Page 14 of The Rough Rider

It was insane. But was it any more insane than the situation she found herself in?

“Now can you please explain what’s going on?”

“I’m marrying Gus,” she said. “He...he made that perfectly clear.”

“Yes,” Fia said. “He did.” Fia looked for a moment like she might implode, then she turned and gripped Alaina by the shoulders. “I need you to look at me and tell me that Gus McCloud did not take advantage of you.”

“No,” Alaina said, horrified, tugging away from Fia. “Look, first of all, I’m an adult. I’m allowed to have sex.” She sounded more defiant about that than she felt. “Second of all, no he did not. Gus is a good guy. And I don’t care what kind of rumors go around about him, he’s never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it. He’s only ever been kind to me.”

There was a slight pause and then Rory fixed her with an extremely piercing stare. “It’s not his baby, is it?” she asked.

“Rory... I...”

“We don’t care,” Quinn said. “No one is judging you.”

Quinn’s lofty tone annoyed Alaina a little. Quinn was the only one of the four sisters that had gone to college and sometimes her know-it-all streak got a bit irritating.

“Yes, you are,” Alaina said. “You’re judging me about Gus.”

“It depends on the circumstances,” Quinn said. “Because I know you, Alaina, and you’re tough and you’re...impulsive. And I have to say, I’m a little worried Gus took advantage of the impulsivity.”

The very thought of that made Alaina feel like she wasn’t quite in her body. But she hadn’t felt in her body for at least a month now.

But she knew one thing: she couldn’t let her sisters think that about Gus. Not when he was helping, and not when all the decisions that had taken her here were...hers. She couldn’t blame anyone else.

Well, Travis was an ass. But it was better this way. The idea of being stuck with himforeverbecause offifteen minutesthat hadn’t even felt like much of anything wouldn’t have been fair.

So she was happy to take the consequences on herself if it meant not dealing with him.

And she wouldn’t pass any blame to Gus.

“No, it’s not Gus’s baby. Please don’t tell anyone. Please... He knew I was in trouble. He offered to help.”

She could sense a ripple of disappointment in her sisters. Wow. This was why she was keeping it secret. This was why Gus was helping her.

“You’re all judging me,” she said.

“No!” Quinn and Fia shouted.

Rory, for her part, was silent.

Quinn punched Rory in the arm. Rory looked at Quinn. “What? I was thinking about if I was being judgmental. At least I’m honest.”

“We’llhelp,” Quinn said. “This ranch is full of broken families. Who’s going to...”

But for her it mattered. For her it would be unbearable. For her it would mean being that object of pity all over again, that girl she’d been whose dad had left and...

No. She couldn’t deal with that.

“That’s just it. I don’t want that. I don’t want that for my baby. I never wanted this at all. I was trying to do better than our parents. I was trying to do better than all the broken-ass shit around this place. And look at what I did. I went and got myself in trouble. I did exactly what I said I was too smart to do. And Elsie warned me. She said to be careful. And I kept telling her I knew what I was doing. I kept insisting that I did.”

“Who was it?” Quinn asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Alaina said. “Really. He doesn’t matter. He isn’t worth a damn. He doesn’t want anything to do with me. And he doesn’t want anything to do with the baby. And he isn’t here anymore. And Gus... Gus was there for me. He’s been there for me.”

“So you’re just going to marry him,” Rory said.

“Yes. I’m going to let everybody think it’s his baby. Because he wants that. But I can’t lie to you. You’re my sisters.”

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