Читать книгу: «Kidnapped At Christmas»

Chapter One

“Why can’t I think of one word to say to him?” Meg Anderson looked down at her sleeping angel, trying to psych herself up for the conversation that needed to take place with the baby’s father.

“You’re the best child advocate in Texas, Meg. The words will come.” Meg’s best friend and business partner, Stephanie Gable, walked over and ran her finger along two-month-old Aubrey’s cheek.

“He deserves to know about her, right?” Meg already knew the answer, but she asked anyway. She’d do just about anything to gain a few more minutes of courage before walking out the door.

“He does.” Stephanie’s sympathetic tone struck a chord.

“I’m being totally unfair to her by keeping her from her father.” Tears burned the backs of Meg’s eyes.

“That’s right. If you can’t do it for yourself, think of Aubrey.” Stephanie seemed to be catching on. “It’ll work out.”

“What if he rejects her?” Meg tamped down the panic causing her heart to gallop.

“Then it’s his loss.” Stephanie didn’t hesitate.

Meg made eyes at her friend. “You’re absolutely right.”

“What’s the worst he can say?” Stephanie shot her what was supposed to be a nerve-fortifying look.

“I don’t think I want to go there, not even in theory,” Meg answered honestly. The rejection from her mother still stung even ten years after she’d walked out.

“You face bigger challenges every day and win.” Stephanie was making good points, and yet Meg’s courage still escaped her.

“Work challenges. This is personal.” She twisted her fingers around the corner of the baby blanket swaddling her infant daughter, Aubrey. “And I’m pretty sure the statute of limitations and good taste has run out considering our daughter is two months old and I still haven’t told him about her. How am I supposed to explain that?”

“If he’s too stupid to figure out how you guys made a baby, he’s definitely not worth all this stress.” Stephanie laughed.

The joke was meant to ease the tension, so Meg smiled as she rolled the edge of the blanket in between her thumb and forefinger.

Normally the ploy would work. Not today. Not when Meg’s thoughts were careening out of control.

“Okay, I can see my bad attempt at humor isn’t helping. How about this? I’ll take Aubrey to the park while you feel him out. See if he’s ready.” Stephanie’s calm demeanor had little impact on Meg’s frayed nerves. “You had good reasons for waiting. And he’d be crazy to turn his back on that little girl.”

“A total nutcase,” Meg agreed, gazing down at the sleeping bundle.

“She’s perfect.” Stephanie could hold her own with anyone in an argument. She was a huge asset to One Child—One Advocate. “She might just be the best baby in the world, bar none, and it would be his loss if he walked away from her.” Stephanie smiled at Aubrey with the kind of sheer adoration reserved for aunts. She might not be a blood relative, but Stephanie was the closest thing to family Meg had aside from her daughter.

“The man should be given the option to be part of her life.” Meg was steeling her resolve by picking up Aubrey. Holding her daughter, so much innocence, inspired her to do the right thing even when her nerves were frayed and her stomach threatened to revolt.

“I’ll be right down the street with her at the park. You give me the green light and I’m there at the restaurant. If you don’t pick up on the vibe that he wants to know or if he makes one wrong move before you tell him you can always do this another time.”

“Will you text me first so I don’t seem rude or obvious if I have to whip out my phone in front of him?” Meg hedged. Thinking through an exit strategy made her feel less trapped.

“Great idea. I’ll take the baby for a lap or two before checking in.” Stephanie picked up her purse. “The fresh air will be good for us both, and the park is so pretty this time of year. Plus, the mayor’s lighting the Christmas tree at noon.”

“She’d love that. It’s probably just all these hormones and this time of year giving me jitters.” The first part was true enough. Meg didn’t want to acknowledge how much the thought of seeing Wyatt Jackson again affected her. This was the first time the Christmas season had brought a feeling of renewal and hope instead of sadness and dread. The magic of the holidays had always escaped Meg until having Aubrey. Facing Wyatt with the news he was a father stamped out all the newly gained warm-and-fuzzy sentiment.

Stephanie shot a sympathetic look. “I know. Everything in town’s been strange ever since Maverick Mike Butler’s death this summer. The whole town’s been on edge. But everything’s calming down and slowly returning to normal. It’s only a matter of time before the sheriff finds the person responsible and we can put all this behind us. You have a new baby and lots of memories to look forward to. And it’s nice to focus on something besides murder for a change.”

Meg nodded. The town had been through a lot since its wealthiest and most infamous resident was killed on his ranch this past summer. But it was more than that. The holidays brought back a memory of being interviewed for hours. The unspoken accusations had been so obvious that even a ten-year-old girl had understood them. Meg shivered involuntarily, thinking about the past. She couldn’t bring herself to talk about it with anyone. She needed to focus on something else. Bad thoughts had a way of multiplying, causing her to tumble down a slippery slope of pain and regret.

Meg turned her attention to her sleeping baby. The change in Meg this year was because of Aubrey. That little girl brightened everything she touched. Her baby held a special kind of magic that made Meg want to believe in miracles again, precisely the innocent sentiment that would end up crushing her in—she checked her watch—less than five minutes.

She shouldered the diaper bag. “Ready?”

When Meg had become too sick to drive herself to a doctor visit, Stephanie had stepped up to help. Not long after, her work partner had found herself in a bind when her two-year relationship ended and she had no place to live. Meg had volunteered to room together and the friendship had blossomed from there. It was nice to have that in her life after keeping herself isolated for so long.

Stephanie examined Meg with a questioning look. “I am.”

“It’s just a conversation,” Meg said to herself as she walked outside, bracing herself against the blast of frigid air. Her small SUV was parked in the lot behind the office. “I speak to people every day.”

“And you’re pretty darn good at it, too.” Stephanie closed and locked the door behind them. It was Friday and they’d let the receptionist go early so she could watch the tree-lighting ceremony. “But anything about this guy gives you pause and I’m only two blocks away. I can be at the restaurant in less than five minutes.” Stephanie snapped her fingers.

Meg froze as an awkward thought struck. “What if he doesn’t remember me?”

“It’s only been a year, Meg. You said that he’d been clear about not being the type to settle down, but I seriously doubt you’d spend time with anyone who was that much of a jerk.” Stephanie jangled her keys. “Besides, I’m following you in my car in case you both remember all too well and decide to get to know each other again while I babysit.” Stephanie wiggled her eyebrows.

Meg held back the laugh trying to force its way out of her throat. Wyatt Jackson didn’t want anything to do with her.

“I had to email him half a dozen times in order to get a response. If he remembers me at all from a year ago, he obviously wasn’t too impressed.” Meg secured Aubrey in her car seat in Stephanie’s car. The baby stretched but didn’t wake. She’d had a bottle twenty minutes ago so, fingers crossed, that should buy Meg a couple of hours to do what she should’ve done months ago before the baby arrived. Shoving the guilt aside, she climbed into the driver’s seat.

Meg glanced around with that awful feeling of someone watching her. Her stress levels were already on an upward trajectory and this made it worse. It was probably nothing more than the thought of facing her baby’s father that had her insides braided and the tiny hairs on her arms standing at attention. Or maybe it was the time of year. The holidays. The cold. The memories...

Meg glanced at the rearview. No one was there. She started the vehicle.

Wyatt Jackson was just a man like any other. This wasn’t the time for her brain to point out that he was intelligent, successful and unnervingly gorgeous. In retrospect, the man seemed almost superhuman to her. But then, he’d given her the absolute best gift in her life, her daughter, and that was likely the reason she’d built him up so much in her mind.

Meg checked the rearview one more time, making sure that Stephanie had cleared the parking spot behind her. She glanced at the backup camera as she pressed the gas pedal. Something crossed the corner of the screen.

Heart jackhammering, she touched the brake.

What was back there? An animal?

A tiny little thing darted toward the trees, yellow stripes streaking past the driver’s side. It was just a cat, barely more than a kitten.

Hands shaking, Meg white-knuckled the steering wheel, trying to calm her rattled nerves by sheer force of will.

There was nothing to be afraid of.

Right?

* * *

CHRISTMAS MIGHT ONLY be weeks away, but the holidays were something Wyatt Jackson would have no trouble skipping over altogether. New Year’s was more his style with its all-night partying and the attitude of ringing in the New Year with free-flowing booze and a carefree attitude.

Speaking of which, receiving an email from the blond-haired beauty Wyatt had spent time with last year had caught him off guard. She’d made it look easy to ignore his repeated phone calls this time last year, so he’d returned the favor by deleting her messages when she’d first contacted him.

In fact, in the past twelve months he’d done his level best to forget she existed. Although part of him had known that would be impossible given that he couldn’t seem to shake the feel of her soft skin on his fingertips, her intellect or the easy way she made him laugh.

The last email from Meg had seemed urgent, and to make matters even more interesting Maverick Mike Butler’s lawyer had been hot on Wyatt’s tail to get him to come to Cattle Barge. Mike Butler had been one of Texas’s most colorful citizens. A billionaire cattle rancher who’d been murdered on his own property this summer had sent the media into a feeding frenzy.

Ed Staples, the family’s lawyer, had seemed downright shocked that Wyatt already knew he was Mike Butler’s illegitimate son. Probably because Wyatt hadn’t made a single attempt to contact the estate—and thereby claim his right to the Butler fortune. Wyatt had made a success of himself on his own terms and had no need for a handout from the family who’d left his mother pregnant and destitute.

The first thing Wyatt had noticed when he hit Cattle Barge city limits was the swarm of media people. The town was still overrun months after Butler’s murder, although reporters were starting to write fluff. News about the famous will being read on Christmas Eve splashed across headlines on every outlet. Maverick Mike could take his money and shove it up his...

Wyatt realized he’d white-knuckled the steering wheel and laughed at himself. The holidays had soured his mood, and he had no plans to let emotions get in the way of what he hoped would be a hot reunion between him and the blonde. Besides, he couldn’t imagine that Maverick Mike’s legitimate kids would welcome him with open arms. Making the Butler heirs uncomfortable wasn’t the main reason Wyatt had hit the highway leading to Cattle Barge. He saw it more as a fringe benefit.

Wyatt knew the reason he’d been summoned, and to say he had mixed feelings about Maverick Mike Butler being his father was a lot like saying ghost peppers burned the tongue. Was he a Butler? His mother had said so, but in his heart he could never be connected to the man who’d walked away from her, from him.

Wyatt didn’t want the man’s money. His twenty-fifth Tiko Taco restaurant was about to open and he didn’t need a handout from anyone. Wyatt had learned how to work hard for his successes and he enjoyed the fruits of his labor to the fullest.

The Butlers weren’t the real reason he’d accepted the invitation to meet the family. There was another benefit to coming to Cattle Barge—seeing Meg Anderson again. He’d needed a good reason to show, convincing himself that a reunion wasn’t pull enough and especially with the way she’d left things. To prove a point to himself—the point being that he didn’t need her—he’d taken his time to return her emails.

That her tone had intensified, saying that they needed to meet got his curiosity going. They’d spent time together and—according to his memory—had one helluva good time before she’d ditched him. She’d cut off communication a few months after their smoking-hot affair started, leaving him scratching his head at what he’d done wrong.

Granted, he wasn’t the relationship type by a long shot and he’d been up-front about it with her. He was always honest. And he knew deep down that one of them was bound to walk away first sooner or later. Normally he hit the door, not the other way around, and that was most likely the reason she was still on his mind a year later. He could make that concession.

He’d been clear about his intentions, and although he’d enjoyed her company—he could further admit that enjoyed put it lightly—they hadn’t been together long enough for real heartbreak. And yet there’d been an uncomfortable feeling in his chest that felt a lot like a hole ever since she’d walked away.

Wyatt flipped the radio channel to his favorite country-and-western station. The breakup song playing reminded him of how he’d felt when Meg cut off communication. Now he was a bad cliché, and that just worsened his mood.

And even though Christmas was coming, he was most definitely not a ho-ho-ho type. Kris Kringle had never been more than a fat man in a silly suit. Wyatt tried to convince himself one more time that he didn’t care what Meg had to tell him. He was doing her a favor by showing up to hear her out and he needed to be in town anyway, so he might as well see what she wanted.

He parked at the Home Grown Foods Restaurant and ignored the fact that his pulse kick-started with each forward step toward the door. What was he—a teenager again? That ship had sailed long ago, and Wyatt didn’t appreciate the blast from the past making his collar feel stifling and his palms warm and sweaty.

The restaurant, located in the center of Main Street, had all of seven patrons. Traffic alone should’ve dictated a full house, although he remembered spotting a sign on his way in with details about a tree lighting at the park. He’d only been half paying attention.

Meg was hard to miss in her spot at the four-top table dead center in the room, and it was more than just her beauty that drew him toward her, although she looked even better than he remembered. She gave him one of those awkward morning-after smiles, the nervous kind with thin lips and scarcely any teeth showing. Even so, she was stunning and his heart reacted to seeing her by ratcheting up a few notches.

Acknowledging her with a nod, he removed his Stetson and closed the distance between them.

“Thanks for coming.” She motioned toward the chair and quickly pulled her hand back like an alligator might bite it. “Please, take a seat.”

The muscles on her forehead were pinched, which did nothing to dull her beauty as she sat on the edge of her seat. All hope this was going to be fun-filled day of reunion sex after a quick greeting and a decent meal died.

“You said this was important.” He took the chair opposite her, reminding himself not to get too comfortable. He leaned back, crossed his legs and touched his fingertips together, forming a steeple. The most beautiful pair of sky-blue eyes framed by thick dark eyelashes stared back at him. Her eyes were the color of summer.

“It is.” Blond locks spilled down her back. Was she this stunning before? Damn. She was and more.

Seeing her again awakened cells he thought were beyond resuscitation. Too bad she wanted something from him. And then he thought about it. News must be out that he was a Butler. A small town like Cattle Barge would have trouble keeping anything secret for long. Was she making a play for his inheritance? His heart argued against the idea even as the thought made him frown. Besides, he had no plans to claim anything about being a Butler, so she’d be out of luck.

A waitress brought over a menu. She was short, maybe five-feet-three inches, and had mousy brown hair. Her name tag read Hailey. The woman was the complete opposite of Meg, who had those long legs and shiny blond locks.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” Hailey asked.

“No. Thank you, Hailey.” He didn’t figure this conversation was going to take long enough to stick around. Meg would make her demand. He’d say no. Problem solved.

Ignoring the tug at his heart, he said, “I’m not staying.”

Meg let out a little grunt.

“You sure about that?” Hailey asked with a smile and a wink.

“Never been more certain of anything in my life.” Out of respect for his companion, he didn’t flirt back.

“Let me know if you change your mind,” Hailey said with a pout.

There was another emotion radiating off Meg—impatience. Or it could be jealousy, but that was most likely wishful thinking on his part. Sue him. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, and another pang of something—remorse?—hit as he acknowledged to himself she didn’t seem to want to be there any more than he did. At least he was trying to make the best out of a bad situation. What was her excuse?

Her arms were crossed and her gaze laser focused.

“Might as well go ahead and spit it out.” He didn’t bother hiding his impatience. “What do you want from me?”

A sound ripped from her throat and she made a move toward her purse.

“Do us both a favor.” She looked him square in the eyes. “Forget I called.”

“Suit yourself,” he said without conviction as he stood.

Wyatt turned around and walked right out the door.