LITMIR.BIZ

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Katherine jiggled the baby and crooned to her. Then she lifted her out of the pouch and nuzzled her cheeks. “There, there, Mandy. You’re safe. Don’t be scared.”

      Zeke sat immobilized by her tenderness. For some stupid reason it made his throat ache to watch her cuddle that baby. You’d think he’d never seen a mother and baby before. To be honest, he hadn’t been this close to many. Growing up on the ranch had meant being around lots of boys and young men. The couple who’d run the place had a daughter, little Lindsay Duncan, who now owned the place, but she was already a toddler by the time Zeke arrived.

      Amanda’s crying tapered off to small gasps and one hiccup. Then she quietly stared up at her mother with an unblinking gaze.

      “That’s my girl!” Katherine talked in a special singsong way and smiled at the baby. “Can you give Mommy a happy smile?” She tickled the side of Amanda’s cheek. “Come on now, big smile. That’s it. Big smile.”

      To Zeke’s utter fascination, Amanda did smile, which seemed to make her cheeks look chubbier and gave her a double chin. It was the cutest thing he’d ever seen, and he knew cute when he saw it. Nothing matched a couple of tumbling bear cubs, or nothing had until now.

      “Some experts say that a two-month-old isn’t really smiling,” Katherine said. “That it’s just a reflex, or gas.”

      Zeke could tell from the more adult tone in her voice that Katherine was speaking to him, not Amanda. “Looks like a smile to me,” he said.

      “Of course it’s a smile.” Katherine lapsed back into her melodious baby talk. “We know a smile when we see one, don’t we, Mandy? Yes, we do! Now, let’s get you back in your seat.” She lifted the baby from the pouch and handed her to Zeke. “Take her for a minute so I can turn around and get ready to lay her in there.”

      “Take her?” He pulled back as if she’d tried to give him a live grenade.

      “Just for a minute.”

      “I don’t know how to hold a baby!”

      “Pipe down. You’ll scare her again. Just support her head with your hand and the rest of her in the crook of your arm.” She settled the baby into his arms and adjusted his hold. “Like that.”

      His body stiffened and his heart began to pound as he realized he had total responsibility for keeping this baby alive for the next couple of minutes. “I’m going to drop her. I just know it. Or squeeze her wrong and break something.”

      “I doubt that.” Katherine knelt on the seat and began fiddling with the carrier in the back.

      For the first time Zeke noticed what she was wearing—a long flowered skirt and a sleeveless blouse the color of young grass. The light material of the skirt stretched tight across her bottom as she adjusted the straps on the infant seat. Zeke tried not to pay attention.

      He also became aware of two very pleasant scents replacing the smell of musty canvas that usually filled his cab. One was sweet and fresh, probably baby powder, but the other had a sexy tang to it. When he’d spent the night with Katherine she’d had no toiletries at all, let alone perfume. He’d even let her borrow his toothbrush. He’d loved the natural fragrance of her body, but this other was seductive in its own way. He liked it. He liked it way too much, in fact.

      Amanda made a noise and jerked her small body.

      He held her tighter. “Don’t do that,” he instructed the baby.

      She stared up at him.

      He found himself staring back. Her eyes were a soft blue, yet Katherine’s were hazel and his were brown. “Why are her eyes blue?” he asked.

      Katherine answered as she continued to fuss with the seat. “Because she’s so young. The doctor said as she gets older they’ll probably turn hazel, like mine.”

      He continued to study the baby. Her skin wasn’t as pale as Katherine’s, yet not as bronzed as his. His skin-color genes and Katherine’s must have combined into this shade, which was kind of nice. The thought of his genes combining with anyone’s blew him away. Then he noticed the small dimple in her chin, a dimple just like...his mother’s.

      “Okay, hand her to me.”

      Zeke was so afraid of dropping the baby in transit that the process of giving her to Katherine involved a lot of physical contact. And memories—the tickle of the downy hair on her forearm, the coolness of her fingers against his skin, the rhythm of her breathing.

      While she strapped the baby securely in the seat, he faced forward and took several deep breaths himself, just to get over the dizziness of being so close to Katherine.

      Finally she was back and buckled herself in.

      He started the engine and turned to her. “We might be gone a couple of hours. Do you have what you need?”

      “Yes. I have extra diapers and I’m breast-feeding. We’ll be fine.”

      He wished she hadn’t given out that bit of information. He didn’t need to be presented with a picture of her unfastening her blouse and offering her breast to Amanda’s little pink mouth. He’d be wise to get them both back to the lodge before that became necessary.

      A car horn beeped and Zeke jumped. In his preoccupation with Katherine and Amanda, he’d totally forgotten his truck was sitting in a crowded parking lot blocking traffic. “Guess we’d better get rolling.” Then he turned the key and ground the starter motor because he hadn’t remembered the engine was already running.

      Get a grip, Lonetree. Anyone who knew him would get a kick out of seeing him rattled, he thought. Among the other rangers, he was famous for never losing his cool. He’d faced bears, rattlers, even escaped convicts with calm detachment. But he’d never faced a situation like this one, and he had a feeling it was going to take every ounce of courage he could dredge up.

      CHAPTER THREE

      KATHERINE WATCHED the windshield wipers slap back and forth while she thought about what she’d done, running after Zeke like that. She’d have a tough time explaining herself to Naomi. She could just hear her godmother—He was ready to give up all parental rights and you talked him out of it? Where was your brain, girl?

      Her brain had very little to do with it. She’d been operating on instinct, and right now her instincts told her this was right, for the three of them to be heading down the road together in the rain. Zeke had left the main highway to follow a narrow two-lane road with little traffic on it. Safe in the truck cab with Zeke, she felt cozy, almost peaceful. She hadn’t felt that way for a long time, maybe not since the night she’d spent with him in his tent.

      She glanced at Zeke and realized she’d never seen him at the wheel of a vehicle. He looked good there—competent and sexy. The day after her tumble into the river, they’d hiked to a ranger station, and another park service employee had offered to take her back to the Old Faithful Inn so Zeke could return to his campsite and get on with the solitary retreat she’d ruined.

      And here she was again, invading his privacy. But for Amanda’s sake, she’d brave it out and hope he’d be willing to accept some part in his daughter’s life.

      As if he felt her attention on him, he turned his head. “Should you check her? She seems too quiet.”

      “I’m sure she’s asleep. She loves riding.” His comment made her smile. For the first month or so of caring for Amanda she’d had the same fears. She used to wake up twenty times a night and make sure the baby was still breathing. “Sometimes when she’s fussy I bundle her up in her car seat, go outside and hail a cab, just so I can settle her down. It’s worth the cost of a twenty-minute ride around town.”

      “You don’t own a car?”

      “Nope. Cabs are handier when you’re in Manhattan. I don’t live that far from the office. A car would be more of a nuisance than an advantage.”

      He

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