The Cowboy's Secret Twins Read online

  It was Thursday morning when she sat at her computer in her living room working to build a brand-new slick Web page to advertise her business.

  The twins were on the living-room floor, babbling happily to her and to each other. At least they didn’t appear any worse for the drama that had taken place in that little shanty. Even Melissa was surprised by how easily she’d managed to put it all behind her. She had a life to build and couldn’t dwell on that night with Charlie and how close she’d come to losing everything.

  She tried not to think too much about Henry. She was in his life by accident and she couldn’t forget that. It hurt to think of him, to love him and know that she would always be the mother of his children but never the woman of his heart.

  For the past four nights she’d spent hours on the Internet trying to reconnect with MysteryMom but she hadn’t been able to find the woman in any of the chat rooms she’d visited or anywhere else. It was as if she’d been a figment of Melissa’s imagination.

  Melissa would have liked to tell her that she’d successfully united Joey and James with their daddy and in that respect the story had a happy ending.

  And someday maybe Melissa would find her happy ending with a man who would love her, a man who wouldn’t be able to wait to marry her. At the moment the idea of romance with anyone left a bad taste in her mouth. It would take her a while to heal, to get over the heartbreak of loving Henry.

  At least he hadn’t spoken again about her moving into the carriage house. If he brought it up again she was afraid she would confess that the reason she didn’t want to live there was because she was in love with him. She didn’t want to burden him with her love. The last thing she wanted to do was complicate their relationship.

  It was important for the boys’ sake that Henry and Melissa’s relationship remain calm and pleasant, not filled with stress or tension.

  She stopped working on the Web page at six and fed the boys a bottle, then snuggled with them on the sofa. This was the time of the evening when loneliness struck her the hardest.

  As the twins got sleepy and fell silent, the quiet of the apartment pressed in on her. She couldn’t help but remember those nights with Henry when they’d sat and talked and just shared little pieces of each other.

  She had to make sure in the future she maintained an emotional distance from him. She was going to have to see him on a regular basis but somehow, someway, she had to uninvolve her heart where he was concerned.

  When the boys had fallen asleep she carried them one at a time to the cribs in their small bedroom then returned to the living room. She sat back down at the computer, but her thoughts were still consumed by Henry. He’d called every day since she’d been home, short chats about the twins that had only made it more difficult for her to gain the emotional distance she needed from him.

  He’d wanted her to drive back to Dalhart this weekend, but she’d told him that she wasn’t ready to make the drive again. He’d been disappointed but seemed to understand and they’d made plans for him to come to her apartment the following weekend.

  There was a motel nearby and he could stay there and when she went back to Dalhart she would stay at a motel and he could visit the twins there. It was important that she set boundaries when it came to the visitation. He was her weakness and it would be far too easy for her to fall into his bed if he wanted her every time they were together for visitation.

  Even now as she thought about being with him, kissing him and making love with him, she was filled with a longing that knew no bounds.

  She was just about to stop working on the Web page and turn on the television when a knock fell on her door. She opened the door and her breath caught in her throat.

  Henry. He stood before her as if conjured up by her thought, by her deep longing for him. “Surprise,” he said with a smile that looked distinctly uncomfortable.

  “Henry…What are you doing here?” She opened the door to allow him inside and as he swept by her she caught the sweet familiar scent that belonged to him alone. She closed the door and turned to face him.

  He looked wonderful in a pair of worn jeans and a flannel plaid shirt and his winter coat. He looked just like the sexy, handsome cowboy who had rescued her on that snowy night over a year ago.

  “I couldn’t wait until next weekend or the weekend after that,” he said.

  She frowned. “But you’ve come so late. The boys are already asleep for the night. You should have called and let me know you were coming.”

  He shrugged out of his coat and laid it across the back of the sofa. “I would have called, but I didn’t know I was coming until I was in the car and on my way.” He stared at her for a long moment, his gaze inscrutable. “We need to talk.”

  He seemed nervous and ill at ease and suddenly she was afraid. Had he come to tell her that he’d changed his mind, that he’d decided he was going to fight her for custody of the twins? Had being away from them made him decide he’d do anything to keep them with him?

  “Talk about what?” She sank down on the sofa, afraid that her trembling legs wouldn’t hold her up any longer. She motioned him into the chair opposite the sofa but he remained standing with his back against the door, as if he might escape at any moment.

  “I want to talk to you about the carriage house,” he said.

  “Henry, I…”

  He held up a hand to stop her from saying anything more. “Please, just listen to me for a minute. I’ve never offered something to somebody and then taken it back, but that’s what I’m doing now. I don’t want you to live in the carriage house.”

  Even though she hadn’t intended to move in there, his words shot a sliver of pain through her. He didn’t want her there. He didn’t want her that close to him.

  She nodded and told herself it was for the best. It hadn’t been something she wanted to do anyway. “Okay,” she replied.

  “No, it’s not okay. Nothing has been okay since you and the boys left.” He shoved off from the door and walked the width of the room to stand in front of her. He stared at her, his expression impossible to read.

  He finally drew a deep breath. “I thought I had my life all figured out, then you arrived with the boys and everything got all screwed up.”

  “I’m sorry. It was never my intention to mess up your life,” she replied. Could this get more horrible? She fought back the sting of tears, refusing to allow him to see the depth of emotion inside her where he was concerned.

  With one smooth movement he sat next to her. “My mother told me that my father might have done me a disservice in pounding into my head that all any woman would ever want from me was my money. Certainly my relationship with Hilary proved him right.”

  “But he was wrong, Henry,” Melissa exclaimed fervently. “You’re a wonderful man and you’d be a wonderful man with or without your money.”

  He smiled then, that slow sexy grin that would always have the capacity to warm her. “Last night I was sitting in the living room alone and thinking about the boys and what the future might hold. When I thought about them mounting a horse for the very first time, you were there in my vision. When I visualized putting them on the bus for their first day of school, in my vision you were standing beside me and holding my hand. Each and every fantasy of the future I imagined had you in it.”

  He frowned and his gaze never left hers. “And it wasn’t just the boys’ future that I fantasized about. I thought about your laughter and the way your eyes light up when you’re happy. I thought about sleeping next to you, making love to you and I realized there was no way I wanted you living a separate life in the carriage house. I don’t want you dating. I don’t want you to be alone.”

  She didn’t say a word. She was afraid she was misinterpreting what he was telling her. She remained frozen, her gaze locked with his.

  “I realize now why it’s been so easy for me to be a confirmed bachelor,” he continued. “It’s because I’d never met a woman I wanted to share my life with, a woman I lo
ved mindlessly, desperately, until I met you.”

  Melissa’s heart soared. “I wasn’t going to move into the carriage house because I’m in love with you and I couldn’t live there and see you every day and not be a real part of your life.”

  Her words seemed to break something loose in Henry. His eyes flared bright and he reached out and placed his palm against her cheek. “God, I was hoping you’d say something like that.”

  “I love you, Henry, but are you sure your feelings for me aren’t because of the boys?”

  “Melissa, I love you as the mother of my children, but my love doesn’t begin and end there. I love you because you’re strong and beautiful. I love you because you make me feel like I’ve never felt before in my life. I want to spend my life with you. Marry me, Melissa. Marry me and move into my house. Let us be a real family together.”

  His mouth took hers in a kiss that tasted of desire, but more it tasted of the future, of promises made and kept and the family she’d always wanted.

  “You haven’t answered me,” he said when he finally pulled his mouth from hers. “Will you marry me? Will you share the rest of your life with me?”

  “Yes,” she replied breathlessly. “Yes! Yes!”

  He pulled her into his arms and she leaned her head against his chest, listening to the strong beat of his heart.

  “I wonder if MysteryMom has any idea what she’s managed to accomplish?” she said.

  “I have a feeling she knows,” he replied. “I’ll give you the world, Melissa. Whatever you want, whatever you need to be happy.”

  “I don’t need or want anything but you and the boys,” she replied.

  “There is one thing you can eventually give me, if you’re willing.”

  She rose up and looked at him. “What on earth could I possibly give you that you don’t already have?”

  He smiled, his eyes lit with love. “Twin daughters.”

  Melissa’s heart swelled inside her. She was filled with such love, such joy, that she couldn’t find her voice. She could only nod as he once again claimed her mouth with his.

  She would forever be grateful for the blizzard that had brought them together on that night so long ago and to a woman named MysteryMom who had led her to happiness that she knew was going to last a lifetime.

  Epilogue

  She sat in front of her computer and stared at the e-mail she’d just written, but hesitated in hitting the button that would send the message on its way.

  MysteryMom picked up the cup of coffee sitting next to her at the desk and took a sip, her mind whirling with the words she’d just typed.

  It was amazing what kind of information could be gained when money was no object and you had contacts everywhere in the world. For the past year she’d used those contacts and her money for a mission—the mission of uniting people for the sake of their children.

  It had begun when she’d started dropping in on various chat rooms and began to hear stories about women who didn’t know where the father of their children were or how to get in touch with them to let them know they were fathers.

  The stories had torn at her heart until finally she’d decided to try to do something—use her resources to bring some sort of reunion to the men and women who had parented children.

  So far she’d been successful with several couples, but this one worried her. She reread the e-mail she’d composed and thought of the man and woman involved.

  A terrible fate had pulled Emily Grainger and Jagger Holtz apart after a single night together. The result of that night had been a daughter named Michelle.

  MysteryMom now had the pieces of the puzzle that could potentially bring together Emily and Jagger. She knew the information contained in the e-mail could save a man’s life, but might also bring extreme danger to both him and Emily.

  He’s already in danger, she thought to herself. And if the e-mail wasn’t sent then in all probability he would die.

  She owed it to Jagger Holtz to send the e-mail and she prayed that when she did Emily Grainer would survive whatever consequences might come.

  Drawing in a deep breath, the woman who called herself MysteryMom hit the send button.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-4313-6

  THE COWBOY’S SECRET TWINS

  Copyright © 2009 by Carla Bracale

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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