Page 33 of A Baby for the Texas Cowboy (The Texas Wolf Brothers #3)

“I am happy,” Tinsley said, keeping her voice low and grateful that her mother, although cold, calculating and cutting, was not one to make a public scene.

That brought her mother’s astonished attention back to her.

“Dear Lord. You look like you got a boob job.”

Tinsley cringed. The last thing she wanted to do was tell her mom she was pregnant. Even though she was only in her second trimester, she didn’t want to subject her baby to her mother’s derision.

“Please tell me why you are here, mom.”

“John asked me to come.”

“Why?”

Please let him, if not be happily married, at least not be thinking of divorce. John and her parents had many investments together and served on the same boards. And both her father and John had political aspirations.

“John saw a video of you.”

“And?”

Her mother looked like she’d just had a lime shoved in her mouth. Amazing she could make an expression after all the facials, Botox, and nips and tucks.

“Did you really let some cowboy slurp whiskey off your breasts in public?”

“Oh, that video. It was a whiskey promotion. I was modeling,” Tinsley improvised.

Her mother was stunned into blessed silence.

“I am not quite sure what to say,” her mother finally said. “Are you really that broke?”

“No. I earn a great salary and I enjoyed marketing spirits and now I’ve added wine events and tasting room manager to my portfolio. The whiskey shot was just for fun.”

“Fun?”

“You can Google it.”

“Don’t be snide.”

“You’re right. Now that you’re here would you like to try Verflucht’s reserve flight?”

“Certainly not.”

But no, her mother continued to study the room as if it both dissatisfied and bewildered.

“Mom,” Tinsley reached out a hand to touch her mother’s smooth, small-boned hand, but her mom pulled away.

“John doesn’t want a problem,” she finally said. “He has moved on. He’s married and has a son Jackson and a daughter Madison. His wife was back on her Peloton two days after the birth.”

That sounded way too soon. Pushing out a baby looked painful in TV shows, and Tinsley still couldn’t bring herself to think about the actual birth part of this unplanned pregnancy, but she was pretty confident there would be no sitting on an exercise bike her first morning home—definitely later though as Tinsley loved feeling healthy and fit.

“Why would there be a problem?”

“More videos.”

“I’m not a porn star.”

“We did our best long ago, to scrub your presence from our lives, as has John, but he is running for governor and will likely win. Your father may be nominated to be an ambassador, and we don’t want any kiss and tell stories or more videos of our former daughter to surface online.

You made a terrible accusation about John to me, and of course I never repeated it, but I don’t want to hear another word about him except that you wish him and his family well.

And I’d prefer you to stay out of the public eye. ”

“I work in the hospitality industry.”

“Nowhere, Texas, doesn’t count.”

So much was hitting her right now that Tinsley couldn’t begin to process it.

And then the door to the tasting room opened, and her past and present and future imploded as the most beautiful cowboy in all of Texas sauntered in the with a smile like the sun rising, and sparkling eyes bluer than a Texas spring sky.

*

Anders was on top of the world.

He was heading to Vegas for the finals. He and his best friend were being pitted against each other as rivals. Kane’s retirement announcement had kicked everything to a higher level, which just made Anders that much hungrier for the win.

Personally, his life was even better. He and Tinsley had had their third doctor’s appointment, and the baby and Tinsley were doing well.

She was no longer avoiding talking about the baby or trying to hide her changing figure, and he figured that meant she was happier, becoming more comfortable with their future.

He’d stopped pushing marriage and having her move out to the ranch, but he hadn’t given up. He was biding his time, wooing her, and the woman he was getting to know was even sexier, smarter and more entrancing than he had a right to aim for.

He swung open the tasting room door, feeling like a cowboy of old—he wore his new custom chaps he’d picked up this morning. They were comically flashy and looked ridiculous out of the arena, but bull riders were cowboy rock stars and he wanted to show off.

Tinsley had a thing for him in chaps, and he wanted her to remember what she was missing over the next few days.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said, swaggering in to the tasting room like he owned it. He hopped up on the bar, bracing himself on his hip, kissed her and then pushed himself back to standing. “Ma’am.” He tipped his hat to the beautifully coiffed woman in pink who looked like an ice cream cone.

He smiled.

And then he realized there was more tension between the two women than he’d ever experienced on top of a chute when a rider was about to drop down on a restless, rank one hundred percent bull.

“You.” The woman took a step back and then another.

She pointed at him, and her pale skinny finger shook like she’d seen a ghost. Was that diamond even real?

It was dang near the size of a cow’s eyeball.

“You’re that…that…cowboy in the whiskey ad taking a…

what do you call it?” Her face twisted like he’d jammed half a lemon in her mouth and squeezed it.

“A shot off my daughter’s breasts like she’s a human table. ”

“Your daughter?” Anders repeated, feeling like he’d just been spun around and bucked off into the dirt before he’d even got his seat.

“She was, but her father and I are no longer claiming her as such, so there’s no money in it for you, if that was your plan.”

What was she talking about? He didn’t need anyone else’s money.

And then it hit him. Tinsley had lied to him about her parents being dead, although if this was her mom disowning her for working in a tasting room, he could understand why she hadn’t wanted to trot out her mother.

And then something else made sense—why she hadn’t wanted his money or anyone else’s.

She wanted to make it on her own. Tinsley and he were so similar.

If this woman had made her do a song and dance for every crumb growing up, he now understood Tinsley’s fierce protectiveness of her independence.

Tinsley had lied—or at least not corrected his mistaken assumption, and he’d given her every opportunity. That hurt. But he’d deal with those negative emotions later.

Anders held out his hand. “Ma’am, I’m Anders Wolf.”

“So?” She looked from his extended hand and around the tasting room. “Do you work here when you’re not—” she waved her hand “—playing cowboy? Dear Lord, is there a lunch show where you ride around looking like that?” Her eyes goggled at his custom and very snazzy chaps.

“Mom, he’s one of the top bull riders in the world,” Tinsley said in a low, tense voice.

“That’s a job?” Tinsley’s mom sounded astonished.

Tinsley was pale, with two slashes of color across her cheeks. She also had reddish-pink splotches on her neck and collarbone that she got when she was angry or embarrassed. Tension was not good for Tinsley or the baby, and all his protective instincts flared.

“Ma’am, welcome to Last Stand and my brother’s tasting room.

It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said in his most charming Texas drawl that he knew wouldn’t work on her.

He doubted anything could; however, this woman was Tinsley’s mom, his child’s only hope for a grandmother.

He wanted to try his best to mend any bridges if that were possible.

“I am a bull rider with the AEbr, but I also own a third share of Ghost Hill Ranch, one of the largest spreads in Texas.” Money and ownership would be the one thing she might understand. “I also own a half of Cowboy Wolf Whiskey and a quarter share in Four Wolfs Distillery with my brother.”

“You do?” Tinsley stared at him. “You never told me that.”

No. He hadn’t. He hadn’t wanted her to feel pressured when he’d made his move on her after debating for months about asking her out.

“He’s your boss? You let your boss drink whiskey off your…

” The woman waved her skinny, bejeweled hand with the diamond encrusted watch that screeched money clasped on her fragile-looking wrist. “That sounds like sexual harassment, but in the video you were smiling. How dare you accuse John of…” She snapped her mouth shut.

This was going to escalate, and while the tasting room was in a lull, Anders didn’t want Tinsley to have to face any town gossip if a local happened to stop in to chat.

“Let’s have a seat over there.” He indicated a quiet area where this morning Tinsley had hung art from a local artist. “We can get to know each other. Would you like a class of…?” What would someone so clearly snobby like to drink?

“Bubbles or a glass of sparkling water?”

He couldn’t imagine her drinking water from a tap.

“No thank you,” she said, not following him.

“Did Tinsley tell you our good news?”

Tinsley’s eyes widened.

Damn.

But what else would a daughter talk about with a mother she hadn’t seen in a while? And why hadn’t she told him her mom was still alive and criticizing her from what he could see. Or maybe she was ill. Or another family member was ailing.

“I can’t imagine any good news you two would have,” Tinsley’s mother said, then her attention pivoted back to Tinsley. “You’re pregnant,” she hissed. “By a cowboy.”

She swayed, and Anders fearing the woman might faint, helped her to a chair.

“I think I’ll have that mineral water now. And chardonnay. Please.”

Tinsley pulled a bottle of sparkly from the fridge, added two round designer ice cubes to a glass along with a slice of lemon and lime. She brought it to her mother, who took a drink. The ice rattled in the glass.

“I’m sorry if the news is a shock, Mrs. Underhill.”

“Mrs. Underhill-Whittaker.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Anders said.