Free Cowboy in Charge by Barbara White Daille Page B

had draped the cloth loosely over the baby, shielding her from the sun streaming in the truck’s window and from the gaze of any shoppers in the L-G’s parking lot.
    “She’s a good eater as well as a quick one, huh?” he asked.
    “Yes. Almost as good as you and Scott.”
    He couldn’t help but laugh. “Then you’ll really be looking at some grocery bills soon, won’t you?” When he saw the frown lines between her eyes, his smile slid away.
    No, he wasn’t a man to analyze emotions, yet he could tell in his gut something wasn’t right. No matter how much she denied it, she was hurting for money, and being off from her job had only made things worse. Her situation—her current situation—had nothing to do with him. But who knew how things would have turned out if he’d stuck around.
    He had plenty to answer for from the past. Maybe he’d been wrong to walk away years ago. To give up all those chances.
    Now he just wanted the opportunity to make something right.

Chapter Seven
    Layne glanced across the kids’ room to the crib, where Jill slept peacefully in the same position she had curled into a half hour earlier.
    She had already emptied the contents of the kids’ hamper into the laundry basket now balanced against her hip. Not wanting to wake her daughter, she almost tiptoed from the room and down the hall.
    When she reached the entrance to the living room, she paused. At the scene inside the room, her chest squeezed tight as if she had just sprinted down the hallway and couldn’t catch her breath.
    Her son knelt on the floor between the couch and the coffee table. One of his favorite storybooks lay open in front of him on the table. Jason sat on the couch behind Scott, leaning over his shoulder. As they focused on the pages, both their faces wore the identical expression of concentrated interest. She had seen that once before, noting that anyone looking at them would assume they were related, would probably realize they were father and son. But no one could guess the two of them had met only days ago.
    Her eyes misted. She blinked the moisture away. She couldn’t let these few days weaken her resolve.
    Years ago, she had seen the end of her marriage to Jason coming. There was no way she could avoid or deny it. Worse, she had known their relationship was a mistake from the start.
    Both her relationships had been mistakes.
    She had married for all the wrong reasons, the first time because she was wildly in love with her high-school sweetheart but too young to understand permanent didn’t mean perfect . The second time, she wanted to provide a father for the child Jason had walked away from. Not once but twice, she had put her faith in men who couldn’t be trusted.
    It wasn’t enough that she had failed herself with her bad choices. She had failed her children, too. And if she had learned one thing from the experiences, it was never to let herself fall for a man again.
    Especially a man who had already made one fall hurt so much.
    Across the room, Jason pointed over Scott’s shoulder to the book. “What’s that?”
    “A baby cow.”
    “And what does a baby cow say?”
    “Moo-oo-oo.” Scott laughed. “Moo-oo-oo. That’s em-mm-mm .”
    “You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?”
    Her son nodded. “Yep. Mommy says. And Mommy says a baby cow drinks milk. Em-mm-mm. Milk. Like Jill drinks milk.”
    Seeing Jason’s now-frozen expression, Layne couldn’t hold back a laugh that verged on a sob. She had caught that same uneasy look on his face when she’d had to feed Jill in the truck. She couldn’t blame his awkwardness on the fact he hadn’t been here after Scott’s birth—not when she had seen and heard how uncomfortable other men often felt at being around a nursing mom in public. But all the same, she wished he had been there for her son.
    At her laugh, Jason had looked up and glanced in her direction. Frowning, he rose from the couch and crossed the room. He reached out to take the laundry