LITMIR.BIZ

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you know I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” he protested, his eyes as blue as the cloudless sky overhead. “And you know how I feel about marriage. Never again.” He dropped her hands and continued walking.

      Melanie hurried to catch up with him. “But this would be different,” she exclaimed. “For one thing, it wouldn’t be forever.”

      Bailey stopped walking once again and faced her, his features radiating confusion. “What are you talking about?”

      “A temporary marriage for mutual benefit.” She wondered if he had any idea how attractive he looked with his dark hair wet and slicked back to expose his firmly chiseled features.

      However, he stared at her as if she’d completely and irrevocably lost her mind. “Not that I’m even considering such insanity, but remind me again, what kind of mutual benefit this marriage would give us?”

      “For you, it would relieve some of the onslaught by overeager contestants. No woman is going to show up in your bed if you’re a married man.”

      “And what do you get out of this arrangement?”

      She hesitated a moment. “We’d stay married until after the Miss Dairy Cow pageant and…until you give me a baby.”

      “Good grief, have you lost your mind?” He turned and stalked off, and once again Melanie hurried to catch up to him.

      “It would only be a temporary marriage,” she continued. “We’d marry as friends and divorce as friends. You get a reprieve from the tiara-hungry single women in town, and I get pregnant.”

      “I don’t want to talk about this. The whole idea is insane.” They had reached her car, parked in front of the barn, and he leaned against the front fender. “Mellie, I’m not the man for the job you have in mind.”

      “Bailey, you’re the only man in my life,” she protested.

      He gazed at her with a touch of sympathy. “Honey, eventually you’ll find the perfect man for you and get married and have a houseful of babies. Just give it time.”

      “I’m running out of time,” she exclaimed. “And you know my track record when it comes to finding Mr. Right. It stinks.”

      “That’s because your standards are too high.”

      “Bailey, just think about it.” To Melanie the whole idea seemed perfect. “I want my mom to know my child before it’s too late.”

      He looked at her in alarm. “Is her cancer back?”

      “No, but there’s no guarantee it won’t come back. You know how much I’ve wanted a baby, Bailey. Please think about this. You’re my very best friend in the whole wide world. Can’t you do this one thing for me?”

      Bailey was in shock. He studied the freckled face of the woman who had been his best friend for as long as he could remember, and he felt as if he were looking at a stranger.

      “Mellie, you know after the mess with Stephanie I vowed I would never marry again,” he said.

      She waved her hands dismissively. “Stephanie was a bubble-headed social climber who wasn’t half good enough for you.”

      He grinned. “That’s one thing we agree on.” His smile faded as Melanie didn’t return it.

      “It would only be a temporary marriage,” she repeated. “And I would never ask anything of you after that. Just give me a baby and I’ll go away happy.”

      He reached out and placed a hand on the side of her face. “Mellie, you know I would do anything for you. When we were in fifth grade I beat up Harley Raymond because he called you a bad name.”

      A ghost of a smile curved her lips. “The way I recall it, Harley Raymond made mincemeat out of you.”

      He laughed. “Okay, maybe you’re right, but I took the beating for your honor. In high school I tolerated you dressing me up in a monkey suit to take you to the prom. I would do anything in the world for you…except this.” He dropped his hand.

      She shrugged and offered him the slightly crooked grin that was as familiar to Bailey as his own heartbeat. “It was just a thought,” she said.

      Bailey relaxed, feeling for the first time in several minutes as if they were back on familiar footing. “What are your plans for the evening?”

      She made a face. “I’ve got appointments until about eight, then I have to come up with final grades before the end of this week when school lets out for the summer. I’ll probably get started on them tonight. What about you?”

      “I’ll probably eat a little of one of those questionable casseroles, then call it a night early. I’ve got a neutering surgery scheduled for seven in the morning.”

      “How about a movie tomorrow night,” she suggested. Most Friday nights they spent together, either eating dinner out or going to the old theater in town.

      “Why don’t we rent one and I’ll pop popcorn and we’ll watch it here.”

      She nodded and moved to the door of her car. “Sounds good. About seven?”

      “Perfect,” he agreed, and watched as she got into her car, the late-afternoon sunshine glinting off her long, curly red hair.

      He waved and smiled as she pulled out of the drive, then shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned thoughtfully as her car disappeared from sight.

      What on earth had possessed her to come up with such a crazy idea, he wondered as he headed into the barn to do a checkup of the animals in his care.

      He and Mellie were not winners when it came to the romances in their lives, but they were absolute champions when it came to their friendship with each other. Bailey would never do anything to risk that friendship. And nothing could ruin things like a marriage.

      Twenty minutes ago he would have told anyone that Melanie Watters was the most grounded woman he’d ever known. She was bright, logical and had both feet firmly planted on the ground. But that had been before she’d voiced her crazy idea about marriage and pregnancy.

      Maybe the approach of her thirtieth birthday at the end of the year had picked her feet up off the ground and put craziness in her head, he thought as he left the barn.

      He entered the house by the back door and walked into the large, airy kitchen he rarely used. As a confirmed bachelor, most of Bailey’s meals were either zapped in the microwave or eaten at the local diner.

      The only really good home-cooked meals he ever got were when either his mother or Melanie took pity on him and cooked for him.

      At the moment the last thing he wanted was dinner. All he wanted was a nice warm shower and to kick back with a cold beer.

      He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told Melanie it had been a miserable day. Not only had he been confronted by several well-meaning mothers of potential contestants, he’d had to put down a beloved old dog who’d belonged to friends of his.

      He walked into his bedroom and kicked off his shoes, then walked into the bathroom and stripped off his still-damp jean shorts. He tossed them in the direction of the hamper, pulled a towel from the linen closet, then yanked open the shower door and yelped in surprise.

      The dark-haired, naked woman standing in his shower smiled. “Hey, Bailey, I thought maybe you’d like me to scrub your back.”

      “Jeez, SueEllen, what the heck are you doing?” Bailey wasn’t sure whether to cover himself with the towel in his hand or cover her. He finally managed to sling the towel around his hips and grab another from the closet and throw it to SueEllen Trexlor.

      SueEllen took the towel, but instead of wrapping it around herself, held it out from her. “I just thought I’d show you some of the talent I can’t show you during the pageant,” she said.

      Bailey groaned and quickly turned his back

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