Page 28 of A Baby for the Texas Cowboy (The Texas Wolf Brothers #3)

But right now, lying next to Anders, his body curved around hers so protectively, she felt happy and at peace in a way she hadn’t felt before.

This is what it could be like if you let it.

Could it? He’d be gone so much.

You like your independence; you’d have a lot of it.

But what if he cheats?

She could still feel the shock, dismay, disbelief, and deep, deep hurt when she’d discovered John and two women she’d considered mutual friends in what would soon be her and John’s bedroom completely getting down to business during a party—rawer and kinkier than anything he’d tried with her.

She’d thought something was wrong with her—that she wasn’t adventurous enough in bed.

But when she’d seen him blissed out with another women giving him head in his office, she’d known the problem was him and that she wasn’t going to live that life.

But her lack of trust was on her. Anders played no role in how she’d discovered John had been a serial and unapologetic cheater.

He’d even been amused by her shock and tears and pathetic suggestion they see a counselor.

And then he’d told her the role he’d expected her to play in their marriage—background support, hostess and mother.

There’d been no idea of a partnership or love or of her having anything for herself.

She’d been confused and hurt. She’d gone to his office after work one night hoping to talk to him on neutral ground, but once again, she’d walked in on him with another woman.

That had ripped off the blinders for good.

She’d thrown his ring at him and said they were over.

The ring had hit him in the head and when she’d run, he’d caught her by her neck, spinning her around and briefly cutting off her air. His smile had chilled her to her bones.

He’d told her to grow up, and Tinsley had run home to her mother, shattered and frightened, but her mother had been angry with her for interrupting John at work.

“You’ve gone all tense again,” Anders murmured, stroking his hand down her spine.

He followed with kisses. She sighed in pleasure and pushed memories of John away.

Why did she still give him so much power?

He’d moved on from her and had been publicly dating another daughter of a rich and powerful man within a couple of months of Tinsley supposedly breaking his heart.

“Tinsley, tell me, why do you not want me to help out financially?” Anders asked, his palm flat and warm on her abdomen.

She didn’t want to talk, and she didn’t want to think, but she needed to be fair. Anders was working his way so hard toward her, and she needed to meet him, if not in the middle, at least somewhere.

She’d never thought of herself as lazy or fearful or selfish or mean, and she didn’t want to start.

“I just like knowing I can take care of myself,” she said. “I don’t want to need anyone ever again.”

“Again?” Anders leaned up on his elbow so that he could look at her expression. With his thumb, he traced first one curved eyebrow and then the other.

She’d probably said too much.

“I was engaged once—a long time ago. He was very controlling. I didn’t see it at first,” she said. Anders’ expression was open, his gaze searching as the first peek of dawn’s gray light filtered in through the raised blinds of her bedroom.

“I didn’t love him. I was blinded by him. He was my parents’ choice, and I didn’t know any better.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“What?”

“That day in the street when I grabbed you, you flinched. You looked like you were going to fight.”

He looked so worried, and his hand stroked her cheek.

She turned her face into his palm and kissed it.

She didn’t want to talk about John while in bed with Anders.

And she didn’t want to think of the life she’d left behind.

And she should probably tell him her parents were both very much alive—not that she had any intention of contacting them or letting them back in her life with Anders.

It was the first time she’d thought of them as a couple.

“He didn’t hit me,” she qualified.

“That’s not an answer,” he burst out.

“It’s the one you’re getting,” she said. She framed his face with his palms. “It was a long time ago. We wanted different things. One night I realized that and broke it off.”

Total simplification, but it would have to do.

“I’m different now. Older. Wiser. I need now to know that no matter what happens, I have control over my destiny. I don’t want to be trapped.”

“Do you feel like I’m trying to trap you?”

She didn’t answer at first. She had felt that, but even over this short time of knowing about the baby, Anders hadn’t done anything but be supportive in the way that he thought best. He’d tried to do what he thought right.

He was ethical. Moral. Code of the cowboy and of the strong, Texas man that was not seen so much in modern times.

“I need to know that I have choices.”

“Tinsley, you are the strongest woman I’ve ever met. You have intellect, creativity, drive, confidence. I would never want to take that away from you.”

She was silent, thinking about his words.

“I know I came on strong after I learned about the baby.” Regret crossed his features, but determination was stamped there too. “But I’ve got to be honest about who I am. I am not a man who walks away from a responsibility.”

“That’s just it. I don’t want to be your responsibility.”

“You are. So is the baby. That doesn’t mean I think you are helpless or don’t want to be with you as a man and woman, as a family. It just means that if you need something, you can count on me.”

“But I—”

He smoothed the frown from her face. “What was your reaction when I showed up here hurt?”

“What?” She blinked at the non sequitur.

“You asked how I was. You offered ibuprofen, you ran downstairs to bring up bags of ice for an ice bath, you offered me the bed. I didn’t need those things, but I appreciated them. You were helping me, showing me I can count on you, and I will need to sometimes. I will get banged up again.”

Her heart squeezed in alarm.

“That doesn’t mean you think I’m helpless or dependent.”

Tinsley threaded her fingers through his hair. “You think I’m being too hardcore about my independence?”

The smile that lit his face and eyes spread warmth through her.

“I love it when you’re hardcore,” he said, straddling her—his palms on either side of her head and his legs caging hers in. “Just expect a little hardcore back.”