The Expectant Executive

“Unfortunately, the only memory I have of Jessie as an infant was seeing the nun carry a small bundle away,” Fin said, walking up to the over-sized stall where he kept the mare and colt. “Patrick gave them strict orders that he didn’t even want me knowing whether I’d had a boy or a girl. But one nurse told me I’d had a perfect little girl before she left the delivery room with Jessie.”

Travis’s chest tightened at the thought of Fin having to watch her baby being taken away, of never knowing whether she would see her little girl again.

“You’ll get to watch this baby grow up from the moment he’s born, Fin.” Slipping his arms around her, he held her close. “We both will.”

Nodding, she remained silent and he figured she was struggling to hold her emotions in check.

It just about tore him apart to think of anything causing her such emotional pain and he knew right then and there that he wanted to spend the rest of his life making sure that she never knew another sad moment.

He took a deep breath, then another as the realization spread throughout every fiber of his being. There was no more doubt and no more denial. Whether they came from two different worlds or not, he’d fallen in love with Fin.

It scared the living hell out of him to think that she might not feel the same.

But he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that he had to lay his heart on the line and take that chance. Whether they lived on the Silver Moon or in New York, Fin and the baby were more important to him than taking his next breath. And he had every intention of telling her so.

Lowering his mouth to hers, he gave her a kiss that threatened to buckle his knees and had them both breathing heavily by the time he raised his head. Then, releasing her, he took a step back to keep from reaching for her again.

“As soon as I finish feeding the horses, we’re going back to the house for a long talk, sweetheart.”

“Cade, are you sure about this?” Fin asked, pacing the length of the living room. “Charisma is tied in the competition with The Buzz?”

When she and Travis returned from the barn, Spud had informed her that her cell phone had, as he put it, “chirped like a cricket with four back legs” about every five minutes since she’d walked out the door. After checking the caller ID, she’d immediately phoned the office to find out what was so important that Cade had called her four times in less than thirty minutes.

“Chloe heard it first when she was on break this morning. Then Jessie overheard someone from accounting talking about it in the hall.” Cade paused. “I’m trying to get the official word on it, but from all indications we’ve made up the difference and we’re in a dead heat with Shane and The Buzz.”

The information should have excited her beyond words. But as Cade’s news sunk in, she found that, although she was proud that it looked as if the hard work she and her team had put into making Charisma number one was paying off, it wasn’t nearly as important to her as it would have been three weeks ago.

“As soon as you get the information confirmed one way or the other, I want you to call me.” She glanced at Travis, standing ramrod straight across the room. He was watching her closely, his expression guarded. “I have to go now. Give Jessie my love.”

When she closed the phone and set it on the end table by the couch, Travis nodded. “I take it that your magazine is doing well in your father’s competition?”

“At this point, we’re holding our own,” she said, nodding. “With a little more work, I have no doubt that we’ll pull ahead and win.”

She watched his broad chest expand as he drew in a deep breath. “Then you’ll take over as CEO of your dad’s company in January?”

“That’s the way Patrick has it set up,” she said, careful to be as noncommittal as possible. She hadn’t told anyone that, in the event she won the competition, she’d step down in order to spend as much time as possible with her child.

Travis shook his head. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Should she tell him that it was no longer as important to her as it had once been? Should she admit that her priorities had changed and she wanted nothing more than to be his wife and their baby’s mother?

“I…that is…we—”

She snapped her mouth shut as she struggled to find an answer. It wasn’t in her nature to lie. But she wasn’t certain she was brave enough to tell him the truth, either.

Would he believe her if she admitted that she’d only used Charisma all these years as a substitute for the family she really wanted? How could she put into words, without risking the humiliation of a rejection and a broken heart, how she felt about him? What if he wanted the baby, but not her? What would happen if she told him she’d fallen hopelessly in love with him and wanted to abandon her cold, lonely apartment overlooking Central Park to live with him and their child on the Silver Moon Ranch? Could she survive if he didn’t feel the same?