Free His Woman, His Child by Beverly Barton Page A

imposition, but … well, would it be asking too much for you to stay here tonight? I have four bedrooms upstairs. You could take your pick."
    "Do you really need me to stay? I'll be right next door. You could call if—"
    "Forget I asked. I guess I'm just feeling nervous after the scare about the baby."
    "I can stick around for a while, if it would make you feel better. Until bedtime."
    "All right. Thank you. And I really am sorry about asking you to stay here. I'd promised myself that I wouldn't be a burden to you. That I wouldn't take up too much of your time or interfere in your life. And here I am, only two months pregnant, and already making unreasonable demands."
    "Asking me to stay overnight wasn't an unreasonable demand," he said, his back to her. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll stay."
    "You don't have to do that. Really you don't."
    "I'm staying." He left the room.
    End of discussion. Final decision. That's it. Susan smiled as she wrapped her arms around her waist.
    "Your daddy's going to spend the night with us, little one."

Five
    The best way to get one woman off your mind is with another woman, Hank had told himself. He was allowing Susan to get too close to him. Thoughts of her occupied too much of his time and that was a dangerous thing. He could hardly make advances to his best friend's widow—especially not this soon. Lowell had been dead only two months. But if he didn't put some space between himself and Susan, he wasn't sure what might happen.
    And that was why he'd let his deputy, Richard Holman, fix him up on a blind date.
    Hank chuckled. God, he must be desperate! He'd never gone on a blind date, not even in high school. But a man did what a man had to do.
    Lucky for him, Kendra Camp turned out to be a damn good-looking woman. Tall and leggy. Not too old, but not too young. About thirty, he guessed. A divorcee with no kids.
    He'd taken her to Marshallton for dinner and dancing. And she'd been the one to suggest they go back to his place. It wasn't that he was opposed to sex on a first date; he'd even had a couple of one-night stands in the past. But this wasn't Washington, D.C., or Alexandria. This was Crooked Oak, Tennessee, and he was the sheriff. If Kendra stayed overnight, tongues would wag. So, she wouldn't stay overnight, he told himself as he escorted her up the stairs to his front door. He reached around her and undid the lock. She turned, smiled at him and kissed him. He pulled her into his arms and deepened the kiss.
    She pulled back from him. "Maybe we'd better go inside."
    "Yeah, maybe we should."
    He flipped on the light, shoved his keys into his pocket and then helped Kendra out of her coat. While he removed his coat and laid his and hers on a nearby chair, she kicked off her heels and curled up on his sofa.
    "You want something to drink?" he asked. "Beer or whiskey?"
    "Beer would be fine." She glanced around his apartment. "Don't you feel kind of cramped in this little place?"
    He opened the refrigerator, retrieved two beers and opened the caps. "Want a glass for your beer?" She shook her head and mouthed the word no. "It's about half the size of my place in Alexandria, but it's convenient living next door to Susan. I can check on her every day and I'm close in case she needs me."
    "Susan is Lowell Redman's widow, isn't she? I hear she's pregnant. Must be really rough on her losing her husband like that." Kendra accepted the beer Hank offered her.
    He sat beside her, lifted the bottle to his mouth and downed a hefty swig. Why the hell had he mentioned Susan? The purpose of this date with Kendra was to get his mind off the tempting Mrs. Redman.
    "She has a lot of friends," Hank said. "A lot of people who care about her. She and the baby will be all right."
    "She's certainly lucky to have you." Kendra placed her beer on the coffee table, slid closer to Hank, draped her arm around his shoulders and smiled seductively. "And from what I hear, so is Marshall County. Not many men would