Page 33 of Hometown Cowboy

She stepped backward and pulled her hand from his.

“Why?”

Confusion clouded his gorgeous eyes. “What do you mean?”

She buried her hopes deep and forced herself to keep going. The man meant more to her than she’d ever thought would be possible, more than she should’ve allowed herself to feel, and here she was, going to deliberately ruin any chance of her most wished-for dream to happen.

“Why do you want to marry me? Why did you ask?”

Ryan’s confusion increased and he rested back on his haunches.

“Isn’t that obvious?”

The slight bubble of hope she didn’t realise had squirmed out of her crushing hold slipped her grip and dissipated into the ether.

“You want to marry me because I’m pregnant with your child.”

On some level she was proud of herself; she wasn’t crying, she was calm, almost clinical. Her voice hadn’t even wavered one bit.

The slightly lost look on Ryan’s face was testament to his puzzlement at this their conversation. A look interwoven with a strange mix of hope, confidence, and concern, as if he couldn’t think of a reason she wouldn’t.

“Yes?”

Darby held his gaze. If she didn’t, she’d be a blubbering mess in three seconds flat.

“Do you love me?”

Shock and stubbornness echoed deep in his eyes. “What does that have to do with it?”

She couldn’t help the laugh that blurted out. The man of her dreams had just proposed. A man she’d dreamed about for more years than she could count. She should just shut up and say yes. Maybe they could work on the love part later.

But her big, fat, traitor mouth opened anyway.

“Everything. This isn’t nineteen fifty-two. I don’t have to marry you because I’m pregnant. I want to know the man I come home to at night feels the same way about me that I do him. I want the fairytale. I don’t want a fake relationship for the sake of propriety, or whatever it is you think I need. I’m perfectly able to take care of myself, and anyone else who comes along.”

She straightened her spine. “I’m not prepared to settle for mediocre when I’ve always dreamed of magnificent.”

Ryan pushed to his feet. “A child deserves both parents, Darb. We’re both here, neither of us is attached at the moment. We’re friends. There’s no reason this wouldn’t work.”

Inch by inch her heart folded in on itself, collapsing upon the shattered remnants of her hopes.

“I thoughtwewere attached,” she whispered.

Denial—and if she wasn’t wrong, fear—flooded his face. “We have to do this, for the kid. I won’t let a child of mine have no father.”

She stepped back further, as if physical distance between them would lessen the pain poisoning her insides.

“Unless you plan on leaving town, the baby would have both parents here. We don’t have to live in the same house to parent a child. It wouldn’t miss out on anything.”

Ryan stepped in closer and tried to take her hand. She could see that he couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to marry him under those conditions.

He simply didn’t get it.

Darby stepped out of his reach and tucked her hands beneath her arms so that she wouldn’t be tempted to run to him and bury her face in his chest.

She wished she could accept a life like that. She wished she could settle for less, but she wantedmore. She wanted his heart.

“For the love of cheese! I don’t know why it’s such a big deal. Just marry me and this won’t be an issue. I refuse to have my child grow up without its dad!”

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