A Texas-Sized Secret

“Now, Naomi, don’t you worry over this Maverick person,” her mother said firmly. “You and Toby have done nothing wrong. Perhaps you haven’t done things in the proper order—”

Meaning, Naomi thought, courtship, engagement, marriage and then a baby. Still, her mother was willing to overlook all that for the happy news that her daughter would finally be settled, with a more than socially acceptable husband. Which meant that when she had to tell them that she absolutely was not going to marry Toby, the fallout would be epic.

“We should be going now. We need to get Naomi all moved in and settled at the ranch. Sorry for interrupting your tea,” Toby was saying, and Naomi told herself to snap out of her thoughts.

He was going to hurry her out of the house before she could tell her parents the truth. And she was going to let him. Sure, she’d have to confess eventually, but right this minute? Naomi just wanted to be far, far away.

“Nonsense,” Franklin said. “You’re always welcome here, Toby. Especially now.”

Naomi muffled a sigh. All it had taken was the promise of a “good” marriage to fling the Price family doors wide-open. She could only imagine how fast they would slam shut once they knew the truth.

“I appreciate that, Mr. Price.”

“Franklin, boy. You call me Franklin.”

“Yes, sir, I will,” Toby promised, but didn’t. “Now if you’ll excuse us, I think we’ll just go get Naomi’s things and find that ring we talked about before Naomi changes her mind and leaves me heartbroken.”

Vanessa’s eyes widened. “Oh, she wouldn’t!”

Toby winked at Naomi, completely ignoring how tense she’d gone beside him. To her parents, this suddenly imagined marriage was very real. She knew Toby thought he’d made things better, but in reality, he’d only made the whole situation more...complicated.

“You two enjoy yourselves, and, Naomi, we’ll talk about a lovely wedding real soon,” her mother called after her. “We’ll want to have the ceremony before you start...showing.”

“Oh, God,” Naomi whispered.

Toby squeezed her hand and hurried her out of the house. Once outside, he bundled her into his truck before she could say anything, so it wasn’t until he was in the truck himself, firing the engine, that Naomi was able to demand, “What were you thinking?”

He blew out a breath, squinted into the sun and steered the truck away from the front door and back down the flower-lined drive. “I was thinking that I didn’t like the way your folks were looking at you.”

His profile was stern, his mouth tight and a muscle in his jaw flexing, telling her he was grinding his teeth together. Naomi sighed a little. She hadn’t thought he’d take her parents’ reaction so personally on her behalf, though in retrospect, she should have. He’d always been the kind of man to stand up for someone being bullied. He took the side of the underdog because that was just who Toby was. But she didn’t want to be one of his mercy rescues.

“I appreciate the misguided chivalry,” she said, striving for patience. “But it just makes everything harder, Toby. Now I’m going to have to tell them that I’m not moving in with you, our engagement is off and make up some reason for it—which my mother will never accept—and then I’ll still be a single mother and they’ll be even more disappointed in me than ever.”

“They don’t have to be.” He shot her one fast look. “We move you out to Paradise today. We get married. Just like I said.”

Naomi just stared at him. Since he was driving, he didn’t take his eyes off the road again, so she couldn’t see if he was joking or not. But he had to be joking. “You’re not serious.”

“Dead serious.”

“Toby,” she argued, “that’s nuts. I mean, it was a sweet thing to do—”

“Screw sweet,” he snapped with a shake of his head. “I wasn’t doing it to be sweet and, okay, fine, I didn’t really think about it before saying it, but once the words were out, they made sense.”

“In a crazy, upside-down world, maybe. Here? Not so much.”

“Think about it, Naomi.”

She lifted one hand to rub her forehead, hoping to ease the throbbing headache centered there. “Haven’t been able to do much else since you blurted out all that.”

“Then think about this. There’s no point in you raising a baby on your own when I’m standing right here.”

“It’s not your baby,” she pointed out.

“It could be,” he countered just as quickly. “I’d be a good father. A good husband.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is?”

She lifted both hands and tugged hard on her own hair. Nope, she wasn’t dreaming any of this, which meant she had to get through to him. What he’d just said had touched her. Deeply. To know that he was willing to throw himself on a metaphorical grenade for her meant more than she could say. But that didn’t mean she would actually allow him to claim another man’s child as his own. It wouldn’t be fair to him.

“There are many, many points to be made, but the main one is, I’m not your responsibility,” she said, keeping her voice calm and firm.

“Never said you were,” he said. “You are my friend, though.”

“Best friend,” she corrected, still looking at his profile. “Absolutely.”

“Then accept that as your friend I want to help you.”

“Toby, I can’t let you do that.”

“You’re not letting me, I’m just doing it.” He stopped at a four-way intersection and, when it was clear, drove on toward Royal. “It makes sense, Naomi. For all of us, the baby included. You really want to be all alone in that snazzy condo in Royal? Or would you rather be with me out at the ranch? If we’re living together, that baby has two parents to look out for it. And, big plus, you can stop tying yourself into knots over your folks.”

“So you’re trying to save me.” Just as she’d suspected. “This is all some grand gesture for my sake.”

“And my own,” he said, then muttered something under his breath and pulled the truck over to the side of the road. He parked, turned off the engine, then shifted in his seat to face her.

His eyes, the clear, cool aqua of a tropical sea, fixed on her, and Naomi read steely determination in that stare. She’d seen him this way before. Whenever he had an idea for one of his inventions, he got that I will not be stopped look on his face, in his eyes. If someone told him no about something, he took it as a personal challenge. Once Toby decided on a course of action, it was nearly impossible to get him to change his mind. This time, she told herself, it had to be different.

“I’m not a saint, and I’m not trying to rescue you.”

“Could have fooled me,” she murmured.

He sighed heavily, turned his gaze out on the road stretched out in front of them for a long second or two, then looked back at her. “Hell, Naomi, we’re best friends. We’re both single, and we can raise the baby together. Helping each other. This could work, if you’ll let it.”

A part of her, she was ashamed to admit, wanted to say yes and accept the offer he shouldn’t be making. But he was her friend, so she couldn’t take advantage of him like that. “I don’t need a husband, Toby. I can raise my child on my own.”

Now he sent her a cool, hard stare. “You forget, my mother was a single mom after my dad died. I watched how hard it was for her to be mother and father to me and my sister. To work and take care of the house. To run around after me and Scarlett with no one to help out. You really think I want to sit by and watch you go through the same damn thing?”

She bit her lip. She had forgotten about Toby’s family. His mother, Joyce, was a smart, capable, lovely woman who had worked hard to raise her kids on her own. Now Toby was not just a successful rancher, but a wealthy inventor, and his younger sister, Scarlett, was a veterinarian. “Your mother did a great job with both of you.”

His features evened out, and he gave her a smile. “And we thank you. But my point is, you don’t have to do it the hard way like my mom did. Mom didn’t have anyone to help her. You have me.”

“I know,” she said, taking a breath to calm the anger bubbling inside. “I really do know. But you don’t have to marry me, Toby.”

“Who said anything about have to?” he asked. “I want to. We’re good together, Naomi. There’s plenty of room at the ranch. You can take over one of the bedrooms for an office. It’s not far from the studio where you film your show...”

True. All true. There was a small studio at the edge of Royal where her cable TV show, Fashion Sense, was recorded once a week. And to be honest, being at the ranch would get her away from most of the gossiping tongues in town, and once Maverick’s video hit, she’d be grateful for that.