AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The kindness created a warm glow in her chest. After purchasing the blue car, she’d used her credit cards for the final time at a baby store. Then she’d stuffed as many items as possible for Jenna’s care into the trunk and headed west. The layette included a folding travel bed—the best she could do in a small car—but a real crib was even better.
“I shall have to thank him.”
Rowdy grinned. “Indeed, you shall.”
A flush of embarrassment rushed up her neck. Enough was enough. “Mr. Davis, are you making fun of me?”
“We call it teasing around these parts.”
“May I inquire as to the reason?”
“You talk funny. All citified and stiff. Kinda tickles the ears.”
“Oh, I see.” Was her speech the only thing he found amusing? Had she been imagining his insolent stares?
She moved deeper into the room, eager to settle Sophie and to explore her new living arrangements. Rowdy remained in the doorway watching her. “Thank you for showing me the rooms. I’m sure I can find my way around from here.”
The ranch hand didn’t seem to get the message. He slouched against the door facing, picking at the button on his sleeve.
Determined not to let him bother her, Jenna lifted Sophie to her shoulder and turned her attention to the room.
The suite was different than the rest of the wood and stone and leather ranch house. Here was an English garden, a room filled with lush, print fabrics and graceful furnishings in sage and antique white with splashes of rose and blue. The decor bled over into a sitting room and through to the nursery. Jenna loved it.
“This looks new. As though no one has ever used it,” she murmured.
“I don’t think it was used much.”
Sophie made one of her squeaky noises and squirmed. Jenna patted the tiny back as she turned toward Rowdy. “But these rooms are the nursery. Didn’t Gavin sleep here?”
“That was before my time, but I doubt it.”
“Why ever not? The rooms are beautiful.”
He shrugged. “I guess beauty’s in the eye of the beholder.”
His answer was no answer at all, but Jenna didn’t press the topic. If Dax didn’t like the look of an English garden, why should she care? Her job was to cook and clean, not question the tastes of her employer.
A little thrill ran through her veins. She had acquired a job and she would be able to care for her daughter. Like a normal person.
Grateful, she left Rowdy Davis standing in the door while she took Sophie into the taupe-walled nursery and laid her in the crib. As she placed a kiss on her daughter’s velvet cheek, the soft scent of baby breath and formula filled her senses. She thought the smell was pure heaven.
She slipped out of her coat and draped it over the railing.
Someone, Dax she supposed, had neatly made up the baby bed and placed pretty quilted bumper pads around the inside. A quilt rack complete with a darling patchwork quilt in sage and taupe stood next to the bed.
Jenna adjusted her daughter’s blanket and stroked the miniscule hand, lost in a love that brought a lump to her throat. Sophie looked tiny in the big crib.
“I was just wondering something.”
Jenna jumped at the sudden intrusion of a man’s voice. She hadn’t realized Rowdy had followed her through to the nursery.
She turned slightly to find him standing at her elbow. “Yes? What is it?”
“What’s a pretty girl like you doing out here?” He edged closer, overpowering her nose with his heavy-handed cologne. “I can’t believe any man would let something like you get away. You married?”
The question startled her like an unexpected spray of cold water.
“I’m a widow. Sophie’s father died in a car crash.”
“My sympathies.” The words didn’t quite match the expression in his eyes.
“Thank you.” She swallowed and slanted away to fuss with the elephant mobile hanging above Sophie. She expected Rowdy to take his leave.
He didn’t. Instead, he reached into the crib and drew a fingertip over Sophie’s rose-petal cheek. Jenna had to restrain herself to keep from pushing his hand away.
“So you and the little darlin’ here are all alone in the world?” He straightened, turning his probing gaze to her.
“We are making our own way quite well, thank you.”
“Good for you. But if you should need a man, give a holler.” His words were soft, suggesting something more than helping her unload her car. “I’m always glad to help out.”
Jenna had no idea how to handle the man. Pretending a fascination with the little lamp atop the armoire, she moved in that direction. She could feel Rowdy’s stare on her back. Maybe he was just being friendly, but his sly, unyielding grin made her uncomfortable as if he could see through her clothes.
