The Rancher’s Baby Bargain Read online

  Lucy snorted, and the sound made him want to wrap her in his arms all over again. “What Linda wants, Linda gets.”

  “It’s true. She’s like…a pack leader. She’ll only respect a woman with as much backbone as she has.”

  His high school crush smiled back at him, understanding written all over her face. Then, slowly, Lucy leaned forward and kissed him. It was as gentle and reassuring as the sex had been, and it felt like a bonfire beneath his skin. In the best way.

  “You’ll find the right woman eventually,” Lucy said, and his heart sank. But then she jumped up and off the bed, and the sight of her pert body put a smile back on his face. “In the meantime, I’ve got to go home and get some beauty sleep of my own. There are closets to clean tomorrow.”

  He got up and held out her clothes to her as she dressed, though he’d rather keep her under his comforter, naked and warm, all night. When she was dressed, Lucy looked him up and down one last time, then rose up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

  “Bye, Aiden,” she said.

  He fell back onto the bed with a sigh, listening to her footsteps head down the stairs. It had been good. It had been too good. And what would happen when she was pregnant?

  He’d miss it.

  The room just seemed…a little less colorful without her in it.

  He missed her already, and the front door had barely shut.

  Aiden picked himself up from the bed and gathered his clothes. He’d put off the shower until later. He wanted to let her scent stay on his skin for as long as he could.

  Twelve

  Lucy had not anticipated how much a daily romp in the hay with Aiden would lift her spirits. She wasn’t usually the kind of person who needed her spirits lifted in the first place. She’d been happy most of the time in high school. The same went for college, though as she spent more and more time in the lab—and then with Henry—her mind had been consumed with professionalism. And getting ahead based on that professionalism. And living up to Henry’s standards.

  Truthfully, coming home had lifted a weight from her shoulders. She’d been upset when things with Henry ended. Change was never anyone’s favorite thing, and Lucy hated abrupt changes in her plans. But now that she was experiencing something awesome with Aiden, she saw her relationship with Henry more clearly.

  It had not been going well.

  Henry had not really been interested in her.

  Looking back, it was obvious. They’d hardly had sex toward the end. And even on Henry’s best day, it hadn’t been like it was with Aiden.

  A little shiver of joy shot straight through her at the thought.

  Lucy swayed her hips, a tune thrumming in her head, and shoved the last of the giveaway clothes into an enormous black trash bag. Her mother had squirreled away clothes in her walk-in closet—more than Lucy thought should fit. The hoard was a recent discovery. She’d been avoiding the master bedroom until she worked up the courage to face it.

  The courage had finally arrived this morning, along with something else—a hot anticipation.

  She missed having sex with Aiden as soon as it was over, and in that same instant, she began looking forward to the next time. She could ride that wave all the way to the evenings.

  In the meantime, she had decided to go through the closet.

  Oh, there were some things in there she’d keep. Her own baby clothes, for instance, were neatly piled on a high corner shelf. She kept several sweatshirts that her mother had loved and worn around the house, pulling one on over her tank top. It made her feel closer, in a way.

  Four bags of clothes later, the bedroom floor was getting full, and Lucy needed a break.

  Why not take them down to Rainbow Resellers, the thrift shop on Main Street?

  She left her mom’s sweatshirt on while she tossed the bags into the trunk of the rental. It was vintage, from a trip they’d taken to Disney World, and so soft it still felt comfortable in the summer heat.

  Lucy parked one block back from Main Street, behind Rainbow Resellers, and took the bags up to the donation door. The entire thing took less than five minutes, which was a little underwhelming. It felt like forever until evening when she’d be back in Aiden’s bed again. She strolled around to the front of the shop, then went inside. It hadn’t changed since she was in high school, searching out vintage clothes that she thought made her look cool. This time, she was more interested in the donated dishes and cutlery. Lucy killed about fifteen minutes considering how this stack or that might look in an open-front cupboard, if she went that far with the renovations.

  Would she be able to go that far with them, anyway? If she got pregnant soon—if she was already pregnant—it would mean hiring out more of the work. She planned on having an active pregnancy, but there were some building projects she knew she shouldn’t take on by herself. It would be a big enough job coordinating the entire project.

  It might be enough work to make her forget how much she missed having sex with Aiden. They hadn’t even reached the end of their agreement, and Lucy already mourned the loss of his body moving over hers. The way his blue eyes explored her like precious new territory he’d never see again. Which he might not, if things went according to her plan.

  She thought about it while she wandered back outside and down Main Street, past the florist and the drugstore and the Morning Sun Café. A group of older men who had been friends with her father waved her down to say hello, sending a pang through her heart. It wasn’t until Morris, the ringleader, had wished her a hearty success with “whatever she was doing out on the Harper ranch” that she could keep going.

  It was true—word spread fast.

  Past the Morning Sun Café was a stretch of businesses Lucy had always loved to window-shop in. A couple of boutiques, an art gallery that always had interesting pieces in the front window, a restaurant called Two Broken Yolks, another boutique…

  It was in the window of the last boutique that a top on a mannequin caught her eye.

  It was, honestly, pretty perfect.

  Black, with a floral pattern that still screamed fun. But it also looked…simple. Easy. It was an outfit that she could wear as a grown woman while also still enjoying life. Lucy really couldn’t keep wearing her high school clothing every day, but the professional wardrobe she’d brought didn’t really fit in here, either. At least, not for cleaning and renovating a house and traipsing through Aiden’s hops fields.

  She pushed open the door to the boutique and went in.

  “Wow,” she said under her breath. Usually, stores put their best out in the front window, but things were only getting better on the inside. It was a bright, airy space, with plenty of room to move between the racks. The accents of color high up on the walls called to the part of Lucy that still loved those wild splashes of color from her bedroom.

  She spied the shirt from the window on a nearby rack and draped one over her arm to take to the dressing room. That rack led her to a row of dresses that somehow looked sturdy enough to face cleaning the house while still being…a little flirty. Lucy pulled a pink one from the rack. Aiden would like that one. She was sure of it. Not that she should be choosing clothes for him, but then again, why not?

  Her arms were full by the time a woman bustled out through a doorway behind the front counter, all blonde and blue-eyed and bright. “I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice bursting with warmth. “I was sorting out some inventory in the back and I didn’t hear the bell. But it looks like you’ve made yourself at home. Can I get you a dressing room?”

  It took one blink for Lucy to recognize her.

  “Holly? Holly Jackson?”

  Holly’s smile faltered. “I’m so sorry,” she said again, shaking her head. Her blonde ponytail bounded behind her. “I’m not coming up with—”

  “I’ll take a dressing room,” Lucy said, putting on a big smile. God. What was wrong with her? She’d walked into this boutique and found herself right back in high school.

  Holly held out her arms for th
e clothes in Lucy’s hands, and Lucy hesitated, waiting. Maybe this would be the moment that Holly recognized her.

  But the other woman simply took the clothes with an encouraging smile and headed off toward the back, where two dressing rooms waited side by side.

  Lucy went in, gave Holly two thumbs up, and closed the door firmly behind her.

  No. She was not going to get starstruck over being in the presence of a cheerleader. For one thing, Holly Jackson was not a cheerleader anymore. Lucy knew from being one of Holly’s peripheral social media acquaintances that she’d married her college sweetheart, Brian, had two children right after she graduated, and opened the boutique right there in town. She was successful, and she looked the part.

  Lucy swallowed back the old desire to be a cheerleader, too, even though she’d had no sense of how to move her hips like that and even less of an ability to measure the beat.

  It was kind of mortifying that Holly hadn’t recognized her. They’d only been a year apart in school, and it wasn’t as if the student body had been so large that they never crossed paths. They had. Frequently. In more than one class and study period.

  It was fine, Lucy told herself. Not everyone recognized everyone else from high school. Plus, Lucy was different now. If she’d come in wearing one of her wacky outfits from back then, Holly would have known her right away.

  She shuffled off her sweatshirt, shorts, and tank, then reached for the pink dress.

  The boutique had a shared mirror out by the two dressing room doors, and Lucy had just worked up the courage to go out when the bell chimed against the boutique’s front door.

  “Holly,” said the voice of a woman on a mission. “I only made it to the driveway before I realized we had a little problem.”

  “Oh, no, Andrea. You’re back too early for this to be good news. What can I do for you?”

  It was Andrea. Aiden’s sister. Lucy froze, though she knew neither woman could see inside the dressing room.

  “There’s a stain on this dress. I only noticed it when I went to take it out of the car, but I need to know if you have another one. I was planning to wear it to an event I’m attending tonight, so time is of the essence.”

  Well, Lucy wasn’t going to sit in here and hide from Holly Jackson or Andrea Harper.

  “I’ll check in the back for you, but I’m not sure if—”

  Lucy chose that moment to burst from the dressing room. She hadn’t meant to open the door with such force, but it stuck a little when she pressed on it, so it flew open quite hard and banged against the opposite wall.

  Andrea and Holly both turned toward her, startled looks on their faces.

  “Hey,” said Lucy, giving a wave that was entirely too awkward for life.

  “Lucy,” said Andrea, a smile spreading across her face. “You’ve made quite the entrance.”

  “Sticky door,” said Lucy, jabbing a thumb at it.

  “You look great in that.” Andrea’s eyes flicked up and down the dress. “It’s the perfect color on you.”

  Holly was still looking at her. “Lucy…Carr?”

  “That’s the one,” said Lucy, spinning around in front of the mirror and trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks.

  “Wow.” Holly’s eyebrows were practically lost in her hairline. “You’ve changed.”

  “Grad school will do that to a person,” Lucy joked, earning her a laugh from Holly.

  “Let me check in the back for that dress,” she said to Andrea, who made her way over to Lucy the moment Holly stepped into the storage room.

  The two women peered at Lucy’s reflection in the mirror, and it struck Lucy that it might be the closest she’d ever get to looking at something like a wedding dress with someone like a sister.

  Not that she had any hope of Andrea being her sister one day. That was way outside the bounds of the agreement she’d made with Aiden. But still. Andrea had a sisterly expression on her face.

  “It really is beautiful,” said Andrea softly. “I hope you’ll buy it for yourself.”

  “I’m thinking about it,” said Lucy, knowing in that moment that she would, in fact, buy the dress, and she would, in fact, wear it for Aiden that night.

  Not that she was about to say that to Andrea.

  Holly stepped out from the back. “I’m really sorry, Andrea. I don’t have another one in your size.” She looked genuinely concerned. “I do have a few other things you could try on, if you wanted. Or I could order a replacement.”

  “Wait.” Lucy held up a hand. “Show me the stain.”

  Andrea held up the dress, lifting the hem so Lucy could see.

  “I think I can help.”

  “Really?” Andrea looked skeptical.

  “I have a cleaner that can get anything out. And it won’t damage the fabric. I promise.”

  Holly and Andrea hesitated.

  “Give me five minutes,” said Lucy. “I’ll drop it off. Okay?”

  “All right, but—”

  “Five minutes,” Lucy insisted. “I’ll seriously be right back.”

  She was almost to the door when Holly called after her. “Were you wanting to wear the dress out?”

  Lucy turned on one heel and went straight to the cash register. “Yes. Of course. And then I’ll be back. Mark my words.”

  Thirteen

  It took Lucy an oddly long time to get to her front door after Aiden knocked the next day.

  “Hi,” she said, a big smile on her face. She seemed a little breathless, but she wasn’t carrying any bags of garbage or items to donate. “Sorry. I’ve been working on something.” Lucy peered around him, blinking in the afternoon sun that streamed through the door. “I guess I lost track of time.”

  “Working on what? More renovations? The place is already looking a hundred times better.” It was true. Lucy had attacked the walls, painting over the faded colors in the entryway. She’d started by ripping out the wood paneling, making the entire space look cleaner and brighter.

  “No, something else. I got a little carried away.” She laughed. “It was only meant to be a quick organizing project for my thoughts, but it completely took over the afternoon.”

  The moment Aiden stepped into the living room, he saw why.

  This was no renovation project. This was a personal one.

  A hell of a personal project.

  The furniture in the living room had all been pushed to one side, leaving the wallpaper bare. It had been there so long that there were darker spots where the furniture had been pressed up to the wall. Aiden could see the differences in color between the papers that had been glued everywhere across the old floral pattern. The delicate faded roses peeked out from underneath what seemed like a full ream of paper.

  “You’re here early,” Lucy said, a little grin suffusing her face with mischief. “I probably would have taken it all down if I’d known you’d be so early.”

  “Take it all down?” His mind still struggled to wrap itself around the riot of images on the living room wall. “You can’t destroy all this work.” He paused. “What is it, exactly?”

  She looked critically at the wall. “A vision board.”

  He took a second look. It was packed. There was so much stuff on the wall that he had to take a step closer just to parse out all the individual pictures. They were torn from magazines and printed on copy paper and everything in between.

  “Is this meant to be a plan for the rest of your life?”

  “Hardly.” Lucy snorted behind him. “For the next ten months. Maybe. I could fit it into a shorter period if everything goes according to plan. Not that I have a fully fleshed out plan for all of this. It’s mostly dreams. Where I’d like to end up. How I’d like to direct my energies for the rest of the year.”

  If the vision board was any indication, this was shaping up to be a wild ride. For both of them, if he had any part of it.

  He caught sight of all the things he might’ve expected had he known he’d be walking into a project like this: a jog
ging stroller with a chubby baby inside, a woman running behind; a crib in a room painted in sunshine yellow; a house with a SOLD sign out front; a woman shaking hands with another woman in a suit, the words BUSINESS DEAL written there in Lucy’s scrawl. These were plans they’d already talked about, pinned up on the wall as guideposts.

  But there was more. Much more.

  There were hints of tropical vacations, solo retreats, skydiving, standing on the streets of Venice in front of an easel, a woman sitting cross-legged on what appeared to be a mountain peak. Those were all…goals. Goals for a person who had a lot of growing left to do and a lot of determination to make it all happen. If anyone could cram it all in to a single year—or less—it would be Lucy. But…why?

  “I’m surprised,” he admitted.

  “About what?” Lucy came up beside him and considered the woman on the mountaintop, the sun caught in her hair, her back perfectly straight. “I could get better at yoga. And climbing a mountain would be an incredible feat of strength.”

  “I’m surprised you want to do all this, on top of having a baby. This is a lifetime’s worth of new stuff to do, and…you seemed pretty set with your goals when we first started talking again. Like you had everything together. Firmly planned out.” He thought of the way she’d practically tackled him in his driveway that first day. “You always seem like you have everything together.”

  Lucy let out a rueful little laugh. “It’s the greatest charade of the century.”

  “What?”

  “I’m faking it, Aiden.” He turned to look at her, something sheepish in her eyes. “Faking it until I make it.” She blew a stray lock of hair out of her face, her mouth twisting into a thoughtful frown. “I ran into Holly Jackson downtown today.”

  Holly Jackson. The name brought up a rush of memories. A cool autumn breeze against his face as he stood on the sidelines, waiting to take the field at the homecoming game. Holly Jackson catching his eye with a wink as he tugged his helmet on. The shape of her in that cheerleading outfit. The clear cut of her voice from across the field as he waited for the snap. The way she’d jump up into his arms after the game.