Page 16 of Rocky Mountain Home

Dare shook her head. “Not many people know yet. Basically just family, although the Buckaroo bump is going to give me away pretty soon.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “What you think? We’re engaged now, and we can get married”—he counted on his fingers—“early October.”

“Good Lord, is that really necessary? Like are you telling me you don’t want to have an illegitimate child, so we need to rush things?”

“No. But this is about…what did you call him? Buckaroo. Whatever he’ll have to deal with down the road, I figure we should do everything we can to make his life easier, right?”

Smooth bastard. “I can’t argue with that.”

“So it’s settled. We’re engaged, and we’ll—”

“It’s not settled,” she snapped, feeling a little stupid about complaining, but all control seemed to be tipping rapidly out of her hands. “Other than spending one night together, I know nothing about you. My family knows nothing about you.”

“So, let’s go meet your family. I’ll convince them that I’m not an axe murderer, and you’ll tell them we’re engaged.”

She eyed him. “The guy I met at the bar that night had a lot of smarts and charm. Either you’re not really him, or you hit your head hard sometime between then and now.”

“What am I being stupid about? Tell me.” He offered another of those seductive smiles. “I can be charming, darling.”

“Obviously, since you charmed your way into my panties easily enough—” Dare cut herself off and shook her head. “I’m sorry, that’s not fair. This is not your fault, and I was totally on board with the panty charming. I just need a minute to get my head on straight. Okay? Today’s held a few shocks for both of us, in different ways.”

He eased back and his body language went soft, like the guys did when they were around horses that spooked easily.

That she caught what he was doing was balanced by the fact he knew how to do it.

Jesse spoke quieter. “How about this? I should move my truck. I kind of abandoned it when Emma did her header. Come with me to get it. Heck, if you feel up to it, you can take me on a tour of the ranch then we’ll grab some burgers. Nothing fancy, nothing involving a big outing in public—”

“—safe from my brothers coming and giving you the third degree before we’ve even found out each other’s last names?”

“That too.” He held out his hand.

It took a moment before she realized he was pretending to meet her for the first time. His grip was firm, but careful, his far greater strength held in reserve.

“Jesse Coleman.”

“Darilyn Hayes, but everybody calls me Dare.”

One of his brows arched higher. “Darilyn? Pretty. I was wondering if it was a nickname or something.”

“And now you know.”

“Now I know.” Jesse released her fingers and gestured to the door. “Show me your home.”

What the hell was wrong with him?

Dare was right. Jesse knew how to be charming, and yet he’d gone and barreled forward without paying one bit of attention—which was the exact opposite of how he usually treated the ladies. No wonder she’d shoved walls up right away.

She’d dashed off to pull on different clothes, giving him time to start pondering, and now the self-recrimination continued as they walked in silence down the gravel drive to where his truck was parked.

He didn’t blame her one bit for not wanting to marry him. He wouldn’t want to marry him, either—cocky, arrogant bastard. If this had any chance of working, he needed to up his game big time.

Although, he was struggling to put together everything that meant.

A kid.

Married…

It was as if his brain was happier if he just ignored thinking what those words actually added up to. If he looked at them through a hazy glass as if they were far in a future that didn’t involve “soon” and “the right thing” and “brothers ready to kick his ass into tomorrow”.