AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
Candy pregnant.
Carl didn’t know how many times he’d repeated those words. Each and every time, no matter how often he said them, an electric shock bolted through him.
He hadn’t slept a wink. How like a woman to deliver the most devastating news of a man’s life and then toss him onto the street. Carl had been too stunned to ask a single question, and before he could react, he had found himself standing bare-chested on her front porch, dusting off his Stetson. It was a good thing he’d moved when he did. Another second or two and her front door would have re-broken his nose.
By heaven that woman had a temper. If ever he’d seen a woman who needed taming, it was Candy Hoffman. Carl sincerely doubted there was a man in town capable of handling that little hellion. He was probably the only male in a three-county area up to the task.
She’d given him an ultimatum. Marriage. The word alone was enough to make him cringe. Well, he’d played her little game to the end. With anyone else, it would have been over the minute she’d hinted at a wedding band.
He didn’t mean to boast but he figured he could have any woman he wanted. That was the problem. He only wanted Candy. Every other female he knew paled in comparison.
She had her faults, that was for sure. Never in all his days had he met a more unreasonable cuss. She had a temper that went off like a firecracker. She was stubborn and irrational, and that didn’t even begin to describe her.
But then she had her good points, and he wasn’t talking about her physical attributes, either. Candy had one of the quickest minds he’d ever seen. She was both intelligent and knowledgeable, and that was only the tip of the iceberg. Sexually he’d never had a woman satisfy him the way Candy had. The one and only time they’d made love had been a frenzy of need on both their parts. Sweet heaven, they hadn’t even made it to a bedroom.
Talk about a responsive woman. If their lovemaking was this good in her laundry room, Carl could only imagine what it’d be like in a bed.
But marriage?
That seemed like a drastic price to pay for the pleasure of bedding a woman. But if that woman was Candy, it just might be worth it.
Now it seemed, on top of everything else, Candy was pregnant. Despite the shock, Carl found himself smiling. He’d had her only the one time. He wondered what the odds were of impregnating a woman after one time, and knew they were too high for him to calculate. Although he’d be the first to admit it was crazy, Carl felt a certain amount of pride in the fact she was carrying his baby. The two of them were good together. A man wasn’t likely to stumble upon that kind of chemistry again. Candy could well be woman enough to keep him satisfied the rest of his life.
It went without saying that he’d prefer forgoing the marriage business. But if that was the price he was required to pay, then he’d best do it. It didn’t seem that his squawking was going to change her mind.
Carl experienced a small sense of pride in the fact Candy wasn’t selling herself short. She’d set down her price and hadn’t wavered. He hadn’t liked it, wasn’t sure he did even now that he’d decided to accept her terms, but he was agreeable.
He rode into town and bought a diamond ring before noon. He tucked it inside his jeans pocket, then stopped off for lunch at the local cafe.
Never having proposed before, Carl wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. One thing was certain, if she expected him to get down on one knee and make a fool of himself by speaking all those fancy words, then she could forget it. He wanted her to know that he wouldn’t do this for any other woman. That should be good enough.
A part of Carl hoped Candy would be out making deliveries when he stopped off at the feed store. It wasn’t until he parked outside that he was willing to admit he was nervous.
Slim glanced up when he walked into the store. “Candy’s in her office,” the other man told him.
Carl nodded, obliged at not having to make an excuse to linger until Candy showed.
He found her sitting at a big rolltop desk that had been her grandfather’s. She held a calculator, using the eraser end of a pencil to punch in the numbers.
Carl walked inside the compact office and closed the door.
Candy glanced up and wasn’t able to disguise the surprise that rounded her eyes. She sighed heavily as if burdened with the mere thought of having to deal with him yet again.
“What do you want now?” she demanded.
“Is that any way to welcome me?” he asked, grinning broadly as he took a seat. He wasn’t fooled by her bravado. She was downright pleased to see him and he knew it.
“You’re about as welcome as a rattlesnake.”
He couldn’t help it; he laughed outright. One thing was certain—Candy was going to give him a run for his money. The way he figured, they’d move out to the ranch that weekend and be married the next.
“You have something on your mind, or did you come just to make my life miserable?” The words were issued in her usual waspish tone.
“Where’s a laundry room when I need one?” Carl muttered under his breath.
“What did you say?”
