Read Online Baby in His Arms by Linda Goodnight - Free Book Online Page A

relieved.
    “Is that why you haven’t stopped by again to see Rose Petal? Because you thought I was seeing Brent?”
    “Did you want me to come over again?”
    “Thomas was asking.”
    “Oh. Sure.” She was asking for Thomas, not herself. “That about sums it up. I don’t tread on another man’s turf.”
    “I will never be any man’s turf.” Haley smiled but the lemon tartness was back.
    “Got it,” he said, but he took the statement as a challenge. “So, you don’t mind if I stop in after work sometimes? To see Rose and say hi to Thomas?”
    “Why would I mind?” That was apparently the closest thing to an invitation he was going to get. She dipped her chin toward the boy dancing in circles around the office door. “Thomas is going to implode if we dillydally any longer.”
    “Right. Let me carry the baby.” Before Haley could go all feminist on him, he had Rose Petal in his arms. He felt as awkward as a moose, but the little girl seemed to fit perfectly in the crook of his left arm. His chest heated with the same tenderness he’d experienced at the church and again at Haley’s house. Little Rose Petal touched the alpha male in him. He’d be a good daddy someday, a daddy who would protect his girls fiercely and teach his boys all the things he knew. A dad like his own.
    He mulled on that, thankful to God that he’d been adopted by such fine Christian people. Unlike some adoptees, he’d never been the least bit interested in his birth history. The only family that mattered to him lived outside of town on the land the Carters had owned for generations. His land. His family.
    The office was a single room carved into one corner of the metal hangar where he parked his heli. A couple of businessmen also stored their single-engine planes here near the short, single airstrip. The place wasn’t fancy but he liked it.
    “Welcome to Carter’s Charters and Scenic Tours,” he said, motioning toward the plastic unibody chairs lining one wall. “This is where the magic happens.”
    * * *
    Haley looked around the small office with genuine interest. Neat and clean, every paper clip in order, the desk held a framed collage of family pictures. Creed’s handsome face smiled from above a military uniform and again bracketed by a middle-aged man and woman, probably his parents.
    “My mom did the pictures. She helped me fix up the place when I first moved in. Added those and that plant over there.” He gestured to a tired-looking peace lily near the only window in the room.
    “Your plant needs to be fed.”
    His expression was incredulous. “You have to feed plants?”
    She shook her head, grinning. Men could be as clueless about houseplants as they were about women.
    “I’ll give you a feeding solution for it the next time you’re at the house.” The next time. She refused to consider the ramifications of allowing the handsome flyboy carte blanche to visit her home. He was a friend. He liked Thomas and Rose. They needed a male in their lives. Occasionally. Temporarily.
    “I like your office,” she said to still the sudden troubling thoughts.
    “The space works for me. Someday, I’d like to expand and add another helicopter and a couple more pilots to share the workload and provide more services. For now, I’m the only one. If I don’t fly, there are no tours.”
    “And you don’t make any money.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Must be tough to find any time off.”
    “It is. I don’t like to work Sundays but weekends are my best business.”
    The evenings he’d come to her home had been during daylight hours. Had he missed out on customers to be there?
    The notion softened her. His concern for Rose Petal was genuine. The baby looked content in his very brown, hard-muscled arms. Safe. Loved. Every little girl deserved a good daddy.
    She jumped up from the plastic chair to move around the room. What was wrong with her today? Why was her stomach hot and raw with yearning?
    Thomas had found a book on planes,