The Cowboy's Baby: A BWWM Billionaire Cowboy Pregnancy Romance (2 page)

A daunting prospect, to say the least. Even for someone who loved food as much as she did.

**

He did it without thinking.

Roping steers came as easily to Daniel Hartsford as breathing. A flick of his wrist sent the loop flying through the air a calculated fifteen foot distance to encircle the horns of a particularly ornery bull. The animal bucked and turned as the noose slowly tightened about his horns until he was drawn taut.

Daniel maneuvered his horse within easy range of the animal as it slowly calmed. He’d been tracking this one along the outskirts of the ranch for almost two hours. It was breeding season, and Dante was one of his most fertile animals.

Now that he had him in hand, he could end his long day and head back to the house. As Daniel steered Dante in to step beside his horse, his phone rang, startling the huge animal slightly. Frowning, Daniel took another five minutes to calm him to the point where he walked calmly once more. Then, retrieving his phone from his pocket with his free hand, he glanced at the missed calls screen.

At the sight of Alyssa’s name, he groaned. He’d told her he would be out all day working with the cattle and that his phone ringing may spook them, so she should refrain from calling him. It was only three in the afternoon – far too early for him to be finished working – and so it was obvious she had completely ignored his warning. He didn’t know how many countless times he had reminded the woman that his life was on the line when he was dealing with animals as big as the ones on the ranch, but his words seemed to pass completely over her head.

He called her back, careful to keep his voice low when he spoke. “Hey darlin.” Despite having lived in South Dakota for the last Decade, Daniel maintained the southern twang his youth in Texas had trained into his speech. “What’s the problem?”

“Problem?” Alyssa’s high, sweet tone came back somewhat irritated. “Why would there be a problem?”

“Well, sweetheart, I’m out with a particularly difficult steer that could up and gore me if the notion struck him. And I wouldn’t want to
worry
you.” He attempted to keep the sharpness out of his voice and failed miserably

“What the hell is that tone for, Daniel? If you didn’t want to speak to me why did you even call me back?”

Daniel repressed a groan, reminding himself to be tactful. It was one of the most important qualities he’d picked up in the time he’d been with Alyssa. The gorgeous Dominican could be an angel when she wanted, and the spawn of Satan when something upset her. “Honey, it’s not that I didn’t want to talk to you. I want to talk to you.” He tugged at Dante’s lead to redirect the bull, trying to keep his voice low. “What’s going on?”

There was the customary silence while Alyssa decided if she actually wanted to talk to him or not before she spoke. “Honey, I was just thinking…we should go on vacation together. I’ve been looking at this really nice town in Greece with villas overlooking the sea. They’ve got fantastic shopping and the social scene is amazing.”

As his girlfriend wasn’t there, Daniel allowed himself the luxury of a scowl. Another vacation? Just the previous month, he’d allowed her to wheedle him into going to Spain, only to be relegated to their hotel room while she went out shopping and dining. It wasn’t the money itself that irked him – after all, he had plenty of that. It was the fact that she’d sold him on the vacation by telling him how much time it would give them to spend together. Then, the moment she’d been able, she’d gotten rid of him.

He had no doubt that Greece would be much the same. “Darlin’, I don’t know if I have the time right now. It’s breeding season and they need me here on the ranch.” It wasn’t a lie. He couldn’t stop what he was doing to take a vacation right this moment. He had far too much to do.

“Daniel, you’re the head of a multi-billion dollar company. You can’t take a break and get someone else to do that for you?”

He could.

But that wasn’t the principle of the thing.

Daniel Hartsford had spent the last two decades of his life building up his cattle business. He came from humble beginnings – both of his parents had been involved in the beef business in Texas. They, however, had worked under a larger subsidiary, only sending a few of their best cows each year to the beef markets. Daniel, however, had never forgotten exactly how well his parents celebrated after getting the paycheck for those cows. While they worked to make ends meet for the rest of the year, the check they got from the company was enough for them to buy toys for their only son – to take him out to dinner at their favorite restaurant, and once, to buy him the colt he’d begged for over the course of an entire year.

Beef, he’d always known, was good money. Which was why, despite going to school for business, he’d gone against his parents’ wishes and come back to ranching. He’d taken over their farm and slowly converted it to a beef producing establishment. The process had taken five years and a lot of money invested – which meant long hours at an office job he despised – but ultimately, the small Hartsford farm had made back enough to pay off its own mortgage – in addition to seeing both of his parents retire in comfort.

With the money he had earned from that venture, Daniel had taken the ultimate leap of faith. He’d left his small hometown in Texas and moved north to South Dakota where, with the help of a loan, he’d purchased two hundred acres of rolling farmland to create his own ranch. He had started with all of ten cows and one hundred thousand dollars investment.

Over the past fifteen years, he had carefully maneuvered his business into the top spot for beef exportation in the world, outdoing even the Kobe breeding centers in Japan and the Kaluski steers in Russia. At the age of thirty nine, he was the head of a ranch with over thirty thousand cattle, all carefully bred and cared for by some of the top zoologists and biologists in the business. He liked to make personal assurances that his beef was pesticide and hormone free, as well as non-genetically modified.

It had taken him thousands of hours of sweat, blood and effort to get Hartsford Beef to where it was today. And through the entire process he’d promised himself that he’d never go the way of so many CEOs when they made their first million. He wouldn’t relegate himself to an office, locked away boozing and spending his own money faster than he could make it.

He’d been born an outdoors-man and an outdoors-man he would remain. If he couldn’t really get his hands in what he was working with, his own idleness would drive him out of his mind. He felt more at home rounding up cows and their calves in the wilderness than he felt in a starched suit in a boardroom.

Something Alyssa had yet to understand.

But he would have patience with her. When you loved someone, you had to have patience. Alyssa had stuck by him for three years when other women didn’t have the patience. He himself had very little wherewithal when it came to women just after his money and success. Alyssa was different.

Or at least…she had been. Now things could get a bit…complicated.

“I can’t leave in the middle of breeding season, hon. How about in a few weeks?”

“Daniel, they say
now
is the best time to go. Lots of important business people…lots of hobnobbing-”

“Yeah, but what about us? Are you sure you should be getting on planes while we’re trying to…you know?”

At the inquiry, a loud huff ensued from the other line. “Daniel, I’m not pregnant. Not yet. I’d know if I was.”

“I know, honey, but the doctor said that as long as we were going to continue to try -“

“Oh for the love of god, Dan. Don’t you care anything about
my
needs? You’re putting this kid first and it hasn’t even been conceived yet. You know what? Call me back when you’re more in the mood to talk rationally.”

The line clicked, going dead in his ear. For a moment, Daniel pulled his horse up short, keeping a firm grip on Dante as he stared at the device in his hand. Christ. That hadn’t gone well.

To tell the truth, things had been a bit strained between him and Alyssa ever since they’d begun to speak about having a child. Well…
more
strained. The younger woman had made it clear to him after a year of dating that she had no interest in marriage. Marriage, Alyssa declared, was just another way to feed the divorce courts. The idea had taken some time for Daniel to wrap his head around. Being southern born and raised, he’d always been taught to treat a woman well – and that marriage should be the end goal.

Ultimately, he’d accepted things the way Alyssa wanted, but children were something he absolutely couldn’t compromise on. He’d grown up an only child and always wanted siblings. As an adult, he’d always pictured himself with a house full of children – and he’d made that very clear to his girlfriend.

After some huffing and puffing on her part, she’d finally agreed to work with him on conceiving – and they’d been in the process of trying to get pregnant for the last year and a half to no avail. All the doctors they visited told them that Alyssa might have a harder time conceiving than other women, but that was no reason not to try. She was certainly able – and Daniel was more than fertile enough to be able to overcome her biological shortcomings.

So then, why hadn’t they conceived?

It remained a mystery to the rancher.

Daniel was coming up on his forties, and he’d hoped to be married with children by this point. His parents were always asking him when they were going to meet their grand babies and he wanted nothing more than to provide them.

He was just somewhat lacking in Alyssa’s participation. She didn’t often want to get down and dirty, and when she did, he rarely finished. There was, however, no type of protection involved – as far as he knew – so they should have had a fair chance by now.

Swallowing thickly, Daniel maneuvered his horse back onto the long path that led towards the stables. There, Dante would be penned in preparation for the performance he’d be required to exhibit for the next few weeks. The bull already had hundreds of children – he was the ranch’s top breeder.

Daniel had never in his life thought he might be envious of a side of beef.

***

Chapter Two: Gone Girl

Esme sat in the plush waiting room of the surrogate clinic, trying not to gape at her surroundings. She’s known that it took a lot of money to procure someone else’s body, but a private hospital? With digs more suited to a five star hotel than a medical facility?

It was all new to her.

When she’d first called the number she’d seen on television, Esme had expected some sort of blanket, automated questionnaire. Instead, she’d gotten a real live person who had asked for her information before scheduling a doctor’s appointment for her. That was the first time she had been into the swanky clinic – and upon that visit she’d been pinched and prodded to within an inch of her life. Every sort of bloodwork taken – every kind of test done. She’d been in the center for a good three or four hours before they had released her, and still, she hadn’t thought that very much would come of it.

Then, in the midst of her search for a new chef job, she’d gotten the call that had brought her into the center today: She’d been matched with a prospective couple and they wanted to meet her.

And just like that, the young woman’s life had done a complete three sixty. While Esme hadn’t given up on finding the kitchen position of her dreams, now that something more concrete was beckoning, she didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

She’d dressed very carefully – in her best black dress – and tried to do something with her unruly hair. All in all, she thought she looked quite presentable. Like a distinguished young woman from the upper middle class rather than the scrounging cook she was. But, all in all, these people would care nothing about what she did or where she had come from. As long as she hadn’t been in trouble with the law or had any children previously, all that mattered was her pristine bill of health.

And Esme’s was
quite
pristine.

So much so that her recruiter had told her that there’d actually been a bidding war over her body – with the winner being one of the most prolific and moneyed businessmen in the US. Of course, Carmen couldn’t reveal the man’s name – and Esme would be required to sign a confidentiality agreement if the couple did, indeed, decide to use her; but none of that mattered to her. A child was child – no matter how high or low born. What she needed now was a way to pay her bills before she was on the street.

“Esme?”

The young woman’s head jerked up at Carmen’s soft, slightly accented tones. The Hispanic woman was moving through the sea of plush consulting chairs with a couple in tow. Immediately, Esme stood reflexively to meet them. “Esme, this is Daniel Hartsford and his partner Alyssa Stamos.”

“Pleased to meet you.” The words left Esme’s lips automatically, before fading into silence as she completely and totally lost track of anything further that she might have said. Alyssa was a gorgeous woman – tall and buxom, with a tiny waist, tawny brown eyes and long, dark curls that spiraled past her waist. She was dressed impeccably; everything from her blouse to her shoes was designer –and every strand of hair was effortlessly in place.