mouth, his sister Tallie cried out from the hallway, then burst into laughter.
“My God, Jake! I can’t believe it’s really you! After all these years you’ve come home,” Tallie said. “You’re too late for the wedding, but the reception just started.”
“You don’t mean our big brother actually came home for your wedding,” Caleb Bishop said. “Will wonders never cease. He didn’t bother making the trip for Tallie’s wedding or for mine.”
“Well, this does make the day perfect, doesn’t it?” Susan said. “All three Bishop brothers together for the first time in...how long?”
“Nearly eighteen years,” Hank said, slipping his arm around Susan’s waist as he led her over to meet the new arrival.
Donna Fields froze to the spot as she watched the Bishop family greet the tardy guest. They had called him Jake and had welcomed him as their long lost brother. But that couldn’t be, Donna thought. It just wasn’t possible!
Suddenly she felt light-headed. The room spun around and around. She couldn’t faint. Not now. Not while she was holding little Lowell Bishop.
Donna called out to Danny Bishop, Caleb’s twelve-year-old son. “Danny, will you take Lowell for a few minutes? I need to check on something in the kitchen.”
“Sure thing, Miss Donna.” The tall, lanky boy reached out and accepted the tiny bundle.
“Just take him over to your aunt Tallie if he puts up a fuss.”
“Will do,” Danny said.
Donna wanted to run. As fast and as far as her shaky legs would carry her. Unfortunately, she couldn’t maneuver very fast in her present condition. She was as big as a barrel. Dr. Farr had told her that if she hadn’t gone into labor by tomorrow, he intended to induce labor. She’d be so glad to get the birth over with and hold her precious little daughter in her arms.
Donna eased past several people gathered at the back of the dining room, smiling and nodding as she made her way toward the kitchen. She swung open the door, then closed it behind her and took a deep, calming breath. She had to get out of this house—away from the eldest Bishop brother! Dear God in heaven, why had he shown up today? Hank and Caleb’s mysterious big brother had stayed away for more than seventeen years. No one thought he’d attend the wedding. But here he was—big as life and twice as dangerous.
Donna’s heart raced so hard and fast that the drumming roared in her ears. Of all the men on earth, why him? Maybe she’d been hallucinating. Maybe she had imagined that Jake Bishop looked like J.B. After all, for the past nine months, ever since she’d said goodbye to J.B. at the airport, she had been unable to erase his memory from her mind. And when she had discovered that, despite the precautions they’d taken, she was pregnant with his child, the big, sexy cowboy had been on her mind constantly.
Take another look at Jake Bishop and make sure he really is your J.B. from the Blue Bonnet Grill. She eased the kitchen door ajar slightly and peered through the crack. The large, broad-shouldered man had his back to her. She quickly scanned his body from the top of his silky black hair to the heels of his snakeskin boots. He was the same height and size as J.B. Had the same coal black hair. The same dark complexion.
His deep, hearty laughter rumbled loudly. Donna’s heart caught in her throat. Oh, God, she knew the sound of that laughter. The big man turned just enough to give her a glimpse of his face. The bottom dropped out of her stomach. This was no hallucination. No wild imaginings. Jake Bishop and J.B.—her weekend cowboy, the father of her child—were one and the same.
She couldn’t let him see her. She had to leave before the two of them came face-to-face. But her purse and car keys were upstairs on Susan’s bed. How could she slip upstairs without being seen? The house was filled with wedding guests. She’d just have to chance it. There was no other way. Besides, maybe, if she kept her head down and her face diverted, J.B. wouldn’t recognize her. After all, the last time he’d seen her, she’d been thirty-five pounds lighter and actually had a waistline.
Another of those annoying back pains hit her the moment she walked through the kitchen door. She stopped abruptly, waiting for the pain to subside: As the last ripples of discomfort eased away, Donna took a deep breath, glanced quickly in J.B.’s direction, then jerked her head downward when she realized he was looking directly at her. As she made her way around the room, doing her best to avoid being noticed, a strange sensation came over her.
“Oh, God, no!” she pleaded under her breath just as her body betrayed her. Her water broke, sending what felt like a tidal wave down her legs and onto the floor. She stood there helpless and mortified.
“Oh, hell’s toenails,” Tallie shouted “Donna’s water just broke. Call Dr. Farr.”
Within seconds, Tallie Bishop Rand, Susan Bishop and Sheila Bishop hovered around Donna. She prayed that their bodies protected her from J.B.’s curious stare. But within seconds, she realized that her prayer hadn’t been answered.
“Donna?” J.B.’s voice boomed like thunder. “Donna, is that you?”
Jake moved across the room with deadly force, his eyes narrowed, his jaw tight. He parted the trio of Bishop ladies surrounding Donna and took a good look at the woman who stared back at him with amber cat eyes. It was her! His Donna from the Blue Bonnet Grill. The woman who had come to pieces in his arms time and again during that long weekend nine months ago. Nine months! He stared into Donna’s pale face, then his gaze traveled downward to her large, protruding belly. She was pregnant. Very pregnant.
“What’s the matter with you, Jake?” His sister Tallie tried to shove him out of the way. “Donna’s water just broke. We need to get her to the hospital.”
Jake didn’t budge. “You’re pregnant,” he said to Donna.
She didn’t speak, only nodded agreement.
“Nine months’ pregnant?” he asked, though the answer was more than obvious.
She nodded again.
“Will you get out of the way,” Tallie scolded. “This has nothing to do with you. Just let us handle things.”
“It’s mine,” Jake said, his deep, quiet voice silencing the chatter around the room.
Donna cringed as another pain sliced through her back. She gulped in air, then looked Jake square in the eye. “Yes” seemed to be the only word she could manage.
“What?” Tallie stared back and forth from her eldest brother to her pregnant friend.
Jake shoved the women aside and lifted Donna, whose damp dress clung to the backs of her legs. She slipped her arm around his neck and laid her weary head on his shoulder.
“I took a cab from the airport,” Jake said. “Somebody else will have to drive us to the hospital.” He carried Donna through the midst of curious onlookers, straight to the front door and out onto the porch.
His brothers and their wives followed, whispering among themselves as they tried to make sense of what was happening.
“We can take my minivan,” Susan said, turning to her husband. “Get the keys and bring Lowell with you. He’ll be hungry soon.”
When Hank returned to the house to retrieve the keys and his infant son, Caleb laid his hand on Jake’s shoulder, halting Jake’s progress toward the driveway.
“Mind telling us just what’s going on here?” Caleb asked. “We’re all a bit confused.”
Jake paused, turned his dark gaze on his youngest brother and grunted. “You think you’re confused! How the hell do you think I feel, showing up for Hank’s wedding and running into a woman I spent a—”
Donna cried out in pain. “Please, hurry up and get me to the hospital. I’m sure I’m in labor and this baby isn’t going to wait around while we discuss who’s confused and why.”
Caleb’s