His Texas Baby. Stella Bagwell

and have a nice, neat boyfriend who wore chinos and loafers and played golf on the weekends.”

      “That doesn’t sound like you at all.”

      “I’d be screaming with boredom,” she admitted, then darted a glance at him. “When I was fourteen my father offered to let me go to Atlanta to live with my mother. He figured by then I was old enough to decide if I wanted something different in my life.”

      “Did you go?”

      “Only for short visits,” she admitted. “By then the bond with my mother was gone, ruined by the distance between us, I suppose. And horses already ran deep in my blood. I knew that when I grew up I wanted to be a successful trainer just like my father.”

      A grin lifted one corner of his mouth. “And you are. You’re just much prettier than he was.”

      Sad emptiness swept through her and she desperately fought to push it aside. She had to put the past behind her. She had to think ahead. Always ahead to the monumental tasks she was now facing.

      “I have yet to prove how successful I am. As a daughter, well, I tried with my mother. But the two of us just never fit together. By the time I was eighteen we’d drifted apart completely.”

      “What about now?”

      “I rarely ever hear from her. She married a man who had two sons. They’re grown now and she and her husband travel most of the time. Whenever I do talk to her it’s like I’m visiting with a stranger. You know what I mean? Like when a distant relative suddenly calls or shows up and you don’t know them from Adam. But just because they’re located somewhere on your family tree you feel like there should be a connection and then you feel guilty when there’s not one.”

      “Yeah. I’ve been there,” he said. “And I don’t want that to happen with our child. She or he is going to know the both of us. When it thinks of its parents, it’s going to think of us as a couple—a united family unit.”

      If that could only be true in every sense of the word, Kitty thought. But theirs was hardly a normal relationship built on love and devotion. And it never would be. How could they ever hope to be a united family unit?

      “You’re painting a nice, tidy picture, Liam. But you’ve not had time to think this all through. Whenever you do you’ll realize you can’t force something like that.”

      He shot her a wry look. “Kitty, I have no intention of forcing you to marry me. You’ll either agree to become my wife or you won’t. It’s that simple.”

      Neat and practical with everything black and white. Every particle in Kitty’s heart cringed from the very idea. But this wasn’t about her or her wants anymore, she told herself. There were three people involved in this. The most important being the baby presently growing in her womb.

      He turned into the hotel parking lot, but rather than pull up to the front entrance, he found a parking space and cut the engine.

      “I’ll walk you to your room,” he said.

      She wanted to tell him that she didn’t need an escort. She wanted to remind him of what had happened the last time he’d walked her to her hotel room. But she kept all of that to herself as he skirted around the front of the truck and helped her to the ground.

      The night had cooled considerably since they left the training barn. A breeze ruffled the fringe of hair on her forehead and she welcomed it. Being with Liam, having his hand on her arm had heated her whole body. As the doorman opened the glass partition and ushered them inside, she figured her cheeks were flushed a bright pink.

      Once they stepped on the elevator, she gave him the floor number. After he punched it and they began to move upward, he stepped closer and studied her face. Beneath the dim glow overhead, his strong features were slightly shadowed and oh, so sexy.

      “Are you okay?” he asked.

      Her gaze landed squarely on his lips and the urge to kiss him clawed at her, forcing her to swallow before she could speak. “Yes. Why do you ask?”

      To her surprise his hand lifted and his fingers gently trailed across her forehead. The soft touch caused her breath to pause and she wondered how he would react if she closed the few inches of space between them and pressed her lips to his.

      He said, “You look drained.”

      She told herself to breathe and relax, but his nearness was making her crazy. She’d always wanted this man. And once she’d learned just how thrilling it was to be in his arms, she couldn’t forget. She wanted more of him. More than he clearly wanted to give.

      “A woman doesn’t exactly get a marriage proposal every day.” Especially from a man of his stature, she could have added. A man who turned female heads as soon as he walked into a room.

      A smile flickered ever so briefly on his face. “I didn’t stop to think that the thought of having me for a husband was that disturbing. Maybe I should have told you that I don’t snore, I pick up my own socks and I don’t need to control the TV remote.”

      Rolling her eyes, she tried to match his teasing mood. Not for anything did she want him to learn that her heart had been invested in him for a long time now. It would only make him feel more obligated, more trapped.

      “As if you watch TV,” she scoffed. “I suspect the only time you ever sit down is when you watch the replay of a race or a workout.”

      The dimple at the side of his mouth deepened. “See, that’s why you’d never have to worry about having control of the remote.”

      It wasn’t the remote that Kitty was concerned about; it was her heart and what this man might do to it if she gave him the chance.

      The elevator came to a stomach-lurching stop and she unconsciously reached for Liam’s arm to steady herself. Quickly, he curled an arm around the back of her waist and as they stepped off the elevator she realized that his bracing touch, though unsettling, was a security that she needed.

      For weeks now she’d been surrounded by family and friends, yet she’d felt lost and alone. With Liam near, part of that emptiness went away. And though she wouldn’t be loved by him, she’d definitely be taken care of. But was that enough for her? Would it ever be enough?