Wanted: Father for Her Baby: Keeping Baby Secret / Five Brothers and a Baby / Expecting Brand's Baby. BEVERLY BARTON
Читать онлайн книгу.
Frank closed the door and turned to Leenie. “She’ll be all right. I’m sure the roads are mostly clear by now. It’s nearly ten o’clock.”
“I’m not as concerned about her arriving safely to Memphis as I am about what she’ll find out while she’s there. If there is no information about her daughter in those files the FBI confiscated, she’ll be heartbroken. She’s been searching for her little girl for eleven years.”
Frank slipped his arm around Leenie’s shoulder, then tickled Andrew under his chin. “Everybody at Dundee knew there was something tragic in her past and some even speculated it had to do with a child, but none of us knew exactly what had happened.”
“I can’t imagine how she’s stayed sane all these years,” Leenie said. “And not only stayed sane, but actually functioned, kept a job, lived a fairly normal life and all. If I’d lost Andrew that way—”
“You didn’t. He’s right here, safe in your arms.” Frank hugged her and their son to him. She slipped her free arm around Frank, trapping Andrew between them.
When Frank leaned over and kissed her on the mouth and then kissed Andrew on the top of his head, Andrew fussed loudly.
“I think we’re crowding him,” Frank said, a wide grin on his face. “So, Mama, what’s the next thing on the agenda for today? Andrew’s had his morning bottle and a diaper change, so what’s next?”
“A bath. Want to give Andrew his bath?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“Sure. No problem. How hard can it be to give a two-month-old a bath?”
Leenie smiled. Frank had a great deal to learn about babies.
Chapter Ten
Leenie prepared Andrew’s bath, placing everything Frank would need in easy reach. Then she handed her son over to his father. Frank grinned confidently and laid Andrew on the changing table in the corner of the bathroom. Although Andrew whined softly, Frank managed to remove his son’s sleeper and diaper before Andrew bellowed loudly.
Frank lifted Andrew in his arms, the baby’s fat little naked body wriggling. “What’s the matter big boy? Did Daddy not do it right? Is Mommy better at this than I am?”
When Andrew yelled even louder, his face turning red and tears pooling in his eyes, Frank turned to Leenie, who stood in the bathroom doorway. “Maybe you’d better—”
“No way.” Leenie shook her head. “You can’t change your mind at the last minute just because this is turning out to be a bit more difficult than you’d anticipated.” When Frank frowned at her, she smiled. “Remember, you’re going to be around for only a week, so you need to cram a lot of experiences with Andrew into the time you’ll have with him.”
Leenie was proud of herself for being able to joke with Frank about him leaving soon. Her pride demanded that he not know how much she wanted him to stay. If he didn’t love her, she would be better off without him, wouldn’t she? And she certainly wasn’t going to use Andrew to hang on to a man who didn’t want her.
Frank nodded. “You’re right.” He carried a less-than-happy Andrew over to the bathroom sink filled with lukewarm bathwater, then shifted his son around in his arms several times. Once again he looked at Leenie. “Maybe you’d better show me how to do this.”
Not budging an inch, Leenie said, “Use your arm to support him, then ease him down into the water. The liquid soap and washcloth are right there on the vanity. And so is the shampoo. I usually wash his hair first, but if you prefer to leave that until last, it’s okay.”
“No, we’ll do this the way you always do it.”
Going by Leenie’s instructions, Frank eased his son into the sink. Andrew quieted, but continued sniffing tiny sobs while Frank talked to him. Nonsensical words. Baby talk. It was all Leenie could do not to burst out laughing. If only the other Dundee agents could see him now, trying to support a baby in his bathwater with one arm while struggling with his other hand to open a bottle of shampoo. Finally after several attempts Frank managed to squirt a generous amount of shampoo into his hand.
“You know a guy needs at least four hands to do this.” Frank wiped half the shampoo off on the vanity counter, then rubbed the rest into Andrew’s hair.
Leenie watched while Frank scrubbed Andrew from top to bottom. And he was doing a pretty good job, too. Andrew cooperated fully, enjoying his bath—until Frank started to rinse the shampoo from his hair. The minute several drops of soapy water trickled down on his face, Andrew started screaming and thrashing. Water splashed everywhere. All over the vanity. Across the mirror behind the sink. And onto Frank, drenching his shirt and dampening his jeans.
“Help!” Frank called out. “I need reinforcements.”
Chuckling softly, Leenie rushed in to assist him. “Here, let me take over.”
The minute Leenie eased her arm around Andrew, Frank pulled back and moved out of her way. “Mommy to the rescue,” Frank said to his son. “It’s a good thing we’ve got her, isn’t it?”
With practiced ease, Leenie soothed Andrew, then rinsed his hair and body thoroughly before lifting him up and out of the sink. Holding him with one hand, she picked up the hooded towel and wrapped him in it, covering his head with the hood. She turned to show Frank how easily the job had been accomplished, but instead stopped dead still and sucked in her breath.
Oh, jeez! Frank had stripped out of his shirt, leaving him bare to the waist. It just wasn’t fair that he looked so damned appealing. Some men looked better with their clothes on. Not Frank Latimer. He definitely looked better without clothes. As a matter of fact, he was downright irresistible.
When he caught her ogling his muscular chest, he grinned. An electrified awareness passed between them. Leenie forced her gaze from his chest to his face.
“He’s probably gotten you wet to the skin, too,” Frank said, pointedly staring at her shirt, his gaze quickly zeroing in on the exposed right side of the damp cloth sticking to her breast. Andrew lay pressed to the left side, effectively concealing the other breast.
She swallowed. Her nipples tightened. “Why don’t you put on a dry shirt while I get Andrew dressed.” That said, she hurried out of the bathroom and straight to Andrew’s nursery.
Escape! her mind screamed. Get the hell away from Frank before he figures out how much you want him. It was ridiculous the way her body reacted to him, to nothing more than him staring at her breast. If she gave in to her desires, she’d jump Frank the minute Andrew went down for a nap.
So, would that be so bad? she asked herself. Yes, the logical part of her brain responded, you’d be a fool to fall into the sack with him. The guy’s leaving in a week, running off to God knows where on his next assignment. If she was smart, she’d keep Frank out of her bed and find a way to rip him out of her heart. When he left Maysville, he’d return to his life back in Atlanta. And that meant he’d be dating other women.
Gritting her teeth, Leenie growled inwardly, with only a murmured whine audible. She hugged her baby before laying him in the middle of his crib.
By the time Frank joined them in their son’s room a few minutes later, she had dressed Andrew for the day in navy blue corduroy overalls and a light blue cotton knit shirt. Just as she pulled on his light blue socks and white booties, Frank came up behind her and looked over her shoulder. She felt the heat from his body as he stood there so very close, his chest brushing against her back. When she glanced over her shoulder to speak to him, she gasped when she realized he’d lowered his head so that they were nose to nose, only inches separating them. She sucked in her breath. They stared at each other, both momentarily transfixed. And then he gave her a quick kiss, a kiss that was over before she had a chance to react. Frank slipped his arm around her waist, then looked down in the crib at Andrew. Using his free hand, he reached out