The Cowboy's Claim by Carla Cassidy Read Free Book Online Page B

she stormed out the door, and he sensed his brother moving to stand just behind him. “Problems?” Adam asked.
    “Maybe, maybe not,” Nick said as the two left the café. “Drop me off at the motel.”
    “At the motel? Why? You want to tell me what’s going on?” Adam asked as Nick tossed him the keys to the truck.
    “I think Courtney and I have a little unfinished business.” Was it possible? Adam had told him he thought Courtney’s baby was about ten months old, but Mary had mentioned she couldn’t believe that Courtney’s son was already fifteen months old. Was she mistaken?
    Fifteen months? Was it possible the child was his? They’d always been so careful about birth control, except that last night when he’d come to her consumed with grief.
    There had been no thought of birth control that night. There had been no thought in his mind except his need for Courtney’s arms around him, his need for her to swallow him, to engulf him so as to somehow take away at least a little bit of his pain.
    “Unfinished business? I didn’t know you had any starting business with her,” Adam said as he got in behind the wheel. He didn’t start the engine but rather turned and looked at Nick in the passenger seat. “Again, you want to tell me what’s going on? And this time, be a little more specific.”
    “At least start the engine so we can get some air-conditioning going,” Nick replied. He drew a deep sigh and stared out the window, his brain whirling with suppositions. Was it possible she’d gotten pregnant that night?
    If that was the case then why hadn’t she called him? Why hadn’t she let him know immediately? That was a question that had haunted him even before now.
    In the time that he’d been gone he’d never changed his cell phone number, and even though he’d decided not to contact her, to let her go, he’d been surprised and more than a little hurt that she’d never attempted to call him.
    Now there was a part of him that was infuriated that she hadn’t called to tell him she was pregnant with his child. Slow down, he told himself. He couldn’t be sure about the facts. He couldn’t be sure that the child was his.
    As the interior of the truck began to cool, Nick turned to look at his brother. “Before Cherry’s death, Courtney and I were sort of seeing each other.”
    Adam frowned. “Sort of seeing each other? You mean like dating?”
    Nick gave a curt nod of his head.
    “Why didn’t I know about it? I never heard anything about you and Courtney Chambers.”
    “That’s the way we wanted it. We kept our relationship a secret. Her parents would have freaked out if they had known she was dating a no-count rancher like me.” A small burn set off in the pit of his stomach. Had the truth been that she’d been ashamed of their relationship and had only used the disapproval of her parents as an excuse?
    “So, what’s the unfinished business?”
    “Courtney’s baby.”
    Adam raised a dark eyebrow. “What about the baby?”
    “Didn’t you hear Mary mention that Courtney’s boy was fifteen months old?”
    “Fifteen months...” Adam’s voice trailed off as he did the mental math. “The kid is yours?”
    “I can’t be positive.” Nick’s gut churned. “But, I intend to find out. Just take me to the motel, and I’ll find my own way home from there.”
    Adam left the café parking lot and shook his head ruefully. “You and Courtney, it’s hard to wrap my mind around it. You just don’t seem like her type.”
    “I wasn’t. We were just having fun together for a while.” The words felt like a lie as they left Nick’s lips. “We had no contact after I skipped town.”
    “What are you going to do if the boy is yours?” Adam asked.
    A child.
    A son.
    “I’m not sure.” Nick’s head whirled at the thought of the child, but he couldn’t find any real emotional purchase. He was numbed by the very idea. At the moment the thought of him having a son was merely a theory, and