Taking Catie: The Temptation Saga: Book Three (11 page)

T
wo weeks had passed
, and he hadn’t called.

Not that Catie was surprised. Chad hadn’t promised anything beyond the next day, and waking up in his arms and making love again had been totally worth it.

Now, Catie was driving into Murphy. She had an errand to run, and she couldn’t do it in Bakersville. Couldn’t risk the small-town gossip.

She needed a home pregnancy test.

Her fears had surfaced. She was three days late.

She walked through the pharmacy in the small cow town, feeling conspicuous. They all knew why she was here, didn’t they? Their stares melded to her flesh. Their judgments mocked her. She took a deep breath and walked down one aisle and then another, mindlessly throwing items in her basket. A candy bar. Cotton balls. A knock-off of Chanel No. 5. She felt like a teenage boy buying condoms. This was ridiculous.

Condoms. That’s probably where she’d find the pregnancy tests. Ha. Ironic. She came upon the birth control aisle and perused the packages.
Ribbed for her pleasure
. Yeah, whatever.

Sure enough, the home pregnancy tests sat on a shelf next to the ovulation predictors. She grabbed one of the boxes that had two tests. Might as well be sure, right?

On her way out, she threw a trashy novel into her basket. There, she had several things other than the pregnancy test. This looked perfectly normal, right? She was probably a married woman buying some bath items and a book, and oh, yeah, by the way, a pregnancy test.

Her ringless left hand seemed to glow.

The teenage clerk rang up her purchases without a sideways glance.
Breathe in, breathe out
. Catie was convinced she’d hyperventilate at any moment.

She ran to her car and sat down, inhaling.

She needed to do the pregnancy test now. She couldn’t wait until she got home. She stuck the box in her purse and walked into the grocery store next to the pharmacy. She headed straight to the back where the restrooms usually were.

She eased into a stall and sat on the toilet. She opened the box and read through the instructions quickly. So this was what she had been reduced to. Peeing on a stick in a public restroom.

Here goes nothing.

After following the instructions, she hid the stick in the test box and watched the second hand on her watch.

Had three minutes always been this slow?

Ticktock, ticktock, ticktock.

Insanity threatened to overtake her.

When the second hand finally hit the twelve, nausea rose in her gut, and her skin tightened.

She slowly withdrew the stick from the box.

C
had missed Catie
.

He finally admitted it to himself. He was going to ask her on a real date. Dinner, maybe a movie, and then sex back at his place.

He chuckled. His brothers would give him three shades of shit for this.

Damn, she was so young. But he’d been ready to hit the hay with Amber, and she was nearly as young as Catie. Funny thing was, he didn’t think of Amber that way. He didn’t remember Amber as a cute little toddler.

He thought of his brother Zach, who had married Dusty O’Donovan, seven years his junior. Dusty had been the daughter of one of the McCrays’ ranch hands. They left the ranch when Dusty was six and Zach was thirteen, and the two met up again seventeen years later.

But Zach hadn’t watched Dusty grow into an awkward prepubescent, a pretty freckle-faced teen, and a drop-dead gorgeous woman. Would it have been different for Zach if he had?

Plus, Catie and Chad were eleven years apart, four more than Zach and Dusty. Hell, what did it matter?

She was a woman and he was attracted to her. Attracted as he’d never been before.

He picked up his cell phone and called the Bay house. Why had he never thought to get Catie’s cell number?

“Hello.”

“Hi, Maria. It’s Chad McCray.”

“Chad, how are you? Are you calling for Wayne?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Harper then?”

“Uh, no. I’d like to speak to Catie, please.”

“Oh. Goodness.”

Clearly, Catie hadn’t told her mother where she’d spent the night a few weeks ago.

“Is she there?”

“She ran a few errands. Can I have her call you later?”

“Uh…” He wanted to call
her
. Not have her return his call. He wanted to do this right.

What? Who was that voice inside his head, and what had it done with Chad McCray?

“No, ma’am. Thank you. I’ll call back later.”

“Okay, Chad. Bye now.”

Damn, if only he had her cell number.

He felt like a schoolboy rather than a thirty-two-year-old man, giddy over a first date with a girl he really liked. A girl he wanted more than anything. A girl who could steal his heart.

His heart? Since when had his heart become involved? He’d liked women before, had feelings for them, but never had he felt this yearning for closeness. Not just the closeness of bodies either.

He jolted from his thoughts when his cell phone rang. He looked down. He didn’t recognize the number.

“Yeah?”

“Chad?”

Catie’s voice. Damn, had her mother told her to call him? “Hi there, sugar. I was just thinking about you.”

“Oh.” Then, “You were?”

Something was off in her voice. She sounded sad, remorseful. “Did your ma tell you I called?”

“Uh, no, she didn’t. I’m not home. I’m in my car.”

“Yeah, she said you were running errands. You close by?”

“Not too far,” she said. “I…uh…need to talk to you.”

“I want to talk to you, too, sugar. You want to come over?”

“We need to talk in private, Chad.”

“Nothing more private than my bedroom, baby.”

Silence. What was wrong? He wanted her to come over so he could take her in his arms and promise her everything would be okay. That he’d make it okay for her.

Who was this stranger?

“I… I can’t come over for that, Chad.”

“Okay.”

Don’t push. You want to take her on a real date, remember?
The sex’ll come later.

“Let’s meet somewhere private.”

“Just come over here, Catie. I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself. I’ll have Brenda whip us up some sandwiches for lunch, okay? You hungry?”

“No. Not particularly.”

“What’s wrong, sugar?”

“Nothing I can talk about now. I’ll tell you when I get there, okay?”

“Okay, baby.” He smiled into the phone. “I’ll be waiting.”

P
ositive
.

The dang thing was positive.

Catie drove onto the McCray property and edged her way to Chad’s ranch house. How could she tell him? He had taken precautions. Maybe she should have gone on birth control pills a while back as an extra back-up. But she hadn’t been sexually active, so what would have been the point? Or she should have carried some spermicidal suppositories in her purse. Even if she had, would she have bothered with them when Chad put on a condom?

She shook her head. No more second guessing. What was done was done, and she and Chad had to figure out what to do about it together.

She hadn’t trapped him. The condom breaking had been an unfortunate accident. Nothing more. He would understand that.

Should she have told him about the condom? She hadn’t wanted to worry him unnecessarily over an eleven percent possibility.

Again, it didn’t really matter. Chad knew he had used a condom. He couldn’t accuse her of trapping him. She would never have done that to him anyway. She loved him too much.

If she was going to have him, she wanted all of him. His love. His devotion. His whole heart and soul.

What would he do?

More importantly, what would he want
her
to do?

Because she had made up her mind about one thing already. Whether he decided to be involved or not, she was having this baby.

“
H
ey there
, rodeo queen,” Chad drawled when he opened the door for Catie.

He looked gorgeous, as usual. His snug fitting jeans hugged his firm rear-end and sat below his hips at just the right angle to show off the cuts in his hip bones. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, damn him. His golden muscular chest made her heart race.

He reached toward her. “You been crying, sugar?”

Crying. Bawling. Heck, yes. He’d be crying in a minute, too.

She sniffed. “A little.”

“What on earth is wrong? Can I help?”

“I don’t know that you can, Chad.” Catie stifled a sob. “But I do need to talk to you.”

“Well, now, come on in, then.” He led her to the kitchen. “Brenda whipped us up a nice lunch. You want some tea?” He grinned. “Some raspberry tea?”

Catie’s tummy lurched at the thought of food. It was too early for morning sickness. She had a couple of more weeks before that lovely part of pregnancy set in. Nope, this nausea came from having to tell perpetual bachelor Chad McCray that he was about to become a father.

“Tea’d be fine, but I can’t eat. I’m not feeling quite myself.”

“All right. Sit on down.” He motioned to his kitchen table. “I’ll get you some tea, and then you can tell me what’s got that pretty face all in a frown.”

He brought her tea, sat down next to her, took her hand, and rubbed his thumb into her palm. It felt warm. It felt good.

“Catie, there’s something I need to say to you.”

“What?”

“Well, I hope this’ll help you feel better. Course I might be overestimating my importance in your life.” He looked into his lap. “But I sure hope not. Anyway”—he took her other hand—“I’d like to…
see
you. Romantically. You know, take you on a date. Get to know each other better.”

Her heart sank. Was her dream actually coming true? Now that she had to tell him she was pregnant? Tears threatened behind her eyes. “Chad—”

“Let me finish.” He cleared his throat. “I know we went to bed quickly. I wanted it. I don’t have to tell you that.”

“I wanted it too. And I meant it when I said you didn’t owe me anything.”
I still mean it
, Catie thought,
even though…
She couldn’t finish the thought.

“I know you did, sugar. But I’m hoping you’ll let me be more of a part of your life. I… I have strong feelings for you. I’d like to see where they could lead.”

“Uh, well, sure, Chad. I’d like that, too, but—”

“But what, sugar?”

“I have something I have to tell you. I hope you’ll be happy. I just don’t know.” She choked back another sob and sniffed.

Chad stood and brought a box of tissues to her.

“Thank you.”

“No problem, sugar. I hate to see you like this. Is one of your horses sick?”

“No, no. Nothing like that.”

“Then what is it? You can tell me. I’ll help if I can.”

How she hoped he’d help. How she hoped he wouldn’t be completely disappointed.

She took a deep breath. “Chad, I’m pregnant.”

C
had inhaled
, and his heart nearly skidded to a stop.
Pregnant
.
Baby
.

How many times could one man—one man who intended to remain single and childless—endure those words?

Within seconds, Chad relived the hellish two month nightmare he’d withstood the previous year—only a week after he’d buried his mother.

S
ilence
. His face had turned to granite. Had he gone completely devoid of emotion? Catie stood, pondering. Should she say something else?

Finally, “Good joke.”

“It’s not a joke.”

“That’s ridiculous. You can’t be pregnant. We used protection.”

“Yes. I know. But after that first night, I found one of your condoms by the trash in the morning. It… It had a tear in it.”

“Impossible. I use the best there are. I’ve never had a problem before.” He stood up and paced. “How can you be sure?”

“I’m a few days late. I drove into Murphy this morning and bought a home pregnancy test. It…was positive.”

“Only a few days? Then that could be a mistake.”

“Yeah. It could be, but it’s not. This is the same thing they use at doctor’s offices, Chad. They’re so sensitive now that you can detect pregnancy before you even miss your period. I’ve already missed mine.”

“Come on. You’re going to a doctor. The best in Denver. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Chad, I agree that I need to go to a doctor, but to start prenatal care, not to have a pregnancy test.”

“Prenatal care? Oh my God.”

“Chad, I—”

“A rip in the condom. Nearly twenty years of condom use, Catie, and I’ve never had one rip on me. Interesting, isn’t it?”

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, that last time, you put the condom on me, remember?”

“So?”

“So it would have been really easy for you to poke a hole in it without me knowing.”

Catie’s blood boiled. “You are
not
going to pin this on me. I found the condom with the tear in it after the first time, before I ever put a condom on you. And for your information, I wished damn hard for that test to be negative. I knew you didn’t want a child, a family. I knew you didn’t want me. But it’s positive, and the child is yours.”

“Maybe.”

She clenched her fists. “How
dare
you?”

“How do I know who you’ve been seeing? I’ve only been with you a few days out of the three weeks you’ve been home.”

“You fucking bastard!” Catie stood and pushed her chair under the table loudly. “The baby is yours. The condom ripped. I had nothing to do with it.”

“Get in my truck.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“The hell you’re not. We’re going to have a real doctor check you out. Then we’ll figure out where we can go to get rid of this…problem.”

“Get rid of it?” She gritted her teeth. “You can’t be serious. Know one thing, Chad McCray. I’m having this baby. With or without you.”

“Goddamnit.”

“What’s your problem anyway? A minute ago, you wanted to date me. To see me romantically, I believe is how you put it.”

“Dating you and setting up house are two different things.”

“Setting up house? I haven’t asked you for anything.”

“The hell you haven’t. Come on.”

“No.”

“Yes. We need to get you to a doctor in Denver. We need to find out what’s going on.”

“I already know what’s going on. I’m having a baby. You’re the father. I’m not asking you for anything. You can be involved or not. It’s your choice, but I’m having this child.”

Chad’s muscles tightened visibly. “If you’re bound and determined, you’re coming with me. I want a real doctor to look at you, Catie.”

He said not another word as he pulled her out of the kitchen, out of the house, and into his pickup.

He said not a word during the two hour drive to Denver.

He said not a word as he pulled her into the OB-GYN department of Denver Memorial hospital and demanded to see the best doctor they had.

They waited another hour in the waiting area, and he said not a word.

When the doctor confirmed the pregnancy, pronounced Catie in excellent health, assured her she could still have intimate relations, and wrote her a prescription for prenatal vitamins, Chad finally spoke.

“Come on, then.” He pulled her out of the doctor’s office.

“Where are we going now?”

“To the courthouse. We’re getting married.”