s Bride, another in Ms. Palmer’s enormously popular LONG, TALL TEXANS miniseries, an innocent Jacobsville girl on a tropical getaway finds herself in need of protection—and gets it from an infamous casino owner who is not all that he appears! I think you’ll find this one was well worth the wait….

We’re drawing near the end of our in-series continuity THE PARKS EMPIRE. This month’s entry is The Marriage Act by Elissa Ambrose, in which a shy secretary learns that her one night of sleeping with the enemy has led to unexpected consequences. Next up is The Sheik & the Princess Bride by Susan Mallery, in which a woman hired to teach a prince how to fly finds herself his student, as well, as he gives her lessons…in love! In A Baby on the Ranch, part of Stella Bagwell’s popular MEN OF THE WEST miniseries, a single mother-to-be finds her long-lost family—and, just possibly, the love of her life. And a single man in the market for household help finds himself about to take on the role of husband—and father of four—in Penny Richards’s Wanted: One Father. Oh, and speaking of single parents—a lonely widow with a troubled adolescent son finds the solution to both her problems in her late husband’s law-enforcement partner, in The Way to a Woman’s Heart by Carol Voss.

So enjoy, and come back next month for six wonderful selections from Silhouette Special Edition.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gail Chasan

Senior Editor

A Baby on the Ranch

Stella Bagwell

To Marie Ferrarella and Crystal Green,

the two best buddies a writer could have.

Love ya!

STELLA BAGWELL

sold her first book to Silhouette in November 1985. More than fifty novels later, she still loves her job and says she isn’t completely content unless she’s writing. Recently, she and her husband of thirty years moved from the hills of Oklahoma to Seadrift, Texas, a sleepy little fishing town located on the coastal bend. Stella says the water, the tropical climate and the seabirds make it a lovely place to let her imagination soar and to put the stories in her head down on paper.

She and her husband have one son, Jason, who lives and teaches high school math in nearby Port Lavaca.

My dearest Mary Katherine,

I’m not sure if you will ever see this letter or if I’ll even be around to give it to you once you’re old enough to read my words and understand what I’m trying to tell you. Although you aren’t here with me on the T Bar K, I want you to know that you are my daughter. Your father was a man I loved very much and who loved me in return. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant for us to be together as a man and wife.

To keep our relationship a secret, my generous sister, Celia, has taken you in as her own daughter. But someday I want you to know the truth of your birth and to know your brothers and sister. Leaving you with Celia has left a hole in my soul, and until we can be together, my heart aches to hold you in my arms and kiss your sweet cheek.

Your mother,

Amelia Ketchum

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

He’d been searching for the woman for three months. To a dedicated lawman like Lonnie Corteen, that wasn’t a long time, but in this case, he wasn’t working in the capacity of sheriff of Deaf Smith County, Texas. He was working for a friend. And that fact had made it impossible to turn back from this trail he’d been following.

Drawing in a deep, bracing breath, he lifted a black cowboy hat from his head and ran a big hand through dark-auburn hair. There wasn’t any use in putting it off any longer, he argued with himself. He needed to get this job done and over with. It had interrupted his life, and his work, for too long. Not to mention his peace of mind.

Climbing the steps to the modest, second-floor apartment, he walked down the covered landing until he found a door with the number 36. There was no door-bell to push, so he gave the door a quick rap with his knuckles. As he waited for a response, he glanced over his left shoulder to the stark parking lot below.

Fort Worth was cold. A strong wind from the north was picking up, making him and the few pedestrians on the streets hunch down in their coats. He’d be glad to get this all over with and get back to Hereford, he thought. Not that it was any warmer there. But West Texas weather in late fall could be extreme. He didn’t want to get stranded in this city while a blue norther iced it over. But the uncomfortable weather was only part of the reason why he was eager to get back home. His chief deputy was taking care of things there, but Lonnie wasn’t one to leave the security of his county in someone else’s hands for any longer than necessary. And this mission he was on here in Fort Worth didn’t sit well in his craw. Not at all.

The sound of the rattling doorknob caused him to pull his head back around. He watched as the door opened as far as the security chain would allow and a feminine eye peeped out at him.

“Yes?”

There was a wary note in her one-word question, and since Lonnie wasn’t dressed in a uniform or wearing a badge, he pulled out his identification and held it close enough to the opening for her to examine.

“I’m Lonnie Corteen, ma’am. I’m the sheriff of Deaf Smith County, Texas.”

Several long moments passed before she finally reached up and pulled back the security chain. When she did, Lonnie found himself looking at a woman in her midtwenties, dressed in a red sweater and a pair of black jeans. Her feet were bare, and her toenails were painted the same bright red as her sweater. But none of those things really caught his complete attention. It was the rounded mound of her midsection that whammed him with surprise.

The woman was pregnant! He’d not counted on this development. Not by a long shot. From all the information he’d gathered, he’d believed she was a single woman, living alone.

“Hello,” she said. “Is there something I can do for you?”

Her voice was low, husky and guarded. The last part didn’t surprise him. Most people didn’t react joyfully when a lawman showed up at their door.

“I’m not sure,” Lonnie said and flashed her a brief, reassuring smile. “Are you Miss Mary Katherine McBride?”

She silently nodded and Lonnie could only think how much she looked like Victoria Ketchum. This woman had the same long, dark wavy hair, the same green eyes and elegantly shaped features as his friend back in Aztec.

“That’s good. That’s real good.” Shifting his weight from one boot to the other, he pulled off his hat and held it against his broad chest. “Uh, if I could come in for a few minutes, I need to talk to you.”

Shock shot her brows straight up to form slender black arcs above her eyes. Her hand fluttered near her breasts. “Me? You want to talk to me?”

It wasn’t good for a pregnant woman to receive a shock, Lonnie suddenly realized. But what the heck was he supposed to do now? He was already here at the door. He couldn’t just say oops, he’d made a mistake and leave her hanging with all kinds of questions and worries.

“Yes. If you have a moment.”

A moment! Hell, Lonnie, what you need to relay to this woman can’t be done in a few minutes. You’ve got to do this gently, kindly. The girl deserved that much.

Confusion clouded her eyes and furrowed her forehead. As Lonnie studied her perplexed expression, he couldn’t help but notice her skin was milky-white and as smooth as the petal of a rose. Not that he went around noticing such things about women. He rarely allowed himself a second look at the opposite sex. But something about this one was causing him to stare.

“I…I suppose I do,” she said haltingly. “But—”

Sensing her reluctance, he added, “I’ll try to make it as short as possible, Miss McBride.”

She pressed several fingertips to her brow. “But I don’t understand. Has something happened to someone I know?”

He smiled briefly. “Now, that would be hard to say, seeing as I don’t know your acquaintances, ma’am. But I can tell you that this visit is…personal.”

“Personal?” she repeated, as though she’d never heard the word before.

Lonnie couldn’t blame her for being confused or suspicious. But frankly, he didn’t know how to put her at ease without jumping into this thing with both feet.

“That’s right.” He motioned past her shoulder to the interior of the apartment. “It’s as cold as heck standing here on this concrete. May I come in and tell you about it?”

Her eyes traveled up and down the length of him, and Lonnie felt himself blushing under her direct scrutiny. He’d had women look at him up close before. After all, he was thirty years old and he wasn’t exactly homely. But there was something about the way this woman was looking that gave him a mighty uncomfortable urge to squirm in his boots. Especially when he had the strongest urge to keep looking back.

“I suppose,” she said in a voice that clearly conveyed she wasn’t happy about any of this.

“Thank you, Miss McBride. I’ll try not to take up too much of your time.”

She stepped to one side and gestured for him to enter the apartment. He moved past her and into a small living room/dining area. A teakettle was whistling shrilly from the direction of the kitchen, and in one corner of the living room a small television was tuned to a twenty-four-hour news channel. Two cats, a yellow tabby and a solid black were curled up together on one end of the couch. The animals seemed not to notice Lonnie’s presence, but then maybe they were used to men coming and going in Mary Katherine’s apartment.

The idea was an awful one, and Lonnie quickly dismissed it. Even though her midsection was mounded with child, she didn’t look the promiscuous sort, and thinking of her in that way bothered him. Apparently she’d been close to some man, though. But that wasn’t any of Lonnie’s business. None of his business at all.

“I was just about to make some instant coffee, Mr. Corteen. Would you like a cup?”

She tossed the offer to him as she hurried past him and toward the kitchen. He followed slowly as he tried to think of a sensible way to say what he had to say and get out. But there wasn’t anything sensible about any of it, and now that he’d discovered she was pregnant that complicated things even more.

Standing at the edge of the tiny kitchen, he watched as she pulled the teakettle from the gas flame and poured it into a nearby cup. He hated instant coffee with a passion. He liked his boiled, the old-fashioned way, so he could taste the grit of the grounds and feel the kick of the caffeine.

“Sounds nice,” he lied. “This weather chills me to the bone.”

The tiny room was equipped with a full-size cook stove and refrigerator, but the counter space was small and most of that was scattered with dirty dishes, Lonnie noticed. Apparently, Miss McBride wasn’t keen on housework or she was short on time.

“We haven’t had much cold weather yet this fall, but I hear we’re supposed to have snow in a day or two.” She pulled down another cup from the cabinet in front of her and filled it with hot water and a hefty spoonful of instant decaffeinated coffee. “Where do you live? Did you say Deaf Smith County?”

He said, “Yeah. Hereford. As I understand it, you used to live in that area, at Canyon.”

She turned away from the cabinet counter and looked at him with surprise. “How did you know?”

“I’ve been trying to find you for three months. I tracked you all the way from Hereford to here.”

Clearly disturbed by this announcement, she turned back to the counter and reached for a paper towel. Lonnie noticed she fumbled the piece of paper several times as she sopped up the puddles of water that she’d spilled.

“Well, perhaps we should take our coffee to the living room,” she suggested. “It will be more comfortable to talk there.”

He nodded in agreement, and she gestured for him to help himself to one of the cups.

“I have sugar or cream if you want,” she offered.

Lonnie picked up the cup closest to him. “No, thanks. I like it plain. It’s better that way.”

She didn’t make any sort of reply, and he followed her back into the living room area. As he walked a few steps behind her, she said, “Please, have a seat, Mr. Corteen.”

Standing in the middle of the room, Lonnie looked at the couch and the cats. The cats looked back at him. After a moment’s indecision, he headed in the direction of a small armchair filled with what looked to him to be a stack of textbooks.

Seeing his intention, Mary Katherine hurriedly stepped in front of him. “Here, let me get those out of your way,” she said as she gathered up the books in her arms. “I’m sorry about the mess. I’ve just gotten off work and haven’t had time to do much cleaning.”

“There’s no need to apologize, Miss McBride. I didn’t exactly warn you that I was coming.” He’d thought about calling first, but had quickly dismissed the idea. He hadn’t wanted to give her the chance to put him off.

While she stacked the textbooks on a nearby end table, Lonnie eased down in the armchair. As he tried to make himself comfortable, she went over to the couch and took a seat next to the cats. The yellow tabby immediately got to his feet, stretched, then climbed onto Mary Katherine’s lap.

“Okay, Mr. Corteen, now that we’re both sitting, please tell me what this is all about. I can’t imagine how you tracked me all the way from Canyon. I haven’t lived there in a long time. And it’s been even longer since I lived in Hereford.”

“Yes. I know.” He propped his ankle on one knee and hung his hat on the toe of his boot. “You moved from Canyon about seven years ago to here in Fort Worth.”

She looked at him and he could see the wheels in her head spinning at a high rate of speed.

“Why were you trying to find me? Why are you here?” she asked bluntly.

He let out a heavy breath and decided there wasn’t any more time for hemming and hawing. “I have some news for you.”

She continued to look at him, her eyes wide and waiting.

Lonnie tried again. “Did you ever know your father, Miss McBride?”

Her slender fingers settled on the cat’s head and gently stroked him between the ears. “First of all, no one calls me Miss McBride. It’s Katherine. And secondly, what does my father have to do with this?”

“Would you please just answer my question? It’s important.”

She shrugged, and from the dry twist to her lips, she didn’t seem to think it important at all. “No. I don’t know anything about my father. Except that he was a drifter. He was in my mother’s life for a little while and then he was gone.”

“What was his name?”

“Ben.”

“Ben what?”

Once again her shoulders lifted and fell. “I don’t know. Ben was all she ever told me. She didn’t want me to know his name—that way I wouldn’t think about it and wish that it were mine.” Her lips twisted mockingly. “Not that I ever would wish such a thing.”

“So you never knew your father?”

Shaking her head she said, “No. He left long before I was ever born and that was that. Mom never heard from him again.” Her features wrinkled in wry contemplation. “Actually, I don’t think she wanted to hear from him again. She never said much about their relationship, so I always assumed they’d parted on bad terms.”

Heaven help him, Lonnie prayed. How was he going to tell this woman that everything she’d ever thought about herself and her parents was all a facade?

Katherine shook her hair, and the long strands fell on her shoulder and down over one pert breast. Lonnie had never thought of a pregnant woman as being sexy, but Katherine McBride had an earthy quality about her that stirred every masculine particle inside of him. The notion embarrassed him and he tried to look at the walls, the floor, anywhere but at her.

“What’s this all about, Sheriff?” she asked. “Have you found my father? Is he trying to find me or something?”

“Call me Lonnie,” he suggested. “And as for your father—no, I didn’t find him. But—” He swallowed and curbed the urge to sigh. “Tell me, Katherine, did you ever know a man called Noah Rider?”

Recognition flashed in her eyes and she smiled. It was the first smile he’d seen on her face since he’d knocked on her door, and the sight made him feel a hundred times worse.

“Yes. Noah was a friend of my mom’s. He’d stop by and visit us from time to time. Especially when I was little. I haven’t seen him in a long time, though.”

Lonnie had been a lawman since he was twenty years old, and during those ten years, he’d been the bearer of bad news on more than one occasion. It was never an easy job, but there was something about Katherine’s tender face that made all the right words stick in his throat like wads of dry bread.

“Well, I’m afraid I have bad news, Katherine. I don’t know any other way to tell you but…Noah Rider was murdered several months ago—almost a year, actually.”

“Murdered!” She stared at him, totally stunned. “But how? Why would someone have murdered him?”

The cat in her lap must have sensed that she was agitated. He slunk off her legs and jumped to the floor.

“That’s what I need to explain,” Lonnie told her. “And the whole thing is complicated.”

Frowning, she made a faint gesture toward the kitchen. “Maybe I’d better go find a cracker or something. My stomach is a little queasy.”

“Yeah. Maybe you’d better,” Lonnie said quickly, while thinking he’d already made the woman sick. Damn Seth Ketchum! The Texas Ranger should be here doing this himself. It would’ve made much more sense for him to deal with Katherine McBride. After all, Seth and his family were the ones who’d been trying to find her. Lonnie had only volunteered to do the tracking out of gratitude for an old friend. But somehow Seth had cajoled Lonnie into being the messenger, too.

Katherine started to push herself to her feet and, seeing her struggle, Lonnie immediately jumped up and reached for her hand. “Let me help you,” he offered.

Something flickered in her eyes, and Lonnie got the feeling she wasn’t accustomed to a man offering her any sort of help, even something as simple as assisting her to her feet. Damn it, where was the father of her baby? He desperately wanted to ask her, but there was already so much to say to her and he didn’t have the time or the right to dig into the romantic side of her life.

Not that Lonnie had any personal interest, he assured himself. No, he’d tried a walk down lover’s lane years ago and that one attempt had scalded him with pain and humiliation. Since then, romance had been something Lonnie Corteen carefully steered clear of. But it would be comforting to know that Katherine and the baby were going to have support from someone.

“Thank you,” she murmured and placed her soft, slender hand in his big palm.

He tugged her gently to her feet and smiled to himself as he watched a tinge of pink fill her cheeks.

“When is your baby due?” he asked.

“In three weeks. And let me tell you, he’s really beginning to feel heavy.” She pulled her hand from his and carefully put a small space between them.

“He? You already know it’s a boy?”

She unconsciously placed a hand over her rounded stomach. “Not exactly. The ultrasound was inconclusive. But I call him a boy anyway. I just have that feeling, you know.”

He absently stroked his chin as he continued to study her. “Uh, what about the father? What does he think?”

Damn it all, thought Lonnie, there he went again. He wasn’t going to get into this. Her personal life had nothing to do with him. The only thing he needed to be thinking about was getting the message delivered and getting back on the road to Hereford.

With a tight grimace on her face, she turned and headed for the kitchen. “I’ll go get that cracker,” she said flatly.

Thoughtfully, Lonnie followed and leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb of the opening leading into the small work space. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to get so personal.”

She didn’t respond to his apology immediately and Lonnie wondered how he could continue with this task if she was angry with him. Suddenly one of her shoulders lifted and fell, and she said, “It doesn’t matter. It’s no secret that the baby’s father skipped out on me.”

“Skipped out?”

Her lips flattened to a grim line as she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Yeah. He ran from the responsibility like a scalded cat. But I’m glad now. He would have made a sorry husband and father. Obviously.”

She was alone. Her declaration should have made him sad, even mad. Yet all he could feel rushing through his body was unexplainable relief. The emotion took him by complete surprise, and he tried to push the crazy feeling aside as he asked, “Is that what you thought was going to happen? That the guy was going to marry you?”

Looking away from him, she opened the cabinet and pulled down a box of vanilla wafers and a package of Oreo cookies. “Don’t all of us girls?” she asked wearily. “I made a bad judgment call. But I’ll not make the same mistake again.”

Lonnie noticed she didn’t sound bitter, more like resolute. And maybe that was a good thing. It was bad enough that this beautiful woman had already been taken advantage of one time. Twice would be obscene.

He didn’t make any sort of reply. Mainly because she didn’t seem to want or expect one, so he simply watched her fill a paper plate with the cookies.

“Would you care for some?” she asked.

Lonnie started to decline but decided it would be friendlier to accept her offer. And anyway, he hadn’t had a bite of dessert after the hastily gobbled burger he’d had for supper.

“Sure. I’m a sucker for sweets. Especially two-crust pies. You ever make those, Miss Katherine?”

She fetched another paper plate from the cabinet and placed it next to the cookies. “Sometimes. Whenever I have the time and a reason.” She gestured to the plate. “I’ll let you help yourself,” she added.

He started toward the cabinet, and she backed up and out of his way. Lonnie was a big, gangly man with long arms and legs and feet to match. He wondered if his size intimidated her or if she was put off by the idea that he was a lawman. Or maybe it was merely the fact that he was a man that made her keep a wary eye on him. In any case, he didn’t like the idea of her being skittish around him. He wanted her to trust him. In every way.