Harlequin Special Edition November 2014 - Box Set 2 of 2: The Maverick's Thanksgiving Baby\A Celebration Christmas\Dr. Daddy's Perfect Christmas (9 page)

“The girlfriend from the big city who did a number on you,” she clarified.

He didn't say anything.

“Don't make me go into town searching for tidbits of gossip,” she teased.

It wasn't a sincere threat, of course, but Jesse finally answered.

“Her name was Shaelyn,” he said. “And for all of three weeks, she was my fiancée.”

“Oh.” And how silly was it that Maggie was disappointed to realize she wasn't the first woman he'd ever proposed to. “How many times have you been engaged?”

“Just two.”

“Was she pregnant?”

He shook his head.

“So you proposed to her because you loved her,” she realized.

“I thought I did,” he admitted.

But Maggie knew it had been more than a thought to have scarred him so deeply.

He'd told her he didn't want to fall in love—but that was only because he'd already been there, done that. And while her heart was filled to overflowing with feelings for him, his heart was still in pieces, broken by another woman.

Not exactly the auspicious start she'd envisioned for their life together.

* * *

True to his word, Jesse called the preacher that same night, and their wedding was scheduled for Saturday afternoon—only four days away.

Christa, Gavin and Ryan all had to do some serious rearranging of their schedules, but they managed to fly into Montana on Friday. Shane and his wife, Gianna, drove up from Thunder Canyon on the same day, and the Roarkes had an impromptu family reunion at Strickland's Boarding House, where they were all staying.

On Wednesday, Lissa had taken Maggie into Kalispell to go shopping. Maggie didn't want to buy her wedding dress without her mother's approval, so every dress that she tried on, Lissa took a picture and emailed it to Christa, who would email back her thoughts and suggestions.

After the fourth picture, Lissa's cell phone rang. Christa was crying happy tears on the other end of the line because she knew that dress was “the one,” and she gave her credit card information to the clerk over the phone to ensure that Maggie walked out of the store with it in hand.

And on the day of the wedding, as she helped her daughter into the gown, Christa's eyes misted over again. “Look at you,” she said softly, almost reverently.

Maggie did so, smiling as she took in her reflection in the full-length mirror. “I look like a bride,” she said, turning to show off the dress from all sides.

It was a strapless design with a sweetheart neckline, a bodice covered in sparkly beads that hugged her breasts, and a full skirt that skimmed the floor.

“The most beautiful bride I've ever seen,” her mother said, brushing moisture from her cheeks.

“I'm sure Dad would have something to say about that,” Maggie countered. Then she lifted up the hem of her skirt to show her the cowboy boots on her feet. “What do you think? Lissa says she's going to make a cowgirl out of me yet.”

“I think, if Lissa says so, I wouldn't bet against it.”

Maggie smiled again. “I can't believe it's my wedding day already.”

“It seems like only yesterday that you called to tell us you'd accepted Jesse's proposal,” her mother said.

“You mean instead of actually being four days ago?”

Christa fussed with the headpiece. “I've never heard of anyone putting together a wedding in four days.”

“That's because no one else had Lissa taking care of all the details.”

“Probably true,” her mother agreed.

Maggie turned to take her hands. “Are you disappointed that we wanted to get married here?”

“It's
your
wedding,” her mother said. “And I can understand why you'd want to take your vows where you're going to start your life with your new husband. If I'm disappointed about anything, it's only that we didn't have enough time to plan a proper wedding.”

“So you think this is going to be an improper wedding?”

The gentle teasing made Christa smile, even through her tears. “You always did know how to twist words to make your point. It's one of the reasons you're such a good attorney.”

“I learned from the best,” she said.

“Hopefully I also taught you that there's more to life than the law.”

“That's why I left my job at Alliston & Blake.”

“I only wished you'd left there sooner,” her mother admitted. “They demanded far too much of you and gave you very little in return. If you'd come to work at Roarke & Associates—”

“I would have always wondered if I earned my position or got it on the basis of my name.”

Christa sighed. “As much as it frustrates me to know that you believed it, I can understand.”

“You'll get to meet my new boss and his wife at the wedding.”

“I'm looking forward to it,” her mother said.

“Knock, knock,” Lissa said, pushing open the door. “Mabel sent me up to let you know that the photographer's here.”

“Then I'll go get the father of the bride and meet you both downstairs in ten minutes.”

* * *

Since Jesse had to pick up his tux in Kalispell the day of the wedding, he decided to take it directly to the church and get ready there.

So much had happened since the day Maggie told him she was pregnant, it was hard to believe that only two weeks had passed. He'd known right away that he wanted to marry her and be a father to their child, and his conviction had not wavered. But as the clock ticked closer and closer to four o'clock and their scheduled wedding, he found himself worrying more and more that Maggie might be having second thoughts.

He suspected Shaelyn's most recent phone call was responsible for some of his concern. Although he hadn't spoken to his former fiancée, there had been a message on his machine when he got home the night that Maggie had finally agreed to marry him. Shaelyn had asked him to call her back, but of course he hadn't. She was his past and he was determined to focus on his future with Maggie.

He should feel jubilant—Maggie was going to make her life with him and their child in Rust Creek Falls. He was getting everything he wanted. But what was she getting? She was moving away from her family, her friends, giving up a career. Yes, she was planning to write the State Bar exam in the new year, and he had no doubt that she would soon be licensed to practice in Montana, but he also knew that she wouldn't have the same kind of career here that she could have if she stayed in LA.

Which was one of the reasons she'd agreed to do this—to give her life balance, so that she could be a mother
and
an attorney. But it seemed to him that she was giving up more than she was getting in return, and he couldn't help but wonder if she might come to resent him because of the changes she'd felt compelled to make to her life.

But if there was another—a better—way to work things out, he couldn't see it. He didn't want to live more than twelve hundred miles away from his child. And he didn't want his child raised by someone else while Maggie worked sixty hours a week to pay for that care.

A knock on the door jolted him out of his reverie. Assuming it was Nate, his best man, he invited him to come in.

But when the door opened, it wasn't his oldest brother who walked through it—it was his former fiancée.

Chapter Nine

“S
haelyn.”

Jesse stared at her for a long moment, not knowing what else to say. He couldn't believe she was here, and he couldn't begin to fathom why.

“Hello, Jesse.” She smiled at him—the same slow, seductive smile that used to be the prelude to all kinds of things.

She looked good—but then, Shaelyn always did. She had the fragile beauty of a china doll: silky hair, porcelain skin, delicate features. She was the type of woman that a man instinctively wanted to cherish and protect, as he'd once vowed to do.

But looking at her now, he felt nothing more than surprise—and maybe some apprehension. He hadn't seen her in seven years and couldn't understand why she'd shown up after so long—and on his wedding day, no less. “What are you doing here?”

“I saw your mother and your sisters in Missoula,” his former fiancée explained. “Natalie told me that they were shopping for dresses for your wedding.”

“Why were you in Missoula?”

“I've been working at the university for the past four years—at the Museum of Art & Culture.”

“I thought you were in Helena. Isn't your husband some kind of advisor to the governor?”

“Ex-husband,” she said with a small smile. “I moved to Missoula after the divorce, almost three years ago.”

“Oh.” He wasn't quite sure what else he was supposed to say. “I'm sorry it didn't work out?”

She offered a weak smile. “I should have realized our marriage was doomed from the start—because I never stopped loving you.”

She waited a beat, but Jesse remained silent.

“I was hoping you would say that you feel the same way.”

“I don't,” he said bluntly.

“I know it's been a long time—”

“Speaking of time, I really don't have time for this right now.”

“If we don't do this now, it's going to be too late.”

“It's already too late.”

She shook her head. “You told me that you loved me.”

“Because I did,” he confirmed.
“Seven years ago.”

“And now?”

“Now I'm marrying someone else.”

She lifted her chin, her gaze challenging. “Do you love her?”

“Why else would I be marrying her?”

“That's what I'm trying to figure out,” she said.

“We've been apart longer than we were together,” he pointed out. “And I promise—I'm
not
still in love with you.”

As he said those words, he realized—without a doubt—that they were true. He was completely over Shaelyn. Yes, he'd loved her once, but that was in the past. He'd been young and infatuated, wanting to be with the woman who claimed she wanted to be with him. When she'd gone, he'd realized that he hadn't missed Shaelyn so much as he'd missed being with someone.

“But you still haven't said that you're in love with her.”

“I'm in love with Maggie,” he said, because it seemed that speaking the words was the only way to get his former fiancée out of the way so he could marry the mother of his child.

“Okay, then—” she took a step back “—I guess I should offer my congratulations.”

“Thank you, Shaelyn.”

But, of course, she couldn't leave it at that. “I hope she loves you, too, Jesse. Enough to trade in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood for the tedium and simplicity of Big Sky Country.”

And with those words, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and stalked out, passing the groom's best man on the way.

“What the hell was
she
doing here?” Nate wanted to know.

“I'm not entirely sure,” Jesse admitted.

His family had never taken to Shaelyn, despite the fact that he'd planned to marry her. Nate, specifically, had expressed disapproval of her apparent lack of ambition to do anything other than get married.

“What did she say to put that look on your face?”

Jesse just shook his head.

“Don't let her mess with your mind,” Nate warned.

“She didn't say anything that I haven't already heard a thousand times.”

Except for the fact that she was still in love with him, and he wasn't going to get into that with his brother. Because, as he'd said to Maggie when he first proposed to her, he wasn't looking for love.

So why was he bothered by Shaelyn's suggestion that Maggie might not love him enough?

* * *

As his wife fussed with his tie, determined to get it just right before he walked their daughter down the aisle, Gavin stared stonily ahead, trying
not
to think about the reason he was in this tux.

“You're the father of the bride—try to look happy.”

“Even if I'm not?”

Christa sighed. “You should be happy for your daughter—this is what she wants.”

“She's only twenty-eight years old and she's been so busy building a career, she's barely dated. How can she know what she wants?” he demanded.

“No one knows her mind like our Maggie,” his wife assured him. “A fact that you've been lamenting since she was a toddler.”

He smiled, because it was true, but the smile quickly faded. “You don't think he coerced her into this marriage because she's pregnant?”

“I think she wouldn't let herself be coerced if she didn't want to be.”

He continued to scowl. “She's our baby girl.”

“Our baby girl's going to have a baby of her own in a few months,” Christa reminded him gently.

“And she's going to have that baby more than a thousand miles away from us.”

“I know you think Montana is the middle of nowhere, but we managed to get here today, didn't we?”

“You think I'm being ridiculous,” he realized.

“I think you're being a father.” She tugged on his tie, bringing his mouth down to hers for a quick kiss. “And a very handsome father of the bride you are.”

“The mother of the bride looks pretty good, too.”

She arched a brow. “Pretty good?”

He grinned and slipped his arm around her waist. “I love you, Christa.”

“I love you, too.”

“I just hope that, forty years from now, Maggie and Jesse will be as happy as we are.”

“No one can know what the future holds,” she told her husband, “but I have no doubt that when you walk our daughter down the aisle today, she will be marrying the man she loves.”

* * *

The groom's parents, already seated in the church, weren't any more enthusiastic about the forthcoming nuptials than the bride's father.

“I hope he isn't making a mistake,” Todd Crawford said, drumming his fingers on his knee.

His wife clasped her hands together in her lap. “What else could he do, under the circumstances?”

“Nothing,” her husband admitted. “A man needs to take responsibility for his actions, and a child needs a father.”

“Then why are you griping?”

“I just wish, if he had to knock up someone, he'd chosen a local girl who might actually stay put in this town.”

“Except that one or more of his brothers has dated most of the single women in Rust Creek Falls,” she pointed out drily.

“There are plenty of women in Kalispell or even other parts of Montana.”

“Like Billings?”

He winced at the mention of the hometown of the groom's former fiancée. “Okay, so that didn't work out so well for him. But I'm not sure this is going to be any better. She's from Los Angeles for Christ's sake.”

“Don't swear,” his wife admonished.

“She's not going to be happy here.”

“You don't know that—look at her cousin, Lissa. She came from New York and yet she settled in with the sheriff with no difficulty.”

As was usual when Todd couldn't refute an argument, he said nothing. But his jaw remained stubbornly set.

“This all started when he went to work at Traub Stables,” he said, after another minute had passed.

Laura frowned. “What?”

“It's those damn Traubs—they lured Jesse away from home, from his roots.”

His wife sighed. “You know Jesse's heart has always been with the horses.”

Todd shook his head. “As if it wasn't bad enough that everyone in town knows that our son is working for a Traub, now he's marrying a California girl.”

“Could you try to focus on something else—at least for today?”

“Like what?”

“Like the fact that we're going to be grandparents again.”

“That's if she sticks around long enough for us to meet the baby,” her husband grumbled.

* * *

Maggie had lived her whole life in Los Angeles, where there was no shortage of handsome men. She worked in a law firm where men lived in suits. But she was certain she'd never seen anyone as handsome as Jesse Crawford. And she knew none of those other men had ever affected her the way he did. Never had any one of those men made her breath catch in her throat or her heart pound so hard and fast against her ribs she was certain everyone must be able to hear it.

But when she took her first steps down the aisle and saw Jesse standing at the altar, that's exactly what happened.

She didn't even remember the exchange of vows; the words were somehow lost in the excitement of the realization that she was going to be Mrs. Jesse Crawford. She did remember the kiss. Although it was chaste in comparison to other kisses they'd shared, there was heat in the brief touch of his mouth to hers, enough to heighten her awareness and anticipation.

Now she was in his arms again, sharing their first dance as husband and wife.

As she turned around the floor, she caught a glimpse of her parents—Christa dabbing her eyes with Gavin's handkerchief—and Jesse's parents—Laura's smile obviously forced, Todd's attention on the drink in his hand.

“I think your mother disapproves of the fact that I'm wearing a white dress,” Maggie said.

Jesse looked down at his bride—the most beautiful woman he'd ever known, looking even more beautiful than ever. “You don't need to worry about my mother's—or anyone else's—approval.”

At nineteen weeks, Maggie wasn't obviously pregnant. It was only because he'd been intimate with her slender body that Jesse was aware of the subtle bump that was proof of their baby growing inside of her.

“I'm not really. But I know people are already speculating about the reasons for our getting married so quickly.”

“People are always going to talk about something.”

“I know,” she admitted. “Although it's a little unnerving to realize that the Hollywood paparazzi has nothing on the Rust Creek Falls grapevine.”

“You're a celebrity here,” he told her.

“The city slicker who shamelessly seduced the quiet cowboy and trapped him into marriage?”

He tipped her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I don't feel trapped,” he promised her. “I feel incredibly lucky.”

Then he brushed his lips against hers.

And the way she kissed him back gave him hope that, before the night was out, he'd get even luckier.

* * *

After the cake-cutting ceremony, Maggie slipped away to use the ladies' room. Lissa had been taking her duties as matron of honor seriously and had barely left the bride's side, but she was dancing with her husband now and Maggie didn't want to interrupt.

It was a bit tricky to maneuver her skirts in the narrow stall, but she managed and was just about to flush when she heard the
click-clack
of heels on tile. Several pairs, by the sound of it, accompanied by talking and laughter.

The words she heard made her pause with her fingers on the handle.

“Guess who stopped by to see the groom before the wedding,” an unfamiliar female voice said.

“Who?” a second woman wanted to know.

“Shaelyn Everton.”

“Who?” the second speaker asked again.

“Jesse's ex,” yet another voice responded, sounding impatient. “The one he was engaged to for all of three weeks.”

Inside her bathroom stall, Maggie sucked in a breath. Thankfully, the other women were too focused on their conversation to hear her.

“How do you know this?”

“Brad told me that Nate caught them together in the anteroom before the ceremony.”

“Caught them doing what?” There was more glee than curiosity in the tone, suggesting that the second woman enjoyed a juicy scandal.

Maggie pressed a hand to her stomach, desperate to still its sudden churning.

Her friend laughed. “Nothing like that,” she chided. “They were just talking.”

“Oh.” Woman Number Two didn't hide her disappointment while the bride exhaled a long, slow breath. “What was she doing here?”

“Trying to make a final play for Jesse would be my guess.”

“Because breaking his heart once wasn't enough?”

“She messed him up, that's for sure,” the first woman commented. “I remember hearing his mom tell my mom that she didn't think he'd ever get over her.”

“That was a long time ago,” someone else said. “And he seems happy with Maggie.”

“For now,” the first speaker allowed.

“Give her a chance,” the third woman suggested.

“Kristin's just mad that Maggie got him into bed and she never did.”

“I've always liked the strong, silent type,” the first speaker, now identified as Kristin, admitted. “But Brad is every bit as cute as his brother—maybe even more.”

“But why was Shaelyn here?” The second woman finally circled back to the original topic of conversation. “I thought she married some other guy.”

“She did, but they're divorced now. And while she might have been the one to leave Jesse, the rumor is that she never got over him.”

The women had apparently finished their primping and started toward the exit, as evidenced by the
click-clack
on the tiles and their fading voices. “I don't think he...”