LITMIR.BIZ

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hold the baby? This infant was his niece. So unless she wanted to look like she had a heart stored in the deep freeze, she should let him. “Do you know how to hold a baby?”

      “How hard can it be? She’s not as heavy as a sack of oats,” he said seriously.

      Her eyes widened. “She’s not a sack of anything. She’s a baby. You know, delicate. You can’t toss her around like a sack of—”

      The sudden, slight upturn of his lips said “gotcha.”

      “Okay.” Her mouth curved up reluctantly as she tucked the information away under T for teasing in the Jake Fletcher file. “But really, you’ve got to support her head.”

      Rachel stepped closer to him and laid the sleeping child in the crook of his arm. The fragrance of soap mingled with something—not aftershave she decided, noting stubble on his lower cheeks and jaw. He hadn’t taken the time to shave, but he smelled good. She’d already noted he was a big man who dwarfed her miniscule entryway. But why did he look bigger holding a small baby? His broad shoulders seemed even broader, his thickly muscled arms stronger. Yet he held Emma as if she were priceless, breakable glass.

      Rachel’s insides jumped like she’d just touched a live wire. Sleep deprivation could really do a number on your nerves, she decided.

      “I’ll go put on some clothes.”

      “Good idea,” he said.

      Good idea, she thought with a sigh. Second cousin to his “Good Lord” when he’d first seen her. As in she looked like road kill. Followed by, if she couldn’t put a bag over her head, she should at least put some clothes on. On the bright side, clothes would make her feel less vulnerable. It was clear she needed coffee. Bad. Because under normal circumstances she wouldn’t give a rat’s backside what the heck Jake Fletcher thought of her.

      Jake watched as Rachel disappeared through the doorway. Moments later, down the hall a door closed with just a little more force than was necessary. He made himself sit down with the baby, even though he was itching to follow Rachel and demand to know what the hell was going on. Because he had a feeling she knew more than she’d said. He badly wanted to know what Rachel Manning was hiding and why she had his brother’s baby.

      Glancing down at the small, warm body in his arms, Jake felt the hole he always carried inside him open wider, followed by an aching sadness. This new baby reminded him of everything that had been taken from him. But he wasn’t a kid now. And it wasn’t going to happen again. Not to his brother. He would see to it.

      Leaning back, he snuggled Emma to his chest and glanced at the doorway where Rachel had disappeared. Her guarded expression when she’d opened the door to him said a mouthful. She’d told him once that he was butting into his brother’s life, throwing his weight around. Takes one to know one. And he knew her kind—a straight-up, straight arrow, by-the-book, toe-the-line, card-carrying buttinski. She wouldn’t know the meaning of minding her own business if it bit her on the fanny.

      Under the circumstances he wouldn’t have expected it, but that thought made him smile. Little Miss Muffet wasn’t his type, thinking she knew what was best for the whole world. But she had one fine fanny. And in those pajamas that covered next to nothing, the rest of her wasn’t bad, either.

      The baby squirmed and squeaked and he gently settled his palm on her abdomen. It nearly covered her from chest to ankle. She was so little and the need to protect and care for her body-slammed him. This child was his niece—his family. And he was going to do right by her. This time no one would get in his way.

      Almost as if Rachel had heard that thought, she came back into the room. In buttercup-yellow shorts and a matching tank top, with her golden hair mussed as if a man had run his fingers through it, she looked like a walking sunbeam. He noticed she’d washed the mascara from beneath her eyes.

      She walked over to him. “I’ll put Emma in her bassinet now.”

      She leaned over and slid her hand into the crook of his arm beneath the child’s head, then nudged the other under the baby’s bottom and lifted. Where Rachel’s hands had touched him, a trail of warmth lingered. When her gaze locked with his, he wondered why he’d never noticed before that her eyes were so big. And brown. Normally blondes had blue eyes and the unusual coloring was nice. Almost before the thought formed, she left with the baby. Then a few moments later, she returned and closed the door that separated her living room, kitchen and dining area from what he figured were the bedrooms down the hall. She sat across from him in a green wing chair that kept the oval oak coffee table between them.

      He stared at her. “Now tell me where Dan and Holly are.”

      Something flickered in her gaze before she said, “Like I told you before, I don’t know.”

      A cold, hard feeling settled in his gut. “Did you know they were planning to take off?”

      “Look, Jake, the kids are scared. They’re trying to do the right thing—”

      “Did you know?” he asked again.

      “Yes, but—”

      “So they ran away?”

      “That implies they don’t intend to come back.” Her gaze met his as she let out a long breath. “They didn’t run away—exactly.”

      “What does that mean?”

      “They were making plans—find an apartment, jobs, that sort of thing. I was supposed to know where they were going. But for some reason they jumped the gun and left without telling me. At least I have something in writing from Holly giving me permission to take the baby to the doctor.” The odd expression on his face made her suspicious. “Did you do something to put pressure on them? Something that made them take off?”

      He shook his head. “If I’d known they were up to something— This is completely irresponsible.”

      “Not completely. Look at it from their point of view. They wanted time to see if they could take care of themselves.”

      “How much time?”

      “The rest of the summer.” Her hands fluttered, and she kept talking, the words tumbling out fast. “They need to think through whether or not they want to keep the baby.”

      “There’s nothing to think about. She’s Dan’s responsibility.” Anger surged through him and he stood, running his hand through his hair. “It’s not like Dan to go off half-cocked like this. Sounds like some hare-brained scheme Holly would come up with.”

      Her mouth compressed to a straight line. “Actually, it was sort of my idea.”

      “Yours?” Jake felt as if she’d slugged him in the stomach. She was an adult who should know better. “What the hell were you thinking telling them to run off?”

      “That’s not exactly what I said or how it happened.” She twisted her fingers together in her lap.

      “I don’t get it. After the baby was born, I told her the two of them could stay on the ranch. As long as she wanted.”

      “She wasn’t comfortable with that and asked to stay with me a little longer. I agreed. There but for the grace of God and all that. She and Dan were talking about marriage. But since Emma was born, she says they’ve been fighting a lot. He’s got a full college football scholarship.”

      “That I know about.”

      “Holly doesn’t want to stand in his way. She’s in a catch-22 situation. She wants to go to college, too, but she doesn’t see how that can happen with taking care of Emma. On top of that, she’s not even sure she and Dan will stay together. How can she do it on her own?”

      “I told her I would help.”

      Rachel’s gaze flicked to his. “She wasn’t comfortable with that, either. Look, you have to understand where she’s coming from. Holly loves her daughter and wants the best for her. We discussed the possibility of a stable adoptive home.

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