Kissing in Kansas (11 page)

Ashley sighed, laying the baby down on the bed, trying not to be annoyed at the urine on the front of her shirt.  She quickly changed the baby's diaper, noting that it was a boy as she did so.  As soon as he was dry, she picked him up, cooing to him softly.  "There you go, sweetheart.  No wonder you were crying.  You had a whole ocean in your diaper.  Yes, you did!"

The baby stared at her with wide eyes, and she felt her heart melt instantly.  She looked up at the man she assumed was his father.  "Where's his room?"

Barrett shrugged.  "He doesn't have one yet.  He's been sleeping with me."

Ashley frowned.  "So he doesn't have a crib?  Or a changing table?  Where do you put him for naps?"

"I just got him two days ago.  I don't know where to put him for anything yet!"  Barrett looked at the pretty little woman who glared daggers back at him.  "Maybe you can help with that?" 

Ashley gave a brief nod.  "When will your wife be home?"

He frowned.  "I don't have a wife.  It's only me and my brothers, and Baby Dalton."

"Baby Dalton?  You haven't even named him yet?"  What was wrong with this man?  She had a hard time believing the hospital let them bring the baby home without a name.

"Oh, he has a name.  It's Dalton."

"Yes, that's his last name."  The man was slow.  Had he been hit in the head or something?  Or was he naturally slow?  "He needs a first name as well."

He raked his fingers through his hair and groaned.  "His name is Dalton Dalton."

Ashley stiffened up as if she'd been insulted.  "You have
got
to be kidding me.  Why would you do that to a baby?  What is
wrong
with you?"  Was she employed by the village idiot?

"Before you go jumping all over my case, maybe we should sit down and have a little talk.  I can explain everything."

"There is
no
explanation for giving a baby that kind of name.  You're giving him no chance in life.  It's like you tattooed a huge target on his back and refuse to let him wear a shirt."  She shook her head in disgust.  "Do you have a room picked out for the nursery?"  The house was enormous.  Surely the baby would be able to have his own room.

Barrett was ready to reach out and shake the woman.  She wouldn't listen to anything he said.  He couldn't though, because she was holding Dalton, and he wouldn't hurt that baby for anything.  He took a few deep breaths and walked into the hall, waving for her to follow him.  He didn't trust his voice to be pleasant if he actually spoke.

He walked into the room across the hall from his that had an adjoining door to the room beside it.  Ashley looked around the room, sticking her head into the bathroom that was attached and saw a door on the other side. 

She opened the door and walked into a larger room with a large window facing a pool.  "My room, I take it?"  There was a full sized bed on one side and a dresser and rocking chair.  It looked like the room had been set up for a nanny.  "This will work.  Now we need to get this poor baby a crib and changing table.  And a better name."  She mumbled the last sentence, knowing she was being rude, but she really couldn't believe anyone would saddle such a sweet baby with such a horrible name.

He sighed.  "I didn't name him.  His mother did."  He said nothing else, and she continued to look at him expectantly.  "We can order furniture online and have it delivered, or we can take my pick-up truck into Dalton now and shop for what you need."

She looked down at the baby in her arms.  "Do you have a car seat for him yet?"  When he continued to stare at her as if she'd grown two heads, she sighed.  "No car seat.  Is there someone who can watch the baby while we go on this excursion and get him what he needs?"

Barrett shrugged.  "I'm sure Archer will do it if the baby's sleeping when we leave.  How long will it take us?"

"How am I supposed to know that?  How far are we from the nearest town?"

"It's about a ten minute drive into Dalton."

Ashley blinked at him.  "You do realize there are names in the world other than Dalton, right?"

"I am aware."

She closed her eyes and counted to ten, unsure why this man put her back up so quickly.  "Fine.  I think we'll be gone about three hours."

Barrett strode into the hall, yelling for Archer.  Two men walked toward them.  One looked almost identical to Barrett, but he didn't have a spit-up stain on his shoulder.  The other had a big bushy beard covering his face, making him look distinct from his brothers.  As soon as she saw him, it all clicked in Ashley's mind. 

Holy moly.  She was living with the Dalton triplets her aunt had been horrified by only a couple of days before.  What had Aunt Lachele called them?  Bad boys who only thought with what was in their pants?  That was it.  She leaned against the wall as the brothers talked.  What was she going to do?  She'd already fallen in love with little Dalton, although she hated his name.  She couldn't go flying back to New York.  She'd committed for a month.  Oh, but her aunt was going to kill her if she stayed.

"You two have to watch the baby while I take little miss priss into town to shop for all things baby."

The third brother, the one Ashley had yet to meet, backed away, shaking his head.  "No way.  Can't do it."

The other, whose name she hadn't caught, sighed.  "I'll watch the little poop factory."  He reached his hands out toward Ashley to take the baby, and Ashley took a step back without thinking.  She forced herself to stop.  He was the baby's uncle.  Just because he left a trail of broken hearts everywhere he went, didn't mean she had to fall for him.  She wasn't even attracted to the man.

The baby's father was a different story.  As mad as she was, she felt her heart beating faster as he took the baby from her and handed him to his brother.  "This is my brother, Archer, but you've already met him.  The dirty rotten coward who ran away is Cage.  We all live here together, but we each have our own wing."

Ashley nodded.  She was going to live with the three men her aunt had warned her about two days before.  Lord have mercy.