The Baby Invasion (Destiny Bay-Baby Dreams) (23 page)
Read The Baby Invasion (Destiny Bay-Baby Dreams) Online
Authors: Helen Conrad
“No, no, no!” He kicked his legs and writhed in her arms.
Cathy felt limp as a dishrag.
Why now, Beanie
? she moaned internally.
Why do this to your mother now
?
“Come on, sweetie,” she said aloud. “Let’s go home and show off your new word to your brother and sister.”
“No!” Reaching his arms toward Scott, he called out, “Dad-dy!”
Cathy gasped, staring down at her child, then turned on Scott accusingly. “You taught him to say that!”
“So what if I did?” he retorted, laughter beginning to creep into his eyes. “You ought to thank me. Some people have to hire tutors to get their babies to talk. I did it for free.”
She stared at him.
Scott had taught Beanie to call him daddy. The man who never wanted children was adopting her son. It didn’t make sense.
Cathy shook her head, confused. “But...why?”
He stared back for a moment. Beanie was still struggling in her arms, whimpering, “No, no.”
Scott came forward and held out his arms to the boy, who lunged for him.
“Here,” he said. “Let me try.” He took the baby and the small arms reached for his neck.
Beanie’s face was all smiles. “Dad-dy,” he said lovingly. “Dad-dy.”
Cathy watched in wonder. “Why?” she repeated.
He turned to look at her again, his eyes luminous.
Half smiling, he reached out to touch her hair as though he was grabbing a star out of a passing galaxy.
“Because I want to be his daddy, Cathy,” he told her simply. “I want to be the man in all your lives.”
She reached out to keep from falling.
She was dizzy.
She was dreaming. She had to be.
Only, this was better than her dreams ever were, because instead of imagining his arm coming around her shoulders, his breath against her cheek, his heart beating against her, here it was, in the flesh.
“Scott!”
“I thought I could live without the bunch of you. I tried. I’ve sat here for the last few weeks in this lonely house, staring at the telephone and telling myself not to call you, that you didn’t really want me in your life.”
“Oh no, Scott, that’s all wrong.”
She looked stricken.
She reached a hand toward him imploringly.
“I want you. I’ve never wanted anything the way I want you!”
He gazed at her fiercely, his dark eyes demanding the truth. “Are you sure, Cathy?” he asked, his voice low with emotion.
She couldn’t speak. Tears of joy welled in her eyes.
“Oh, Scott!”
He put Beanie down gently on the ground, then turned and caught her as she came into his arms, kissing her with such need, such devotion, he left her breathless.
“I love you,” he said, his voice ragged and rough. “Oh God, Cathy, I love you so much.”
“I love you, too.” She touched his face. “From the very first.” Her blue eyes darkened. “But Scott, you know the children have to be my first priority. Until they’re grown.”
He pulled her close. “Don’t worry about that. The funny thing is, I had the best time of my life being with you all on that trip to Tahoe.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
He pressed his face into her hair.
“I learned that it isn’t children that I don’t like. It’s being trapped. And joining your family is a choice I’m making, Cathy. No one is forcing it on me. I know exactly what I’m getting into.”
“Aga doo,” said a little voice from the kitchen.
They looked over and saw Beanie with the cereal box in his hands, joyfully emptying the entire contents onto the floor. He looked up and grinned, waving the box at them.
“Aga Dad-dy!” he improvised, and laughed.
They looked at each other and laughed, too.
Scott felt a swelling in his chest that took his breath away.
It had to be love.
For just a moment, he thought of his mother.
Oh Lord, she would be proud. Finally.
Because when you came right down to it, he’d finally realized a solemn truth.
What his mother had wanted was for him to be happy and fulfilled.
Nothing more.
And now, it was coming true.
“So you think you know what you’re getting into, do you?” Cathy teased. “I don’t think you know the half of it, mister.” Her arms twined around his neck and her body molded itself to his, her eyes growing smoky with longing. “Not the half of it.”
“That’s exactly the way I like it,” he returned, his mouth only inches from hers. “It’ll be so much fun finding out the rest.”
Destiny Bay-Baby Dreams
Book 1-Husband Wanted:Will Train
Book 2-The Baby Invasion
Book 3-Waiting for Someone Like You
Available on Kindle
Coming soon
Book 4-Tick Tock, Baby Clock
Book 5-Jilted at the Altar
Book 6- In a Marrying State of Mind
Destiny Bay~Island Magic~6 books
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From
DoorKnock Publishing
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Also by Helen Conrad:
Destiny Bay-Forever Yours
−
3
My Little Runaway, Wife for a Night, Too Scared to Breathe
−
6
Make Believe Wife, Promoted To Wife, Not the Marrying Kind
An Excerpt From
WAITING FOR SOMEONE LIKE YOU
BY
HELEN CONRAD
Destiny Bay~Baby Dreams~Book 3
Chapter One
A grand seduction.
That was what Ted had told Kat she needed to pull off to get to the bottom of this.
“Hey, you’re a beautiful woman,” he’d claimed when she’d said he must be joking.
“Be provocative.
Let your sensual instincts romp.
Make him think you’ll play his game.”
Yeah, she was the great seducer alright.
She glanced at her reflection in the mirrored wall as she followed the manager into the empty restaurant.
She made a face at herself.
She looked more like she should be playing the female lead in “Oklahoma!”
“Is this corner secluded enough, senorita?” the manager asked.
The manager in his sleek black suit and crisp white shirt
was pointing out a dark corner of the hotel restaurant. It
was secluded, all right. It was also dingy and depressing.
Kat wished Ted hadn’t talked her into this. She wasn’t
sure it was such a good idea. But the invitation had been made, and there was no taking it back now. She might as well do it right, if she was going to do it at all.
Smiling apologetically, she shook her head, setting in
motion the natural sway of her warm blond curls. “I’m sorry, that just isn’t quite what I had in mind.”
She glanced around the empty dining room, contemplat
ing the choices. The late-morning sun was slanting in
through the glass, casting golden beams on the white linen
tablecloths and sending rainbows of sparks through the
crystal goblets.
It was a lovely restaurant, one of the best here at the resort hotel in Nueva Bahia, a little corner of coastal California that almost seemed as though it still belonged to Mexico.
“Oh, here. This looks better.”
She led the manager to a booth surrounded by a semicircular planter. The booth faced the window overlooking the
tranquil bay with its tiny islands and resort cabanas.
“Yes, this will be perfect.” She smiled at the manager, her
warm dark eyes a contrast to her blond hair. “But I will
need some fresh flowers in this planter. These pothos have
seen better days.”
He hesitated. “But, senorita...”
“Here.” Digging into the pocket of her long, embroi
dered skirt, she came up with some crisp bills.
“Will this cover it?”
His face was immediately wreathed in a satisfied smile as
he accepted her offering. “Of course, senorita. I will take
care of it right away.”
“Thank you.” Funny how money always changed every
thing. And that was just what this was all about, wasn’t it?
Money, the root of all evil. She shivered, then put her hand over her heart and steadied herself.
The manager returned quickly with violet irises and yel
low daffodils in a lovely arrangement for the center of the
table, and pots of bright red geraniums which he deftly set
tled in among the pothos in the planter. Kat stood back to examine the results and smiled. She’d never been one for domestic decorations, but this was sort of fun.
“It is too bad, Senorita Clay, that your mother is ill and cannot join you,” said the manager as he worked.
“Yes.” Kat felt like a hypocrite. If it weren’t for her
mother’s headache, she wouldn’t have had the opportunity
for this little scheme.
“But Colonel Carrington, he will like this, no?” the man
ager commented as he passed her on his way to the kitchen.
Kat’s smile faltered. She was getting nervous again. Mentally, she steeled herself.
“Stay calm,” she whispered,
touching her cool fingertips to her hot cheeks. She was going to do this right. She was completely committed.
Committed—ha! That was exactly what she should
be
for having agreed to go along with this. She closed her eyes and
took a shaky breath.
“Looks good. What’s going on?”
Kat glanced up. For just a moment she thought the
handsome, blue-eyed man in the slightly rumpled suit was
flirting. His eyes were brimming with amusement, and he
had a singular air of confidence that attractive men often
had, a basic assumption that he would be welcome anywhere he chose to intrude with his presence.
Her eyes narrowed and it was on the tip of her tongue to say something caustic and put him in his place, but then she realized he
must work in the restaurant. After all, it was still a few
minutes before opening time for the dining room. He was
just an employee trying to be helpful.
“Oh, this?” She waved a hand toward the table with all
its extra foliage. “It’s very important that I get just the right
tone here,” she told him earnestly. “I want my guest com
fortable. I want him to feel completely at home, completely relaxed. I just came in a little early to make sure everything
was set up right.”
“Ah.” The handsome man nodded wisely, his intense blue
eyes gleaming with amusement. “A seduction, I take it.”
Kat was startled by that characterization of her plans. Could he read her mind, or was this something they had here all the time?
“Oh. No, not at all.” Heavens, she certainly hoped no one
else had assumed anything like that.
She looked at him again, taking in the wide shoulders, the dark hair cut precisely but generously, the grooves that had once been dimples, carved deeply beside the sensual mouth, the brilliant blue eyes that seemed too wise, too knowing. A
little ripple of appreciation ran through her, but she
squelched it. She had to keep her mind on the job at hand.
“More of a... an audition,” she decided at last with a
quick grin, running her fingers through her full blond curls
in a last-minute freshening of her abandoned hairstyle.
“That’s it. A tryout”
She frowned at the picture the table made, trying to concentrate on that and wishing this dis
tractingly handsome man would take a hint and leave her alone with her thoughts. She needed a bit of mental prepa
ration now. This wasn’t going to be easy.
Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be the perceptive type. Instead of excusing himself, he leaned back against the planter and watched her, his blue eyes still crinkling with
humor.
“Then what’s the audition for?” he asked chattily.
She blinked at him. “It’s personal and private,” she said in what she hoped was a quelling tone.