Betrothed for the Baby

Hunter O’Banyon might be tall, dark and movie-star handsome, but she was no more interested in him than she was in any other man. But, dear heaven above, could he ever kiss.

Her cheeks feeling as if they were on fire from her sudden wayward thought, she shoved a container of cookies into his hands. “Take these back to the hangar for Mary Lou and the on-duty crew.”

“Callie…I—”

If he didn’t leave soon, she’d be up all night baking. “It’s getting late and I’m sure you need to get back.” She walked into the living room and opened the front door. “Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your concerns and I will give them some thought.”

“By the way, I know this is short notice, but I’m holding a staff meeting the day after tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.,” he said, looking anything but happy. “Will you be able to be there?”

She shook her head. “I have a doctor’s appointment. But I’ll stop by after my checkup and someone can fill me in on what was covered in the meeting.”

He stared at her for what seemed an eternity before he gave her a short nod. “Good night, Callie,” he said, walking out onto the porch.

“Have a nice rest of the evening, Hunter,” she said, closing the door behind him.

Walking straight to the kitchen, she stacked the containers of cookies on a shelf in her freezer, then pulled out the ingredients for a batch of brownies. Her phone conversation with her mother had been frustrating and caused her to make several batches of cookies. But Hunter’s disturbing kiss was sending her into a baking frenzy, and for some odd reason everything she wanted to make was chocolate.

As she measured cocoa and flour, something she’d heard on a cooking show came to mind and caused her to knock over a cup of sugar. Eating chocolate released the same endorphins in the brain that were released while having sex.

“Not good, Callie. Not good at all.”

Hurriedly opening a bag of milk-chocolate chips, she popped a handful into her mouth, and as the rich taste spread over her tongue, she decided that even if chocolate did make her gain too much weight, it was far less dangerous to her peace of mind than Hunter O’Banyon.

As he descended the steps and walked over to the white truck with Life Medevac painted on the side, Hunter shook his head. He didn’t blame Callie one damned bit for giving him the bum’s rush. Hell, he’d deserved more than that. He’d acted like an oversexed teenager on his first date. But what he was having the devil of a time trying to figure out was why.

Getting into the truck, he started the engine and, backing from the driveway, drove across town. But instead of turning onto the road leading to the Life Medevac hangar, he kept going until the lights of Devil’s Fork faded in the distance behind him. He needed to think, and even though he could go into his room for solitude, he’d found that staring at the vastness of a starlit night always helped him put things in perspective.

When he parked the truck and stared out the windshield at the stars above the Apache Mountains in the distance, he couldn’t help but wonder what the hell had gotten into him. He’d only stopped by Callie’s place to try to talk some sense into her and get her to see the wisdom in grounding herself until after she had her baby. But when he’d placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her pretty violet eyes, he could no more have stopped himself from tasting her sweetness than he could stop his next breath.

He took a deep breath. Although he wasn’t overly proud of it, he hadn’t exactly led the life of a monk since Ellen’s death. But he’d always been careful to be with women who wanted nothing more from him than mutual satisfaction and had no expectations of their liaison leading to anything more. And Callie Marshall was most definitely not that type of woman. Instead of smoke-filled nightclubs, champagne cocktails and a meaningless one-night stand, she was a cozy little cottage, homemade cookies and a long-term commitment.

But come to think of it, he’d been so busy in the past several months that he’d completely abandoned any kind of a social life. And although he was far from being as randy as a seventeen-year-old boy, a man of thirty-two did have certain needs that couldn’t be ignored.

He frowned. But he’d never in his entire life found a pregnant woman irresistible.

He stared at a shooting star streaking across the inky sky. He guessed it was only natural that he’d be attracted to Callie even though she was expecting a baby, considering his current state of celibacy. She was a very pretty woman with a killer smile, a delightful laugh and a pair of legs that could drive a saint to sin. Combine all those traits with his neglected libido and it was no wonder he’d felt compelled to kiss her.

Satisfied that he’d discovered the reason for his uncharacteristic caveman behavior, he started the truck and headed back toward the Life Medevac base. Now that he had things in perspective, there was no reason that he and Callie couldn’t put what happened this evening behind them and move forward as employer and employee. Hell, maybe they could even be friends.

But much later, as he lay in bed trying to will himself to sleep, Hunter couldn’t seem to forget the sweet taste of Callie’s soft lips or that the blood in his veins had heated considerably when she’d kissed him back. And whether he liked it or not, the very last thing on his mind was friendship.

Three

On the drive back from her appointment with the obstetrician, Callie thought about Hunter’s visit and how foolish she’d been. The kiss they’d shared had been very nice, but it didn’t mean anything. She knew he’d been frustrated with her refusal to ground herself and he’d been just as surprised by his actions as she had. There had really been no reason for her to get so flustered and read more into it than that.

But she’d spent the rest of the night baking everything from chocolate-fudge-nut brownies to chocolate cake. And by the time she’d gone to bed, the gray light of dawn had begun to chase away the shadows of night. She shook her head. She hadn’t baked that much since she’d discovered she was pregnant.

Thinking back on that day, she could still remember walking out of her gynecologist’s office in a total state of shock. She’d always wanted children, but she’d envisioned herself happily married and anticipating the blessed event with the man she loved and who loved her in return. She wasn’t supposed to have become pregnant by a man who put social status above a meaningful relationship.

When she’d first met Craig Culbertson, he’d swept her off her feet with his charm and thoughtfulness. But it hadn’t taken long for her to discover that he wasn’t the man she’d thought he was. He’d hidden his true nature behind a winning smile and charming ways, and by the time they’d parted company, shallow, self-centered and selfish were the nicest words she could think of to describe the conceited snake.

Then, when she’d discovered she was pregnant a month after their breakup, her disillusionment with Craig had turned to abject fear. One of the deciding factors in her ending their relationship had been the sickening disgust she’d felt when he’d confided in her that at the age of nineteen he’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant and that his twelve-year-old brother was actually his son. He’d told her that once his parents had learned of the pregnancy and discovered the girl wasn’t the family’s social equal, they’d used their money, as well as their position in Houston society, to gain custody of the baby, adopt him and raise the boy as their own.

A cold chill raced through Callie. She could only imagine the devastation and powerlessness the young mother must have felt at losing all contact with her child. And that was the very reason Callie had made the decision to leave her job as an emergency room nurse at one of the Houston hospitals and take the job as flight nurse with Life Medevac.

If Craig found out about her pregnancy, she wasn’t sure he and his parents wouldn’t try to do the same thing to her that they’d done to the mother of his first child. Callie hadn’t been born into a life of wealth and privilege and therefore would no doubt be considered an undesirable candidate to raise a Culbertson heir. They’d take her to court and she’d come out the loser. She didn’t have the kind of money it would take to fight a custody battle against their high-powered lawyers.

She’d come from a middle-class single-parent home where there hadn’t been an endless supply of money, and social outings had consisted of making trips to the mall or attending a matinee at the movie theater. And even if her father hadn’t been lost at sea during a storm while working on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, her social status wouldn’t have been a whole lot different.

As she steered her car onto the lane leading up to the Life Medevac hangar, she placed her hand on her rounded tummy. She might not have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she loved her little boy with all her heart, and no one was going to take him away from her.

Parking the car, she took a deep breath and forced herself to forget about Houston and the ruthless Culbertsons. She was about to face Hunter O’Banyon and tell him that she’d given a lot of thought to his request that she ground herself. She’d even gone so far as to discuss her physical limitations with her obstetrician, and together they’d concluded there was no reason for her to go on maternity leave for a few more months. Now all she had to do was explain that to Hunter.

“Hi, Mary Lou,” Callie said as she entered the dispatch room. “Is Hunter in his office?”

The older woman nodded. “I suspect he’s back there compiling a list of everyone’s size and the number of new flight suits he’s going to order.” She laughed. “How do you look in red?”

“We’re going to wear red flight suits?”

“That’s what he says.” Mary Lou looked thoughtful. “Come to think of it, though, our crews will be more easily identified among other emergency personnel at an accident scene.”

“It does get confusing sometimes when some of the other services wear the same shade of dark blue that we do,” Callie agreed.

“Did everything go okay at the doctor’s office?” Mary Lou asked. Since learning of Callie’s pregnancy, the woman had taken it upon herself to monitor Callie’s progress and well-being.

Smiling, Callie nodded. “The obstetrician did a sonogram and said the baby’s size is right on target for a four-and-a-half-month fetus.” She laughed. “But I doubt that I can get away with blaming my five-pound weight gain on my son.”

“No, that would be due to all those cookies you bake,” Mary Lou said, grinning.

As Callie walked down the hall to Hunter’s office, she decided that Mary Lou was right. If she didn’t stop baking, there wouldn’t be a flight suit big enough to accommodate her expanding form, whether she was pregnant or not.

Knocking on Hunter’s office door, she waited a moment before entering the office. “Do you have the time to fill me in on what took place at the staff meeting or should I come back later?”

He shook his head and pointed to the brown leather chair in front of his desk. “Have a seat. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“Not really.” His intense green eyes held hers as she lowered herself into the oversize armchair and tried not to notice how good-looking he was or that the sound of his deep voice had caused her insides to start humming. “Before I can order the new flight suits for everyone, I need to know if you’ve given any more thought to my suggestion that you ground yourself until after your baby is born.”

“Yes, I have.” She met his questioning gaze head-on. “I even discussed your concerns with my obstetrician this morning.”

“And?”

Hunter held out little hope that she’d changed her mind, but since it had been the uppermost thing on his mind for the past two days, he had to know.

“The doctor and I both agreed that as long as I avoid heavy lifting, eat a healthy diet and get plenty of rest, there’s no reason that I can’t continue as a flight nurse on the Evac II team.”

“But—”