Lone Star Baby Scandal (Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail 7)

He was furious. If anything had ever been a setup, this was it. It was too perfectly timed to be anything else.

“What in the hell are you doing here?”

“Excuse me? I don’t know what you mean,” she said in an angry tone as she straightened her dress.

“You know exactly what I mean. My only question is who put you up to it.”

“Nobody put me up to anything! I received your email and I thought... You made it clear you wanted us to get back together,” she snapped. “I assume you’ve changed your mind.”

“I never sent you any email.”

When Clay continued to glare, she walked to a chair next to the office door and pulled her cell phone out of her purse. After searching for a few seconds, she held out the phone to Clay.

True to her word, there was an email to Carla sent from his account. Only Clay didn’t know anything about this. Months ago Clay would have taken the temptation but the thought of Sophie carrying his child had awakened feelings of protectiveness and possessiveness. He wanted nothing to do with another woman.

But how was this possible? The answer came to him immediately. Someone had hacked into his system. He couldn’t help but speculate what else they’d done. And could this somehow be related to the attack on Everest?

His cell phone began to ring. When he gazed at the display, he saw it was Whit Daltry.

“Yeah,” he answered, turning away from a still-sulking Carla. “How’s it going?”

“Clay, this isn’t any of my business, but are you aware Sophie has left?”

“I know she left here.”

“She’s gone. She called me to arrange to pay out the last months of her lease. Of course, I told her not to worry about it. She was packed and on her way to the airport.”

“What?”

“She said she’d told you. I decided to call and butt in just in case she hadn’t, seeing how close the two of you are. Is there anything I can do?”

“No, but thanks anyway. Oh, and, Whit? Someone hacked my phone. I think they might have Sophie’s, too.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That it’s the same SOB who has systemically targeted people here in Royal? Yeah, it has Maverick’s fingerprints all over it.”

“I’ll call a meeting for tomorrow at the TCC. We need to know if anything has gone on with anybody else and share your latest info.”

“I’ll try and make it. Just send me the time.”

“Will do.”

When the call ended, Clay again turned to face Carla.

“My apologies to you,” he said, his hands on his hips. “Apparently someone hacked my phone and thought they would have some fun at our expense. I didn’t send that email to you.”

“Well, isn’t this just my luck.” She walked toward the door, giving Clay a wink as she passed. “If you ever change your mind, you know how to reach me.”

Clay ran his fingers through his dark hair. Sophie was gone. He should go after her. Every cell in his body was on high alert to do just that. But he could talk himself blue in the face and he wouldn’t be able to convince her to come back. Maybe he would have had a chance—if he hadn’t screwed it up when she’d first told him about the baby. But her two simple words, I’m pregnant, had struck him dumb. He had always been so careful. Even back in the day when he’d landed in bed with a hot lady, drunk on his ass after a rodeo celebration in some bar, he’d always remembered to use protection. It had become as automatic as breathing.

Clay couldn’t specifically remember if he’d used condoms that first night he’d taken Sophie to his bed. But then, actually getting to make love to the prim and proper Ms. Sophie had had him in so many knots, and he hadn’t been able to get enough of her. Usually he was good for one, maybe two times in a night. With Sophie, his hunger had been insatiable and he’d taken her over and over and over. Apparently, at least one of those times he’d failed to grab a condom, which resulted in the pregnancy.

Clearly he had made a mistake. Now the question was, what to do about it? Maybe Whit was wrong. Maybe she hadn’t left as yet. In a dead run, he jumped into his pickup truck and spun gravel as he headed to the cottage. He didn’t have a clue what to say. He would have to wing it. Groveling would definitely be on the list. Just let him be in time to catch her before she disappeared from his life forever.

* * *

Sophie was in the process of placing suitcases into Jesse May’s pickup when Clay rounded the corner and pulled up behind her. Her face, she knew, was still red from the tears she’d shed over Clay. But it was his problem. Someday he would regret it but that was on him to discover.