“What’s wrong?”
“My suitcases are in the trunk of my car, and my car’s on its way to Bruce’s Body Shop.”
“Your suitcases are already upstairs in the spare bedroom.”
“They are?”
He shrugged. “You mentioned that you’d been travelling, so I figured you’d have some essentials with you. I got your luggage out of the trunk this morning.”
“Thank you,” she said sincerely. “After a shower and some clean clothes, I just might feel human again.”
The guest room was bathed in natural light that poured through the pair of tall narrow windows. The double bed was covered in a beautiful sage-green comforter in a rich suedelike fabric. The dressers had strong but simple lines and were made of light-colored wood, and—as promised—her suitcases were on top of the blanket chest at the foot of the bed. The overall effect of the room was both warm and welcoming, and Julie wanted nothing as much as she wanted to fall into the bed and sleep for several hours.
Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. As much as she wanted sleep, she wanted a shower even more. She opened the biggest suitcase and found her robe, then dug around for the toiletry bag with her shampoo, body wash and feminine hygiene products. Thankfully, she’d thought to stock up a few weeks earlier, because she wouldn’t want to have to ask Lukas to make a trip to the pharmacy for her. On the other hand, the man had willingly stepped in to deliver her baby, so there probably wasn’t much that fazed him.
The en-suite bathroom not only had a glass-walled shower with an adjustable showerhead but a separate soaker tub. For just a few seconds, Julie imagined herself sinking into a tub filled to the rim with frothy, scented bubbles, but she didn’t want to chance taking a bath without checking with a doctor first. She also didn’t want to leave Lukas with Caden for too long. Her host seemed comfortable and easy with the baby and she appreciated his willingness to help with him, but her son was her responsibility and a quick shower would have to suffice.
The towels on the rack were the same sage color as the spread in the bedroom, and thick and fluffy. There were apothecary jars filled with cotton swabs and cotton balls on the granite countertop and an assortment of decorative soaps in a basket on the apron of the tub.
She reached into the shower to turn on the faucet, then quickly stripped out of her clothes. When she stepped under the spray, the warm, pulsing water felt so good she nearly whimpered with relief. She poured a handful of body wash into her hand, then slicked it over her skin. She’d always figured that they called it labor because it wasn’t a walk in the park, but she hadn’t expected it to be such sweaty work. In retrospect, however, she was grateful that the process had gone so smoothly.
Since she’d learned of her pregnancy, Julie had been focused on doing everything she could to take care of herself and her unborn child. Everything she’d done over the past eight months had been with the goal of giving birth to a healthy baby.
Of course, she hadn’t planned to give birth on a stranger’s family-room couch, but when the only alternative was the frigid interior of a ditched car, it was undoubtedly the better option.
She’d thought about the birthing process a lot in recent months, but she’d always imagined herself in a brightly lit and sterile hospital room with a team of doctors and nurses around her. She’d never considered a home birth. That was fine for other people, if they chose, but not for her. She wanted to be in a hospital with medical personnel and pain-numbing drugs and emergency equipment in case of any complications.
It had been scary, the realization that there were none of those supports available when she went into labor, and she was sincerely thankful that there had been no problems. She was even more thankful that Lukas had been there to deliver her baby. Yeah, the realization that he was a veterinarian and not a medical doctor had thrown her for a minute, but in the end, all that really mattered was that he’d helped bring Caden into the world, because there was no way she could have done it without him.
It wasn’t just that he’d been there to catch the baby—his calm demeanor and patient reassurance had alleviated a lot of her doubts and fears so that the process wasn’t quite as terrifying as it might otherwise have been. She hadn’t planned on having anyone in the delivery room with her and had resigned herself to going through the process alone.
In the end, however, she didn’t feel as if she’d been alone at all. Lukas Garrett might have been a stranger, but he’d been there for her. And now, after everything they’d shared, she really felt as if he was a friend—someone she could count on.
Trust didn’t come easily to her, especially not since the incident with Elliot, but she trusted Lukas. Of course, she’d had no choice but to trust him when she was in the middle of labor. She couldn’t get to the hospital and her baby refused to wait to be born. But with every look, every word and every touch, he’d been compassionate and gentle and reassuring. And when she’d finally pushed her baby out into the world, she’d been grateful not just that someone was there to receive him, but that it was Lukas.
She squirted shampoo into her hand, scrubbed it through her hair. Through the whole childbirth experience, she’d been so preoccupied with the process and trying not to panic that she hadn’t thought about anything else. She’d barely even noticed her rescuer’s impressive physical attributes—but she hadn’t been nearly as preoccupied this morning.
A brand-new mother probably shouldn’t be aware of the incredible sexiness of a well-built man, but she was still a woman, and Lukas Garrett was definitely a man. A man who made her blood hum and her skin tingle, and those were very definite warning signs that Julie should keep a safe distance from him.
She’d been hurt by Elliott. Not just by his actions and his words, but by the realization that she hadn’t known her fiance nearly as well as she’d thought she did. She’d seen only what she wanted to see, and she’d made the wrong choice. Again.
Her father—a baseball aficionado—was fond of the expression “three strikes and you’re out.” So after Julie’s third strike in the romance department, she’d accepted that it was time to walk off the field. That was it—she was finished with dating and done with men.
Travelling across the country with Evangeline’s collection, she’d had more than a few handsome men cross her path. But none of them had made her feel anything. She chatted, she flirted—it was part of the job, after all, to be sociable—but she didn’t feel anything. In fact, she’d been certain that she wouldn’t ever feel anything again, that what Elliott had done had left her numb inside.
She wasn’t feeling numb now.
She knew that her body was flooded with hormones as a result of the pregnancy and childbirth processes. It was entirely possible that her physiological response had absolutely nothing to do with Lukas Garrett personally and everything to do with the fact that she had an overabundance of estrogen and progesterone zinging through her system that wanted to rendezvous with the testosterone in his.
Except that she hadn’t had the same reaction to Cameron Turcotte. The other man was arguably just as handsome as the veterinarian, but her pulse hadn’t even fluttered when he’d walked into the room. Of course, he’d also worn a wide gold band on the third finger of his left hand, so maybe her hormones weren’t completely indiscriminate, after all. Or maybe it was the emotional connection that had been forged through the sharing of the childbirth experience with Lukas that was stirring her up inside.
Whatever the reason, it was a complication she didn’t need or want. Thankfully, this awareness or attraction or whatever she was feeling wouldn’t be an issue for long. As soon as Bruce checked over her car and deemed it road-worthy, she would be on her way back to Springfield and would probably never see Lukas Garrett again.
With that thought, she flicked off the tap and reached for a towel. Every inch of her skin felt hypersensitive, almost achy, as she rubbed the thick terry cloth over her body. It had been a long time since anyone had touched her—since she’d eve
n thought about a man’s hands on her. But she was thinking about it now. And wanting.
Muttering an oath of frustration, she wrapped the robe around herself and knotted the belt at her waist. Her hair was dripping wet, and she’d forgotten to get her hair dryer out of the suitcase, so she strode back into the bedroom to retrieve it—and let out a startled gasp.
Chapter Six
Luke didn’t realize Julie had finished in the shower until he heard her gasp.
“Sorry.” His apology was immediate and sincere. “I didn’t hear the water shut off, and I didn’t expect you to finish in the shower so quickly.” Which was true, even if it didn’t begin to explain his presence in her bedroom.
She tugged on the lapel of her robe, no doubt to close the open V that he couldn’t help but notice dipped low between her breasts. “What are you doing in here?”
“I found something in the attic that I thought you could use.”
She glanced at Caden, lying on his back in the middle of the bed, as if to reassure herself that he hadn’t been abandoned or neglected. “What is it?”
“Come and have a look,” he invited, and stepped aside so that she could see.
Her gaze shifted, her eyes went wide. “Oh. Wow.”
Her instinctive response obliterated any lingering doubts about his impulsive gesture.
She took one step forward, then another. She knelt beside the cherry wood cradle, her lips curving as she ran a hand over the smooth, glossy wood. “This is…beautiful.”
“It’s old,” he admitted.
“Timeless,” she whispered, almost reverently. Then looked up at him. “Was it yours?”
He nodded. “But it was Jack’s before it was mine, and Matt’s before that.”
She trailed a finger down one of the spindles. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“It was handmade by Rob Turcotte—Cam’s father. He was a really good friend of my dad’s—and an incredibly talented carpenter. He made it as a gift to my parents when my mom was expecting Matt.”
Luke was babbling, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. Because he hoped that conversation would help focus his attention on something—anything—but the sexy curves of the woman in front of him.
He knew that he should look away, but he seemed to be suffering a momentary disconnect between his eyes and his brain. Or maybe he was simply a red-blooded man facing a beautiful, mostly naked woman. Looking at her now, he never would have guessed that she’d given birth just about eighteen hours earlier.
Her skin was rosy from the shower, and droplets of water glistened on her skin. The short silky robe belted at her waist did nothing to hide her distinctly feminine shape, and the hem skimmed just above her knees, drawing attention to her long, sexy legs.
His gaze skimmed upward again, and he couldn’t help but notice that her wet hair tumbled over her shoulders, dripping onto her robe so that there were wet patches on the fabric just above her breasts. And when he realized that the nipples of those breasts were taut beneath the silky fabric, his mouth went completely dry and the blood in his head started to quickly migrate south.
He took a deliberate step back, a tactical retreat.
She cleared her throat, then gestured to the suitcases at the end of the bed. “I forgot my, um, hair dryer.”
He nodded. “Clothes,” he said, his voice sounding strangled. “You might want some clothes, too.”
Her cheeks flushed prettily. “Yeah.”
“I’ll get out of your way,” he said, and hurried out of the room.
* * *
After Julie’s hair was dried and she was dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a tunic-style top, she fed Caden again before carrying him back downstairs to the family room. Apparently Lukas had found more than a cradle in the attic, because he was now in the process of putting together something that looked like a playpen.
“This doesn’t have any sentimental value,” he said, when she entered the room. “It’s just old. And it probably doesn’t comply with current safety guidelines, but since Caden isn’t rolling around yet, it should suffice if you want to put him down for a few minutes without having to worry about Einstein climbing over him.”
She eyed the structure dubiously as she settled back on the sofa. Although Lukas’s puppy had actually shown incredible restraint around the baby so far, she wasn’t convinced that the well-spaced spindles would keep him out. “Are you sure Einstein can’t squeeze through those bars?”
“I’m sure,” Lukas said. “He’s tried three times already and he keeps getting his head stuck.”
“Oh, the poor thing.” She rubbed behind the puppy’s ears, and his whole back end wagged happily in response to the attention.
“The ‘poor thing’ should have learned after the first try,” Lukas grumbled.
“Isn’t perseverance a virtue?”
“What you think of as perseverance others might consider stubbornness or stupidity,” he said, with a stern look at the puppy.
Einstein, obviously sensing his master’s disapproval, dropped his head and looked up at him with sad eyes.
Julie had to bite down on her lip to hold back a smile. “I think he’s a lot smarter than you give him credit for.”
Before he could respond to that, the back door slammed, and she heard a female voice say, “Snowsuits and boots off.” The command was followed by the rustle of outerwear being shed and the thump of boots hitting the floor, then footsteps pounded.
Lukas winced. “It sounds like Matt may have brought the whole family,” he warned.
She was afraid to ask what “the whole family” entailed, but the first part of the answer was apparent when two dark-haired boys raced into the room. They were similarly dressed in jeans and hooded sweatshirts, one red and the other blue, and Einstein raced to greet them, dancing around their legs.
“Where is he?” The one in red pushed ahead. “I wanna see him.”
“Me, too,” his brother chimed in.
Lukas stood in front of Julie—a human barrier between the new mom and the eager twins—and held up his hands. “Slow down, boys.”
“But we wanna see the baby,” red shirt entreated. “We don’t have a boy baby at our house.”
“We just gots a girl,” blue shirt said.
“You have a girl,” an authoritative female voice said from the doorway.
The boy in red tilted his head to peek around Lukas. “Her name’s Pippa,” he told Julie. “She’s our sister.”
“And who are you?” she asked him.
Now that the boys weren’t barreling full-speed ahead, Lukas stepped aside so that they could talk to Julie—and see the baby.
“I’m Quinn.” He nudged his brother closer. “This is Shane.”
“And I’m their mother.” The other woman set an overflowing laundry basket on the floor beside the sofa. “Georgia.”
Her smile was warm and genuine, and Julie found herself responding easily. “Julie Marlowe. And this is Caden.”
“Oh—he’s absolutely gorgeous,” Georgia said, crouching down for a closer look.
“Speaking of gorgeous—where is Pippa?” Lukas asked.
Georgia slapped a hand to her forehead. “I knew I was forgetting something.”
Julie actually felt her heart skip a beat. Had she really—
Then the boys giggled.
“You didn’t forget her,” Quinn assured his mother. “She’s with Daddy.”
“We gots a new daddy,” Shane told Julie. “‘Cuz our first daddy went to heaven.”
Julie didn’t have a clue how to respond to that, so she was relieved when Georgia spoke up.
“There are some more things in the van,” she told Lukas. “And the boys insisted on bringing Finn and Fred, too, so I’m sure Matt would appreciate a hand.”
“I’ve got two I can lend him,” he said, and headed out to do that.
“Who are Finn and Fred?” Julie wondered.
“Our puppies!” Quinn announced.
“What’s a orphan?” Shane wanted to know.
“An orphan is someone who doesn’t have a mommy or a daddy,” his mother explained.
“How was he born if he didn’t have a mommy?”
Georgia forced a smile. “Can we save this conversation for home? We came here to meet Julie and her baby, remember?”
Shane nodded. “He’s even smaller than Pippa.”
“She was about the same size as Caden when she was born,” Georgia told him. “Although it’s probably hard to remember that now.”
“I never heard of the name Caden,” Quinn told Julie. “But we gotsa Cain in our kinnergarden class.”
“He eats glue,” Shane informed her solemnly.
Julie had to chuckle at that. “Well, hopefully I’ll teach Caden not to do that before it’s time for him to go to school.”
The boys crowded closer to get a better view of the baby. Caden looked back at them, his big blue eyes wide. For a whole minute, neither of the twins moved, they just watched intently.
Finally Quinn’s gaze shifted to Julie. “Does he do anything?”
“Not really,” she admitted. “Right now, he eats a lot and sleeps a lot.”
“Does he poop a lot, too?” the boy wanted to know. “‘Cuz Pippa does.”
Julie found herself laughing again. “Well, he hasn’t done a lot of that yet, but he was only born yesterday.”
She saw movement in the doorway, and glanced over just as Lukas walked back in. Two seconds later, she realized that it wasn’t Lukas, after all, but a man who looked so much like him, he had to be his brother. And the baby on his hip—an adorable little girl dressed in pink overalls with tiny pink sneakers on her feet—had to be Pippa.
“There’s my girl,” Georgia said.
Pippa smiled widely, showing four tiny pearly white teeth, and held her arms out to her mother.
“She is gorgeous,” Julie said.
A Very Special Delivery Page 7