Claiming The Rancher's Heir (Gold Valley Vineyards #2) - Maisey Yates Page 0,44

shortsighted?”

“I was only thinking about one thing,” he said, his patience snapping. “I’m really glad that you can sit there on your high horse. But virgins don’t get to talk about what it’s like to be carried away by desire. I’ve made this mistake before.” That made his sister look shamefaced, shocked. “And the woman took the kid from me, okay? I missed out on eighteen years of raising my son because I didn’t make sure my rights were protected, and I wasn’t going to do it again. I did what I had to do. My kid was more important than the winery.”

Finally, his father spoke. “You compromised the winery for this marriage?”

“There are things that are more important than a winery, Dad. I would think you would know that.”

He couldn’t read the expression on his old man’s face. “I protected the winery all this time,” he said. “It was my...new dream after it became clear I wasn’t going to get the first thing I wanted. And I never compromised for it.”

“No,” Creed agreed. “You didn’t. Down to not wanting to make too big of an incident out of me getting a girl pregnant when I was sixteen. Yeah, Dad, you protected the winery. But I protected my son. Can you say you did the same?”

Suddenly, Creed was done. Done with all of it. Done with all of them.

It was easy for them to pass judgment, but they didn’t know what they were talking about.

His father had gotten everything he wanted in his life. He’d had a wife, had his children.

And then the old man had withdrawn into himself when his wife had died and let his children take over the running of the winery.

Yeah, he’d used them to protect the winery. At the expense of everything else. His father had asked endless sacrifices of Creed.

Creed was out of damn patience for his family.

“All of you spare me your lectures,” he said. “A virgin and an old man who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.” He shook his head and walked out of the building, breathing in the sharp early-morning air.

He wasn’t going to justify his decision to marry Wren. His course was set.

And whatever Honey thought, love did come into it. The love for his child. Nothing else mattered.

Ten

The big cross-vineyard event was tonight, and Wren could hardly keep the nerves from overtaking her.

She got tired much more quickly than usual these days, and her midsection was beginning to get a bit thicker, which made the dresses she normally wore to things like this slightly tighter. She had spent countless hours trying on gowns in hers and Creed’s bedroom, until he had grabbed hold of her and said very firmly that he loved her body like it was, and that absolutely everything looked good on her, or off her.

That had ended in him nearly destroying her makeup with his kisses, and she had scolded him roundly about the fact that they didn’t have any time to get busy.

She had been filled with regret about that decision, however. And the fact that making love to him seemed a whole lot more interesting than readying herself for something she was supposed to be excited about irritated her.

As she slipped into the formfitting green dress she’d decided on, she tried to tell herself she was irritated simply because having a baby was such a big deal.

It was harder and harder to care about other things right now. She was consumed with the fact that in six and a half months she and Creed were going to be parents.

And for some reason, it kept sticking in her mind even more that they were still going to be husband and wife, for six more months and longer.

The baby was supposed to be what mattered.

And first, this event.

Her family was acclimating to the fact that she and Creed weren’t rivals anymore. That they had to be friendly, to an extent, with Cowboy Wines. But it wasn’t smooth sailing.

Not entirely. For some reason, Cricket was being difficult about playing nice. And while Wren had a lot of patience for what they were all going through under the circumstances, her sympathy still didn’t make it easy to accept Cricket’s behavior.

All dressed and ready, Wren kissed Creed goodbye and told him she needed to get to Maxfield Vineyards early.

He grumbled about being reluctant to let her go, but she pointed out that she hadn’t been back home since they’d moved. Not to the house, anyway. She’d