If the Ring Fits

Travis wasn’t so easily dissuaded. With gentle fingers he tipped her chin up then kissed her lightly on the mouth. “I was wrong to leave you behind in Vegas.”

“You didn’t have a choice.” Mary Karen’s fingers played with a button on his shirt. “You had a plane to catch. So did I.”

“If I’d have stayed we could have gotten the marriage annulled. I know how much you wanted to get that done while we were still there.”

Her hand dropped. “I’m glad now that we didn’t.”

Travis frowned. He must be more tired than he realized. Surely she hadn’t just said she wanted to stay married.

“Don’t get me wrong. I still don’t think marriage between us would work,” Mary Karen continued as if she’d read his mind. “Unless you’ve had an epiphany and changed your mind about children?”

Her tone was light but her blue eyes were dark and serious.

“I love your boys, M.K. You know that. But I’m not interested in spending the next twenty years raising children.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“About the annulment. I think—”

“No annulment.” Mary Karen shook her head, her gaze now on the full moon. “I’m pregnant.”

Dear Reader,

When I wrote the first book in the RX FOR LOVE miniseries, The Doctor’s Baby, I brought in Mary Karen and Travis as secondary characters. In the next two books, In Love with John Doe and The Christmas Proposition, they reappeared as part of this close-knit group of friends.

Though I’d initially planned to write only three books set in Jackson Hole, I found there were other characters clamoring for their own stories. At the top of the list were Mary Karen and Travis. I’d developed a soft spot in my heart for the young doctor with the quirky sense of humor and the mother of three very challenging little boys. I wanted to see them get together and have the happy ending they deserved.

I hope you enjoy their love story!

Warmest regards,

Cindy Kirk

About the Author

CINDY KIRK has loved to read for as long as she can remember. In first grade she received an award for reading one hundred books. Growing up, summers were her favorite time of year. Nothing beat going to the library, then coming home and curling up in front of the window air conditioner with a good book. Often the novels she read would spur ideas, and she’d make up her own story (always with a happy ending). When she’d go to bed at night, instead of counting sheep, she’d make up more stories in her head. Since selling her first story to Mills & Boon in 1999, Cindy has been forced to juggle her love of reading with her passion for creating stories of her own … but she doesn’t mind. Writing for Mills & Boon® Cherish™ is a dream come true. She only hopes you have as much fun reading her books as she has writing them!

Cindy invites you to visit her website at www.cindykirk.com.

If The Ring Fits

Cindy Kirk

To my mother-in-law, Marfae.

Thanks for all your love and support. You’re the best!

Chapter One

The sound of rushing water jolted Mary Karen Vaughn from a sound sleep. Still, she resisted the urge to open her eyes. She’d been having the most delicious dream, and she wasn’t ready for it to end. Instead of a quickie—like they’d shared at last year’s Christmas party—she and Travis had made love for hours.

She smiled, knowing that was just wishful thinking, er, dreaming. Every time she and the handsome doctor had sex it had been fast and furious—a physical release for both of them. He was a bachelor with a busy schedule, and she was a single mom with responsibilities. Both of them had an image in the community to uphold.

Though she knew it wasn’t possible, the past couple of times she’d found herself wishing he could hold her for a few more minutes, whisper how beautiful she was just a few more times.

A popular ob-gyn, Dr. Travis Fisher might be one of Jackson Hole’s most eligible bachelors but Mary Karen didn’t think of him in those terms. He was simply Travis, a dear friend since childhood and a fabulous lover. Back when she was in college, they’d dated a couple of times. She’d really wanted it to work out. But she had wanted a family some day and Travis, well, after helping raise seven younger siblings, he couldn’t see kids in his future.

Mary Karen let her eyes drift open. After her divorce they’d renewed their friendship and he’d become her occasional lover. It only made sense he’d play a starring role in last night’s mai-tai-fueled dream. Rolling to her side, she realized with a start that she was naked beneath the silk sheets. She smiled. A little rum was obviously a dangerous thing.

It was too bad Trav wasn’t here. He’d have enjoyed the view … and gotten all sorts of interesting ideas.

Mary Karen stretched, liking the feel of the sleek sheets against her skin. This vacation had been three days of pure bliss. Most people came to Las Vegas to gamble, but Mary Karen had been content to sit by the pool and read. A couple times guys had tried to pick her up but she wasn’t interested. This was her time away from kids and all she wanted was peace and quiet and no distractions.

As she lay, looking at the ceiling, it struck her that the running water had stopped. Earlier she’d sworn that the sound had been coming from her bathroom but had dismissed the ridiculous thought almost immediately. The truth was the walls in the luxurious room on the Las Vegas strip were just way too thin.

Mary Karen’s lips quirked upward. Being too thin was a problem she’d like to experience at least once in her life. Although she was still a size six, her belly had a slight pouch and she was more curvy than willowy. Still, for a twenty-six-year-old mother of three, Mary Karen thought she looked pretty darn good … especially now that she’d had some R & R.

After spending the past two days in her new red bikini by the pool, her normally pale skin now had a golden glow.

Winning this trip in a raffle had been just what her body and soul had needed. But today the fun ended. She had to head home in a couple of hours.

While she’d had a wonderful time, she’d missed her sons. And from the hitch in their little voices when she’d spoken with them yesterday afternoon, they missed her, too. But they’d cheered up when she promised she’d be home tonight. With an eleven-o’clock checkout, she needed to get packing.

Pushing back the sheet, she sat up and swung her legs to the side of the bed.

“You’re awake.”

Mary Karen whirled. She gasped and grabbed for the sheet, pulling it over her breasts.

“It’s a little late for modesty, M.K.” Travis strolled across the bedroom, clad only in the towel wrapped around his waist, his sandy hair still damp from the shower. “That horse left the barn a long time ago.”

Mary Karen could only stare.

At slightly over six feet, Travis was more wiry than muscular. He had a fair complexion with freckles scattered across the bridge of his nose. This morning his hazel eyes, which normally always had an impish gleam, were somber.

He crossed the room and the mattress dipped as he took a seat beside her. Tiny droplets of water still clung to his chest. He smelled like soap and shampoo and that indefinable male scent that sent sparks dancing through her blood.

Then she recalled the rest of last night’s dream. A sick feeling filled the pit of her stomach and she began to shake. Could she really have been so foolish? While she’d made some big mistakes in her life, this one would top them all. She’d been buzzed last night but definitely not drunk. Acting out her wildest fantasies in bed with a man she considered her best friend she could handle. But standing before a Bible-wielding Elvis …

Mary Karen searched Travis’s face. The despair that suddenly filled his eyes told her what she didn’t want to know.

“Tell me we d-didn’t.” She couldn’t quite control the tremble in her voice. “Please, Trav. Tell me we didn’t.”

Instead of answering he reached over and lifted her left hand. The emerald-cut yellow diamond on her finger caught the morning light.

“I wish I could say this was one of my jokes.” His attempt at a chuckle fell flat.

Her heart thundered in her chest and the room began to spin. “This can’t be happening.”

“You and I were married last night, M.K,” he said, squeezing her fingers. “Now we have to figure out what we’re going to do about it.”

Four weeks to the day later, Mary Karen left her sons in front of the television with their favorite video playing and locked the door to her home’s only bathroom.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror as she placed the sack on the edge of the sink. The hard-won tan from Vegas had already faded and lines of stress edged her eyes. For the past week, she hadn’t been able to sleep, worried what this test might show.

For as long as she could remember she’d been right-on-the-dot regular. A person could set their clock by her menstrual cycle. But when the day she was waiting for came and went just like any other, she knew she was in trouble. Now it was time to know if what she suspected was true. Her hands shook as she completed the test.

Mary Karen could count on one hand the times she’d been truly afraid. The first was when she’d been a child and had wandered away from her parents in Yellowstone. The second had been when Steven had told her he wanted a divorce. The twins had just turned two and she’d been pregnant with Logan. And then there was … now.

The walls of the tiny room closed in around her. A bead of sweat trickled down her spine. Her heart pounded so hard she felt lightheaded. Mary Karen told herself to look at the stick but her eyes refused to cooperate.

Marrying Travis and celebrating with a night of passionate sex had been a crazy thing to do. She barely remembered how it had happened. One minute they’d been laughing and enjoying a drink by the pool—one drink—the next they’d been saying their vows in front of a judge who looked an awful lot like the King of Rock and Roll.

If Travis hadn’t been leaving Vegas for his annual medical mission trip, they’d have gotten started on an annulment while they were still in Nevada. Instead she’d had to wait for him to return to Jackson Hole. Now that he was back they could finally work on putting this mistake behind them. What had the attorney she’d contacted said? It would be like the whole thing had never taken place….

Mary Karen took a deep breath and lifted the stick to eye level.

Her heart stopped for several seconds then resumed beating. Louder and more frantically. She tried to tell herself it could be a false positive, but she knew better. She’d been pregnant twice before and the signs were all there. The nausea. The fatigue. The emotional roller coaster.

Tears filled her eyes and slipped down her cheeks. She pushed a bucket of bath tub toys out of the way and turned on the water full force. The last thing she wanted was for her boys to hear her crying and worry.

Dear God, she couldn’t have another baby, she just couldn’t.

Though it would be easy to make Travis the bad guy, even in her despair Mary Karen knew she had only herself to blame. Fertile Myrtle … that’s what her brother laughingly called her. Both of her previous pregnancies had occurred when she’d been on the pill. She should have insisted Travis go out and buy some condoms before she let him touch her.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

She beat her clenched hand against her aching chest and the river of tears turned into a torrent. Breathing grew difficult as a sob blocked her throat.

“Mommy.” A small fist pounded on the locked bathroom door. “I hafta go potty.”

“Mommy,” another childish voice called out. “Open the door. Logan has to go real bad.”

Mary Karen swallowed the sob and took a shuddering breath. Her hand fumbled for the box of tissue. She blew her nose and swiped at her eyes before shoving the pregnancy test supplies into the plastic grocery bag. Only after she’d tied the sack shut did she open the door.

“I’m sorry, honey.” She stepped aside as her youngest rushed past.

Even though Logan was too focused to pay her much attention, the twins waiting in the hallway were much more observant.

“What’s wrong?” With his golden curls and big blue eyes, five-year-old Connor could have been a poster boy for one of God’s chosen angels. Until you got close enough to see the devilish gleam in his eyes.

“Your eyes look funny,” he said almost accusingly.

“Your face is red,” his identical twin, Caleb, chimed in.

“I, I had something in my eye.” Mary Karen dabbed the last of the tears away with the tissue clutched in her hand. “Like you did, Cal, last week. Remember?”

“It hurt.” Caleb nodded, accepting her explanation without question.

Connor wasn’t so easily fooled. His blond brow furrowed and suspicion filled his gaze. “If you got something in one eye, why are both your eyes red?”

Instead of answering, Mary Karen dropped her gaze. “You have chocolate on the front of your Spider-Man shirt. Did you get into the M&M’s?”

Connor blinked but was spared having to answer when Logan emerged from the bathroom, toilet paper stuck to his sneakers, a big smile on his face. “I went poopy all by myself.”

Even though he was three, this was indeed a big deal. After almost five years, her home was finally a diaperfree zone.

But for how much longer? Mary Karen shoved the fear aside and gave her child a hug. “I’m so proud of you.”

Logan gave her five seconds before he began to squirm. “Let go.” He grunted and pushed back until she released him. “We’re playing trucks.”

“Okay, you go with your brothers.” Mary Karen drew a shaky breath. “Mommy needs to get ready for the party.”

Although Travis had returned yesterday from his mission trip in Cameroon she hadn’t heard from him. Of course, with her brother, David, hosting a welcome-back barbecue for him tonight, he probably assumed he’d see her then.

Still, she’d expected a call. After all, this marriage mess had shaken them both. Though they were good friends and the sexual energy between them had only grown stronger over the years, they were both smart enough to realize the marriage had been a huge mistake.

She wished it could be different but Travis had been clear—he didn’t want children. And she had three of them. Three little boys she adored.

If she ever did marry again, it would be to someone who loved and wanted not only her, but her sons as well. Her ex had taught her a valuable lesson. If love wasn’t there in the beginning, if the desire to be a part of a family wasn’t there, either, it wasn’t going to show up later.

Steven had never wanted to be a husband to her or a father to their boys. She’d tried hard to make their marriage work but from day one he’d blamed her for “trapping” him. And he’d missed no opportunity to throw that in her face. Her heart twisted at the memory.

If Travis found out she was pregnant, he would insist on taking responsibility. He was just that kind of guy. But Mary Karen couldn’t let him. She refused to go down that road again. Which meant she was in this alone. Oh, her parents would be supportive. But they were busy with their own lives. And her brother, who’d been such a help when Steven had walked out on her, now had a family of his own. No, the children she had—and any additional children she might have—were her responsibility. Hers and hers alone.

You don’t have to have this baby.

The thought was like a whisper on the wind.

Mary Karen refused to let it take hold in her head. She couldn’t end this tiny life growing inside her.

“You’re a dodo head,” she heard Connor yell from the other room.

“Mo-om,” Caleb called out. “Connor called me a dodo head.”

The words were followed by a crash then the sound of Logan crying.

Mary Karen closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. After a heartbeat she opened them, then squared her shoulders and headed for the living room. Later, she’d think about the mess her life had become. For now she had three little boys who needed their mommy.

Travis Fisher pulled his car in front of Dr. Kate McNeal’s apartment complex—just a few buildings down from his—and was overcome once again with the feeling that giving her a ride to his welcome-back party was a mistake.

Last night he’d barely gotten into town, when he’d received a call from the hospital. A woman needed an emergency C-section and the other ob-gyns were busy. As the on-call pediatrician, Kate had been in the delivery room.

After the birth, they’d grabbed a quick cup of coffee in the doctors’ lounge. They got to talking and she’d mentioned the party.

When she asked if he could pick her up, he hadn’t known how to respond. Like she said, she lived close and they were going to the same destination. Riding together made perfect sense. Except he wasn’t the guy she’d known before he left for Cameroon. He was … married.

Married. Travis still found it hard to believe. He could only imagine David Wahl’s reaction if he heard the news. Though his friend loved to tease his sister, he was her staunchest supporter. No, David would not be pleased.

Thankfully, the annulment would take care of the problem. No one—including David—would ever know.

Travis shut off his BMW Roadster and opened the door. He still couldn’t believe he and Mary Karen had been so reckless. The sex he could understand. There’d always been a strong physical attraction between them. But even way back when she was in college and he was in residency, they’d acknowledged that they weren’t right for each other. He was live-for-the-moment. She was home-and-hearth.

She was also his best female friend and the one he’d thought of most when he’d been in Cameroon.

Kate stepped out of the front door of her building. He acknowledged her wave with a smile. Though she wasn’t as pretty as Mary Karen, Kate was easy on the eyes. Her hair hung to her shoulders in a sleek bob, jet-black and silky. Long dark lashes framed hazel eyes. Tall and lean, she had a fashion sense that made her look more like a model than an up-and-coming pediatrician.

While she didn’t make his insides go all crazy like Mary Karen did, Kate was a nice person. There was no reason he should be feeling guilty for giving her a ride. No reason at all. After all, he and M.K. were really married only on paper. The annulment should be as quick as the wedding ceremony.

Travis started up the walk and met Kate halfway. Her summer dress accentuated her willowy figure and full breasts. When he drew close, she opened her arms to him. “I’m so happy you’re back.”

Obligingly he stepped in and pulled her near, appreciating the clean fresh scent of her. In Cameroon, such common staples like deodorant and toothpaste had been in short supply. Kate was a sweet reminder that he was home. While training other doctors to better help their patients had been a powerful experience, he was very happy to be back.

Kate lifted her face and he realized she expected a kiss. They’d kissed once before he left but this was different. He hadn’t been married then. And even if that marriage would be over the second he and Mary Karen had a chance to sign the appropriate forms and let the lawyers do the rest, to participate in even such simple intimacy with another woman felt wrong.

Travis took a step back.

A momentary look of confusion crossed Kate’s face. “Is something wrong?”

He smiled and pretended to misunderstand. “Don’t want to be late.”

Kate started down the sidewalk, and he fell into step beside her. “Will there be people I know at this party?”

“Probably. It will be an eclectic mix. David has invited everyone from colleagues at the hospital to my ski buddy Joel Dennes.”

“Joel Dennes?” she asked in a tone that seemed a bit too casual. “The contractor?”

Travis slanted a sideways glance as they reached the car. “You’ve met?”

“No,” she said quickly. “Why would you think that?”

“He has a daughter.” Travis shrugged. “I thought she might be one of your patients.”

“She may be. I haven’t met all the patients in my new practice yet.” Her eyes remained focused ahead, her tone noncommittal. “I did meet someone who knows you at the hospital last week.”

He opened the passenger side door and helped her into the car. “Who was that?”

“Mary Karen Vaughn,” Kate said. “Did you know David Wahl is her brother? I wonder if she’ll be at the barbecue.”

Somehow Travis managed a smile as he shut her door. “Undoubtedly.”

Chapter Two

Mary Karen’s brother, David, and his wife, July, had been blessed with a perfect night for their backyard barbecue. The sun shone bright in the blue Wyoming sky. Blooming patches of wildflowers rimmed the large yard. The linen-clad tables had each been adorned with bouquets of sunflowers. For an outdoor event, it felt surprisingly elegant.

“I thought everyone would be dressed a little more casual.” Mary Karen glanced down at her blue chambray skirt and scoop-necked lace top, and then back at her friends.

Her sister-in-law, July Wahl, wore a darling tropical-print dress while her friend Lexi Delacorte’s cherry-red one-shoulder maternity dress managed to look stylish and comfortable at the same time.

“You look so cute,” July said. “I love what you did with your hair.”

Mary Karen smiled wryly. “You mean … wash it?”

“Shut up.” July gave her a little shove. “I’m talking about pulling it back from your face in those cute little clips.”

“I love the look, too,” Lexi said. “And, just so you know, we’re super jealous of your flat stomach.”

“It’s hard to be sexy with your belly out in front.” July glanced down. “Thankfully, David seems to still find me attractive.”

“Nick tells me every day how beautiful I am. And he’s determined to be involved in every aspect of my pregnancy.” Lexi’s face took on a beautiful glow. “Every morning before he heads into his office, he places a hand on my belly and talks to our son. He read somewhere that listening to the voices of both parents helps the baby feel loved and secure even before he’s born.”

The vivid image Lexi painted brought a lump to Mary Karen’s throat. How different the experience was from her pregnancies. When she was expecting the twins Steve had called her a whale and refused to touch her. Halfway through her pregnancy with Logan, he’d left. Now she’d have to do this alone again. Tears filled her eyes.

She took a sip of iced tea and quickly blinked the moisture back, but apparently not fast enough.

July placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Honey, what’s wrong?”

“Tell us what has you upset.” Concern filled Lexi’s amber eyes. “Was it something I said?”

“I’m just tired.” Mary Karen forced a smile, knowing at least this was the truth. No matter how much sleep she got at night, it wasn’t enough. “The thunderstorms woke Logan. Then the twins heard him, and they were up, too.”

She saw no reason to add to the story. When she’d slipped into bed, she’d started thinking what her life was going to be like as a mother of four, and then sleep became impossible.

“I don’t know how you do it,” July said. “You have three little boys who are bundles of energy. You work—”