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“The child could belong to either of us!” Hoss said, his voice laced with sadness.
“That woman is not carrying my child!” Carter, who rarely raised his voice bellowed.
“Denying it will not change anything,” Stephanie said triumphantly. Her tears, which had been for Melanie’s benefit, had dried.
“If it’s yours you will have to marry me. You can cancel your engagement to Ms. Marriot,” she said unable to stop herself.
Carter glared at her incredulously. “You must be insane if for one minute you think I’ll marry you!”
Hoss who had slumped on the chair shot to his feet. “You want to marry him? You said you loved me.”
Carter broke the silence with a mirthless laugh. “Stephanie loves nobody but herself.”
Hoss took a step to Carter, his fist in the air. “Don’t you dare speak that way about her!”
Carter easily caught the raised fist. “You and I have unfinished business,” he hissed. This is not about Stephanie. We’re brothers Hoss and you slept with the woman I was with. What kind of a man are you? What kind of a brother are you?”
“You didn’t love her!” Hoss protested.
“That’s right, I didn’t and I don’t,” Carter said and let go of Hoss’s fist so abruptly that Hoss staggered before finding his footing.
Things were not going as Stephanie had envisioned. This was about her, her and Carter’s child but they had turned it to be about themselves. It hurt hearing Carter say that he did not love her. But what did it matter when she was carrying his child?
“So what do we do?” Stephanie asked.
“I don’t care whose child it is,” Hoss said with feeling. “I love you Stephanie and I want to marry you.”
She glanced at Hoss, his face flushed, and sincerity flowing from his eyes. She felt a tug in her heart at his unashamed declaration of love. But he wasn’t Carter. He did not carry the authority that Carter did. Men sat up when Carter walked into a room. They grew silent when he as much as raised his arm. She wanted that kind of power next to her.
“What about you Carter?” Stephanie asked.
“What about me? I’m marrying Melanie and that’s that. The two of you can do as you please as far as I’m concerned,” he said and then whirled around and marched out of the room.
How dare he? Stephanie was livid with anger. Blood pounded in her ears and for a second, she could not think or even see. Her vision had gone blurry. Carter Taft was taking her for a rug, which he could use and then discard. No way! If he thought he could shrug her off like a pesky fly, he had another thing coming.
She turned to follow him.
“You can’t force Carter to do something he doesn’t want to.”
Hoss’s defeated voice reached her. She turned to him. “We shall see about that!”
Chapter Fourteen
Carter needed hard, physical labor to get his senses under control. Despite his outward calm, Stephanie’s news had devastated him. What terrible timing, he thought as he stamped about the ranch, searching for something to take his mind off everything. He knew he should go after Melanie, but he was in no state to talk to her.
He could imagine the train of her thoughts. She thought him a rake, a seducer of young girls. How can you take advantage of a young and inexperienced girl? Her words repeated themselves over and over in his brain. She had wanted it too, dammit! Carter had never once misled Stephanie to believe that he would marry her. He had told her countless times that she was too young for him.
Carter made his way to the hay field where most of the ranch hands were working cutting hay. He took a scythe from a pile of equipment and made his way through the bare land up to where the men had arranged themselves in a row along the brown stalks of hay.
They stopped when the spotted him, and Carter signaled to the leader that he was ready. The man used his scythe to strike thrice on a stone. Together, they bent down and they were off, slashing the long grass in hard, quick strokes. Soon, sweat was trickling down Carter’s back. His mind emptied of his worries and his entire concentration was on keeping up with the men.
“Keep to your row man or my scythe will cut off your legs,” a man yelled and the rest of them laughed.
Carter loved the camaraderie that was in the ranch when they all needed to work together to get a job done. Today was cutting the hay, tomorrow would be gathering it to dry and after that, piling the hay into bales. Then everyone could return to their regular jobs in the ranch. Mentally, carter ticked off the summer duties, especially now that autumn was inching closer.
He was so engrossed in his work that he did not hear her footsteps. He was only alerted to a change when the sounds of the scythes next to him ceased. He stood up. Before he could ask what was going on, he saw her, parting the hay as she marched towards him. Carter tightened his lips. This would not be good, he thought, watching Stephanie’s flushed face as she got closer. She stopped a few feet away and placed her hands on her hips.
“Carter Taft, I shall not be dismissed in such a manner,” she yelled.
