The Cowboy's Promise Read online

  Erica refused to flinch at the words. Her father was right. She’d thought she had everything figured out and was thrown a big curve. She refused to call it a mess because that reflected on the child she was carrying, and the choices had been hers. The way it had played out made her feel like crap, and now she needed help from the family she’d neglected.

  “Thank you, Daddy.”

  Her dad nodded, held out his arms to her and she stepped into them for a much needed hug. “I love you, honey. I think I speak for your mother when I say we’re glad you’re home, but we aren’t finished talking about this baby’s father.”

  Erica was finished, but wisely chose not to say that. The line was drawn in the sand, and she knew which side of it she was on.

  * * *

  Her dad helped her unload the car and take some things upstairs to her old room. She appreciated that very much and knew all of this must be hard for him. After that, she felt an overwhelming need to see her big brother. Fortunately his house was on the ranch and was located not far from her parents, so Erica walked over.

  For the second time that day, she knocked on a door and waited to shock the person who opened it. But she was the one who got a surprise when a pretty, petite woman with long, straight blond hair stood there instead of her big brother.

  “Hi. I’m Melanie Driscoll.”

  “You’re the woman who’s going to marry my brother. I’m Erica.” She couldn’t believe they hadn’t met. “Mom called me right after he proposed, and she said the ring is fabulous.”

  “I think so.” Melanie held out her left hand with a platinum band supporting a spectacularly large diamond.

  “Gorgeous.” Erica smiled. “When’s the wedding?”

  “Next summer.”

  “I’m so glad to finally meet you.”

  “Same here.” The other woman’s gaze dropped to her belly. “And I hear congratulations are in order for you, too. Your mom called.”

  “I figured.”

  Melanie shrugged. “Gabe is still on the phone with her.”

  “My ears were burning,” Erica said wryly, and slid off her poncho as she stepped into the warm house.

  Melanie gave her the once-over. “I’ve known you all of a minute but I have to say, you’re positively glowing. The baby bump is so cute and you’re beautiful.”

  “You should probably get your eyes checked. I’m as big as a barn.”

  “Hardly. When is the baby due?”

  “November.”

  “You look fantastic,” Melanie said. “How do you feel?”

  “The first three months were a little rough with morning sickness. But since then I’ve been great. Not too tired. I love being pregnant.” She smiled at the other woman. “I’ve known you all of a minute, but I have to say this. I’m so glad my brother has the good sense to marry you.”

  “I’m the lucky one. I’d given up on finding someone and then, there he was.” She turned an adoring gaze on the man in question when he came up beside her.

  Gabriel Abernathy was a tall, broad-shouldered force of nature. When he looked at Melanie, his blue eyes were flirty. Then his gaze landed on Erica and turned serious.

  “I just got off the phone with Mom.”

  “Hello to you, too,” she said.

  “Come here.” He held out his arms.

  She walked into them and sighed when he hugged her. “I’m so glad to see you.”

  “Same here. But I have to ask—what the hell are you doing, Erica?”

  “I’m having a baby.” She put her hands protectively on her belly. “And I want this child more than anything in the world.”

  “Mom told me you won’t say who the father is.” With his hands on his hips and looking all serious at her, Gabe looked a lot like their father.

  It had been a long, emotional day, and Erica was just about at her limit. “Don’t you start on me. I left for Colorado to go to college. I stayed to have a career. Every time I make a decision, I’m being judged in a bad way. And you all wonder why I don’t come home more often.”

  “It’s not judgment. It’s just that—” he dragged his hand through his spiky dirty blond hair “we miss you. Me. Mom. Dad. Grandpa Alexander. Gramps.”

  Guilt zinged her hard. Gramps—her great-grandfather, Josiah Abernathy—was in his midnineties and had been diagnosed with dementia. The subtext of her brother’s words was that no one knew how much time he had left and she’d been focused on career which didn’t leave a lot of free time.

  She pushed the guilt away. “I was entitled to a life that I chose. Not Mom and Dad. They wouldn’t have been happy with anything but me marrying a local rancher. I wanted more. To travel. Broaden my horizons.”

  “And you did.” Again he glanced at her belly. “But you’ve lost time with Gramps. Precious time. And he doesn’t say much at all anymore.”

  “I’ll go see him soon—” A lump in her throat cut off more words. She did love Gramps and felt badly that he was declining. There was no good excuse except that life happened. One day turned into the next and before she’d realized it, twelve years had gone by.

  Erica didn’t want to fight with her brother. She’d come here to get away from the tension at the big house. That thought pulled her up short. Wasn’t that what they called prison? It was time to change the subject.

  “So, tell me how you and Melanie met,” she said enthusiastically.

  “Mel moved to Bronco from Rust Creek Falls for a job. She ended up looking into the Abernathy family history. Gramps’s history.”

  So much for a subject change, Erica thought. But Gabe was smiling lovingly at his fiancée. And this was the happiest she’d ever seen him look.

  “How did that happen, Melanie?”

  “It’s Mel,” she corrected, then her expression turned from tender to concerned. “I have a good friend in Rust Creek Falls named Winona Cobbs. It came to my attention that she and Josiah Abernathy were secretly in love when they were very young. She got pregnant. When she gave birth, she thought the little girl was stillborn and had a breakdown. But that’s not what happened. The baby was alive.”

  Gabe jumped into the story. “It turned out that Gramps’s parents forced him to leave town and put the baby up for adoption. We think somewhere in or around Bronco.”

  “Oh my God.” Erica couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “How did you find all this out?”

  “When the Ambling A Ranch in Rust Creek Falls was sold, the new people found Josiah’s journal in the house. There was a letter inside to Winona. Somehow he found out who adopted their daughter, Beatrix, and promised he’d find a way to bring her back to Winona.”

  Erica was holding her breath. Waiting for the happy reunion part of the story. When it didn’t come, she said, “And?”

  “Because of the dementia, he can’t give us any information. A friend of mine who’s really good with social media did an internet search with what information we have and got a hit.” Melanie looked up at Gabe, and disappointment was all over their faces. “It turned out that was just someone looking for money.”

  “People like that make me so angry.” Not only that, Erica was feeling even more guilty about neglecting her great-grandfather. “What now?”

  “Good question,” Mel said. “So far we’ve only turned up frauds and weirdos.”

  Erica looked at her and saw concern. “There’s more, isn’t there?”

  “Winona was hospitalized recently. She’s ninety-three and frail. I’m worried that if something doesn’t break soon, we’ll lose her before we can reunite her with her daughter.”

  “That would be awful. What are we going to do?” Erica demanded.

  “What’s this ‘we’ stuff?” he asked.

  “I want to help.”

  “Really?” Gabe looked surprised.

  “Yes, me. I’ll do what
ever I can.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s my great-grandfather.” And that wasn’t her only reason.

  Erica was definitely shocked that Josiah had a daughter out of wedlock that the family never knew about. But she felt a parallel to his story. Her own secret. She was having a baby, and no one was going to know how this child came to be.

  “I love him,” she said simply.

  “I know that.” But his tone and expression were skeptical, as if he didn’t expect her to stick around.

  And why would he? She didn’t come home enough when her life was going great. Until it fell apart, she’d acted as if she didn’t need any of them.

  “I know I should have made more of an effort to visit. But I’m here now and I want to do whatever I can to help. I’ve certainly got time—”

  Gabe’s expression turned sympathetic. “Mom told me about Peter and his father.”

  Erica saw the blaze of fury in his eyes but knew that it wasn’t directed at her. She loved him so much for that.

  She let out a sigh. “It’s been an emotional and eventful couple of weeks.”

  Mel put her arm around Erica. “You’ve been through a lot recently. Everyone needs a minute to get used to the new normal. It’s all going to be fine.”

  “Listen to her, baby sister. She’s a smart lady.” He smiled tenderly at the woman he was going to marry. “And I’m taking her out to dinner tonight.”

  “Why don’t you come with us?” Mel asked her.

  “I don’t want to intrude.”

  “You won’t be. Right, Gabe?” She turned her big blue eyes on him.

  He nodded. “Definitely, you should come. There’s a new restaurant in town. Barbecue but better. DJ’s Deluxe.”

  “I’m the CFO now and have connections,” Mel said. “Come with us. A change of scene will be good for you. We could all use a distraction.”

  “I could sure use one.”

  “It’s settled then,” Mel declared.

  Erica watched her brother hold his fiancée’s jacket for her to slip on. He put his arm around her for a quick hug, then took her hand and laced their fingers together.

  Oh man, he’s got it bad, Erica thought. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

  She didn’t for a moment regret that she was pregnant, but seeing Mel and Gabe together, loving each other, made her a little envious. On the upside, her baby was going to have the best aunt and uncle in the world.

  Chapter Two

  Morgan Dalton walked into DJ’s Deluxe and went straight to the bar. He needed a beer, and if a woman came along after that, he wouldn’t complain. A woman would sure take his mind off his problems.

  The place was crowded tonight, but he found a spot at the bar. DJ Traub himself was tending it and delivering food. The man was in his forties, handsome, a friendly guy with a face you could trust. The restaurant owner, who looked like he could just as easily round up a herd of cattle, had dark hair, brown eyes. He put a plate of potato skins deluxe in front of the blond woman sitting beside Morgan.

  “This looks fantastic,” she said. “Even better than the supermessy wings I just ate. Everything you give me is better than the last.”

  “You keep eating, I’ll keep the food coming. It’s the least I can do for Bronco Heights’ newest full-time resident and my CFO’s future sister-in-law.”

  Morgan was eavesdropping, but it wasn’t his fault. She was close enough that he could smell her supersexy perfume. And he liked her voice. There was something low and husky and sensuous about it that made him sit up and take notice of everything she said.

  DJ noticed him and said hello. Morgan had been a regular since the place opened, and they’d struck up a friendship.

  He angled his head toward the woman beside him, a signal that he’d like to be introduced. The other man nodded slightly, an indication that his message was received.

  “Hey, Erica,” DJ said. “Since you’re new to town, I thought you’d like to meet my friend Morgan Dalton.”

  Still chewing a bite of potato, she full on looked at him for the first time. That face... This is what it must feel like to get zapped with those paddle things when your heart stops.

  She was beautiful. He’d seen his share of beautiful women in his thirty-four years, some of them on a movie screen. But this one sitting so close to him was more than a wow. He liked women, they liked him and he did his share of dating, although it was never serious and never would be. But he was dead certain that he’d never had such a strong reaction to a female the very first time he laid eyes on her.

  “Hello, Morgan,” she said. “I’m Erica.”

  “Nice to meet you.” He barely noticed when DJ put a glass of beer in front of him. He wanted to say where have you been all my life and was afraid the words had come out of his mouth. But she didn’t look afraid, so he figured he hadn’t made a fool of himself yet. “So, you’re new to town?”

  “Not exactly. But I haven’t lived here for twelve years. What about you?”

  “I’ve been here a year.” Why did it feel so much longer? “My father bought Dalton’s Grange. My four brothers and I work there with my dad.”

  “There are four more at home like you?” she teased.

  Her smile was as spectacular as a Montana sunrise, and he swore his heart got zapped again. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “How do you like it here, so far?” She cut into the potato skin and ate a piece.

  “Prettiest country I’ve ever seen. But a little on the chilly side.” He took a sip from his beer glass. “Could just be me, but there are some folks who consider us new money, without deep roots or any legacy. A couple of families have been here for generations. The Taylors and Abernathys. If you’re not one of them, you get some funny looks.”

  “Really? Thanks for the warning.” She nodded her head, but there was a twinkle in her pretty hazel eyes.

  “So where are you moving from?” he asked.

  “Colorado. Denver. My parents have been wanting me to come back and I had a change of circumstances in my career.”

  “Oh?”

  “I got fired.”

  Morgan wasn’t sure how he knew, but some instinct told him it was not a just termination. “Whoever fired you was clearly an idiot.”

  “I think so. But that’s very nice of you to say, considering that we just met.”

  “The length of our acquaintance doesn’t make my comment any less sincere. I just know. Because... Where have you been all my life?” He couldn’t believe the words actually came out of his mouth. “Wait. Forget I said that—”

  “No way. I love it.” Erica was laughing. “That was quite possibly cheesier than these potato skins.”

  “I take it back—”

  “And without a doubt the sweetest thing a man’s ever said to me,” she added.

  “So that didn’t make you want to head for the exit?”

  “I’m made of sterner stuff.” She smiled her punch-to-the-gut smile again. “Besides, I happen to like cheese.”

  He met her gaze over the corner of the shiny teak bar that separated them as they sat at a right angle to each other. “That makes two of us.”

  “So tell me, Morgan, why don’t you have a beautiful woman on your arm tonight?”

  “I wouldn’t say you’re on my arm exactly,” he answered, “but you’re talking to me. And you’re definitely beautiful.”

  Her smile was suddenly shy and a little sad for some reason. “But we’re not together. A good-looking cowboy like you, in this place all by yourself, is a dozen kinds of wrong. So what gives?”

  “I thought I made that clear. I’ve been waiting for you.” He knew he was only half kidding.

  “Are you flirting with me?” There was the cutest expression on her face, a look that said the flirt factor might be going both ways.

&
nbsp; “Maybe a little,” he admitted. “And that makes me want to ask for your phone number. It’s not every day a man meets a woman like you.”

  “That statement is true in more ways than you realize,” she said wryly. “And it’s becoming clear to me you didn’t notice that I’m—”

  “What?”

  She swiveled her bar stool sideways toward him. The good news was they sat close enough that her legs were touching his. The jaw-dropping news was that she was very much with child.

  Morgan glanced from her round belly to her eyes a couple of times before blurting out, “You’re pregnant.”

  “Really?” Her look was wry as she put her hands on her stomach. “I hadn’t noticed. But that would explain why I’ve been eating my weight in food that DJ keeps bringing me, even after I ate dinner.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just—I didn’t mean to offend you.” He automatically looked for a ring on her left hand.

  “I’m not married or offended.” There was laughter in her voice.

  “Erica, you have to know that I’ve never hit on a pregnant woman in my life. I apologize.”

  “Well, Morgan Dalton, I’m thrilled to be your first. And speaking for pregnant women everywhere, it’s quite flattering to be flirted with.” She stopped and studied his face. “But maybe I should apologize to you.”

  “For what?”

  “You’re white as a ghost.”

  “And you’re enjoying that quite a bit, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  She pushed away the plate with food still on it. Either she was finally full or had suddenly lost her appetite. “But I should have said something sooner. It’s been a long day and coming home is hard.”

  “Oh?”

  “My great-grandfather has dementia. And my family is kind of upset that I haven’t been back to visit him in a while.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you. And today I found out that said great-grandfather, Josiah Abernathy, had a baby out of wedlock and no one in my family knew about it.”

  He wasn’t sure about turning white when she pointed out her pregnancy, but he felt the color drain from his face now. This was a bad time to find out he never got her last name before bad-mouthing her family. “You’re an Abernathy?”