The - Cowboy’s - Secret - Twins (6 page)

Melissa laughed. “That’s his new game and he’ll play as long as you will.”

Henry’s eyes sparkled with a new warmth she hadn’t seen there before.

“They’re amazing, aren’t they? It’s obvious already that they’re smart.”

Melissa smiled. It was fun to see him being a proud daddy, certain that his boys were more intelligent and cuter than any other babies on the face of the earth.

The rest of the evening passed quickly. They drank hot cocoa and strung the popcorn and cranberry garlands on the tree, then added tinsel and ornaments that had been in the Randolf family for years. Mary knew the history of each and every ornament and Melissa was entranced by the stories she told.

“I picked these up while I was out today,” Mary said as she grabbed a box from the bookcase that Melissa hadn’t noticed. She took the lid off the box and pulled out two ornaments and handed them to Melissa. The ornaments were little cowboys and each sported the words Baby’s First Christmas. For a moment as Melissa gazed at them her heart was too full to attempt speech. “I don’t know what to say,” she finally managed to sputter. A sudden mist fell in front of her eyes. She quickly blinked them away. “Once again, thank you for your kindness.”

“Pick a good spot and hang them on the tree,” Mary said. “It’s the beginning of a new tradition. There will be an ornament every year for each of the boys to add to the collection. When they leave home and have their own trees, they can take them with them.”

Melissa got up from the sofa and approached the tree, vividly aware of Henry’s eyes on her. She’d felt him watching her all evening long, an intense, almost predatory gaze that had kept her in a state of anticipation. It was still there between them, that crazy, wild attraction, that white-hot desire that had exploded out of control on the night of the snowstorm. She saw it in the depths of his eyes, felt the electricity in the air whenever he was near.

She hung the ornaments and then James began to fuss. “It’s past their bedtime,” she said as she unbuckled James from his high chair and pulled him up into his arms.

“I’ll get this one,” Henry said and picked up Joey.

“I think I’m going to call it a night as well,” Melissa said to Mary.

“Thank you for a wonderful evening and I’ll see you in the morning.”

Mary kissed each of the boys on their foreheads and smiled at Melissa.

“Sleep well, Melissa.”

As Melissa went up the stairs she was conscious of Henry just behind her. She could smell the scent of him, felt a stir in the pit of her stomach. It was easier to be around him with Mary in the room. Being alone with him made her think of how his lips had felt on hers, how his eyes had burned electric blue as he’d taken her that cold, wintry night. She carried James into the bedroom across from where she’d slept the night before, where the two new cribs awaited. The boys were already dressed in their sleepers, but each needed a diaper change before going to sleep.

“You can just put him in that bed,” she said. “And I’ll take it from here.”

“What else needs to be done?” he asked.

She smiled and unsnapped James’s sleeper bottom. “Diaper duty.”

“Toss me one of those diapers and I’ll take care of Joey,” he replied. She looked at him in surprise. “I wrestle cattle. I think I can handle wrestling a diaper on a little bottom,” he said with a smile.

Within minutes the boys were changed and half-asleep. Melissa kissed their downy heads then walked to the doorway and turned out the light. A night-light glowed from a socket in the corner as she and Henry stepped back out into the hallway.

“That’s it? Now they’ll just go to sleep?” Henry asked.

“If we’re lucky. If it’s a good night,” she replied.

“And if it’s a bad night?”

He stood so close to her she could feel the heat from his body radiating to her. Memories of the night they’d shared shot through her mind. She remembered the feel of his hand around hers as they’d raced through the blinding snow to the abandoned farmhouse, his gentleness as he helped her pull off her wet shoes and socks.

He’d rubbed her feet between his hands, then had gotten a roaring fire started using a stack of wood that had been left by the fireplace. As crazy as it sounded, that night in the arms of a stranger she’d felt more loved, more cared for than she’d ever felt in her life. It was a pathetic statement on how lonely her life had been up until now. She suddenly realized that even with Tom she had felt lonely.

She also realized he was looking at her expectantly, that he’d asked her a question she hadn’t yet answered.

“If it’s a bad night then I usually walk them or rock them until they finally go to sleep,” she said. “Hopefully they won’t have a bad night while we’re here so they won’t wake up you or your mother.”

“You don’t have to worry about them waking up Mom. Her rooms are on the other side of the house. And I don’t mind if they wake me up. I’d be happy to walk or rock a baby back to sleep.”

She was quickly developing a crush on her babies’ daddy and she found it appalling. “Then I guess I’ll just say good-night,” she said as she backed away from him.

“Good night, Melissa,” he replied then turned his attention back to the bedroom where the boys slept.

It wasn’t until Melissa was in her nightgown and had slid beneath the blankets on the bed that the first stir of uneasiness filtered through her. The new cribs, the high chairs, even the ornaments on the tree suddenly took on an ominous meaning. She’d worried that Henry wouldn’t want to be a part of Joey and James’s lives but now her worry was exactly the opposite.

What if those things hadn’t been bought to make her visit more pleasant?

What if they’d been bought as the beginning to creating a permanent place here for the boys?

Henry certainly had the money and the power to make a play for custody of the boys and Melissa was in no financial position to be able to fight him.

Don’t jump to conclusions, she told herself, but she couldn’t stop the burning fear that somehow, someway, Henry intended to take her babies away from her.

Chapter 5

“A re we ready to take off?” Henry asked Melissa the next morning when they’d all finished breakfast. She looked so pretty in a bright pink sweater and worn jeans that hugged her hips, but she’d been unusually quiet since she’d gotten up that morning.

She glanced at the boys still seated in their high chairs. “Go on, Melissa. I can take it from here,” Mary assured her. “Go enjoy a little shopping or whatever. It’s a beautiful day and we won’t see many more of them.”

“I just need to get my coat,” Melissa said.

As she ran up the stairs, Henry walked to the entry hall and retrieved his gun and shoulder holster from the drawer. He quickly put them on and then pulled on his winter coat.

He didn’t want the presence of the gun to frighten Melissa, but he also didn’t intend to go out the door without it. Although he anticipated no trouble, he intended to be prepared if trouble found him. As she came back down the stairs he felt a tiny fluttering heat in the pit of his stomach. He was looking forward to spending some time with her, without the boys, without his mother as a buffer between them. She intrigued him. He couldn’t get a handle on her. He didn’t know if she was really what she seemed—a nice woman who had acted uncharacteristically the night she’d been with him, a loving mother who had come here to find a friend, or a schemer who was like so many of the other women who had drifted through Henry’s life.

“Ready,” she said as she reached the landing.

He’d already had Charlie bring his truck to the driveway and as he stepped out the door he was on alert. As Charlie got out of the driver seat, Henry helped Melissa into the passenger side.

Once she was in he met Charlie at the driver door. “Thanks, Charlie,” he said.

“No problem. You watch your back in town.”

Henry nodded. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. You keep an eye on things here while I’m gone. Oh, and Charlie, tell Hank I’m giving him three weeks’

severance pay, but he’s fired. I warned him about his drinking, but he didn’t take my warning to heart.”

Charlie’s expression didn’t change. “I’ll tell him, boss.”

Within minutes Henry was in the truck and they were pulling out of the ranch entrance and onto the main highway that led into Dalhart. He cast her a sideways glance. “You’ve been rather quiet this morning.”

She looked out the side window, making it impossible for him to see her face. “I was up most of the night. The boys were restless and fussy.” She paused a moment and then continued, “You know it’s not all fun and games, dealing with the boys. You’ve seen them on their best behavior, but they can be so difficult. They cry and fuss and keep you up all night. They spit out their food and make a big mess.”

He frowned, wondering where she was going, what had brought on this little diatribe. “I’m aware that parenting isn’t all fun and games,” he replied.

She turned to look at him. “How could you possibly be aware of that?

You’ve only been around them for a day and a half.” Her eyes were wide and her lower lip trembled slightly.

“Only a fool thinks it’s easy to raise kids, and I’m not a fool,” he replied. Once again she cast her gaze out the side window. She appeared at ease, but he could feel the tension wafting from her. Something had put a burr on her butt and he couldn’t imagine what had caused it. Maybe she was just one of those moody women who got mad at the world without any provocation. Maybe this was a negative character trait that he would have seen if they’d dated for any length of time.

He figured eventually he’d know what had set her off. “Are you warm enough?” he asked as he turned the heater fan up a notch.

“I’m fine,” she replied. She turned her head and he felt her steady gaze on him.

They rode in silence for only a few moments, then she sighed, an audible release that sounded weary. “You’re obviously a man who is accustomed to getting what you want in life.”

“I do all right,” he replied cautiously. They had entered the town and he pulled into a parking space in front of Nathan’s General Store. He unbuckled his seat belt and turned to look at his passenger. “Melissa, something is obviously bothering you. You want to tell me what’s going on?”

Her eyes were filled with anxiety as she studied him. She raised a hand that trembled slightly to shove a strand of her long, pale hair behind her ear. “You scare me, Henry. Your power and your money scares me.”

He looked at her in surprise. “It’s been my experience that most women find my power and my money exciting—even intoxicating.”

“Then I’m not most women,” she replied. “Maybe those women had nothing to lose, but I do.” Her voice thickened. “I need to know if you intend to take the boys away from me.”

“What makes you think I’d do that?” he countered.

“Because you can,” she replied and her eyes flashed with a touch of anger. “Because it’s obvious you’ve already taken them into your life. You’ve bought cribs and high chairs and heaven knows what else and don’t tell me you bought those things in order to make my visit with you more pleasant.”

“I have no intention of taking the boys away from you,” he said. For a long moment their gazes remained locked. He saw the internal battle going on in her eyes, knew she was trying to decide if she could trust him or not.

“Melissa, I’m not going to lie to you. I want those boys living at the ranch. I want them to grow up here. I don’t want to just be a weekend dad. I want to teach them to love the land, to be a part of Randolf Enterprises, which will one day be their legacy.”

Her eyes narrowed with each of his words and he watched her stiffen in protest. She was a mother bear, sensing danger to her cubs and he liked that she looked as if she were about to rake his eyes out.

“I have a suggestion so that the boys will remain with you, but I also get what I want,” he said.

“And what suggestion is that?” she asked dubiously.

“There’s a carriage house behind the main house. It’s a two-bedroom fully functional unit. I’d like you to consider moving there with the boys.”

“That’s a crazy idea,” she said immediately. “I have a life in Amarillo.”

He raised an eyebrow. “A full life? From what little you’ve told me, it sounds like a lonely life.”

“But it’s mine,” she replied fervently. “It’s my life, not yours.”

Henry stifled a sigh of frustration. She’d said she was stubborn and at the moment that stubbornness lifted her chin and flashed in her eyes. “Look, I’d just like you to consider making the move. It would be great for the boys to have not just me, but my mother in their lives on a full-time basis. Just think about it. That’s all I’m asking of you.”

Once again those beautiful eyes of hers studied him thoughtfully. “And you promise that you won’t try to take the boys from me. You won’t use your money to try to get custody of them from me?”

“I promise,” he replied.

“How do I know you aren’t lying?”

He opened his truck door. “I guess you’re just going to have to trust me, just like I’m trusting that the story you told me about some mystery woman bringing you to my house is true. Now, let’s do a little shopping and let me show you the charms of Dalhart.”

In all honesty, he hadn’t really seriously considered going to court to take the boys away from her. They were babies, not some company he could buy or sell.

Besides, he knew how important a mother was to children. He had a wonderful relationship with his own mother and would never deprive his children in that way. He hoped Melissa could put away her fears at least for the duration of their outing and she appeared to as she got out of the truck and offered him a tentative smile.

“I’d like to pick up something for your mother while we’re out,” she said.

“You don’t have to do that,” he protested. He knew that money was tight for her.

“It’s something I want to do,” she replied, her chin once again lifted in that stubborn thrust. “She always smells like roses so I was thinking maybe some rose-scented soap or lotion.”

He was surprised both by her observation about his mother and by her thoughtfulness. “Okay, I’m sure we can find something like that in one of the stores. I’ve got some things to pick up, too.”