The Cowboy and His Baby

“Sounds to me like a man who’s protesting too much,” Jordan observed. “What does it sound like to you, Lucas?”

“Definitely a man who’s scared out of his britches,” Luke agreed.

Cody drew himself up indignantly. “Scared of what? A milk shake?”

“Maybe not that,” Luke conceded. “How about Melissa Horton?”

Ah, a direct hit. Cody sighed. “I am not scared of Melissa,” he said with extreme patience. “I feel absolutely nothing for Melissa.”

“Cluck, cluck, cluck,” Luke murmured, making a pitiful attempt to mimic a chicken.

The sound grated on Cody’s nerves. He balled his hands into fists. He hadn’t gotten into a rip-roaring fight with his big brothers in a very long time, but Luke was pushing every one of his buttons. And, from the teasing glint in his eyes, his big brother knew it, too. Even Jordan sensed that his patience was at an end. He eased his chair between them, a conciliatory expression on his face.

“Now, Luke, don’t rile Cody,” he said blandly. “If he says he doesn’t want to talk to Melissa, then who are we to interfere?”

Cody didn’t exactly trust Jordan’s sudden taking of his side. Jordan had a knack for sneak attacks that could cripple a business adversary before he even knew he was under seige. Cody eyed him warily.

“That’s true,” Luke conceded, his turnaround just as suspicious. “Daddy meddled in our lives enough that we should be more sensitive to Cody’s feelings. Besides, Melissa probably doesn’t want to see him any more than he wants to see her.”

“Why? Is she involved with someone?” Cody asked, regretting the words the instant they slipped out of his mouth. The triumphant expressions on Luke’s and Jordan’s faces were enough to set his teeth on edge.

Jordan stood as if he’d just recalled a business crisis that couldn’t be put off. “Come on, Luke. We’ve obviously accomplished our mission here,” he said blithely. “The man is on the hook. Let’s leave him to decide whether to wiggle off or take the bait.”

“A fascinating metaphor,” Luke commented, joining Jordan. He glanced back at Cody. The teasing glint in his eyes faded. “Don’t be a damned fool, little brother. Go see the woman. You know you want to. It’s time you settled things with her once and for all. We want you back here for good.”

Cody finished the beer after they’d gone. He thought about ordering another one, but decided against it. It would only be delaying the inevitable. Some sick, perverse part of him wanted to see Melissa, just as Luke had guessed. He needed to know if that reaction he’d felt at the church had been a fluke or the undeniable response of a man for the woman he’d belatedly realized that he’d always loved.

He paid the check—his damned brothers had stiffed him on the bill, on top of everything else—and then headed down Main Street. In the middle of the block he hesitated, staring across at the front of the drugstore that had been his favorite hangout as a teenager. His and Melissa’s.

Little had changed. Dolan’s Drugstore was still printed in neat black, gold-edged letters on the door. A display of toys sat on the shelf beneath the big plate-glass window, visible to any child passing by. A rack of comic books stood off to the side. Cody suspected they were the same faded editions that had been there a decade before. The toys looked suspiciously familiar, too. In fact, when he’d crossed the street for a closer look, he was almost certain that there was a ten-year layer of dust on the red, toy fire truck.

Telling himself he was fifty kinds of crazy for going inside, he found himself turning the knob on the door anyway. A bell tinkled overhead, alerting anyone working that a customer had entered.

The soda fountain was on his left, partially blocked by a section of shelves with first-aid supplies and a new display of condoms. Talk about times changing. He couldn’t think of a better example. He recalled the first time he’d ever come into the store to buy condoms. They’d been behind the pharmacy counter then. He’d blushed brick red when he’d had to ask Mabel Hastings to give them to him. It was a wonder he’d ever gone back. His only consolation had been that she’d seemed even more embarrassed. After that he’d always made sure Eli was on duty when he’d returned for a new supply.

A half-dozen teenage girls were sitting on one side of the U-shaped soda fountain, probably discussing schoolwork, or, more likely, boys. An equal number of boys was on the opposite side, tongue-tied and uncertain. The sight of them brought back a slew of memories best forgotten.

There was no sign of Melissa, though clearly someone had served the kids their shakes and hamburgers. Cody fought a bitter feeling of disappointment. He hadn’t wanted to come here, but now that he had gathered the courage, he wanted to get this encounter out of the way. He wanted to shove the past behind him once and for all. He doubted a meeting would be enough to keep him in Texas, but maybe it would buy him some peace of mind.

“Hey, Missy, customer!” one of the boys shouted as Cody slid onto a stool close to the cash register.

“I’ll be right there,” a voice capable of raising goose bumps on any man past puberty sang out from the back.

The door to the storeroom swung open. Melissa emerged, her arms loaded with two trays of glasses piled atop each other. Her gaze zeroed in on Cody with impeccable precision. Every bit of color washed from her face. The trays wobbled, then tilted. Glasses crashed to the floor. Her gaze never wavered from his, despite the sound of breaking glass.

Several of the teenagers sprang to their feet and rushed to clean up the mess. Cody couldn’t have moved if his life had depended on it. Apparently Melissa couldn’t, either. Not even the swirl of activity at her feet caught her attention. He felt as if he’d been punched in the gut.

This definitely wasn’t the reaction he’d been praying for. In fact, it was exactly the opposite. He’d wanted to look into those soft, sea green eyes of hers and feel eighteen months of hurt and anger boiling into a fine rage. Or, better yet, he’d wanted to feel nothing at all.

Instead it appeared his hormones were very glad to see her. Obviously they had a different sort of memory pattern than his brain.

“Missy, are you okay?” one of the boys asked worriedly. He scowled in Cody’s direction.

“Fine,” she murmured.

The youngster, who looked all of fourteen, clearly wasn’t convinced. Just as clearly, he had a big-time crush on Melissa. “Is he a problem?” he inquired, nodding toward Cody.

Apparently the boy’s itch to slay dragons for her got her attention as nothing else had. She jerked her gaze away from Cody and smiled at the teenager.

“It’s okay, David. Cody and I have known each other a long time.” She patted his shoulder. “Thanks for cleaning up the glass, you guys. Your sodas are on me.”

“Nah, you don’t have to do that,” David said, pulling money out of his pocket and leaving it on the counter. “Right, guys?”

The other boys dutifully nodded and pulled out their own cash. Unless costs at Dolan’s had risen dramatically, they were very generous tippers, Cody noted as all of the teens departed.

“See you tomorrow,” David called back from the doorway. He lingered uncertainly for another minute, as if he couldn’t make up his mind whether Cody was to be trusted. When Melissa shot him another reassuring smile, he finally took off to catch up with his friends.

“Quite an admirer,” Cody said. “I think he was ready to mop up the floor with me.”

“David is just testing his flirting skills. I’m safer than those girls in his own class. He knows I won’t laugh at him.”

“Maybe you should. Better to hurt him now than later,” he said with unmistakable bitterness.

Melissa looked as if he’d struck her. “I’m not going to hurt him at all. He’s just a boy, Cody.” She straightened her spine and glowered at him. “Look, if you came in here just to hassle me, you can turn right around and go back wherever you came from. I don’t need the aggravation.”

Cody grinned at the bright patches of color in her cheeks. Melissa had always had a quick temper. He suddenly realized he’d missed sparring with her almost as much as he’d missing making love with her.

“Actually, I came in for a milk shake,” he said, coming to a sudden decision to play this scene all the way through. He propped his elbows on the counter. He waited until he’d caught her gaze, then lowered his voice to a seductive whisper. “A chocolate shake so thick, I’ll barely be able to suck it very, very slowly through the straw.”

The patches of color in Melissa’s cheeks deepened. She twirled around so fast it was a wonder she didn’t knock a few more pieces of glassware onto the floor with the breeze she stirred.

With her rigid back to him, Cody was able to observe her at his leisure. Her snug, faded jeans fit her cute little butt like a glove. That much hadn’t changed, he noted with satisfaction. With every stretch, the cropped T-shirt she wore kept riding up to bare an intriguing inch or so of a midriff so perfect that it could make a man weep. Her long dark hair with its shimmering red highlights had been scooped up in a saucy ponytail that made her look a dozen years younger than the twenty-seven he knew she was.

And, to his very sincere regret, she made him every bit as hard now as she had as a teenager. He squirmed in a wasted effort to get more comfortable on the vinyl-covered stool.

When she finally turned back, she plunked his milk shake onto the counter with such force half of it sloshed out of the tall glass. Apparently she wasn’t entirely immune to him, either, and she wasn’t one bit happier about the discovery.

She grabbed up a dishrag and began scrubbing the opposite side of the counter, her back to him. Given the energy she devoted to the task, the surface was either very dirty or she was avoiding him.

“So, how’ve you been?” Cody inquired, managing the nonchalant tone with supreme effort.

“Fine,” she said tersely, not even glancing around.

He frowned. Why the hell was she acting like the injured party here? She was the one who’d cheated on him. Getting her to meet him halfway became an irresistible challenge.

“How are you, Cody? It’s been a long time,” he coached.

She turned and glared. “Why are you here?” she demanded instead.