Read Online A Baby in the Bunkhouse by CATHY GILLEN THACKER - Free Book Online Page B

to warm.
    â€œIf I were still in San Antonio, I’m sure he would drop by—]he keeps an apartment in the complex I used to manage. I don’t know that he would want to drive all the way out here.” Jacey sighed impatiently. “Why are you so intent on making sure that Cash sees Caitlin?”
    Rafferty gazed at Jacey with a look that brought to mind long kisses and hotter caresses, then predicted, “Because one look at his baby girl and he’s going to fall head over heels in love with her. And that is going to change everything.”
    Â 
    B EING CLOSE TO Caitlin certainly seemed to be altering Rafferty. He was all heart every time he was near the infant. Which maybe, Jacey thought, was why he had taken such pains to avoid her and her baby. Because he didn’t want to be vulnerable, didn’t want to be reminded. She swallowed. “I really am sorry about your wife and child.” She hadn’t done enough to comfort him on that score.
    He shrugged, acceptance shutting out the fleeting sadness in his eyes. “Bad things happen. Nothing you can do about it except go on.”
    â€œBut have you?”
    He set his pie aside without taking a bite. “Now who’s treading where they don’t belong?” His hands clamped the counter on either side of him.
    Jacey settled a drowsy Caitlin in the infant seat she kept in the kitchen and strapped her in. “I’m just saying you should be dating someone.”
    His jaw tightened. “How do you know I’m not?”
    Amazed at how unhappy just the thought of that made her feel, Jacey straightened. “Are you?”
    â€œNo.” He mocked her with a look. “Are you?”
    â€œNo.” She tried to disguise her relief that he was single.
    â€œWhy not?” he persisted, picking up his plate again.
    She watched him savor the sweetness of the pie. “Because I’ve been pregnant and focused on bringing a baby into this world.”
    He tilted his head. “I’ve been grieving.”
    She could only imagine how hard a loss like his had been. “How long has it been?” she asked softly, wishing they’d talked about this earlier, when he had first told her.
    â€œTwo years ago, November first,” he reflected.
    Jacey did some quick calculations. “So the day I showed up…”
    â€œWas the second anniversary of their death.” He put his empty plate in the dishwasher.
    That certainly explained his unhappy mood that dark and stormy night. “Guess my timing wasn’t the best,” she allowed.
    He brushed her apology off, letting her know with a look that there were no remaining hard feelings about that. “People kept telling me it would get easier with time,” he mused after a moment. “I didn’t believe ’em then, but they were right. It does.”
    â€œSo you’re ready to move on.” Hope rose within her. She wanted, she realized, to see him happy and living life fully again.
    Rafferty exhaled. “I don’t know that I could ever go through that kind of loss again…but I think I could enjoy other aspects of a relationship.”
    â€œPhysical aspects.”
    He grinned in a way that let her know this was true.
    Sexual sparks arced between them.
    Refusing to acknowledge how attractive she found him, she shook her head in refusal.
    â€œAnd the companionship,” he added more seriously.
    Trying hard not to imagine what it would be like to go to bed with him, Jacey sought out more information on his past. “Were you and your wife happy?”
    â€œShe was very beautiful—a city girl, like you.”
    Which didn’t answer the question. Which maybe, Jacey thought, was an answer in and of itself.
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    J ACEY WAS STILL THINKING of Rafferty’s romantic past, wondering what else she didn’t know about him, when the cowboys headed out the next morning.
    Only Eli remained with her and the baby. “You