The Maverick's Thanksgiving Baby

He closed the tailgate of his truck. “If that’s all you wanted to say, I need to get back to Traub Stables.”

“There’s plenty more to say,” she told him. “But it’s not for me to say it.”

He lifted his brows in response to that cryptic comment as he moved to the driver’s-side door.

“Please talk to her,” Lissa urged again.

He slid behind the wheel and drove away, but her insistence nagged at the back of his mind all the way back to Traub Stables. Lissa had to know that he’d been out of touch with her cousin for a while, so why was she all fired up about him needing to talk to Maggie? Why now?

Oddly enough, he’d got a phone call—out of the blue—just a few days earlier from his former fiancée. Shaelyn had said she wanted to talk, so he’d told her to talk. Then she’d said she wanted to see him, but he hadn’t thought there was any point in that. Now he was wondering why the women from his past, who had already tossed him aside, had suddenly decided he was worthy of their attention.

He continued to puzzle over his recent conversation with Lissa as he worked with a spirited yearling. And because he was thinking about her cousin, when he got the feeling that someone was watching him, he instinctively knew that someone was Maggie.

He hadn’t seen her since July, and the passing of time was evidenced by the changing of the season. When he’d met her the day of the community center opening, she’d been wearing a slim-fitting skirt and high-heeled sandals that showed her long, slender legs to full advantage along with a sleeveless silky blouse that highlighted her feminine curves. Today she was bundled up in a long winter coat that he’d bet she’d borrowed from her cousin since she wouldn’t have much use for one in Los Angeles. In addition to the coat, she was wearing a red knitted hat with a pom-pom and matching red mittens, and even from a distance, he could see that her cheeks were pink from the cold.

Her choice to stand outside, he decided. And though it was obvious to both of them that she was waiting for him, he refused to cut the yearling’s workout short. He wasn’t being paid to slack off, and he wasn’t going to let her distract him from his job. Even when she hadn’t been there, she’d been too much of a distraction over the past several months.

While he continued to work with the filly, he cautioned himself against speculating on the purpose of her visit. He didn’t know why she was there or how long she planned to stay this time, but he knew it would be foolish to expect anything from her. He finished running the young horse through her exercises before he passed her off to one of the stable hands for cooldown and grooming and finally turned his attention to Maggie.

“Hello, Jesse.”

She looked good. Better than good. She looked like everything he’d ever wanted in a woman, and he knew that she was. He also knew that she was definitely out of his reach.

He nodded in acknowledgment of her greeting. “When did you get back into town?” he asked, his tone polite but cool.

“Last night.”

Which confirmed that she’d already been in Rust Creek Falls when he ran into her cousin at the feed store—suggesting that Lissa’s appearance there had not been a coincidence. “More of Arthur Swinton’s business?”

She shook her head. “I came to see you.”

And damn if his heart didn’t kick against his ribs like an ornery stallion trying to break out of its stall. Because he was feeling more than he wanted to feel, more than he intended to admit, the single word was harsh when he asked, “Why?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Isn’t that what we’re doing now?”

“Please, Jesse. Can we go somewhere a little more private?”

He wanted to refuse. He definitely didn’t want to be alone with her, because that would undoubtedly remind him of the last time he’d been alone with her—the night they’d made love.

“I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important,” she said.

“Do you know where The Shooting Star is?” he asked, naming his family’s ranch.

She nodded.

“My house is the first one on the left, after the driveway splits. Can you meet me there in an hour?”

She nodded without hesitation. “That would be good.”

No, good would’ve been if she’d come back three months sooner and asked to be alone with him. Then he would have been sure that they both wanted the same thing. Now, after so much time had passed, he had no idea what she wanted, what she thought they needed to talk about.

But he knew she’d been gone 119 days, and wasn’t that pathetic? He’d actually been counting the days. At first, he’d been counting in anticipation of her return. More recently, he’d been counting in the hope that with each day that passed he would be one day closer to forgetting about her.

And he’d been certain he was getting there—but only five minutes in her company had him all churned up inside again, wanting what he knew he couldn’t have.

* * *

What was she going to do for an hour?

She slid behind the wheel of her rental car and considered her options. She was less than five minutes away from Gage and Lissa’s house, but she didn’t want to go back there. Her cousin hadn’t stopped nagging her since she’d got into town the night before. Not that Lissa had said anything Maggie hadn’t already thought herself.

She pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the road, heading toward town. She drove down Falls Street, turned onto Sawmill, crossing over the bridge without any destination in mind. She was only killing time, watching the minutes tick away until the allotted hour had passed.

Her phone buzzed to indicate receipt of a text message, so she turned onto Main and pulled into an empty parking spot by Crawford’s General Store to dig her phone out of her purse.

Have you seen him yet?

The message, not surprisingly, was from Lissa.

Mtg him at SS @ 4, she texted back.

Good luck! her cousin replied.

Maggie was afraid she was going to need it.

Since she had her phone in hand, she decided to check her email from work. There wasn’t anything urgent, but responding to the messages helped her kill some more time.

She knew that she was stalling, thinking about anything but the imminent conversation with Jesse. Now that there were less than twenty minutes before their scheduled meeting, she should be focused on that, thinking about what she was going to say, how to share her news.

She’d hoped to take her cue from him—but the few words that they’d exchanged at Traub Stables hadn’t given her a hint about what he was thinking. His gaze had been shuttered, but the coolness of his tone had been a strong indication that he was finished with her. It wasn’t even that he was over her—it was as if they’d never been.

Maybe she shouldn’t have come back. Maybe this was a monumental mistake. It was obvious that he felt nothing for her—maybe he never had. Maybe the magic of that night had only ever existed in her imagination.

But she didn’t really believe that. She certainly hadn’t imagined the numerous phone calls, text messages and emails they’d exchanged every single day for the first couple of weeks. And during those early weeks, he’d seemed eager for her to come back to Rust Creek Falls, as anxious to be with her again as she was to be with him.

She’d originally planned to return in the middle of August, but only two days before her scheduled trip one of the senior partners had asked for her help with an emergency injunction for an important client threatened by a hostile takeover. Of course, that injunction had only been the first step in a long process of corporate restructuring, and Maggie had been tapped for assistance every step of the way.

She’d enjoyed the challenge and the work and knew it had been good for her career. Unfortunately, it had consumed almost every waking minute and had signaled the beginning of the end of her relationship with Jesse. Four months was a long time to be apart, and he’d obviously moved on.

She rubbed a hand over her chest, where her heart was beating dully against her breastbone. The possibility that their passionate lovemaking could have been so readily forgotten cut her to the quick. Maybe it was irrational and unreasonable, but she’d started to fall in love with him that night. Even when she’d said goodbye to him the next day, she didn’t think it was the end of their relationship but only the beginning.

Of course, her emotions were her responsibility. He’d never made her any promises; he’d certainly never said that he was in love with her. But the way he’d kissed her and touched her and loved her—with his body if not his heart—she’d been certain there was something special between them, something more than a one-night affair. She didn’t think she’d imagined that, but even if the connection had been real, it was obviously gone now, and the pain of that loss made her eyes fill with tears.

Blinking them away, she pulled from the curb and headed toward The Shooting Star.

Jesse’s house was a beautiful if modest two-story with white siding, a wide front porch and lots of windows flanked by deep green shutters.