Rancher's Baby

The woman’s head jerked upright. Dulcie would never forget the look of shock and panic on her flushed face. Nor would she ever forget what had happened next.

She had run from the apartment, disregarding Lyle’s shouts for her to wait. The tears had blinded her even before she’d grabbed her purse and opened the door.

She probably would have jumped into her car and driven straight back to the ranch if Tye hadn’t come down the hallway just then. He’d been a neighbor and a friend during her life in Albuquerque, and seeing his tall figure striding toward her had been a sweet relief. She knew Tye would help her.

Alone in the dark New Mexico night, she cried aloud. Oh, Tye had helped her, all right. And a few weeks later, the ink barely dry on her divorce decree, she’d realized she was pregnant with Tye’s child.

Dulcie sighed and twisted to her other side again. Seeing him again had awakened all the illicit thoughts and memories she’d suppressed since she’d fled from his bed. Oh, she was wicked. Tye couldn’t be blamed for anything. Everything that had happened with Tye that night was nobody’s fault but her own. She’d practically begged him to take her, and she’d reveled in every minute of the rough, wild loving they’d shared. Just thinking about the way they had frantically shed each other’s clothing, hands and mouths racing, sliding, tasting, gliding. And the way he had taken control as he’d urged her atop him and mastered her with his big, hard body, telling her in hoarse whispers how beautiful she was and how much he’d wanted her, the way her body had accepted the heavy, surging demand of his….

Oh, yes, indeed, she was wicked. And she was driving herself crazy thinking about him. She should be sleeping while the baby was, for heaven’s sake, not lying here getting herself all hot and bothered about a man who had only tracked her down because he thought he’d needed to apologize.

What a shock Ryan must have been to him! She could almost smile when she recalled the stunned look on his face earlier, seeing her nursing her son. Another more recent memory slipped into her mind, and she let it surface, examining her new knowledge from every angle, trying to make it fit with the man she knew.