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A relationship that she’d been certain was turning a corner—before recent events proved otherwise.
“And until you can answer that question to my satisfaction, the baby isn’t going anywhere,” Wilder said.
An assertion that, of course, put her back up.
“Who put you—a cowboy who clearly doesn’t have the first clue about parenting and might not even be Cody’s biological father—in charge?” she demanded.
“Your sister,” he answered. “When she left her kid with me.”
“My sister obviously wasn’t thinking clearly,” Beth said.
“I don’t disagree, but that doesn’t change the fact that she brought the baby here.”
She hated that he was right. Even more, she hated that Leighton hadn’t trusted her enough to talk to her about her plans. Instead, she’d snuck away, leaving only a cryptic note that did nothing to alleviate Beth’s worries. And thinking about it now only made her head hurt. She lifted a hand and pressed her fingertips to her temple, as if that might assuage the ache.
“You’re probably hungry,” Wilder said, his tone more conciliatory than confrontational now.
She frowned. “What?”
“I’m guessing that your head hurts because you haven’t eaten,” he clarified.
“How do you...oh.” She dropped her hand away.
“When did you last have a meal?”
“I grabbed a burger last night when I fueled up my car outside of Bozeman.” But she’d only managed to choke down a few bites of the tasteless patty before she’d wrapped it up again and tossed it back into the bag.
“Well, according to the schedule I was given, it’s time for the baby to have a bottle, so let’s get you something to eat, too,” he suggested.
“I’ll be down in a minute,” she said, reaching for the duffel bag. “I just want to change my clothes first.”
“Did you want me to warm yours in the dryer, too?”
Though she didn’t relish the idea of wriggling into cold undergarments, it was preferable to handing her bra and panties to a stranger. Especially a sexy stranger who had undoubtedly removed sexier undergarments from her sister’s body.
“Thanks, but I’ll be fine,” she told him.
“Okay, I’ll get started fixing the bottle.”
She didn’t ask him to take Cody and he didn’t offer. She did wonder if his reticence was a result of not knowing what to do to take care of a baby or not wanting to acknowledge that Cody might be his.
And she had no intention of pushing him outside of his comfort zone. As far as she was concerned, the sooner he realized that he couldn’t handle taking care of an infant, the sooner she could be on her way back to Dallas with her nephew.
When she was changed, she retraced her steps—as best she could recall—from the night before. But it had been dark then, and she’d been focused on Wilder’s form moving ahead of her, unable to see much of anything else. In the light of day, she could appreciate the warmth and design of the home that Wilder lived in with...well, she had no idea who else lived in this house. Obviously she had more questions about the man than answers, but hopefully that would change over lunch.
Her stomach growled in support of that plan.
She reached the bottom step and turned—apparently in the wrong direction. Because she found herself in a family room with a grouping of leather furniture around a stone fireplace and a towering Christmas tree that almost touched the vaulted beam ceiling.
“Look at that,” she said to Cody, her voice a reverent whisper as she moved closer. “It’s almost as big as the tree at the mall where we saw Santa.”
Of course, Cody didn’t understand what she was talking about and would have no memory of the event even if he did. By the time they’d got to the front of the line and it was his turn to see the jolly man in the red suit, he was fast asleep. Beth hadn’t wanted to wake him and risk ending up with a photo of an unhappy or crying baby. Instead, she had a beautiful photo of her nephew, decked out in a red velvet Santa sleeper and matching hat, peacefully tucked into the crook of Santa’s arm.
She’d bought two copies of the photo and had framed and wrapped the second one as a Christmas gift for her sister. Of course, she’d invited Leighton to go to the mall with them, but her sister had waved off the suggestion, insisting that Cody was too young to even care. It was undoubtedly true, and yet, Beth couldn’t let the occasion of his first Christmas pass without a visit to Santa.
She pushed the memory aside to focus on the tree in front of her now. It wasn’t just big, it was beautifully decorated in what she would call “country chic,” with burlap ribbon, handcrafted wooden ornaments, home-sewn felt shapes, crocheted snowflakes, tied clusters of dried fruit, sprigs of berries and striped candy canes.
And unlike the plastic tree in the mall, this one was real. She could smell the rich, fragrant scent of pine in the air.
“Did you get lost?”
She started, turned. “What?”
A smile twitched at the corners of Wilder’s mouth, somehow making him look even more unbelievably handsome, and making her wonder what was wrong with her that she could be so immediately and undeniably attracted to the man who might very well be her nephew’s father.
“I asked if you got lost,” he said.
“Oh, no. I mean, I took a wrong turn, and then...” She shrugged. “I got distracted. You have a beautiful home.”
“It’s got good bones,” he said, turning to exit the room, no doubt expecting her to follow. Which, of course, she did. “But it’s also been a lot of work to renovate and update.”
“Have you done the work yourself?” she asked, glancing at the framed photos on the sideboard as they passed through the dining room. She was tempted to pause and examine the pictures more closely, but her empty stomach growled to remind her that she had other priorities at the moment.
“Me, my brothers and our dad,” he said, handing her a ready-made bottle for the baby.
“Thanks,” she said. “But I would have mixed up his formula.”
“I just followed the instructions on the label.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip, not wanting to appear ungrateful but needing to ask, “Did you use previously boiled water?”
“That’s what the instructions said to do,” he pointed out. “Plus Hunter, one of my brothers, gave me a crash course on basic childcare.”
“He has kids?” Beth guessed, testing the temperature of the formula by shaking a few drops onto the inside of her wrist.
“One. A six-and-a-half-year-old daughter.”
“There’s no better teacher than experience,” Beth said. “But in the absence of experience, there are some good childcare books that help. Leighton had about half a dozen beside her bed when she was pregnant.”
She didn’t tell him that she’d bought the books for her sister, or admit that Leighton hadn’t cracked the covers on most of them. Because her sister had never been a fan of book learning—preferring to figure things out as she went along.
“I have to admit, that surprises me a little,” he told her. “The Leighton I knew wasn’t really the maternal type.”
“I wouldn’t have thought so, either,” she admitted, as she settled into a chair at the table to give Cody his bottle. “But everything changed when she found out she was pregnant.”
Wilder grabbed a mug from the cupboard and filled it from the carafe on a warming burner. “Are you a coffee drinker?” he asked.
“Only on days ending in a ‘y,’” she told him.
He chuckled at that as he reached for another mug, then filled it with the steaming brew.
“Cream? Sugar?”
“Cream, please.”
He opened the fridge to retrieve the carton, then added a splash to her cup and set it in front of her.
“Thanks.” She lifted the mug to her lips and sipped. “That’s good and strong.”
“It’s the only way my dad knows how to make it.”
“So this is his house?” she guessed.
Wilder nodded. “When we first moved to Rust Creek Falls, in the summer, Xander and Finn lived here, too. But Xander and Lily have their own place closer to town now, and Finn and Avery renovated a cabin on the far side of the property, so it’s just me and my dad left.”
“So you’ve got three brothers?” She wasn’t just making conversation; she was genuinely curious to learn more about his family, who might prove to be her nephew’s family, too.
“No, I’ve got five brothers.”
“Five?”
He nodded.
“Wow. Six boys. Your mom obviously had her hands full,” she remarked.
“Maybe that’s why she took off before my first birthday,” he noted.
Chapter Four (#u50532d5e-fe32-5fbf-a059-e2e4eb486586)
Beth winced. “I’m sorry.”
Wilder immediately waved off her apology. “No reason to be. You couldn’t know.”
“All the more reason not to speak without thinking.” Then, in an apparent effort to smooth over the awkwardness, she quickly changed the subject. “Tell me about your brothers.”
He responded readily, happy not to delve any deeper into the details of his mother’s abandonment—especially when he honestly didn’t know most of them. “Logan, the oldest, is married to Sarah. Hunter’s a year younger, the one with the six-and-a-half-year-old daughter, and now engaged to Merry—that’s with a capital ‘M’ followed by an ‘e,’” he clarified. “Although I suppose it’s also accurate the other way, too.
“Anyway, next after Hunter is Xander, who’s married to Lily. Then there’s Finn, who’s married to Avery and expecting a baby in the spring, and finally Knox, who’s married to Gen.”
“So all of your brothers are married or engaged,” she mused.
He nodded.
“You’re not feeling any pressure to follow in their footsteps?”
“Not at all. I’m perfectly happy with my life the way it is,” he assured her.
Then his gaze slid in Cody’s direction, and when it shifted back again, the look on Beth’s face told him she knew that what he really meant was that he’d been perfectly happy with his life the way it was.
He turned to the fridge, away from her knowing expression. “I promised you food,” he said. “What are you in the mood for?”
“Oh, um, just some toast would be fine,” she said, as she settled into a chair at the table and positioned the bottle close to the baby’s mouth. Cody immediately latched onto the nipple and began sucking.
“How about a sandwich?” he suggested.
“That sounds even better,” she agreed.
“Do you like turkey?”
“Almost as much as coffee.”
He pulled a cellophane-covered platter from the refrigerator.
“That’s a lot of turkey,” she noted.
“We had a full house for the Christmas meal, so my dad insisted on two birds to ensure we’d have leftover for sandwiches,” he explained.
“I’d love a turkey sandwich—if you’re sure he wouldn’t mind sharing,” Beth said.
“There’s plenty.” He pulled the plastic wrap off the meat. “I guess you didn’t get to enjoy Christmas dinner, did you?”
She shook her head. “I mostly fueled myself on coffee and doughnuts.”
More coffee than doughnuts, Wilder guessed, with a glance at her thin frame. He generally preferred the women he dated to look like women, with curves rather than angles. Beth was all angles, and yet, there was something about her—an innate warmth and sweetness that appealed to him.
The observation made him frown. Because while he appreciated the female form in various shapes and sizes, Beth wasn’t a female to be ogled—she was Cody’s aunt. Leighton’s sister.
And definitely not his type.
“White or dark meat?” he asked, turning his attention back to his task.
“Either or,” she said. “And I can make my own sandwich.”
“You’re feeding the baby,” he noted. “And that’s something I’m not so good at.”
“Your brother didn’t give you a tutorial?” she teased.
“Apparently I’m not a very quick learner.”
Beth smiled at that. “You’re lucky your family is so supportive.”
“Is ‘supportive’ another word for ‘nosy and interfering?’”
“When it comes to family relationships, there’s often some overlap,” she acknowledged.
“Is your family supportive?”
“There’s just me and Leighton—and Cody—now,” she told him. “Our parents were killed during a bank robbery gone wrong almost ten years ago. Innocent bystanders.”
