Nat carefully lowered the dress so that the material settled softly over Elizabeth. “Where’s Elizabeth?” he asked. “Where’s that baby?” Then he opened the neck wider and popped it over her head. “There she is!”
Elizabeth laughed happily, showing off her teeth.
“Peekaboo, I see you!” Nat said.
“Da-da!” Elizabeth beamed at him.
“And so I am,” Nat said quietly.
“And so you are,” Jessica said, looking up at him.
He met her gaze, his eyes glowing with happiness. “Jess, I—”
“How’s everything going in here?” Sebastian asked as he strode into the room. “Looks like you nearly have that munchkin dressed. Tying those ribbons in her hair can be tricky, though. I thought I’d see if you needed any help.”
Much as Jessica loved her good friend Sebastian, at that moment she could have cheerfully decked him.
Sure enough, Nat’s bright expression dimmed and he backed away from the changing table. “Maybe you should take over for the rest of it. I’ll see if Matty needs any help in the kitchen.”
“Or Sebastian could help Matty in the kitchen,” Jessica said, although she had little hope Nat would stay, now that Sebastian was here.
“That’s okay.” Nat was already halfway out the door. “I’m no good with little ribbons. I’d probably pull her hair or something.”
Sebastian glanced from Nat’s retreating back to Jessica’s face. “Did I just screw up?”
Jessica gave him a halfhearted smile. He was a dear man, but he could be so dense. She started getting Elizabeth’s arms through the sleeves of her dress.
“I did screw up, didn’t I?” Sebastian said as he came over to the changing table. “I’ll bet the three of you were—you know—bonding.”
“Sort of. Could you hold her while I button the back of this?”
“Sure. Hey, peaches.” He took hold of Elizabeth and kissed her on the cheek.
“Da-da!”
“Did you hear that?” Sebastian said with obvious pleasure. “What a smart little dickens.”
“Uh-huh.” Jessica finished the buttoning and gathered her courage. “Sebastian, do you really want Nat to take on the job of being Elizabeth’s father?”
“You know I do! Why would you even ask?” He leaned down and rubbed his nose against Elizabeth’s. “Nosy, nosy.”
Elizabeth chuckled and made a grab for his nose.
“You’re very good with her,” Jessica said.
“It’s easy. I love her. Don’t I, sweetheart? Love this little bundle to pieces. Yes, I do.” He scooped her up from the changing table and nuzzled her again until she laughed.
Nat would never have had the courage to pick Elizabeth up so spontaneously, Jessica thought. “You’re all good with her,” she said, “and it’s been wonderful to watch because I know how well she’s been cared for all these months.”
Sebastian glanced at Jessica. “Where are you going with this, little one?”
She was so afraid of sounding ungrateful. But something had to be said. “I’m afraid if you three godfathers don’t back off a little, Nat’s never going to feel comfortable taking on the role of Elizabeth’s daddy.”
Sebastian stared at her. “But we’re only trying to help him get acclimated. He doesn’t know about babies, and—”
“And the more you tell him that, the less confidence he has in himself as a father. And he didn’t start out with a whole lot to begin with.”
“Neither did I!”
Elizabeth laughed and made another grab for his nose.
He gently pried her hand away. “Neither did I,” he repeated more quietly. “When you dropped this little girl off, I was scared to death, afraid I’d do something wrong and cause serious damage. At least Nat’s got us to help him.”
“And that’s good, up to a point. The thing is, you didn’t have the kind of father Nat had, and his insecurities about being a parent run a lot deeper than yours. None of you had experience with babies, but I don’t think any of you seriously doubted you could do it once you put your mind to it. I was sure you could, as long as you had a list of instructions and a book to read.”
“You must have spent hours on those instructions.”
“Oh, I did. I had to throw away the first set because they were all tear-spotted.”
Sebastian’s gaze was soft. “You’ve been through so much. Tell me what I can do to help this get fixed the way you need it to be.”
“I’m…I’m not sure. But I think that when Nat sees how competent all of you are, he despairs of ever making the grade.”
“I’ll talk to Travis and Boone tonight.”
She touched his arm. “If you do, please tell them that I love the way they are with Elizabeth. I treasure it. But right now, it doesn’t give Nat much room to maneuver.”
“We’ll come up with a plan,” Sebastian promised. “I want the three of you to be a family. Do you think that could happen?”
“I don’t know. But for a moment there, right before you came in, I began to believe it might.”
“And I spoiled that moment. I’m so sorry, little one.”
Jessica wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. “It’s okay. There will be other moments.” Then she crossed her fingers and prayed she was right.
THE PARTY WAS boisterous and fun. Jessica found herself feeling guilty that she’d begrudged any of these wonderful people constant access to Elizabeth. As far as Nat was concerned, they’d only been trying to help, and maybe they’d been planning to ease up on their own. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything to Sebastian, after all.
While she was helping clear the table after the meal, she noticed Sebastian in a quiet huddle with Travis and Boone. It looked as if they’d deliberately chosen a time when Nat, Shelby and Gwen were hunched over a game of Candyland with Josh. From the way the men kept glancing in Nat’s direction, Jessica was sure they were discussing her earlier comments to Sebastian.
Dear God, if she’d messed up the relationship among those men she would never forgive herself. Maybe Travis and Boone would be offended that she thought their attempts to help had been interfering. She had a strong urge to set down the pile of plates and go tell them to forget what she’d said to Sebastian.
After all, she was the newcomer in this group. They’d all known each other for many more years than she’d been in the picture. Maybe she’d read the situation wrong.
But in the end, she carried the plates into the kitchen. Then, acting on her own renewed confidence regarding Elizabeth, she lifted the baby from the playpen Matty had put in the corner of the kitchen for the duration of the party.
“I’m going to change her and get her ready for bed,” she announced to Matty, who was working at the sink.
“Good idea.” Matty glanced over at Jessica. “I think she’s getting tired.”
Luann put away the glass she’d been drying. “Does she have to go down already?” Then she looked at the kitchen clock. “Goodness, I didn’t know it was so late.”
Jessica had a real soft spot for Travis’s mother, who so obviously adored the concept of grandchildren. Although Jessica had been relishing the idea of being alone with her baby, Luann looked so wistful that she relented. It was a darn good thing Luann’s daughter-in-law, Gwen, was also pregnant.
“Would you like to help me with Elizabeth?” she asked. “I’m sure Matty could spare you for a few minutes.”
“Of course I can,” Matty said.
“Then I’d love to help with that precious little girl.” Luann couldn’t hang up her dish towel quickly enough.
With two of them working, it didn’t take long before Elizabeth was in her sleeper and ready to collect her good-night kisses from the houseful of people. Being with Luann always made Jessica think of her own mother and how she would have enjoyed spoiling a grandchild. Regret that things couldn’t be different prompted Jessica to give Luann the privilege of carrying the baby back into the living room.
She followed Luann down the hall and was surprised to notice that everyone was assembled there as if they were waiting for something. At first Jessica thought it might simply be time for the cake, but Matty was there, as well, so no one was available to bring the cake in.
Nat no longer sat on the floor by the coffee table playing the game with Josh. He stood with his back to the fire and gazed intently at her as she walked into the room.
Her stomach rolled. They were all waiting for her. She had overstepped by speaking to Sebastian this afternoon. Someone was about to deliver a lecture on the subject of ingratitude.
“Sebastian has come up with a plan, Jess,” Nat said. “He passed it by me, and now we need to know what you think of it.”
Jessica clutched her hands in front of her stomach. “I shouldn’t have spoken up. Forgive me, all of you. I couldn’t have asked for a warmer, more wonderful—”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Matty came forward and put an arm around Jessica’s shoulders. “You were right, and everybody knows it. I can’t imagine how we expected you, Nat and Elizabeth to form a unit in the midst of all this hubbub.”
“You need privacy,” Sebastian said.
“Privacy and security,” Boone added.
“And atmosphere,” Travis said with a wink.
Jessica looked from one to the other, not understanding.
“There’s an old but serviceable line shack on the Rocking D,” Sebastian said. “We’re going to check with Jim and see if he can rig up a good enough security system out there, although this might be the time we have to call in Nat’s security guy from L.A.”
“A line shack, huh?” Jessica was beginning to get the idea, and she hoped she was hearing it right.
“It’s not fancy, but it’s clean,” Sebastian said. “Once the place is secure, Nat can drive the Bronco out there with you and Elizabeth and enough supplies to last a week or so.” He smiled at her. “No interruptions. Should make for some of that bonding stuff.”
Her glance flew to Nat as her heart began to pound. “That’s okay with you?”
His gaze burned into hers. “It’s okay with me. How about you?”
She couldn’t hold back her grin. “It sounds great to me,” she said.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
AS NAT HAD SUSPECTED, Jim didn’t have the know-how to do an adequate job on the line shack, so Nat had called Seth Burnham. But securing the shack had taken three endless days, and Nat had wondered if he’d make it. Following the decision that they were literally going to “shack up” together, Jessica had turned shy on him, almost going out of her way to avoid him.
He’d spent a fair amount of time wondering why that was. The most promising explanation was that she didn’t trust herself to be around him and stay in control of her desire. Now that they were facing a situation in which they could make love again, the anticipation might be driving her crazy, too. Any other explanation for her behavior was too depressing, so he decided to go with the one he liked.
Because he was suffering intense sexual frustration, he’d paid an unholy sum to get Seth on site ASAP. Then he’d spent his days out at the line shack with Seth, helping him install the system.
“This is the best technology has to offer,” Seth had said when he was finally finished. “But it’s no damn good if you forget to turn it on. So don’t forget.”
“I won’t,” Nat had promised. But as he’d driven Seth back to the ranch house in Sebastian’s Bronco, his mind hadn’t been on security systems. He was thinking about the double bed in the cabin, the one he’d made up fresh with clean sheets. He was thinking of the other preparations he’d made—the folding screen he’d constructed to give them a little privacy in the one-room shack, the flowers he’d put in an old mason jar, the herb tea he’d stocked because he knew she was probably getting sick of coffee.
He was thinking about the following day when he, Jessica and Elizabeth would be driving the Bronco out to the line shack. And he was hoping Elizabeth would take her usual two-hour afternoon nap.
AFTER THE CLOSE CALL he’d had that first morning, Steven Pruitt hadn’t ventured so near the ranch house again. He had no intention of facing three pissed-off cowboys, especially when one carried a rifle and looked as if he could use it.
So Steven had marshaled his considerable news-gathering skills to get information out of the citizens of Huerfano. His drama training had come in handy, too, just as it had when he’d worked for the Franklin Publishing Group. Franklin had lost a hell of an undercover investigative reporter when he’d had the stupidity to order Steve Pruitt fired.
It might turn out to be the most costly mistake Russell P. had ever made. The residents of Huerfano liked to talk, and they’d told many tales about the mystery baby who’d been living out at the Rocking D for the past six months. It didn’t take a genius to figure out whose baby it was, although Steven knew his test scores put him within genius range.
Waiting to make the snatch had paid off in ways he’d never dreamed. Besides the visceral pleasure he’d enjoyed for six months while he stalked and intimidated Russell’s precious daughter, he now had a shot at scooping the Franklin grandchild into his net at the same time he nabbed Jessica.
And he would succeed. Luck was definitely on his side. He’d happened to be in the Buckskin, a local watering hole, when a guy named Jim had come in for a beer. Turns out Jim’s nose was out of joint because Sebastian Daniels had brought in some expert from L.A. to set up a security system for a line shack on the Rocking D. Jim couldn’t figure out why they wanted such a high-falutin’ system for a line shack in the first place.
Steven had made a hot journalism career out of acting on hunches. He’d seen how tight Jessica had become with that boyfriend of hers. No doubt he was the father of that kid. Steven would bet his bottom dollar the three of them were going off to play house in that line shack. At last, the opportunity he’d been waiting for.
“TAKE MY .38,” Sebastian urged the next morning as he and Nat loaded the last of the boxes into the Bronco. “I’ll feel a hell of a lot better if you have something out there with you.”
Nat wondered if he was being foolishly stubborn. He hated guns with a passion, but he knew how to use one thanks to the endless target practice his father had forced on him. And Jess and the baby were depending on him to keep them safe.
Sebastian closed up the back of the Bronco. “I know you believe in all that newfangled technology you and Seth installed, but I’d still feel better if you had a backup.”
“Okay,” Nat said with a sigh of resignation. “Do you have a locked box or something secure I can put it in? I don’t want to take any chances with that baby.”
“I’ll give you a locked box, but I’d advise you to put the gun on a high shelf and not lock it up. I’m as concerned about Elizabeth as you are, but she can’t climb to the top of those cabinets in the line shack.”
Nat gazed out at the hillside where he’d seen the flash of metal on the morning he’d taken the dogs for a run. “He could be gone, you know. Any guy who would follow a woman around for six months has to be weird. Maybe he got his jollies doing that, and now that she’s not running, he’s picked out another target for acting out his strange fantasies.”
“If she were just any woman, I’d say you were possibly right.” Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at Nat. “But you’ve hooked up with an heiress, my friend.”
Nat gave him a startled look. “Yeah, but she doesn’t want—”
“Doesn’t matter. She may hope to live a secluded life, but I think she’s kidding herself on that score. Look at the Kennedys. Look at your Hollywood clients. Eventually some reporter digs up some information on one of the relatives and the whole family’s in the headlines again, even if they work to avoid it.”
Nat hadn’t really thought about that aspect of his relationship with Jess. He’d thought his main concern was whether he’d be the kind of father Elizabeth deserved and whether he dared take a chance on being the kind of
husband Jess deserved. The idea of living in a fishbowl didn’t sit well with him.
“I can see you haven’t thought much about that,” Sebastian said. “You know how dearly I want you to make a life with Jessica and Elizabeth. But I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I didn’t point out that there’s a negative side to that program. She can’t change who she is.”
“For some reason I never thought of Jess like that. As an heiress.” Nat considered the homely little line shack he was about to take her to and winced. She’d probably tolerate it with good grace, the way she’d tolerated drinking coffee for days because she didn’t want to make a fuss.
“It’s been on my mind ever since you told me,” Sebastian said. “When we were deciding whether to call her parents or not, I told you I didn’t want to turn things over to some bigshot from New York. That’s true, but the other thing I didn’t want was the media circus that would result.”
“Yeah, it would.” Nat glanced around. The log ranch house, the sturdy barn and the horses frisking in the corral created a postcard-pretty view of country living. Then he imagined the area swarming with TV vans, reporters, even helicopters overhead. Sebastian’s treasured peace would be shattered.
Filled with remorse, he faced Sebastian. “We shouldn’t even be here. I should take Jess and Elizabeth and head out, away from the Rocking D. I’ve known about her background almost from the beginning, but you haven’t. It’s not fair to expect you to take this kind of risk with your whole way of life when you had no way of knowing what you were getting into.”
“Whoa, son!” Sebastian chuckled. “God, but you do manage to focus on the cloud instead of the silver lining, don’t you? I intended to give you a little reminder about the hazards on this road, not send you charging off in another direction entirely.”
“But—”
“Never mind your buts. I was only saying that I think it’s probable this kidnapper hasn’t given up, and yet I’m not in favor of calling Franklin if we can help it. I would gladly entertain the whole crew of 60 Minutes if that meant I could spend more time with Elizabeth, though. I’m crazy about that kid, in case you haven’t noticed.”
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