Free Prince Charming in Dress Blues by Maureen Child Page A

mommy.
    And her baby deserved better.
    “She’s not hungry,” she all but whined into the receiver as her gaze locked on the screaming infant lying in her little jumpy cradle. “She just ate a half hour ago.”
    “Gas?” Lisa asked.
    “I don’t know,” Annie said, and reached out with one hand to stroke Jordan’s tummy. The baby squirmed against her touch as if she sensed that Mommy was lost and there wouldn’t be any help coming from that quarter.
    “Well, maybe she just wants to cry,” her friend suggested.
    The blind leading the blind, Annie thought grimly. Lisa knew even less about children than she did. And for the first time in years Annie wished that she had normal parents. People she could turn to for answers. For comfort. For help, for Pete’s sake.
    Tucking the receiver between her ear and her shoulder, she picked Jordan up and cuddled her close. Maybe she’d get lucky, she thought. Maybe she’d stumble onto the answer to Jordan’s distress.
    Panic bubbled in her chest.
    The baby’s screams tore at her heart.
    Tears burned her eyes.
    And the doorbell rang.
    “I’ve gotta go,” Annie said, her throat closing around the knot of tears lodged there. “Someone’s at the door.”
    “Do you want me to come over?” Lisa asked.
    Desperately, Annie thought, but didn’t say. She was the mommy here. It was up to her to find her way through the minefield of parenthood. And she’d do it. For Jordan. Her sweet baby was well worth the effort this was going to cost her.
    “No,” she said before she could change her mind and beg her friend to rush to her aid. “I can do this.”
    “I know you can.”
    The doorbell rang again.
    “Gotta go,” Annie said, already turning to hang up the phone.
    “Call me later.”
    “Okay, bye.”
    She hung up the phone and, still jiggling the crying baby in her arms, walked across the room. Probably her neighbor, she thought, coming to complain about the noise. But it wasn’t her neighbor.
    It was the cavalry.

Eight
    “O h, thank God!” She’d never been so happy to see anyone in her whole life. “Come in, come in.”
    “That’s some welcome,” John said with a grin, and stepped into the apartment the moment Annie moved back out of his way.
    “You have no idea,” she said over the baby’s screeching. She looked up into those familiar blue eyes and a wave of relief swamped her. It was as if she’d been drowning, going down for the third time, and someone had just tossed her a lifeline.
    An extremely gorgeous, totally desirable lifeline.
    “Miss me?” he asked, and the deep rumble of his voice carried easily over Jordan’s cries.
    Oh, yeah. Annie had missed him. More than she had wanted to admit. But she’d told herself that it was only natural. After all, they’d spent five or six straight daysand nights together. They’d lived out of each other’s pockets in that small cabin. He’d become a part of her routine. An important cog in her well-oiled machine. Plus, he’d seen her safely through labor and childbirth. That alone was bound to create a strong connection.
    But even she didn’t believe all of that. Sure, she’d become used to him. But, heck, you could become used to something annoying, too. That didn’t mean you’d miss it when it was gone.
    Nope. There was way more going on here than a simple disruption of a routine. She could lie to herself all she wanted, but even Annie had to recognize the rush of pleasure dancing through her at the moment for what it was.
    Excitement at seeing him again.
    This couldn’t be a good thing.
    “I missed you, too,” he said, and reached out to touch her cheek. A splinter of heat shot through her at the too-brief contact and she told herself she was going to have to get a grip on those obviously still rampaging hormones.
    “Hello, sweetheart,” John was saying, and Annie’s jaw dropped—until she realized he was speaking to the baby. The small flutter of delight that had momentarily rippled through