That's My Baby! (15 page)

As Travis left the kitchen carrying a smiling Elizabeth, Jessica gazed after them in frustration. How long before the baby held up her pudgy little arms to her mother?

N
AT WONDERED
if he’d ever be able to be as relaxed and charming as Travis was with Elizabeth. Probably not. Ah, but he ached to be. He’d expected to be afraid of the baby, and he was, to some degree. But fascination was quickly overtaking his fear. And he was developing a hunger to hold the little girl and see if he could coax a dimpled smile from her.

“I think Jessica and I made progress with Elizabeth while you three were gone,” Matty said. She handed her husband a mug of coffee and poured another, which she gave to Nat.

Sebastian blew across the top of his mug. “Yeah? What did you do?”

“It was Matty’s idea.” Jess murmured her thanks as she took the coffee Matty poured and held out to her. “She suggested I sing to Elizabeth, thinking she might remember the song and start getting used to me again.” She took a sip of coffee. “I think it helped.”

“Great idea.” Nat figured he was the only one who noticed Jess’s slight grimace as she drank the coffee. She would have preferred herbal tea, but under the circumstances, she probably didn’t want to ask if there was anything like that in the house. He wished he could have been here to watch her sing to Elizabeth. That would have been a scene to add to his memories.

Damn, but Jess looked good in her T-shirt and jeans. He
would love to be able to go over and sling an arm around her shoulders the way Sebastian felt free to do with Matty.

But he didn’t dare. She probably wouldn’t appreciate him making such a gesture in front of Matty and Sebastian, and he might lose whatever ground he’d gained earlier that morning in the bathroom. Despite her rejection, he’d been encouraged by the look in her eyes. He still saw a little of that fire now whenever she glanced his way.

“Having you sing to her is a great idea,” Sebastian agreed. “But shouldn’t you keep that kind of thing up?”

“You want her to go around singing all day?” Matty asked.

“No, although there’s nothing wrong with that, either. I meant the contact with Elizabeth.” He looked over at Jess. “You could go in and help Travis change her. Then she might start getting the idea that you’ll be around all the time, and eventually you could try doing the job and she might not think anything of it.”

“You’re right.” Immediately she set her coffee down on the counter and turned toward Nat. “Do you want to—”

“Let’s not have a convention in there,” he said, although he wouldn’t have minded going. He wanted an excuse to follow Jess around like a puppy, to breathe in her scent and watch the way the light played in her red curls. “Too many of us might overwhelm her.”

“He has a point,” Matty said. “We’ll work him into the rotation later.”

“For sure.” When Jess glanced at him this time, there was no mistaking the look in her eyes.

His pulse accelerated. Oh, for a few minutes alone with her. But it wouldn’t be anytime soon. With a flicker of a smile, she left the kitchen, taking his heart with her.

“And I’ll warn you, Travis doesn’t sing any better than I do!” Matty called out after her.

Once she was out of earshot, Nat looked at Matty. “Do
you think Elizabeth’s really getting over her fear? Or are you trying to make Jess feel better?”

“Elizabeth will get over her fear mainly because Jessica loves that baby more than life itself, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes.” She smiled as the sound of Travis’s off-key baritone blending with Jess’s more musical voice drifted down the hall from Elizabeth’s room. “When she was singing to that baby, I darn near started bawling, it was so touching.”

“It’s been tough on her,” Nat said. And he longed to find a way to ease her pain, one that wouldn’t land them both in bigger trouble.

“I’m sure,” Matty said. “While you three were gone, she began to worry all over again about the danger presented by this character that’s been tailing her. She figured her choice was to call her parents and get their protection, or leave now before the guy gets wind there’s a baby in the picture.”

Nat’s stomach clenched. “She actually said she might leave?”

“Yes, and let me tell you, contemplating that was killing her, but she’s willing to consider it if Elizabeth will be better off as a result.”

“She can’t leave,” Nat said, his voice betraying more emotion than he’d intended.

“Whoa, son,” Sebastian said. “Nobody’s gonna let her do that.”

“Couldn’t we call the sheriff and get him out here?” Matty asked. “I’d feel a lot better if we had some law enforcement working on this instead of you guys running around like some posse out of a grade-B western.”

Sebastian gave her hair a playful tug. “Watch how you talk, woman. The boys and I command a heap of respect in these here parts.”

“Joke about it if you want,” she said. “But I—”

“While we were out trailing the guy, we talked about
the possibility of calling the sheriff’s office, Matty,” Nat said. “I know this makes you nervous. It makes me nervous. But the problem with going to the authorities is that they’ll want to run down leads if they can, and the logical place to start is with Jess’s folks.”

“Would that be so terrible?” Matty asked. “It seems as if they ought to know about this. Jessica said she was afraid they’d be overprotective, like they were with her, but Jessica is Elizabeth’s mother. Surely she could control the extent to which they did that.”

Nat thought about the iron gates with the scrolled initials
FH
worked into the elaborate design, and the iron-willed man who lived behind those gates. “I met her father a few days ago, before Jess—well, before she and I hooked up. I can believe that Jess is right about how he’d react if he found out about this situation, and the man’s got clout. He’d commandeer the ranch. And Elizabeth would be shipped back to New York so fast it would make your head swim. I’m not sure any of us would ever see her again.”

“Oh.” Matty glanced up at her husband. “Then I guess we have to come up with a different plan, huh?”

“’Fraid so,” Sebastian said. “I’m not about to let some New York bigshot tell me how to run things on the Rocking D. And we’re sure as hell not letting him make off with that baby.” He leveled a glance at Nat. “Right?”

“Right.” Nat had no trouble meeting Sebastian’s gaze on that one. Before he’d seen Elizabeth he might have briefly imagined that having her tucked safely inside the gates of Franklin Hall would be the best solution all the way around. Now he knew that was unthinkable. He wasn’t sure what part he might end up playing in the little girl’s life, but he didn’t want either her or her mother hidden away in the Hudson Valley.

“But at the very least we’re going to have to beef up security around here,” Sebastian said. “I’ll have our local expert Jim add a few wrinkles.”

“Unless you want me to call the guy who does the security for some of my clients,” Nat said, thinking about one particular sale in which a Hollywood star who’d bought property near Colorado Springs had used Seth’s expertise to secure his estate.

“Oh, yeah,” Sebastian said. “I remember you telling me about him. He’s based in L.A.”

“He could do a job for us,” Nat said. “But he’s expensive and slow. Most of the people who hire him are putting in a system they plan to leave in place forever, whereas this would be temporary.”

“That’s true.” Sebastian sipped his coffee. “Let’s see what Jim can come up with for now, and keep your guy in reserve in case we need more expertise.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Nat said. “And in the meantime, we have to convince Jess that she can’t leave.”

Matty grinned. “I figure that’s your job, Nat.”

Nat felt the heat climb up from his collar. He rubbed the back of his neck and gave her a sheepish smile while he considered how to explain that he was willing, but Jess wasn’t letting him use all the weapons at his disposal. “Well, the thing is, I—”

“Come on, buddy,” Sebastian said, obviously taking pity on him. “Let’s go unsaddle those nags while Matty cooks us up some of her famous bacon and eggs for breakfast.”

J
ESSICA HAD ALWAYS
thought of her childhood as lonely, and had supposed she’d love living in a house bustling with people and activity. To her surprise, she didn’t love it. After several days of constant visits from all the people who had a stake in Elizabeth, the lack of privacy at the Rocking D began to wear on Jessica’s nerves.

Although Matty and Sebastian had moved Elizabeth’s crib into their room so there wouldn’t be any more scenes when the baby woke up, Jessica had graduated to being able to hold Elizabeth for short periods of time. Still, someone Elizabeth trusted had to remain in the room. If that person started to leave, Elizabeth would begin crying.

Under normal circumstances Jessica would have suggested that they tough it out and see if Elizabeth stopped fussing, but these circumstances were far from normal. Jessica didn’t feel she could demand control of the situation and tread on the toes of the people who had been so wonderful to her and her baby.

Because she wanted to spend as much time as possible with Elizabeth, she was forced to have someone else around constantly, too. She’d shared her baby with Matty, Sebastian, Gwen, Travis, Luann, Shelby, Boone and even little Josh.

And most frustrating of all, the third person in the room couldn’t ever be Nat. He had to be person number four, or else Jessica was obliged to leave so he could have a chance to hold the baby, too. Jessica had noticed something else.
Whenever she held Elizabeth, changed her diaper or fed her, no one told her how to go about it. But when Nat took his turn, everybody had an opinion.

The women weren’t as bad as his three buddies, who were constantly making suggestions and offering to demonstrate a particular skill for Nat. Sebastian, Boone and Travis were definitely guilty of hovering. As a result, Nat had developed no confidence in his abilities with the baby.

He kept trying valiantly anyway, and that was the important thing. He hadn’t rejected Elizabeth, but learning to feel comfortable with her while everyone coached from the sidelines might be an impossible task.

Jessica’s heart went out to him. And the rest of her body wanted to follow. Sleeping alone in the double bed with Nat right down the hall was becoming increasingly difficult to tolerate. Yet the pattern had been established, and to change it now would cause comment in the household. If and when Jessica invited Nat back to her bed, and she was very inclined to do so, she wanted a more private setting.

Everywhere she turned these days she met with frustration, but she felt ungrateful for having such negative thoughts. Matty and Sebastian had leaned over backward for her. They wouldn’t even let her help pay for groceries, and she knew when this was all over she’d have to come up with some way to repay them, to repay all of them. If they were a little possessive of Elizabeth, if they didn’t want to rush the moment when Jessica could take care of the baby by herself, that was understandable.

Besides, she was reunited with her child, even if she couldn’t be alone with Elizabeth yet. And she felt safe. Now that Sebastian’s friend Jim had increased security around the ranch house with a more extensive lighting system, it seemed as if her stalker had grown discouraged and left. After so many days had passed and she no longer had the sensation of being watched, she was daring to hope that the guy had given up.

All in all, her life was going as well as could be expected, she thought as she stood beside Matty at Elizabeth’s changing table late in the afternoon of another busy day. They were sharing the job of dressing the baby for Gwen’s thirtieth birthday party.

Freshly bathed and diapered, Elizabeth lay on the changing table clutching her sock monkey and chewing vigorously on its arm. Jessica had braced herself for another evening of watching Nat’s friends instruct him in the art of baby care.

Earlier she and Matty had decorated the ranch house within an inch of its life. The number thirty had been taped to the walls and hung from the beamed ceilings. They’d even spelled it out on the dining table with Elizabeth’s alphabet blocks. Sebastian and Matty had vowed not to let Gwen slide past this milestone without “raising a ruckus,” as Sebastian had put it.

“I’m running behind,” Matty said as she put on one white lacy sock and Jessica put on the other.

“What’s left besides getting Elizabeth ready?” Jessica figured it would take less than ten minutes to put on the baby’s ruffled lavender dress and tie bows in her curls. Sebastian was in the shower and Nat was out stringing thirty colored lanterns along the porch railing.

“I still need to stick the candles on the cake and wrap those thirty bottles of Geritol we’re giving her.”

Jessica glanced over at Matty. “I could finish dressing Elizabeth while you do that.”

Matty hesitated.

“We have to keep testing to see if she’s adjusted yet.”

“I know, but this might not be the best time. Maybe Sebastian’s almost finished. He could—”

“Matty.” Jessica gave her a level look. “I think she might be ready.”

Matty’s eyes grew moist. “So do I. I’ve thought so for
the last couple of days. I just didn’t want to admit it, not even to myself.”

Jessica’s heart went out to her. With a gentle smile she put her arm around Matty and gave her a hug. “I’m not going to jerk her out of here right away, and even when we eventually go, I won’t take her completely out of your life. I promise. We’ll come back a lot.”

Matty swallowed. “I know that. But it will never be the same.”

“Oh, Matty, I never meant to hurt—”

“Hey.” Matty gave her a wobbly grin. “You did nothing but make our lives better around here when you left Elizabeth at the Rocking D. Without this little girl I wouldn’t be married to Sebastian. Travis wouldn’t be with Gwen and Boone wouldn’t have found Shelby and Josh.” She reached for a tissue in her pocket and wiped her nose. “I’m very grateful we had her for a little while, but I won’t lie to you. When you finally take her, I’ll miss her like the devil.”

“Rebecca will help.”

Matty patted her tummy and attempted to look brave. “You bet she will. And Jeffrey, too.”

“Who?”

“Rebecca’s brother. Sebastian’s so sure we’re going to have another one, and it’ll be a boy, that he’s started on a second belt. He’s using a darker leather, and—” She stopped talking and glanced at Elizabeth. “Okay, I’m stalling.” She took a deep breath and tweaked Elizabeth’s foot. “See ya, toots.” Then she turned and left the room.

Elizabeth twisted her head to watch Matty leave. Then she glanced up at Jessica.

“Just you and me, kid,” Jessica said, her stomach churning as she waited to see if Elizabeth would cry. “Think you can handle that?”

Elizabeth stared at her, as if thinking things over.

The knot in Jessica’s stomach began to loosen as she concluded that Elizabeth wasn’t going to cry. The baby was
definitely evaluating the situation, but apparently she’d decided that Jessica was to be trusted. Finally.

“Just you and me, kid,” Jessica said again with a smile. “Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?”

Elizabeth waved her sock monkey in Jessica’s face. “Da!” she said loudly.

“I stand corrected.” She felt like dancing and singing for joy, but she didn’t want to get too wild and alarm the baby. The baby who was finally hers again. “Just you, me and Bruce.”

“Any room in that equation for another interested party?”

At the sound of Nat’s voice from the doorway, Jessica’s heartbeat quickened. Keeping one hand on Elizabeth, she glanced over her shoulder at him.

He leaned casually in the doorway, but there was nothing casual about the way he was looking at her. He’d bought a deep blue western shirt for the party, and it brought out the brilliant color of his eyes. She could have eaten him up with a spoon.

“Is this the first time you’ve been alone with her?” Nat asked.

“Yes.” She glanced down at Elizabeth and saw that she was watching her father with great curiosity, but no apparent fear.

“Then maybe I’d better not come in.”

Flushed with triumph, Jessica was ready to be bold. “I’d love you to come in.” The three of them hadn’t been alone together since the first night, when she and Nat had gone into the bedroom to watch Elizabeth sleep. She still remembered the magic of that moment, and she wanted to experience it again.

“I could stay over here, to play it safe.”

Jessica looked back at him. “You know what? I’m sick to death of playing it safe.”

A smile flitted across his chiseled lips. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He pushed away from the door frame and came slowly across the room as his gaze flicked over her outfit, a pale green sweater dress she’d picked up during a quick trip to town with Matty and Sebastian. If she were honest with herself, she’d have to admit that in buying it, she’d been hoping to incite the lust she saw in Nat’s expression.

“Is that why you’re wearing that dress?” he asked. “Because you’re sick of playing it safe and you want to push me right over the edge?”

“Maybe.” Her breathing quickened at the flame that leaped in his eyes. Suddenly not sure if she’d bitten off more than she could chew, she returned her attention to Elizabeth and reached for the ruffled dress hanging from a hook above the changing table.

“Did I hear you say maybe?” he murmured, coming to stand beside her. “That’s a country mile from no. Are you aware of that?” He wasn’t quite touching her, but electricity seemed to arc between them.

“Yes. No. Oh, Nat, I don’t know what I think.” Her heart was pounding and she could feel heat spreading through her body and warming her cheeks. “Except that I miss you so much.”

“Missing me’s a good sign.” His voice was gruff with emotion.

Elizabeth waved her monkey in the air. “Da-da!”

Nat went very still. “Did she say what I think she said?”

Jessica glanced over at him. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that Elizabeth probably didn’t know what she was saying, and that she’d said it before when no men were on the scene at all. It happened to be a syllable she could pronounce, but it didn’t necessarily mean she was labeling him. Still, Jessica didn’t know that for a fact, now, did she?

He gazed at the baby, his heart in his eyes. “Do you know who I am, Elizabeth? Da-da?”

She waved the monkey again and smiled. “Da-da!”

“My God.” Nat looked thunderstruck. And proud, as if he’d been given first prize in some lofty competition.

Jessica took the moment and tucked it away in her memory. No matter how things turned out, she would always remember Nat’s expression as he gazed at his daughter. She longed to close the bedroom door and prolong the intimacy of this little group for…for a very long while.

But there would be no closing of bedroom doors. The party would start soon. “We’d better get her clothes on her,” she said gently. “Sit her up and hold her steady while I put this dress over her head.”

“You’re sure she won’t get upset?”

“Why should she? After all, you’re her da-da.”

“My hands are cold.” He blew on them and rubbed them briskly together. Then he held them against his cheeks. “Still cold.”

“Okay, I’ll hold her and you put the dress over her head.” She handed him the ruffled outfit and propped Elizabeth up in a sitting position.

“But she likes to play peekaboo when you put something over her head.” Nat sounded as if the assignment was way beyond his abilities.

“I’ll bet you can play peekaboo.”

“I’m not sure if I—”

“Nat.” She glanced up at him. “I don’t know much about your experience with little children, but I do know what a tender, sensitive and creative lover you are. I’m sure you can manage a game of peekaboo with a little baby.”

His gaze grew hot. “You’re flirting with me, Jessica Louise.”

She smiled and nodded toward the outfit he held in one hand. “Put the dress on the baby.”

“Yeah.” Without warning, he grasped the back of Jessica’s head and kissed her hard, thrusting his tongue firmly into her mouth in a blatantly aggressive gesture. A posses
sive gesture, a branding gesture. Then, just as quickly, he released her.

She stood there trembling, her mouth tingling and moist, and she was unable to say a word. If she had been able to speak, she could only have uttered one syllable.
More.

Nat gave her a slow, sensuous smile before turning to the baby. “Hey, Elizabeth, ready for this?”

Jessica hadn’t been ready for the kiss, that was for sure. Either her memory of his potent kisses had faded a little or he’d upped the emotional ante. Nat’s kisses had been dizzying, arousing, playful, erotic. But she never remembered a kiss that had said forcefully,
Mine.

Nat carefully lowered the dress so that the material settled softly over Elizabeth. “Where’s Elizabeth?” he asked. “Where’s that baby?” Then he opened the neck wider and popped it over her head. “There she is!”

Elizabeth laughed happily, showing off her teeth.

“Peekaboo, I see you!” Nat said.

“Da-da!” Elizabeth beamed at him.

“And so I am,” Nat said quietly.

“And so you are,” Jessica said, looking up at him.

He met her gaze, his eyes glowing with happiness. “Jess, I—”

“How’s everything going in here?” Sebastian asked as he strode into the room. “Looks like you nearly have that munchkin dressed. Tying those ribbons in her hair can be tricky, though. I thought I’d see if you needed any help.”

Much as Jessica loved her good friend Sebastian, at that moment she could have cheerfully decked him.

Sure enough, Nat’s bright expression dimmed and he backed away from the changing table. “Maybe you should take over for the rest of it. I’ll see if Matty needs any help in the kitchen.”

“Or Sebastian could help Matty in the kitchen,” Jessica said, although she had little hope Nat would stay, now that Sebastian was here.

“That’s okay.” Nat was already halfway out the door. “I’m no good with little ribbons. I’d probably pull her hair or something.”

Sebastian glanced from Nat’s retreating back to Jessica’s face. “Did I just screw up?”

Jessica gave him a halfhearted smile. He was a dear man, but he could be so dense. She started getting Elizabeth’s arms through the sleeves of her dress.