Free Bachelor Father by Vicki Lewis Lewis Thompson Page A

from the diaper bag kept her occupied as Zeke hurried around the truck and climbed in beside her.
    “I have to slam this door, too,” he said.
    “Go ahead. She seems to be adapting.” Katherine kept her attention focused on Amanda, who had picked this moment to become squirmy and vocal. While Katherine peeled the damp material away from her chubby body, she waved her hands and legs and made little crowing noises. When Zeke slammed the door, she jerked in response but didn’t cry.
    Zeke started the engine.
    “Don’t leave yet.” Katherine spoke above the drumming of the rain on the metal roof of the cab. “I don’t have her in the carrier.”
    “I know. I’m just getting the engine warmed up so I can turn on the heater. I don’t want her to catch cold.”
    Katherine’s hands stilled as she finally understood. He wasn’t rejecting Amanda because he cared too little. He was rejecting her because he cared too much. He considered himself such an unfit father that Amanda was better off with nobody than taking a chance with him. The realization made her ache with regret for him and for Amanda. With this sort of beginning they’d probably never find each other.
    Zeke turned the heater fan on low and tested the flow of air with his hand. “That’s better. Are you about finished?”
    “Yes.” She quickly finished tucking the baby into her dry sleeper and snapped it up. “Can you take her—”
    “Yeah, just a minute. Let me dry off as best I can first.”
    She waited while he rolled back his sleeves and took a clean bandanna from his hip pocket to wipe his damp hands and arms. Such big hands, such muscled arms. She remembered that the decision to make love had come before they’d entered the tent together, so that when he’d crawled in through the flap, he’d already stripped down to nothing. His massive body and bronzed skin had fascinated her, and she’d spent a long time just kissing him...all over.
    “Okay, I can hold her now.”
    Katherine gave Zeke the baby without making eye contact with him. Then she turned around in the seat. The nubby upholstery was soggy from her rain-drenched clothes. “I’m getting your seat all wet,” she said.
    “It’ll dry.”
    Amanda continued with her little experimental noises, crowing and gurgling in Zeke’s arms, while Katherine positioned the straps on the carrier. Then Katherine heard a deep, male sound that sounded a little like “boo.” Amanda gurgled some more, and Katherine heard a soft chuckle followed by another “boo.” She was afraid to move. Zeke was playing with Amanda.
    “She has a little dimple in her chin,” Zeke said.
    “Yes.” Katherine cleared the huskiness from her throat. “Yes, she does. I’m not sure where she got it. Nobody in my family—”
    “My mother had one.”
    She glanced over at him, but he was engrossed in Amanda and didn’t notice her gaze. Her heart squeezed as she thought of what it must have been like for him—a small boy abandoned by his parents. She’d like him to tell her about it, but coaxing him to talk about that part of his life would take more time and trust than he was willing to give her.
    “I’ll take her now,” she said.
    He handed her the baby with great care, but she could tell he was already feeling more comfortable holding that tiny body. Katherine settled Amanda in the carrier and strapped her in tight. “Hang on, Mandy,” she said. “We have a bumpy ride ahead.”
    “She’ll probably just go to sleep,” Zeke said.
    “Probably.” Katherine noticed the casual way he said it, as if he were already becoming somewhat of an expert on Amanda’s habits. As she buckled her seat belt she wondered if he was aware that he was beginning, just a little, to behave like a parent.
    “Ready?” He glanced over at her, his expression carefully neutral. But with a sharp intake of breath, his expression changed. He stared at her breasts and swore softly.
    She looked down to discover that the rain had made