The Rancher's Christmas Baby

Not that she could have done what was asked, either, if she had been him, Amy realized in mounting frustration.

There was something just so wrong about her and Teddy creating a baby in a doctor’s exam room.

It would have been one thing had that been the only way feasible to achieve pregnancy. Then it would have been more than okay.

Had this been a real marriage and artificial insemination were required, she would have assisted Teddy. He would have been there with her, when the doctor did the medical procedure. Their baby still would have been created in an atmosphere of incredible love and tenderness. The clinical details…the presence of others…would not have mattered.

Amy ran a hand over her hollow abdomen.

Was this the way it was always going to be?

She had thirty-six hours.

And, it seemed, a mighty important decision to make.

TEDDY STOOD IN THE BARN, mulling over the irony of his situation. Two hours earlier he had been unable to perform the necessary functions at the necessary time, and now, here he was, as usual overseeing the same functions—albeit equine—that made him one of the most sought-after horse breeders in Texas.

Teddy leaned against the chute wall that separated the mare in heat from his prize stud. The two animals went nose to nose, teasing each other and getting acquainted while Mother Nature spurred them on. Knowing what was expected of him, Catastrophe allowed Teddy to lead him to the nearby breeding dummy and got down to business.

Short minutes later, the collection bottle had been filled.

Teddy praised the beautiful stallion and returned Catastrophe to his stall, then took the contents to the adjacent ranch lab for examination. Finding it good, he put the life-giving material in a syringe, returned to the waiting mare and inseminated her.

Teddy praised the mare for her cooperative attitude and returned her to the isolation unit where she would stay until her owner picked her up at the end of the week.

Contemplating how easy the two animals made the procedure look, he returned to the lab to sterilize the equipment. If only he could take his emotions out of the process, too, and let impregnating Amy be simply a matter of biology and timing.

Instead, Teddy found himself wishing for the impossible.

Wishing they were really married. That she was his wife in more than the legal sense.

It might be out of the question but he couldn’t help wishing Amy were sharing his bed, letting him indulge every fantasy that had come to mind since the moment they had said their vows.

“I thought I might find you here.”

Teddy looked up from his task. “Amy.”

Damn but she looked beautiful in the dim light of the barn. Her golden hair fell in soft, untamed waves to her chin. The red turtleneck sweater hugged her torso, emphasizing the slenderness of her waist and the fullness of her breasts. Her dark denim jeans molded to her waist and hips, lovingly clung to her long, sexy legs.

Teddy stripped off his gloves and walked away from the equipment he had just sterilized. “I wasn’t sure you were coming back.”

“I’ve been thinking.” Amy rocked forward on the toes of her boots. She stuck her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. She tipped her chin at him, her high, sculpted cheeks glowing pink against the fairness of her complexion. “Do you think it would be possible for us to try to have a baby together again? Only this time,” she finished softly, “I’d like to do it the old-fashioned way.”

AMY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT Teddy’s reaction was going to be. She didn’t expect him to brush by her and head for the house without a word.

Whirling, she took a few quick running steps to catch up with him.

“You’re not ready,” he said curtly, still not looking at her.

“How can you say that?” Amy followed him in the back door.

He bypassed the kitchen and headed straight for the master bedroom.

“A few nights ago you practically wigged out because we kissed.” Teddy shucked his denim jacket and pulled his shirt over his head.

Mouth dry, Amy watched him continue to disrobe.

Aware this was some kind of a test—one she was determined not to fail—she kept her eyes squarely on him as he finished disrobing and strutted toward the shower.

Damn, but he had a magnificent body, she noted through the glass enclosure. Satin skin covered taut muscle. Lower still, he was just as well…made. With difficulty, she lifted her eyes from the apex of his thighs, to his face. “That’s because we were just doing it for recreational purposes,” she defended herself hotly. And because it had made her feel like they were on the verge of a romance…a one-sided romance, that would have left her at a distinct disadvantage.

He arched a brow and stepped beneath the spray.

“I’ve had a change of heart.” She’d decided she could make love without being in love after all.

Teddy regarded her skeptically.

“This time we’d be doing it for a very good reason,” Amy said, continuing to make her case hurriedly, aware if she thought about it too much she’d lose her nerve. “It’d be part of our Christmas gift to each other.”

Teddy shook his head in mute frustration, even as his lower body rose to the challenge. “I know you, Amy. You’ll never go all the way.”

Maybe she wouldn’t if she didn’t want a baby with him so very much. She folded her arms in front of her militantly. “I will, too!”

“Really?” Teddy turned to adjust the temperature of the spray, giving her a fine view of his backside.

“Yes, really!” Amy wished he would take her seriously.

“Then prove it.” Teddy turned toward her once again, making no effort to hide his desire. His eyes locked with hers as he rubbed soap over his chest. Lower still. “Go in the bedroom. Take off your clothes. And wait for me.”

Amy could see from the sardonic curve of his lips that he still didn’t think she had the nerve.

She turned on her heel and marched back out of the bath. “I thought it was going to be a lot easier to be married to you!” she called over her shoulder.

“No kidding!” he called right back.

Huffing in exasperation, Amy marched over to the bed and stood staring down at it for one long second.

“This is to make a baby,” she whispered to herself defiantly, already toeing off her boots. “Our baby. And he or she will be made in the spirit of tenderness and hope and love.” This baby would be the ultimate Christmas gift to each other.

With trembling fingers, Amy turned back the covers.

Hearing the water shut off behind her, she closed her eyes and reached for the hem of her sweater.

“I’m not sure I understand the rationale for closing your eyes while you undress yourself.”

Amy gulped again and opened her eyes.

She turned to see Teddy lounging in the doorway, his strong, tall body glistening with droplets of water, a towel draped around his waist.

“Oh, hush,” she grumbled, irritated he had just spoiled her semiromantic mood. Now, she was going to have to work to get it back again.

He strode toward her, smelling of soap and man and…the potential for sex. “The fact you can’t even undress without an attack of nerves should tell you you’re not ready for this.”

Amy let out a nervous little laugh and finished removing her sweater. “I may never be ready for this.” Sex with her best friend. It didn’t change the fact she wanted a baby. His baby. “Which is precisely why we should keep going.”

Teddy lifted his hand to her breast, his fingertips caressing the swell of flesh above her lacy black bra.

Suddenly, he wasn’t the only one getting aroused.

He regarded her ardently, a sense of purpose glittering in his eyes. “This isn’t a game of Red Light, Green Light.”

Amy’s heart gave a nervous kick against her ribs. “I know.”

His voice dropped. “If we get started…”

She let out a shuddering breath as she tilted her face up to his. “We’re not going to stop.”

“Exactly.” Gently, he scored his thumb across her lips. “So now’s the time for second thoughts….”

Defiantly, she held the challenge in his eyes. “I don’t have any. Don’t want any.”

“Amy…”

Yearning welled up inside her. Not just for a baby now. But for him. Amy went up on tiptoe, wreathed her arms around his neck. She pressed the softness of her body against the hard length of his. “Kiss me, Teddy. Kiss me the way you did the other night.”

Their lips met halfway in a fierce explosion of heat and need, want and passion. She put everything she had into the kiss, fitting her lips to his, adjusting her head to just the right angle, experimentally touching his tongue with hers. She expected gentleness, acceptance. Instead, his lips were hard and hungry, his tongue hot and wet and unbearably evocative. Taking command, he kissed her again and again, until she was lost in the taste and touch and feel of him, lost in the ragged intake of his breath and her own low, shuddering moan. And suddenly the idea of making hot, wild love with Teddy McCabe was every bit as enticing as the sight of him, clad in nothing but a towel.

Teddy hadn’t expected Amy to take him up on his challenge. But now that she had…now that she was in his arms, kissing and holding him like there was no tomorrow, he could no more walk away from her than he could have not married her.

Maybe they didn’t love each other in the usual head-over-heels way, Teddy reflected, dropping his towel and divesting Amy of her bra. But they did have a connection between them that was as deep and enduring as anything he had ever dreamed. Excitement building inside him, he sifted his hand through the silky texture of her hair. Her body shuddered and softened against his, and he let all he wanted come through in another deep, searing kiss. He wanted to be a husband to her in every way, and as he undressed her and drew her slowly down to the bed, she seemed to want it, too.

Sensing the need pouring out of her, he cupped the soft weight of her breasts in his hands, bent his head, loving her with mouth and lips and hands. She clung to him wordlessly, arching her back, moving restlessly beneath him. He stretched out beside her, catching her by the waist. Shifting her onto her side, he pressed his hips against hers, kissing her again and again, until she was in a frenzy of wanting, murmuring her need low in the back of her throat. Wanting her to have everything she deserved, he made his way down her body, engaging every sense, until there was only the driving need, and the throbbing of his body and hers.

He slid upward, capturing her lips in another kiss.

“I want you,” she whispered, taking him in hand.

Her breath hitched as he filled her.

Yielding to him with the sweet surrender of a woman who should have been his long before, she clasped his shoulders and trembled as he kissed her and possessed her again and again. Their bodies took up an age-old rhythm, until there was no doubting how good this felt, how good they were together, and would always be….

Teddy slid his hands beneath her, lifting her to him, driving deep. Together, they soared toward a completion more stunning and fulfilling than anything he had ever felt. More incredible for him than the feel of her beneath him, her arms and legs wrapped around him, was the thought that at this very instant…they might be making the baby they both wanted so very much.

AMY HAD NEVER BEEN A particularly sexual person, never imagined she could feel this way about the lifelong “friend” who was now her husband, but Teddy’s lovemaking had made her feel white-hot. As if she was not just capable of conceiving the child they yearned for, but was all woman, too. As capable of giving…and receiving… emotional comfort and physical ecstasy.

“That was incredible,” she whispered in Teddy’s ear, wanting him to know just how wonderful he had made her feel. She could see now she shouldn’t have worried about the lack of traditional romance in the making of their baby. What she had just experienced was one of the most powerful and compelling—not to mention unbearably tender—moments of her entire life.

Teddy chuckled, pressing his lips against her neck in a series of hot kisses. “Tell me about it!”

Still shuddering with reaction, she rested her head on his shoulder. She liked the unexpectedly sexy turn their relationship had taken as much as the sound of his low, husky voice. With a sigh of contentment, she splayed both hands across his chest. “Who knew?”

He found her lips with his. His kiss was tender and sweetly coaxing. “I guess we should have.”

Aware that she had waited a lifetime to feel like this, Amy searched his eyes, needing somehow to put a label on this, so that it wouldn’t all ease away, as quickly and unexpectedly, as it had occurred. “What does this mean?” Were they married now—in their hearts? Or was this the friends-with-benefits scenario he had once proposed?

Teddy smiled and gave her a lazy once-over, seeming every bit as contented as she now felt. “It means,” he said, gently disengaging their bodies and rolling so that she was on top of him, “that we’re every bit as compatible—in a marital sense—as we first thought.”

Not exactly the declaration of undying love she had hoped to hear. Amy lamented softly, “Except that so far we fight about everything.”

Teddy stroked a hand down her spine, eliciting tingles of delight that made her want him all over again. His slow smile was as enticing as his touch. “Maybe not making love is what we’ve really been fighting about.”

She tensed as his manhood pressed against her inner thighs, hot and hard. “You think?”

He shrugged, making no effort to hide the fact that he wanted to make love with her again every bit as much as she wanted to tenderly explore him. “I feel a lot more at peace with things now.” He tunneled his hands through her hair and captured her bare lips with his. “How about you?”

Amy let him shift her onto her back once again. “Definitely.”

“There’s only one problem.” He draped one leg over hers.

“What?” Amy’d never felt so warm and safe. Never believed anyone could desire her with such ferocity.

Teddy smiled, his eyes glowing with a determined sensual light. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to want to get out of bed again.”

Chapter Six

It seemed to Amy that she and Teddy had just gotten to sleep after their night of marathon baby-making, when the alarm beeped. With a groan, Teddy shut it off.

Amy struggled to sit up, saw it was six o’clock.

Teddy pressed a kiss on her bare shoulder, ran a caressing hand down her spine. “You should try to get some more sleep if you can.”

“I wish I could.” Amy yawned, not sure when she had felt that well-loved. Every inch of her tingled with the memory of his touch. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she rested her face on her upraised knees. She watched appreciatively as Teddy stretched, rubbed the sleep from his eyes and reluctantly rolled out of bed.

He picked up the clothes he’d left on the floor and carried them into the bathroom, where he put them on top of the overstuffed hamper.

Amy stood and pulled on a robe. She picked a brush up off the bureau and ran it through her hair. “But I’ve got to get going, too.”

Teddy set the full hamper next to the hall door, for transport to the laundry room, then went back to his closet where only a few pairs of jeans and two clean canvas work shirts remained.

“Getting down to the wire there, aren’t you, cowboy?” Amy teased.

Teddy grinned at her. “I’ve got a couple days left before I have to do laundry.”

“Like to wait till the very last minute, do you?”

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “That way I only have to do it once a month.”

“It must take all day.”

“Pretty much. But then I don’t have to worry about it. Let me guess. You’re a laundry-once-a-week kind of gal.”

“More like two or three times a week. I only like to do a load or two at a time, at most. And that includes my delicates, which have to be washed separately.”

She could see the mess in the laundry room—and the overflowing hamper in the master bath—was going to bother her, in the long run. Fortunately it was nothing that had to be dealt with today. Amy didn’t want anything ruining the glow she felt, after a night of ardent lovemaking.

Oblivious to her thoughts, Teddy headed for the bathroom. “Where do you want to sleep tonight?” he asked, running a razor over his morning beard.

That, at least, was easy. Amy squeezed toothpaste onto her brush. “Here.”

His eyes met hers in the mirror. Clearly stunned by her newly cooperative attitude, he said, “Again?”

Amy shrugged as she rinsed and wiped her mouth on a towel. “How about from now on?” She rubbed liquid complexion soap over her face. “It really doesn’t make sense for you to try to fold yourself into my much smaller bed.”

He caught her against him and ran a finger down the foamy white cream on her cheek. “It might be fun if you were in there with me.”

“I want you to be comfortable,” Amy said. She wanted them to be able to make love unencumbered. There was no way Teddy and she could do that crammed in a trailer bedroom that was barely bigger than the double bed it contained.

“I want you to be at ease, too,” Teddy murmured.

Pulling her to him, he used his free hand to dampen a washcloth and remove the soap from her face. Finished, he dipped his head and found her lips with his. Amy tingled all over as they indulged in a long, steamy kiss. She knew they were just friends, but if this wasn’t romantic, she didn’t know what was.

Slowly, Teddy lifted his head and he gazed down at her with desire. She knew how he felt. When they’d married, she hadn’t expected such thrilling passion, either.

He flashed a crooked grin and traced the side of his hand down her face. “I better go before I’m tempted to stay and make love with you all over again.”

Amy turned her head and kissed the center of his palm. She knew he was right. They could easily pick this up later, when they had all the time in the world….

“Are you going to the marathon cleaning and painting session of the chapel this evening?” she asked.

He nodded.

Amy smiled, glad to be working with him on some thing so important, not just to the community, but to themselves. “Then I’ll meet you there.”

It was only after she had spoken that Amy realized how cozy and domestic their morning “routine” had been, and how very much she suddenly felt like Teddy’s wife.

“YOU LOOK GORGEOUS TONIGHT,” Susie told Amy, hours later.

Broom and dustpan in hand, Amy’s sister Rebecca joined them in the center of the chapel. “You’re positively glowing,” she concurred.

If so, it was a warmth that came from the inside out, Amy thought. She pushed the trash can across the stone chapel floor, assisting in the pickup of the debris left over from the storm and resulting fire.

On either side of the chapel, volunteers were busy removing damaged sections of drywall and wooden pews that needed to be either replaced or refurbished.

“We weren’t sure what to expect….” Susie scooped up bits of tree, leaves and burned roof.

Rebecca made a face. “We heard about the scene in the hospital lobby—or was it elevator—yesterday afternoon.”

Amy paused to admire the new sections of drywall going up. With a fine new roof overhead, the chapel was going to look like new in no time. “That’s the beauty of working out on my ranch most of the time.” She made a face right back. “I miss all the gossip.”

Rebecca swept another square clean. “You don’t seem worse for wear. Maybe this marriage is a good thing.”

Amy knew it was. But it was also so new and precious she didn’t want to share her feelings with anyone just yet.

She changed the subject. “How are the twins?”

Rebecca exuded the excitement of a new mom. “Wonderful. Exhausting. Perfect. Sweet.” She chuckled. “They’re also up all night, every night. We’ve got both their grandmothers taking care of them this evening, but they’re both so busy with their own careers… I don’t know how Trevor and I are ever going to get any Christmas shopping done.”

Up until now, Amy had been avoiding spending too much time with the twins. She knew it was selfish, but being around babies had made her lament her own lack of children too much. Now that she and Teddy were married and actively trying to have a baby, she no longer felt that way. In fact, she was eager to make up for lost time. “Teddy and I could babysit for you, if you two want to go out some evening.”

Rebecca perked up. “Could you do it Friday?”

“I’ll have to check with Teddy, but I think he’s pretty flexible. In any case, I can do it.”

One of the volunteers set up a boom box. Christmas music filled the sanctuary, adding to the festive mood.

“You two still trying to have a baby?” Susie asked, obviously referencing the scene at the hospital the day before. “’Cause if you are, I’ve heard being around babies helps stimulate all those maternal hormones and feelings.”

“Susie!” Rebecca chided.

“It’s true.” Susie chuckled. “Haven’t you heard how people who’ve never been able to conceive, adopt a child, and then boom—they’re pregnant?”

“I don’t think Amy’s situation is the same,” Rebecca said, glaring at the four months pregnant Susie.

“Well, whatever her situation is, I’ve never seen her looking happier,” Susie commented. She leaned close. “What is going on with you two, anyway?”

Amy flushed.

“Are you and Teddy…?” Susie persisted.

In love? The unspoken words hung in the air. Amy wanted to say no, out of habit, but she knew that wasn’t true any longer. Not after last night. The truth was their passionate lovemaking had shown her a side of Teddy that she hadn’t ever allowed herself to see. He was hot. She wanted him. She might even be falling in love with him. And he with her…?

Susie’s jaw dropped open. “Oh, my gosh.” She looked at Rebecca, still in total shock. “I think they’re…”

“Stop!” Amy held up a hand. “You both need to slow down with your observations and assumptions.” They all did. The last thing Amy wanted was her romantic desires to ruin what she and Teddy had. “Teddy and I are taking it one step at a time.” It was the only prudent thing to do. “If I look happy tonight it’s because it is finally beginning to feel like Christmas to me.”

The best Christmas, in fact, that Amy had ever had.

TEDDY HAD BARELY CLEARED HIS pickup truck when his triplet brothers, Trevor and Tyler, approached.

“We need to talk.”

Given a couple of the text messages he had been receiving throughout the day, Teddy had an idea what this was about. “No, we don’t.” Anxious to see Amy after a day spent apart, he strode toward the chapel doors—only to be cut off by Amy’s brother, Jeremy.

“Yeah, I think we do,” Jeremy said.

Teddy exhaled and stopped where he was in the parking lot.

“We all heard what happened yesterday at the hospital,” Trevor said, as if he were the authority on marital relations, just because he had been the first of the triplets to tie the knot.

“We’re not sure what part of the baby-making process you are having trouble with,” Tyler added, with a smidgen of the soothing manner he used as a large-animal vet.

“But in any case—” Jeremy reached into the inside pocket of his blazer and withdrew a white envelope “—I brought you the handout I give the patients in my medical practice on how to optimize the chances of getting pregnant.”

“Assuming you’ve got the basics down pat,” Trevor teased, with a knowing wink.

“If you need help with those…” Tyler added, chuckling.

“Well, at your age…” Jeremy shook his head as if it were a lost cause, if that was the case.

Teddy shot them all a droll look. “Very funny, guys.”

“Seriously, stress is not good for making babies,” Trevor said.

“You want success, you’ve got to be all romantic,” Tyler added.