Mountain Man's Accidental Baby Daughter (A Mountain Man's Baby Romance)

by Lia Lee

Hartford turned to leave. At least Gerard was smart. He knew his priorities and he knew how to pick his battles. She took Trent out the back of the house, past the pool, and onto the expansive lawns. She couldn’t see where they ended; she couldn’t spot a fence, but only a bridge that curved over a small pond.

  “Let’s go look at that.”

  She and Trent spent the next hour getting acquainted with the ducks that lived in the pond. Hartford fell in love with the place. Gerard’s home was serene and stunning, yet all he seemed to want to do was stay in that room with all the electronics and games and movies.

  When they returned to the house, her eyes narrowed at the four men next to the pool. It took a moment to register that they were in uniform, and they were installing a fence around the pool. Her heart hammering, she walked into the house and stopped short. Gerard was sitting in the living room, reading a book.

  “What’s going on outside?”

  Gerard stole a glance at the boy whose hand she was holding. “Um… I thought… the open pool was unsafe with Trent around.”

  Their eyes held, as Hartford tried hard to ignore the tugs on her heart. “Okay,” she replied woodenly and stayed rooted to the spot, gaping at Gerard. His eyes dropped to Trent and then back to her face.

  “Is there a problem?”

  She broke out of the halo of shock and nodded, smiling, then froze her face again. “Yeah, yeah. Everything’s fab. I was just…” Stop rambling. She sealed her mouth.

  It was odd seeing him there, in his own living room. Ever since she’d arrived with Trent, he’d been hidden in the gadget-laden playroom. Clearly, he was using the group of idiots to stay out of their way. For a moment, she wasn’t sure about the wisdom of dismissing the group, and it got monumentally worse when Gerard reached his hand out to Trent.

  “Hey there, buddy, are you having a good time?”

  Harford felt Trent’s small soft fingers part with hers as he walked toward Gerard. Her body coiled for flight, with her son, but she could do nothing but stand there while Trent walked over to the man who was basically just a big-muscled version of himself.

  She turned away, slightly unsure what do with herself.

  “What did you do out there?”

  “I was looking at the ducks,” Trent answered sweetly.

  “Ohh.” Gerard smiled and clutched the boy’s shoulders. “Were they good out there? Did they need anything?”

  Trent chuckled in reply, and Hartford saw Gerard’s face transform, his smile wide and his eyes glinting. She couldn’t do this. She walked away, turning out of view and standing behind a wall.

  “What are their names?” Trent was saying, and she clenched her eyes shut. This was not a good idea. What had she done? She should’ve just let the group of buffoons stay.

  “They don’t have names yet. However, you and I could go out there and name them tomorrow if you want. They’ll love it.”

  Trent chuckled again and the musical sound made her smile. She stopped herself and ran up the stairs to the office that looked out to the vast lawns. She stood at the window for long minutes, her body taut with the desire to go back downstairs and put some distance between Trent and Gerard—even if she had to do it by force. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. The two of them conversing had been the most poignant moment of her life. She had goose bumps all over her body.

  As she sat down to work, knowing the housekeeper would watch Trent for a while, she was constantly reminded of the fact that when she walked back down, Gerard would be there. His bedroom was on the ground floor. And with his friends banished from the house, he was constantly going to be around her and Trent, and she had to figure out a way to not be so emotionally affected by his presence near Trent.

  ***

  “Are you sure it doesn’t hurt any more than it did before the fall, or are you just trying to get it over with by lying?”

  Gerard shrugged and wasn’t offended by her question. “I’m not lying, and it’s actually the same. I don’t even feel it unless I’m crossing my legs.”

  She nodded and wiped her hands on a paper towel. “You’re good to go.”

  He stood up. “I’m going to take a nap.”

  “Good.” She was getting up to wash her hands when he turned around.

  “Let’s have dinner together.”

  She paused, gaping at him. “Umm.” She glanced at Trent. “Sure.” What else was she supposed to say? She was a guest at his place. She could hardly say no. But what was he thinking?

  As soon as Gerard left, her senses frayed in nervousness and the arousal that always crept up her bones when she touched him returned. She brought her laptop down to the dining table and handed Trent some building blocks to play with.

  Fifteen minutes in, Trent nudged her to show her something. She smiled, kissed his hand, and turned back to work. She’d just gotten back into the mental connection with work when he came up to show her a small school building he’d made. She stared at it woodenly for a minute.

  Why in the world had she thought she could work on anything while Trent was around? She forced herself to smile. “That’s very cool, Trent.” She gushed at the haphazard pile of blocks that looked like Tetris gone bad. “Why don’t you make lots of buildings and Mommy can see them all when she’s done with work?”

  “Okay,” he said in his tiny voice and went off.

  Hartford fought the guilt creeping up her bones. He hadn’t chosen this. She’d brought him here. And now she was struggling to manage the office work, Gerard, and Trent all together.

  When Trent walked up to her ten minutes later, she slowly shut her laptop, her work hardly even started, and sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, she spent the next hour making silly buildings with Trent.

  There was no way she was getting any work down around here. She would simply have to stay up at night and deal with work.

  ***

  When Gerard couldn’t sleep, he walked back out to the living room. Something about Trent was drawing him closer. It was almost as if Gerard had a noose around his waist and whenever Trent was nearby, the rope was tugged in his direction. He couldn’t stop it even though he tried.

  He’d managed fine when he had the buffer of his friends in the house. But now, with them gone—thanks to Hartford—he couldn’t help but be around Trent.

  And what was worse was that Gerard was justifying it with insane reasons that cropped up in his mind. He couldn’t stop thinking that Trent was only around for a few weeks. Then he’d be gone again. He’d grow taller and bigger, and Gerard would have no part in the boy’s life apart from the child support he sent Hartford, which she didn’t even bother to use. He would consider it an insult, except he knew Hartford was in the right.

  And she was proud. She was so, so proud, and as he watched her and Trent playing with building blocks, he stopped short. They did not know he was there, and the moment was raw and warm and mesmerizing.

  He saw her laughing at the silly things Trent said—but it wasn’t a pretend laugh. She was actually enjoying herself as she helped him make buildings. Suddenly, the prospect of playing with those colorful blocks of plastic was very endearing. You’re just bored, he told himself, but he didn’t ponder too much over his reasons for feeling like a play-greedy child.

  “But it has to be red,” Trent was saying.

  “No,” Hartford said sweetly. “That’s the thing, it doesn’t have to be. It can be rainbow colored. Have you ever seen a rainbow-colored building? Everyone will love your city when it’s done. They’ll think it’s the best thing in the world.”

  Trent chuckled in response.

  Gerard swallowed, his eyes cascading over Hartford’s stunning high cheekbones. He recalled how he’d taken pictures of her, every day. Somehow, she’d managed to grow more attractive during the past four years. Her hair was longer, thicker, her skin more vibrant. The dark shadows beneath her eyes hadn’t been there when she’d come to his place—those were courtesy of him. His heart twisted in remorse for t
he stuff he’d put her through. She’d only tried to help him get better, and he’d turned into a man on a mission, in denial at having her there, at having his son there. He’d hidden behind a wall of stupid social interactions that had stressed Hartford out enough to make her lose sleep. He spotted her laptop at the table and silently wondered why she carried it around everywhere when he hardly ever saw her using it.

  Then his reverie was interrupted by Trent’s squeal of laughter, and he fought back an answering smile at the sound. His heart palpitated viciously, and he drew in deep breaths. Trent’s hands were chubby and small, and his blond hair fell over his forehead. Hartford reached forward to push it sideways.

  “Do you think you can play with Mrs. Berry for a while now while Mommy gets some work done?”

  “Yes.”

  Hartford smiled and kissed the top of his nose. “Thank you. I love you.”

  “I love you too,” the boy said distractedly, and that’s when he spotted it. The agitation and frustration on Hartford’s face as she yanked up the screen of her laptop.

  He slinked deeper into the dark of the corridor, not wanting her to spot him. She pushed her hair back and up into a high ponytail, which at the last minute ended up like a haphazard bun. Then she sighed loudly, her forehead resting in her hand as she stared at the screen for a few long seconds. She shook her head as if trying to sort her thoughts by jerking her brain and then began to tap on her keyboard. He stepped back, took a deep breath, and walked straight into the living room.

  Without a word, ignoring her when she looked up at him with a jolt, he sat cross-legged on the floor just like she’d been sitting a few seconds ago. “Whoa, look at this rainbow-colored building. Man, did you build this?” he asked Trent excitedly.

  He could feel Hartford’s eyes on him, but he didn’t look at her. Instead, he spent the next twenty minutes building houses and shops with Trent. When the kid soon got bored, Trent asked if he’d like to go name the ducks.

  At the door, he turned and caught Hartford twisting her neck, her eyes worried, her features clearly tensed. He was sure he should ask for her permission, but it seemed odd to do it. So he just clenched his teeth and took a deep breath. “Is it okay if he…”

  She gaped at him for long seconds, then glanced down at Trent and nodded. At that instant, Gerard felt something warm and incredibly soft slide through his palm. His gaze jerked toward it and found that Trent had very casually given him his hand. His arm tense, a weird tingling sensation overtaking his body, he blinked several times in a desperate attempt to calm himself down. But his heart was beating all over the place. He’d merely wanted to help Hartford because she looked stressed. He’d only wanted to give her some time off from caring for a toddler who always needed something to do and someone to do it with. But his throat was dry when he met Hartford’s eye again. Without a word, she looked away, but not before he caught the same bewildered, confused expression mirroring her face.

  Chapter Seven

  Hartford placed a large coloring book on the coffee table, and Trent squealed at the sight of it. She laughed. “It’s all yours. Get at it, buddy.” She spilled colored pencils out of the box for him to use, before her smile faded a little.

  Her head was pounding with splitting pain. It was a mixture of a lot of things, and she was terrified that she was crumbling under the pressure. And it had only been a week since she’d been with Gerard.

  First off, she was frustrated over the lack of time to get some work done. The housekeeper was great help, but Trent could only spend so much time with her. Besides, the entire purpose of the trip to Seattle was that she could spend time with Trent. She was getting pulled in two different directions. The need to work clawed at her mercilessly, and she wanted to spend time with Trent. Moreover, she could certainly do without the crazy mood swings of the jock she lived with.

  Eyeing her laptop, she acceded that she wasn’t really longing to work like she always did. She was too exhausted to want to work. Plus, she was so far behind already, she couldn’t catch up. And that was making her anxious. Add to that the fact that Gerard was now constantly free to spend time hovering around her and Trent, and it was the most disturbing of calamities.

  Obviously, dismissing his buffoons had backfired terribly. She’d thought he’d get more time to rest and heal and work out. What she hadn’t considered was that he would spend a lot of time in the areas of the house that she and Trent were currently inhabiting.

  The living room was frequently strewn with toys. The pool now had a sturdy fence around it to keep Trent out of it, and the housekeeper was doubling as a nanny. It looked like a house which housed children on a permanent basis. And she wasn’t sure how happy Gerard was about it. At least the fence was his idea. The rest of the mess had been purely Trent.

  She slid onto the chair and had just lifted the screen of her laptop when she felt a little tug on the side of her skirt. “Mommy, can we go meet Mr. Poppy?”

  Hartford gaped at her son’s face for a moment, before she remembered the chatter about Mr. Poppy last night at bedtime. “Oh, umm. I think we can go in a while to see him.”

  “He must be hungry.”

  Hartford rubbed her forehead. “I know, sweetheart, just give me a few minutes and I’ll take you there, all right?”

  Curse Gerard. Curse the stupid ducks. When Gerard had taken Trent out to the duck pond yesterday, she’d been too strung up with nerves to actually get a lot of work done for a while. But after a few minutes, the adrenaline kicked in and she’d gotten into it. Last night, though, during the long chats Trent always seemed to have bursting out of him at bedtime, had been terrifying.

  It was almost as if Trent was in awe of Gerard. He had been insanely excited that Gerard had accompanied him to the pond. He kept asking of he could go to the park with Gerard, or the grocery shop, or the dentist. It had pained her to see him getting so attached to Gerard after a few scraps of attention from the man. Sure, she too had been hooked to Gerard after one date back in high school, but Trent was hers. It made her a little jealous but also scared. She didn’t want Trent to keep asking about Gerard when they returned to Maryland. It wasn’t going to work out; Gerard should’ve kept his distance.

  But she couldn’t deny that she’d loved watching them holding hands, even if Gerard had had no part in the act. He was simply caving to what Trent wanted. He had no urge to touch his son, but he’d intentionally taken him away so she could work.

  She belatedly realized she was staring at Trent wordlessly instead of working. Turning away, she unlocked her laptop when the very familiar scent of cologne that had haunted her for years swamped her senses.

  She didn’t look up. “Gerard, why are you sneaking around in your own house?”

  His chuckle made her tense up. The sound was enough to make her want to sob. She’d had utter and complete ownership of that husky, deep sound once upon a time.

  “I’m not sneaking around in my own house. I’m simply trying not to disturb you while you work.”

  She turned toward him. “How’s your knee?”

  He shrugged and his eyes traveled to Trent. “It’s all right.”

  “You should try to stay off it as much as you can.”

  He fought a smile at her professional tone. “But I need to go the duck pond again. I promised him.”

  She swallowed. “Okay, for starters, try to not get him too used to you.” When he looked ready to argue, she blurted out something else just to make him stop. “And by the way, what kind of name is Mr. Poppy?”

  He burst out loud laughing, and Trent squealed, running over to him and wrapping his short arms around his leg. Hartford’s heart skipped a beat. Gerard looked even more uncomfortable than she did.

  “Hi, buddy,” he said hoarsely. “Your mom seems to hate the name Mr. Poppy.”

  “I named him, Mommy.”

  Hartford smiled for the sake of her son and looked up at Gerard. She knew her eyes were pleading, but she wished the buffoon group wo
uld return to take Gerard away from her and Trent. Because she couldn’t keep watching them together without bawling into the pillow. And she refused to do that. She refused to cry for Gerard ever again.

  “Can we go to the pond again, please?” Trent said while clinging to Gerard’s knee.

  “Sure.”

  “Your knee—” Hartford began.

  “I’ll be careful.”

  Hartford tried to find a way to mention that she didn’t want him near her son. She didn’t want him to ask about Gerard when they left this place. She didn’t want Gerard in her life. But she couldn’t say it. Trent seemed so excited to have a man around. Gerard was the only man he’d ever seen day in and day out under the same roof as his mother. And some biological instinct in him was getting too attached to Gerard. As a father figure.

  “Shit.” She watched as they left the house. Two identical boys, one slightly darker, hand in hand. She tilted her head to watch Gerard’s large hand, his strong fingers, holding on to her son’s.

  Gerard turned around at the last minute, and she quickly looked away.

  “You take your time to work. Go up to the office if you’d like,” he called.

  Hartford swallowed. It was odd having him help her out. “We have our therapy session in an hour.”

  He shook his head. “We can push it forward a couple of hours. How about three p.m.? Or four?”

  Five hours to work? She could get back on track in that much time if she hurried. “I don’t think…”

  “Don’t worry about Trent. We’ll have some boys’ time in the sun. God knows I need it anyway.”

  ***

  Gerard slowly chewed the pasta, his entire body tense. He couldn’t move. He didn’t want to move, but he also did want to move. After three long hours in the sun and some pasta for lunch, Trent had fallen asleep. On Gerard’s thigh.

  Gerard’s appetite was dead, but he was vigilant about his food intake, so he was stuffing himself while his throat closed up. He was a little concerned about how Hartford would react when she saw Trent sleeping on his thigh, because he himself was freaking out.