Free A Baby by Chance by Cathy Gillen Thacker

marriage proposal.”
    Nor was he about to give her one. “You’re right about that,” Madison told him in a matter-of-fact tone. She reached across the fence and took a turn petting Shiloh. “We barely know each other.”
    Worse, Chance thought unhappily as he watched Madison stroke a delicate-looking hand down Shiloh’s throat, he and Madison apparently had very little in common besides breathtaking passion and the baby on the way. It sure wasn’t much to build on, he thought ruefully, remembering without wanting to how soft and giving and totally without inhibitions Madison had been in bed. If only she could be that way out of bed, too...
    Madison turned to Chance and continued with a pragmatism that cut him to the quick. “So maybe we should just consider that both of our obligations have now been met.” She folded her arms beneath her breasts and assumed a militant stance. “You know about the baby, and you know I’ll take care of it.”
    How Madison, Chance thought. How very Madison.
    She was perfectly willing to step forward and do the decent thing by telling him about his paternity so she could then go off with their baby and live her life as if he had no real part in it, at least not day to day. She wanted a clear conscience, the freedom to do as she pleased, to take care of her needs and desires and those of their child, leaving nothing at all for him. “I’m willing to do my share, Madison,” Chance told her curtly. Whether she had meant to or not, she had really hit a nerve.
    Studying his face, Madison paled. “I’m not asking for that much involvement, Chance.” Not anything like it!
    Well, too damn bad, lady, because this is my kid, too, we’re talking about.
    Chance didn’t know what kind of daddy he’d make. The thought of diapers and so on, not to mention trying to parent and love a child long distance, terrified him. “But whatever happens, I promise I’ll do the right thing for the baby,” he told her steadily, looking deep into her green eyes, knowing the repercussions of any further mistakes between them would be severe indeed, because they would end up affecting the baby. “That’s all either of us can do,” he said wearily.
    Madison regarded him critically. “It sounds like you’re making excuses already,” she told him haughtily.
    And maybe he was, Chance thought, but only because he wanted her to understand what they were getting themselves into here. “My own dad wasn’t exactly a warm and fuzzy guy,” Chance told her gruffly.
    “So what does that have to do with us?” Madison asked irritably.
    Behind them, Shiloh—upset by their rising voices and increasingly tense posture—snorted and pawed the ground, then wheeled away and raced for the other end of the pasture, halter still on. Chance swore softly. Had he known how heated their discussion was likely to get, he wouldn’t have brought her here to see the skittish horse. Figuring he’d tend to his horse later, he turned to Madison and forced himself to do what the ranch staff at Lost Springs had taught him—admit his own culpability in an unhappy past and then move on.
    “I’m saying what happened between me and my dad was a two-way street,” Chance told Madison impatiently. “My dad loved me and he didn’t know how to show it. I loved him and I didn’t know how to show it. Things that should have brought us closer together always ended up driving us further apart.”
    “Are you telling me you don’t know how to love?”
    Chance shrugged and pushed away the pain he always felt when he thought about his dad and what should have been. “I can train horses. I can be a friend, a good one. Beyond that...” He let his voice trail off. When it came to normal family relationships, trying to be a father without being a husband, trying to forge a normal family life without being married or even living in the same state...well, they’d be making it up as they went along. He felt Madison should know that, be