LITMIR.BIZ

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residents, was not allowed to accumulate.

      It bothered her. Not for Griff Price’s sake. Whatever had made him such a closed-off grouch was his problem. Jolie’s concern was all for the baby she held in her arms.

      As she waited, she smoothed her hand over the little boy’s fuzzy blanket sleeper and enjoyed the weight and warmth of him as he settled back against her lap. “I have some questions for your daddy.”

      He turned his head and looked up at her with his big blue eyes. “I don’t even know your name.” Jolie stroked the soft skin of his little cheek.

      “I’m not even sure where your daddy wants me to sleep.” She stroked his cheek again, and his eyelids blinked sleepily.

      There was a bedroom next to the baby’s room, but she didn’t want to presume. After glancing into bedrooms, she couldn’t even tell which room Griff slept in. Her suitcase still sat at the bottom of the stairs in the entryway.

      Jolie turned the baby so he lay in the crook of her arm, and confided her anxiety at facing Griff Price with her questions. “Confrontation has never been my strong suit.”

      She chanted her new mantra for him. “I live with courage. Catchy, isn’t it? For the next few weeks I’m going to take care of you, even if it means getting in your daddy’s face.”

      Jolie discarded the idea Griff thought her so efficient she didn’t need any guidelines. She suspected he had simply not bothered to tell her.

      Did he expect her to do other work besides caring for the baby? There was no evidence of an evening meal. In fact, there was little food in the refrigerator. Before discovering baby clothes in the dryer, she wondered what the little guy would wear tomorrow.

      The baby’s head nodded against her arm, and she turned him and hoisted him up against her shoulder. He nuzzled into the curve of her neck, his little body relaxed as he slid into sleep. She stroked his back and fell a little more in love with him.

      The longer Griff Price took to come home, the madder she got.

      She continued to rub the baby’s back. If she wasn’t desperate for a job and a place to stay, she would demand he take her back to town the minute he walked in the door.

      As soon as she had the thought she realized she was kidding herself. She couldn’t leave until she straightened this man out about the way he was raising his son.

      His cows seemed to mean more to him than his child.

      Griff Price’s behavior was inexcusable.

      The back door slammed, jerking her out of her thoughts. She looked up and spotted Griff coming through the door that led to the mudroom. He stopped at the kitchen sink, his broad back to her.

      Jolie got up, holding the sleeping baby on her shoulder as she strode into the kitchen to give the man a piece of her mind.

      He stood, his tall frame hunched over the sink, washing his hands. In the short time since she had met him she had forgotten what a big man he was.

      He turned to look at her, surprise plain on his face. “Evening.”

      Had he forgotten she was in the house? She cleared her throat and said in a low voice, “Actually, it’s past evening.”

      He stared at her for a moment, then his glance slid briefly over his son, as if trying to place who they were. Finally he looked past her, over her shoulder.

      What was he doing, checking the dark house to see if there was anyone else there he might have forgotten?

      Jolie took a deep breath and reached for her courage, determined to pin him down. “Mr. Price, I have some questions I need answered now.”

      His expression became shuttered so quickly she blinked at the change in him.

      He shifted his glance away from her face. “Okay. I’m listening.” He picked a towel up off the counter to dry his hands.

      Jolie put a protective hand up to cradle the sleeping child’s head, as if contact with the baby could keep her focused on what she planned to say to him. “You left without telling me the baby’s name or anything about him.”

      “His name is Riley.” Griff seemed to be searching his mind for something else to say. “He’s ten months old.”

      She watched him focus on something behind her again, and his shoulders slumped in a defeated movement as he leaned his hips against the cabinet. “You’re leaving.”

      Jolie glanced over her shoulder and saw that he stared at her suitcase. “Oh, no. I’m staying. My suitcase is there because you didn’t bother to tell me which room is mine.”

      She couldn’t leave.

      Not just because she didn’t have any money.

      Griff Price needed her, whether he realized it or not. And for a lot more than changing his son’s diapers. His expression told her how badly he thought he needed her, and he didn’t know the half of it.

      No one had ever needed Jolie before, not like this.

      She would stay, not for him, but for the precious little boy asleep in her arms. She hadn’t missed the fact he hadn’t taken even a moment to ask after his child.

      “We need to talk.” She suspected before long he would regret he hadn’t taken her back to town tonight.

      Griff let out a sigh as he watched the stubborn set of Jolie Carleton’s sweet little chin. Still fighting his headache, he thought sourly, was there a phrase he hated more than we need to talk?

      He eyed the beautiful, frazzled-looking woman standing there holding his nephew. In the few hours since he had met her he had tried to forget what a fine-looking woman she was.

      Griff eyed the set of her jaw and knew before the words were out of his mouth he would regret asking. “About what?”

      Her lovely mouth dropped open as if he had asked an astounding question. She caught herself gaping at him and closed her jaw with a snap of perfect white teeth.

      Taking a deep breath, she glanced down at Riley, then hissed at Griff. “About your responsibilities, Mr. Price.”

      Well, he had a million of those, that was for sure. “What responsibilities would those be?”

      Her pale fine skin flushed. “This baby!”

      She was no longer trying to keep her voice down. Riley jerked awake, his head coming off her shoulder.

      Griff didn’t want to talk about his nephew. Not tonight. If she had just kept her voice down, Riley would still be asleep.

      He skewered her with a look designed to intimidate. “Wrong, Ms. Carleton. I hired you to take care of Riley. He’s your responsibility.”

      Griff turned away from the dumbfounded look on her face, crossed through the house to the stairs and picked up her bag.

      He didn’t want to explain anything. Talking about the baby would lead to talking about his wife and his brother. That was a subject he didn’t plan to cover, especially with a stranger.

      He needed some aspirin and a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow would be another too-full day. He’d still be out on the range tonight if the moon hadn’t set.

      As he got to the top of the stairs he heard her determined footsteps just behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and held back another sigh as he watched her march up the stairs.

      She looked like a woman with a mission. It didn’t take a genius to figure out she hadn’t liked his answer.

      That scowl he had used on her downstairs worked on his hired hands but didn’t seem to phase Jolie Carleton.

      Save me from crusading females, Griff thought as he put her suitcase just inside the door of the bedroom next to the baby’s room. He straightened up and braced himself for another round.

      She

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