Free Burning Wild by Christine Feehan

in his hands and for the first time Jake actually saw him. The boy had his eyes and a wild tuft of dark hair. There was intelligence in those antique-gold eyes, so much that Jake found himself running his fingers over the boy’s hands, searching for evidence of anything unusual beneath that soft baby skin. The tiny bones felt perfect, although birdlike. The baby stopped crying to watch him with those unblinking cat’s eyes.
    “People lie,” he said gruffly. “I’ll do my best to protect you, but people can’t be trusted.”
    “Jake.” Emma’s voice was soft with compassion. “He doesn’t need to be taught that right now. He just needs to feel safe and secure, to have his diapers changed and food in his tummy. Most of all he needs to be surrounded with love.”
    Jake’s belly knotted at that word. Everyone made claims of loving everything and everybody, but in reality it was all about what they could get. At least he was honest with himself. He wanted Emma to look at him the way she had looked at Andrew. He was willing to use any weapon in his vast arsenal to get what he wanted. He looked down at his son, knowing right at that moment that the infant was his best choice, better even than money.
    Jake forced a smile as he laid the child down directly in front of Emma. “Who knew changing diapers could be so difficult?” He handed her the diaper. “I named him Kyle,” he added.
    “Is that a family name?” Emma asked.
    “No,” he responded tersely, took a breath and tried to soften it. “No, I just liked the name.”
    Emma’s lashes fluttered. “Well, it’s a beautiful name.” She put her finger in the tiny hand of the baby and Kyle instantly closed his hand around hers. “ He’s beautiful.”
    “Yes, he is.” Jake really looked at his son, a little in awe. The tiny, perfect face, his legs kicking with such force. Before, he’d thought of him as wriggling and red, but now he took note of the boy’s features, the catlike eyes, the bowed mouth and the tuft of dark hair. He found himself smiling. “He really is, isn’t he? But he’s so little, he scares me.” There was some truth in that as well. “I’ve never held a baby, let alone been responsible for one. I feel like I’m all thumbs.”
    Emma carefully fit the diaper to him and watched as Jake awkwardly tried to pick the boy up. Again he held him out away from his body.
    “The nurses say I have to learn to feed him, but he doesn’t like the way I’m doing it and he isn’t eating very much,” Jake admitted in a low voice, as if it pained him to admit he couldn’t do something perfectly. “I can find oil in ground that no one suspects is there, but I can’t feed or diaper a baby.” He wiped his hand across his forehead.
    Emma held out her arms. “Let me show you.”
    Jake held his breath as Emma took Kyle into her arms, cradling him against her breasts. She enfolded him, surrounding him with her warmth and the softness of her body.
    “You want to hold a baby very close so they feel safe.” She smiled down at the small, upturned face. “Give me the bottle and I’ll show you how to feed him.” She held one hand out.
    Jake put a supporting hand under the baby’s bottom. “Don’t drop him.” He remembered the countless falls to the floor, the feel of a shoe hitting his body, the toe of a boot in his stomach. He hadn’t thought about it for years. He was no father—he sure as hell didn’t know what he was doing—but no kid of his was going to be bounced on a hard floor.
    “I’m not going to drop him,” she assured.
    Jake hesitated, studying her face. She seemed so damned genuine, but no one was really like her. No one. Watching her closely, he handed her the small bottle, bending his head close to see how she teased the baby’s mouth until he opened. At once he began suckling. Kyle didn’t turn his head from side to side as he’d done earlier when the nurse had tried to show Jake what to do. Jake had been impatient and