That's My Baby! (17 page)

“I appreciate that, Matty.” This scene was starting to make Nat emotional, too. “I expect we’ll have an uneventful week.” He expected nothing of the kind. The events of this week would determine his entire future. He didn’t know if he, Jess and Elizabeth could form a happy little unit, but this was as close to a trial run as he was going to get.

He was counting on having a crutch to get him through, and that crutch was making love to Jess. Nothing had seemed quite right ever since she’d proclaimed a ban on that activity, and Nat was sure once he could take her to bed again he’d feel more sure of himself in other areas of his life.

“She’s in,” Jess announced. Then she walked toward Matty. “Can you risk giving me a hug?”

“I can risk it.” Matty squeezed Jess tight. “Take care of yourself and that precious little bundle.”

“I will.” Wiping at her eyes, Jess climbed into the Bronco. “You’d think we were leaving for a year, the way we’re carrying on.”

“We’ll get better at this,” Matty said. “We’ll have to.” She turned to Nat. “Watch out for them,” she murmured.

“You bet.” He gave Matty a quick hug and walked around the Bronco to the driver’s side. Matty had moved back several feet, as if to give herself distance from the pain of watching them drive away. If Sebastian didn’t show up soon, people were going to start blubbering, Nat decided. He got in and shoved the key in the ignition. He was about to lay on the horn when Sebastian appeared.

“I’m coming!” he called as he loped down the porch steps carrying a small toolbox.

Nat got out again and went around to open up the back. No way did he want that thing up front.

“Okay, I found you a lock for the clasp,” Sebastian said as he tucked the toolbox in among the pile of cardboard boxes, collapsible baby furniture and bags of groceries. He
handed Nat a small key. “It’s locked now, but I wouldn’t leave it that way if I were you.” He lowered his voice. “Does Jess know how to handle one?”

“I don’t know. I doubt it.”

“Maybe you should teach her.”

“I’m not sure about that. The noise would be bad for the baby.”

“True,” Sebastian agreed. “Well, at least you’ve got it.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Nat didn’t want a gun, but if it would make Sebastian sleep better, maybe that was reason enough.

Jess turned in her seat. “What are you two doing back there?”

“Last-minute stuff,” Nat said as he closed up the back again and held out his hand to Sebastian. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make this come out right for you.”

Sebastian’s grip was firm. “Don’t worry about me. Make this come out right for that little kid in there and I’ll be happy.”

“I’ll give it all I’ve got.” With one final squeeze, he released Sebastian’s hand, touched the brim of his hat in salute and walked back to the driver’s side of the Bronco. In seconds he was in, seat belt fastened, engine switched on. As he put the vehicle in gear he looked up to see Sebastian standing with his arm around Matty.

Please don’t let me be the reason for screwing up this good man’s life,
he prayed as he pulled out of the driveway, tooting the horn once as he headed down the rough dirt road that cut across the Rocking D property and ended at the old line shack on the edge of Sebastian’s land. In the rearview mirror he saw Matty and Sebastian still standing there, their arms raised in farewell.

“If I knew nothing else about you,” Jess said, her voice
choked with emotion, “I would know you were special because of your friends.”

A
S THE
B
RONCO JOLTED
over the bumpy road that was little more than a faint track across the countryside, Jessica didn’t try to make conversation. Nat had his hands full avoiding rocks and chuckholes, and she wanted to make sure Elizabeth felt safe, so she kept talking to her throughout the ride.

She couldn’t see Elizabeth’s expression because the car seat faced toward the back, but at least the baby wasn’t crying. During one smooth stretch in the road Jessica unlatched her seat belt and leaned over to find out what was going on with her daughter, who hadn’t let out a peep so far. Elizabeth looked up at her, eyes wide, as if flabbergasted by the wild trip.

Jessica couldn’t help grinning. “Having fun?” she asked.

“Ba-ba!” Elizabeth jiggled in her car seat with every bump in the road and she kept her monkey clutched tight in one fist, but she didn’t look remotely ready to cry.

Settling back in her seat, Jessica glanced at Nat. “I think we have a thrill-seeker on our hands.”

“There’s a scary thought,” Nat said as he steered around one large rut and jostled them all anyway when one wheel dipped into another hole in the road.

“At least she’s apparently decided to trust us.”

“You, not us. The jury’s still out on whether she’ll tolerate being alone with me. She never has. Come to think of it, she won’t be on this trip, either.”

“Why not?” Jessica thought this was the very time for that kind of experimentation. “I could take a little walk, so we could test it and see how she does.”

“Not this week. This week I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

A thrill of awareness arrowed through her stomach. “You mean because the guy still might be out there?”

He didn’t take his eyes off the road. “That’s right. Besides, it makes a damn fine excuse to keep you close to me.” He gripped the wheel tighter as they hit another rocky spot in the road. “Very close.”

As heat spiraled through her, she watched those hands control the steering wheel with strength and sureness. How she’d missed his touch. They’d barely begun to enjoy each other again when she’d insisted on ending the physical relationship.

She’d been right to insist on that until he’d had a chance to see Elizabeth and sort out how he felt about her. Unless Jessica was reading him all wrong, he’d made wonderful progress in that regard. Instead of being an obstacle between them, the baby seemed to be pulling them closer together.

And she was ready to be close to this man again. More than ready. Even the bouncing ride seemed to be stirring her up. A week of loving Nat. It had seemed like a long time when the plan had been suggested, but now she wondered if it would be long enough to satisfy the need that she’d built up over the past few days. She didn’t want to waste a minute of their time together. She glanced at her watch. Nearly lunchtime. After lunch Elizabeth always took a nap….

“You’re pretty quiet over there,” Nat said. “Are you having second thoughts?”

She smiled to herself. “Yes.”

“What?” He gave her a sharp glance. “So help me, Jess, if you’re not planning on making love to me while we’re out here, I don’t think I can—”

“I’m having reservations about limiting ourselves to one week. Considering how much time I want to spend loving you, I wish we had at least two.”

He let out a gusty sigh and shifted in his seat. “Oh, God. We should never have started this discussion.”

Immediately she glanced down at the telltale bulge in his jeans, and her pulse began to race. “I probably don’t have to ask, but did you bring—”

“Are you kidding? Those little foil packets were the first thing I packed. We have more of them than we do diapers.” His jaw clenched. “I want you, Jess. Right here, right now.”

The Bronco jolted them all as it hit a large rock in the road.

She was breathing fast, and it had nothing to do with the rough ride. “Here and now isn’t what you’d call optimum,” she said.

“I’m aware of that.”

“How much longer before we get there?”

He glanced at her, his gaze hot enough to melt steel. “An eternity.”

J
ESSICA HAD PREPARED
herself for a primitive setting, not that she much cared where she was as long as she could be alone with Nat and Elizabeth. From the outside, the line shack looked about as she’d expected, the exterior weathered to a dull gray and broken up with square windows without curtains. A corrugated tin roof covered with pine needles, leaves and fallen branches topped the structure. The forest debris on the roof almost made it look thatched.

But the shack, humble though it was, sat within a grove of aspens. With their gleaming white trunks fountaining upward to a burst of golden leaves, they were all the decoration the little place needed to make it spectacular.

“It’s beautiful,” she said as Nat parked the Bronco near the front door.

“Beautiful?” Nat gave her a puzzled glance. “You don’t have to pretend it’s the Taj Mahal for my sake, Jess. I know you’re used to much better.”

She stared at him in shock. “Where did that come from?” In their entire relationship he’d never once apologized for their accommodations, and not all of them had been five-star, by any means.

“Well, after all, you are an heiress, and—”

“Nat Grady, have I ever, in all the time you’ve known me, put any importance in that? In fact, haven’t I done my level best to escape that label?”

Elizabeth began to chortle in the back seat as if she wanted to join in the conversation.

“Well, yes,” Nat said. “But you can’t change the fact that you are connected to Russell P. Franklin.”

“As little as possible.” She didn’t really want to talk about this.

Elizabeth grew louder.

“Are you planning to keep Elizabeth a secret forever?” Nat asked.

It was a fair question if he was considering making a life with her. She looked over at him. “No, I guess not. No matter how I feel about my parents and their power, that wouldn’t be right, for Elizabeth or them. I’ve been thinking about my mother lately,” she admitted. “Under better circumstances, I’m sure she’d love the idea of being a granny.”

Elizabeth started rocking in the car seat in time to her increasingly demanding babble.

Unsnapping her seat belt, Jessica started to get out of the car so she could tend to the baby. “We should get her inside.”

Nat didn’t move. “You mean better circumstances, as in a better guy?” he said softly.

She turned to him, saw the naked uncertainty in his eyes and could have kicked herself for her choice of words. Ignoring Elizabeth’s agitation for the moment, she reached out and cradled his face in both hands “I have the best guy,” she said. “I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about this whole mess with the stalker. I would be proud to tell my parents you’re the father of my daughter.”
I would be proud to tell them that you were my husband, too.
But she didn’t say that. They needed to take care of Elizabeth before they had that kind of discussion.

He covered her hands with his as he gazed into her eyes. “Jess, I never expect to make the kind of money that your father—”

“Nat, shut up,” she said gently. Leaning forward, she kissed him. She’d only meant to silence him and stop this
ridiculous discussion, but the minute her lips touched his, the need between them exploded.

With a groan he slid his hands around to cup the back of her head and plunged his tongue inside her mouth. In no time they were straining to get to each other over the console between the seats, their breathing labored as their mouths sought deep and deeper access.

“Da-da!”
Elizabeth yelled at the top of her lungs.

Jessica and Nat drew back from each other immediately, and she was sure her expression of guilt mirrored his. “The baby,” they said together.

“My God, Jess.” Nat looked down at his hands as if they didn’t belong to him, as if he had no idea they’d already unfastened the first button of her blouse. He pulled away as if he’d touched something hot.

She struggled for breath and fastened her blouse. “We’ll…have to be more careful.”

“I forgot everything. I was ready to—”

“I know.” Heart pounding, Jessica got out of the Bronco on shaky legs.

“If you’ll take her out of the car seat,” he said, “I’ll unlock the place and turn on the security system.”

“Right.” Spurred by remorse, she had Elizabeth out of the car seat in record time. Silly though it might be, she was glad Elizabeth’s seat faced backward and the baby hadn’t seen that sizzling, highly sexual kiss. As if an eight-month-old would know what was going on.

Yet she wondered how the interior of the cabin was arranged and whether she and Nat would have any privacy whatsoever. She discovered that she craved privacy, considering some of the uninhibited activities she had in mind.

“Sorry to ignore you like that, sweetheart,” she crooned breathlessly to the baby. “Mommy got a little involved with…with Daddy.” She liked the sound of that. But Mommy and Daddy would have to exercise a little more discipline from now on. Maybe once they’d taken the edge
off their hunger, they wouldn’t be so ravenous for each other.

As she stepped through the door of the cabin, the first thing she saw was a mason jar full of yellow and white daisies on a wooden table flanked by two chairs. The second thing she saw was a double bed with the covers turned back, snowy pillows plumped, as if someone didn’t want to waste any time when an opportunity arose to climb into that bed. The third thing she noticed was the wooden hinged screen positioned at the foot of the bed. Nat had been thinking about privacy, too. Sensuous warmth poured through her.

Glancing in his direction, she found him watching her with a tense expression. She was so touched and aroused by his careful preparations that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to speak. But obviously she needed to say something. “The flowers—” She paused to clear her throat. “The flowers are very nice.”

“Wish I could say I picked them in the woods, but the time of year’s wrong. I had to buy them in town. I realize the vase isn’t—”

“Nat, if you say one more word of apology about this sweet little cabin, I’ll—well, I’m not sure what I’ll do, but you won’t like it.”

He looked immensely relieved. “Then the place is okay?”

“More than okay. I can’t think of anyplace in the world I’d rather be, or any two people I’d rather be with.”

“Me neither.” He met her gaze and gradually a slow smile appeared as the anxiety in his blue eyes was replaced by a steady flame of eagerness.

Her breath caught at the beauty of this man. And for the next week, he was all hers. Well, hers and Elizabeth’s.

As if reminding her of that fact, the baby began to struggle, wanting down.

Jessica loved knowing her daughter was becoming more
mobile. She got a kick out of watching her crawl and could hardly wait until she walked. “If you’ll close the door,” she said, “I’ll put her down and let her explore the room a little.”

Nat looked anxious again. “Are you sure it’s safe? I didn’t think about her crawling around on it until Matty said something about splinters.”

Jessica surveyed the wooden floor and decided it looked smooth enough to her. The lack of throw rugs might even be a plus. “She’ll be fine.” She crouched down in preparation for lowering a wiggling Elizabeth to the floor.

“Wait, is it clean enough? I swept it, but there’s no vacuum cleaner out here, so I’m sure I didn’t get every little bit. Let me get her playpen. We can put her in there.”

She smiled indulgently at him. “Not for a solid week, Nat. She’d go crazy, and so would we. No, she needs to get down. Would you please close the door? Eventually I’ll let her explore outside, too, but—”

“Outside?”

Amazed by his scandalized tone, she glanced up. “Sure. Why not?”

“She could pick up anything. Bugs, dirty rocks,
snakes.
” He shuddered.

Jessica laughed. “I wouldn’t turn her lose and forget about her. I’d follow her every minute and make sure she didn’t put anything in her mouth that would make her choke. You can help me follow her every minute if it makes you feel better. She’s a good crawler, but I doubt she could outrun us.”

“I don’t care. The idea of putting that sweet little baby down in the dirt doesn’t sit right with me.”

She excused his attitude, considering he was so inexperienced. No doubt in a day or so of being around Elizabeth he’d get over it, but he was making her a little nervous. He sounded far too much like her father. She wouldn’t tolerate anyone smothering her daughter the way she’d been smoth
ered, even if that person happened to be the sexiest man on the planet.

“Let’s start with the cabin, and we’ll worry about outside later,” she said.

“Okay.” Nat walked over and closed the door.

Jess put Elizabeth on the floor, and then sat down beside her in order to take off the baby’s cap. “There you go, honey-bunch. Free at last.”

Immediately Elizabeth rocked forward onto her hands, and with a cry of glee started off toward the potbelly stove.

“Oh, God,” Nat said. “We won’t be able to use the stove. She might burn herself.”

“Sure we can use the stove. When it’s hot, we’ll make sure she doesn’t get close to it.” Jessica kept her eye on Elizabeth as the baby bypassed the stove and went on to the table, where she crawled underneath and sat down, looking pleased with herself.

Jessica chuckled. Elizabeth was obviously mimicking Sebastian and Matty’s dogs, who both loved to lie under the dining-room table. “Are you pretending you’re a doggy?” she asked.

“Ga!” Elizabeth said, giving Jessica a toothy grin.

“Good girl.” Still smiling, Jessica looked up at Nat and was surprised at his frown. “What’s wrong?”

“I really didn’t expect her to crawl around this place,” he said.

“What did you suppose she’d do?”

“I guess I thought we’d carry her, or put her in the playpen, or in that backpack thing that Sebastian uses all the time.”

“She’s really too old to be confined that way for any long period.” Trying to hold on to her patience, Jessica returned her attention to Elizabeth as the baby started crawling toward the bed.

“Then maybe we shouldn’t have brought her out here.”

Her stomach twisted. “Maybe not, if you’re going to be like a mother hen about it.”

“I just—Elizabeth, no!” He hurried over and snatched her up. “Give me that!”

Elizabeth started to howl.

Jess was on her feet in an instant. “What? What did she get?”

“Well, it’s a long piece of wild grass, but it could have been anything!”

“Give her to me.”

He seemed glad to get rid of the baby, and Jessica carried her over to the window. “It’s okay, sweetie.” She rocked Elizabeth and kissed her wet cheeks. “No problem. Easy does it, little girl. Look! Look out the window! See the birdie? Look at that. A pretty little bird has come to say hello to Elizabeth. Can you say hello?”

“Ba,” Elizabeth said, snuffling. Then she took a deep breath and swiveled in Jessica’s arms to look at Nat.

Jessica followed the direction of the baby’s gaze, and Nat’s lost expression ripped at her heart. “She’s fine,” she said.

He shook his head. “I can’t do this, Jess. I’m no good at it.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Still holding Elizabeth, she walked over to him. She could feel Elizabeth shrink away a little, which was all the more reason to erase the last incident from the baby’s memory.

“She hates me,” Nat said.

“No, she doesn’t. You scared her a little. Talk to her.”

“And say what?”

“That she’s the prettiest baby in the world. You could give her that piece of grass, too.”

“But it’s been under the bed!”

“It won’t hurt her. Deer eat it all the time.”

Nat looked unhappy about it, but he held out the long blade of grass. “Is this what you wanted, Elizabeth?”

“Ga!” She reached for it.

“Tickle her nose with it,” Jessica suggested.

“Put it on her face?”

“Yes. Play with her. Remember how much she loved peekaboo. Playing with her is important.”

He took a deep breath. “Okay. Hey, Elizabeth, you like this?” He wiggled the tip of the grass against her nose.

The baby laughed with delight.

“You do, huh?” Nat repeated the motion and earned himself another baby giggle. “I like the way she laughs,” he said. “It makes her nose sort of wrinkle.”

“I know.” The tension in Jessica’s stomach eased as Nat continued to play the tickling game. Had she thought everything would go smoothly once the three of them were together? If so, she was a foolish woman. She and Nat had never had the basic discussions that future parents needed to have about parenting styles and expectations.

She’d had nine months to read up on the subject of child rearing while she formed her ideas of what kind of mother she wanted to be. Although she didn’t want Elizabeth to repeat her own childhood, there had been positives in it, including the certainty that she was loved. Nat had no yardstick for measuring how a loving parent should act.

“It’s nearly lunchtime,” she said at last. “If you’ll get her high chair out of the Bronco and set it up, I’ll feed her.”

“Okay.” He turned away and Elizabeth yelled in protest. He turned back, the beginnings of a smile on his face. “She doesn’t want me to leave,” he said with some surprise.

“No, she doesn’t.” Jessica found herself smiling, too. “But she might tolerate it if you give her that grass.”

He glanced at the long blade of grass in his hand. “I guess I have to, don’t I?”

“Trust me, it won’t hurt her. I’ll monitor the situation while you’re gone.”

Reluctantly he handed the grass to Elizabeth, who waved
it and chortled with happiness. When she put it in her mouth, he winced. “I hate that.”

“I know. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she doesn’t choke. She’ll be fine.”

“She has to be.” He looked into her eyes. “Because if anything happened to either of you, my life would be over.”

N
AT UNLOADED
the Bronco and set up the high chair first so Jess could feed the baby. While she was doing that, he brought everything else in and set up the portable crib and the playpen, the one Jess had already informed him they wouldn’t be using much.