BILLY AND THE KID

by Kristine Rolofson

  "When you're big enough, I'll give you any horse you want," he promised Spring, taping the other side. Too loose, but good enough. He scooped the baby into his arms and tucked her blanket around her so she wouldn't get cold, though Daisy had turned the heat up to about seventy-nine degrees. If it got any hotter in here, he'd be looking around for a margarita stand.

  "How about a nice little bay? Or even one of those showy palominos all the girls seem to like so much? Anything you want, baby, just as long as you stop crying before Daisy comes out here and chews into me again.

  Spring didn't seem to care about horses, so Will figured she was hungry again. Hell, she hadn't eaten in three whole hours. He hurried into the kitchen and pulled a bottle out of the refrigerator where Daisy had stored them. Efficient woman, he'd say that for her, though her sharp tongue didn't make her the kind of woman a man longed to have sitting by the fireside with him.

  In bed would be a different matter, he decided, scrounging through scrupulously neat cabinets until he found a pan. He turned on the faucet and waited for hot water to fill the pan. That woman had a body that would knock a man clean off his feet. A man could lose himself for days in those breasts alone. Not him, however. He was a temporary father to a baby who would someday be inspiring lust in the local boys and he would have to shoot every single one of those young men if they even so much as looked at her below her chin.

  Spring's sobs continued, though she lowered the volume a few decibels when she heard the water running. He waited for Daisy to come out and take over, but so far she hadn't marched in and chewed him out. If he could get the milk heated and the bottle in Spring's mouth, he'd be home free. He lifted the bottle out of the water, wiped it on his sleeve, shook a few drops on his arm and pronounced it ready to eat Spring saw it and opened her mouth to scream, but Will was one step ahead of her.

  "You're as greedy as Sarah was," he told her, watching her suck down the milk. He should have taken better care of Sarah, but she wasn't the type to listen to advice. He couldn't think about her without worrying his heart right out of his chest, so Will tried hard not to think about where Sarah was and why she'd left her little girl behind.

  "Who is Sarah?" Will turned to see Daisy standing in the doorway. A pink fuzzy robe covered her from neck to ankle, but she smelled like roses and looked like something out of Playboy magazine with ail that yellow hair fluffed over her shoulders. She looked younger, too, with her face scrubbed of makeup and her cheeks pink from the shower.

  "Huh?"

  "Sarah." She looked at the baby and reached over and tucked the blanket securely around her bottom. "What have you done to her? She's not wearing anything but her diaper."

  "That sleep thing was wet."

  "She'll catch cold."

  "She's breaking into a sweat," he insisted. "It's hotter than hell in here."

  "You hear that wind?"

  He listened to the typical Montana winter sound. "So?"

  "I don't want her to be in any drafts." Daisy stepped closer and felt the baby's forehead as she watched her suck on the bottle. "It looks like you've figured out how to feed her."

  "We're doing okay." He couldn't help sounding proud. So far Spring hadn't choked or dripped. He eased the nipple out of her mouth and set the bottle on the counter while he moved Spring to a vertical position. "I think I've figured out burping, too."

  "Congratulations."

  "Thanks." Spring obligingly burped by his collar and then hollered in his ear. He had the bottle back in her mouth in less than four seconds.

  Daisy looked at the wall dock hanging above the refrigerator. "It's almost eight o'clock. I'll help you get her dressed and in bed, then we'd both better get some sleep. Whose going to take the first shift?"

  "I will." He hadn't missed the shadows under her eyes or the way she'd tried to bide her yawn when she thought he was busy burping Spring. "What time do you usually get up in the morning?"

  "Around five."

  He winced. "That's even early for a rancher."

  "It takes me a while to wake up," she admitted. "I'd like to find someone for the morning shift, but I haven't had any luck."

  He followed her into the living room and watched while she opened packages of baby paraphernalia and laid out a one-piece yellow thing that looked like long underwear. Then she left the room and returned with a pile of bedding.

  "You sleep here," she said, dumping the blankets and pillow on top of the cushions.

  "Where should we put Spring?"

  "Are you a light sleeper?"

  "No." He couldn't help smiling. "Which is why I didn't wake up in time to see who left this kid with me."

  "Oh. Then we'll put the bassinet beside the couch."

  He pulled the empty bottle away from the baby, who immediately complained. "I don't think I'll have any trouble hearing her, though. She's got one hell of a voice."

  "She does seem to have a temper," Daisy agreed. "Like Sarah?"

  "Yeah," he admitted, struggling to put the baby to his shoulder while the blanket was wrapped around his wrist. "Just like Sarah."

  "Don't worry." Daisy lifted the child from his arms. "I'm not going to ask any more questions." She tucked the baby against her and cooed into her ear until Spring stopped fussing. "You're allowed your secrets."

  "Secrets? Never had any, not in this town," he said, suddenly exhausted. "Everyone will be talking about this tomorrow morning."

  "No one will dare," Daisy promised, kissing the baby's head. "Not while they're drinking my coffee."

  She really was one hell of a good-looking woman. Too bad she preferred babies to cowboys.

  * * *

  "How's that?" Joe tucked another pillow against Janie's spine so she was comfortable on her side in the king-size bed.

  "Great, thanks." She gave him a smile that she hoped was convincing. Truth was, her back hurt like hell and her feet were swollen to the size of footballs, but she didn't want Joe to worry. He worried too much as it was. "Tell me more about Will's baby. Does he know who the mother is?"

  "He might." Joe didn't look at her, which meant he knew more than he was telling.

  "Do you think you can find her?"

  "I'm trying." He sat on the edge of the bed with his back to her while he unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it on a chair.

  Jane tried a new approach. "How is he going to take care of a baby all by himself? Maybe he should bring it over here tomorrow, so I can see—"

  "You're not doing anything but staying off your feet," her husband declared. "And Will has plenty of help. He's most likely at Daisy McGregor's right now."

  There were definitely advantages being married to the deputy sheriff. "How do you know that?"

  "His truck's parked at Hal's."

  "Maybe it's broken."

  "He bought it new two months ago." Joe slid into bed and got under the blankets. "God, it's a cold night. You want the light on?"

  "No. You think he's spending the night with her? That was fast." She knew Will was a charmer with a reputation, but she didn't know he could work magic. Daisy McGregor had been in town six months and she hadn't dated once. Some said it was because she wasn't really divorced. Jane, who had waitressed one summer in Bozeman, figured it was because the woman was too darn tired.

  "It's the baby," Joe said, switching the room into darkness. "She's the only one who could get it to stop crying." He sighed. "And I don't know if he's spending all night. It's just a hunch."

  "You have good hunches."

  "Um."

  "She doesn't have any kids."

  "Nope."

  "And she's been divorced. Twice."

  "So?"

  "So I guess someone like Will isn't going to surprise her. Or break her heart."

  "Um."

  She prodded his calf with her big toe. "Don't go to sleep yet. Please?"

  He opened his eyes. "What? You feeling okay?"

  "Fine. I just can't believe he's sleeping with her."

  Joe chuckled. "He'
s not tonight. But he will."

  "You think?"

  "Yeah." He closed his eyes again and pulled the blankets around his neck.

  "Why?"

  No answer. Jane nudged him with her foot once again, but gently. After all, the man had been rescuing hogs all afternoon and hauling two teenagers out of a ditch this evening. She really should be nicer to him—but then again, he wasn't the one carrying around twenty-five extra pounds of baby in front of him all day long. "I like Will," she told her dozing husband. "But any woman with any sense knows he's trouble."

  * * *

  Chapter 4

  «^»

  Just because Will took the first shift didn't mean that Daisy fell asleep right away. She heard the man walking around, running the water in the bathroom, talking in a low murmur on the phone. She assumed he was talking to the sheriff again, trying to find the mysterious Sarah. Daisy lay in her double bed and listened to the sound of another person in her home. She didn't know whether she liked it or not, though she knew she would sleep better if the house was silent, if she wasn't listening for the baby's cry in the night. She didn't really think Billy Wilson could handle this, which was why she now had company and couldn't sleep. It was her own fault. She had invited a baby and had gotten stuck with a cowboy.

  A cowboy who was a stranger. She'd locked the bedroom door, just in case. And she told herself that any friend of Joe Pierce's wouldn't be an insane criminal who walked around tricking innocent women with an abandoned-baby story. Her imagination was working overtime, and she knew she should be sleeping. The midnight feeding would come soon enough, unless Spring was one of those babies who slept until dawn.

  Daisy snuggled under the covers and tried to think about next week's steak special. Which night should it be? And how to increase the supper business, which should be more profitable. Breakfast was always busy, but it wasn't a big moneymaker.

  A customer could sit for two hours and drink a dollar cup of coffee, with all the refills he could stomach. The lunch soup specials were good business, but only because Barlow's secret chili recipe was the stuff of legend. Then there were the ever-popular chili dogs. Daisy sighed into the darkness. The Cowman's Café was probably single-handedly responsible for the high cholesterol count of every rancher in northeast Montana.

  The house was silent now, giving Daisy no excuse to toss and turn under two pink blankets and a burgundy-rose print comforter. She wouldn't have minded having the baby in the bassinet beside her. It wouldn't have been the first time she'd gone to sleep listening to a child's soft breathing. And it wouldn't be the last time she'd lie awake in the night wondering if she'd be alone for the rest of her life. The eldest daughter of six, she had grown up knowing a lot about kids and nothing at all about men, except what to feed them.

  * * *

  The alarm clock woke her before the baby did, though Daisy heard the child's hungry cries on the other side of the bedroom door. She shut off her alarm and saw that it was five o'clock already; she'd slept through the night. She grabbed her robe and wrapped it around her before hurrying out to the living room. The place looked as if a tornado had hit it, with blankets lumped on the couch and baby things strewn on the carpet. She heard Will in the kitchen.

  "Honey pie, you just have to cut Uncle Will some slack."

  Spring didn't stop crying, so Daisy hurried into the kitchen and took the baby from Will's arms. "Here," she said. "Let me help."

  "I'm trying to heat this up as fast as I can," he said, looking rumpled. His day-old growth of whiskers gave him a sexy look, and his shirt was unbuttoned to reveal a very wide and very muscular chest Daisy looked away and talked to the baby.

  "Your daddy's doing a good job," she cooed, bouncing the child gently to distract her from the sight of the bottle in the sink.

  "Not so good," he muttered, glancing at the baby. "Watch out."

  "For what?"

  "I think I got that diaper a little loose. I have more damn trouble with those sticky things," he grumbled, lifting the bottle from the water. He tested it on his hand with all the casual experience of a father of five.

  "You're getting awfully good at that," she said, taking the bottle he handed her and shifting the baby so that she could drink. "Is that why you didn't wake me up?"

  "Didn't seem right." Those dark sleepy eyes met hers. "My baby. My problem."

  "But I thought you wanted help."

  "Just knowing someone was around in case I needed some backup made a big difference," he assured her. "Would you mind feeding her while I take a quick shower?"

  "Go ahead. There should be extra razors and toothbrushes in the bathroom closet."

  "That's okay. I got my stuff out of the truck last night."

  "Oh?"

  He shrugged. "Old habit."

  "Uh-huh." She couldn't help smiling, especially when she watched him pour her a cup of coffee from the glass carafe. He started to hand it to her and stopped.

  "I'll wait," she said, "though it's a real treat to have someone else make the coffee."

  "I couldn't sleep," he admitted. "I was afraid I wouldn't hear her if she woke up."

  "Not hear this child?" Daisy laughed. "I think this one will always let you know what she wants." The baby's blue-eyed gaze never left Daisy's face. "I wonder who she thinks I am," she said. "She can't figure it out."

  "She looks at me like that, too. Right before she yells." He ran his hand through his rumpled hair. "I'm not sure she likes me."

  "She doesn't have much choice."

  He winced. "Thanks."

  "You know what I mean." She popped the half-empty bottle out of Spring's mouth and handed her to Will. "Burp," she said, reaching for the coffee. She took several careful sips of the strongest brew she'd ever tasted. He must have used three times more coffee than he needed to, or else these rodeo men were made of strong stuff. "How can you drink this?"

  "I'm going to have a long day."

  "Understatement of the winter, pal," she said, dumping a third of the coffee into the sink. She filled her mug with hot water from the faucet. "You'd better find a baby-sitter real fast."

  "That's the plan." He took the bottle from the counter where Daisy had left it and continued to feed the baby. "Do you have any suggestions?"

  She watched the baby stare up at Will. Her little legs dangled, completely relaxed as she placed her trust in the cowboys strength. The diaper hung close to her knees, and if she decided to pee, most of it would run down Will's chest. "Give her to me and go get yourself cleaned up," she said, setting her coffee on the table. She held out her arms and Will transferred the baby into her embrace. But not without the backs of his fingers brushing against her breasts for one brief second. She told herself he hadn't done it on purpose. His quick exit from the kitchen probably meant he was as embarrassed as she was by the contact.

  And she wore a thick robe and a flannel nightgown. The brush of the back of his hand against her was nothing. It shouldn't have tingled. Shouldn't still be tingling. And she certainly didn't need to feel such discomforting heat in her face. Daisy walked over to the thermostat and turned the heat down. It had gotten too hot in here, that was all.

  * * *

  Her bedroom door was shut, but he heard her talking to the baby. He was beginning to learn that there was a certain voice that a woman used when she talked to an infant, a cheerful coochy-coo thing that would soon grate on a man's nerves.

  And his were raw. He had an almost overwhelming urge to grab his coat and his car keys and head out the back door, to cross the ice-covered road, get in his truck and head west. He could do that, he told himself, surveying the very domestic chaos in Daisy’s living room. Daisy would turn the baby over to Joe, who would turn her over to the authorities. She would be adopted eventually, and she would have a better home with two parents who actually knew what they were doing.

  Damn, it was tempting. He went into the kitchen and with shaking hands emptied the last of the coffee into a rose-covered mug. The woman had flo
wers on everything: the sheets, the pillows, the plates, the walls. Even the bath towels were covered with flowers and scented like roses. It was enough to make a man want to run, even if he wasn't running away from fatherhood.

  "You can stay here this morning for as long as you need to," Daisy said, coming up behind him.

  He turned from the window and saw that she was dressed in her blue waitress outfit again. Her fluffy hair was piled up on top her head and she wore a gold chain around her neck. "I changed her diaper—you really have to get those tighter around her waist—and put new jammies on her. She'll probably play for a while if you leave her alone."

  "Play?"

  "Put her on her back in the bed and let her kick. She might like the exercise and you can go back to sleep for a while." Daisy held the baby at arm's length and popped her into his arms. "Thanks for letting me sleep, but I have to tell you that you really look like hell"

  "Thanks."

  "No, really, get some rest, okay?" She patted the baby's back. "Spring will be fine, won't you, sweetheart? Let Daddy have a little nap, okay?"

  He didn't know how she could look so energetic at five forty-five. Maybe because she hadn't tried to fit a six-foot-two-inch frame on a five-foot-eight-inch couch. "Let me guess, you're a morning person, right?"

  "How'd you guess?" She smiled, which was devastating to a man who hadn't had sex in over six months. "Get some rest and then come get some breakfast. And don't forget—"

  "To come in the front door, not the back. I remember."

  Her blue eyes were wide. "I don't want people to talk."

  "No, we don't want that." He didn't dare tell her that despite his parking his truck at the gas station chances were the fact that he'd stayed here would be a topic of conversation this morning. He could have warned her that there was nothing anyone could do in this town without everyone knowing all the details and then some, but she didn't need to worry about it now. Not when she looked ready to greet the day. "Go on. I'll bet the Garvey brothers are waiting for you to unlock the door and turn on the lights."