Having the Cowboy's Baby

Skyler fought the urge to run all the way back to Blue Falls. “I didn’t know you had a cousin, Jesse.” She scanned the area but saw no one else but the pilot, next to a small red-and-white plane on the tarmac, and the jet-fuel delivery guy.

“Yeah, he’s in town visiting. I just called him a few minutes ago. He’s on his way. He wasn’t expecting to have to dive today.”

“Oh, I don’t want to put anyone to any trouble,” Skyler said.

“It’s no trouble.”

The sound of a pickup heading toward them on the gravel entrance road drew everyone’s attention.

“That’s him now,” Jesse said.

A red pickup truck that looked like it had seen better days, better decades, rolled to a stop next to Elissa’s SUV, leaving a cloud of gravel dust in its wake.

When the driver stepped out of the truck and strode toward them, Skyler thought there had to be some mistake. This guy looked about as much like a skydiver as Verona did. With worn jeans, scuffed boots and a dark brown cowboy hat, he would look more at home on a cattle drive. When he nodded at her friends and said, “Hello again,” Skyler definitely knew something was up.

“This is all a big joke, isn’t it? I’m being punked.”

“Well, that’s not usually the reaction I get from the ladies,” the guy said as he stopped a couple of feet away, his lips stretching into a mischievous smile.

Skyler gave him a raised-eyebrow look before shifting her attention to the other three women. “Seriously, what is going on?”

Before they could answer, the guy laughed. “Don’t worry, I don’t dive in the boots.”

She glanced at him. “Just the hat?”

“Nah. I’d lose it as soon as we jumped.”

“Lucky for you, there won’t be any jumping today.”

“But we’ve already paid for it,” India said.

“Then I suggest you get your money back.” When Skyler glanced at Jesse, he had an apologetic look on his face.

“I’m sorry, but there’s a no-refund policy on the deposit unless canceled by inclement weather,” he said.

Skyler sighed heavily as she looked up into the bright blue sky devoid of clouds. You couldn’t ask for a more beautiful day, unless, of course, you were hoping to avoid plummeting to your death.

“Come on, Jesse,” the still-nameless cousin said. “You can allow the refund.”

Surprised by his siding with her, Skyler met his eyes. “Thank you.”

“Ah, come on,” Elissa said. “Everyone I know who has done this has loved it. Heck, Jesse jumped with McKenna Parks’s eighty-seven-year-old grandpa last week, and the old guy is ready to go again. Right, Jesse?”

Jesse, to his credit, looked uncomfortable being put in the middle of their disagreement. But he nodded. “He wanted to go back up as soon as we hit the ground.”

She knew Elissa was daring her, effectively taking away any nonchicken way of backing out of the dive. Skyler shifted her eyes to Jesse’s cousin. “Just how many dives have you done?”

He smiled. “Enough.”

For a moment she let herself appreciate how that smile only added to how good-looking he was. Good-looking, ha! The man was three-alarm fire, drop-dead gorgeous.

She snatched her gaze away from his. She did not need to be thinking about dropping dead, or about how Mr. No Name looked good enough to lick up one side and down the other. Her face flamed, and for once she was glad to have fair skin and red hair. It made blaming the flush on the sun totally believable.

The guy leaned close and used a faux whisper to say, “Don’t worry, beautiful. I promise you’re safe with me.”

She wondered how many times he’d used that line. Because the cowboy was a flirt and most likely a class A player.

The longer she stood there with everyone looking at her, the more she had to fight fidgeting. She closed her eyes for a moment and pulled together all the fragments of her courage. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

It was smart to face your fears, right? At the very least, she could stick her tongue out at Elissa after it was over.

“Just give me a few minutes to suit up, and I’ll give you the ride of your life,” her dive partner said.

Skyler glanced at him in time to see him wink. She’d never admit it out loud, but she felt that wink all the way to her toes. She shook her head and rolled her eyes as he walked away. When Jesse followed him, Skyler spun toward her friends.

“So, what do you think?” Verona asked.

“What do I—? This isn’t one of your matchmaking schemes, is it?”

Verona’s eyes widened. “How could it be? We didn’t find out about Jesse being sick until we got here.”

Skyler wasn’t buying it. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but she got the distinct feeling it was more than it appeared on the surface.

“For the record, I know you all are up to something.”

“But you’re going through with the dive, right?” India asked.

“Do I have a choice?”

“No,” Elissa said with a boatload more cheer in her voice than the occasion called for. “We’re giving you the experience of a lifetime.”

“I could have handled canoeing, maybe a wad of dollar bills and a strip club, but no, you all give me the skydiving cowboy and a potential coronary.”

“You’re in perfect health,” India said.

“And that skydiving cowboy is yum-my,” Elissa added.

“I don’t care what he looks like as long as he keeps me from going splat against the ground. And just so you know, if I die, I’m coming back and haunting all of you at the most inconvenient times.”

When skydiving cowboy came back outside, followed by his cousin, he looked more skydiver than cowboy. With the Stetson gone, she was able to see more of his short dark hair, angular jaw and dark eyes. If she’d met him somewhere else under different circumstances, he would have definitely caught her eye.

What was she doing? She had to concentrate on surviving the next hour, not lusting over this guy who probably got laid more than carpet. Reluctantly, she followed him toward the plane, her stomach churning.

“So what did they convince you to do?” she asked.

He glanced at her, genuine confusion in his expression. “Jump out of an airplane?”

She stopped walking halfway to the plane. “You met them before, right?”