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“So much for your method,” he said. “I could have said no, I could have worn a raincoat, but I fell for you like a starving man for food.”
She walked out the front door, keys in hand.
Catching her hand, he turned her toward him. “What’s your hurry? Looks like we’re going to be spending a lifetime together, City.”
“It’s so annoying when you call me that,” she snapped, wishing she felt more relieved now that he knew but only feeling guilt. “My name is Jessie.”
“And a wonderful name it is, gorgeous.” He kissed her on the lips, surprising her so much she didn’t pull away. “We’ll be naming the twins together.”
She hadn’t thought that far ahead. Names had not been high on her list of priorities—figuring out how to tell Zach had been first. “You could take one, and I’ll take the other.”
“Nah.” He gave her stomach a mischievous eyeing. “Two? How are they both going to fit in that little tiny tummy? Two of my big, strapping sons?” He put a hand on her still-flat stomach. “If they’re anything like Duke and me, they’re going to be fighting for space constantly.”
“This topic just doesn’t feel as light to me as it seems to be for you,” she said. “I’m still trying to make sense of it. Just the stress of having to tell you—”
The last two weeks of planning, worrying and stalling had finally worn her down. Tears burst out of nowhere, running down her face before she could compose herself.
“Uh-oh,” Zach said. “That’s the main difference between pregnant women and pregnant cows, I guess. Emotions.”
She wiped at her face quickly. “I could tell you were a sensitive male the first time I met you.”
He wiped her tears away with his thumbs. “You’re cute when you spring a leak.”
Jessie moved away from him. “Could you direct me to my car, please?”
“I could, but you’ll probably tell me a few more things you’re keeping from me. You’re kind of like a firecracker that way. If I wait long enough, information just explodes—”
“Zach,” she said, “are you in shock?”
“Yes.”
She sighed. “I thought so. I’ve been a bundle of nerves because I knew how mad you’d be.”
“Well, I am mad,” he said, “but I’m not going to be upset in front of the children.”
“The children?”
“Yes.” He put a protective hand on her stomach. “They need to know from day one that they’re loved, anticipated and cherished. Our family is very close, in our own oddly special way.”
She looked at him. “So the reason you’re acting so nonchalant is that you’re faking it for the children?”
“Faking it doesn’t sound right.” He touched her carefully constructed eyelashes. “From now on, I don’t want you wearing any more of this goo around me.”
“I make my living with this goo,” she said, and he nodded.
“I make my living with bulls and things, but I’m not going to make you look at them all the time. I prefer natural skin on my woman.”
“Zach, I am not your woman. I will never be your woman,” Jessie said. “I don’t even know you.”
“That’s going to be a problem,” Zach said, “since I am your prince charming. Your knight in shining armor.”
“I don’t need the platitudes of fairy tales,” she said hotly, making Zach laugh.
“Okay, we’re stuck with each other for life,” he said. “How’s that for relationship lingo? When we’re at the boys’ soccer matches, we’ll introduce each other as ‘this is the person I’m stuck with forever.’ People won’t talk, I’m sure. Not in Tulips.”
He wasn’t going to make her life easy. Racing ahead into the future, thoughts of Zach made her brain whirl. Ever since the thin blue line had shown up on her pregnancy test, and the super-shocking news of a double pregnancy had been confirmed by her doctor, Jessie had been holding her breath. Trying to think how to tell a man she barely knew that he was going to be a father. She hadn’t thought of baby names, nor soccer games, nor what the two of them would be to each other. She’d dreaded having to tell him, but since she knew his worst fear—that he’d be a father and his children would never know him—she wanted him to know as fast as she could tell him. Dealing with all the other consequences she’d put on the back burner.
He had the pot on the front burner, turned to full boil. Strangely, he didn’t seem to mind the heat. “I thought you’d be scary about this.”
“I’m going to be scary in a little while,” Zach said easily. “When I have to tell Pansy and Helen, I’ll probably be at my worst. They’re going to be so pleased.” He gave her a wry glance. “My brother the sheriff says he wants the town to grow organically, which is not quite what the Gang wants. They’re going to love the fact that they’re getting two little organic sprouts out of one Forrester. They’ll say it serves me right, and then smile into their fragile little teacups.”
“I don’t understand.”
He shook his head. “Just be prepared for the Gang to give you a very large baby shower.”
“I don’t want that,” Jessie said quickly. “Can’t we come to an agreement about this?”
A frown crossed his face. He stared down at her, his brows knit tightly together. “Agreement?”
She swallowed. “Um, a custody agreement?”
“No,” he said, his gaze like dark glass, “and never talk like that in front of the children again. Ever.”
ZACH WAS MORE SURPRISED than he let on to Jessie about his impending fatherhood. But he wasn’t surprised this was happening. The moment he’d seen her, he’d known she would change his life—and she had.
They didn’t even know each other, and what he did know about her signaled a bumpy road ahead. She was flighty. He was methodical. She was spoiled. He was hardworking.
Those differences were just the beginning. He looked at her, imagining her with a big, round belly, and wanted to rub his hands with glee. Twins! It was a Christmas miracle as far as he was concerned, and he wanted this new phase in their relationship to start well. He wasn’t saying one thing to upset her. “Were you planning on telling Helen and Pansy? Is that why you really wanted to go into town?”
“I…don’t know.” She put her keys into her purse and sat back down. “I know I was planning on telling you. That’s all I knew.”
“So you’re moving out here with me,” he said, leaning against a wall, quickly trying to devise a plan. “Or I’m moving somewhere with you.”
“No,” Jessie said. “We’re not moving anywhere, at least not together.”
He frowned at her. “Look. We’re not throwing away what we did as just an afternoon of freebie sex. We need to become closer.”
She appeared to shrink into her coat. “I don’t understand you. I know that this is your worst fear come true.”
“Yeah.” He scratched under his hat. “Funny how it doesn’t seem that bad now that it’s happened. If that was my life’s biggest fear, maybe I never had anything to be really afraid of.”
She smiled. “You’re not going to say that I tried to trap you?”
“Did you?”
“No!”
He laughed. “Oh, come on. Leave a guy with a little ego.”
She stood. “I’m not interested in your ego. I would never cling to a man, or trap him, or—”
“Jessie,” he said softly, reaching for her hand to calm her down, “when I met you, you were hot-footing it away from a boyfriend or ex-fiancé or husband or something. You’re clearly not the kind of woman who lets men influence her life. I know you’re a big shot in your company and that you’re more likely to wear pants than panty hose. I get it, okay? Don’t keep worrying that I think you’re some thimble-brained woman who can’t take care of herself.”
“Thimble-brained?”
“Those things Pansy and Helen are always using to sew with and stuff.”
She nodded. “Nice analogy.”
He gave her a wry look. “I know you’re not ready to walk down the aisle with me. You can relax. The electric fence you’ve got up around you is shooting sparks at me.”
She sighed. “I don’t mean to be so uneasy.”
“Well, don’t get too comfortable, either,” Zach said, grinning. “I don’t want to be taken for granted now that you’ve gotten what you wanted from me.”
“Zach!”
He crossed his boots and stared at her. “You did say you had planned to get pregnant as soon as possible after the wedding.”
“Yes, but my fiancé was not a stranger.” She gave him a haughty look. “Wanting children is not unusual inside a marriage.”
He shrugged. “I should hire myself out for stud. I have bulls that don’t perform so successfully.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m leaving to tell Pansy and Helen. I need female advice. Yours isn’t worth a damn.”
“That’s what I hear,” he said cheerfully. “It comes from being middle child.”
“Whatever,” she said.
“I’ll drive you if you promise not to steal my truck.”
“You have no worries,” she said, and he nodded.
“Good. We can break the news together. First we have to tell Duke, of course. Pepper we can tell by phone because we hardly see her anymore.”
Jessie backed up a step. “You can tell your brother by yourself.”
He grinned, liking that she was feeling a little bit nervous. It made him feel big and strong and protective. “Duke won’t throw you in jail.”
She stiffened. “Of course not! What charges would he have?”
“You were trespassing,” he reminded her.
“I was lost,” she snapped.
“You did assault my livelihood with a deadly weapon. Poor Brahma Bud.”
She sniffed. “Any other charges?”
“You did steal my heart,” he said, trying to be light but realizing the moment he said it that he’d made a serious error. Jessie’s eyes went dark.
“I stole nothing worth keeping, then,” she said. “Consider it returned.”
“Whew, prickly,” he said. “Did you know you have a habit of being prickly when you’re nervous?”
She stared up at him, her gaze very serious. “Did you know you have a habit of trying to be funny when you’re nervous? It doesn’t go over very well.”
“Why would I be nervous?”
“Impending fatherhood, a woman you only met once, your worst fears realized, telling your brother—” She paused. “I can’t decide which of those nerves of yours is most rattled.”
“You may have a point.” He rubbed his chin. “I don’t know how to act. Mainly, I don’t want you to go away before I get to know you better. That’s my biggest worry now.”
He meant it, even if sounded silly. How could he do the right thing for her, and for his children, unless he knew who Jessie Farnsworth really was?
“These kids of mine are going to matter to me a lot,” he said gruffly. “I know you’ve got a busy life, but…marry me, Jessie.”
Chapter Seven
An offer of marriage from Zach was the last thing Jessica had expected from him. Her heart took a dizzying leap. If only it were that easy.
“I know you’re not the marrying kind,” he said, “but we could probably work out a satisfactory arrangement.”
She blinked. “Arrangement?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what. But something we could both live with.”
The front door opened, and they moved away from each other. Duke walked in, sleet spilling off his hat. “Howdy,” he said to Zach. “Well, hello, Jessie.”
“Hi, Duke,” she said, sending a worried glance Zach’s way. Her composure had deserted her with the marriage proposal. Surely he hadn’t been serious!
Yet a secret part of her wondered what marriage to Zach might be like.
“Hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Duke said. “Liberty says she needs some bolts of plastic covering she stored in one of the barns. I’m not sure which one. Hellish weather to search four barns but at least you made it in before the storm, Jessie. I heard the roads were freezing up just east and north of Tulips. It’s on its way here.”
Zach frowned. “Plastic covering?”
“Yeah. There should be several rolls of it. Big enough to cover the carpet in a wedding chapel.”
“I never saw bolts of plastic,” Zach said.
“You don’t go into all the barns regularly,” Duke said. “Jessie, you look well. Are you in for a couple of days?”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
Duke looked from Jessie to Zach. “Well, good to see you all the same. I’m off to root around out there.”
“No!” Zach crammed a hat on his head and pulled his keys from his pocket. “I’ll look. You stay here and keep Jessie company.”
