Surprise Package. Joanna Wayne
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a few phone calls, a few record checks, and she’d likely find out all she needed to know about Kyle Blackstone. She wouldn’t even mention this to Cole and Dylan unless she found out something they needed to know. Cole would be upset that she was conducting any kind of investigation when she was supposed to be taking it easy until the baby was born. And Dylan had a tendency to blow everything out of proportion if it even remotely involved the safety of their little sister.
Walking to the bedroom door, she peeked in on the baby. The darling was still sleeping soundly, likely as exhausted as Ashley and Kyle had been from the change in her schedule. Lily spread her hands across the bulge of her stomach as her own baby kicked hard against the lining of the womb.
It wouldn’t be long now, and she’d be able to stare at her own baby as she slept. The anticipation filled her with an eagerness like none she’d ever known before. A sweet yearning that made her arms ache to hold her own child in her arms. Yet the mother of this baby had put her child in a basket and walked away.
The situation wasn’t unheard of. In fact, she’d run into problems caused by child desertion more than once since she’d gone into the business of finding missing persons—some firsthand, others in her research. Young mothers who didn’t know where to turn. Emotionally unstable mothers who went over the edge and knew no other way to cry out for help. Uncaring mothers or those addicted to drugs or alcohol. Desperate mothers.
She hated to even imagine which category Tessa Ortiz fell into. Hated worse to think that Kyle might know things he wasn’t admitting. He seemed honest, deeply concerned, yet he was hesitant to do the thing most men would have considered first.
Find out if the baby was his.
Turning away, Lily walked to the phone, picked it up and punched in the number of a friend at police headquarters. Arrest records were always a good way to begin a search into a person’s past. She’d follow the paper trail and see if Kyle was merely a nice guy with a body like Adonis and the looks to rival Brad Pitt, or if Ashley’s caller had been right and he was a man to be avoided.
For the baby’s sake and for Ashley’s, she hoped he was the man he seemed. Unless her instincts were way off base, Ashley was already falling hard for the guy. Of course, Ashley would be the last to admit it.
* * *
“WE HAVE TO GIVE the baby a name,” Ashley said as they walked toward the baby section of the department store. “I can’t keep calling her sweetie.”
“We can call her Cupie.”
“Not me! How about Annie or Lucy? Or Janie?”
“I’m not good at this. You pick one.”
She thought for a minute, picturing the cherub face, the dark eyes. Deserted by her mother. “What about Casey?” she asked, turning down an aisle bordered by baby clothes. “It’s short for Casilda. The name means ‘unknown,’ and almost everything about her is unknown.”
“Casey?” He rolled the name off his tongue, then smiled. “I like it. Not that she’ll keep the name long. I’m still counting on her mother coming back for her—soon.”
“But until she does, she’s Casey. It fits.” She stopped and pulled an adorable pink frock from the rack and held it at arm’s length. “Look at this one. Lace and ruffles and tiny rows of smocking. We absolutely have to buy this for her.”
He fumbled for a price tag. When he found it, his mouth flew open. “Do you know how much this costs?”
“You get what you pay for.”
“Yeah, but I’m the one doing the paying.”
“But it’s so cute.”
“Cute? For that price, it should be a national treasure.”
“Wait until your daughter finds out you’re a cheapskate.”
“Don’t say daughter. It makes me nervous.” He held up the list Lily had made for him. “Nowhere on here does it say lace, ruffles and smocking at ridiculous prices.”
“It says clothes.”
“It says soft, sensible, unfettered clothes. Lace, ruffles and smocks are legally considered fetters.”
“We’re not in court, counselor. Just think how adorable Casey’s going to look when you show her off to all your friends.”
“She looks adorable in diapers. I have no intention of introducing her to my friends and you are having entirely too much fun spending my money.”
“I’m hanging out with you, Kyle. By no stretch of the imagination can that be called fun.” Except that it was. And not only because shopping was her second favorite pastime—right after work—but because, as much as she hated to admit it, Kyle was fun to be with, as long as they were only friends.
He pulled a pair of pajamas emblazoned with the Dallas Cowboys logo off the rack. “Now this is more like it.”
She stuck up her nose. “No self-respecting little angel would be caught sleeping in those.”
“Hey, watch your mouth. This is the Cowboys you’re talking about. Sacrilegious comments like that can get you thrown out of Texas.”
“I’ll take my chances. Let’s go for something a little more feminine.”
“Then how about these?” He exhibited his next choice.
She rested her hands on her hips. “What’s feminine about cowboys and horses?”
“Shucks, ma’am. I thought all women liked cowboys.”
“Hmm.” Cowboys and romance. Her mind jumped from babies to the Ranchers Association. “You might have hit on something, counselor.”
“Does that mean I should invest in a Stetson and a pair of boots?”
“Why would you?”
“To impress you, of course.”
“It really bothers you, doesn’t it, that I don’t chomp on your bait and fall at your feet like the other women in your life.”
“I’m a man. We have fragile egos and we hate rejection. Fortunately, I know you go to bed every night wishing I was there with you. You’re just too stubborn to admit it.”
“Yeah, hold on to that thought, take it to the bank with a hundred dollar bill and see if you can get five twenties for it.”
He smiled seductively. “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.” He picked up a stuffed bear and tossed it to her. “If you like, I’ll buy this for you, give you something cuddly to sleep with on cold winter nights. Or leave the bear, and I’ll come over.”
“No, thanks. I have a blanket, and it doesn’t snore.”
“I don’t snore.”
“Then you must have had a wild animal sleeping with you on the couch last night.”
“I could have. You and Casey ran her off.”
“You poor dear.” She played a fake violin with her hands. “Could I give you music with that whine?” Turning away from him, she picked up a pair of pajamas in a buttery soft fabric patterned with sleeping kittens. “Entirely unfettered,” she said. “What do you think?”
He fingered the row of snaps that ran up and down the inside of both legs and across the crotch. “Am I supposed to do something with these when I dress her for bed?”
“That would be my guess.”
“You don’t suppose she can dress herself, do you?”
“In a few years.”
Kyle grimaced but took the pajamas from her and dropped them into the basket. Ashley kept shopping until they easily had enough outfits for him to change the baby’s clothes a half dozen times a day. “I say we move on to the next