Anger coiled around her belly and steeled her spine. “No. I just called to tell you about the baby. I’m not going to come back to you. This doesn’t change anythingbetweenus.”
“I’m not going to have a bastard child runningaround.”
“Well if you’d kept your dick in your pants, you wouldn’t have thisproblem.”
“Why are you so caught up on one indiscretion? It happened once. Getoverit.”
She pulled the phone away from her ear. Her finger hovered over the “End” button. Mack was right. She should have waited tocallhim.
Ben’s nasally voice snarled through the air. “I’m coming out there and we’re going to workthisout.”
“Don’t you dare come here. I don’t want to see you. I’ll call you when the baby’s born and we’ll work out a custodyagreement.”
His tone changed to whiny. “Why won’t you give me another chance? I made one mistake. Now that we have a baby on the way, we owe it to him to work things out. If you would justforgiveme—”
“I’ll never forgive you.Never.” She’d never get the image of him in bed with her best friend out ofhermind.
“You’re making a huge mistake. I’ll take the baby awayfromyou.”
“There’s no way a court would do that.” She hated the way her voice wavered. With his money and power, anything was possible. He probably had every judge in Seattle in his backpocket.
“Obviously you’re hormonal. When you come to your senses, call me back. Don’t do anythingstupid.”
She glared at the phone in disbelief. “I’m not stupid. You’re a jackass, Ben. If you weren’t suchanass—”
The call ended. He’d hung up on her? Seriously? She wanted to throw the phone across the room. What had she ever seen in him? He was a complete asshole. Her mother had set them up, always going on about how she needed to marry within her class, like it was the nineteenth century orsomething.
She huffed. He was delusional if he thought she’d ever go back to him. She didn’t need a jerk like him in her life. She needed someone more like Mack. Someone who was kind and considerate. They barely knew each other and he’d treated her far better than Ben ever had. If only she’d met someone like Mack before she’d fallen into the abyss of Ben’sobsessivelove.
Looking back, she realized how controlling he’d been. He’d chosen the invitations. He’d chosen the restaurants and he’d insisted on choosing her clothes. At the time, she’d thought he was a doting fiancé. How could she have been sonaïve?
Chapter8
Mack fistedhis hand and leaned against the wall. He’d only overheard half of the conversation, but he could guess what her ex had been saying on the other end. The bastard was trying to get her back. Mack’s bear roared in anger. If that guy ever showed his face on the ranch, Mack wouldn’t work too hard to controlhisbear.
A moment of clarity hit him square in the gut. What was he doing? He wasn’t involved with her. She wasn’t his to protect. He’d spent the last thirty-two years of his life single. The ranch was his whole world and he had a responsibility to protect everyone on it. He had enough to do without having to take care of a woman who had her own set of problems. Why was he so worriedabouther?
His bear answered.She’syourmate.
Stunned, he backed away from the door. His mate? Could his bear be wrong about that? He’d never declared any other woman his mate, so why now? Could that explain why he’d been so immediately and inexplicably drawn to her? Could that be why he couldn’t get her out ofhismind?
He needed time to think, so he hurried downstairs. After whipping up a stir-fry for lunch, he packed a bag and left a note forMadison:
I’ll be out on the ranch most of the day. We’ll talktonight.
After jogging to the barn, he chose Grayson, a large black stallion. He saddled the horse, then took off toward the back pasture. He had plenty of work to do away from the B&B. The fence alongside old man Wrangler’s property needed to be checked. Normally Jack would take care of his portion of the fence, but since his heart attack, he couldn’t do as much work as he had in the past. Mack didn’t mind. Jack was in his late seventies and had refused help until he’d been forced to rest after hisillness.
Mack raised his face toward the sun. It was near freezing, but warmer than it had been in a week. During the winter, he tried to spend as much time as he could out in the sun. The short days and long nights could wear on his psyche if he wasn’tcareful.
As he approached the fence, he took in the view of Jack’s property. Hills covered in snow rolled on for miles. In the distance, majestic mountains reflected shimmering snow-heavy trees. He passed a quaking aspen. Nature had decorated the trees with long, clear icicles. Fresh, crisp air blew down from the hills, bringing with it the sweet scent of the naturalworld.
He couldn’t imagine ever living in a city. A concrete jungle of buildings, cars hacking out deadly chemicals, strangers racing around to their walled-in jobs without a view of the sky. They didn’t call Montana “Big Sky Country” for nothing. The sky stretched up from the snowy landscape to form a dome of robin’s egg blue. A few wispy clouds drifted on thebreeze.
Mack’s heart swelled with pride as he turned to survey his family’s property. The ranch had been owned by his family for generations. He frowned. Who would he pass on the legacy to? Brady had his son Jimmy, so he would take over if none of the other brothershadkids.
Worry lines creased his forehead. What if something happened to Jimmy? His surgery had been successful and he was recovering really well, but was one heir enough? He had a legacy to uphold. He needed to make sure that their family would continue to run the ranch for another sevengenerations.
An image of Madison with a swollen belly popped into his mind. His bear leapt with recognition. He quickly shook it away. She couldn’t possibly be his mate. He’d never really thought about marrying, but if he had, he never would have dreamed that he’d marry a woman who was already carrying another man’s child. His bear had to bewrong.
