Page 25 of The Cowboy's Secret Babies

Later, she watched her boys roughhouse in the small aisles of the general store while she picked up a few essentials and was very aware of all the eyes on the two of them. And on her.

It had been like that for weeks. Just as Ryder had predicted.

The difference this time around was that when Nevaeh Higgins saw her, she didn’t charge right over to share whatever word the Lord had put on her heart. Something that had happened with alarming regularity before, since Nevaeh was the pastor’s wife. These days, however, Nevaeh only looked at Rosie sadly, as if the Lord himself didn’t have anything to say when there was a Carey brother involved.

Maybe she needed a little support group after all.

She didn’t feel like that was something she needed to tell Jack.

After dinner, Matilda started playing an involved game of tag with the little ones and Rosie knew what was coming when Jack came and sat with her on the sofa. He favored low-slung, comfortable leather, and she liked to sink into it. His house was decidedly male, with an emphasis on dark woods, dark walls, and what she could only describe as Montana-style furnishings.

Except unlike the short-term rentals she worked in, she knew that the buck on the wall was one Jack had shot himself.

Authenticity was important.

But her brother had gotten his steel-gray eyes from their father, who had been famously harsh. Jack knew exactly how to use them to his best advantage, and he was training them on her now.

“Here’s the thing,” he said quietly, looking at the beer in his hand, not her. “You know that I support you no matter what. I support you. I love you. I would do anything for you and those boys.”

“This is sounding more ominous by the moment.”

“It was unfair, the way people treated you when you came home. I never liked it. This isn’t the 1800s. They never dared say those things to me, and that just made it worse, in my opinion.”

Rosie actually smiled at that. “It’salmostlike people are sexist.”

“The thing is, I can’t understand is why you kept Ryder’s involvement a secret,” Jack said, and those steel gray eyes seemed to pierce her straight through. He lifted a hand before she could reply. “I’m not asking you what happened between the two of you. I am fully aware that a man can seem one way in his everyday life, and still treat women terribly in private.”

It made Rosie want to throw up, but she couldn’t let that pass. “He didn’t treat me horribly,” she gritted out. “Not the way you mean. Is this really something you want to talk about?”

“Not at all.” Jack swore under his breath. “But this is the thing, Rosie. You moved back here. You settled in, had the babies, and stayed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy you did. But you must have known that sooner or later, someone was going to realize that those twins are the spitting image of their daddy. And their daddy is well-known here.”

“Everyone who lives here is well-known here,” she managed to say, though her throat was tight.

Jack continued to stare straight into her with all that steely gray. “Some might argue that he’s the least known of the Carey brothers, but here’s what folks do know. He’s not a monster. Even if he was, his entire family is here, and everyone knows that Zeke Carey wants nothing more than a few grandchildren. It’s hard to understand why you kept this to yourself all this time.”

Rosie blew out a sigh. “I don’t know.”

Jack only lookedmoredisappointed in her, then. “Come on, Rosie.”

“It seemed wrong to tell other people when I hadn’t told Ryder. And I couldn’t find him to tell him.” She felt all the oldgrossnessof it bubbling up inside her. “I couldn’t think of a good enough reason to ask one of his brothers for his number. Much less hisdad. And then somehow, in the middle of all that, they’re about to turn three. I didn’t mean to keep a secret. Mostly I was thinking about keeping me, and then them, safe. And, you know,alive.”

“Matilda says he’s been taking an interest these last couple weeks.”

“More than an interest. I think that if he could, he would move in so he could be with them night and day.” Rosie swallowed, but it was hard. “And I can’t blame him. I feel the same way about them.”

“Because you know that’s not how they’re spinning it in town,” Jack told her, his voice going stern and that beer bottle in his hand like a judge’s gavel. “The story goes, he wanted nothing to do with those babies, so you moved back here and settled in, knowing that sooner or later he’d have to face them. And now you got what you wanted. He’s forced to pretend to care, because there’s no way Zeke and Belinda are going to let him abandon his own kids. Seems like you’re in line for that big rodeo payday.”

Rosie didn’t actually implode at that, though it was close. She was pretty sure that she wassmokingwith rage.

“I don’t need his money.” There was smoke in her voice, too. “You should know that already. I’ve been taking care of my babies just fine.”

Jack only watched her, all of that cool, assessing steel, and it made her want to squirm around in her seat like a naughty little girl. It cost her something to keep from doing it.

She made herself shrug with an attempt at a nonchalance she certainly didn’t feel. “I think that it’s good for the boys to know him. I think it’s good for him to have a relationship with them. He’s their father, no matter what people think. The great news in all of this is that despite the shock of it all, everything with Ryder has been perfectly civilized.”

At that, Jack let out a short, sharp laugh. “Has it now.”

Rosie looked at him, frowning. “What does that mean?”

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