The Texas Tycoon's Baby(41)

Zoe and Mina couldn’t hold back a spate of giggles. So wrong to laugh, but Mina couldn’t stop herself. She was absolutely giddy—for Ally, for Jeremiah, for Chet and his dad.

And for the baby who would soon be announced to his or her father, now that it seemed things were on track.

Jess broke out some champagne. “Drink up, my darlings.”

Of course, Mina declined any.

Ally sat there holding her silly wand. “Where’re you taking us, Jess?”

“Yeah,” Zoe said. “It’s not like Duarte Hill is the party spot of the millennium.”

“Well, girls,” Jess said, “you know I like to wing it, but this time I did my homework. If you’d done yours, you’d know that there’s a social dance about two miles down a country lane off the main road in a community hall. I’m betting there’ll be a buffet of cowboys there.”

“Cowboys?” Ally asked. “I’m already getting married to one. Tomorrow, if you’ll recall.”

“Who said the cowboys are for you?” Jess asked.

Soon they pulled up to a building that resembled an old wood warehouse, with weathered gray walls and light peeking out from the slats of wood. Country music from a live band blared out.

“Yee-haw,” Jess said, the first one out of the limo.

Zoe adjusted Ally’s crown, then made her take off the “Kiss me!” sash, much to Ally’s relief.

“Good call,” Mina said. “I could just see that thing causing a lot of trouble.” It would be bad enough that Ally was gorgeous and would attract every cowboy’s stare within gaping distance.

Inside, streamers hung from the rafters; the smell of old hay, along with that of hops, was woven through the body-warmed air. All around them there were indeed cowboys, but there were a good many cowgirls, too, wearing tight jeans and curious looks as the bachelorette party strolled inside with Princess Ally and her glowing horny-green wand.

Mina and Zoe flanked the bride-to-be.

“Don’t worry,” Zoe yelled over the music. “We’ll protect you.”

But then Jess came over to pull Ally away, toward a corner where a keg stood, surrounded by young, strapping ranch hands.

Zoe shrugged and said in Mina’s ear, “Jess is harmless. She won’t let anybody get near Ally.” She nodded toward the keg. “I need some of that beer.”

“Party away.”

Zoe left, and within ten minutes, all of them were on the dance floor, whooping it up, fending off the cowboys, who joined in the whole bachelorette party fervor with friendly abandon.

They danced and danced—swinging, line dancing—and all the while, Mina imagined that every partner was really Chet. After a while though, the fantasy chipped away at her, because she realized that there would never be another man who would live up to him. She had to tell him everything this weekend. Holding it in was breaking her down, day by day. And it just didn’t seem fair to him, either, because what if the news actually brought him further along in his healing?

Then again, what if it didn’t…?

As a swing dance ended and everyone applauded, the cowboy Mina had been dancing with bowed to her and went off to grab a drink, clearly sensing that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with Mina tonight.

That was when a loud “Whoo-hoo!” broke the atmosphere.

Mina whipped her gaze to the building’s entrance, where Jeremiah Barron was waving his hat.

Then he headed straight over to Ally, who jumped into his arms just before he swung her around.

Zoe rushed to Tyler, too, and he dipped her back in a long kiss that made a few of the nearby cowboys and girls hoot.

Then came the one man Mina had been hoping to see.

Chet sauntered over to her, tipping back his cowboy hat, revealing a tuft of his dark blond hair. Judging from the wide smile on him, things had gone well with Eli.

Her pulse gave a big bang.

The band hadn’t started a new song yet, so she had no problems hearing him when he said, “Jess told Jeremiah where you girls were heading.”

“Thank goodness. I was looking for a dance partner who could keep up with me.”

Boy—for a woman who’d been playing her cards close to her chest ever since she and Chet had left the resort, her statement seemed pretty bold.

The band launched into a song that begged for a two-step.

Chet looked like he’d just come off of the range in his jeans and cowboy gear, but when he took Mina into his arms, it was as if the gentlemanly side of him—the part that was perfectly comfortable in a designer business suit—had come out to take over.

He eased her into the flowing dance, his mouth near her ear. Mina shivered as her temple brushed the five o’clock shadow on his cheek. His clover-and-hay smell sent her reeling.