Page 1 of The Cowboy's Secret Babies

Prologue

Zeke Carey endedthe call, slipped his mobile into his pocket, and congratulated himself on yet another pitch-perfect performance.

He’d clearly missed his true calling.

But that notion made him laugh, because he was nothing if not a rancher. These wild Montana acres were as much a part of him as his own old, creaky bones. There was no part of this land he didn’t love. It had been in the family for generations and he intended to see to it that it would stay in the family for generations more.

He had gone to great lengths to make sure that it would, and he didn’t regret it one bit.

It wasn’t every man who would tell his own sons that he was dying when he wasn’t, and more, that his dying wish was to see all five of them married with some kids on the way.

Zeke prided himself on being the kind of father who always went that extra mile.

He was already two down. There were three more of his obstinate sons to go, all of them chips off the old block by his estimation, so he knew exactly how to get around the unique orneriness each one of the five brought to the table. That was what the call had been about. Zeke had put on an Oscar-worthy performance. He’d stood out here in the barn, talking in a feeble voice like he’d taken to his bed, and interrupted himself by wafting off into the odd coughing fit.

One of these days he was going to bust a rib and rip up his own throat with these games, but even then he’d consider it all worthwhile.

Particularly in this case. His prodigal son was coming home.

It was about damn time.

Zeke finished up the few small tasks he’d come out to the barn to handle. He walked over to the barn door and set about shrugging on his cold-weather gear to brave the winter outside, because even the short walk back to the house was too much at this time of year. Last night’s storm had dumped a few extra feet on the existing snowdrifts, plumping them up nice and high, but that was February. And these were the mountains.

And only a deep and abiding fool—or a tourist from somewhere warmer—underestimated a Rocky Mountain winter.

Zeke was a lot of things, but he’d never been much of a fool. Or a tourist, for that matter.

And a man who’d given his life to the land wasn’t likely to risk it in a little snow. He zipped up his parka and stepped out into the cold.

These days, it was his boys who made sure that there was a shoveled path between the old ranch house and the barn. Zeke didn’t even have to ask. Every time it snowed, one of his sons was out there before it stopped, making sure that Zeke and his beloved wife Belinda didn’t have to worry about a thing.

This confirmed for Zeke that he’d raised them all right. It was a funny thing, bringing up a pack of boys and hoping to make them into good men. You couldn’t do anything but your best, whatever that looked like from one season to the next, and hope it worked out in the end.

So far, Zeke thought it was working out pretty damn great. He’d already managed to get two of his sons married off.

Harlan was the oldest, a stalwart and dependable man who reminded Zeke the most of Alice, Zeke’s first wife. She’d been a rock, too, while she was still with them. The only surprising thing Harlan had done in his life was marry Kendall by putting out an old-fashioned ad, but they’d been together for almost a year now. A perfect match.

And if Zeke wasn’t mistaken—a great rarity, he liked to think, though he knew better than to say such things in the presence of his tempestuous wife—Kendall had been looking a little pale lately. She’d had less of an appetite at Sunday dinner. When asked, she always said she was doing great.

But Zeke had seen two different women carry a Carey child and he was pretty sure he knew the signs. He’d already told Belinda his suspicions, so he could also bask in how correct he was when Harlan and Kendall finally made an announcement.

A happy ending that kept getting more happy.

His second son, the oldest of his twins, had gotten married back in the fall. Wilder had always loved living up to his name, so it had taken the forbidden youngest daughter of the Carey family’s longstanding rivals to sort him out. Leave it to Wilder to not simply find a woman but to find the one woman in the state of Montana that he really shouldn’t go near, thanks togenerationsof bad blood between the two families.

But every time Zeke saw Wilder and Cat together, they looked happier.

And no need to ask us if we’re having babies, Cat had told them all herself at Christmas. The two formerly feuding families had come together for what should have been an awkward sort of holiday party, but wasn’t, because once they all started talking about the great many things they had in common, even the Careys and the Lisles had more than enough to talk about.

Because you already are?Belinda had asked, making no attempt to hide the way she was eyeing Cat’s figure.

Because it’s rude, Wilder had told his stepmother, though without heat.

And also because we are definitely not even getting pregnant until we’ve been marriedat leasta year, Cat had told the whole room, with that smile on her face that Zeke suspected meant she wanted to poke at her older brothers.Because I know this entire town thinks we got married because Wilder knocked me up.

Everyone except Dallas and me, her oldest brother, Tennessee, had said in his stern, unamused way.Because if he did, he’d be dead.

Merry Christmas to you too, brother, Wilder had said merrily, and had toasted his in-laws.

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