Read Baby in Her Arms Online

Authors: Judy Christenberry

Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Historical, #Nonfiction, #Series

Baby in Her Arms (6 page)

BOOK: Baby in Her Arms
5.42Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
He seemed suspiciously cheerful to Maggie’s way of thinking. “You promise you won’t—I mean—”
“I promise,” Josh hurriedly said as the bathroom door opened. “You’d better get some bedding for Sam.”
Maggie did as he asked, but she wasn’t sure she’d made the right decision in giving in to Josh’s plan. Somehow, sharing the bed with Josh held a lot more danger for her than the possibility of someone shooting at Sam.
After she’d given the linens to Sam, Maggie excused herself. While Josh talked to Sam, she moved her belongings from Ginny’s bedroom to Josh’s. That action alone seemed dangerous.
“You’re being ridiculous!” she told herself. “Josh promised not to touch you.”
She believed he was a man who kept his promises. She’d realized that about him, if nothing else. But what about her? That question shocked her. Of course she wouldn’t be interested in—in anything.
She hurried into the shower, then slipped on her cotton pajamas and robe. When she opened the bedroom door, she discovered Josh sitting on the edge of the bed, as if he were waiting for her.
“I thought I’d take a shower, if you’re finished,” he said, as if sharing his bedroom with a woman was a common occurrence.
It probably was.
That depressing thought kept her from speaking. She nodded and stepped past him, stowing away her dirty clothes as he entered the bath.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Maggie stared at the big bed. It was plenty big for two people. But she’d feel better if there was some barrier to ensure that they didn’t touch.
Hurriedly, with anxious glances over her shoulder toward the bathroom, she took the king-size pillows and lined them down the center of the bed, underneath the covers. She’d already found some smaller pillows in the top of Josh’s closet, one of which she’d taken to Sam.
Now she took two of those pillows and put them at the head of the bed. Then she stood back to survey her handiwork. With a nod of satisfaction, she slipped under the cover on the right side of the bed. After all, Ginny might wake up during the night.
When the bathroom door opened, Maggie tensed. Would Josh complain?
“You’re on my side of the bed,” he said gruffly, standing at the foot of it.
“But I’ll need to get up if Ginny cries.” She deliberately didn’t look in his direction, in case he didn’t wear pajamas to bed.
“I’m wearing my pj bottoms,” he said, as if he’d read her mind.
She couldn’t keep from looking then. The stripedcotton bottoms did cover him from the waist down. But his broad, muscled chest, flat stomach and wide shoulders were all bare. She gulped. “I...I appreciate that.” Then she closed her eyes.
With a heavy sigh, as if she’d disappointed him, he rounded the bed and got in beneath the covers. Immediately Maggie felt too warm. Of course, she told herself, it could have something to do with the fact that she still wore her robe over her pajamas.
“Are you wearing your robe?” Josh asked. Again Maggie wondered if he could read her mind. That possibility sent fear shivering through her.
“Yes. I...I was a little cold.”
“Take it off, Maggie. You can’t sleep like that all night.” With an edge of irritation, he added, “I gave you my promise.”
After a moment of hesitation, she undid her robe and slid it off, tossing the garment on the foot of the bed. “Did you take your pill?” she remembered to ask.
“Damn, I forgot. It will probably be all right.”
“No, Josh, you need to take it. Where are the pills? I’ll get them.”
“No, you won’t. They’re in the living room, where Sam is sleeping. I’ll get them.” He shoved back the covers and got out of bed.
Maggie toyed with the idea that he’d almost sounded protective, even jealous, though she knew it was silly to think that even for a minute. Still it was...rather nice.
 
Damn woman was driving him batty, Josh thought as he entered the living room where Sam was lying on the couch reading.
“I forgot my pills,” Josh muttered, snatching them off the lamp table.
“Glad you remembered. You probably wouldn’t get much sleep without them. I’ve had a head injury before.”
“Yeah. Night.” He didn’t want to talk to Sam Ankara. And he certainly didn’t want to discuss the possibility of getting any sleep tonight.
Sharing the bed with Maggie was going to preclude sleeping. Why was she so sexy in her white cotton pajamas and robe? He’d had women in slinky black teddies come on to him. Or wearing nothing at all.
But Maggie, with her solemn hazel eyes and demure smile, was becoming more and more important to him. And sexier. But he’d promised to keep his hands to himself. And that explained why he wouldn’t get any sleep.
Unless these pills were knock-outs.
He opened the bedroom door, then closed it behind him.
“Do you need water to take them?” Maggie’s quiet, husky voice asked in the darkness.
“Yeah.” He sensed movement from the direction of the bed. “I’ll get it. Stay in bed.” Those words sounded so familiar, so...hopeful. As though he was going to join her there.
And he was. But there was a big pillow separating them. He wasn’t going to be able to touch her. He’d been angry when he’d first seen those pillows. Then he realized he should probably be grateful.
He didn’t trust himself.
He slammed the empty glass down on the bathroom counter and turned off the light. Then he crossed over to the bed and got back in.
“Is your head hurting?” she whispered.
“A little. But the pill should fix it up. Good night, Maggie.”
“Good night, Josh.”
Whispered words in a darkened bedroom.
They should have been the prelude to something incredible.
Instead, they opened the door to torture.
Josh sighed and rolled over.
Chapter Six
 
M
aggie had set the timer on her wristwatch to awaken her after four hours. When the buzzer sounded, she automatically switched it off as her mind tried to figure out why she would set the alarm while it was still dark.
Then she remembered Josh.
Which was a good thing, or she might’ve wondered whose arms were around her.
Arms? Suddenly, she was wide awake and sitting upright. Where was the pillow?
“Josh? Josh, what happened to the pillow?”
He stirred. “What?”
“Josh, I’m waking you up to see if you’re all right. And to find out what happened to the pillow.” And to try to forget the coziness she’d dispelled when she’d sat up.
“You need a pillow?” Josh asked, sounding confused.
“The pillow I used to...to divide the bed. Remember?”
“Come back to bed, honey,” he said, his words slightly slurred. “We’ll find it tomorrow.”
A big warm hand tugged on her arm, and she almost did as he asked without thinking. Or because she’d liked sleeping in his arms.
“Uh, I need to check on Ginny.” Anything to get out of that bed. She shoved back the covers and distanced herself from the temptation of his arms.
The apartment was quiet as she slipped into Ginny’s room. The baby was sleeping on her tummy, her diapered bottom stuck up in the air.
Maggie tugged the blanket farther over her. Ever since she’d been with Ginny, the baby had slept until six in the morning. Three more hours before this special little alarm clock went off.
So there was nothing to keep Maggie from returning to the warm, maybe even hot, bed next door. What was she going to do?
Find the pillow, she decided. If she put the pillow back in place, everything would be all right.
With a sigh, she left Ginny’s room and crossed the hall. Josh was asleep, sprawled on his stomach, just like Ginny. Maggie turned on the bathroom light after first pulling the door almost closed. A thin sliver of light shone into the bedroom.
Aha! There on the floor by Josh’s side of the bed was one of the long pillows. She realized the other was at the foot of the bed, pushed out of the way.
She carried the pillow she’d found on the floor to her side of the bed. Josh was taking up more than half of the space, but he was a big man. She wouldn’t fuss about that. Shoving the pillow toward the center, where Josh’s arm lay, she hurried back to turn off the light, then got into her side of the bed.
Just as she settled down, she felt Josh shift, and she held her breath.
“Okay?” he muttered.
“Yes,” she replied, keeping her voice soft.
When he said nothing else, she let her breath out slowly, allowing the languorous warmth to steal over her. Such a comfortable bed.
Just as she was drifting off to sleep, she vaguely noted movement from somewhere. Then strong, warm arms nestled her against a furnace. Such a comfortable, warm bed....
 
Maggie was dreaming about being toasty warm on a tropical beach, wrapped in the arms of a handsome man, when she heard Ginny’s cries. Alarms always interrupted the best dreams, she thought ruefully.
As she struggled to open her eyes, the strong, warm arms of her dream tightened around her. That brought her awake.
“Josh!” she protested, her voice rough with sleep.
“Hmmm?”
“What happened to the pillow?”
“You asked me that earlier. You got a fetish about pillows?” he asked drowsily.
She sat up, pulling down her pajama top, which had somehow been shoved up, exposing her middle. “You—it’s over there, again,” she said, seeing the big pillow on the floor where she’d found it last night.
“The baby’s crying,” he reminded her. “Shouldn’t you do something?”
That did it! She folded her arms and glared at him. “No,
I
shouldn’t. She’s your baby.
You
do something.”
Her suggestion, or maybe she should call it a challenge, brought those sleepy bedroom eyes wide open.
“What? You want me to—but I don’t know anything about babies. And I make her cry.”
Maggie felt the urge to rescue the little girl from her father’s inexperienced hands, but she fought it back. “I don’t know much more than you. And you have to learn sometime. Besides, she’s already crying.”
“Come on, Maggie, you know she wants you,” he pleaded. The bedroom eyes were now forcing all their seductive charm on her.
“She wants a dry diaper and a bottle of milk. You can figure out how to change a diaper, and the milk is ready in the refrigerator,” Maggie said crisply. Then, doubling the pillow behind her, she leaned back against it and stared at him determinedly. He could be as charming as he pleased; she would resist to the end.
 
Josh recognized an intractable object when he saw one. And Maggie O’Connor, looking sexier than she should in her cotton pajamas, her crossed arms pushing her breasts toward the closure of her top, was intractable.
At least he’d gotten away without having to account for removing the pillow. The first time, he’d thrown the pillow aside in his sleep. When she’d awakened him, he’d been as surprised as she was to discover his arms wrapped around her. But the second time, he’d given in to temptation, remembering how good she felt against him. He’d wanted her back in his arms.
Not that he would’ve taken advantage of her or anything. He just wanted to hold her, like a kid with his favorite teddy bear. After all, he’d been injured—surely he was entitled to a little comfort?
He grinned as he stepped into Ginny’s room. He didn’t think Maggie would accept that argument.
“Hi, baby,” he said softly, greeting his daughter. Several tears slowly ran down her little cheeks, but she smiled when she saw him.
“Willing to take any port in a storm, huh? Listen, we have to manage without Maggie just for this morning. She’s in a little snit, okay? So be patient.”
He grabbed a clean diaper and approached the baby’s crib. He’d seen Maggie do this job several times, and he’d even managed it once at the diner. Not as efficiently as Maggie, of course, but he
could
do it.
“Time to change the diaper, sweetheart. Let’s lie down,” he said as he put her on her back.
Her big blue eyes widened and stayed glued to his face, as if she was trying to decide whether or not to cry. He reached up and wound the music on the mobile, making the animals that dangled down circle the crib.
As he watched Ginny’s attention transfer to the animals, he decided changing a diaper wasn’t so bad. Even one that smelled a little. He didn’t remember such a smell before.
Unsnapping her nightgown, wet from Ginny’s long sleep and subsequent action, he noticed the smell seemed to get worse.
Uh-oh.
Pulling the diaper away from her skin, he peeked inside.
“Maggie!” he roared.
 
Maggie had been congratulating herself on forcing Josh to take care of Ginny, when she heard that desperate roar. Fearing something terrible had happened to the baby—which, of course, would be Maggie’s fault—she vaulted from the bed and raced across the hall.
“What is it?” she gasped.
“Can’t you smell it?” he demanded, his eyes widened with outrage.
It didn’t take Maggie any time at all to grasp the situation.
“Good heavens, Josh, you scared me to death.”
He’d done the same thing to Ginny, it appeared, as her baby face crumpled into tears.
“There, there, Ginny, Daddy didn’t mean to frighten you. He’s just spoiled.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not spoiled.”
“Yes, you are. You expect everything to be easy.” She reached for the treated wipes. “When she has a dirty diaper, you clean her with these.”
“Okay,” he hurriedly agreed, taking a step back.
She handed him a wipe.
“You want me to...to change her?”
“That was the idea of you coming in here, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t expect a dirty diaper. I can’t—”
She stared at him, a challenge in her eyes.
“Come on, Maggie, you’ll be better at it than—”
She shoved the wipe closer.
With a frown—and muttering something under his breath that she didn’t ask him to repeat—Josh took the wipe. Undoing the tabs on the diaper, he carefully pulled it back, releasing the full force of the stench.
“Ugh! This is terrible.”
Maggie said nothing, only reached over to pull another wipe out of the box. After glaring at her, Josh began the loathsome duty of cleanup. Five wipes later, including one to clean off her heel where Ginny had kicked in the wrong place, Josh had successfully completed the cleanup.
“Okay, I did it,” he said, looking at Maggie.
“Good job. Now you’d better get a clean diaper on her before—”
Too late. Ginny liked being free of her diaper. It didn’t seem to bother her that she wet all over herself.
“Babies are disgusting,” Josh protested.
“They take after their daddies,” Maggie suggested, grimacing in his direction. “I’ll go rinse Ginny off in our bathroom and diaper and dress her. You wash your hands, strip the bed and clean it with disinfectant, put on a new sheet and go get the bottle.”
Gathering a clean diaper, baby powder, fresh clothes, a bath towel and Ginny, she left Josh staring at her and carried the baby to the master bath.
“I think your daddy has learned a lot this morning,” she confided to the baby.
Ginny gurgled, happy to have more water to play in, and clapped her hands together.
By the time Josh appeared with the bottle, she and Ginny were cuddling in the bed. The bed with the pillow back in place.
Ginny reached out as soon as she saw the bottle. Maggie took advantage of that unusual occurrence. “Ginny wants you,” she said, extending the baby toward her daddy.
“No, she doesn’t. She just wants the bottle.” He stuck the bottle out.
Ginny reached for it, but she couldn’t quite touch it. When she puckered up, he put the nipple in her mouth. “She mustn’t cry. Sam is still asleep.”
“He slept through all that noise?” Maggie asked in surprise.
“Yeah, so feed Ginny before she cries again.” He pulled the bottle out of the baby’s mouth and tried to hand it to Maggie.
Ginny was becoming the object of a battle of wills. And Maggie was determined not to lose. She plopped Ginny down on Josh’s side of the bed. “Josh,
you’d
better feed her.”
Ginny had no idea what was going on, except that the bottle had been taken away. She climbed on the big pillow next to Maggie, her gaze glued to her objective, the bottle.
“Maggie, you’re being difficult,” Josh protested.
“No, I’m not. Even when you find someone to help you, you’ll need to spend time with Ginny. You’re her father.”
Ginny whined, staring at the bottle.
“Yeah, but she’ll cry if I pick her up!” Josh protested.
“Don’t be silly. She wants her bottle. If you give it to her, she’s not going to cry.” She stared back at him, refusing to budge.
“Okay, I’ll learn to deal with...whatever. But this weekend, with Sam here as my responsibility, it’s not a good time to start. I mean, someone’s trying to kill the guy.”
Ginny let out a cry of protest at the lack of attention her needs were getting.
“She’s going to start crying.” Maggie’s hands itched to grab the bottle and cuddle Ginny against her, but she knew she had to hold out—for both their sakes. Josh needed to come to terms with his baby.
He rounded the bed and sat down, propping the pillow behind him. Ginny, seeing the bottle close, lunged for it.
“Hey! You didn’t tell me she could jump.” He caught the baby and gave her the bottle. Ginny, halfsitting against him, lowered her mouth to the nipple.
“She can’t get any milk that way, Josh. You have to hold her and keep the bottle raised.”
He squared his back to the bed and picked Ginny up, dropping the bottle in the process. Ginny protested, her little baby hands stretching for it.
“Okay, okay, Gin, I’ll get it,” he said, grabbing the bottle with one hand while he held the little girl with the other. Once the nipple returned to her mouth and she began drinking, she had no interest in anything else.
“Kind of one-tracked, isn’t she?” he asked, a half grin on his lips that Maggie found enormously attractive. Of course, that attraction could also have something to do with the fact that Josh was only wearing his pajama bottoms. Ginny certainly didn’t have any complaints about being held against his bare skin.
BOOK: Baby in Her Arms
5.42Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Clearer in the Night by Rebecca Croteau
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Under a Thunder Moon by Batcher, Jack
Sheikh's Possession by Sophia Lynn
Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee
The Death Cure by James Dashner
Stalin's Gold by Mark Ellis