“I guess we’ll both be busy, then.” Cole was relieved. It was crucial his present remained a surprise: that’s what made it so much fun. If Sunshine was busy, she wouldn’t ask difficult questions—or have time to pry. Last year she’d found his gift three days before Christmas. Refusing to admit defeat, he’d had to rush out and find a replacement present. He reached over to take her hand and frowned. Sunshine suddenly looked a little pale. “You feeling all right?”
“All the travel is catching up to me, I think.”
“It’ll be good to be home.”
“You’ve got that right.”
Sunshine shifted in her uncomfortable chair again. Pregnant. She was pregnant. For the last four weeks Sunshine hadn’t been able to think of anything else. She was thrilled and terrified and so confused she didn’t know which way she was heading most of the time. When Cole announced he’d be busy with the rental complex once they got home, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her pregnancy wasn’t her only secret; the ranch she’d bought for Cole was another big surprise.
She’d bought it on an impulse only days after she’d realized she’d missed her period. First she’d had to confirm her pregnancy without letting Cole know. She’d gone out of her mind with impatience until Cole had wandered off one afternoon to visit an agricultural museum outside of London. Then she’d rushed to the closest pharmacy, bought an over-the-counter pregnancy test, taken it in a public restroom… and tossed the evidence in the trash as soon as she’d snapped a photograph of the results.
Pregnant.
Sunshine hadn’t known whether to laugh or cry. She’d been struggling for months to decide what to do about her future. Now the question had been answered for her. Forget about opening a restaurant. It was time to buy a home. She’d called a realtor she knew in Chance Creek, told her what she wanted and was thrilled when the realtor said she had one that would fit the bill. “I’ll take it,” she’d said after looking at the photos online; she knew ranches were hard to come by and she didn’t want to risk losing the place and the chance to give Cole a fabulous Christmas present. In the rush to sew up the deal she’d had no time for second thoughts.
Now—after she’d put her money down on the ranch—she’d succumbed to doubts again. On the one hand, she couldn’t wait to be a mother and she adored Cole. She’d enjoyed living in Chance Creek far more than she’d expected to during the months she’d stayed there.
On the other hand, her ambitions would be difficult to pursue in a small Montana town. She was a vegan chef, for heaven’s sake. How could she take the world by storm in cowboy country?
It made far more sense to return to Chicago where she’d once helped to run a highly successful restaurant. If she sold the ranch she’d just bought, she could put a hefty down payment on a restaurant and build a real business.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t picture Cole happy in Chicago. He was a country boy through and through. He had definite thoughts about the kind of home he wanted to raise their children in, too. He wanted them to have lots of space to run and play and he wanted them to grow up on a property that they could take over one day.
In other words, he wanted a ranch.
And thanks to the help of her realtor, she’d found him one. Everything was signed, sealed and delivered.
She couldn’t change course now.
She squeezed Cole’s hand and he squeezed hers back, his expression full of tenderness. She had to smile when she pictured his reaction on Christmas morning when she took him out to show it to him. Of course, between now and then it needed a lot of spiffing up. She hoped she could get at least some of that done before Christmas.
And if she had to put off her dream of one day owning a real restaurant—not just a hole in the wall café like the one attached to the rifle range—well, she was sure it would happen someday. Until then she’d make do.
She glanced at Cole again, studying the handsome man who had become so crucial to her happiness. She remembered when she first arrived in Chance Creek. She’d been aghast to find the building she’d inherited already inhabited by an uncouth cowboy with a penchant for firearms.
Soon enough she’d fallen for Cole hook, line and sinker, and they’d had so much fun during those first months after they’d buried the hatchet and learned to work together. Cole had ruled the roost at his indoor rifle range and she’d cooked for his clients and anyone else who’d ventured into the neighborhood. When customers were scarce, they’d fooled around. She found it hard to keep her hands off of the man.
Three years abroad hadn’t changed that. Cole could set her nerves alight with a single touch. Every night when they slid into bed she felt like she had the first time they’d been together. His body gave her endless pleasure. What more could she ask for?
She pressed her hand to her belly, tingling with the knowledge that her baby was growing inside of her.
Their baby.
It was such a precious secret. A secret it had been killing her to keep. Every time Cole made love to her she’d wanted to scream it out loud.
But she had to wait just a little longer. She sighed and leaned against Cole’s shoulder.
And noticed the woman heading straight for them.
“Cole Linden, is that you?”
The strident female voice startled Cole—and several people around him. He looked up to see a redhead approaching him just as the man in the seat next to him stood up, collected his things and walked away.
A familiar redhead…
“For God’s sake, it’s Frannie Lake—don’t tell me you don’t remember your first kiss!” the woman exclaimed.
Cole glanced at Sunshine, hoping she wasn’t paying attention, but unfortunately she was. “Of course I remember you, Fran. Good to see you.” It wasn’t good, though. Fran was halfway right; she hadn’t been his first kiss, but she’d been his first in other ways and he remembered her all too well. He hoped like hell she’d grown up in the intervening years.
“What are you doing at Heathrow?”
“Heading home.” He hoped Fran read his disinclination to talk in his tone, but she didn’t—or she ignored it. Plopping down in the empty seat beside him, she sighed. “Me, too.”
“To Oklahoma?” He was about to tell her she was at the wrong gate.
“No, silly. To Chance Creek. My folks are still there. We all come home at Christmas. You know that.”
Cole had always done his best to avoid her. She’d been a little hard to get rid of back in high school. “Say hello to your folks for me when you get there.” He lifted the magazine he’d bought for the plane ride to signal the end of the conversation.
“You’ll have to stop by and say it yourself. I’ll make sure Mom hangs the mistletoe and you can give me another kiss. I’ve missed them. Nobody kisses like a Chance Creek cowboy.”
Cole cleared his throat. Fran didn’t seem quite herself and Sunshine didn’t look at all happy. “Um… Fran, this is my fiancée, Sunshine Patterson. Sunshine, meet Fran. We knew each other as kids.”
“In the biblical sense.” Fran elbowed Cole. “He’s a humdinger, isn’t he? Whew, he used to ride me hard and put me up wet.” She laughed long and hard at her joke, then seemed to notice she was the only one who did. “Fiancée, did you say? Lord, here I am making an ass out of myself. I’ve had my pre-flight drink already. Hate airplanes, you know? They scare me stiff. Please ignore everything I just said.” She leaned around Cole to shake Sunshine’s hand. “Besides, if you’re his fiancée, you know exactly what I mean.”