Page 23 of Caught By A Cowboy

“Wait, won’t you buying prenatal vitamins start rumors?” I’ve never lived in a town like this before but I’m pretty sure not much goes unnoticed.

“I don’t care what the town folk think. I want a strong, healthy baby, and to get that I need a strong, healthy wife.”

“Wife?” I almost choke and when his eyes look down to my left hand and I see the shiny diamond ring that’s now on my finger, I stare back up at him in shock.

“Jace, I…” I’m speechless… I literally have no words.

“It was my mother's, if you don’t like it we can always get ano–”

“I like it.” I rub my thumb over it while trying to balance all the thoughts in my head. This is too much, first a baby, now a ring. Any normal girl would be running for the hills, and yet I like the way his ring looks on my finger and I have my hips propped up with a pillow.

“You know, most men take the courtesy to askbeforethey put the ring on.” I try but fail to hide my smile. I can’t exactly be freaked out by this while I’m laid here attempting to conceive his baby. Having a child with someone is a far bigger commitment than being engaged to them, and I’m already binded into that contract.

“Well, you’re gonna learn quick that I ain’t the same as most men.” His brow furrows and he looks a little disgruntled by his own admission. “Besides, you're a flight risk. You ran from one fiancé, I won’t let you get away from me. This is happening and it’s happening fast. I’ll head to the courthouse and see what I can do about a license in the morning, and you should pick out a new dress. That other one was pretty, but you were wearing it for him. I want you to pick out something that's all for me.Something that I can ruin as I get it off you.” His thumb strokes over my bottom lip as he licks his, and it reminds me that my mouth is still gaped open in shock.

“In the morning?!Jace, you really have to slow down. I already have a marriage license, with Adam, remember? I don’t think you get to just apply for a new one.”

“Well, it ain’t his soldiers that are invading your territory, right now, it’s mine.” His hand cups over my pussy, and just the brush of his fingertips get me all wound up again. “ I want you to be my wife before our baby gets here.” His words remind me of how serious all this is, but they don’t scare me. I may not understand what makes this all so urgent and important to him, but none of it seems wrong. It’s exciting and enthralling, it’s all the things that were missing from my life before him.

“I’ll figure something out.” He stands up looking like he’s about to leave.

“Wait…Jace. I can’t just marry you, not after a few days. How am I supposed to explain that to my parents?”

“The same way you explain that you're carrying my baby, I guess.” He shrugs as if it’s no big deal, and although his answer makes me smile, thinking about how they’ll react makes me nervous as hell.

“You're impossible. Do you ever back down?”

“It’s been known on rare occasions, but it’ll never happen when it comes to having you,” he warns, kissing my forehead and then heading for the door.

“You do realize that I’m lying here, potentially getting pregnant as we speak? I think it’s fair to say that you already have me,” I call after him, and when he stops walking and slowly turns around, I get confused when he starts lifting his shirt out of his jeans.

“What are you doin’, now?” I laugh some more as he unbuckles his belt and starts marching back to me.

“Girl, all that sexy talk got me needing to make fuckin’ sure of it.”

JACE

Ilook at the brown paper bag on the passenger seat of my truck and smile to myself. It seems strange how something as simple as buying her some vitamins can make me feel so content. I like how it feels to take care of her, it’s a duty I’m gonna pride myself on, and this is just the start. Morally, I may be all kinds of wrong. But when it comes to her, and the family she’s gonna give me, I’ll make damned sure I get everything right. I’m gonna ensure that Maddison wants for nothing for the rest of her life. Something in me has shifted since she came to town, I hardly recognize myself and I’ve barely got any work done around the ranch. This afternoon, instead of helping the others weigh calves, I lay in bed, just watching her sleep. I listened to the way she’d sigh and brush her cheek against the pillow, and for the first time in a long time, I felt complete. Unfortunately, I gotta slip out of that mindset for a few hours now. I have to leave any thoughts of my girl back at home, so I can focus on what I came here to do.

I’ve always hated coming to the city, the bright lights and all the rush pisses me off. There's too much traffic, too much noise, and too many fuckin’ people. Add to that the fact I feel a million miles away from Maddison here, parked outside Elliot Mathers'apartment block. My uncle’s been tracking this guy down for some time, and now that he’s been found it’s time for me to play my part. Mather’s has a shady history, he got out of jail two years ago and for some reason headed straight for our town. He was only there for a short time, but during that time he left his mark. He set up a cook house in a trailer on old man Fogarty’s land, he lured in young people who didn’t know better, and he drugged and raped three local girls. Things like that don’t happen in Clearwater Creek, it’s a safe, family town and men like me and Sawyer work hard to make sure it stays that way. Unfortunately one of the young girls' dads went to the law, and they got to Elliot before we could.

After Elliot got arrested, we never expected that the pro bono joke of a lawyer he had would convince a jury that he was innocent, but somehow he did. Some saw that as injustice. We saw it as an opportunity, and here I am tonight waiting to ensure that Elliot Mathers gets the kinda justice that a rapist deserves.

I place my hat on the seat beside Maddison's vitamins and slip into the black, hooded sweater I brought with me. Taking my knife and some rope from the console, I lift the hood up over my head and make my way toward the building. Once I get to the main door, I buzz for apartment 25, making sure I keep my face away from the camera.

“What ya want?” His voice crackles through the speaker and I smile to myself.

“A score.” I clear my voice and attempt to sound nervous.

“Who sent ya?” he checks.

“The guy from the pizza place, Benny, Benzo..can ya hit me or not?” I do a little twitching for the benefit of the camera

“Benny, the big-mouthed shit-head.”I hear him mutter under his breath. “Come on up, have the cash ready. Door will be on the latch,” he answers, releasing the door to let me in, and after a quick scan to check I haven’t been seen, I head inside.

Climbing the stairs, I consider my options. This asshole deserves to suffer for what he put those girls through, two of them weren’t even legal. All three families left town after the trial went to shit. Their lives were ruined and we lost good, honest members of our community. There ain’t many guarantees in this life, but I’d bet everything I own on this bastard reoffending.

I walk down the hall of the second floor toward his door, and when I see that it’s slightly open I push it some more to let myself in.