She didn’t regret making love with Justice that afternoon, but at the same time she could admit that it had probably been a mistake. Nothing was settled between them. She was still furious with him for insisting on a paternity test when any fool could look at Jonas and know without a doubt he was Justice’s son. And she was frustrated by the fact that no matter how hard she tried to get past the barriers Justice had erected around his own heart, they still stood tall and strong against her.
“But you know what really gets to me, sweetie?” she crooned, keeping her voice light and soothing as she bounced her son on her knee. “Your daddy wants a paternity test yet he’s still avoiding you. Why’s that, hmm? Do you know? Can you tell Mommy?”
Jonas laughed and cooed and waved his arms as if he were trying to fly, and Maggie smiled at the tiny boy who had so filled her heart. She couldn’t imagine her life without Jonas now. He was a part of her. Yet, the man who was his father was still a stranger to him.
“Well, little man,” she said, making her decision in an instant, “it’s time we changed all that, don’t you think? It’s time your daddy discovered just what he’s been missing. I want him to know you. To know what we could all have had together.”
Jonas burbled something that Maggie took to be agreement. Pushing off the bed, she carried the baby out of the room, along the hall and down the stairs, following the sound of the evening news on a television.
She spotted Justice the moment she walked into the great room. He was sprawled in one of the comfortable chairs positioned around the room, his gaze fixed on a flat-screen TV on the opposite wall. While a news anchor rambled on about the top stories of the day, Maggie crossed the room with determined steps.
When she got close, he looked up, directly into her eyes. She felt a quick thrilling rush through her system as heat pooled in the pit of her stomach and then slipped lower. Oh, he was dangerous, she told herself, with his dark eyes, long black hair and stern features. Then his gaze shifted to the baby and a wariness shone in his eyes briefly. Which told Maggie she was doing exactly the right thing. So she took a breath, steadied herself and forced a smile.
“I brought your son to say good-night.”
He sat up straighter, narrowed his gaze on her and said, “Not necessary.”
“Oh, it is, Justice,” she told him, and in a sure, swift movement set the baby onto Justice’s lap. The two of them blinked at each other, and Maggie would have been hard-pressed to say which of them looked more surprised by her actions.
“Maggie, the test isn’t in yet, so—”
“He’s your son, Justice. The test will prove that, even to you, very soon. So you might as well start getting to know him.”
“I don’t think—”
“You should know him, Justice,” she said, not letting him finish. “And there’s no time like now. So, you two be good and I’ll go get his bottle.”
Justice’s eyes widened in horror. “You’re leaving me alone with him?”
Maggie laughed. “Welcome to fatherhood.”
She left the room after that but stayed in the hall, peeking into the room so she could watch the two men in her life interact. Justice looked as though he were holding a ticking time bomb and Jonas looked uncertain about the whole situation.
When the baby’s lower lip began to tremble, Maggie almost went back inside. Then she heard Justice say, “Now don’t cry, Jonas. Everything’s going to be all right.”
And in the hall, Maggie had to wonder if he’d just lied to his son for the first time.
As the days passed, Justice felt the strength in his leg continue to grow. But as his body healed, his heart was being torn open. Being with Maggie and yet separate from her was harder than he would ever have thought possible. Those few stolen moments in the hot tub hadn’t been repeated, and now that time with her seemed almost like a dream. A dream that continued to haunt him no matter where he was or what he was doing.
He stood at the paddock in the bright sunshine and leaned his forearms atop the uppermost rail in the fence. With his hat pulled low over his eyes, Justice stared out at the horses being saddle-trained and told himself that he’d do well to simply concentrate on work.
Now that he was getting around better, he’d begun to take up more of the reins of the operation again, and it was good to feel more himself. Though he wasn’t up yet for taking his own horse out onto the range, he would be soon. Until then, he spent as little time as possible inside the house—though he was seeing more of the baby these days. It seemed as though both Maggie and Mrs. Carey were bound and determined to see him connect with the child.
And to be honest, Justice was enjoying himself. That little boy had a way of tugging at a man’s heart. Father or not, he was being drawn deeper into the web of feeling, caring. Only that morning, Jonas had curled his little fist around Justice’s finger and that tiny, fierce grip had taken hold of him more deeply than he would have thought possible.
The exercise-and-massage sessions Maggie had devised were getting less tiring as he healed, and he both hated that fact and was relieved by it. One-on-one time with Maggie was dangerous because he wanted her now more than ever. He hated missing those moments, but he also needed the space to do some serious thinking. Once the paternity test results came in, he would know if Maggie had been lying to him all this time. He would know if the baby boy he was becoming more fond of every day was his son.
And he would know what he had to do.
If Maggie was lying, then he’d have to let her go again. No matter how much he still loved her, no matter how much he’d come to care for the boy, he wouldn’t be used. By anyone. But even as he thought it, a voice in his head shouted at him that it wasn’t in Maggie’s nature to lie. She was as forthright and honest a person as he’d ever known.
Which meant that as far as she knew, she was telling the absolute truth. Jonas was his son. If the tests proved it out, then Justice was going to be a part of the boy’s life, whether or not Maggie was happy about that.
However the chips fell, he and Maggie had some tough choices headed their way. So why clutter everything up further with sex?
“Hey, boss!”
Justice turned toward the voice and spotted Mike leading one of the young horses around the perimeter of the ring. “What?”
Mike pointed toward the house. “Looks like your boy there is a born ranch hand!”
Justice swiveled his head to look and saw Maggie and Jonas on the flagstone patio. She was kneeling beside Jonas, who sat astride a rocking horse that had been in the King family for decades. Mrs. Carey must have hauled it down from the attic, Justice mused, a smile on his face as he watched Jonas hold on to the reins and rock unsteadily, his mother’s arm wrapped firmly around him.