The Cowboy's Baby(48)

“It’s OK, honey.” The Hispanic woman’s touch on his arm was soft and reassuring. “Everything will be alright. The baby will come soon, and then you’ll never have to see her again. Come here, darling.” She pulled him into her warm embrace, kissing his slack mouth a moment before she began to lead him up the stairs – towards the room Esme had vacated only moments earlier.

Daniel felt her absence as acutely as if it were a physical blow. In an instant, he had given up everything he had built with her – all the promises he’d made – and all in hopes that Alyssa had truly changed.

He could only hope he didn’t come to regret the decision he’d made.



**



2 months later

It had to be perfect.

Absolutely perfect.

Esme stirred the chocolate sauce on the stove, being careful not to let it bubble over or burn. She was working on a new dessert, and the sauce was the main event. Sweat trickled over her brow as she struggled to work the spoon dexterously. In the final months of her pregnancy, her joints had unexpectedly swollen somewhat, causing her no small amount of discomfort.

And of course, Daniel was now unavailable to massage away all her aches and pains.

When she thought of him, Esme’s gut clenched and her breath hitched. She would not cry. She hadn’t shed a tear for the man, and she wouldn’t. She was only his surrogate – a vessel for his child, and becoming emotionally involved with the man had been her mistake.

She should have known better.

While Daniel Hartsford was a financial powerhouse, women like Alyssa easily swayed him. They wiggled their way into his insecurities and exploited the hell out of him, and he was far too kind to see it.

He wanted Alyssa – little bean’s biological mother – to be the one woman in his life. The fact was evidenced in how the man had stopped coming to doctor’s appointments altogether. Now, her only company was Alyssa, who tapped away on her new iPhone while pretending to listen to everything the doctor said with a sweet smile. She hadn’t asked Esme a single question on the baby’s progress- how she was feeling or if she was comfortable.

Which told the truth about her intentions.

She hadn’t changed at all. What had probably happened was that she had run out of money and come crawling back to leech off a man she knew she could twist around her finger.

Which left Esme out in the cold.

Of course, the statement was figurative rather than literal. She was still receiving her stipend, most of which she still planned to return to Daniel. She didn’t need his money – especially now since she had started full time at Pierre’s. Once she forced herself to forget that it was Daniel who had given her the job opportunity in the first place, she put all her frustrations, her desperation, and her pain into her cooking.

The restaurant exploded onto the national food scene with a loud bang. Within weeks of starting, she was being interviewed by a range of food magazines. Chefs from all over the country were arriving in her kitchen to watch her work, and she found herself in her element. She was surrounded by food, a supportive staff, and people that believed in her.

Then why was she so goddamn miserable?

Within a month, she’d be rid of the child growing within her – a child she had done her utmost to try and forget – in so much as one in her situation could. Now, his parenting would fall to Daniel and Alyssa, and she could only pray that the latter’s carelessness didn’t put the baby in danger.

Esme squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head.

It wasn’t her problem. Absolutely not her problem.

She’d caught glimpses of the man, now and then. He popped into Pierre’s about once a week to eat, and she tried her damnedest not to peek from the kitchen – to catch a glimpse of his swarthy face and long, muscular form.

Every time, she gave in – and every time, Alyssa was there to give her a triumphant, snarky little wave.

She wondered if Daniel even cared that she was working well into her eighth month of pregnancy. As much as she cared for the safety of the child, Esme couldn’t simply sit at home, idle. Her apartment felt empty in the wake of all the time she’d spent with Daniel. There, there were no horseback riding lessons. No outings on the ranch and no warm body sliding against hers at night. There were only her crazy hormones, sleepless nights, and a kitchen that was now much too small for her immense belly and the child inside it.

She was alone.

She couldn’t tell her parents, or anyone she knew about the true source or her pregnancy because of all the disclosures she’d signed. She had to face the impending birth of a baby which Daniel probably wouldn’t even attend if Alyssa had her way, and then, she would know that the child she had once ventured to treasure would only be ignored by the mother who was supposed to love him.