Summoning her courage, Casey plunged ahead. “I miss you,” she said. “I think a family ought to be together, and we’re a family.”
“No conditions attached?” he asked.
“Such as?”
“More kids.”
She felt a twist of disappointment. “I was hoping…you seem to enjoy the baby. But I’m willing to compromise.”
Why didn’t he answer? Why didn’t he give her a big hug and tell her how thrilled he was?
“Are you sure you won’t change your mind?” Jack asked.
“Never!” Casey vowed. “Never never never. Not five minutes from now, not a year from now and not ten years from now.” She didn’t see how she could make her resolve any clearer.
Jack made a noise she couldn’t interpret. “I’m afraid that’s going to be a problem.”
She refused to accept his answer without a fight. “No, it isn’t!”
One eyebrow lifted. “Oh, really?”
“Absolutely not!”
“Casey…” Jack hesitated.
“What?”
“I think you’d better open my present.”
“For heaven’s sake!” She might as well humor him, she supposed.
So irked that she hoped she didn’t end up bashing it over his head, Casey tore off the wrappings.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Inside a burnished oak frame, a black mat surrounded a card that looked too small for its fancy presentation. “What’s this?” On closer inspection, Casey saw that it bore the name of an airline.
“My frequent flier card,” Jack said.
“What’s it doing in a frame?” she inquired.
“Retiring.”
His meaning took several seconds to sink in, because she feared she might be deluding herself. “You’re moving here?” she asked at last.
“I hope you’re not disappointed.” Jack seemed to be struggling to keep a straight face. “I could see how much you looked forward to living in California.”
“But what are you going to do?” Casey asked. “I don’t want you to end up resenting me because I destroyed your career.”
He drew her closer. “I came to this decision because it’s what will make me happy. And you too, I hope.”
She nestled against him, still finding it hard to believe that they could go to bed together every night and wake up side by side every morning, right here in Tennessee. “I’m thrilled. But Jack…”
“If you keep quibbling, I might decide I made a mistake.”
“I want you to be happy!” she protested. “You’re not the kind of guy who can be happy doing just any old job.”
“I phoned Chief Roundtree in advance and stopped to see him on my way in,” he said. “I pointed out that he richly deserves retirement and his wife apparently would like that too.”
“You mean he’s offering you his job?” Casey nearly couldn’t breathe. It seemed too perfect.
“It’s up to the town council, but he’s going to recommend me,” Jack told her. “He thinks they’ll go for it.”
Casey had no doubt of that, but, overjoyed as she felt, she had to make sure her husband wouldn’t regret his decision. “You’ve worked so hard building up your business. Now you’ll have nothing to show for it.”
“I wouldn’t call it nothing,” he assured her. “Our new partner bought me out. I started a college fund for Diane and there’s enough left over for a second kid. Possibly a third. But I know how hard pregnancy can be. So if you’d rather not, I’ll understand.”
“Quit teasing me!” She mussed his hair and, for good measure, ruffled it a second time. “Three kids. I could go for that.”
“Could you go for me?”
“You bet!” she said and, leaving their baby dozing in her basket, did exactly what she’d wanted to do since she first saw Jack on the porch. She kissed him over and over, then lured him into the bedroom.
Beneath his clothes, she found him hard and ready for her. Taking him inside her exhilarated them both, and they exploded together in sheer ecstasy.
Afterward, as Casey dozed in his arms, her mind wandered over the delicious possibilities that lay ahead. More babies—square dancing together—long walks in the woods. “You know what,” she murmured.
“Hmm?”
“You once mentioned that you’d always wanted a dog. We could check the bulletin board at the library. Folks are always giving away puppies in the spring.”
“I want a nice scruffy mutt,” Jack said. “Just like me.”
“You’re not a mutt!”
“Yes, I am. I’m the fool who nearly signed those divorce papers.”
“Well, I’m the fool who took them out in the first place,” she said.
He propped himself on one elbow. “That’s right, you are.”
She didn’t even get mad. “Tear them up.”
“My pleasure.” Jack’s green eyes sparkled. “I’m having my shredder shipped from L.A. along with a few million other items.”
“You already arranged it?” Casey pretended to glare. “That was taking a lot for granted.”
“Call me impulsive.”
“That’s my territory!” She grinned. “But you’re welcome to the club.”
“Would you really have moved to Los Angeles?” he asked.
“I already cleared it with the doctor.” She thought she could be forgiven a slight exaggeration. “What changed your mind?”
“I never thought I’d get used to all this scenery, but it grows on you,” her husband confessed. “The people aren’t bad, either.”
Casey laughed. “Yes, and we’ve got nine free DVD rentals left, courtesy of Al Rawlins. That’s his way of making amends.”
“I don’t think we’re going to have much time to watch DVDs.” Jack’s breath tickled her ear.
“What on earth can you mean?” She blinked in feigned innocence.
He proceeded to demonstrate exactly what he meant. Then he held her in his arms all night.
Except, of course, for the two times they got up to feed the baby. Jack even changed the diaper once.
He’d turned into a father. And she, Casey reflected happily, was going to thoroughly enjoy being the police chief ’s wife.
* * * * *
Keep reading for a preview of next month’s American Romance titles!
We hope these brief excerpts will whet your appetite for all four of January’s books…
One Good Man by Charlotte Douglas (#1049) is the second title in this popular author’s ongoing series, “A Place to Call Home.” Charlotte Douglas creates a wonderful sense of home and community in these stories.
Jeff Davidson eased deeper into the shadows of the gift shop. Thanks to his Special Operations experience, the former Marine shifted his six-foot-two, one-hundred-eighty pounds with undetectable stealth. But his military training offered no tactics to deal with the domestic firefight raging a few feet away.
With a stillness usually reserved for covert insertions into enemy territory, he peered through a narrow slit between the handmade quilts, rustic birdhouses, and woven willow baskets that covered the shop’s display shelves.
On the other side of the merchandise in the seating area of the café, a slender teenager with a cascade of straight platinum hair yelled at her mother, her words exploding like a barrage from the muzzle of an M-16. “You are so not with it. Everyone I hang with has her navel pierced.”
Jeff grimaced in silent disapproval. The kid should have her butt kicked, using that whiny, know it all tone toward her mom. Not that the girl’s behavior was his business. He hadn’t intended to eavesdrop. He’d come to Mountain Crafts and Café to talk business with Jodie Nathan, the owner, after her restaurant closed. Lingering until the staff left, he’d browsed the shelves of the gift section until she was alone.
But before he could make his presence known, fourteen-year-old Brittany had clattered down the stairs from their apartment over the store and confronted her mother.
“Your fri
ends’ navels are their mothers’ concern, not mine.” The struggle for calm was evident in Jodie’s firm words, and the tired slump of her pretty shoulders suggested she’d waged this battle too many times. “You are my daughter, and as long as you live under my roof, you will follow my rules.”
Was the kid blind? Jeff thought with disgust. Couldn’t she see the tenderness and caring in her mother’s remarkable hazel eyes? An ancient pain gnawed at his heart. He’d have given everything for such maternal love when he’d been a child, a teenager. Even now. Young Brittany Nathan had no idea how lucky she was.
Daddy by Choice by Marin Thomas (#1050). A “Fatherhood” story with a western slant. This exciting new author, who debuted with the delightful The Cowboy and the Bride, writes movingly and well about parent-child relationships…and, of course, romance!
JD wasn’t sure if it was the bright sunlight bouncing off the petite blond head or the sparkling clean silver rental car that blinded him as he swung his black Ford truck into a parking space outside Lovie’s café. Both the lady and the clean car stood out among the dusty, mud-splattered ranch vehicles lined up and down Main Street in Brandt’s Corner.
Because of the oppressive West Texas heat wave blanketing the area, he shifted into Park and left the motor running. Without air-conditioning, the interior temperature would spike to a hundred degrees in sixty seconds flat, and he was in no hurry to get out.
He had some lookin’ to do first.
A suit in the middle of July? He shook his head at the blonde’s outfit. Pinstripe, no less. She wore her honeycolored hair in a fancy twist at the back of her neck, revealing a clean profile. Evidently, she got her haughty air from the high cheekbones.
All of her, from her wardrobe to her attitude, represented a privileged life. Privileged meant money. Money meant trouble.
His gut twisted. Since yesterday’s phone call from this woman, his insides had festered as if he’d swallowed a handful of rusty fence nails.
Fear.
Fear of the unknown…the worst kind. He’d rather sit on the back of a rank rodeo bull than go head to head with her. Too bad he didn’t have the option.
Table for Five by Kaitlyn Rice (#1051) is an example of our “In the Family” promotion—stories about the joys (and difficulties) of life with extended families. Kaitlyn Rice is a talented writer whose characters will stay with you long after you’ve finished this book.
Kyle Harper glanced at his watch and uttered a mild curse. He’d worked well past a decent quitting time again—an old habit that was apparently hard to break. Shoving the third-quarter sales reports into his attaché case, he closed his eyes, claiming a few seconds of peace before switching gears. He pictured a perfect gin martini, a late version of the television news and a bundle of hickory wood, already lit and crackling in the fireplace.
Heaven.
Or home, as he’d once known it.
Life didn’t slow down for hard-luck times, and it didn’t cater to wealth or power. Kyle could afford only a moment to ponder used-to-be’s. He popped open his eyes and grabbed his cell phone, the fumbling sounds at the other end warned him about what to expect. “Grab the guns!” kyle’s father yelled. “There’s a gang of shoot-em-up guys headed into town!”
The Forgotten Cowboy by Kara Lennox (#1052). An unusual take on a popular kind of plot. Thanks to the heroine’s amnesia, she doesn’t recognize the cowboy in her life—which makes for some interesting and lively complications!
Willow Marsden studied the strange woman in her hospital room. She was an attractive female in her twenties, her beauty marred by a black eye and a bandage wound around her head. The woman looked unfamiliar; she was a complete stranger. Unfortunately, the stranger was in Willow’s mirror.
She lay the mirror down with a long sigh. Prosopagnosia—that was the clinical name for her condition. She’d suffered a head injury during a car accident, which had damaged a very specific portion of her brain—the part that enabled humans to distinguish one face from another. For Willow, every face she saw was strange and new to her—even those of her closest friends and relatives.
“You’re telling me I could be like this forever?”
Dr. Patel, her neurologist, shrugged helplessly. “Every recovery is different. You could snap back to normal in a matter of days, weeks, months, or…yes, the damage could be permanent.”
“What about my short-term memory?” She couldn’t even remember what she’d had for breakfast that morning.
Again that shrug. Why was it so difficult to get a straight answer out of a doctor?
Willow knew she should feel grateful to be alive, to be walking and talking with no disfiguring scars. Her car accident during last week’s tornado had been a serious one, and she easily could have died if not for the speed and skill of her rescuers. Right now, though, she didn’t feel grateful at all. Her plans and dreams were in serious jeopardy.
ISBN: 9781460396858
THE BABY’S BODYGUARD
Copyright © 2004 by Jackie Hyman.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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