The - Cowboy’s - Secret - Twins by Dilesh Page A

heard the faint edge of doubt in his voice and the yet that had remained unspoken. What he meant was that she hadn’t given him a reason not to believe her yet.
    “Maybe not, but for my own peace of mind I’d like to show you.”
    Once again he got up from the sofa. She finished her wine and then followed him down the hallway to the study. The room had seemed enormous the first time she’d been in here, but as he gestured her into the chair behind the desk and he stood immediately behind her, the room seemed to shrink.
    They waited for the computer to boot up, and she was intensely aware of his scent, that provocative scent of clean male and spicy cologne. She could feel his warm breath on the nape of her neck and she fought a shiver of pleasure and hoped he didn’t notice that she was suddenly breathless.
    “There you go,” he said. “You’re Internet connected and can go wherever you want to go.”
    She placed her hand on the mouse and began to maneuver her way to the chat room where night after night for months she had talked to MysteryMom and other single mothers and mothers-to-be. But when she tried to find the room where she had spent so much of her time, bared so much of her soul, it was gone.
    “I don’t understand,” she muttered softly as she clicked and whirled the mouse in an effort to locate the chat room. “It’s not here.” She felt a sick frustration welling up inside her.
    “Melissa, it’s Christmas Eve, that’s probably why nobody is there.” He placed his hand on her shoulder.
    “No, you don’t understand. The room always had a virtual sign welcoming single mothers and it’s gone. The room itself isn’t there anymore.”
    She looked up at him, surprised to feel thick emotion rising up inside her. She’d wanted to prove to him that it had been MysteryMom who had brought her here and not his money or the lure of a life on easy street.
    “Do you have an e-mail address for this MysteryMom?”
    She shook her head negatively. “We always just talked in the room. If we wanted to talk privately we instant messaged each other. I only got one email from her and that was the directions here, but when I tried to answer her back my reply bounced back to me.” She covered his hand with one of hers. “You have to believe me, Henry. It’s so important to me.”
    He gazed at her for a long moment. It was a piercing gaze, as if he were looking into her very soul. “I believe you, Melissa. You don’t have to prove anything to me.”
    He pulled his hand from her shoulder and turned off the computer.
    “Come on, it’s getting late and Santa will come early in the morning.”
    She was ready to get out of the study, ready to get away from him. His scent, the gentle touch of his hand and the way he’d gazed at her had all combined to make her feel more than a little weak in the knees. They left the study and as they walked back through the living room Henry turned out the Christmas tree lights, then turned on a switch that illuminated the stairs. They climbed up the stairs side by side and again Melissa was struck with a wistfulness that things were different between her and Henry. Everything would have been much less complicated if they’d dated for a long time, fallen in love and then she’d gotten pregnant.
    And if wishes were horses, I’d have a whole herd, she thought. When they reached the top of the stairs she went into the boys’ room and Henry followed right behind her.
    She went to Joey’s crib first and her heart expanded in her chest as she saw him sleeping peacefully. He had a little smile on his lips, as if his dreams were happy.
    She then checked on James, unsurprised to see that he’d managed to wiggle himself sideways in the crib and had worked the blanket off him. She didn’t attempt to move him from his position, but covered him again with the blanket, then backed away from the crib and into the hallway.
    “James is a restless sleeper. He’s more easily awakened than