Riley's Baby Boy

by Karen Rose Smith

  She couldn’t help looking at his shoulder as she said it, all that chest hair, his washboard abs. She stopped there. Either her hormones were still all stirred up or her attraction to Riley had gone over the top. Over the top, because her heart was racing, her breathing was becoming more shallow and she felt her skin heat because he was sitting there in nothing but sleeping shorts and she wasn’t wearing all that much herself.

  As Riley helped Derek to his shoulder and gently rubbed his son’s back, Brenna couldn’t stay in the room with him. She just couldn’t. “Are you okay with him while I take care of things?”

  “Sure,” he said with one of those slow smiles that always curled her toes.

  Chapter Five

  When dawn broke Riley was already gone. Brenna hadn’t even heard him leave. She must have fallen into a deep sleep after he’d laid Derek in his crib then bid her good-night. She thought that good-night had carried...something. The same something she saw in his eyes when she knew he wanted to kiss her. Staying here with him was awkward, yet it seemed only fair.

  When she thought about a month of hearing Riley in his bedroom, of running into him in the kitchen, of watching him with Derek...

  She took Derek for a walk, noticing the sun teetering behind the clouds. The scents of pine and peonies reacquainted her with some of the beauty of Miners Bluff. She even caught sight of a deer flashing across the rear of Riley’s backyard. She wouldn’t go far, not with Derek, but she appreciated the scents of summer coming on, the sight of dew on grass and bushes, the feel of the almost-mountain air on her cheeks. Had she missed Miners Bluff? Yes. Did she want to live here again? She couldn’t. Not if she wanted to meet her responsibilities, to raise Derek the way she wanted to raise him.

  Without a father? a little voice asked.

  She didn’t have the answer.

  Riley had left a note saying he’d be back midafternoon. But midafternoon came and went and Brenna became worried. Around four o’clock she phoned Clay Sullivan.

  Celeste answered. “Hi, Brenna! Clay told me you were in town.”

  She bet he did. Just what had Riley told his partner? “I suppose Clay told you that...that Riley and I have a baby.”

  Celeste was silent for a few moments, as if she didn’t know quite what to say. Brenna knew the feeling. Brenna and Celeste had always been friendly, but not really friends, for no particular reason. They’d taken different classes. And Celeste had been close to Mikala and Jenny. Brenna’s closest friend had been Katie Paladin. She’d heard Katie had bought the town’s flower shop and she wanted to look her up. But she just didn’t know if time would allow the renewal of their friendship.

  Finally Celeste asked, “How would you like to come over for lunch? I’d love to catch up.”

  Celeste wasn’t about gossip. She’d had enough herself. And Brenna knew the invitation was genuine, a hand reaching out. She felt ready to take it. “I’d like that, if you don’t mind a baby fussing now and then.”

  “I love babies. Maybe we can do it sometime next week.”

  “That would be great. But Celeste, right now I need to talk to Clay. I’m worried about Riley. He said he’d be back midafternoon and it’s way beyond that.”

  “Hold on. I’ll get him.” There was an urgency in Celeste’s voice that she’d picked up from Brenna.

  Clay was on the line in seconds. “Hi, Brenna. I hear you’re worried about Riley.”

  “I am. Do you know anything?”

  “I’ve been following the Doppler radar. Storms have been swirling around Feather Peak all afternoon. I’m sure Riley and his group got caught in them. You know there’s no cell service there or I’d know what was going on. We talked about getting a satphone. We just haven’t done it yet.”

  If Riley had a satellite phone, she’d know exactly where he was and she wouldn’t be this worried. “Is he in danger?”

  “He was a Marine!”

  “That’s not an answer to everything,” she said with frustration in her tone.

  “Uh-oh. I can see he’s already given you that line.”

  She blew out a breath. “Yeah, he has.”

  “Seriously, Brenna, Riley is usually prepared for anything, especially when he takes out a group. My guess is they’d either stay in Horsethief Canyon and hole up in one of the caves, or they might have gotten as far as my great-grandfather’s cabin. Remember that one-room rustic place near the old copper mine?”

  Actually she did. The old cabin had a woodstove and supplies for anyone who might need them. Once she’d become a decent rider thanks to lessons from Silas Decker and his son Zack on the Rocky D, she and Zack had ridden out to Feather Peak and other points of interest more than once. So much of the scenery on the outskirts of Miners Bluff was beautiful.

  Even more than her rides with Zack, she recalled in detail her hikes with Riley up Moonshadow Mountain to Starfall Point. There they could see the valley below and really the extent of their world at that time. Those hikes had been an escape for her and Riley, too.

  “How bad are the storms?”

  Clay hesitated.

  “Don’t sugarcoat it, Clay. I know how fast they can move in over the mountains.”

  “Do you have an email address?”

  “Sure.” She rattled it off to him.

  “I’m going to send you a link. Click on it. You’ll be able to see the storm cell. Right now they’re not as intense. But if Riley did stay holed up in Horsethief Canyon, it’ll take a while to get out into cell range. And if the storms are coming through all evening and he doesn’t have real experienced riders, he’s not going to go anywhere until morning.”

  “So this could be a very long night?”

  “Only if you stay up worrying. I don’t see a reason to worry. He does know what he’s doing. You have to trust him.”

  Trust Riley O’Rourke. Trust that he knew best, trust that he could take care of himself, trust that he’d be home safe. Those were an awful lot of trusts.

  After Brenna thanked Clay, Celeste came back on the line. “Do you want me to come over and stay with you? If Feather Peak’s getting sudden storms, they might come down through here.”

  “I don’t want to pull you away from your family. I’ll be all right, Celeste. Really.”

  “Did Riley show you his stash of oil lamps, batteries, that kind of thing?”

  “No, he didn’t. But I’m sure I can find them.”

  “Clay could bring over a few supplies and show you how to work the generator.”

  “Generator?”

  “In case the electricity goes off.”

  “Derek and I don’t need much. We’ll be okay until Riley gets back. I can always light the fireplace.”

  “You know how?”

  “You mean do I know how to do it without getting smoke all through the house? I think so. I haven’t been away from Miners Bluff so long that I’ve forgotten everything I’ve learned.”

  There was a short pause and then Celeste said, “Riley will be fine. He’s been through storms before.”

  Maybe he had. But none like the one they were going through now.

  As night fell Brenna’s concern deepened. Was Riley prepared? Had he taken along gear for an overnight stay? Was he in the canyon or somewhere else?

  So many questions she didn’t know the answers to. She did find two oil lamps. Fortunately she didn’t need them, although thunder grumbled, lightning flashed and rain fell. Derek seemed oblivious to it all and she tried to be, too, holding him in her arms through much of the night to give herself comfort. When morning broke, she was glad to see the clouds had passed. Turquoise sky hosted a brilliant sun.

  Finally around 10:00 a.m. she got the call that mattered—the call from Riley. She asked first thing, “Are you all right?”

  Silence me
t her blurted-out greeting. “I just got phone service. We should be at the Rocky D in about half an hour.”

  She could hear voices, the clip-clop of horses, and now she wondered what she’d been so worried about. Taking a deep breath and letting her panic roll away, she strove for a more neutral tone. “I was worried last night. I called Clay and he said you’d probably stay in Horsethief Canyon or in the cabin near the copper mine.”

  “You called Clay?”

  “What was I supposed to do when you didn’t come home?”

  Again that silence. Finally Riley admitted, “I’m not used to having someone check up on me.”

  She couldn’t tell if he was annoyed she’d checked up on him or pleased about it. But that was Riley, stoic at the most important times. Even more stoic now that he’d been trained not to let his feelings show. She understood that completely in war, but in real life it wasn’t a benefit. “Did you get wet?”

  “Not too bad. We did camp in Horsethief Canyon and stayed in one of the caves with a natural flue. We had a campfire and enough rations between all of us.”

  After a few awkward beats, she asked, “How about pot roast for supper?”

  “You know how to make pot roast?”

  “What is it with everyone? Do you think I went away to New York and had a personal chef?”

  “I don’t know what happens in your life in New York. You haven’t really told me.”

  If she wanted communication, she’d gotten a little bit of it there. “I’ll tell you when you get back,” she promised.

  One of his group directed a question at him. Riley said, “I’ve gotta go. I’ll be home in about an hour.”

  An hour. To pretend she hadn’t missed him. To pretend she hadn’t worried about him. To pretend she didn’t look forward to seeing him again. Because if she pretended, maybe she could act as if all those things were so. She stared at her phone, wondering why she cared so much. Because he was Derek’s dad?

  She certainly hoped that was the case.

  * * *

  When Riley came through the door, she fought the urge to run to him and throw her arms around his neck. Only significant others did that.

  Lovers do that, a little voice in her mind reminded her. But she quieted it by taking one of Riley’s saddle packs from him as he discarded other gear.

  “Thanks,” he said over his shoulder.

  “No problem.”

  “The rest of this gear goes in the garage. I’ll be right back.” His gaze met hers. “It’s been a very long time since a woman worried about me.”

  “I’ll bet your sister does it all the time.”

  “Not the same.” His voice said he was sure of it as he walked down the hall and slipped into the garage. Ten minutes later he was back.

  “Are you hungry?” As a teenager Riley had consumed huge amounts of food. From what she’d seen so far, that hadn’t changed.

  “Yeah. Those granola bars were a long time ago. But you know what? You look more exhausted than I feel. Did Derek have a rough night?”

  “No, but I couldn’t sleep.”

  That must have put Riley’s radar on red alert because he came right up to her. “Was the storm that bad?”

  “Don’t play a game with this, Riley. I was worried about you. I didn’t know where you were, if you were wet or cold, if you were taking care of everybody else and not yourself.”

  He didn’t seem affected by her outburst. “I wish I could have sent you smoke signals. But you have to be prepared when I go out on these trips that something like this might happen. The weather is as unpredictable as human nature. You can’t lose sleep and worry.”

  “But I did worry. You’re Derek’s father.”

  His voice went lower and huskier. “Is that all I am?”

  Riley smelled like outdoors and man. Sage and musky male were a potent mix. His T-shirt practically molded to him and his physical strength was a force to be reckoned with. But it was the attraction and pull toward him that worried her. She just wanted to crawl into his arms, tear his clothes off, touch him until she was filled up with him.

  He wanted her to admit something she couldn’t admit, not to herself, and certainly not to him.

  Their staring duel ended when he swore, murmured, “Brenna, you make me nuts,” and pulled her into his embrace. Their kiss was raw and hungry. Riley swept defenses away before she could even put them up. Their kiss stated irrevocably that he was a man and she was a woman and he wanted her and she’d better admit she wanted him.

  Oh, she did want him—in that crazy, passionate way a woman fantasizes about. This was the one man who made her feel totally like a woman. But this was also a man who might have an agenda that could hurt her and maybe Derek, too. Still, she let him kiss her senseless and she responded with all the concern and worry that had plagued her through the night. She never wanted anything to hurt Riley, and for more reasons than the fact he was Derek’s dad. They had a history. He’d been her first love.

  Before she knew what was happening, they were on the sofa and he was lying on top of her. There was no doubt they fit together like a man and woman should. Riley was on one elbow, stroking her cheek, running his hand down her knit top over her breasts. She reached for his shirt and almost tore it off as she sought to feel the skin underneath. His chest hair stopped her slide downward and she played in it awhile, making him groan. One of his legs was between hers and she rubbed against it as they kissed. It wouldn’t take much—

  Derek’s cries froze any hot response she was about to have. Riley went still, too, and the moment became one of those awkward ones you never forgot. Like the one she’d escaped when she’d left without waking him the morning after their reunion. This one she wasn’t going to escape. She’d been so hot for him that in another second she would have come. One look into his eyes and she knew he knew it.

  She sat up as best she could, saying, “I have to go to him.”

  “He’s crying, Brenna. He’s not in any danger.”

  “That’s not the way it works, Riley. When a child cries, a mother goes. No matter what.”

  “I can change him,” he said, climbing off the sofa and getting to his feet.

  “You have to get something to eat. I’ll take care of him.”

  Before Riley could protest, she went to Derek, her eyes misting a bit at the turbulent emotions inside of her.

  * * *

  While Brenna nursed Derek, she smelled the aroma of bacon and wondered what else Riley was cooking. She’d lost her appetite after she couldn’t get in touch with him and now her stomach grumbled at the aroma.

  Brenna was changing her son when Riley came into the room, a glass of milk in one hand, a toasted sandwich on a plate in the other. “I’ll take over with him. You eat.”

  “I can finish—”

  “Brenna, I know you. If you were worrying last night, you didn’t have an appetite and you probably didn’t eat. You can’t nourish our son if you don’t get nourishment, too.” He put the glass of milk and the sandwich on the nightstand, then took her place at the changing table. “Go on and sit. I’ll walk him a little, then bring him back in. He can stare at the mobile for a while.”

  As a single mom she was used to jumping up in a moment, at having meals interrupted, sleep interrupted, anything interrupted. Knowing Derek was in Riley’s care gave her a sense of relief that she could actually stare at the food and know she had the time to eat it. She took a bite of the lettuce, tomato, cheese and bacon sandwich and thought nothing had ever tasted better. She slowly chewed, then washed it down with a swallow of milk. She felt herself relaxing and didn’t know when that had last happened.

  By the time Riley returned with their son, she’d finished the sandwich and the milk and was just rocking back and forth, trying not to think about what had happened in the l
iving room, trying to concentrate on the blue sky out the window and the sun glinting off the maple leaves.

  Riley noted, “You look better already.”

  “Thank you, I guess.”

  He grimaced. “I’d better brush up on my man-woman repartee.” He settled Derek in his crib and turned on the mobile, letting it spin.

  A duck and a cat and a cow slowly chased each other around the circle. Derek seemed fascinated by the objects, even though Brenna knew it was too soon for him to focus. She expected Riley to leave the room, but he didn’t.

  Instead he went to the bed and stretched out on top of the spread, legs crossed at the ankles, arms under his head. “So tell me about your repartee.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Tell me whom you date and why.”

  “I don’t date.”

  He gave her a skeptical look.

  “Why you don’t believe me?”

  “Because you’re one beautiful woman, accomplished, successful. Why wouldn’t you go out?”

  She stopped rocking, checked out his semirelaxed pose and took her first stab at trusting him. “I didn’t choose very well when I did try to get serious.”

  “What happened?”

  His question was even and conversational, as if it was no big deal.

  As she studied Riley, she remembered secrets they’d shared. She’d told him about feeling smothered by her parents, how she’d felt on the outside of friendships, how she’d longed to get away from Miners Bluff. As far as she knew, he’d never turned any of those around on her, told anyone else or made her feel more insecure. This was the boy she’d thought about happily-ever-after with, yet had known it never could happen.

  Could she trust him? She’d have to if they were going to parent together. That thought had her shaking in her proverbial boots.

  But they did have to start somewhere. And Thad was almost ancient history.

  When she gazed into Riley’s eyes, there was reassurance there. So she began, “I dated a stockbroker, Thad Johnson, for almost a year and a half. I was a designer for Girard Bridals then. This was before I went out on my own. I was friends with another designer at Girard—Charlene. I shared an apartment with her to keep expenses down because I wasn’t taking any money from Dad. I let him pay for school, but that was all.”