She sighed and took a sip under his watchful gaze. The tea was delicious.

“Better, right?” he asked.

Not wanting to encourage him in any way, she shrugged noncommittally.

“Wow,” he said. “Which is heavier, the baby or the chip on your shoulder?”

“Here’s a tip,” she said. “When someone removes only one earbud to talk to you, then they probably don’t want a lengthy conversation.” She tried to hand him back the cup, but he refused to take it.

“How’s the baby doing? You eating okay?”

“Sure. I had eggs for breakfast.”

“So did I,” he said. “But mine were Reese’s Peanut Butter eggs.”

She laughed, shocking the both of them. “I miss those,” she said wistfully. “Bad.”

“I guess chocolate’s not good for the baby,” he said.

“Or the mama,” she said on a sigh, forgetting for a moment to keep him at arm’s length. “And how do you know about chocolate not being good for the baby?”

He lifted a shoulder and made to go. “Whenever you sit at your desk, make sure to put your feet up. Your ankles are swelling.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t seen my ankles in about a month, so . . .” She broke off when he removed his hat to push his hair back from his face, revealing a nasty cut along the underside of his arm. “What did you do?”

“This?” He looked at his arm and shrugged. “Mending fences this morning. It’s nothing.”

“It’s going to get infected. You need to clean it out and cover it.”

“Worried about me?”

Not that she’d admit it. “I think you’re a big boy,” she said. “You can take care of yourself.”

This caused a slow smile to cross his face. “You’re right about that. But if it makes you feel better, tonight when I shower the grime off, I’ll handle it.”

“You can’t wait until tonight. For God’s sake.” She pulled her purse from her bottom drawer and grabbed the small first aid kit she had in it.

She tried to push him into her chair, but he made her sit in it instead and then he crouched at her side and laid his arm across her thighs. She bent over him to work, having to dig into the cut a little bit to get rid of some stubborn dirt. He didn’t even flinch, and she looked up into his face, which was startlingly close.

His gaze locked on hers and held, and something inside her quivered, and she recognized it for what it was.

A connection, unwanted or not.

Ignore it, she told herself, as she’d been doing for two weeks now. It’ll go away.

“Tell me you feel that,” he said.

“Indigestion? Yes.”

He smiled a little grimly. “Not indigestion. You feel that thing between us, I know it.”

“Yes, it’s a baby, and it’s doing somersaults today.”

He let out a breath and shook his head at her as he lifted his big hands toward her belly. “May I?”

People never asked her if they could touch. They just did it, like a baby bump was fair game. She hated that. But he’d asked and she nodded.

Then those big, work-callused hands settled on her swollen stomach so gently it nearly brought tears to her eyes. The baby kicked and the tough cowboy in front of her jumped, making her laugh for the second time in as many minutes. “It’s not going to bite.”

His startled eyes jerked up to hers and he smiled. “You have a pretty laugh. You should use it more.”

He was still on his knees at her chair, his hands on her belly, their faces close enough to share air. Or kiss. It felt incredibly . . . intimate. Terrifyingly so, and she scooted back her chair so fast she almost tipped it over. She certainly would have if he hadn’t caught the armrests and kept her upright.

“Careful,” he said.

“Yes. I . . . need to remember to be careful,” she said and busied herself with putting her things back in her first aid kit.

He rose to his feet. “You’re good at this,” he said quietly, stretching his arm as if testing it for pain, making her realize that he’d most certainly felt the cut—he’d just been able to ignore it.

“I was going to be a nurse,” she said.

“Was?”

“I took a semester of early-morning classes before my waitressing shift, but had to quit.”

They both looked down at the baby bump.

“Being an LVN wasn’t realistic anyway,” she said.

“Why not? You can do anything you want to do.”

“Says a guy who probably has never found himself knocked up.”

“Got me there,” he said. “I’ve never been pregnant.”

“Or devastated by life.”

He slid her a look. “You think you’ve got a lock on that, do you?”

She looked into his deep blue gaze, saw the pain he hid, and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. It was rude of me to make any assumptions.”

“If you have a question you want to ask me, ask.”

“I think maybe you have that backward,” she said.

“Okay, I’ll bite. Is it me, or all men?”

“All men,” she said without hesitation.

He looked at her and nodded. “Okay, that I can work with.”

“It wasn’t a challenge, Holden. I’m not in a place to be interested in anyone, especially not . . .”

“Especially not what?”

“Someone I want to be interested in.”

“Maybe that will change.”

She was already shaking her head before he finished the sentence. He was stoic, rugged, had nerves of steel, and therefore was steady as a rock. All very attractive traits to her and maybe if she wasn’t so . . . damaged, not to mention a huge fraud, she’d be tempted. “Don’t count on it,” she whispered, pulling free. “Or me. I’m not worth it.”

“We’re going to have to agree to disagree there,” he said.

Cora came through. “Oh, Holden honey, I’m so glad to see you here. I was just going to text you. River’s going to need some help and both Mia and Alyssa are busy.”

“I don’t need help,” River said.

“Not yet, but I’ve got a group of fifteen coming through.”

“I’ve got it,” Holden said. “No problem.”

River shook her head. “I’ve got it.”

“You’ve both got it,” Cora said. “It’s Wildstone’s city council. I’ve lured them up here for lunch, some wine tasting, and to visit our horses and spread, all in the hope of getting them to host some of their annual events here to up our coverage. So I need River’s amazing hostess skills turned up to a ten and I need my horse wrangler to be the strong, silent cowboy type to put the fear of God and/or Cora into anyone who attempts something stupid to show off.” She shook her head. “I went to school with five of those men, and trust me when I say stupid is likely to happen.” She blew them a kiss and vanished.

Five minutes later, fifteen city council men and women arrived. River was extremely aware of Holden at her side as she walked everyone through the place, and when they got to the stables, he effortlessly took over, introducing the group to the horses, showing them around, pointing out the wild horses in the far pasture.