DONNA ALWARD - The Cowboy's Convenient Bride

Her eyes clashed with his, but she shook her head a little. “No, not like that. He never laid a hand on me. He came into my work and wanted to start up where we left off, and I fell for his charms all over again. I let him stay with me at my apartment until he found a new job. But after a few weeks back together, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t feel safe, though I couldn’t explain why. A few times, some guys showed up at my door, and I knew he wasn’t honest about who they were. All my internal alarms were ringing and so I decided I needed to break it off.”

Tanner hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath until she paused and he let it out. “And then what happened?”

“The day before I was going to do it, the cops came and arrested him. He totally lost it when they showed up, and God, it was so ugly. He was charged with violating his parole, assault and battery and possession of a controlled substance. I had no idea about the drugs. Turns out that transfer? He wasn’t working. He was in prison.” Her normally sparkly eyes had dimmed, her lips thinned to a straight, disapproving line. “He wasn’t a pharmaceutical rep at all. He was dealing. To kids. And I was too blind to see the signs. By then it was too late.”

Tanner didn’t say anything; he simply sat quietly while she composed herself. He knew what it was like when you found out the person you thought you loved turned out to be totally different. Though at least Brit hadn’t been a felon. Just...not who he thought she was.

“The baby’s his?” he finally asked.

She nodded miserably. “When they left with him, he looked right at me and said he’d be back, just like last time. Not to worry, he’d come find me when he got out. The way he said it...it made my blood run cold. It wasn’t reassuring. It was a threat. If he knew about Rowan...”

Tanner looked from her to the sweet baby bobbing in the bouncy chair. The two of them weren’t his, but damned if he didn’t feel protective of them just the same. “He’d come after you both.”

She nodded again. “Yeah. I had to give a statement to the police and I found out a lot about his past. I was so stupid, Tanner. So blind. I believed every lie he fed me. How many kinds of idiot could I be? And then to get pregnant...”

The agony in her voice was real. “I’m pretty sure you didn’t mean for that to happen,” he said quietly. He got up and moved to the end of the sofa so he was closer to her, and he reached out and put his hand on her knee. “Listen. Remember that marriage I mentioned? I was totally in love with this girl Brittany from Lincoln. She and a couple of girlfriends moved to Vegas, and I thought I’d surprise her one weekend. It was crazy.” He decided to leave out some of the more sordid details about the weekend activities. “By the end of it, we’d gotten married at a chapel on the Strip.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh. And when I asked how long it would take her to pack up and come home with me, she laughed. She had no plans to leave. She loved it there. She loved the lights and the excitement and the party. She certainly didn’t love me. It was all a crazy, fun adventure to her.”

“And you were dead serious.”

“You betcha.” He smiled wryly, trying not to think of the moment when Brittany had all but fallen over laughing at him. “We all make mistakes. And I guess now I understand why you haven’t set the record straight. Because you’ll take the gossip if it means keeping your daughter safe.”

A tear slid down her cheek. “Oh, damn. I spent enough time crying. You’d think I’d be over it by now.” She rubbed the tear away. “It’s such a relief to actually tell someone, and I think it’s made me super-emotional. Maddy only knows the bare minimum and no details. I couldn’t stand the thought of her thinking Gavin had cheated on her any longer. He loved her so much.”

“But it’s rough on you.”

“It’s worth it if Rowan stays safe.”

“Damn, Laura. Why not move somewhere else, where no one knows?”

Once more she looked into his eyes, and he saw shadows there.

“The only way I could get this house was if Gramps and Gram cosigned the loan, and that was before all the rumors. There’s no way I’ll get financing for another place, not with the little bit of freelancing I’m doing. And I’m having a hard time building the business because I don’t want to put my full name on anything. It’ll make it too easy to find me, you know?”

“So you’re stuck.”

“Yep. I mean, I grew up here, but it doesn’t mean it’s not awkward.”

Awkward was putting it lightly. “Gavin was helping you, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah, with some of the legalities. And he did the legal fees for the house pro bono. His partner’s been keeping me updated on Spen...on my ex’s sentence.”

She sighed, looked down at Rowan. The bouncing had stopped, and Tanner saw that each blink of Rowan’s eyes was slower than the last.

“I feel like I’m spinning my wheels.” Her shoulders were slumped a bit as she rested her elbows on her knees. “I want to start over, but it’s hard to do when you want to remain invisible. At least with the contract work, my name was kept out of it. But if I’m going to freelance, I can’t stay anonymous. Even if I’m careful, it’s not hard to find the trail.”

“Too bad you can’t change your name,” he replied, half joking. “Then he’d be looking for Laura Jessup and not Laura someone else.”

A crazy, ridiculous, ludicrous idea flitted through his brain.

No. She’d never agree and besides, it was a dumb idea. He kept hearing Brit laugh and say how he wasn’t husband material. Maybe not, but perhaps he could be friend material. No one else was stepping up to give Laura a hand. The only one who had was gone, and she had no one to be on her side.

Plus, he was tired of living at home. This could be beneficial to both of them.

“Laura, how open are you to harebrained schemes?”

She lifted her head, chuckled softly. “Why? Do you have one?”

Something twisted in his gut, in an oh-my-God-are-you-really-going-to-ask way. His palms started to sweat and his breath caught. He’d said the words once before in his life, but this time it was different. This time it wasn’t for love. So why was he so tied up in knots?

“I just might. And you’re going to be tempted to say no, but hear me out.”

Her eyebrows pulled together in a puzzled look.

“Laura,” he said, not quite believing what he was about to say. “I think we should get married.”

Chapter Four

Laura started laughing. Marry Tanner? That was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. “Oh God,” she said, between breaths of mirth. “You shouldn’t even joke about that.”

He was chuckling, too, which was why his next words surprised her even more. “I’m actually perfectly serious. I’ve wanted to move out of the house for a while now. And if you married me, you could be Laura Hudson. Laura Hudson could set up her own business in that name and not be so easy for this guy to find.”

Her laughter died in her throat. She was starting to think he meant it. Her face went hot. Sure, Tanner was good-looking. Extraordinarily so, but she hadn’t really thought of him in a romantic kind of way. For a moment, an image flashed through her mind—of her and Tanner doing things that married couples do. Her face burned hotter.

“Tanner, I... I mean, you and me...”

He seemed to understand what she was getting at. “Laura, I’m not talking about a real marriage. It would be in name only, of course. We hardly know each other.”

“My point exactly.” She exhaled a relieved breath. They were, at best, friends. Their contact had been limited to the ambulance ride to the hospital, running into each other and chatting on a few occasions in town, and the events of the last few weeks. Sure, she liked him well enough, but she wouldn’t be roommates with someone she knew so little of, let alone husband and wife.

Husband and wife.

He leaned forward, put his elbows on his knees and peered into her face. “You said you were hesitant to put out your shingle online because it made you too visible. Even if you use a company name, your contact info is going to be listed somewhere. When you register your website, or fill out business forms for taxes and stuff.”

All true, but it wasn’t as simple as a different last name. “Tanner, it’s not like it would be impossible to figure it out, even if I did change my name. There’d be marriage records to show that I was once Laura Jessup.”

“Maybe,” he conceded, “but it would make it more difficult. And if you’re married, chances are that even if this guy did find you, he’d probably think that the baby was, well, your husband’s.”

“Yours,” she said, the word echoing in the strangely quiet room.

“Yes.”

Silence fell. He’d hit her squarely where it hurt—her daughter. Her top priority was protecting Rowan. It was why, after all, she let the town of Gibson collectively assume that the baby was Gavin’s...even though that made her an adulteress and a home wrecker. But this was different. This was marriage. A wedding. And she wasn’t sure what Tanner wanted to get out of it. There must be something. There was no way it was a purely altruistic move.

Good gracious, was she actually considering it?

Of course she wasn’t. Harebrained was a great way to characterize the idea. She’d made enough mistakes over the last few years; she wasn’t too keen to compound them by marrying a stranger just so she could change her name.

She got up and walked to the window, looking out over the backyard. The grass was greening up, but there were dry, bare patches where the ground was hard and unyielding. Laura sighed. Yes, she had her own place, but it wasn’t much. She kept it clean, but it was hardly better than the lousy apartments in Reno. Rundown and unloved. Funny, she was starting to think of herself in those terms, too.

Marrying Tanner was a stupid idea. She’d just keep on doing what she was doing and figure it out somehow. She always did.

“Tanner, I appreciate the offer, but I don’t need to be rescued. It’s a crazy idea and I think it would be a disaster.”

“Why? I like you. And I think you like me.” He smiled at her. “We’d be roommates, that’s all. No funny business, I promise.”

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