Page 51 of The Honorable Texan
She gasped.“They…won’t!”
“Bull!”
She glared at him.It was just too much, all at once.She didn’t want to believe what he was saying, but it was the truth.Her face grew redder by the minute.
He glared right back.His eyes narrowed on her thickening waist.His expression changed.He’d never thought of children.At least, not since Shannon’s death.Now, he began to wonder what a child of his might look like.Would it have dark hair like his and Violet’s?Would it have blue eyes?Would it be a boy, or a little girl?
“You look…odd,” she commented.
“I was thinking about the baby,” he said absently, his eyes still on her waist.“I never really thought about being a father.I’ve been alone most of my adult life.”
“So have I,” Violet confessed.
“What do you want?”he asked, meeting her eyes levelly.
She blinked.“I…haven’t thought about that.Not much anyway.”
He moved a step closer.“What would you like to have?”
She was lost in his eyes.“Little girls are nice,” she ventured.“I like to knit and crochet and quilt.I could…teach her.”
His breath caught.A little girl.He thought about Rey Hart’s little girl.The family had come to see him about a minor legal matter and Celina came with them.She was barely six months old, dark-haired and fascinating to Blake.He’d watched her like a hawk, noting that Rey was a pushover for his daughter, to his wife, Meredith’s, amusement.The same could be true of Judd Dunn and Christabel’s twins.Everyone in town was indulgently amused at how easily a tough guy like Judd Dunn was reduced to putty when he held those babies.
“Little girls are nice,” he agreed softly.
“But I wouldn’t mind a boy, either.I like baseball and soccer,” she continued.“I can still bat and catch and kick.”
He smiled.“So can I.”
Her face fell as reality came rushing back.“You don’t really want a child, Blake,” she said sadly.“You’re doing the right thing, offering to marry me.But it wouldn’t work.”
“You don’t know that,” he said.“A lot of couples startout with less than we have.I said some stupid things on the phone, and you heard them.But I’m still in the early stages of this.You’ve had time to think about the baby.I haven’t.”He stuck his hands in his trouser pockets.“I don’t react well to change,” he said flatly.“I have to have time to work through what it’s going to mean.”
Violet sighed worriedly.“Yes, but you’d feel trapped.”
He shrugged.“Honestly, maybe I do, a little,” he confessed.“But that’s temporary.I just need a little time, Violet.”
“I know that.So do I.”She turned and went back to her desk, to the box she was packing up.“Duke’s willing to let me come back.I’m going.In a few weeks, when you know what you want, we can talk.”
“In a few weeks, you’ll be showing, Violet,” he replied shortly.
She turned.“I’m plump,” she said without heat.“I won’t show for a while.”
“Plump.”He smiled gently.“Womanly is a better adjective.You look lovely.”
Her eyebrows arched.
“I’m not trying to win you over,” he said when he saw her expression.“I actually mean it.There are a lot of things about you that I like.Besides, the cats like you.”
“Does that win me points?”she ventured.
He chuckled.“They don’t like many people.And they attacked a pizza delivery guy one night, one cat climbing up each leg.I have to pay extra now to get him to come back.And I have to promise to lock up Mee and Yow before he pulls into the driveway.”
“Ouch.”
“It could have been the anchovies, I guess,” he said in hindsight.He eyed her quietly.“All right, if you’redetermined to leave again, I won’t stand in the way.But you have to do some thinking yourself.The person we both need to consider is the baby.He, or she, has no choice at all about this.”
She grimaced.“I didn’t think about…precautions.”
