Free Some kind of wonderful by Maureen Child, Copyright Paperback Collection (Library of Congress) DLC Page A

going to live across the hall,

    she might as well get some use out of him. And if it wasn't exactly the kind of use Phoebe was even now getting out of the carpenter, well, no one but Carol had to know she felt any twinge of regret.
    Starting across the room, she barely heard Quinn's nails clicking, first loudly, then muffled, as he raced across bare wood and throw rugs, keeping pace with her.
    "It's okay, Quinn. We're good. We're just calling in the cavalry."
    She grabbed the doorknob, threw the door open, and ... ducked—just in time to avoid Jack's knuckles, raised to knock.
    Quinn growled, a low rumble of sound that almost overwhelmed the baby's cries.
    Almost.
    "I was just coming to see you."
    Jack's gaze shot first to Quinn, then slammed back up to Carol's. "What the hell are you doing to that baby?" he demanded at the same time she spoke.
    "Doing?" Carol repeated, hearing her voice climb to a note it had never reached before. Swaying and jiggling and rubbing, she glared up at him. "Well, clearly, I'm abusing her viciously. Can't you tell by how pleased I look?"
    He rolled his eyes.
    Wow, Carol thought. Animation. But before she had time to be thoroughly stunned, he ducked his head, stepped into her apartment, and scooped the wailing infant right out of her arms.
    Silence dropped on the room.
    Absolute silence.
    It was eerie.
    Carol yawned widely, trying to pop her ears, sure for one brief, terrifying second that she'd gone deaf. But a

    heartbeat later, she was reassured by the sniffling sound the baby made as she stared up adoringly at Jack Reilly.
    "You little traitor," Carol muttered. One look into those big blue eyes of Jack Reilly's and little Liz had curled up and cooed. Irritating as hell. Especially irritating because damned if she didn't want to do the same thing.
    Jack held Liz cradled in one strong arm and he swayed gently from side to side, like a man who knew what he was doing. His eyebrows lifted as he inclined his head toward Carol, as if accepting a standing ovation for a role well played.
    "How did you do that?" she demanded, silently figuring that if she'd done all of her pacing in a straight line, she'd probably have made it to Utah by now. But despite her every effort she hadn't been able to do in hours what Jack had done in seconds. "Come on, spill the secret. How?"
    "Charisma."
    Carol choked out a laugh.
    "The evidence is in front of you." His lips twitched into what might have been a smile if he'd tried just a bit harder.
    No doubt just as well he hadn't, Carol assured herself, since that one, brief glimpse of a not-quite smile, had done some interesting things to her blood pressure. Wow. She must be even more tired than she'd thought.
    He stared at her for a long minute or two and the look in his eyes softened as one corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "What?"
    "You know," she said, before she could stop herself, "you're pretty cute when you're not frowning at the world."
    Instantly, the scowl she was becoming so familiar

    with was back in place. "And," he said, "you're not at all annoying until you open your mouth."
    "You know, remarks like that will not get you a cup of coffee and a piece of cake."
    He stilled. "You have cake?"
    Ah, Carol, she told herself, you can really snag the men. Just bring on the baked goods and they're putty in your hands. "Chocolate."
    "Sold."
    "On one condition."
    "I have to listen to you?"
    "That, too," she admitted, then added as she leaned in and watched Liz's eyes slowly, inexorably close, "But the main one is, you have to put Liz to bed and make sure she stays asleep."
    "Hmm. Listen to her scream or you talk? Quite the dilemma"
    "Don't toy with me, Reilly. You're looking at a woman on the edge."
    One dark eyebrow lifted again and Carol had to remind herself that he hadn't come to sweep her off her feet and into a passionate embrace. A shame, really. But in the long run, probably just as well.
    "You get the cake. I'll take care of the baby," he said after a