If the Stick Turns Pink...
If the Stick Turns Pink...
Carla Cassidy
It was the perfect plan. Melanie Watters wanted a baby badly, so she proposed marriage to the most confirmed bachelor in town–her best friend, Bailey Jenkins.In return for getting Melanie pregnant, frustrated pageant-judge Bailey could escape the clutches of the town's tiara-hungry single women. Surely their friendship could survive this marriage of convenience unscathed?They had agreed to divorce after Melanie became pregnant, but playing house with Bailey soon stirred deep passions in her, and things quickly got complicated. Melanie found herself torn between her desire for a child and her growing feelings for her husband. Would having the baby she'd dreamed of ruin their perfect marriage?
“Well, we did it.”
“We did half of it,” Melanie replied, and to her surprise felt the warmth of a blush stealing over her cheeks. “I have now officially saved you from the claws of the crown-crazed single women of Foxrun. Now all you have to do is fulfill your end of our bargain.”
“You want me to get you pregnant right here? Right now?” Bailey said.
Although he was teasing her, she saw the slight tension in his eyes, felt it radiating from him. Or was it that she was feeling tense about the wedding night to come?
It was all a game of pretend, Melanie once again reminded herself. That was all it could ever be.
Dear Reader,
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we have some wonderful stories for you this February from Silhouette Romance to guarantee that every day is filled with love and tenderness.
DeAnna Talcott puts a fresh spin on the tale of Cupid, who finally meets her match in Cupid Jones Gets Married (#1646), the latest in the popular SOULMATES series. And Carla Cassidy has been working overtime with her incredibly innovative, incredibly fun duo, What if I’m Pregnant…? (#1644) and If the Stick Turns Pink… (#1645), about the promise of love a baby could bring to two special couples!
Then Elizabeth Harbison takes us on a fairy-tale adventure in Princess Takes a Holiday (#1643). A glamour-weary royal who hides her identity meets the man of her dreams when her car breaks down in a small North Carolina town. In Dude Ranch Bride (#1642), Madeline Baker brings us strong, sexy Lakota Ethan Stormwalker, whose ex-flame shows up at his ranch in a wedding gown—without a groom! And in Donna Clayton’s Thunder in the Night (#1647), the third in THE THUNDER CLAN family saga, a single act of kindness changes Conner Thunder’s life forever….
Be sure to come back next month for more emotion-filled love stories from Silhouette Romance. Happy reading!
Mary-Theresa Hussey
Senior Editor
If the Stick Turns Pink…
Carla Cassidy
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Darlene, the daughter of my heart.
Thank you for the joy you bring to my life.
CARLA CASSIDY
is an award-winning author who has written over fifty books for Silhouette. In 1995, she won Best Silhouette Romance from Romantic Times for Anything for Danny. In 1998, she also won a Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative Series from Romantic Times.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Prologue
Be careful what you wish for…it just might come true. The old adage whirled through Melanie Jenkins’s mind as, with trembling fingers, she removed the pregnancy test from the drugstore sack.
Six weeks ago she had made a wish and prayed that she’d get pregnant and have a baby. With no romance in her life and no Mr. Right on the horizon, she’d come up with a plan to ensure that she would attain her wish.
Once she took the home-pregnancy test, she’d know within three minutes if her wish had been granted. The only problem was that she was no longer certain she wanted her wish to come true.
If she was pregnant, then she lost the man she loved. If she wasn’t pregnant, she got to continue to live with the man she loved but wouldn’t have her dream of a baby.
She took the test instrument out of the package, wishing she could go back and change all the rules. But she couldn’t. She was the one who had set the rules, and it wasn’t fair to change them now, after the fact.
So, what did she wish now? It didn’t seem to matter. No matter what the results of the test revealed, ultimately she’d lose something.
“Well,” she muttered to herself, “let’s see if the stick turns pink….”
Chapter One
Melanie Watters would never have thought about it had she not seen him naked. “Him” was Bailey Jenkins, her very best friend and confidant.
Every day for the past few weeks she and Bailey had met at his pond after work for a late-afternoon swim. Today she was earlier than usual. There had been no school that day. Instead, the day had been scheduled for parent-teacher appointments. By two o’ clock Melanie had met with all her little students’ parents, and her work was finished until later in the evening.
She’d changed into her bathing suit in the school rest room, then had driven directly to Bailey’s.
His familiar maroon pickup truck was parked in front of his attractive white ranch house, but instead of going to the house, she headed for his office in the barn.
As the only veterinarian in the small town of Foxrun, Bailey could usually be found in the barn either sitting at his computer doing paperwork or caring for an animal who’d been brought in to him.
He wasn’t there, nor was he in the house, so she headed down the lane toward the pasture and the pond that had for the past several weeks provided cool relief against the unusual heat of early summer.
As she drew closer to the pond, she heard the sound of splashing, but the thick blackberry bushes directly in front of her obscured her view of the water.
She worked her way around the blackberry bushes and froze as Bailey came into view. He stood on the end of a small, wooden pier. His back was to her and it was obvious he’d been skinny-dipping.
The late-afternoon sun played on his broad, tanned shoulders and slim waist and emphasized the musculature of his buttocks and legs. Melanie gasped and ducked back behind the bushes, her heart pounding a strange rhythm in her chest.
She’d always known, someplace in the back of her mind, that Bailey had a decent physique, but she’d never realized quite how utterly fine it was.
“Stop it,” she commanded herself. This was Bailey…Bailey, the best friend who had held her head while she’d thrown up when she was sixteen and learned about sloe gin fizzes the hard way.
This was Bailey, the confidant who had heard all her fears when her mother had been diagnosed with cancer a year ago, a cancer that thankfully was now in remission.
Okay, she had just gotten a startling reminder that Bailey was not only her best friend but pure male, as well. She drew several deep breaths to steady her suddenly racing pulse, then cried out, “Hey, Bailey, are you out here?”
“Mellie…hang on a minute, I’m not decent,” Bailey’s deep voice returned.
“You’re never decent,” she replied, striving for the teasing tone that had always marked their relationship, trying desperately to forget what she had just seen.
“Okay,” he replied a second later. “Come on around.”
She rounded the blackberry bushes to see him standing on the pier, this time clad in a pair of cutoff jeans shorts.
“You’re early,” he observed as he sat on the edge of the dock with his feet dangling in the water.
She moved onto the dock and sat down next to him. “We had parent-teacher appointments all day and I finished up early. I’ve got to go back later this evening for several appointments with parents who work during the day.”
Had his chest always been so broad with just the right amount of dark springy hair sprinkled in the center? Why had she never noticed before?
“So, did you get a chance to speak with Johnny Anderson’s parents about his behavior problems?”
Melanie scowled. “According to his mother he has no behavior problems. He’s just spunky and full of life.”
Bailey laughed, his dark-blue eyes crinkling pleasantly at the corners. “Did you tell Mrs. Anderson that little Johnny has all the makings of a first-rate criminal?”
Melanie pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, carefully keeping her gaze schooled away from Bailey. “He’s only seven, there’s time to save him. I’ve just decided to commit myself to spending extra time and effort on him even if he won’t be in my class next year.”
From the corner of her eye she saw Bailey shake his head ruefully. “You have a lot more patience than I do, Mellie. Someday you’ll make a terrific mother.”
His words sent a swift shaft of pain through her. When? she wanted to shout. When will I ever get a chance to be a mother? She was twenty-nine years old and wasn’t even dating anyone.
“Come on.” Bailey rose gracefully to his feet and held out his hand to her. “Let’s swim off the frustrations of the day.”
She allowed him to pull her up from her sitting position, then took off her oversize T-shirt, and together they dove into the cool pond.
For the next hour they raced around the pond and took turns dunking each other. Where always before Melanie found the afternoon swim relaxing, today was different.
Everything was different because she’d seen Bailey naked. For the first time she noticed how the overhead sun pulled red glints from his dark-brown hair, how his smile caused a dimple to dance by the corner of his sensual lips.
They had been best friends since the second grade, and other than for a few weeks in high school she’d never thought of Bailey as a male…he’d simply been Bailey. But now she was faced with the startling realization that Bailey was not only male, but a hunky, highly attractive male at that. And that knowledge was making strange thoughts sweep through her mind.
“That felt great,” Bailey said as he flopped down on his back on the dock.
“It did feel good,” Melanie agreed as she pulled her T-shirt back on. “So, how was your day?”
“Horrible,” he said without hesitation. “My life has become a nightmare ever since they announced at the town meeting two nights ago that I’m the judge for the Miss Dairy Cow Contest.”
The Miss Dairy Cow Contest was a yearly beauty pageant held on the Fourth of July during a huge town celebration. “A nightmare how?”
He rolled over on his side and propped an elbow beneath him. “Do you have any idea how many tiara-crazed young women and mothers there are in this town? I already have a fridge full of questionable casseroles that have been delivered since the meeting.”
Melanie laughed. “That’s not all bad. I’d rather eat a questionable casserole any day than anything you’ve attempted to cook.”
“Ha-ha, very funny,” he replied dryly, and sat up. “But, I’m serious, I think this situation is going to get way out of control. Cindy Canfield brought in her cat this afternoon, said she thought little Buffy was depressed, then she spent the next thirty minutes telling me all the reasons why she should be Miss Dairy Cow. Blanche Withers actually did a dramatic reading for me in the middle of the grocery store last night.”
Melanie giggled. “The pageant is a big deal, not only because of the pretty tiara and all the public appearances throughout the year, but doesn’t the winner also get a car?”
“Yeah, a pink convertible, and there’s a thousand-dollar cash prize, too. High stakes, and already the eligible women in this town are starting to show signs of Miss Dairy Cow madness.”
“I guess it doesn’t help that last year’s winner went Hollywood.” A friend of a friend had sent a picture of Rachel Warner, last year’s Miss Dairy Cow, to a modeling agency in California. The pretty young woman had recently been spotted in several national ads on television.
“That’s definitely added to the fever pitch this year,” he replied.
“And just think, there’s still more than a month left before the pageant.”
Bailey groaned. “Don’t remind me. For all I know at this very moment there’s an eager contestant in my bed willing to use her feminine wiles to gain the crown. Drat Tanner Rothman’s hide,” he exclaimed.
Melanie knew Tanner Rothman had initially been chosen to be the judge of the pageant this year. Tanner, a handsome rancher who lived on the spread next to Bailey’s, had dropped out when he’d gotten married two weeks before.
“I met his new wife the other day,” Melanie said. “Colette. She’s really nice. She’s opening a baby shop in the old feed store over on Main.”
“I still can’t believe Tanner gave up the brotherhood of bachelorhood,” Bailey said. He shook his head, then continued. “Next year I intend to suggest to the pageant committee that they choose a married man to be the judge.”
The idea that had been germinating from the moment she’d spied Bailey naked began to blossom in Melanie’s head. “Too bad you aren’t married now. You’re not only one of the most eligible bachelors in town, but now you’re an eligible bachelor with power. A heady combination.”
“You’re telling me,” he exclaimed. He picked up the wristwatch that was lying on the dock and eyed it. “I’ve got to get back. I’ve got a couple of animals who need to be checked on.”
She nodded and together they got up and began the long walk down the lane toward the house in the distance. Thoughts flew through Melanie’s head…crazy thoughts.
She tried desperately to concentrate on the scent of grass and sun-baked pasture mingling with early summer wildflowers that filled the air. She tried unsuccessfully to focus on anything but where her thoughts were taking her.
“I know how to solve the problem of the single women of Foxrun throwing themselves at you,” she finally said, not giving herself a chance to change her mind about what she was about to suggest.
“And what’s that?”
“Marry me.”
He snorted. “Yeah, right. Ruin my life because of one stinkin’ beauty pageant.”
“Thanks a lot,” Melanie said, unable to help the small stab of pain that shot through her at his words.
He must have heard the hurt in her voice and he stopped walking and grabbed her hands in his. Despite the fact that he had held her hands a thousand times before, this time Melanie’s heart fluttered at his touch.
“Mellie, you know I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” he protested, his eyes as blue as the cloudless sky overhead. “And you know how I feel about marriage. Never again.” He dropped her hands and continued walking.
Melanie hurried to catch up with him. “But this would be different,” she exclaimed. “For one thing, it wouldn’t be forever.”
Bailey stopped walking once again and faced her, his features radiating confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“A temporary marriage for mutual benefit.” She wondered if he had any idea how attractive he looked with his dark hair wet and slicked back to expose his firmly chiseled features.
However, he stared at her as if she’d completely and irrevocably lost her mind. “Not that I’m even considering such insanity, but remind me again, what kind of mutual benefit this marriage would give us?”
“For you, it would relieve some of the onslaught by overeager contestants. No woman is going to show up in your bed if you’re a married man.”
“And what do you get out of this arrangement?”
She hesitated a moment. “We’d stay married until after the Miss Dairy Cow pageant and…until you give me a baby.”
“Good grief, have you lost your mind?” He turned and stalked off, and once again Melanie hurried to catch up to him.
“It would only be a temporary marriage,” she continued. “We’d marry as friends and divorce as friends. You get a reprieve from the tiara-hungry single women in town, and I get pregnant.”
“I don’t want to talk about this. The whole idea is insane.” They had reached her car, parked in front of the barn, and he leaned against the front fender. “Mellie, I’m not the man for the job you have in mind.”
“Bailey, you’re the only man in my life,” she protested.
He gazed at her with a touch of sympathy. “Honey, eventually you’ll find the perfect man for you and get married and have a houseful of babies. Just give it time.”
“I’m running out of time,” she exclaimed. “And you know my track record when it comes to finding Mr. Right. It stinks.”
“That’s because your standards are too high.”
“Bailey, just think about it.” To Melanie the whole idea seemed perfect. “I want my mom to know my child before it’s too late.”
He looked at her in alarm. “Is her cancer back?”
“No, but there’s no guarantee it won’t come back. You know how much I’ve wanted a baby, Bailey. Please think about this. You’re my very best friend in the whole wide world. Can’t you do this one thing for me?”
Bailey was in shock. He studied the freckled face of the woman who had been his best friend for as long as he could remember, and he felt as if he were looking at a stranger.
“Mellie, you know after the mess with Stephanie I vowed I would never marry again,” he said.
She waved her hands dismissively. “Stephanie was a bubble-headed social climber who wasn’t half good enough for you.”
He grinned. “That’s one thing we agree on.” His smile faded as Melanie didn’t return it.
“It would only be a temporary marriage,” she repeated. “And I would never ask anything of you after that. Just give me a baby and I’ll go away happy.”
He reached out and placed a hand on the side of her face. “Mellie, you know I would do anything for you. When we were in fifth grade I beat up Harley Raymond because he called you a bad name.”
A ghost of a smile curved her lips. “The way I recall it, Harley Raymond made mincemeat out of you.”
He laughed. “Okay, maybe you’re right, but I took the beating for your honor. In high school I tolerated you dressing me up in a monkey suit to take you to the prom. I would do anything in the world for you…except this.” He dropped his hand.
She shrugged and offered him the slightly crooked grin that was as familiar to Bailey as his own heartbeat. “It was just a thought,” she said.
Bailey relaxed, feeling for the first time in several minutes as if they were back on familiar footing. “What are your plans for the evening?”
She made a face. “I’ve got appointments until about eight, then I have to come up with final grades before the end of this week when school lets out for the summer. I’ll probably get started on them tonight. What about you?”
“I’ll probably eat a little of one of those questionable casseroles, then call it a night early. I’ve got a neutering surgery scheduled for seven in the morning.”
“How about a movie tomorrow night,” she suggested. Most Friday nights they spent together, either eating dinner out or going to the old theater in town.
“Why don’t we rent one and I’ll pop popcorn and we’ll watch it here.”
She nodded and moved to the door of her car. “Sounds good. About seven?”
“Perfect,” he agreed, and watched as she got into her car, the late-afternoon sunshine glinting off her long, curly red hair.
He waved and smiled as she pulled out of the drive, then shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned thoughtfully as her car disappeared from sight.
What on earth had possessed her to come up with such a crazy idea, he wondered as he headed into the barn to do a checkup of the animals in his care.
He and Mellie were not winners when it came to the romances in their lives, but they were absolute champions when it came to their friendship with each other. Bailey would never do anything to risk that friendship. And nothing could ruin things like a marriage.
Twenty minutes ago he would have told anyone that Melanie Watters was the most grounded woman he’d ever known. She was bright, logical and had both feet firmly planted on the ground. But that had been before she’d voiced her crazy idea about marriage and pregnancy.
Maybe the approach of her thirtieth birthday at the end of the year had picked her feet up off the ground and put craziness in her head, he thought as he left the barn.
He entered the house by the back door and walked into the large, airy kitchen he rarely used. As a confirmed bachelor, most of Bailey’s meals were either zapped in the microwave or eaten at the local diner.
The only really good home-cooked meals he ever got were when either his mother or Melanie took pity on him and cooked for him.
At the moment the last thing he wanted was dinner. All he wanted was a nice warm shower and to kick back with a cold beer.
He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told Melanie it had been a miserable day. Not only had he been confronted by several well-meaning mothers of potential contestants, he’d had to put down a beloved old dog who’d belonged to friends of his.
He walked into his bedroom and kicked off his shoes, then walked into the bathroom and stripped off his still-damp jean shorts. He tossed them in the direction of the hamper, pulled a towel from the linen closet, then yanked open the shower door and yelped in surprise.
The dark-haired, naked woman standing in his shower smiled. “Hey, Bailey, I thought maybe you’d like me to scrub your back.”
“Jeez, SueEllen, what the heck are you doing?” Bailey wasn’t sure whether to cover himself with the towel in his hand or cover her. He finally managed to sling the towel around his hips and grab another from the closet and throw it to SueEllen Trexlor.
SueEllen took the towel, but instead of wrapping it around herself, held it out from her. “I just thought I’d show you some of the talent I can’t show you during the pageant,” she said.
Bailey groaned and quickly turned his back on her. “Would you get out of my shower and get dressed. What on earth would your mama say?”
“My mama wants me to be Miss Dairy Cow.”
Bailey groaned again and left the bathroom. He grabbed a pair of jeans from a drawer and went into the living room, where he quickly pulled them on.
A moment later SueEllen appeared in the bedroom doorway. To his relief she had pulled on the sundress she’d apparently arrived in, although the top several buttons were undone to expose her ample chest.
“I’ve always had a thing for you, Bailey,” she said, her voice a seductive purr as she advanced toward him.
Had every woman in Foxrun gone stark, raving mad? Bailey wondered if there was something alien in the air, a weird position of the moon, as he backed away from her.
“I’m flattered, SueEllen, but you need to get on home now,” he said. “This isn’t right.”
“And what’s wrong with it? I’m an adult and you’re an adult. We’re both free and single.”
“But I’m not,” Bailey protested.
SueEllen stopped in her tracks. “You aren’t what?”
The conversation with Mellie was still ringing in his ears, and he grasped at it desperately. “I’m not single…I mean, I just got engaged to Melanie Watters.”
SueEllen frowned in obvious dismay and reached for the buttons of her dress. “Why didn’t you say something sooner, Bailey? You know I would never steal somebody else’s fiancé. I do have my standards.”
She tossed her head and flounced toward the front door. She pulled on the door, then turned back to face him with a sly smile. “I hope you won’t hold this against me in the pageant. I meant it when I said I’ve always found you attractive, Bailey.” Her smile widened. “And now I know for sure just how attractive you are.”
Bailey felt the heat of a blush sweep over his features. Thankfully she apparently didn’t expect a reply, with a waggle of her fingers, she disappeared out the door.
Instantly Bailey dropped to the sofa and waited for his heart to stop pounding so frantically. He’d been joking with Melanie when he told her he was afraid some contestant would be in his bed. It hadn’t crossed his mind that the oversexed, attractive SueEllen might be waiting for him naked in his shower.
Thinking of showers…he pulled himself up off the sofa, carefully locked both the front and back doors, then headed for the shower once again.
It wasn’t until he was standing beneath the hot spray of water that he realized what he had just done. SueEllen and her mother were two of the biggest gossips in the town of Foxrun, and he’d just told SueEllen that he was engaged to Mellie.
He quickly shut off the faucets and, still dripping water, grabbed jeans and a shirt. He had to get hold of Mellie. He had to tell her what had happened before she heard it through Foxrun’s prolific grapevine.
Chapter Two
The Foxrun Elementary School was a charming two-story brick building a block off Main Street. For nine months of the year Melanie taught second-graders on the second floor, and during that time the old brick building felt like home.
Her classroom welcomed her with bright colors on the bulletin boards and the familiar scent of chalk and children. As she slid into the chair behind her desk, she marveled that in less than a week’s time the school year would be over and the decorations on the bulletin boards would be taken down until next year.
The teachers held two parent-teacher conferences each year. The first was held just before Christmas to discuss what improvements needed to be made and any areas of weakness the child displayed. This conference at the end of the school year was to talk about what improvements had been made and what the parents might want to do to help the child prepare for their next year of school.
Melanie checked her watch, then pulled out the folder for Becky Altenburg. Becky’s parents would be here at any minute and they would be happy with Becky’s progress. She was a delightful little girl, both bright and cheerful.
With her paperwork ready before her, Melanie leaned back in her chair and tried not to think about Bailey. From the moment she’d left his place, she’d been kicking herself for speaking aloud the nutty idea that had momentarily taken possession of her brain.
The very last thing she would ever want was to do something that would destroy the precious friendship they shared. They’d even gone to the same college together in Kansas City. The only time they’d really been apart was when he’d met and married the beautiful Stephanie.
After college he’d returned to Foxrun with his bride. She’d lasted two months in the small town before hightailing it out of here. But the time Melanie had been apart from Bailey had been the most miserable time in her life.
Still, she couldn’t seem to get her idea out of her head. Was it really so crazy? There wasn’t a man in Foxrun she was even vaguely romantically interested in, and she hadn’t been lying when she’d told Bailey that she wanted children while her mother was still around to share the joy.
The more she thought about it, the more she thought it was a perfect solution for both of them. She trusted Bailey more than she trusted anyone, and she was absolutely confident their friendship could withstand an unconventional marriage of convenience.
She smiled and shoved away thoughts of Bailey and babies as Max and Betty Altenburg walked into the classroom. The conference lasted only fifteen minutes, then the Altenburgs left, smiling proudly with Melanie’s words of praise for Becky ringing in their ears.
Looking at her watch once again, she realized she had about fifteen minutes before the next set of parents arrived. She got up from her desk and left the classroom, heading for the gymnasium where coffee, punch and cookies were supposed to be served.
About two dozen people milled around a gaily decorated long table in the small gym. The air was rife with the scent of fresh coffee and sugary baked goods. Melanie grabbed a cookie and a cup of coffee, then started back in the direction of her classroom.
She’d nearly made it out of the gym when her good friend and fellow teacher, Kathy Milsap approached her. “I’ve been looking all over for you!” she exclaimed as she grabbed Melanie’s arm and guided her away from the gym. “Why didn’t you tell me? I thought I was one of your best friends.”
“You are, and what didn’t I tell you?” Melanie asked curiously, then bit into the soft gooey cookie.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you and Bailey are engaged to be married.”
Melanie choked and nearly spit the bite of cookie out of her mouth. She took a sip of her coffee and stared at Kathy in astonishment. “Where did you hear that?” she finally managed to gasp out.
“I heard it from Teri who heard it from Krista, who heard it from SueEllen at the beauty shop.” Kathy’s blue eyes sparkled merrily. “So, when is the big day? I insist that I throw you a big shower. Oh, it will be such fun! Your mom and dad must be absolutely thrilled.”
Melanie’s head spun dizzily and she held up a hand in an attempt to halt Kathy’s exuberant chattering. “I’ve got a meeting in two minutes,” she said. “We’ll talk later about all this.”
She escaped to her room, where she sank down behind her desk in bewilderment. Why on earth would SueEllen Trexlor be telling people that Melanie and Bailey were engaged? Surely SueEllen had simply made a mistake…heard a piece of gossip and mistakenly twisted it into an engagement.
It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a false rumor had whirled in the air in the tiny town of Foxrun. In truth, with only two television channels available for viewing without a satellite and only one local movie theater that played really old movies to provide entertainment, the good people of Foxrun thrived on gossip and innuendo.
She needed to talk to Bailey. What if he heard the rumor and assumed she’d been the one to start it because of the conversation they’d had that afternoon?
She would be mortified if he thought she’d tried to push his hand by starting such a rumor. Surely he knew her well enough to know that if she were going to try to convince him to agree with her plan, she wouldn’t be underhanded but would come to him face-to-face.
She’d always been one of those people who thought cell phones were silly indulgences, but now she desperately wished she had one.
Maybe she’d have time to sneak into the office and use the phone, she thought. But at that moment her next set of parents arrived.
It was eight-thirty by the time she finished with the last of her meetings. She left the building and hurried toward her car, eager to get to Bailey’s and tell him the latest rumor making the rounds.
She unlocked her car door, then squealed in surprise as a hand touched her on the back. She whirled around to see Bailey. “You nearly scared me to death,” she exclaimed. “I was just getting ready to go to your place.”
“We need to talk,” he said. “How about we take a walk over to Millie’s and get a cup of coffee.” Millie’s Family Restaurant was the most popular place in Foxrun.
Melanie nodded her assent, and together the two of them started walking toward the restaurant on Main Street. As usual, Melanie had to lengthen her strides to match his, and as usual, he was clad in tight, worn jeans and a T-shirt.
She couldn’t help but notice how the worn denim hugged the length of his long, muscular legs and emphasized his trim waist.
“Have you heard the newest rumor making its way around town?” she asked tentatively.
“If it’s the one I think it is, I’m afraid I’m the one who started it.”
“What?” She stopped in her tracks and stared at him.
“Come on, I’ll explain everything over a cup of coffee.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the door of Millie’s.
A bell over the door tinkled as they entered into the warm, heavenly scented interior of the restaurant. It was late enough in the evening that there were few diners.
Bailey led her to the back booth, their regular spot for dining. Almost immediately Samantha, Foxrun’s sheriff’s teenage daughter, appeared to take their orders.
“Just coffee for me,” Bailey said.
“The same for me,” Melanie agreed. “Now, are you going to tell me what’s going on?” she asked when Samantha had departed.
He leaned back against the red plastic booth and raked a hand through his hair in distraction. “Remember our conversation this afternoon when I told you I was half afraid some Miss Dairy Cow contestant would show up naked in my bed?”
Astonishment swept through her. “Don’t tell me…who?”
“SueEllen Trexlor, but she wasn’t in my bed, she was in my shower.”
“Naked?”
“As a jaybird.”
They both stopped talking as Samantha returned to the booth with two cups of steaming coffee. When she left them once again, Melanie stifled a grin with one of her hands. “Tell me all.”
“It isn’t funny,” Bailey exclaimed with a scowl. “It was downright embarrassing.”
She tried to keep the grin from her lips. “So, how did things go from a naked SueEllen in your shower to the rumor that we’re engaged?”
Bailey frowned and wrapped his hands around his mug. “I guess your crazy idea was still going around in my head when I opened my shower door and saw her there waiting for me. I panicked and told her I was an engaged man.” The blue of his T-shirt intensified the blue of his eyes as he held her gaze. “Who did you hear it from?”
“Kathy Milsap. According to her, SueEllen told Teri, who told Krista who told Kathy.” She shrugged. “You know how things spread in Foxrun.”
“I know,” he replied, looking utterly miserable.
“Honestly, Bailey, it isn’t the end of the world,” she exclaimed. “The way I see it we have two choices. You can either tell everyone you’re a liar or we can get married and follow through on the plan I outlined this afternoon.”
His frown deepened and he stared down into his coffee mug. Melanie waited patiently, knowing that Bailey never did anything without thinking through his options.
She took a sip of her coffee and tried not to notice the length of his long dark lashes, the attractive structure of his facial features.
There had been a time in high school when raging hormones or something alien had made her yearn for Bailey in a way that had nothing to do with their friendship.
She had stayed awake nights wondering what it would be like if he kissed her passionately on her lips. She’d suddenly been intensely aware of his scent, his strong hands and his broad chest. She had hungered for the touch of his hands, to be crushed against his chest, to taste the heat of his kiss.
Then he’d started dating Marlie Walker, a girl with boobs bigger than her IQ and a reputation for being fast with the boys.
Melanie realized then she would never be the kind of girl to attract Bailey on anything more than a friendship level, and she’d studiously shoved aside thoughts of any other kind of relationship with him. And nothing since that time had made her believe any differently.
All she wanted from Bailey Jenkins was his undying friendship and a baby. She could almost smell the scent of baby powder in the air, and she realized how much she wanted him to agree with her plan.
“There’s a third option,” he said, pulling her back to the here and now. A smile curved the corners of his lips, letting her know he was pleased with whatever he’d come up with. “We could just be engaged until after the Miss Dairy Cow contest. That would keep the worst of the nutty contestants out of my hair. Then, when the pageant is over, we can break our engagement.”
“No way, Bailey Jenkins,” she exclaimed irritably. “There’s no way you get what you want unless I get what I want. If I’m going to protect you from the crown-crazy young women of this town, the least you can do is marry me temporarily and make me pregnant.”
She had that look in her eyes. Bailey recognized it well—the stubborn, determined gaze telling him that to argue with her would be futile. She’d had that same look in her bright-green eyes when they’d been juniors in high school and she’d told him she intended to run against Roger Wayfield, star quarterback, for student council president.
Bailey had tried to talk her out of running, believing there was no way she could win against Roger and wanting to spare her the hurt of a loss, but she’d dug into the campaign with a tenacity and determination that had carried her to a win.
“Mellie, be reasonable,” he said, deciding to ignore the fiery light of resolve in her eyes and talk some sense into her. “If we just pretend to be engaged for the next six weeks or so, then my life will be considerably less complicated, and at the end of the six weeks nobody gets hurt.”
“The same thing could be said if we get married,” she replied, obviously refusing to be swayed. “Bailey, you’re my best friend. A little thing like a divorce won’t do anything to change our friendship. Especially since we’re both going into it with our eyes wide open.”
“But you know I had no intention of ever marrying again,” Bailey reminded her. “And I certainly don’t want a child.”
She tucked a strand of her long, copper-hued hair behind her ear and sighed in obvious frustration. “But that’s what makes you so perfect. I know you don’t want to be a father. I wouldn’t expect you to be a hands-on kind of father. I’m perfectly capable of raising a child on my own. And I keep telling you this won’t be a real marriage. Nothing will be different between us except—” she looked down into her mug, her cheeks taking on a shade of pink “—we’ll have to be, you know, intimate in order for me to get pregnant.”
Bailey frowned, looked into his mug, then at her once again. “I know how badly you want a baby, Mellie, but this idea of yours isn’t the answer,” he said softly.
“Just think how happy your mother would be,” she said.
He shook his head ruefully. “Low blow,” he exclaimed. She knew how much his mother had been nagging him about remarrying and giving her a grandchild.
“Okay, you win. Forget about it.”
He eyed her suspiciously. “What do you mean forget about it?” She had capitulated far too easily.
“Just what I said, forget I mentioned the whole idea. We’ll tell everyone SueEllen got it wrong and we aren’t engaged, and I’ll figure out another way to get what I want.”
“What are you talking about?”
Her gaze darted to a point on the wall just over his head. “I want a baby, Bailey.” Her green eyes sought his once again. “I’m tired of playing the favorite aunt to my nieces and nephews. I’m financially stable and emotionally ready to become a mother. I’m sure I can find somebody here in Foxrun to be a sperm donor, so to speak.”
“Like who? I can’t even believe we’re having this conversation.”
“I don’t know why you’re so surprised. I’ve been talking about wanting a child for months now.”
“Yeah, but I thought it was kind of like me talking about wanting a Jaguar. You know, it would be nice if I got one, but right now it’s pretty much out of the question.”
“But me getting pregnant isn’t out of the question,” she protested. “It’s just a matter of picking which man in Foxrun I’m going to sleep with.”
“Like who? I know Fred Ketchum has a hot crush on you. Sleep with him and your kid will look like a werewolf.”
She laughed. “Fred is all right. He can’t help it that he’s unusually hairy. But you’re right, I’m not sure I’d want his DNA in any child of mine.” She took another sip of her coffee, then continued. “But, there is Buck Walton. I’m sure Buck wouldn’t mind a couple of rolls in the hay with me.”
“Oh, yeah, you’d definitely want his DNA,” Bailey said dryly. “If the kid takes after his father he’ll be swilling beer by the time he’s two and will have a vocabulary of four-letter words that will astound the world.”
“Why are you being so negative?” she asked impatiently.
“Why are you so set on doing this?” he countered. The whole discussion of who she would choose to sleep with was irritating him.
She twirled a strand of her shiny hair between two fingers, a familiar gesture that told him she was concentrating. “Bailey, you and I both know what it’s like to be raised by older parents. Goodness knows, we’ve talked about it often enough.”
He nodded. It was true. It had been one of their common complaints when growing up. Both Mellie’s and his parents had been older when they had been born and they had spent many hours complaining about the fact that their parents were so much older than their friends’ parents.
“If I wait for love and romance and eventually marriage and pregnancy, I’m going to be retired by the time my child is graduating from high school.”
“Is your sister pregnant again?”
The telltale blush that momentarily stole over her face gave him his answer. Mellie’s sister, Linda, was nothing short of a baby factory, producing a baby a year for the past four years.
“Yes, but that has nothing to do with my decision to get pregnant,” she replied tersely.
He knew better. He knew that each new baby born into the Watters family had increased Mellie’s desire for a child of her own.
Before he could reply, he spied MaryAnn Bartel entering the diner. She was dressed to kill in a pair of tight black jeans and a hot-pink midriff top the size of a bandage. Her eyes widened in delight at the sight of him, and he steeled himself for yet another encounter with a mad cow contestant.
“Bailey,” she squealed, her thick perfume reaching him before she did. Her smile faltered as she saw Melanie. “Oh, hi, Melanie. So, it’s true? The two of you are engaged?”
Bailey knew now was his chance to set the record straight, to explain to MaryAnn that the rumor about him and Melanie was false. But he saw the light of fanaticism in her bright blue eyes, the tiny sparkles in their depths appearing like tiny tiaras.
He had a sudden vision of his life in the next six weeks, a life inundated with stress because of the stupid Miss Dairy Cow Contest. He also thought of his mother, who had become an irritating broken record on the topic of wanting a grandchild.
A temporary marriage to Mellie would solve a host of problems. There would certainly be no surprises with Mellie. He knew her as well as he knew himself, and he couldn’t imagine anything ruining their friendship, not even a marriage, a pregnancy and a subsequent divorce.
“It’s true,” he said, and saw the surprise that lit Mellie’s eyes. He smiled at her, hoping that neither of them came to regret the split-second decision he’d made to follow through on her crazy scheme.
Chapter Three
It was just another Friday. That’s what Melanie told herself as she stepped outside of the school building and into the warm late-afternoon sunshine.
It was just a usual Friday afternoon. Bailey would pick her up from school, they’d go to the video store and rent a couple of movies, then go back to his house and eat popcorn and watch the movies.
They had spent countless Friday nights this way, and never had she felt the dancing of butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Of course, never before had they stopped on the way to the video store at the county clerk’s office to get a marriage license.
There was absolutely no reason to be nervous, she told herself. This was what she had wanted, and it was a perfect plan for both of them. Still, no amount of rational thought seemed to still the jitters inside her.
She supposed it was natural. It wasn’t every day she promoted the idea of a temporary marriage to a man. She walked to the curb as she spied Bailey’s maroon pickup truck approaching.
He pulled to a halt at the curb and reached over to open the door for her. The first thing she noticed when she slid into the vehicle was that he wasn’t wearing his jeans, but rather was clad in a pair of navy dress slacks and a pinstriped short-sleeved dress shirt.
Funny. She usually wore slacks to school, but had opted for a dress today. It was as if someplace in the back of their minds they’d decided this day deserved better wear than usual.
“Changed your mind yet?” he asked the moment she got into the truck.
“No. Have you?”
“At least a hundred times since last night,” he admitted. He shot her one of his grins that made his dimple appear, near the right side of his mouth. “But each time I decided not to go through with it, my mother’s strident voice would fill my head.”
Melanie grinned. “And what is your mother’s voice saying?”
“The usual. When am I going to get married again. If I’d married a local girl the first time I might not be divorced. She’ll be dead and in her grave before I finally settle down and give her grandchildren.” He pulled away from the curb. “Trust me, Melanie, be grateful you have a sister. Being an only child can definitely be a burden.”
“What is she going to say when we get divorced?” Melanie asked, trying not to notice how the sunshine drifting through the truck window shone on his rich, dark hair.
“I think after two strikes she’ll finally get off my back about being single.”
“And she’ll have a grandchild to dote on,” Melanie reminded him.
He parked in front of the county clerk’s office. He turned in his seat to look at her. “Mellie, before we go inside, I think we need to talk about some things.”
“Like what?”
“If we get the license now, then I figure on Saturday we can go to Jeb Walker’s and he can marry us.” Jeb Walker was the local justice of the peace. “I’m assuming you’ll be moving in with me. I’m not about to move into that tiny apartment of yours.”
Melanie hadn’t thought that far ahead. Of course they would have to live together, and with Bailey’s veterinarian practice and nice ranch house, it made sense that she would move in there. The thought of moving in with him suddenly made their plans more real than anything else had before, and once again butterflies danced in her stomach.
“I probably should just keep paying rent on the apartment even though I won’t be there for a month or two,” she said thoughtfully. “Oh, and before I forget it, Mom called and asked if I’d pick up a prescription for her at the drugstore and drop it by on the way to your house.”
“No problem,” he agreed easily. His gaze continued to hold hers, and she’d never seen his eyes so blue or so serious. “Last chance to change your mind, Mellie.”
“I’m not going to change my mind, Bailey. I’m going into this with both eyes wide open. You give me a baby, I’ll give you a divorce. You can have as much or as little a role as you want in the baby’s life, but no matter what, we go right back to the way things have always been between us.”
He cast her a quick grin. “Sounds like a perfect plan.” He opened his truck door and she did the same, trying not to think of the old adage about the best-laid plans of mice and men.
It took them only a few minutes to obtain the marriage license, then they went to the drugstore to pick up Melanie’s mom’s prescription and on to the video store to rent movies for the night.
By the time they were on their way to Melanie’s parents place, the nerves that had been dancing in her stomach had stopped. They had bickered in the video store over which movies to rent, as they did every time they rented movies. The very normalcy of the good-natured arguing set her at ease and assured her that nothing had changed between them.
As they headed down the road toward the Watters farmhouse, they shared the events of their day. Melanie loved hearing about his work with animals, and he listened patiently as she vented about a particular student’s misbehavior or extolled the virtues of another student.
“It’s hard to believe there’s just a week left of school,” she said.
“This will work out really great for me,” Bailey said. “You’ll be out of a job and will be able to cook and clean for me.” He shot her a teasing glance. “It’s what wives do.”
“Wrong century, Bailey. And definitely wrong woman,” she replied lightly. “If you think I’m going to spend my time as your wife picking up your dirty socks and recapping your tube of toothpaste, then you have another think coming.”
“I knew it was too good to be true,” he exclaimed as he turned down the lane that led to the Watters place.
As always a burst of warmth swept through her as her parents’ farmhouse came into view. The three-bedroom ranch was where Melanie had been born and all the wonderful memories of her childhood resided here.
“Looks like company,” Bailey said, pointing to a scattering of parked cars in the driveway.
“Must be bridge night,” Melanie replied. “That’s probably why Mom asked me to pick up the prescription. She was busy cooking and cleaning for the bridge gang.”
Bailey pulled to a halt. “I’ll just wait here,” he said.
Melanie nodded and got out of the truck. Before she could reach the house her younger sister, Linda, came out and hurried toward her.
“Linda, what are you doing here?” Melanie asked.
“Ben is working late so I decided to stop by for a little visit.” She looked over at the truck where Bailey was waiting. Raising one arm, she motioned for him to get out of the truck, then looked back at Melanie.
“How are you feeling?” Melanie asked.
Linda touched her still-flat stomach and winced. “Okay, but I’ve already started with the morning sickness. I didn’t have it this early with any of the other three pregnancies.”
A touch of envy swept through Melanie. Linda had it all, a loving husband, a houseful of kids and a complexion without a single freckle. With her blond hair and peaches-and-cream skin tone, she’d taken after their mother, Marybeth.
Melanie had received their father’s genetic characteristics. Walter Watters, better known in Foxrun as Red, had been red-haired and freckled in his youth. His hair was now snow-white and his freckles had faded with age, unlike Melanie’s.
Bailey approached where the two stood. “Bailey Jenkins, you know that if you don’t come inside and say hello to Mom and Dad they’ll be upset,” Linda said.
“I was just running in to drop this off.” Melanie held up the pill bottle they’d gotten from the drugstore.
“Well, come on, then,” Linda replied. “And you, too, Bailey. The kids will want to see you.”
Together the three of them entered the front door and into the living room, where a large group of people were gathered. “Surprise!” they all yelled collectively.
Suddenly Melanie was being squeezed and hugged and kissed on the cheek by friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stunned, she realized the crepe paper and balloons weren’t for a bridge night party, but rather for her and Bailey.
She glanced over to Bailey and saw the sheer panic in his widened eyes. They had hoped to do this quietly, without a fuss, knowing that it was all going to be temporary. She should have known there was no way to do anything quietly in Foxrun.
“Darling girl.” Bailey’s mother Luella enveloped Melanie in a fierce hug. “We’ve all been wondering when the two of you would finally figure out that you were absolutely perfect for each other.”
“Lu…give the girl a chance to breathe,” Bailey’s father Henry said.
“Oh, hush up, Henry. I have a right to give my future daughter-in-law more than a little bitty hug.” She released Melanie and stepped back. “I can’t tell you how happy we all are. So, when’s the big date?”
The entire crowd had fallen silent, and Melanie looked at Bailey for support. He walked over to her side. “We’re planning a very small ceremony next Saturday.”
“Next Saturday!” Marybeth looked at her daughter in horror. “But that’s impossible. We can’t do a wedding right in a week.”
“Mom, Bailey and I have agreed we don’t want anything elaborate. Just a simple ceremony without any frills.”
“We’ll see,” Marybeth replied, and gave Melanie a hug. “In the meantime we’ve got cake and goodies and a party to enjoy.”
Bailey was in a mild state of shock. Although rationally he knew he and Melanie had been fools to think they could somehow sneak off to a justice of the peace and be married, he’d desperately hoped they could have done just that.
But already the potential mothers-in-law had their heads together, and he knew they were discussing color schemes and flowers and all the things to transform a simple ceremony into nothing short of a circus.
He got himself a cup of lime-colored punch and looked over to where Mellie was standing in a circle of women. Her freckles appeared to be standing out from her skin, and he knew she was struggling with the same feelings he was.
In their brief discussions of planning this whole thing, neither of them had taken into consideration that the situation would force them to lie to friends and family.
The lies tasted bad in his mouth, but to tell everyone the truth would be far more disastrous. Foxrun had the moral compass of the fifties, and a teacher of their children involved in a plot to marry just to get pregnant would be ridden out of town on a rail.
“Bailey, my boy.” Red Watters clapped him on the back and beamed a smile. “I can’t think of a better man to love and honor our Melanie.”
“I do love her,” Bailey replied. This much was true. He’d always loved and adored Mellie, just not in a romantic kind of way.
“Hell, son. We all knew you loved each other, we just wondered how long it would take for the two of you to realize it,” Red exclaimed.
Red spoke with him for a few minutes longer, then drifted off to the table for a piece of cake. Bailey took the opportunity to sneak outside for a breath of fresh air.
Night had fallen, bringing with it a cool breeze. He walked over to the porch swing in the shadows and jumped in surprise as he saw Mellie sitting there.
“Ah, another escapee,” he said as he eased down next to her on the narrow swing.
“They’re all having such a good time I didn’t think anyone would miss me,” she replied.
“Yeah, I figured the same thing.”
For a moment the two of them swung slowly in silence, the only sounds the laughter and talking of the people inside the house and the clicking and buzzing of insects outside the house.
Bailey became aware of a soft floral scent in the air, and he leaned back in the seat and looked around, attempting to identify the source.
It was too late in the year for the lilacs to be in bloom and too early for the roses or for honeysuckle. “What a mess,” he finally said.
She nodded. “I can’t believe how guilty I feel.” She shifted positions and again the light floral scent teased his senses.
He suddenly realized the pleasant fragrance was coming from her. He frowned thoughtfully. Had she always smelled so good? He couldn’t remember ever paying much attention before, and for some reason he found it vaguely disturbing.
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Carla Cassidy
It was the perfect plan. Melanie Watters wanted a baby badly, so she proposed marriage to the most confirmed bachelor in town–her best friend, Bailey Jenkins.In return for getting Melanie pregnant, frustrated pageant-judge Bailey could escape the clutches of the town's tiara-hungry single women. Surely their friendship could survive this marriage of convenience unscathed?They had agreed to divorce after Melanie became pregnant, but playing house with Bailey soon stirred deep passions in her, and things quickly got complicated. Melanie found herself torn between her desire for a child and her growing feelings for her husband. Would having the baby she'd dreamed of ruin their perfect marriage?
“Well, we did it.”
“We did half of it,” Melanie replied, and to her surprise felt the warmth of a blush stealing over her cheeks. “I have now officially saved you from the claws of the crown-crazed single women of Foxrun. Now all you have to do is fulfill your end of our bargain.”
“You want me to get you pregnant right here? Right now?” Bailey said.
Although he was teasing her, she saw the slight tension in his eyes, felt it radiating from him. Or was it that she was feeling tense about the wedding night to come?
It was all a game of pretend, Melanie once again reminded herself. That was all it could ever be.
Dear Reader,
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we have some wonderful stories for you this February from Silhouette Romance to guarantee that every day is filled with love and tenderness.
DeAnna Talcott puts a fresh spin on the tale of Cupid, who finally meets her match in Cupid Jones Gets Married (#1646), the latest in the popular SOULMATES series. And Carla Cassidy has been working overtime with her incredibly innovative, incredibly fun duo, What if I’m Pregnant…? (#1644) and If the Stick Turns Pink… (#1645), about the promise of love a baby could bring to two special couples!
Then Elizabeth Harbison takes us on a fairy-tale adventure in Princess Takes a Holiday (#1643). A glamour-weary royal who hides her identity meets the man of her dreams when her car breaks down in a small North Carolina town. In Dude Ranch Bride (#1642), Madeline Baker brings us strong, sexy Lakota Ethan Stormwalker, whose ex-flame shows up at his ranch in a wedding gown—without a groom! And in Donna Clayton’s Thunder in the Night (#1647), the third in THE THUNDER CLAN family saga, a single act of kindness changes Conner Thunder’s life forever….
Be sure to come back next month for more emotion-filled love stories from Silhouette Romance. Happy reading!
Mary-Theresa Hussey
Senior Editor
If the Stick Turns Pink…
Carla Cassidy
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Darlene, the daughter of my heart.
Thank you for the joy you bring to my life.
CARLA CASSIDY
is an award-winning author who has written over fifty books for Silhouette. In 1995, she won Best Silhouette Romance from Romantic Times for Anything for Danny. In 1998, she also won a Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative Series from Romantic Times.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Prologue
Be careful what you wish for…it just might come true. The old adage whirled through Melanie Jenkins’s mind as, with trembling fingers, she removed the pregnancy test from the drugstore sack.
Six weeks ago she had made a wish and prayed that she’d get pregnant and have a baby. With no romance in her life and no Mr. Right on the horizon, she’d come up with a plan to ensure that she would attain her wish.
Once she took the home-pregnancy test, she’d know within three minutes if her wish had been granted. The only problem was that she was no longer certain she wanted her wish to come true.
If she was pregnant, then she lost the man she loved. If she wasn’t pregnant, she got to continue to live with the man she loved but wouldn’t have her dream of a baby.
She took the test instrument out of the package, wishing she could go back and change all the rules. But she couldn’t. She was the one who had set the rules, and it wasn’t fair to change them now, after the fact.
So, what did she wish now? It didn’t seem to matter. No matter what the results of the test revealed, ultimately she’d lose something.
“Well,” she muttered to herself, “let’s see if the stick turns pink….”
Chapter One
Melanie Watters would never have thought about it had she not seen him naked. “Him” was Bailey Jenkins, her very best friend and confidant.
Every day for the past few weeks she and Bailey had met at his pond after work for a late-afternoon swim. Today she was earlier than usual. There had been no school that day. Instead, the day had been scheduled for parent-teacher appointments. By two o’ clock Melanie had met with all her little students’ parents, and her work was finished until later in the evening.
She’d changed into her bathing suit in the school rest room, then had driven directly to Bailey’s.
His familiar maroon pickup truck was parked in front of his attractive white ranch house, but instead of going to the house, she headed for his office in the barn.
As the only veterinarian in the small town of Foxrun, Bailey could usually be found in the barn either sitting at his computer doing paperwork or caring for an animal who’d been brought in to him.
He wasn’t there, nor was he in the house, so she headed down the lane toward the pasture and the pond that had for the past several weeks provided cool relief against the unusual heat of early summer.
As she drew closer to the pond, she heard the sound of splashing, but the thick blackberry bushes directly in front of her obscured her view of the water.
She worked her way around the blackberry bushes and froze as Bailey came into view. He stood on the end of a small, wooden pier. His back was to her and it was obvious he’d been skinny-dipping.
The late-afternoon sun played on his broad, tanned shoulders and slim waist and emphasized the musculature of his buttocks and legs. Melanie gasped and ducked back behind the bushes, her heart pounding a strange rhythm in her chest.
She’d always known, someplace in the back of her mind, that Bailey had a decent physique, but she’d never realized quite how utterly fine it was.
“Stop it,” she commanded herself. This was Bailey…Bailey, the best friend who had held her head while she’d thrown up when she was sixteen and learned about sloe gin fizzes the hard way.
This was Bailey, the confidant who had heard all her fears when her mother had been diagnosed with cancer a year ago, a cancer that thankfully was now in remission.
Okay, she had just gotten a startling reminder that Bailey was not only her best friend but pure male, as well. She drew several deep breaths to steady her suddenly racing pulse, then cried out, “Hey, Bailey, are you out here?”
“Mellie…hang on a minute, I’m not decent,” Bailey’s deep voice returned.
“You’re never decent,” she replied, striving for the teasing tone that had always marked their relationship, trying desperately to forget what she had just seen.
“Okay,” he replied a second later. “Come on around.”
She rounded the blackberry bushes to see him standing on the pier, this time clad in a pair of cutoff jeans shorts.
“You’re early,” he observed as he sat on the edge of the dock with his feet dangling in the water.
She moved onto the dock and sat down next to him. “We had parent-teacher appointments all day and I finished up early. I’ve got to go back later this evening for several appointments with parents who work during the day.”
Had his chest always been so broad with just the right amount of dark springy hair sprinkled in the center? Why had she never noticed before?
“So, did you get a chance to speak with Johnny Anderson’s parents about his behavior problems?”
Melanie scowled. “According to his mother he has no behavior problems. He’s just spunky and full of life.”
Bailey laughed, his dark-blue eyes crinkling pleasantly at the corners. “Did you tell Mrs. Anderson that little Johnny has all the makings of a first-rate criminal?”
Melanie pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, carefully keeping her gaze schooled away from Bailey. “He’s only seven, there’s time to save him. I’ve just decided to commit myself to spending extra time and effort on him even if he won’t be in my class next year.”
From the corner of her eye she saw Bailey shake his head ruefully. “You have a lot more patience than I do, Mellie. Someday you’ll make a terrific mother.”
His words sent a swift shaft of pain through her. When? she wanted to shout. When will I ever get a chance to be a mother? She was twenty-nine years old and wasn’t even dating anyone.
“Come on.” Bailey rose gracefully to his feet and held out his hand to her. “Let’s swim off the frustrations of the day.”
She allowed him to pull her up from her sitting position, then took off her oversize T-shirt, and together they dove into the cool pond.
For the next hour they raced around the pond and took turns dunking each other. Where always before Melanie found the afternoon swim relaxing, today was different.
Everything was different because she’d seen Bailey naked. For the first time she noticed how the overhead sun pulled red glints from his dark-brown hair, how his smile caused a dimple to dance by the corner of his sensual lips.
They had been best friends since the second grade, and other than for a few weeks in high school she’d never thought of Bailey as a male…he’d simply been Bailey. But now she was faced with the startling realization that Bailey was not only male, but a hunky, highly attractive male at that. And that knowledge was making strange thoughts sweep through her mind.
“That felt great,” Bailey said as he flopped down on his back on the dock.
“It did feel good,” Melanie agreed as she pulled her T-shirt back on. “So, how was your day?”
“Horrible,” he said without hesitation. “My life has become a nightmare ever since they announced at the town meeting two nights ago that I’m the judge for the Miss Dairy Cow Contest.”
The Miss Dairy Cow Contest was a yearly beauty pageant held on the Fourth of July during a huge town celebration. “A nightmare how?”
He rolled over on his side and propped an elbow beneath him. “Do you have any idea how many tiara-crazed young women and mothers there are in this town? I already have a fridge full of questionable casseroles that have been delivered since the meeting.”
Melanie laughed. “That’s not all bad. I’d rather eat a questionable casserole any day than anything you’ve attempted to cook.”
“Ha-ha, very funny,” he replied dryly, and sat up. “But, I’m serious, I think this situation is going to get way out of control. Cindy Canfield brought in her cat this afternoon, said she thought little Buffy was depressed, then she spent the next thirty minutes telling me all the reasons why she should be Miss Dairy Cow. Blanche Withers actually did a dramatic reading for me in the middle of the grocery store last night.”
Melanie giggled. “The pageant is a big deal, not only because of the pretty tiara and all the public appearances throughout the year, but doesn’t the winner also get a car?”
“Yeah, a pink convertible, and there’s a thousand-dollar cash prize, too. High stakes, and already the eligible women in this town are starting to show signs of Miss Dairy Cow madness.”
“I guess it doesn’t help that last year’s winner went Hollywood.” A friend of a friend had sent a picture of Rachel Warner, last year’s Miss Dairy Cow, to a modeling agency in California. The pretty young woman had recently been spotted in several national ads on television.
“That’s definitely added to the fever pitch this year,” he replied.
“And just think, there’s still more than a month left before the pageant.”
Bailey groaned. “Don’t remind me. For all I know at this very moment there’s an eager contestant in my bed willing to use her feminine wiles to gain the crown. Drat Tanner Rothman’s hide,” he exclaimed.
Melanie knew Tanner Rothman had initially been chosen to be the judge of the pageant this year. Tanner, a handsome rancher who lived on the spread next to Bailey’s, had dropped out when he’d gotten married two weeks before.
“I met his new wife the other day,” Melanie said. “Colette. She’s really nice. She’s opening a baby shop in the old feed store over on Main.”
“I still can’t believe Tanner gave up the brotherhood of bachelorhood,” Bailey said. He shook his head, then continued. “Next year I intend to suggest to the pageant committee that they choose a married man to be the judge.”
The idea that had been germinating from the moment she’d spied Bailey naked began to blossom in Melanie’s head. “Too bad you aren’t married now. You’re not only one of the most eligible bachelors in town, but now you’re an eligible bachelor with power. A heady combination.”
“You’re telling me,” he exclaimed. He picked up the wristwatch that was lying on the dock and eyed it. “I’ve got to get back. I’ve got a couple of animals who need to be checked on.”
She nodded and together they got up and began the long walk down the lane toward the house in the distance. Thoughts flew through Melanie’s head…crazy thoughts.
She tried desperately to concentrate on the scent of grass and sun-baked pasture mingling with early summer wildflowers that filled the air. She tried unsuccessfully to focus on anything but where her thoughts were taking her.
“I know how to solve the problem of the single women of Foxrun throwing themselves at you,” she finally said, not giving herself a chance to change her mind about what she was about to suggest.
“And what’s that?”
“Marry me.”
He snorted. “Yeah, right. Ruin my life because of one stinkin’ beauty pageant.”
“Thanks a lot,” Melanie said, unable to help the small stab of pain that shot through her at his words.
He must have heard the hurt in her voice and he stopped walking and grabbed her hands in his. Despite the fact that he had held her hands a thousand times before, this time Melanie’s heart fluttered at his touch.
“Mellie, you know I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” he protested, his eyes as blue as the cloudless sky overhead. “And you know how I feel about marriage. Never again.” He dropped her hands and continued walking.
Melanie hurried to catch up with him. “But this would be different,” she exclaimed. “For one thing, it wouldn’t be forever.”
Bailey stopped walking once again and faced her, his features radiating confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“A temporary marriage for mutual benefit.” She wondered if he had any idea how attractive he looked with his dark hair wet and slicked back to expose his firmly chiseled features.
However, he stared at her as if she’d completely and irrevocably lost her mind. “Not that I’m even considering such insanity, but remind me again, what kind of mutual benefit this marriage would give us?”
“For you, it would relieve some of the onslaught by overeager contestants. No woman is going to show up in your bed if you’re a married man.”
“And what do you get out of this arrangement?”
She hesitated a moment. “We’d stay married until after the Miss Dairy Cow pageant and…until you give me a baby.”
“Good grief, have you lost your mind?” He turned and stalked off, and once again Melanie hurried to catch up to him.
“It would only be a temporary marriage,” she continued. “We’d marry as friends and divorce as friends. You get a reprieve from the tiara-hungry single women in town, and I get pregnant.”
“I don’t want to talk about this. The whole idea is insane.” They had reached her car, parked in front of the barn, and he leaned against the front fender. “Mellie, I’m not the man for the job you have in mind.”
“Bailey, you’re the only man in my life,” she protested.
He gazed at her with a touch of sympathy. “Honey, eventually you’ll find the perfect man for you and get married and have a houseful of babies. Just give it time.”
“I’m running out of time,” she exclaimed. “And you know my track record when it comes to finding Mr. Right. It stinks.”
“That’s because your standards are too high.”
“Bailey, just think about it.” To Melanie the whole idea seemed perfect. “I want my mom to know my child before it’s too late.”
He looked at her in alarm. “Is her cancer back?”
“No, but there’s no guarantee it won’t come back. You know how much I’ve wanted a baby, Bailey. Please think about this. You’re my very best friend in the whole wide world. Can’t you do this one thing for me?”
Bailey was in shock. He studied the freckled face of the woman who had been his best friend for as long as he could remember, and he felt as if he were looking at a stranger.
“Mellie, you know after the mess with Stephanie I vowed I would never marry again,” he said.
She waved her hands dismissively. “Stephanie was a bubble-headed social climber who wasn’t half good enough for you.”
He grinned. “That’s one thing we agree on.” His smile faded as Melanie didn’t return it.
“It would only be a temporary marriage,” she repeated. “And I would never ask anything of you after that. Just give me a baby and I’ll go away happy.”
He reached out and placed a hand on the side of her face. “Mellie, you know I would do anything for you. When we were in fifth grade I beat up Harley Raymond because he called you a bad name.”
A ghost of a smile curved her lips. “The way I recall it, Harley Raymond made mincemeat out of you.”
He laughed. “Okay, maybe you’re right, but I took the beating for your honor. In high school I tolerated you dressing me up in a monkey suit to take you to the prom. I would do anything in the world for you…except this.” He dropped his hand.
She shrugged and offered him the slightly crooked grin that was as familiar to Bailey as his own heartbeat. “It was just a thought,” she said.
Bailey relaxed, feeling for the first time in several minutes as if they were back on familiar footing. “What are your plans for the evening?”
She made a face. “I’ve got appointments until about eight, then I have to come up with final grades before the end of this week when school lets out for the summer. I’ll probably get started on them tonight. What about you?”
“I’ll probably eat a little of one of those questionable casseroles, then call it a night early. I’ve got a neutering surgery scheduled for seven in the morning.”
“How about a movie tomorrow night,” she suggested. Most Friday nights they spent together, either eating dinner out or going to the old theater in town.
“Why don’t we rent one and I’ll pop popcorn and we’ll watch it here.”
She nodded and moved to the door of her car. “Sounds good. About seven?”
“Perfect,” he agreed, and watched as she got into her car, the late-afternoon sunshine glinting off her long, curly red hair.
He waved and smiled as she pulled out of the drive, then shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned thoughtfully as her car disappeared from sight.
What on earth had possessed her to come up with such a crazy idea, he wondered as he headed into the barn to do a checkup of the animals in his care.
He and Mellie were not winners when it came to the romances in their lives, but they were absolute champions when it came to their friendship with each other. Bailey would never do anything to risk that friendship. And nothing could ruin things like a marriage.
Twenty minutes ago he would have told anyone that Melanie Watters was the most grounded woman he’d ever known. She was bright, logical and had both feet firmly planted on the ground. But that had been before she’d voiced her crazy idea about marriage and pregnancy.
Maybe the approach of her thirtieth birthday at the end of the year had picked her feet up off the ground and put craziness in her head, he thought as he left the barn.
He entered the house by the back door and walked into the large, airy kitchen he rarely used. As a confirmed bachelor, most of Bailey’s meals were either zapped in the microwave or eaten at the local diner.
The only really good home-cooked meals he ever got were when either his mother or Melanie took pity on him and cooked for him.
At the moment the last thing he wanted was dinner. All he wanted was a nice warm shower and to kick back with a cold beer.
He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told Melanie it had been a miserable day. Not only had he been confronted by several well-meaning mothers of potential contestants, he’d had to put down a beloved old dog who’d belonged to friends of his.
He walked into his bedroom and kicked off his shoes, then walked into the bathroom and stripped off his still-damp jean shorts. He tossed them in the direction of the hamper, pulled a towel from the linen closet, then yanked open the shower door and yelped in surprise.
The dark-haired, naked woman standing in his shower smiled. “Hey, Bailey, I thought maybe you’d like me to scrub your back.”
“Jeez, SueEllen, what the heck are you doing?” Bailey wasn’t sure whether to cover himself with the towel in his hand or cover her. He finally managed to sling the towel around his hips and grab another from the closet and throw it to SueEllen Trexlor.
SueEllen took the towel, but instead of wrapping it around herself, held it out from her. “I just thought I’d show you some of the talent I can’t show you during the pageant,” she said.
Bailey groaned and quickly turned his back on her. “Would you get out of my shower and get dressed. What on earth would your mama say?”
“My mama wants me to be Miss Dairy Cow.”
Bailey groaned again and left the bathroom. He grabbed a pair of jeans from a drawer and went into the living room, where he quickly pulled them on.
A moment later SueEllen appeared in the bedroom doorway. To his relief she had pulled on the sundress she’d apparently arrived in, although the top several buttons were undone to expose her ample chest.
“I’ve always had a thing for you, Bailey,” she said, her voice a seductive purr as she advanced toward him.
Had every woman in Foxrun gone stark, raving mad? Bailey wondered if there was something alien in the air, a weird position of the moon, as he backed away from her.
“I’m flattered, SueEllen, but you need to get on home now,” he said. “This isn’t right.”
“And what’s wrong with it? I’m an adult and you’re an adult. We’re both free and single.”
“But I’m not,” Bailey protested.
SueEllen stopped in her tracks. “You aren’t what?”
The conversation with Mellie was still ringing in his ears, and he grasped at it desperately. “I’m not single…I mean, I just got engaged to Melanie Watters.”
SueEllen frowned in obvious dismay and reached for the buttons of her dress. “Why didn’t you say something sooner, Bailey? You know I would never steal somebody else’s fiancé. I do have my standards.”
She tossed her head and flounced toward the front door. She pulled on the door, then turned back to face him with a sly smile. “I hope you won’t hold this against me in the pageant. I meant it when I said I’ve always found you attractive, Bailey.” Her smile widened. “And now I know for sure just how attractive you are.”
Bailey felt the heat of a blush sweep over his features. Thankfully she apparently didn’t expect a reply, with a waggle of her fingers, she disappeared out the door.
Instantly Bailey dropped to the sofa and waited for his heart to stop pounding so frantically. He’d been joking with Melanie when he told her he was afraid some contestant would be in his bed. It hadn’t crossed his mind that the oversexed, attractive SueEllen might be waiting for him naked in his shower.
Thinking of showers…he pulled himself up off the sofa, carefully locked both the front and back doors, then headed for the shower once again.
It wasn’t until he was standing beneath the hot spray of water that he realized what he had just done. SueEllen and her mother were two of the biggest gossips in the town of Foxrun, and he’d just told SueEllen that he was engaged to Mellie.
He quickly shut off the faucets and, still dripping water, grabbed jeans and a shirt. He had to get hold of Mellie. He had to tell her what had happened before she heard it through Foxrun’s prolific grapevine.
Chapter Two
The Foxrun Elementary School was a charming two-story brick building a block off Main Street. For nine months of the year Melanie taught second-graders on the second floor, and during that time the old brick building felt like home.
Her classroom welcomed her with bright colors on the bulletin boards and the familiar scent of chalk and children. As she slid into the chair behind her desk, she marveled that in less than a week’s time the school year would be over and the decorations on the bulletin boards would be taken down until next year.
The teachers held two parent-teacher conferences each year. The first was held just before Christmas to discuss what improvements needed to be made and any areas of weakness the child displayed. This conference at the end of the school year was to talk about what improvements had been made and what the parents might want to do to help the child prepare for their next year of school.
Melanie checked her watch, then pulled out the folder for Becky Altenburg. Becky’s parents would be here at any minute and they would be happy with Becky’s progress. She was a delightful little girl, both bright and cheerful.
With her paperwork ready before her, Melanie leaned back in her chair and tried not to think about Bailey. From the moment she’d left his place, she’d been kicking herself for speaking aloud the nutty idea that had momentarily taken possession of her brain.
The very last thing she would ever want was to do something that would destroy the precious friendship they shared. They’d even gone to the same college together in Kansas City. The only time they’d really been apart was when he’d met and married the beautiful Stephanie.
After college he’d returned to Foxrun with his bride. She’d lasted two months in the small town before hightailing it out of here. But the time Melanie had been apart from Bailey had been the most miserable time in her life.
Still, she couldn’t seem to get her idea out of her head. Was it really so crazy? There wasn’t a man in Foxrun she was even vaguely romantically interested in, and she hadn’t been lying when she’d told Bailey that she wanted children while her mother was still around to share the joy.
The more she thought about it, the more she thought it was a perfect solution for both of them. She trusted Bailey more than she trusted anyone, and she was absolutely confident their friendship could withstand an unconventional marriage of convenience.
She smiled and shoved away thoughts of Bailey and babies as Max and Betty Altenburg walked into the classroom. The conference lasted only fifteen minutes, then the Altenburgs left, smiling proudly with Melanie’s words of praise for Becky ringing in their ears.
Looking at her watch once again, she realized she had about fifteen minutes before the next set of parents arrived. She got up from her desk and left the classroom, heading for the gymnasium where coffee, punch and cookies were supposed to be served.
About two dozen people milled around a gaily decorated long table in the small gym. The air was rife with the scent of fresh coffee and sugary baked goods. Melanie grabbed a cookie and a cup of coffee, then started back in the direction of her classroom.
She’d nearly made it out of the gym when her good friend and fellow teacher, Kathy Milsap approached her. “I’ve been looking all over for you!” she exclaimed as she grabbed Melanie’s arm and guided her away from the gym. “Why didn’t you tell me? I thought I was one of your best friends.”
“You are, and what didn’t I tell you?” Melanie asked curiously, then bit into the soft gooey cookie.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you and Bailey are engaged to be married.”
Melanie choked and nearly spit the bite of cookie out of her mouth. She took a sip of her coffee and stared at Kathy in astonishment. “Where did you hear that?” she finally managed to gasp out.
“I heard it from Teri who heard it from Krista, who heard it from SueEllen at the beauty shop.” Kathy’s blue eyes sparkled merrily. “So, when is the big day? I insist that I throw you a big shower. Oh, it will be such fun! Your mom and dad must be absolutely thrilled.”
Melanie’s head spun dizzily and she held up a hand in an attempt to halt Kathy’s exuberant chattering. “I’ve got a meeting in two minutes,” she said. “We’ll talk later about all this.”
She escaped to her room, where she sank down behind her desk in bewilderment. Why on earth would SueEllen Trexlor be telling people that Melanie and Bailey were engaged? Surely SueEllen had simply made a mistake…heard a piece of gossip and mistakenly twisted it into an engagement.
It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a false rumor had whirled in the air in the tiny town of Foxrun. In truth, with only two television channels available for viewing without a satellite and only one local movie theater that played really old movies to provide entertainment, the good people of Foxrun thrived on gossip and innuendo.
She needed to talk to Bailey. What if he heard the rumor and assumed she’d been the one to start it because of the conversation they’d had that afternoon?
She would be mortified if he thought she’d tried to push his hand by starting such a rumor. Surely he knew her well enough to know that if she were going to try to convince him to agree with her plan, she wouldn’t be underhanded but would come to him face-to-face.
She’d always been one of those people who thought cell phones were silly indulgences, but now she desperately wished she had one.
Maybe she’d have time to sneak into the office and use the phone, she thought. But at that moment her next set of parents arrived.
It was eight-thirty by the time she finished with the last of her meetings. She left the building and hurried toward her car, eager to get to Bailey’s and tell him the latest rumor making the rounds.
She unlocked her car door, then squealed in surprise as a hand touched her on the back. She whirled around to see Bailey. “You nearly scared me to death,” she exclaimed. “I was just getting ready to go to your place.”
“We need to talk,” he said. “How about we take a walk over to Millie’s and get a cup of coffee.” Millie’s Family Restaurant was the most popular place in Foxrun.
Melanie nodded her assent, and together the two of them started walking toward the restaurant on Main Street. As usual, Melanie had to lengthen her strides to match his, and as usual, he was clad in tight, worn jeans and a T-shirt.
She couldn’t help but notice how the worn denim hugged the length of his long, muscular legs and emphasized his trim waist.
“Have you heard the newest rumor making its way around town?” she asked tentatively.
“If it’s the one I think it is, I’m afraid I’m the one who started it.”
“What?” She stopped in her tracks and stared at him.
“Come on, I’ll explain everything over a cup of coffee.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the door of Millie’s.
A bell over the door tinkled as they entered into the warm, heavenly scented interior of the restaurant. It was late enough in the evening that there were few diners.
Bailey led her to the back booth, their regular spot for dining. Almost immediately Samantha, Foxrun’s sheriff’s teenage daughter, appeared to take their orders.
“Just coffee for me,” Bailey said.
“The same for me,” Melanie agreed. “Now, are you going to tell me what’s going on?” she asked when Samantha had departed.
He leaned back against the red plastic booth and raked a hand through his hair in distraction. “Remember our conversation this afternoon when I told you I was half afraid some Miss Dairy Cow contestant would show up naked in my bed?”
Astonishment swept through her. “Don’t tell me…who?”
“SueEllen Trexlor, but she wasn’t in my bed, she was in my shower.”
“Naked?”
“As a jaybird.”
They both stopped talking as Samantha returned to the booth with two cups of steaming coffee. When she left them once again, Melanie stifled a grin with one of her hands. “Tell me all.”
“It isn’t funny,” Bailey exclaimed with a scowl. “It was downright embarrassing.”
She tried to keep the grin from her lips. “So, how did things go from a naked SueEllen in your shower to the rumor that we’re engaged?”
Bailey frowned and wrapped his hands around his mug. “I guess your crazy idea was still going around in my head when I opened my shower door and saw her there waiting for me. I panicked and told her I was an engaged man.” The blue of his T-shirt intensified the blue of his eyes as he held her gaze. “Who did you hear it from?”
“Kathy Milsap. According to her, SueEllen told Teri, who told Krista who told Kathy.” She shrugged. “You know how things spread in Foxrun.”
“I know,” he replied, looking utterly miserable.
“Honestly, Bailey, it isn’t the end of the world,” she exclaimed. “The way I see it we have two choices. You can either tell everyone you’re a liar or we can get married and follow through on the plan I outlined this afternoon.”
His frown deepened and he stared down into his coffee mug. Melanie waited patiently, knowing that Bailey never did anything without thinking through his options.
She took a sip of her coffee and tried not to notice the length of his long dark lashes, the attractive structure of his facial features.
There had been a time in high school when raging hormones or something alien had made her yearn for Bailey in a way that had nothing to do with their friendship.
She had stayed awake nights wondering what it would be like if he kissed her passionately on her lips. She’d suddenly been intensely aware of his scent, his strong hands and his broad chest. She had hungered for the touch of his hands, to be crushed against his chest, to taste the heat of his kiss.
Then he’d started dating Marlie Walker, a girl with boobs bigger than her IQ and a reputation for being fast with the boys.
Melanie realized then she would never be the kind of girl to attract Bailey on anything more than a friendship level, and she’d studiously shoved aside thoughts of any other kind of relationship with him. And nothing since that time had made her believe any differently.
All she wanted from Bailey Jenkins was his undying friendship and a baby. She could almost smell the scent of baby powder in the air, and she realized how much she wanted him to agree with her plan.
“There’s a third option,” he said, pulling her back to the here and now. A smile curved the corners of his lips, letting her know he was pleased with whatever he’d come up with. “We could just be engaged until after the Miss Dairy Cow contest. That would keep the worst of the nutty contestants out of my hair. Then, when the pageant is over, we can break our engagement.”
“No way, Bailey Jenkins,” she exclaimed irritably. “There’s no way you get what you want unless I get what I want. If I’m going to protect you from the crown-crazy young women of this town, the least you can do is marry me temporarily and make me pregnant.”
She had that look in her eyes. Bailey recognized it well—the stubborn, determined gaze telling him that to argue with her would be futile. She’d had that same look in her bright-green eyes when they’d been juniors in high school and she’d told him she intended to run against Roger Wayfield, star quarterback, for student council president.
Bailey had tried to talk her out of running, believing there was no way she could win against Roger and wanting to spare her the hurt of a loss, but she’d dug into the campaign with a tenacity and determination that had carried her to a win.
“Mellie, be reasonable,” he said, deciding to ignore the fiery light of resolve in her eyes and talk some sense into her. “If we just pretend to be engaged for the next six weeks or so, then my life will be considerably less complicated, and at the end of the six weeks nobody gets hurt.”
“The same thing could be said if we get married,” she replied, obviously refusing to be swayed. “Bailey, you’re my best friend. A little thing like a divorce won’t do anything to change our friendship. Especially since we’re both going into it with our eyes wide open.”
“But you know I had no intention of ever marrying again,” Bailey reminded her. “And I certainly don’t want a child.”
She tucked a strand of her long, copper-hued hair behind her ear and sighed in obvious frustration. “But that’s what makes you so perfect. I know you don’t want to be a father. I wouldn’t expect you to be a hands-on kind of father. I’m perfectly capable of raising a child on my own. And I keep telling you this won’t be a real marriage. Nothing will be different between us except—” she looked down into her mug, her cheeks taking on a shade of pink “—we’ll have to be, you know, intimate in order for me to get pregnant.”
Bailey frowned, looked into his mug, then at her once again. “I know how badly you want a baby, Mellie, but this idea of yours isn’t the answer,” he said softly.
“Just think how happy your mother would be,” she said.
He shook his head ruefully. “Low blow,” he exclaimed. She knew how much his mother had been nagging him about remarrying and giving her a grandchild.
“Okay, you win. Forget about it.”
He eyed her suspiciously. “What do you mean forget about it?” She had capitulated far too easily.
“Just what I said, forget I mentioned the whole idea. We’ll tell everyone SueEllen got it wrong and we aren’t engaged, and I’ll figure out another way to get what I want.”
“What are you talking about?”
Her gaze darted to a point on the wall just over his head. “I want a baby, Bailey.” Her green eyes sought his once again. “I’m tired of playing the favorite aunt to my nieces and nephews. I’m financially stable and emotionally ready to become a mother. I’m sure I can find somebody here in Foxrun to be a sperm donor, so to speak.”
“Like who? I can’t even believe we’re having this conversation.”
“I don’t know why you’re so surprised. I’ve been talking about wanting a child for months now.”
“Yeah, but I thought it was kind of like me talking about wanting a Jaguar. You know, it would be nice if I got one, but right now it’s pretty much out of the question.”
“But me getting pregnant isn’t out of the question,” she protested. “It’s just a matter of picking which man in Foxrun I’m going to sleep with.”
“Like who? I know Fred Ketchum has a hot crush on you. Sleep with him and your kid will look like a werewolf.”
She laughed. “Fred is all right. He can’t help it that he’s unusually hairy. But you’re right, I’m not sure I’d want his DNA in any child of mine.” She took another sip of her coffee, then continued. “But, there is Buck Walton. I’m sure Buck wouldn’t mind a couple of rolls in the hay with me.”
“Oh, yeah, you’d definitely want his DNA,” Bailey said dryly. “If the kid takes after his father he’ll be swilling beer by the time he’s two and will have a vocabulary of four-letter words that will astound the world.”
“Why are you being so negative?” she asked impatiently.
“Why are you so set on doing this?” he countered. The whole discussion of who she would choose to sleep with was irritating him.
She twirled a strand of her shiny hair between two fingers, a familiar gesture that told him she was concentrating. “Bailey, you and I both know what it’s like to be raised by older parents. Goodness knows, we’ve talked about it often enough.”
He nodded. It was true. It had been one of their common complaints when growing up. Both Mellie’s and his parents had been older when they had been born and they had spent many hours complaining about the fact that their parents were so much older than their friends’ parents.
“If I wait for love and romance and eventually marriage and pregnancy, I’m going to be retired by the time my child is graduating from high school.”
“Is your sister pregnant again?”
The telltale blush that momentarily stole over her face gave him his answer. Mellie’s sister, Linda, was nothing short of a baby factory, producing a baby a year for the past four years.
“Yes, but that has nothing to do with my decision to get pregnant,” she replied tersely.
He knew better. He knew that each new baby born into the Watters family had increased Mellie’s desire for a child of her own.
Before he could reply, he spied MaryAnn Bartel entering the diner. She was dressed to kill in a pair of tight black jeans and a hot-pink midriff top the size of a bandage. Her eyes widened in delight at the sight of him, and he steeled himself for yet another encounter with a mad cow contestant.
“Bailey,” she squealed, her thick perfume reaching him before she did. Her smile faltered as she saw Melanie. “Oh, hi, Melanie. So, it’s true? The two of you are engaged?”
Bailey knew now was his chance to set the record straight, to explain to MaryAnn that the rumor about him and Melanie was false. But he saw the light of fanaticism in her bright blue eyes, the tiny sparkles in their depths appearing like tiny tiaras.
He had a sudden vision of his life in the next six weeks, a life inundated with stress because of the stupid Miss Dairy Cow Contest. He also thought of his mother, who had become an irritating broken record on the topic of wanting a grandchild.
A temporary marriage to Mellie would solve a host of problems. There would certainly be no surprises with Mellie. He knew her as well as he knew himself, and he couldn’t imagine anything ruining their friendship, not even a marriage, a pregnancy and a subsequent divorce.
“It’s true,” he said, and saw the surprise that lit Mellie’s eyes. He smiled at her, hoping that neither of them came to regret the split-second decision he’d made to follow through on her crazy scheme.
Chapter Three
It was just another Friday. That’s what Melanie told herself as she stepped outside of the school building and into the warm late-afternoon sunshine.
It was just a usual Friday afternoon. Bailey would pick her up from school, they’d go to the video store and rent a couple of movies, then go back to his house and eat popcorn and watch the movies.
They had spent countless Friday nights this way, and never had she felt the dancing of butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Of course, never before had they stopped on the way to the video store at the county clerk’s office to get a marriage license.
There was absolutely no reason to be nervous, she told herself. This was what she had wanted, and it was a perfect plan for both of them. Still, no amount of rational thought seemed to still the jitters inside her.
She supposed it was natural. It wasn’t every day she promoted the idea of a temporary marriage to a man. She walked to the curb as she spied Bailey’s maroon pickup truck approaching.
He pulled to a halt at the curb and reached over to open the door for her. The first thing she noticed when she slid into the vehicle was that he wasn’t wearing his jeans, but rather was clad in a pair of navy dress slacks and a pinstriped short-sleeved dress shirt.
Funny. She usually wore slacks to school, but had opted for a dress today. It was as if someplace in the back of their minds they’d decided this day deserved better wear than usual.
“Changed your mind yet?” he asked the moment she got into the truck.
“No. Have you?”
“At least a hundred times since last night,” he admitted. He shot her one of his grins that made his dimple appear, near the right side of his mouth. “But each time I decided not to go through with it, my mother’s strident voice would fill my head.”
Melanie grinned. “And what is your mother’s voice saying?”
“The usual. When am I going to get married again. If I’d married a local girl the first time I might not be divorced. She’ll be dead and in her grave before I finally settle down and give her grandchildren.” He pulled away from the curb. “Trust me, Melanie, be grateful you have a sister. Being an only child can definitely be a burden.”
“What is she going to say when we get divorced?” Melanie asked, trying not to notice how the sunshine drifting through the truck window shone on his rich, dark hair.
“I think after two strikes she’ll finally get off my back about being single.”
“And she’ll have a grandchild to dote on,” Melanie reminded him.
He parked in front of the county clerk’s office. He turned in his seat to look at her. “Mellie, before we go inside, I think we need to talk about some things.”
“Like what?”
“If we get the license now, then I figure on Saturday we can go to Jeb Walker’s and he can marry us.” Jeb Walker was the local justice of the peace. “I’m assuming you’ll be moving in with me. I’m not about to move into that tiny apartment of yours.”
Melanie hadn’t thought that far ahead. Of course they would have to live together, and with Bailey’s veterinarian practice and nice ranch house, it made sense that she would move in there. The thought of moving in with him suddenly made their plans more real than anything else had before, and once again butterflies danced in her stomach.
“I probably should just keep paying rent on the apartment even though I won’t be there for a month or two,” she said thoughtfully. “Oh, and before I forget it, Mom called and asked if I’d pick up a prescription for her at the drugstore and drop it by on the way to your house.”
“No problem,” he agreed easily. His gaze continued to hold hers, and she’d never seen his eyes so blue or so serious. “Last chance to change your mind, Mellie.”
“I’m not going to change my mind, Bailey. I’m going into this with both eyes wide open. You give me a baby, I’ll give you a divorce. You can have as much or as little a role as you want in the baby’s life, but no matter what, we go right back to the way things have always been between us.”
He cast her a quick grin. “Sounds like a perfect plan.” He opened his truck door and she did the same, trying not to think of the old adage about the best-laid plans of mice and men.
It took them only a few minutes to obtain the marriage license, then they went to the drugstore to pick up Melanie’s mom’s prescription and on to the video store to rent movies for the night.
By the time they were on their way to Melanie’s parents place, the nerves that had been dancing in her stomach had stopped. They had bickered in the video store over which movies to rent, as they did every time they rented movies. The very normalcy of the good-natured arguing set her at ease and assured her that nothing had changed between them.
As they headed down the road toward the Watters farmhouse, they shared the events of their day. Melanie loved hearing about his work with animals, and he listened patiently as she vented about a particular student’s misbehavior or extolled the virtues of another student.
“It’s hard to believe there’s just a week left of school,” she said.
“This will work out really great for me,” Bailey said. “You’ll be out of a job and will be able to cook and clean for me.” He shot her a teasing glance. “It’s what wives do.”
“Wrong century, Bailey. And definitely wrong woman,” she replied lightly. “If you think I’m going to spend my time as your wife picking up your dirty socks and recapping your tube of toothpaste, then you have another think coming.”
“I knew it was too good to be true,” he exclaimed as he turned down the lane that led to the Watters place.
As always a burst of warmth swept through her as her parents’ farmhouse came into view. The three-bedroom ranch was where Melanie had been born and all the wonderful memories of her childhood resided here.
“Looks like company,” Bailey said, pointing to a scattering of parked cars in the driveway.
“Must be bridge night,” Melanie replied. “That’s probably why Mom asked me to pick up the prescription. She was busy cooking and cleaning for the bridge gang.”
Bailey pulled to a halt. “I’ll just wait here,” he said.
Melanie nodded and got out of the truck. Before she could reach the house her younger sister, Linda, came out and hurried toward her.
“Linda, what are you doing here?” Melanie asked.
“Ben is working late so I decided to stop by for a little visit.” She looked over at the truck where Bailey was waiting. Raising one arm, she motioned for him to get out of the truck, then looked back at Melanie.
“How are you feeling?” Melanie asked.
Linda touched her still-flat stomach and winced. “Okay, but I’ve already started with the morning sickness. I didn’t have it this early with any of the other three pregnancies.”
A touch of envy swept through Melanie. Linda had it all, a loving husband, a houseful of kids and a complexion without a single freckle. With her blond hair and peaches-and-cream skin tone, she’d taken after their mother, Marybeth.
Melanie had received their father’s genetic characteristics. Walter Watters, better known in Foxrun as Red, had been red-haired and freckled in his youth. His hair was now snow-white and his freckles had faded with age, unlike Melanie’s.
Bailey approached where the two stood. “Bailey Jenkins, you know that if you don’t come inside and say hello to Mom and Dad they’ll be upset,” Linda said.
“I was just running in to drop this off.” Melanie held up the pill bottle they’d gotten from the drugstore.
“Well, come on, then,” Linda replied. “And you, too, Bailey. The kids will want to see you.”
Together the three of them entered the front door and into the living room, where a large group of people were gathered. “Surprise!” they all yelled collectively.
Suddenly Melanie was being squeezed and hugged and kissed on the cheek by friends, neighbors and coworkers. Stunned, she realized the crepe paper and balloons weren’t for a bridge night party, but rather for her and Bailey.
She glanced over to Bailey and saw the sheer panic in his widened eyes. They had hoped to do this quietly, without a fuss, knowing that it was all going to be temporary. She should have known there was no way to do anything quietly in Foxrun.
“Darling girl.” Bailey’s mother Luella enveloped Melanie in a fierce hug. “We’ve all been wondering when the two of you would finally figure out that you were absolutely perfect for each other.”
“Lu…give the girl a chance to breathe,” Bailey’s father Henry said.
“Oh, hush up, Henry. I have a right to give my future daughter-in-law more than a little bitty hug.” She released Melanie and stepped back. “I can’t tell you how happy we all are. So, when’s the big date?”
The entire crowd had fallen silent, and Melanie looked at Bailey for support. He walked over to her side. “We’re planning a very small ceremony next Saturday.”
“Next Saturday!” Marybeth looked at her daughter in horror. “But that’s impossible. We can’t do a wedding right in a week.”
“Mom, Bailey and I have agreed we don’t want anything elaborate. Just a simple ceremony without any frills.”
“We’ll see,” Marybeth replied, and gave Melanie a hug. “In the meantime we’ve got cake and goodies and a party to enjoy.”
Bailey was in a mild state of shock. Although rationally he knew he and Melanie had been fools to think they could somehow sneak off to a justice of the peace and be married, he’d desperately hoped they could have done just that.
But already the potential mothers-in-law had their heads together, and he knew they were discussing color schemes and flowers and all the things to transform a simple ceremony into nothing short of a circus.
He got himself a cup of lime-colored punch and looked over to where Mellie was standing in a circle of women. Her freckles appeared to be standing out from her skin, and he knew she was struggling with the same feelings he was.
In their brief discussions of planning this whole thing, neither of them had taken into consideration that the situation would force them to lie to friends and family.
The lies tasted bad in his mouth, but to tell everyone the truth would be far more disastrous. Foxrun had the moral compass of the fifties, and a teacher of their children involved in a plot to marry just to get pregnant would be ridden out of town on a rail.
“Bailey, my boy.” Red Watters clapped him on the back and beamed a smile. “I can’t think of a better man to love and honor our Melanie.”
“I do love her,” Bailey replied. This much was true. He’d always loved and adored Mellie, just not in a romantic kind of way.
“Hell, son. We all knew you loved each other, we just wondered how long it would take for the two of you to realize it,” Red exclaimed.
Red spoke with him for a few minutes longer, then drifted off to the table for a piece of cake. Bailey took the opportunity to sneak outside for a breath of fresh air.
Night had fallen, bringing with it a cool breeze. He walked over to the porch swing in the shadows and jumped in surprise as he saw Mellie sitting there.
“Ah, another escapee,” he said as he eased down next to her on the narrow swing.
“They’re all having such a good time I didn’t think anyone would miss me,” she replied.
“Yeah, I figured the same thing.”
For a moment the two of them swung slowly in silence, the only sounds the laughter and talking of the people inside the house and the clicking and buzzing of insects outside the house.
Bailey became aware of a soft floral scent in the air, and he leaned back in the seat and looked around, attempting to identify the source.
It was too late in the year for the lilacs to be in bloom and too early for the roses or for honeysuckle. “What a mess,” he finally said.
She nodded. “I can’t believe how guilty I feel.” She shifted positions and again the light floral scent teased his senses.
He suddenly realized the pleasant fragrance was coming from her. He frowned thoughtfully. Had she always smelled so good? He couldn’t remember ever paying much attention before, and for some reason he found it vaguely disturbing.
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Carla Cassidy
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: It was the perfect plan. Melanie Watters wanted a baby badly, so she proposed marriage to the most confirmed bachelor in town–her best friend, Bailey Jenkins.In return for getting Melanie pregnant, frustrated pageant-judge Bailey could escape the clutches of the town′s tiara-hungry single women. Surely their friendship could survive this marriage of convenience unscathed?They had agreed to divorce after Melanie became pregnant, but playing house with Bailey soon stirred deep passions in her, and things quickly got complicated. Melanie found herself torn between her desire for a child and her growing feelings for her husband. Would having the baby she′d dreamed of ruin their perfect marriage?