She was amazed at the speed with which the conversation had veered from the subject of their daughter to the real source of Cody’s fury. He’d had well over a year to work up a good head of steam on the subject and clearly he intended to vent it now, unless she put a quick stop to it.

“I did not,” she told him quietly.

“See—” he began triumphantly. His expression suddenly faltered as her reply finally penetrated his thick skull. “You didn’t?”

“Never,” she said emphatically, her gaze unflinching.

“But I saw...”

“You saw exactly what I wanted you to see.” She shrugged. “Unfortunately, you leapt to the wrong conclusion.”

He stared at her blankly. “I don’t get it.”

It was time—way past time—to spell it out for him. “Brian and I had one date. It wasn’t even a date, really. It was a setup. Brian only went along with it because he knew I was crazy about you. You were supposed to get wildly jealous, realize you were madly in love with me, and propose. You were supposed to fight for me. You weren’t supposed to haul your butt out of town without looking back.”

“Jealous?” He stared at her in bemusement. “How the hell was I supposed to know that? You were in his arms. What was I supposed to think, that you were discussing the weather?” he asked in a tone loud enough to wake the dead.

“You’re shouting again,” she observed.

He scowled. “Well, so what if I am?”

Melissa chuckled despite herself. He was too darned stubborn to recognize even what was staring him straight in the face, much less the subtleties of the trap she had tried to spring on him. No wonder it had failed so miserably. She should have issued an ultimatum in plain English if she’d wanted him to marry her, not tried to trick him into recognizing his own feelings. As for right now, he obviously needed his present circumstances clarified for him.

“Mabel’s probably taking notes,” she stated patiently. “Eli may be calling the sheriff. Other than that, there’s no reason to quiet down that I can think of.”

Cody groaned and sank onto a stack of boxes. When he finally looked at her again, she thought she detected a hint of wonder in his eyes.

“Then the baby really is mine?” he asked quietly. “Jordan was right?”

“No doubt about it, at least in anyone’s mind except yours.”

His gaze honed in on hers and an expression of complete awe spread over his face. “I have a baby.”

“Actually, you have a toddler,” she corrected. “She’s thirteen months old.”