Daniel's Daddy - Stella Bagwell

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hour Jess called upon her. He didn’t have to be told that it was going to be nearly impossible to find someone to replace her.

      Daniel wants a mother. Yeah, he probably did, Jess answered the voice inside him. Not probably, he did want a mother, Jess corrected himself. But Daniel needed to learn he couldn’t go around picking a woman to be his mother just because she was nice and smelled good. Besides that, Jess wasn’t about to let some woman tie him up in emotional knots again. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to let one into Daniel’s life, then have her tear his heart apart by leaving. No way. It was better for him not to have a mother at all than to have one who would skip out on them when the going got rough.

      A few moments later, Jess pulled into the driveway of his father’s house. He and Daniel climbed out of the truck and started walking over to the porch. Lord, the place looked bleak. This was the place Jess had once called home, but now it seemed not much more than a run-down piece of real estate. A big part of the stucco was eroding, leaving shallow pits and holes in the outside walls of the house. The gables hadn’t seen paint in years, and the yard, what little there was of it, was nothing more than sand with a few clumps of sage and grama grass growing here and there. Looking the way it did, he knew it was going to be hard to sell the property.

      Jess glanced over his shoulder at Hannah’s house. A couple of lights were on behind the lace curtains at the windows and Jess wondered what she did in her spare time. What would he find her doing if he went over there right now?

      The question left him grunting with amusement. Whatever it was, he’d bet it wasn’t entertaining a man.

      He unlocked the door, but before he pushed it open, he glanced over at Hannah’s once again. Daniel was right in one respect, he thought. Someone like her was just what he needed to take Louise’s place. He’d bet his life that Hannah would be dependable. She probably never raised her voice, and judging by the sweet bread she’d brought over today, she could obviously cook, so Daniel wouldn’t constantly be fed snack foods. Too bad she lived in Lordsburg instead of Douglas, he thought.

      Hannah couldn’t sleep and she didn’t know why. She’d read for hours, drank herbal tea and watched a boring late-night talk show on TV, but she was still wide-awake.

      She blamed her restlessness on Frank Malone’s funeral. She hated funerals. But then, who didn’t? However, she’d especially hated this one because it had reminded her of her mother’s funeral; only a handful of mourners there, no family except one lonely offspring.

      Poor Jess. She hurt for him because she knew how alone he must be feeling. And poor little Daniel. He would grow up without his grandfather.

      As if the lights across the street were beckoning her, Hannah walked over to the picture window and looked out. Jess was still up. Though she couldn’t detect him through the curtainless windows, she could see parts of the cluttered living room. What was he doing at this hour? It was after two in the morning.

      Was he so upset over his father’s passing, he couldn’t rest? Hannah hated to think so. Although his son was with him, he was more or less alone and she wondered why. Surely he had someone to whom he was close. Someone who could have come along with him for emotional support.

      For the umpteenth time, Hannah wondered if Jess was married. After all, he had a son. True, a man didn’t have to be married to have a son, she quickly reminded herself. But there had to be a woman somewhere, she rationalized. So where was she? Back at home, taking care of other obligations?

      That idea made Hannah snort with disapproval. If that was the case, Jess Malone didn’t have himself much of a wife or lover. Now if Hannah were married to Jess, she would have never let him and Daniel come here on their own to deal with their loved one’s death.

      Lord have mercy, she was losing it, Hannah thought with a self-deprecating shake of her head. Imagining herself as Jess Malone’s wife and Daniel’s mother! She’d never be married. Much less to a man like him!

      The knock at the door had Hannah bolting straight up out of a dead sleep. Her heart beating wildly in her chest, she glanced around, disoriented, until she finally realized she’d fallen asleep sometime early this morning on the living-room couch.

      The knock came again. Louder this time.

      Hannah wrapped the white plissé robe more tightly around her and hurried to answer the door. When she opened it and saw that the caller was Jess Malone, she very nearly gasped out loud.

      “Jess. Is—uh—is something wrong?” Her eyes darted quickly downward at Daniel, who was clinging to his father’s hand and smiling broadly up at her.

      Jess stared at Hannah. He hadn’t expected to wake her at this hour. It was eight-thirty. He’d figured she was an early riser, even on Saturdays. But it was obvious from her appearance that he’d woken her. She looked different. Very different with her long red hair down and curling wildly around her face and shoulders. Although she was holding the robe tightly together at her throat for modesty’s sake, Jess couldn’t help but notice the way the white material was stretched against her breasts, outlining their feminine shape. Pure male attraction surged through him, blotting out that part of his brain that was telling him to quit staring.

      “Uh—no. We were just—” he thrust the empty thermos bottle at her “—returning your thermos.”

      “Oh, I’d forgotten,” she said, then quickly added, “But there was no need for you to bother.”

      The early-morning breeze caught at her hair and blew it in her face. One of her hands let go of the robe to push it back, allowing the fabric to fall away and expose the smooth skin of her throat.

      Needing no further invitation, Jess’s eyes slid downward, hoping the wind would do what his fingers were itching to do. Part the robe even more and expose the creamy swell of her breasts.

      She blushed furiously as she noticed Jess looking at her. Suddenly, he felt ridiculous because she’d caught him staring. Dear God, he was in trouble when he started fantasizing about a thirty-three-year-old spinster!

      “It’s—not a bother,” he said while inwardly wishing he could kick himself.

      Edging behind the doorjamb as much as she could, Hannah said, “I was just waking up. Have you two had breakfast yet?”

      Jess shook his head. “We were headed down to McKay’s. Would you like to join us?”

      Join them! The last time a man had invited her to go out with him had been years ago. And that invitation had been from a man she should have never trusted. But she had, and in the end she’d regretted it. Since that time, she’d avoided men like the plague. If she suddenly showed up at McKay’s with Jess Malone and his son, she’d very likely put the whole town into shock.

      “That’s very nice of you, Jess. But I—it would take too long to get ready.”

      It was just as well, he thought. He’d only invited her on a crazy impulse, anyway, thinking it would please Daniel to have her company during breakfast. And him, too. Damn it!

      “McKay’s isn’t fancy,” he said, trying again. “Just go throw on some jeans. I’ll wait for you.”

      He was serious, Hannah realized, her heart hammering heavily behind her breast.

      “I don’t know—if I should,” she stammered, a part of her hungering for a chance to act like any normal woman, while the other part was terrified because she didn’t know how.

      Jess didn’t know why he was patiently standing here waiting for her answer when she was acting as though he’d just asked her to go to bed with him instead of to share breakfast with him. What could she be worried about? Daniel would be with them.

      “Hellfire, Hannah Dunbar! You act like you’ve never had a man invite you out to breakfast before. Either you want to go, or you don’t. Which is it?”

      She hadn’t been invited out to breakfast before. But she could hardly tell him that. If possible, her creamy white complexion grew even

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