Loe raamatut: «The Bull Rider's Baby Bombshell»

Chapter One

Call Jade.

I can’t do this.

Please forgive me.

Jade Scott read her sister’s note for the tenth time since arriving in Saddle Ridge. Almost an entire day had passed since Liv had vanished, leaving behind her month-and-a-half-old triplets. Jade would’ve arrived sooner if there had been more flights out of Los Angeles to the middle-of-nowhere Montana. She’d ditched the godforsaken town eleven years ago and had sworn never to return. But her sister’s children had annihilated that plan. Especially since Jade had been partially responsible for their existence.

“I didn’t call the police like you asked, but now that you’re here, I think we should.”

“No!” Jade spun to face Maddie Winters, her sister’s best friend and the woman who had taken care of the children for the past twenty hours. “As soon as we do, Liv’s labeled a bad parent and those girls go in the system.”

“Nobody will take them away with you here.” Maddie checked to see if there were any new messages on her phone. “I’m really worried about her.”

Jade scanned the small living room. A month ago, it looked like a baby—or three—lived there. Today it looked cold and sterile, devoid of any signs of the triplets. The crocheted baby blankets and baskets of pastel yarn were gone from the corner. Once covered with stacks of photo albums her sister couldn’t wait to fill, the coffee table now sat bare. Embroidered pillows with their cute mommy and baby sayings no longer littered the couch. Her sister had even removed the framed pictures of the girls along with their plaster hand-and footprints from the mantel. Except for the video baby monitor, nothing baby related remained in sight. Why? She knew Liv’s desire for order was strong thanks to their chaotic upbringing, but she’d never thought her sister would wipe away all visible traces of her children.

“I’m worried too. We don’t need to involve the police though. She wasn’t kidnapped.” Liv was a chronic planner and everything about the situation felt deliberate. “She made a conscious decision to walk away. She wrote a note, she called you to babysit and then left on her own accord. If we call the police, the girls go into the system. Hell will freeze over before I let that happen.”

Jade knew all about the system. She and Liv had spent fourteen years in foster care, bounced from place to place until Liv had been old enough to become her guardian. Being two teenage girls on their own had forced them to grow up fast. Too fast.

Jade’s phone rang inside her bag jarring her back to the present. It wasn’t her sister’s ringtone, but she reached for it to be safe. It was her office in Los Angeles. She answered, praying Liv had called there by mistake instead of her cell and they were patching the call over to her. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry to bother you,” Tomás, her British assistant, began. “I just wanted to let you know the Wittingfords have finally decided on their venue for their summer opener.”

Jade’s heart sank. Tomás’s call was great news, just not the news she wanted to hear at that moment. The Wittingfords were the most extravagant clients her event planning company had seen to date. And their showstopping party guaranteed to outshine all the celebrity weddings she’d produced this year.

“I’m glad to hear it. I just wish I was there to oversee it.” Jade tugged her laptop out of her bag and opened it on the dining room table. “Email me the contract and I’ll review it. I want you to look it over first. Flag anything you question. I need you to be my extra set of eyes while I’m away. And please call my clients and tell them I’ve had a family emergency. Give them your contact info and make sure they understand I haven’t abandoned them. But they need to phone you with any issues or changes and you can fill me in later.”

“I’ll get on it, straightaway. Any news about your sister?”

“Nothing yet.” Jade lifted her gaze to see Maddie glaring at her from the living room. “I need to go. We’ll talk later.”

“I can’t believe you’re putting work first.” Maddie picked up the baby monitor from the coffee table and checked the screen.

“I’m sorry you don’t approve of my multitasking.” Jade turned on the computer. “I know my sister. She doesn’t do crazy. Wherever she is, I’m sure she’s safe. While I try to figure out what’s going on with her and where she ran off to, I still have a business to maintain.”

“And walking out on your newborn triplets isn’t crazy?”

Not unless you knew the whole situation. “All right, tell me again. What time did you come over yesterday afternoon?”

“A little after three. Liv sounded frazzled when she called. I asked what was wrong, but she kept doing that answer a question with a question thing that drives me up a wall. I got nothing out of her.” Maddie ran both hands through her hair, on the verge of tears. “I tried to talk to her, but she took off the second I walked in. I found the note taped to the nursery room door a few minutes after that.”

“When did she remove the baby things from in here?”

“I don’t know.” Maddie shook her head wildly. “I’m trying to remember the last time I came over.”

“What do you mean? You’re her best friend and you didn’t check on her? When I left, you assured me you would. You only live next door.”

“She insisted on space so she could learn how to take care of the girls on her own. I guess it’s been a little over a week since I’ve been here. I’ll be honest, her abrupt dismissal hurt. I had been staying in the guest room after you left. I should have noticed something was wrong.”

Uneasiness grew deep within Jade’s chest. “I keep thinking the same thing. I missed our video chat on Sunday night because I was too busy with work.” Many of Jade’s ex-boyfriends had accused her of putting her career before anyone else. Had she selfishly done the same with her sister? Jade scanned her inbox, hoping to find an email from Liv. Nothing. “I’ll check her office. Are you able to stay for a little while longer?”

“For however long you need.”

Jade continued to walk around the old farmhouse. Her sister had set up three bassinets in the room next to her office in addition to an equal number of cribs in the former master bedroom, now the nursery. Liv had been prepared. Some may even say overprepared. She’d read every parenting book and magazine she found. Took infant care classes and had insisted Jade learn infant CPR too. From researching the best laundry detergents and baby shampoos to memorizing the symptoms of childhood illnesses and diseases, she’d planned for every contingency. It didn’t make sense why she left. Outside of neither of them not knowing what good parenting was.

Their father had been a drifter and their mother had been behind bars on and off since Jade was two. They’d seen the inside of more foster homes than they could count. Some good, some bad. Whenever they had made it into a decent one, their mother had gotten out of jail, claimed to be ready to raise them again after completing her therapy and halfway house program only to fail miserably weeks later and wind up right back in jail. Her mother had always wanted what she couldn’t have. That included Liv and Jade. Once in her care, she’d discovered they were too much work to support. Besides, her drugs were more important. She wanted those more than anything. More than her children.

The court system had reached a point where they said no more, and Jade and Liv had mixed emotions the day they learned they wouldn’t have to live with their mother ever again. Liv had handled it better than she had. Jade had been angry. All the time. It hadn’t helped that kids had picked on her constantly at school. One kid had been the ringleader. The one she had trusted, and then he betrayed her. And she had never forgotten him. Wes Slade.

Jade opened the bottom filing cabinet drawer and scanned the hanging folder tabs. The last one had BABY scrawled on it. The generic word surprised her. At the very least, she’d expected all three girls’ names to be written on the label, if not three separate files. She removed the thick folder, laid it on the desk and began looking through it. On top was the first ultrasound picture of the triplets. Jade ran her fingers over the black-and-white image. She could still see her sister holding up the photo to the screen during their video chat. Liv had been shocked, but thrilled just the same. She was finally getting the family she had always wanted. And it had been a long time coming.

Liv had battled fertility issues for years. Married at twenty-three, she and her husband had tried everything to get pregnant. There was just enough wrong with each of them to prevent a successful pregnancy. Kevin had wanted to adopt, but it had been important to Liv to carry her children and have a physical connection to them. He’d refused the donor idea and their constant baby battles wound up destroying their marriage.

Jade sat in Liv’s ultralux, oversize perfect-for-pregnancy office chair and glanced around the room. Her sister had always been neat and organized. Not a pen or paperclip out of place. She peered inside Liv’s desk drawers hoping to find a clue to her whereabouts. Everything related to her job as a financial planner. Liv still had another two months of maternity leave until she had to return to work full-time. Working from home would help the transition although Liv had considered hiring a nanny during the day so she could talk to clients without interruption.

Her sister had a plan. A definitive plan on how her life would run smoothly as a single mom of three children. Walking away was completely out of character.

Jade continued to flip through the contents of the folder. The only item left was Jade’s egg donation contract giving her sister the biological link to the babies she wanted. She just hadn’t expected Liv to use all the embryos at once. Because of her sister’s long infertility battle, the doctor had believed her best chance for a successful pregnancy was to implant them all in hopes one would survive. The surprise had been universal.

“Dammit, Liv, where are you?”

She stood to put the folder back in the drawer when she noticed another one lying on the bottom of the cabinet. Sliding the other files forward, she removed the thin, unmarked and probably empty folder. She flipped it open to double-check and saw another donor contract. Why? Jade had been the only donor. Liv had used a fertility clinic for the father.

She began to read the document:

This agreement is made this 22 day of July 2017, by and between Olivia Scott, hereafter RECIPIENT, and Weston Slade, hereafter DONOR.

“No, no, no!” Jade’s heart pounded in her chest. “Liv couldn’t have.” She continued to read the contract. But she had. Wes Slade was the donor and the father of Jade’s biological children. Her sister had fertilized Jade’s eggs with the man she despised more than anyone.

* * *

A FEW HOURS LATER, Jade stood in front of the check-in clerk at the Silver Bells Ranch lodge. The woman whispered into the phone. “One of Wes’s fans is here to see him.”

“Excuse me. I am no fan of his.”

The clerk cupped the mouthpiece and whispered, “She may be an ex-girlfriend.”

“Are you kidding me?” Jade reached over the counter and snatched the phone. “This is Jade Scott. I need to speak to Wes concerning my sister, Liv. It’s...um...an emergency of sorts.”

Still reeling from her discovery, Jade needed absolute confirmation Wes was the triplets’ father. She prayed he had backed out or that Liv had changed her mind at the last second. Anything...just not this.

“Oh hey, Jade. It’s Garrett, Wes’s brother. It’s been what, ten years or more? I saw your sister and the triplets last week. They sure are beautiful. Reminded me of my two when they were born.”

You have no idea. Jade swallowed hard. “I’m staying with the kids for a few days while Liv is—is away on business. She’s unreachable today and I have a problem at the house. Since she and Wes are friends, I’m thinking he might have some ideas.” At least Jade assumed they were friends. Who would ask a casual acquaintance to father their children?

“He’s out with our guests on a trail ride. He should be back soon. You’re welcome to wait or maybe I can help you.”

“Uh, um. No. I appreciate the offer, but I need Wes. I don’t mind waiting.” Yeah, she did. The longer she waited, the more questions churned in her brain. “Where’s the best place I can catch him?”

“The stables.” Garrett paused. “Do you have the girls with you? I’m sure my daughter would love to me—”

“They’re with the sitter.” The last thing Jade needed was to introduce the triplets to their cousin.

The entire time Liv had been pregnant, Jade kept her part in the process tucked neatly away in the dark recesses of her brain. Surprisingly, Liv had carried to almost thirty-seven weeks. The day of her sister’s scheduled cesarean, Jade had been by her side in the operating room, cheering her on. But the moment Jade had held those tiny bundles of perfection and stared into their blue eyes, reality hit. She was the biological mother of three little girls and she had wrestled with it during the rest of her stay in town. They were Liv’s children. Not hers. It wasn’t until she was on a plane flying back to LA three weeks later that she finally breathed easier. Once she had returned to her normal routine, any lingering thoughts of being their mother faded and she gladly slipped into the role of auntie.

Until today.

She needed to find Liv...fast.

* * *

GARRETT TOOK THE reins as Wes dismounted. “Thanks for helping out.”

“No problem.” Wes didn’t mind filling in for other employees while he was visiting the ranch, considering they had covered for him plenty during his last few months of employment on Silver Bells. It had been an unbearable period in his life and he’d wanted nothing more than to get away from Saddle Ridge. And he had. He’d moved to Texas and escaped the drama he once called home.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Garrett snapped his fingers. “You have a visitor. Do you remember Jade Scott?”

Wes damn near tripped at the mention of her name. Even though he couldn’t think of one person he despised more than Jade, it was her sister he didn’t want to think about.

“What is she doing here?”

“I guess she’s babysitting the triplets while her sister’s away on business. She has some emergency at Liv’s house. I offered to help, but she insisted on talking to you.”

“Keep your distance from the Scotts.” Wes swallowed hard. This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted to come home for his brother Dylan’s wedding and his niece and nephew’s christenings. “They can call someone else. I have no business with Liv or Jade.”

“What’s with the attitude?” Garrett asked. “I thought you and Liv were good friends. Besides, it’s too late. Jade’s about ten steps behind you.”

Wes turned to see her weaving through the ranch guests walking back to the lodge. His stomach somersaulted at the sight of her and he wasn’t sure if it was because of their past or how much she had transformed since high school. The mean girl who had once made his life miserable had gone from a rough, chip-on-her-shoulder teen to a California knockout.

Sleek, rich mahogany waves replaced the frizzy curls she used to have. But that body and those curves...good Lord Almighty! Her black polka-dot chiffon blouse revealed just enough of her ample cleavage to make any man look twice, and her tailored black pants hugged her hips in perfection. She exuded an edginess combined with old Hollywood glamour and if she had been any other woman on the planet, he would have moved in for the kill. Their past made her off-limits and his connection to her sister sealed that deal.

“Wes.” Deep blue eyes held his gaze before traveling the length of him and back.

Transfixed upon her matte ruby-red lips, it took every ounce of strength he had left to respond. “Jade.”

“Hey, kids. A conversation requires more than that.” Garrett laughed. “Try hello, how are you.” He nudged his brother in Jade’s direction before walking away.

“What do you want?” Wes hadn’t meant his tone to be as harsh as it sounded.

“It’s about Liv. Is there someplace private we can talk?”

Wes stiffened. “I have work to do.” He turned to tend to his horse, but it wasn’t there. Silently, he cursed his brother.

“I thought you were on vacation from your job in Texas.”

He reeled to face her. “Who told you that?”

“The rodeo school where you work.” She stepped toward him and wobbled in her ranch-inappropriate four-inch heels. He reached for her arm to steady her and instantly regretted the contact. “I looked you up online. I need your help.”

Wes released her and rubbed his palm, wanting to erase all traces of her from his body. “On second thought, I don’t care what your reasons are. I’m asking you as politely as possible to leave.”

“Wes, please.” A half-foot shorter, even in those ridiculous heels, she stared up at him.

“What could you possibly need my help with?”

“Tell me I can trust you first.”

“No. You can’t trust me, so let’s end this now. Goodbye, Jade.” The intoxicating scent of her perfume wasn’t enough to entice him to hear more.

“I know.”

It wasn’t so much the words, but the firm way she said them that stopped him in his tracks. “Do you care to expand on that?” He prayed it wasn’t what he thought.

“I found the contract today at my sister’s house,” Jade whispered. “Before I go into details, promise me everything I tell you will stay between us.”

Wes wanted to argue and deny his role in Liv’s daughters’ paternity, but the worry etched into Jade’s face gave him pause. “Okay, you have my attention. And yes, you can trust me.”

Jade assessed him sharply, making him more uncomfortable than he already was. She had no reason to take him at his word considering their past had thrived on a mutual loathing of one another after their brief high school romance. Her shoulders sagged as she closed her eyes momentarily, shielding him from the pain that reflected in them.

“Liv left the triplets with Maddie yesterday and hasn’t returned.”

“That doesn’t sound like Liv.” Wes’s heart dropped into his stomach. “Have you called the police? Or checked the hospitals?”

“I called every hospital within a two-hundred-mile radius while I waited for my flight last night. I don’t want to involve the police. This isn’t a case of her getting in a car accident. She left a note saying she was leaving. Do you have any idea where she might’ve gone? Has she ever mentioned a place she enjoyed going to when she was under a lot of stress or anywhere she always wanted to visit?”

“Not offhand. I can’t believe she left the girls.” Wes propped a booted foot up on the fence rail and stared into the corral. “I was afraid this would be too much for her.”

“Wait a minute.” Jade grabbed him by the arm and forced him to look at her. “You suspected she was in trouble?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.” Wes checked over his shoulder to make sure they were still alone. “I was long gone before those babies were born. And for the record, this wasn’t an easy decision on my part. There was never anything romantic or sexual between your sister and me. We were good friends. She was there for me during the darkest time of my life.”

“So how did you get from point A to point B?” Her face soured. “She told me she used an anonymous donor.”

“Liv hated the thought of a stranger fathering her children. I had initially said no, then I realized she wanted this more than anything and relented. I felt I owed her for being there for me over the years. But that’s where it ended. I couldn’t continue our friendship, knowing she was carrying my—” Wes shook his head. “They are not my children. I refuse to say they are.”

“I’m not asking you to raise them.” Thick sarcasm laced her assurance. “Just tell me what happened.”

Wes hesitated before answering, not wanting to sound callous. “Liv and I went our separate ways. She called me once I was in Texas and told me she was having triplets. I’ll admit, I had my concerns and asked if she could handle that many babies. She said she was a little overwhelmed by the news, but even more excited. I could hear it in her voice. She also had you and her friends. So, I continued on with my life.”

“Turns out she was more overwhelmed than we both thought.” Jade’s phone rang. She removed it from her bag, checked the screen and then rejected the call. “No matter how long it takes to find her, I’m not abandoning those babies. You can’t, either.”

“I am not getting involved. I did my part and then got out of town for a reason. Many reasons. They are not my responsibility. She should have gone with an anonymous donor like she had with the eggs.”

“She didn’t use an anonymous egg donor.”

“Then whose were they?”

“Mine. You and I are those girls’ biological parents.”