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The world suddenly tilted and Mattie swayed. In the next heartbeat, she felt Jared beside her, holding her upright, bracing her against his chest—that chest…that night.
How familiar he felt. How comfortable. Part of Mattie wanted to melt against him, soak up his strength—goodness knows, the man had plenty to go around. But something inside her warned her to get away as fast as she could.
“I’ll take you to the doctor,” Jared said.
“No.” Mattie pushed away from him. “No. There’s nothing he can do, and besides I—”
She didn’t finish the sentence. It was none of Jared’s business that she couldn’t afford another visit to the doctor.
“I’ll take her home,” Mrs. Nance said, as if reading Mattie’s thoughts.
“I’ll handle it,” Jared told her in a tone that brooked no disagreement. He dipped his chin toward his badge. “It’s my duty. Besides, don’t you have to look after the café?”
“The restaurant is my responsibility,” Mattie insisted. She tried to pull away, but Jared’s long fingers remained folded around her arm and splayed across her back. “I need to stay here. The noon rush will start soon.”
Mrs. Nance shook her head sympathetically, but didn’t say anything. There was no need. Both of them knew how foolish Mattie’s claim was.
“Let the sheriff take you home for a while, dear,” Mrs. Nance said. “He…understands.”
With that, Mattie realized Mrs. Nance had told Jared about her condition while she’d been in the outhouse.
How much more humiliation could she bear in front of this man?
“I can get myself home just fine,” Mattie announced, though really, she hardly felt up to it.
Jared never gave her a chance to prove her words. With a little pressure at her back, he escorted her away from the restaurant.
When they got to the street, Mattie glanced at the people passing by on the boardwalk and pulled away from Jared.
“I will not be paraded through town like a circus train,” she told him.
Mattie looked up to see a frown on his face. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t put his hand on her again.
When they reached her house, Mattie expected Jared would leave. He didn’t. He walked inside as if he belonged there. Mattie was too tired, too nauseated to protest. She went straight to her bedroom with him on her heels.
Heat flushed Mattie’s cheeks. This room. That night. Him.
“Do you need help with your dress?” Jared asked, his gaze traveling over her, lingering on her belly.
He’d already seen her naked. Suddenly, Mattie felt that way again. Vulnerable, exposed, but not in a sexual way. More like a bug in a jar.
“Stop looking at my stomach!” She slammed the door in his face, then dropped onto the bed and fell asleep.
When she awoke some time later, Mattie felt only marginally better. She splashed her face at the washstand, then took down her hair and pinned it up again. Leaning closer to the mirror, she took stock of her features. Pale, dark circles under her eyes…She looked terrible.
Almost as terrible as she felt.
With a deep sigh, Mattie went to the kitchen. Her stomach jolted again when she found Jared standing at her cookstove.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
He spun around. A moment passed while his gaze traveled the length of her, dipped to her belly for only a second, then landed on her face.
“I heard you stirring around in the bedroom,” he said. “I made you something to eat.”
“You’ve been here all this time?” she asked. He’d stayed? Gone through her cupboards? Sat in her chairs? Made himself comfortable in her house? Had he peeked into her bedroom while she slept?
Jared took a biscuit from the warmer and poured tea into one of her china cups. “You don’t have much here to eat.”
“I own a restaurant, remember? I usually eat there.”
Jared pulled back a chair for her. When she glared at him instead of sitting down, he circled the table and eased into a chair across from her, then picked up the newspaper and began reading.
How casual and comfortable he’d made himself, sitting at her table. Honestly, the gall of this man.
Another minute passed before Jared spoke as he turned the page of the newspaper. “The tea and biscuit will settle your stomach, make you feel better.”
He was right, of course, but it didn’t particularly suit Mattie that he’d said it. Or that he’d prepared it for her. Or that he was sitting at her table, in her house.
But the tea did smell good, while so few things did these days. Mattie sat down and took little sips as she ate the biscuit. Jared kept reading the newspaper, his silence unnerving.
When she finished, he dropped the paper and laid his hand lightly on her wrist, keeping her in the chair.
“We need to talk,” he said.
Mattie pulled away and got to her feet. “There is nothing we need to discuss.”
His gaze dipped to her belly. “Are you sure you’re pregnant?”
It was pointless to deny it. Mrs. Nance had told him. Her illness had confirmed it.
Mattie clenched her fists at her sides. “Three times in one night! How could I not be pregnant?”
Jared rose and stood beside her, his expression grim. “It’s mine, isn’t it?”
She raised her chin. “It’s my husband’s.”
“It’s mine.” Jared’s eyes narrowed. “Unless you had some other man in town making you forget after I left.”
She slapped him. Hard, on the cheek with her open palm. Jared didn’t flinch, didn’t pull away, didn’t move. Finally, he nodded, satisfied.
“It’s mine,” he declared.
“It’s my husband’s,” Mattie told him again. “That’s what the whole town thinks and that’s what I’m letting them believe.”
“Just your little secret. Is that it?”
Mattie gazed up at Jared and jerked her chin. “Yes, my little secret.”
This baby could have been Del’s, if they’d had a normal husband-wife relationship. The town didn’t know any differently, and Mattie had decided to let them believe it.
After all, telling the truth would label her baby a bastard. What kind of choice was that?
“Did you ever intend to tell me?” Jared asked.
She turned away. “No. I was never going to tell you.”
Jared drew in a big breath, then let it out slowly, as if he’d come to terms with everything she’d said, made some sort of decision about it.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Mattie frowned. “Go? Go where?”
“To the church.”
“Whatever for?” she asked.
“We’re getting married.”
Chapter Four
“Married?”
“Yes. Married,” Jared said. He took her hand. “Right now.”
She pulled away from him. “I’m not going to marry you.”
“Yes, you are.” He eased closer, crowding her. “You’re carrying a baby. My baby. I’m taking responsibility for what I did and we’re getting married.”
“Nobody knows it’s your baby. I told you, the whole town thinks it’s Del’s.”
“I know it’s mine.” Jared tapped his finger against his chest. “I’m not turning my back on you, or this baby.”
Mattie lifted her chin. “I don’t want your help.”
“Maybe you don’t want it but you sure as hell need it,” Jared told her. He looked her up and down. “You’re sick as a dog. You’re pale. You’ve lost weight. You can’t keep anything down.”
For a lawman, he certainly knew a lot about having babies. Or he was just observant.
“Yes,” Mattie admitted. “I’ve been sick. But that will pass.”
“And you’re dead tired, aren’t you? You can’t make it through the day without lying down.”
“If I have time I lie down, but I’m usually too busy at the restaurant.”
“And what effect do you think that’s having on the baby?” he challenged.
Mattie turned away from those fierce blue eyes of his, uncomfortable under his gaze. She tried to think of a reasonable response, but couldn’t.
Finally she said, “Just because I’m sick and I need to take a nap is no reason for us to get married, of all things.”
“Yes, it is,” Jared told her. “It’s the best reason. The only reason. I’m marrying you so I can take care of you, and make sure our baby comes into this world healthy.”
“But—”
“It’s the right thing to do.” Jared gave her a brisk nod. “And you know it.”
She’d worried about all those things. Dr. Whittaker, Mrs. Nance at the restaurant—along with most every other woman in town—had cautioned her over and over again to take it easy.
She did feel terrible. She was worn out by midafternoon. Was she being thoughtless? Was she being a bad mother? Was she jeopardizing her unborn child?
More than anything, she wanted her baby to be healthy. Nothing was more important.
Jared seemed to read those feelings in her expression. He pulled on his hat and opened the back door. “Let’s go.”
Mattie hesitated a moment. “But—”
“This isn’t about you and me,” Jared told her. “It’s about the baby.”
What could she say to that? Mattie walked out ahead of him.
Just beyond the gate in the white picket fence that surrounded her house, Mattie slowed, gazing toward Main Street. Jared was a few paces ahead of her. He stopped and turned back.
“What about the Cottonwood?” Mattie asked. “What about my restaurant?”
“Close it.”
“Close it?” Mattie shook her head, stunned by the thought. “How am I supposed to support myself? What am I supposed to do for money?”
“I’ll take care of you.”
Her gaze roamed once more to the Cottonwood Café. Close it? Walk away? It had belonged to her parents. She’d worked there with them, side by side, with so many wonderful memories. She’d turned the place around and built it into the most popular eatery in Stanford.
But that was before.
Images of Del Ingram floated in Mattie’s mind. He’d drained every cent from her bank account without her knowing it. Had left her penniless. He’d also run up some sizable debts around town, debts she was saddled with.
With no money, she’d been unable to buy meat and poultry to serve to her diners. It hadn’t taken long before her soups and vegetable platters lost favor with her customers. With no sausage or bacon on the menu, the businessmen who’d made the Cottonwood their spot for breakfast stopped coming.
She’d had to let her serving girls and dishwasher go, and take on those chores herself. She held on to Mrs. Nance by a thread, paying her salary with what little money she took in; if the Silver Bell Restaurant on the other end of town hired her away, Mattie would be lost for sure.
Her business had spiraled downward for months, since Del’s death. For a moment, Mattie considered doing as Jared said, closing it. Free herself from the work, the worry. Could she do that?
Mattie shook her head. “I can’t close the Cottonwood. I just can’t.”
Jared’s brows drew together; obviously he was unhappy with her decision. “Then let Mrs. Nance run it. Or open it only part of the day. Hire more help. You can keep it open, but you’re not going to be over there all the time.”
Mattie’s back stiffened. “I made the restaurant what it is. I can’t just turn it over to hired help.”
