The Cowboy Lassos a Bride(15)

Holt looked amused. "I guess you did after all. I thought Jake was  telling tales." He bent forward to peer at her. "I'd say more than  sleeping went on, too."

"Oh, for heaven's sake." Hannah turned to leave.

"Not so fast. Your bison's won another day on the ranch, but you've got  thirteen more nights to go. Jake's no slouch at one night stands. What  I'm trying to teach him is the benefit of a sure thing for a lifetime.  The wife and I are getting older. I thought our grandkids would have  learned to ride by now."

For one split second Hannah saw a trace of sorrow flit over the older  man's face. She blinked and it was gone, but it shifted her perception  of the situation. A little.

"Grandkids?" she repeated.

"I thought the ranch would be crawling with them, given I have four sons myself." Holt surveyed the pasture in front of them.

"Do you have brothers and sisters?" She wasn't sure why she was  prolonging the conversation. This was the first time she'd seen a softer  side to the old man, though. She was curious to know more.

"No, ma'am," Holt said. "I was the only youngster on the place when I grew up."

Hannah bit her lip. There was no way the rancher standing beside her  would admit to any weakness, but he'd exposed one nonetheless. Holt  wasn't known for his wide circle of friends. Maybe he didn't know how to  get close to people and make those friends, so he thought he'd build a  circle for himself through his family. He wouldn't be the first person  to do that. Now his boys were dragging their feet on creating the next  generation. All except Rob, anyway.

And maybe Jake.

Her hand went unconsciously to her stomach and she wondered again if the  torn condom could possibly lead to a pregnancy. She glanced up to find  Holt staring down at her. His eyebrows lifted but before he could speak  she shook her head.

"Don't look at me. I already told you I'm not having children any time soon."

Holt put his hands up in a placating gesture. "I know, I know. But you also told me you wouldn't sleep with my son."

"That's … "

"The truth," Holt said. "And I'll tell you another truth. You're a slob."

Hannah stiffened at this new attack. "I am not!"

"I just stopped by Jake's cabin looking for you and I beg to differ."

Outrage straightened her spine. "That's your son's mess, not mine."

"As of right now, my son's mess is your mess." Holt leaned in to make  his point. "And it's her mess, too." He waved at Gladys. "And I don't  like messy critters on my farm."

"What the hell are you saying?" Hannah couldn't believe this. A second  ago Holt had almost seemed human. She'd been mistaken, obviously.

"I'm saying clean it up by the time my wife and I come to dinner tonight  or the next meal I eat will be bison burgers." He turned to go, but  Hannah dashed around and stopped him with a hand on his chest.

"You said if I slept with Jake for fourteen days Gladys would be safe. You promised!"

"Well, now I'm saying that cabin better be clean for fourteen days, too,  and you'd better have one hell of a dinner on the table each night for  my son. And for me and my wife tonight at six o'clock. I have a full day  of chores ahead of me and I'm bound to be hungry." He pushed past her  toward the barn. "By the way, Lisa has a sweet tooth, so serve something  good for dessert. She prefers a formal table setting, too."

Hannah gaped at him as he strode stiffly across the frozen ground away  from her. Dinner? Clean the cabin? She worked until five-thirty. How on  earth could she pull that off?

And did she even want to? What kind of sick, twisted game was Holt was  playing? What new demand would he make tomorrow if she went along with  these ones today? She looked at her wrist. She was already late for  work. Bella depended on her. So did their clients.

She still hadn't found Jake to give him a piece of her mind and figure  out what to do about the ripped condom. Should she call into work and go  see a doctor instead? Get a pill to take so she could stop worrying?

She should, but she wouldn't. As much as it made sense to do so, she  just wasn't wired that way. Whatever happened next, she'd deal with it,  even if it overturned all her carefully made plans.                       
       
           



       

She placed her hands on her abdomen trying to channel information out of it. Was she pregnant? Could she possibly be?

Wouldn't she know?

"Did my brother knock you up already?"

She spun around with a gasp to find Ned watching her, his head cocked to one side. "Why the hell would you say that?"

He mimicked her, leaning back and cupping his abdomen with his hands as  if he were pregnant. "Doesn't take a genius to decipher that gesture. So  was it Jake who knocked you up, or Cody?"

Her mouth dropped open. "It sure as hell wasn't Cody!" Too late she  realized how that sounded. "It wasn't your brother, either. I'm not  pregnant."

"If you say so."

"Ned! I mean it-I'm not. Don't you dare say anything-to anyone!"

"Why not? You're going to marry Jake, aren't you? Did you have a little condom trouble? Or just forget to use one altogether?"

Was he for real? "Who said anything about marriage?" Her voice slipped into a higher register.

"Jake did. Said we should expect a wedding by Christmas-just as soon as  he talked you out of your crazy career plans. He prefers his women where  he can keep an eye on them. It's kind of a Matheson thing." He turned  to leave. "Ginger tea is supposed to help with morning sickness, by the  way. You look a little pale."

"Damn it! I don't have morning sickness."

"Yet." He strode away.

"I am not pregnant!" But he was gone.

Giving up, she turned on her heel and stalked off to her truck to head  into town. She'd call every ranch around these parts during slow times  this morning to find a home for Gladys. And if that didn't work, she'd  take the afternoon off. She wouldn't let Holt boss her around anymore  and she wouldn't give Jake another chance to trap her in a marriage she  wasn't ready for. Career nonsense? Had Jake really said that? She'd had  enough of the Mathesons.

Especially Ned.

Just as Jake had hoped, Mia Start was working the till at Dundy's  Hardware store. He rounded up a couple of items, brought them to her  register and smiled when she began to ring them up.

"Hi, Jake. How's it going?" As usual, Mia had pulled her long, dark hair  up into a ponytail near the top of her head. It made her look younger  than her twenty-one years. It made Jake feel old.

"I'm good. Ran into Fila earlier, though. She wasn't looking so hot."  Now that he was here executing his plan, he wasn't so sure it was a good  idea. He'd told himself that with a houseful of guests descending on  Ethan and Autumn, Mia might like to move out just like Hannah had. He  figured Autumn was stashing the two women somewhere on the ranch, but  that couldn't be as comfortable for Mia as having her own room. He was  just doing her a favor. Now that he was faced with her, he had to admit  that the only person he was helping was himself.

Mia's hands stilled. "Fila? What's wrong with her?"

In for a penny, in for a pound. He braced himself to tell the lie as  convincingly as he could. "She seemed upset. Something about moving  somewhere temporary? Not having a place for herself? She was crying too  hard for me to understand her."

"Crying?" Mia's eyes widened. "I knew she wasn't really comfortable with the idea, but … "

"Sounds like she had a real hard time back in Afghanistan." Jake  cringed. Normally he prided himself on being honest. It was true Fila  had a lot to get over from the time she'd spent as a captive abroad, but  he had no idea if she was upset about her upcoming move out of the Big  House.

"She did seem down this morning. I thought it was because Hannah left  the ranch. How's that going by the way? The two of you living together?"

"It's going great. The cabins my brothers and I have each have two  bedrooms and two bathrooms. They're perfect for sharing." He didn't  think it wise to mention that he and Hannah had only used one bedroom  the night before.

"I wish I could afford something like that. I feel like I've sponged off  of Autumn and Ethan long enough." Mia slowly began to ring up the rest  of his things.

"Ned's looking for a subletter," Jake said quickly, seeing his chance.  "He'd be happy to have you take his guest bedroom. He'd like some extra  cash to save up to buy a new truck."

"Really?" She brightened, then quickly frowned. "But Ned …  he's kind of got a temper."

"That's all for show. He never acts like that at home." God would surely strike him dead for that whopper.