âDid you know you were pregnant when we slept together?
âI donât sleep around with married women, lady, especially pregnant ones. Youâve made me something I really did not want to be.â
Never much good at lying, Becca realized her mouth was still hanging open when Aiden stopped his tirade.
âYou thought I was married?â
He scowled. âNot then. But when I saw you hereâpregnant as a houseâwhat was I supposed to think?â
âUhâ¦â It finally registered in Beccaâs tired, stressed-out brain. He thought sheâd been cheating on her husband. He didnât know she didnât have a husband. He didnât suspect the baby was his.
A nervous, relieved laugh escaped before she could stop herself.
âWait a minute.â Aiden peered at her in the gathering darkness. Then he snatched up her left hand. âYouâre not wearing a ring.â
Becca pulled her fingers back. âIâm not married.â It was too late for that.
âIf youâre not married, whose baby is that?â He pointed at her belly as if it were repugnant to him.
âItâs mine.â
Dear Reader,
Have you ever held on to a belief until some life-changing event forced you to rethink things? Such is the attitude of Aiden Rodas. Kids in his future? Bite your tongue! After the way his father abandoned him as a young child, Aiden is determined the Rodas line will end with him.
But Aiden didnât count on Becca Thomas, an older career woman whoâs let life pass her by and is now playing catch-up by having a baby of her own, on her own. When Aiden discovers that the baby Becca is carrying is hisâholy moly!âhe becomes determined to always be there for his child. And that means acknowledging to the world that he had a lot to do with Beccaâs pregnancy.
Aiden doesnât fit into Beccaâs plans at all, but this expectant dad wonât leave her alone, and soon Beccaâs not sure she wants him to.
I hope you enjoy my twist on a May-December romance. I love hearing from readers through my Web site at www.MelindaCurtis.com or at P.O. Box 150, Denair, CA 95316.
Melinda Curtis
To all the fathers out there who never cease to be surprised when theyâre told theyâre going to be a dad (this is how babies are made, guys).
Special love to the dads in my lifeâ John, Paul, CR, Jeff, Jim, Sam, Pop, my own Dad and my husband. You all turned out okay when the babies arrived!
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
EPILOGUE
âMOVE! MOVE! MOVE!â Spider shouted as he sprinted after nineteen men and women through a tunnel of flame.
No one heard him above the roar of the fire.
The Silver Bend Hot Shots were in a race for their lives down a mountainside theyâd been trying to save. A few minutes ago, theyâd been scraping away brush with shovels and Pulaskis, clearing a firebreak below a tame flank of the Flathead, Montana, fire and joking about how thereâd be no overtime because this one would soon be out.
Then the wind changed, no longer a gentle breeze drifting up the slope from the creek. Instead it came from above, injecting life-giving oxygen into the smoldering embers until it was a ten-foot-tall wall of menacing flame. The new fire toyed with the Hot Shots for only a moment before bending across their six-foot-wide break and igniting a fresh blaze on the opposite side with a heated kiss. Tools scattered and packs were abandoned as the group began a desperate run for the ribbon of water theyâd started at this morning.
As one of the two assistant superintendents of the crew, it was Spiderâs job to make sure everyone made it out ahead of him. One misstep by someone and theyâd go down like dominoes, more food for the fiery dragon on their heels.
How much farther?
Ahead of Spider, the fire seemed to be closing ranks around them. The heat and smoke made it difficult to fill his lungs with air. His heart pounded wildly from exertion, adrenaline and fear.
Someone stumbled. Swerving to the side, running perilously close to the tongue of flame on his right, Spider dragged Victoria back onto her feet.
âWeâre not going to make it,â she cried, barely audible above the angry roar of the fire.
Even as some part of Spider agreed, he rejected defeat. At thirty, he still had things to accomplish, places to see and women to meet. He was single, with few responsibilities and few regrets, with only his dad to mourn him. The world was his oyster.
Too bad he was about to be fried.
TAP-TAP-TAP.
Inside the Fire Behavior tent at base camp, Becca Thomas smiled and tried to ignore the little one trying to get her attention. She focused instead on the most recent satellite photo of the Flathead fire taken that morning and compared it to the latest computer simulation sheâd run on the computer provided by NIFC, the National Interagency Fire Center.
Tap-tap-tap.