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He’d embarrassed her, made her recall the liberties he’d taken with her body. He wanted to apologize, but he never seemed to know the right things to say to women.
“Would you like to hold her?” The little mama stretched the bundle in his direction. The blanket fell away from the baby’s face and Dax went all mushy inside. He remembered how Gavin had looked those first few days. All squished and out of shape but so innocent Dax had fallen in instant, overpowering love.
Dax stepped away from the bed. “No.”
He’d been to the feed store earlier. He couldn’t be clean enough to hold a baby.
“Oh.” The little mama’s face fell. He felt like a jerk, but didn’t figure it mattered. Once he was out of here, he’d never see her again.
“Sophie and I are grateful for everything you did.”
“Sophie? Pretty.”
“I thought so. Sophie Joy.”
Feeling oversize, out of place and like a complete idiot, Dax nodded. “I gotta get back to the ranch. Just wanted to check on you.”
“I appreciate it.” She reached out a slender hand and touched his arm. Even through the long-sleeved jacket, Dax imagined the heat and pressure of her fingers seeping into his bloodstream. His mind went to the softness of the skin on her bare feet. She was probably silky all over.
Something inside him reacted like a wild stallion. He jerked away. What the devil business did he have feeling attracted to a new mother, a woman young enough to be his…well, his niece or something. She was a kid. A kid. And he was a dirty old man.
Without another word, he spun away and hurried out the door, down the hall and out into the gray November where the Texas wind could slap some sense into him.
CHAPTER THREE
STUNNED, JENNA STARED as the cowboy retreated, turning his trim, anvil-shaped back toward her before charging out of the room as if a pack of dogs was after him.
“I don’t think he likes us, Sophie,” she murmured. Though she couldn’t imagine why. He’d behaved the same way in the car yesterday, as though she’d angered him. Yet he’d helped her. And he’d come to visit her in the hospital.
“What a strange man.”
He’d left so fast, the scent of a very masculine cologne lingered in the room like a contrail. Were all Texas cowboys so…reticent? Well, it didn’t matter. She would likely never see the man again, and the truth was, Dax Coleman had saved her, saved Sophie, and she would be forever grateful.
Before she had time to ponder further, a woman entered the room. Dressed in a black pantsuit and white, round earbobs of the 1960s, the woman carried a clipboard and a stack of papers.
“I’m Alice Pernisky from the business office.” She rolled an over-the-bed table in front of Jenna. “Let’s put the baby in the bassinet while we take care of the paperwork.”
Her no-nonsense style brooked no argument, so Jenna did as she said. She was worried enough about completing these forms.
“Let’s take care of the birth certificate first.” The woman pushed a paper under her nose. “The doctor has filled in the basics, but we’ll need your complete information, your name, the father’s name, and of course—” she allowed a thin smile “—the name you’ve chosen for your baby.”
Heart thudding crazily, Jenna stared down at the form and wondered if falsifying a birth certificate was illegal. Ink pen hovering over the sheet, she considered long and hard.
After a few seconds, Alice Pernisky said, “My dear, if you don’t want to put the father’s name, that’s fine. Just take care of the rest. We see more of that kind of thing than we used to.”
Heat flushed from her toes to her head. They thought she was an unwed mother who had no idea who Sophie’s father was.
“My husband died,” she said, which was true, though Derek had been out of her life long before the car crash that killed him.
“I’m sorry,” Alice said automatically, although Jenna did not think the woman believed her.
Would people always assume the worst if she didn’t put Derek’s name on the birth certificate?
Of course they would. This document would follow Sophie all the days of her life. And Jenna would not do that to her daughter.
Taking a deep breath, Jenna bent to the form and began to write. After the divorce, her parents had insisted she return to Carrington and she’d gladly done so. Derek had humiliated her enough. But now, his name might be the one thing that could keep her and Sophie from being discovered.
If she was going to start her life anew with Sophie, she would do it correctly. She would lie only if she had to, and pray her family wouldn’t be able to trace her through hospital documents bearing only her married name.
