Tied Up, Tied Down (Rough Riders #4)(2)

“Good.” Doctor Monroe scooted forward and clasped Skylar’s hands in her own. “A surprise pregnancy isn’t always a pleasant surprise. You understand as your physician there is no judgment on my part on the decision you make. You’re a healthy thirty-four-year-old woman. Pregnancy and childbirth isn’t a risk to you healthwise.

“That said, if this pregnancy isn’t something you want, you’ll need to schedule an appointment with the clinic in Billings or one in Denver within the next week to terminate it. After that, you’re starting the second trimester and the health risks to you double.”

“So I’m a third of the way through?”

Dr. Monroe nodded.

A baby. Growing inside her. How weird. How…cool.

And suddenly Sky wanted this baby fiercely. “Well, Doc, I’m looking at this as a good surprise.”

“I thought you might say that.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re the same age and if I had the same surprise, I’d be over the moon.”

Sky definitely felt as if she’d been launched into another galaxy, spawning a new life form inside her. “Guess I’d better bone up on Mr. Spock’s pregnancy and childbirth books.”

“Doctor Spock, the baby expert. Not the Vulcan Star Trek character,” Doc Monroe said dryly. She reached into a cabinet, pulling out a big white plastic bottle. “Prenatal vitamins. I’ll write you a prescription, but this should get you through until I see you next month.”

Then she rattled off a spiel about unnatural bleeding, swollen tissues, tingling in arms and legs, when to come in—Sky heard it all, but through a fog of disbelief.

The word pregnant kept repeating in her mind.

In a daze, she wandered to her car, keeping her coat wrapped tightly against the cold November wind.

Kade had a right to know about this baby. She’d have to steel herself against his reaction—most likely not positive. They’d had sex one time. One. Freakin’. Time. What were the odds she’d end up pregnant? Would he even believe her that the kid was his?

Only one way to find out. She fished her BlackBerry from her purse and scrolled down the contact list.

Dammit. In a fit of anger she’d erased his cell number. Last she knew he’d temporarily moved in with his parents. Even if that was no longer the case, they’d know how to get in touch with him.

Skylar punched up the local phone directory, narrowing it to Sundance before she attempted the surrounding Wyoming counties. McKay. A shitload of them were listed: McKay, Bennett

McKay, Calvin and Kimi

McKay, Carson and Carolyn

McKay, Carter and Macie

McKay, Casper and Joan

McKay, Charles and Violet

McKay, Chase

McKay, Colby and Channing

McKay, Colt

McKay, Cord and AJ

McKay, Quinn and Libby

No Kade. No Kane. Think, Sky. What were his parents’ names? No clue. What was up with all the “C” names anyway? That was confusing as hell. She scrolled and started with the couple at the top of the list. Calvin and Kimi.

She dialed. Her heart jumped into her throat, nearly choking her when the phone was answered on the second ring. “McKays.”

“Hello. I’m looking for Kade McKay.”

Deep male laughter. “Look elsewhere.”

“Excuse me?”

“My brother is gone.”

The man speaking had to be Kane, Kade’s twin. “Gone? What do you mean gone?”

Then Sky remembered Kade’s cousin had died in a tragic ranch accident and the blood drained from her face. “Is he…dead?”

A snort. “No, he’s gone, as in, he moved.”

“When?”

“Three months ago.”

Damn. Wasn’t that a coincidence? Was that irony laughing in the background or just the rude man on the phone?

“Before you ask where he’s gone, he might as well be livin’ in Timbuktu because there’s no way to get a hold of him. Try back late next summer.” And he hung up.

Skylar stared at her cell phone in astonishment. How had she ever mixed up Kane and Kade McKay? They were different as night and day.

Which mattered not a single whit.

Call back next summer.

Right. Looked like she was on her own. Again.

Skylar patted her stomach. “Just you and me, kiddo.”

After five minutes of aimless staring at the gray nothingness outside her window, she laughed until tears poured down her face.

“A case of mistaken identity with identical twins, unprotected sex in a pickup truck, and now, a secret baby. Heck, with your cowboy daddy MIA, if I moved into a trailer and bought a shotgun we’d be living the redneck anthem.”



The fluttery sensation in her stomach solidified as the baby gave her a good swift kick.

Chapter One


Nine months later…


The door slammed hard enough to shake the whole house.

“Kade West McKay. I want to talk to you right now.”


Kade sighed. He wondered what he’d done to invoke his mother’s wrath this time.

Left the toilet seat up? Parked in her spot? Forgot to wipe his boots? Did she know how mortifying it was to be treated like a naughty eleven-year-old boy, rather than a thirty-two-year-old man responsible for running a ranch the size of Rhode Island?