The Bachelor's Baby (Bachelor Auction Book 3) (14 page)

He couldn’t help it. A noise of complete incredulity came out of him.

She looked up, surprise turning to mirth as they both saw the funny side of it and wound up laughing heartily at their own expense.

*

He didn’t kiss
her when he dropped her off, but she couldn’t help smiling. It had been nice. And he called the next morning to offer to cook for her that night, but she and Liz had already decided to run to Bozeman for a bra and some things Liz wanted for the spa. He asked her to call when she got home so he would know she was all right and Meg did. They wound up talking for nearly an hour about all sorts of things that seemed inconsequential afterward, but the conversation had just kept going.

They wound up talking at least once a day after that and he took her out for dinner on Saturday night—which was when they had their first spat.

“What do you mean you’re looking at a place in that building?”

“On Monday. I have an appointment to see it before I go to the doctor’s.”

They were leaving town after a really nice meal that, so far, was staying down—although she’d quit long before she was full, having played this game before.

He went silent for so long, she finally said, “That’s your response? The silent treatment?”

“You know what I think of you moving to town. I don’t have to repeat myself. But I’ll come in with you to look at it. What time on Monday?”

“You don’t get a say,” she told him.

“I get a little bit of say, Meg. If the place is full of mold, I get a lot of say.”

“I’m not an idiot. I’m not going to take something that’s got a crack dealer living next door. Geez. Have some faith. He’ll at least be on another floor.”

No chuckle? Weird.

“I’d like to come to the doctor’s with you, too,” he said, tone coming down a notch from outright bossy to quietly firm.

Why did he have to sound all caring when he was being overbearing? It was a mixed message that confused the heck out of her.

“It’s just a meet and greet. My family doctor retired three years ago and I haven’t seen him since moving to Chicago after high school. Do you remember Rachel from the auction? She won the chef’s dinner with Ryan Henderson. Anyway, she’s a doctor and just moved back herself so I’m going to see if she wants to get up at three in the morning twenty-eight weeks from now for some screaming and yelling.”

“I need some things from the hardware store. No use taking two vehicles. I’ll pick you up and we’ll come in together.”

The story of ranch life: saving up all the errands for the one trip into town. She gave in because it was practical and she would have had to take Liz’s car anyway, having returned her rental before they went to Bozeman.

On Sunday she ran next door to see Skye who was in town for her mother’s birthday. Skye was a few years older, but given the isolation out here and the fact their mothers and brothers had been such close friends, they’d always been close as well. When she had a private moment with her, Meg told Skye about the baby. She didn’t want her to hear about it any other way, too aware how desperately Skye had wanted kids with her first husband.

Skye hugged the dickens out of her, proving she was the same old Skye despite the designer clothes she was sporting. If she was envious, she didn’t show it.

“The new guy? Really? What’s he like?” she asked in a conspiratorial voice.

“Nice,” Meg tried, but it didn’t sound right. Linc was too much a leader and a man of action to be ‘nice.’ “He’s a good man. He is. He wants me to marry him. I just… have reservations.”

“Blake and Crystal? Yeah, that was a cautionary tale.”

“That and…” She looked across the cozy living room of what had been a second home to her all her life. “I feel like I could fall in love with him, but he might not love me back.”

Skye hugged her again, well aware of the angst Meg had wrestled all her life, convinced by the rejection of her birth mother that she wasn’t worthy of being loved.

Putting her biggest fear into words left her melancholy so she was very quiet when Linc picked her up on Monday.

“Feeling okay?” he asked her, reaching over to stroke her thigh with the backs of two bent fingers.

A pulse of excitement went through her as her body reacted to his touch, always. He was positively wizardly in his ability to make her react. Physical longing kept her awake at night, thinking about all the ways he’d touched her and made her moan with gratification that one night.

One night wasn’t enough to base a lifetime on.

Was it?

She found a crooked smile, trying to be honest, but self-protect as she explained, “I’m just having a day when it’s all very real and I’m trying to figure it all out.”

Getting her own apartment, living in town and finding a job, was the sensible thing to do. She needed to be independent while she worked out whether they had what it took for the long haul. She was going to stop in at The Courier, see if they could use another reporter. Writing for the local newspaper was something she could do mostly from home and online. It could be ideal.

Except for the part where she wouldn’t see Linc every day.

Why did that make her feel so lonely?

The apartment was straight up ‘fine,’ neither a dump nor a wow. It had two bedrooms, a small balcony, a view of the playground and was dated, but clean and in good repair.

Linc didn’t say much. He didn’t say much after they left, either, just took her across town to the medical building and sat with her in the waiting room, taking up a Cosmopolitan magazine and flipping through it like it was the Farmer’s Almanac.

She watched him as he slouched comfortably and casually turned pages, pausing for a moment here and there.

“Reading the articles?” she asked without hiding her amusement.

“The articles are more dangerous than the photos. Did you know there are thirty-seven ways you can please a man in bed? Far as I’m concerned, there’s one: show up.”

She chuckled and they were called in a few minutes later. Their chat with Rachel went great. Rachel didn’t bat an eye at Linc being there, didn’t say a word about how her due date coincided with a conception on the night of the bachelor auction. She was warm and gave off such an air of confidence that Meg felt a nameless tension ease immediately. The baby, at least, was in good hands.

Meg made an appointment for a proper prenatal checkup in a week and Linc hovered at the counter to discuss insurance plans with the assistant behind the counter.

“His is better,” the clerk told Meg with a push of her apologetic smile to the side of her face. “If Linc could get you onto his, with the baby, you’d wind up with more coverage and the overall premium cost would go down. Rather than each of you paying as adults, he’d be paying the family rate.”

It was her turn to keep her mouth shut as they left.

“No comment?” he prompted, holding the door for her.

“It’s like marrying for a green card,” she said. “I’m slightly more romantic than that. Oh, hey, Molly,” she greeted as they met Molly Dekker on the sidewalk. “How are you? How’s Josh?”

“Really well, all things considered,” Molly said with a surprisingly bright smile. “All the energy he had before the accident is still there, but, you know, expressed from here up.” She cut a line across her middle, grinning, then sobered slightly. “He’ll always have certain challenges, but we’re doing okay. And thank you for dropping off that extra drywall you had,” she said with a fresh smile for Linc. “The house is really coming together.”

“It would have gone to waste at my place,” he said. “Did you get that ramp fixed?”

“The ramp works totally fine,” she said with a firm sweep of her hand. “And I’m sorry, but I’m running late, but thank you both again. For the auction… Everything. Everyone has been so generous.” Her eyes started to tear up, obviously moved.

Meg’s did, too. “No problem, Molly,” Meg assured her and they parted before they both broke down.

“That was a lie, wasn’t it?” Meg said to Linc when she’d regained control.

They had reached the parking lot and he beeped to unlock his truck, lifting his head to say, “What do you mean?”

“You have a whole house to renovate. The drywall wasn’t going to waste.” He
was
nice, she decided. When he wasn’t acting like the CEO of a multi-national corporation.

He shrugged it off. “It was in my way. And single parenting is hard, Meg.” He opened the door of his truck for her. “Not just financially, but in every way. It was hard on my mother and hard on me. I’m not saying it’s a cake-walk when there are two parents, but single parenting is tough on the good days. If something happens…” He jerked his head back toward where they’d chatted with Molly. “I wouldn’t choose to go it alone. I won’t. Not if I have the option of going in with you.”

She swallowed, moved in a weird sort of way. It wasn’t like he was expressing undying devotion. It just sounded nice that he wanted to be a team.

“I keep thinking—” Damn these hormones! Her throat went thick and her mouth quivered.

She stayed in the little shelter provided by his body and the door of the truck. The day was blustery, the rain spitting across at them, and the low clouds matched her mood.

“I keep thinking about my birth mother. As soon as I found out about the baby, I was terrified, but I knew I had Blake and a place here. I’m not broke and now you’re on board… That means so much to me, Linc, it really does.” She squeezed his arm, eyes tearing up so she couldn’t see him very well, but she persevered, needing to get this out. “Maybe my birth mother didn’t have any of these things. No one to help her, no father willing to take responsibility, no place to go. Maybe she did the best thing she could for me. I love it here. I can’t be angry with her when coming home to this town is what has saved me when I wound up in the same situation, can I?”

He gathered her into his front. His jacket hung open so she was pulled into the heat of his big body where she felt warm and protected. “
I
like that you’re here, that we met. I’m scared shitless that you’re pregnant with my baby, but I’m still happy about it.” He rubbed strong fingertips through her hair into her scalp, massaging gently. “That wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t here.”

She chuckled through her sniffles, hugging him tightly while she fought for control. “Is the entire town watching us?”

“The entire town has gathered to watch me feel you up in the parking lot of the medical building, yes.”

She laughed again, drying her cheeks on his shirt as she tilted her face up to his. “You’re an idiot.”

“I know better than to argue with a woman when she resorts to name-calling. You want to come out to my place for the afternoon? Before you buy into an apartment I hate on principle?”

“People always know where they stand with you, don’t they?”

“What you see is what you get.”

“Mmm,” she agreed circumspectly. “I see a guy who doesn’t give up until he gets the result he wants.”

“No need for an optometrist. There’s good news.”

*

“I think that’s
my new tractor,” Linc said as they caught up to a slow moving flatbed on their way home. He edged toward the centerline, looking for a chance to overtake.

“They didn’t call to make sure you’d be home?”

“They said this week. I thought they would have let me know before showing up.” He shrugged it off and they followed the truck all the way down his driveway.

She was thankful for the distraction. All his reasons for her marrying him kept resounding in her head. She was trying not to be offended at how practical it all sounded, trying to focus on how he’d said he was happy about the baby, but a huge piece of her was still holding out for the love part of marriage before the baby carriage.

“Leave the groceries,” he said when he parked and she got out to reach into the bed of the truck.

“I’ll put them away while you help them unload,” she said. It was only three bags.

“They’re heavy. I’ll do it in a few minutes.”

“It’s cereal and frozen dinners, Linc. I’ll be fine.” Seriously.

Inside, the house smelled faintly of sawdust and paint. His office was walled in and painted, floors down, just needing finishing touches like molding. The kitchen was still in chaos, however, and the bed was still in the living room.