Читать книгу The Durango Affair - Brenda Jackson - Страница 11

Durango inhaled sharply when he experienced what felt like a swift, hard kick in the gut. She didn’t say the baby was his but he knew damn well that was what she was insinuating. He made love. He didn’t make babies. However, with the memories of that night constantly on his mind, anything was possible. But still, he remembered what she had told him that morning before he’d left. And with that thought, he summoned up a tight smile. “That’s not possible.”

Savannah lifted an eyebrow. “If you want me to believe that you’re sterile, forget it,” she said through gritted teeth.

He leaned back against the table, casually crossing his arms over his chest. “No, I’m not sterile. But if I remember correctly, the morning after you told me not to worry about anything because you were on birth control.”

Unconsciously mirroring his stance, Savannah also crossed her arms over her chest. “I was. However, I forgot to take the Pill. Usually missing one pill wouldn’t hurt, but in this case…I seem to be the exception and not the norm.”

“You forgot to take the Pill?” Durango’s heart continued to pound and he shook his head in disbelief. The one time she should have taken the Pill she had forgotten? How much sense did that make? Unless…

“Were you trying to get pregnant?” he asked in a quiet voice.

He watched her jaw drop in shock, and saw the stunned look in her eyes before anger thinned her lips. It was anger he felt, even with the distance that separated them. “How dare you ask me that!”

“Dammit, were you?” he asked angrily, ignoring her reaction to his question. He’d heard of women who slept with men just for that purpose, either to become a solo parent or to snare a husband. And the thought that she had used him, set him up, raised his anger to the boiling point.

“No, I was not trying to get pregnant, but the fact of the matter is that I did. You fathered my child whether you want to believe it or not. Trust me, if I had been trying to get pregnant, you would not have been a choice for my baby’s daddy,” she said, snarling the words.

Durango’s jaw tightened. What the hell did she mean by that? And why wouldn’t he have been a choice for her baby’s daddy? He shook his head, not believing he was asking himself that question. It wasn’t like he wanted to be a father to any woman’s baby.

“I think it’s best that I leave.”

Her words snapped him out of his reverie. His glare deepened. “Do you honestly think you can show up here and drop a bomb like that and then leave?”

She glared right back. “I don’t see why not. The only reason I came here to tell you in person was because I thought you deserved to know and now you do. I’ve accomplished my goal. I didn’t come here to ask you for anything. I’m capable of caring for my child without any help from you.”

“So you plan to keep it?”

Fury raced through Savannah. “Yes, I plan to keep it, and if you’re suggesting that I don’t then you can—”

“No, dammit, that’s not what I’m suggesting. I would never propose such a thing to any woman carrying my child. If the baby is mine, I take full responsibility.”

Her stomach twisted, seeing the doubt in his eyes. “And that’s the problem, isn’t it, Durango?” she asked, shaking her head sadly. “You don’t believe that the child I’m carrying is yours, do you?”

Durango studied her silently for a moment, remembering everything about the night of passion that they’d shared. He knew there was a very strong possibility, a high likelihood, that she had gotten pregnant if she hadn’t been using birth control, but he was still too stunned to admit anything. “I believe there might be a chance,” he told her.

That wasn’t good enough for Savannah. Whether he knew it or not he was questioning her character. Did he think she would get pregnant from one guy and try pinning it on another?

Without saying another word she walked back over to where she had placed her coat, hat and gloves and began putting them on. “There is more than a chance. It doesn’t matter whether you want to believe it or not, there is something wonderful growing inside me that you put there. Not knowing your child will be your loss. Have a nice life.”

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he asked in a growl of both anger and frustration.

“Back to the airport to catch the next flight out of here,” she said, moving toward the door. “I’ve done what I came here to do.”

“One moment, Savannah,” he grated through clenched teeth when she reached the door and opened it.

She turned around and lifted her chin. “What?”

“If your claim is true then we need to talk.”

“My claim is true, Durango, and considering your attitude, we have nothing more to say.”

Before he could draw in his next breath she walked out and closed the door behind her.

Durango stood at the window and watched Savannah get in a rental car and pull away. He was still reeling from the shock of her announcement and waited a tense moment to make sure she was out of sight before moving away from the window.

He glanced across the room to the clock on the wall and saw it was just past noon. He wished he could turn back time to erase what had just happened in this very living room. Savannah Claiborne had come all the way from Philadelphia to tell him that he was going to be a father, and he had all but told her to go to hell.

No doubt Chase would have his ass when he heard how shabbily he had treated his sister-in-law. Crossing the room, he dropped down into a leather recliner. It was so hard to believe. He was going to be a father. No way. The mere thought sent him into a state of panic. It seemed that babies were sprouting up everywhere in the Westmoreland family. Storm and Jayla had had twins a few months back; Dare and Shelly had announced over the holidays that they were expecting a baby sometime this summer; and when he had talked to Thorn last week, he had mentioned that Delaney and Jamal were also having another child.

Durango was happy for everyone. But babies were things other people had—not him. It wasn’t that he’d never wanted a child; he’d just never given thought to having one anytime soon. He enjoyed the carefree life of a bachelor too much. He was a man who loved his solitude, a man who took pride in being a loner.

However, the one thing a Westmoreland did was take responsibility for his actions, no matter what they were. His parents had taught him, relentlessly drilled it into him and his five brothers, that you could distinguish the men from the boys by how well they faced whatever challenges were put before them.

Another thing he had been taught was that a Westmoreland knew when to admit he was wrong. If Savannah Claiborne was pregnant—and he had no reason to believe that she wasn’t—then the baby was his.

Admitting that he was going to be a daddy was the first step.

He inwardly cringed at what he knew should be his second step—take whatever action was needed to take care of his responsibility. He checked his watch as he stood up. He wasn’t sure what time her plane would depart, but if he left now there was a chance he might be able to stop her.

The woman was having his baby and if she thought she could pop up and drop the news on him without any further discussion then she needed to think again. She was going to have to deal with him even if the very thought of getting involved with a city girl made his skin crawl.

It didn’t take much for him to remember Tricia Carrington, the woman he had fallen in love with four years earlier. She had come to Yellowstone on a two-week vacation from New York with some of her high-society girlfriends. During those two weeks they had an affair, and he had fallen head over heels in love with her. His uncle Corey had seen through Tricia, had picked up on the manipulator and insincere person that she was and had warned him. But at the time, he had fallen too much in love with her to heed his uncle’s warnings.

Durango hadn’t known that he’d been the subject of a wager between Tricia and her friends. She had bet her friends that she could come to Yellowstone and do a park ranger before marrying the wealthy man her parents had picked out for her. After telling her of his undying love, she had laughed in his face and told him she had no intentions of marrying him, because he was merely a poor country bum who got dirt under his fingernails for a living. She was too refined for such a dead-end union and fully intended to return to New York to marry a wealthy man with connections. Her words had cut him to the core, and he had sworn that he would never give his heart to a woman again, especially to a stuck-up city girl.

And Savannah was definitely a city girl.

He had known it the moment he’d seen her. She had looked high-class, polished and refined. It had been noticeable in the way she’d been dressed, the way she had moved gracefully around the room. She was confident and looked as if she could be married to a member of the president’s cabinet. She was exactly the type of woman that he had tried to avoid during the last four years.

However, he refused to let her being a city girl deter from what he needed to do. Now that the initial shock had worn off and he had accepted that he had unintentionally aided in increasing the Westmoreland line, he would take full responsibility and take charge of the situation.

Savannah had not been surprised by the way Durango had handled the news of her pregnancy. However, the one thing she had not expected and could not accept was his questioning if he was her baby’s father.

“Do you want to return your rental car?”

The question from the woman standing behind the counter snatched Savannah’s attention back to the present, making her focus on the business at hand. “Yes, please.” She glanced at her watch, hoping that it wouldn’t be difficult to get a return flight to Philadelphia. And once there, in the peaceful quiet of her condo, she would make decisions that would definitely change her life.

One thing was for certain—she would have to cut back her schedule at work. As a freelance photographer she could be called to go any place at any time. She realized she would miss the adventure of traveling both in this country and abroad.

But now she would need to settle down. After all, she had prenatal care and visits to the doctor to consider. She would talk to her boss about assigning her special projects. She appreciated the fact that over the years she had built a pretty hefty savings account and could afford to take time off both before and after her baby was born. She planned to take six months of family leave time when the baby came.

The one thing she didn’t want to do was depend on anyone. Her mom would be overjoyed at the news of becoming a grandmother, but since Jennifer Claiborne had finally found real happiness with a man by the name of Brad Richman, and their relationship seemed to be turning serious—if their planned trip to Paris this week was any indication—the last thing Savannah wanted was for her mother to devote her time to her. Her sister, Jessica, was still enjoying the bliss of being a newlywed, and her brother, Rico, would be busy now that he had started as a private investigator.

As Savannah stepped aside to let the next customer be served, she placed her hand on her stomach, knowing whatever changes she made in her life would be worth it. She was having a baby and no matter how Durango Westmoreland felt, she was very happy about it.

Durango stood next to the water fountain and took in the woman standing across the semicrowded airport. Damn, she was beautiful…and she was carrying a baby in her shapely body.

His baby.

He shook his head. What the hell was he supposed to do with a baby? It was too late to ask the question now, since the deed was already done. He sighed when he saw her head over toward the ticket counter, knowing what he had to do. He quickly crossed the room to block her path.

“We need to talk, Savannah.”

Durango’s words startled Savannah to the point that she almost dropped her carry-on bag. She narrowed her gaze at him. “What are you doing here? We don’t have anything to talk about. I think we said everything, so if you will excuse me—”

“Look, I’m sorry.”

She blinked as she stared at him. “What did you say?”

“I said I’m sorry for acting like an ass earlier. My only excuse is that your news came as a shock.”

Savannah’s eye’s shot fire at him. “And…?”

“And I believe that your baby is mine.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, refusing to let go of her emotions and start crying. Since becoming pregnant she had turned into a weeping willow. “And what has made you a believer all of a sudden?”

“Because of everything that happened between us that night and the fact that you said it is. I have no reason not to believe you.” A slow smile played on his lips. “So that settles it.”

If he believed that settled anything then he had another thought coming. “Nothing is settled, Durango. Fine, you’ve acknowledged that I’m having your baby. That means you’ll be one of the first people on my list to get an announcement card with pictures when it’s born.”

She turned to walk away and he blocked her path again. “Like I said, Savannah, we need to talk. I won’t let you deny me the right to be a part of my child’s life.”

Savannah raised her eyes to the ceiling. An hour ago he had been humming a different tune. “If I had planned to do that, I wouldn’t be here.” After a deep, calming breath, she added, “I came because I felt you should know and to give you a choice. I didn’t come to ask you for anything.”

She suddenly felt her face flush from the way he was looking at her. Was her hair standing on end? Were her clothes wrinkled? The flight hadn’t been kind to her and she’d almost gotten sick from all the turbulence they had encountered while flying over the mountains. Her hair was a tangled mess and her makeup had worn off hours ago. By the time the plane had landed and she had gotten a rental car to drive out to his ranch, she had been so shaken up she hadn’t cared enough about her appearance to even put on lipstick.

“Whether you ask for anything or not, I have certain responsibilities toward my child and I want to talk about them,” Durango said. “You’ve done what you came here to do and now that my head is back on straight, we need to sit down and discuss things like two mature adults.”

Savannah lifted an eyebrow and gave him a speculative look. What did they have to talk about? She’d already told him she wouldn’t be making any demands on him. She swallowed thickly when a thought suddenly popped into her head. What if he planned to make demands on her regarding their child? Just last week there was an article in the Philadelphia newspaper about a man who had sued his girlfriend for joint custody of their newborn child.

Maybe talking wasn’t such a bad idea. It would be better if they got a few things straight in the beginning so there wouldn’t be any misunderstanding later. “Okay, let’s talk.”

When they reached an empty table in the airport coffee shop, Durango pulled out a chair for Savannah to sit down on and she did so, on shaky legs. Her gaze drifted over his handsome face and latched on to his full lips. She couldn’t help remembering those lips and some of the wicked—as well as satisfying—things they had once done to her.

She glanced away when his eyes met hers, finding it strange that the two of them were sitting down to talk. This was the first time they had shared a table. They had once shared a bed, yes, but never a table. Even the night of the rehearsal dinner he had sat at a different table with his brothers and cousins. But that hadn’t stopped her from scrutinizing and appreciating every inch of him.

“Would you like something to drink, Savannah?”

“No, I don’t want anything.”

“So how have you been?” Durango asked after he had finished ordering.

She raised her eyebrows, wondering why he hadn’t asked her that when he’d first seen her earlier that day. He had picked a hell of a time to try to be nice, but she would go along with him to see what he had to say.

She managed to be polite and responded, “I’ve been fine, and what about you?”

“Things are going okay, but this is usually the hardest time of year for rangers.”

“And why is that?”

“Besides the icy cold weather conditions, we have to supervise hunters who won’t abide by the rules and who want to hunt during the off season. And even worse are those who can’t accept the restrictions that no hunting is allowed in Yellowstone’s backcountry.”

Savannah nodded. She could imagine that would certainly make his job difficult. Jessica had said he was a backcountry ranger. They were the ones who patrolled and maintained trails in the park, monitored wildlife and enforced rules and safety regulations within the areas of Yellowstone. She shuddered at the thought of him coming face-to-face with a real live bear, or some other wild animal.

“You okay, Savannah?”

He had leaned in after seeing her tremble. Surprise held her still at just how close he was to her. “Yes, I’m fine. I just had a thought of you coming into contact with a bear.”

He pulled back, smiled and chuckled. “Hey, that has happened plenty of times. But I’ve been fortunate to never tangle with one.”

She nodded and glanced around, wondering when he would forgo the small talk and get down to what was really on his mind.

“What do you need, Savannah?” he finally asked after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

She met his gaze as emotions swirled within her. “I told you, Durango, that I don’t want or need anything from you. The only reason I’m here is because I felt you should know. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories of kids growing up not knowing who fathered them or men not knowing they fathered a child. I felt it would not have been fair to you or my child for that to happen.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Your child? You do mean our child, don’t you?”

Savannah bit her lip. No, she meant her child. She had begun thinking of this baby as hers ever since she’d taken the at-home pregnancy test. She’d begun thinking of herself as a single mom even before her doctor had confirmed her condition. She had accepted Durango’s role in the creation of her child, but that was as far as it went.

“Understand this, Savannah. I want to be a part in our child’s life.”

She felt a thickness in her throat and felt slightly alarmed. “What kind of a part?”

“Whatever part that belongs to me as its father.”

“But you live here in Montana and I live in Philadelphia. We’re miles apart.”

He nodded and studied her for a moment then said, “Then I guess it will be up to us to close the distance.”

Savannah sighed. “I don’t see how that is possible.”

Durango leaned back in his chair. “I do. There’s only one thing that we can do in this situation.”

Savannah raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Durango met her gaze, smiled confidently and said, “Get married.”