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security and walked toward the courtroom where the trial was taking place that she finally drew a deep, unsteady breath.
What a shock, to suddenly see the man who had been only a memory in her thoughts for the past seven and a half months. He had looked as handsome as he had on the night she’d first met him. His slacks had fit perfectly on his slim hips and long legs. The gray dress shirt he wore had loved his lean muscles and broad shoulders.
Now that he knew she was pregnant what would happen? Would he really believe he was the father? She’d certainly fallen into bed with him easily enough; would he believe she did that with other men, as well? He was the one and only man she’d been with for a very long time. If he wanted a DNA test, she would understand and she would gladly comply.
She was pleased that he knew. As the father he had a right to know. If she’d known how to contact him she would have done so when she had first found out she was pregnant.
Would he want to be a part of this? Would he want to be an involved father? Or would he disappear once again and have nothing to do with her? As far as she was concerned he didn’t owe her anything. She’d been foolish enough to have sex without protection and it had been her choice to have the babies.
She looked at the card he had handed her. Dallas Colton. His last name was Colton. That name was certainly a familiar one in Whisperwood, Texas. The Cowboy Heroes were a horseback rescue team that ventured into disaster zones and rescued the stranded, and several of the Colton men were a part of it. They were both EMTs and ranchers, and all of them were specialists in search and rescue.
Most recently they had been instrumental in saving lives when Hurricane Brooke had roared through the small town, leaving behind destruction from high winds, flooding waters and the horrific tornadoes that had been spawned by the storm.
She reached the courtroom and took her place on the prosecutor’s side of the room. She opened her briefcase and tucked the business card inside one of the pockets, and then withdrew the papers she would need for the day.
As the courtroom began to fill, she tried to get her mind off Dallas. She had to focus on the task at hand, prosecuting a dope dealer, but her mind continued to fill with memories of the night she had shared with Dallas.
She’d gone to Bailey’s Bar with her best friend, PI Summer Davies, with the intention of drinking her stress and sorrow away. She had still been deeply grieving her brother’s death and she’d been working on a case that had included her receiving death threats.
She’d already had a couple drinks when he’d walked in. He’d been one hot piece of eye candy clad in his army uniform, and when their gazes had met a sweet heat had rushed through her. Eventually Summer had left the bar, but Avery had stayed and the handsome army sergeant had approached her.
He’d told her he was on leave and in town visiting relatives. She didn’t ask who the relatives were, and he didn’t offer any names. Instead they had shared more drinks and talked about nothing too important.
The sexual energy between them had been off the charts and that night she had done something she’d never done before. They had left the bar and gone to the nearby motel, and there she’d had a one-night stand.
She’d awakened the next morning with a desire to get to know him better, to build on their incredible physical attraction. However, he’d told her in no uncertain terms that he wanted nothing more from her. She’d left the motel and had never seen or heard from him again, until now.
Forrest Colton was a witness in the trial and that meant Dallas was probably going to sit in the courtroom. She couldn’t turn around. She didn’t want to see him right now when she had such an important job to do. But it was a bit disquieting to realize he’d be watching her.
“All rise.” The bailiff’s deep, loud voice yanked her from her thoughts. It was definitely time for her to focus on her job. Dwayne Conway was a punk, a thug who had sold pain pills and a rock of cocaine to an undercover cop. Forrest Colton had witnessed the illegal transaction and would be called to the stand to corroborate the cop’s story.
Dwayne was low-hanging fruit of a rotten tree that grew in Whisperwood, a tree of drugs and corruption that was getting bigger and bigger every day. Avery was on the front line of the fight to get all drugs, especially the deadly heroin, off the streets of the town she loved.
Just as she had figured, it was eleven thirty when she made her closing arguments, and by noon the case was given to the jury.
She and the defense attorney met with the judge for a few last-minute paperwork details and then she was free until the jury returned with a verdict. Hopefully, that would happen fairly quickly and another bottom-feeder would be off the streets.
There was no sign of Dallas when she left the courtroom. She assumed he knew she would be heading to JoJo’s Java to meet with him.
As she headed toward her car in the parking lot behind the building, butterflies danced in her stomach. She’d scarcely had time to process the fact that Dallas was here, let alone that she was going to meet with him in just a few minutes.
The butterflies grew more active as she pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main drag. She’d fantasized about this moment for the entire seven and a half months of her pregnancy.
There had been no question in her mind that Dallas was the father. Before that night with him it had been over a year since she’d had sex, and that with a man she’d dated for only three months.
There had been few men in her life. Before Zeke’s death she’d been too career oriented to want any long-term relationships, and since Zeke’s death that was the last thing she wanted.
She parked in a space in front of the trendy coffee shop. For a moment she remained seated in the car and gently caressed her stomach, wondering how reality would stack up to fantasy.
With a small sigh, she got out of her car and headed inside to find out what would happen now that Dallas was here.
* * *
Dallas Colton sat at a table for two toward the back of JoJo’s Java, with a cup of black coffee before him. The coffee shop was a popular place for people to gather in town. Along with the tables and chairs, there was a long bar and an outdoor patio. Amber lighting overhead provided a warm, cozy feeling.
He wasn’t feeling all warm and cozy right now. He was still very much reeling from seeing Avery again...a very pregnant Avery.
When he’d first looked up and seen her standing on the top step of the courthouse, his heart had crashed against his ribs. Not that his heart had been involved with her at all, but he’d been momentarily stunned by her beauty.
Her long, reddish-brown hair had sparkled in the sunlight and he suddenly remembered that her eyes were the green of a dark, mysterious forest.
When he’d seen her pregnant stomach, he’d known instinctively that the baby was his. Birth control and protection had been the last things on his mind when he’d left the bar with her and gone to the nearby motel almost eight months before.
It had been a night of crazy, wild passion. That night he’d wrapped his arms around Avery in an effort to momentarily staunch his grief over another woman.
Ivy. Her name whispered through him, along with a swell of all-too-familiar anguish. Oh God, he couldn’t think about her right now. It felt like such a betrayal to think about her while he met with a woman who was probably carrying his baby. He consciously willed those thoughts away and took a drink of his coffee.
Right now his complete focus needed to be on Avery and the very real possibility that the baby she carried was his. The timing was certainly right for that to be. If that was the case, he needed to figure out what came next.
Was she in a relationship with another man? Was it possible she had married since he had been with her? He frowned. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of another man raising his child.
Maybe he was jumping way ahead of himself. Maybe the baby she carried wasn’t