The Cowboy's Secret Twins

This time the smile that curved his lips warmed the blue of his eyes. “At least they’re cute when they drool.” His smile faded. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help through the pregnancy. I’m sorry you had to go through it all alone and I promise you won’t be doing it all alone now.”

She wasn’t sure why his words, rather than comforting her, filled her with a new burst of apprehension. Maybe if she really knew him, knew what kind of a man he was, she wouldn’t feel so worried about what he might have in mind for her and the boys.

“Having grown up without a father figure in my life, I understand how important the role of father is and will be to my boys. I want you to know that I’m open to a discussion about visitation for you,” she said.

“There will be time to discuss the particulars of that over the next couple of days,” he replied. He took a sip of his coffee and leaned back in his chair. “So, are you originally from Amarillo?”

She nodded. “Born and raised there.” This was the kind of talk they might have had if they’d been on a date, the kind they should have had that night instead of falling on each other like two sex-starved teenagers.

“Do you have somebody special in your life? A woman you’re seeing? I don’t want my presence here to make any problems for you,” she said.

“You don’t have to worry. There’s nobody special. I don’t intend for there ever to be anyone special.” There was a firm finality in his voice.

She took another sip of her coffee. God, the man was so good-looking she couldn’t imagine the women in the area leaving him alone. “Your mother mentioned that you were a confirmed bachelor.”

“I am. The only reason I might have entertained the idea of marriage would have been to have a son to pass the ranch to when I died. You’ve managed to give me two without the nuisance of a marriage.”

Nuisance of marriage? Funny how different they were, Melissa thought. She’d wanted to be married for a very long time, had always thought that by the time she turned thirty she’d be part of a family like she’d never had growing up.

She still hoped for that someday. The only difference her dream had from reality was that in reality her boys would have their real daddy and then maybe eventually they’d have a loving, caring stepfather.

But at the moment, any kind of relationship with a man seemed impossible. She was just too tired to even think about romance. She’d been tired for months, not that she minded. The twins were more than worth any exhaustion they caused.

“You look tired, Melissa,” he said as if he’d read her thoughts. “I hope you’ll take your time here and allow my mother and me to help so that you can get some extra rest. It can’t be easy dealing with twins all by yourself.”

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “It’s gotten easier since they sleep through the night most of the time now.”

“Still, I hope you’ll let us take some of the burden for the next couple of days.”

“They aren’t a burden. They’re my joy,” she exclaimed a bit more vehemently than the situation warranted.

He leaned forward and reached out and brushed the corner of her mouth. “You had a little cinnamon,” he said as he pulled his hand back.

She grabbed a napkin and wiped her mouth and tried to ignore the electric jolt his touch had shot through her body. He just swiped your mouth, she told herself. A simple, casual touch and yet she felt it from head to toe.

A loud knock sounded on the front door and he pushed back from the table. “You might want to come with me to answer it,” he said. “I think it’s for you.”

“For me? Who would be here for me?” She got up from the table and followed him to the front door.

He looked outside, then smiled and this time his smile warmed her completely. “It’s Christmas, Melissa. Christmas has officially arrived at the Randolf house.”

Henry opened the door to allow in the four ranch hands who maneuvered a huge evergreen tree through the door. The boughs were tied down and Hank and Tim, the ranch hands bringing up the rear, carried between them a huge pot to stand the tree in.

“It was the biggest one old man Keller had on his lot,” Charlie said as they carried the tree into the living room.

“Melissa, can you help me move the coffee table?” Henry asked.

She quickly grabbed one side and he grabbed the other. They moved the table out of the men’s way. “Just set it up in the corner,” he instructed.

“That’s the biggest tree I’ve ever seen,” Melissa said, her eyes round with wonder.

Henry smiled. “I told them to get the biggest one they could find. We’ll decorate it this evening after dinner.”

“We could string popcorn and cranberries.” She flushed and shook her head as if irritated with herself. “That was silly of me. I’m sure you have lovely expensive ornaments.”

He could tell she was embarrassed and he found that oddly endearing. “Actually, I’ve always wanted to do a tree the old-fashioned way. I think it would be fun to string popcorn and cranberries.”

The look she gave him was so sweet, so grateful, that he once again felt a stir of desire deep in the pit of his stomach. When he’d brushed the trace of cinnamon from her lip moments earlier, he’d wanted to kiss it off.

He focused on watching his men wrestle the tree into the stand. Something about Melissa touched him, a vulnerability, a wistfulness in her eyes that he hadn’t seen in a woman’s eyes for a very long time.

He still didn’t trust her. The only woman Henry really trusted was his mother, who had no ulterior motive for loving him. Any other woman he’d ever allowed close had ultimately shown herself to be more interested in the Randolf fortune than in whatever Henry could offer her as a man.

He didn’t know if perhaps Melissa was just smarter than them all and had managed to trap him like none of the other women had managed to do.

Once the men had the tree up and the ropes off, Henry introduced Melissa to them. “These are some of the best ranch hands in the state of Texas,” he said. “That’s Hank and Tim, Ben and Mike and Jacob and that rascal with the black hat is Charlie, my right-hand man.”

Melissa’s eyes had glazed over and he smiled at her. “Don’t worry, there won’t be a test later,” he said.

She laughed and the sound of her musical laughter shot a rivulet of warmth through him. “Good, because you lost me at Hank.” She smiled at all the men. “But it’s nice to meet you all.”

“I’ll be right back,” Henry said to her as the men began to head for the front door.

In the entry he touched Charlie’s shoulder and motioned for Charlie to stay behind while the rest of them got back to their work.

“You heard about the shots fired last night?” he asked.

Charlie nodded. “Jimmy talked to a couple of us late yesterday evening.”

“I want all of you armed while on the property until we know what’s going on,” Henry said. “And I’d like to work a couple of you in shifts so that somebody is always working the house. Talk to the men and see what kind of schedule you can arrange.”

Charlie’s eyes narrowed. “You looking for more trouble?”

Henry released a small sigh of frustration. “To be honest, I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but twice now somebody has taken potshots at me and I don’t like the idea of anyone on my property attacking me or mine.”

“We’ll work out a schedule and I’ll get it to you this afternoon,” Charlie replied.

“Thanks, Charlie. I really appreciate it,” Henry replied.

“It’s no problem. We can’t let the boss get hurt.” With these words he stepped out the door.

Henry watched him catch up to the other men. Charlie was a good worker, always pitching in for even the dirtiest jobs. When Henry had broken up with Hilary he’d worried that he was going to lose Charlie. Hilary was Charlie’s sister and Henry had feared that Charlie might feel compelled to stop working for him because of sibling loyalty. But Charlie had assured him that he wasn’t going anywhere and that he didn’t get involved in his sister’s affairs.

Henry had gotten the impression that there was no love lost between the two. In any case, he was grateful that he hadn’t lost Charlie. Good workers were hard to find.

In fact, he was going to have to let Hank go. He’d noticed the tall, thin man had smelled like a brewery despite the fact it wasn’t even lunchtime. Henry had already warned him twice about drinking on the job. There wouldn’t be any more warnings.

He closed the front door and returned to the living room to find Melissa gone. She’d apparently gone upstairs to check on the twins. He walked over to the large floor-to-ceiling windows and gazed out to the outbuildings in the distance. The tree was only the first of the deliveries that would take place over the next two days.

The brief conversation he’d had with her over coffee had told him exactly what he needed to know. She had no family and he suspected she had few friends. That would make what he had in mind much easier. All he had to do was convince Melissa that his plan was in the best interest of them all.

He looked up as he heard the sound of her coming down the stairs, a baby on each hip. He hurried to meet her halfway and took one of the boys from her.

As he scooped the little one from her arms he tried not to notice the warmth of her body, that scent of her that half dizzied him with memories.

“Which one do I have?” he asked.

“Joey,” she replied.

“How can you tell the difference?” The little boy snuggled against Henry’s chest, as if aware that he was held in loving arms. Once again the heart that Henry didn’t know he possessed filled with a strange wonder and a fierce sense of protectiveness.

“Once you get to know them better, it’s easy to tell them apart by their personalities,” she said as they hit the landing. “But the quickest way is that Joey has a tiny scar in his right eyebrow. He was reluctant to be born and the doctor had to use forceps.”

Henry looked at the little boy in his arms and noticed the tiny scar at the corner of his eyebrow. Joey grinned up at him and reached for his nose. Henry laughed as he dodged the little hand.

James kicked his feet and wailed, his face turning red as Melissa wrestled with him. “He’s hungry and he has no manners,” she said.

“Ah, a boy after my own heart,” Henry replied. “Let’s go to the kitchen and get them some lunch.”

The kitchen was a huge room although Henry and Mary rarely took meals there. This was Etta’s space but it was also the easiest place to feed two hungry little boys.

Etta was in the process of preparing lunch, but smiled with welcome as they all entered. Henry got the car seats that were serving as high chairs and placed them in the center of the large oak table, Once the boys were settled he watched Melissa prepare two small bowls of cereal.

As she approached the table he held out his hand for one of the bowls.

“You might want to put on a hazmat suit,” she warned as she gave him one of the bowls and a small baby spoon. “They not only like to eat cereal, they also like to blow it and spit it and play in it.”

Feeding Joey was a pleasure like Henry had never known before. The kitchen filled with laughter as he and Melissa spooned cereal into their waiting mouths, off the front of their shirts and themselves.

“Well. this sounds like fun,” Mary exclaimed as she came into the kitchen.

“Ah, the shopper is home,” Henry said as he wiped off Joey’s face then handed him his bottle.

“Randy is putting my purchases upstairs in my room.” She smiled at Melissa. “It’s been far too long since this house had such laughter in it. And the tree, it’s going to be just lovely.”

“Melissa thought it would be fun to string popcorn and cranberries for the tree,” Henry said.

Mary clapped her hands together. “What a lovely idea. We’ll have a real old-fashioned tree trimming. I’ll make hot cocoa and we’ll play Christmas music and have such fun.”

Melissa looked from Mary to Henry. “You both are so kind,” she said and once again he saw a touch of vulnerability in the depths of her eyes.

“Nonsense, you’re family now,” Mary replied.

But she wasn’t family, Henry thought. She was still a stranger. And she would never really be family, he mentally added. Sure, he had a strong physical attraction to her and she was the mother of his boys, but she would never be anything more than that to him.

His father had spent a lot of years warning Henry about the women who would want him for his money, women like Hilary who would turn themselves into whatever he wanted or needed to access the kind of lifestyle he could provide for them. As far as his father was concerned, aside from his wife, Mary, women were cunning creatures to avoid except for the occasional physical release, and then only if protection was used.

“I was lucky, boy,” his father would often say. “I was poor as a church mouse when I met your mother. I never had to worry about if she loved me for my money or for myself. You won’t have that luxury. You’ll never really know if a woman loves you or your money.”

He knew without a doubt that Melissa hadn’t set out to seduce him that night. There was no way she could have orchestrated the blizzard and the two of them being on the road at the same time in the same place.

What he didn’t know was that once fate had placed them in that position, had she recognized him and taken a calculated risk of getting pregnant? It had been a mutual seduction that night. She’d been as willing a participant as he had been.

He frowned thoughtfully as he watched her coo and sweet-talk the two little boys. But if that was the case, if she’d recognized him that night before she’d slept with him, why hadn’t she contacted him the minute she realized she was pregnant? Maybe she’d been afraid he’d talk her into an abortion.

One thing was clear. Henry wanted his boys living here with him and he would achieve that goal with or without Melissa’s help.

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