He also discovered that this new side of Melissa was every bit as intriguing as it was vexing. He realized that he’d always taken for granted that sooner or later she would admit she loved him and accept his oft-repeated proposal. That she was still turning him down with another baby on the way shook him as nothing else in his life ever had. Maybe this was one time when his charm wasn’t going to be enough.

And the truth of it was, she seemed to be getting along just fine. He’d seen that for himself ever since he’d gotten back from Wyoming. She had made a nice life for herself and Sharon Lynn. She would fit a new baby into that life without batting an eye.

She was strong and self-sufficient, downright competent as a single parent. She had her job at the drugstore. She had friends who were there for her. She had parents who supported her in whatever decisions she made, though he sensed that her father was not quite as thrilled with this independent streak as her mother was.

In short, Melissa had a life, while Cody was lonelier than he’d ever imagined possible even in the dead of a rough Wyoming winter.

The thought of Melissa going into that delivery room with anyone other than him as her labor coach grated. The prospect of his baby—a second baby, in fact—being born without his name made him see red. He wanted to be a part of that baby’s life so badly it stunned him.

What flat-out rocked him back on his heels, though, was the fact that he wanted to be with Melissa just as badly. Maybe he’d started out just saying the words, asking her to marry him because of Sharon Lynn and more recently this new, unborn baby. But sometime, when he hadn’t been paying attention, he’d gone and fallen in love with the woman. Mature, adult love this time, not adolescent hormones and fantasy.

How the hell was he going to get her to believe that, though? Nothing he had done in the past eight and a half months since he’d come home to Texas had done a bit of good.

He’d been steady. He’d been reliable. He’d even managed to seduce her, which was what had gotten them into this latest fix. Melissa, however, had kept a stubborn grip on her emotions. She had refused to concede feeling so much as affection for him, much less love.