Texas Ranger Takes a Bride

“I know, but Ryan needs family right now.” She straightened. “This doesn’t just involve the two of us, there’s a child to think about. And I’m going to do everything I can to protect him.”

“Is that what you’ve been doing for these years, protecting him from me?”

“However you feel about me, Chase, don’t take it out on Ryan. We’ll settle things after my son goes to bed.”

“I agree with you there, except he’s our son, Mallory.” He glared at her. “You need to remember that from now on.”

Mallory sat on Ryan’s bed watching him sleep. She silently thanked God over and over again for bringing her son home safely. When he’d been kidnapped she wasn’t sure she’d ever get the chance to put him to bed again. Now that she had a second chance, she also had a second threat. Was Chase a threat to her family?

She saw the look on his face during supper, and knew he wasn’t just going to walk away. And she wouldn’t deny Ryan his father, either. Not again.

She placed a kiss on her son’s forehead and watched as he curled up on his side and snuggled deep into the pillow. She walked out and closed the door behind her.

Whatever was going to happen with Chase, she still had to return home to Levelland in a few days. The success of her business depended on her being there. She couldn’t expect her partner, Liz Mooney, to handle both the training and the broker business. She headed down the stairs to the great room where she had left Chase with her father.

Surprisingly, she found the two men leaning over the dining table going through one of Ryan’s baby albums. She hadn’t wanted to notice how devastatingly handsome Chase was. At nearly thirty-seven, he was toned and trim. She sighed as her gaze roamed over his long body. He wore jeans better than any man she ever knew. They rode low and fitted over his tight rear end and muscular thighs.

“That’s the first time I got him on a horse,” Buck said. “Mallory threw a fit.”

She started into the room. “That’s because Ryan was nine months old.”

“I was holding him…firmly,” her father said.

She frowned at him. “He was still too young to be on a horse.”

“After that she wouldn’t let me take him out of the house until he was three.”

Mallory smiled, but Chase didn’t. She didn’t blame him. She’d been the one who’d caused him to miss all those years.

Buck closed the album. “Well, I think I better call it a night.” He turned to Chase. “I can finally sleep now. Thanks for bringing Ryan home.”

Chase nodded. “I’m glad it worked out.”

Buck paused for a long time. “So am I.” He placed a kiss on his daughter’s cheek and walked out of the room.

Mallory suddenly felt nervous. For a lot of years she’d wondered about Chase. She’d known he’d become a Texas Ranger, but she never dreamed he’d be back here… in this house.

And after today everything would change…her life and Ryan’s life would never be the same.

“Can I get you some coffee?”

“No,” he said as he folded his arms over his chest. “All I want right now are some answers.”

She nodded, directed him to a brown sofa, and took the chair across from him, putting the glass-top coffee table between them. “Ask whatever you want.”

“I’ll start with the obvious. Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?”

“At first, I couldn’t believe it was true,” she said weakly. “We used protection.”

He didn’t respond.

“And I did try to call you.”

“Like hell you did,” said growled. “I don’t remember any phone calls from you saying you were pregnant with my child.”

She took a breath and let it out. “I called…your mother. I asked her to get you a message…and that it was important that I talk to you.”

She saw a glint in his eyes that told her he’d gotten the message. “You should have tried harder—Told her the reason.”

“The day we broke up and you left, I was devastated.”

“If I remember correctly, you were the one who told me to get out,” he challenged.

Mallory remembered everything about that last night. They’d made love. She told him she loved him…and he told her he was leaving for Austin to join the rangers. “You chose to leave.”

“I told you before we started dating, that our relationship couldn’t go beyond the summer because I would be leaving for training. Besides, you were returning for college.”

“That was my father’s plan. I wanted to go with you, and you didn’t want me. You let me know that being a Texas Ranger was all you wanted.”

His jaw tightened. “So to punish me you didn’t tell me about my baby and you married another man.”

“It wasn’t like that.” She stood and went to the window. “I was so hurt. My world ended when you went off to Austin. I was convinced you’d find someone else…and forget all about the naïve college girl back home.”

She took a breath, and continued. “About three weeks later, Alan came to the ranch with his father. I hadn’t seen him since we graduated high school. We’d dated off and on, but mostly we used to be friends.” She looked at Chase’s stone-cold glare. “I had just learned I was pregnant… I was shocked and scared. And, yes, I told Alan. He listened to me, let me cry it out. He told me he’d always love me…that he’d take care of me and the baby. He asked me to marry him right then.” She left out the part about Buck’s trouble with the ranch, and Alan’s father stepping in as a business partner.

Chase’s fists clenched. “Nice to know you forgot me so quickly.”

“I didn’t!” she gasped. If he only knew how much she’d loved him. She also didn’t tell him she was terrified to be a single mother. “I didn’t decide to marry him until after I tried to call you several times, but you never returned those calls.” She paused for his explanation. She got none. “You weren’t coming back to me, were you?”

His gaze never broke with hers. “Doesn’t seem to matter now. You didn’t give me the chance.”

“It seems answering my phone call would have given you a big chance.” She felt tears well. Even after all these years, why did it still hurt so much? Pride was fighting with her emotions. “So when Alan asked me to marry him, I accepted.”

“After all these years of your silence—when you’ve been living happily ever after with my child—you expect me to believe anything you say.”

CHAPTER THREE

MALLORY WAS FUMING. How dare he?

“I didn’t think you wanted us.” She lowered her voice. “You didn’t call me, or see if I was okay.”

He glared at her for a long time. “So you just hopped into bed with another man to find a more favorable father for your baby.”

“No, it wasn’t like that. We—” She stopped. There was no reason to tell Chase about how long it took her to give herself to her husband.

“You what, Mallory?” he prodded. “Found it easy to give yourself to another man.”

“No, it wasn’t easy. You knew you were the first man…and how much I loved you.” She took a breath. “It was you who didn’t want me… And I was convinced you didn’t want our baby, either.”