The Rancher's Unexpected Baby. Jill Lynn
walked into this morning was way better than she’d imagined.
Maybe convincing Gage to keep the baby would be easier than she’d thought.
* * *
“He didn’t exactly sleep all night.”
Emma cracked an egg and emptied it into the glass bowl, placing the shell on a paper towel. “Oh, he didn’t? That’s a bummer. So what happened? Did he cry?”
“He woke up at about five.”
Her hand froze midcrack on the second egg, clear liquid sliding down the outside of the glass bowl. She finished dumping in what was left, then wiped up the spill with a paper towel. After foraging a piece of shell out of the eggs, she tossed the paper towel and shell into the trash.
“I heard a noise around then.”
Emma’s head whipped in his direction, panic dancing in her silver-blue eyes. “You did? What was it? Ouch.” Her fingers dug into the side of her neck as she faced the counter again.
“A vehicle, and I don’t think it would have been one of the guys. Too early. Do you have a knot?”
“Yeah, but it’s not a big deal. So...you didn’t see who it was?”
“No. When I moved, Hudson roused. I fed him a bottle and he went back to sleep. That’s when I laid him in his bed.”
“Oh, what a relief.”
That was a strange response. Unless... It couldn’t have been Emma he’d heard this morning, could it? But why would she be here at that hour?
Gage switched Hudson to his left arm. “Let me.” He took over massaging the knot for her. The faint hint of something sweet—like vanilla or cinnamon—teased his senses. His stomach rumbled, thankfully quietly, in response. To the idea of food or Emma herself?
The first, of course. Emma was too young for him and too...pristine. Like a dish someone would put on a high shelf and then never use. He was world-weary and disheartened regarding relationships—like an old, dirty slop bucket used for feeding pigs. The two items didn’t belong in the same vicinity. Emma deserved a fresh relationship with a man who hadn’t been through what he had. Who wasn’t jaded. And who wanted kids.
Strange that his mind had even traveled in that direction regarding her. He’d known her for a couple of years and it never had before.
“You don’t need to do that.” Emma motioned to his kneading, while at the same time relaxing her neck in the other direction to allow him access. “But it feels really good.” Since Emma faced the counter, she couldn’t see his amused grin. He liked how the truth rolled from her tongue, often, it seemed, without her permission.
Except at this moment, when she was acting a bit elusive.
“Thanks for the massage.” Emma returned to the eggs, cracking and adding two more. “Well, I’m glad it wasn’t worse, that Hudson wasn’t up every hour or two.”
Dread rolled through him. “Babies do that?”
“They can when they’re little. Probably not at this age, but with all he’s been through...not impossible. Especially with the new surroundings.”
“So how’d you sleep last night?”
“Great.” The word reeked of fake perkiness. “Where’s your frying pan?”
He pointed with the toe of his leather slipper to the lower cupboard. She found a small one, then sprayed it with oil and set it on the burner.
Hudson squirmed in his arms, and Gage put him on the floor. He crawled across the kitchen to the dining table and began inspecting a chair. He put a hand on the bottom rung and attempted to pull up, then wobbled and dropped back to the ground. Confusion and worry puckered his little brow as he made his way back to them. Poor kid. Everything was new and different for him.
I miss your dad, too, little guy. I wish I was more like him. But, I promise, I am going to find the right family for you.
Emma beat the eggs, then sent them careening into the pan. It whooshed as the mixture hit the heated surface.
When Hudson gave a disgruntled cry, Emma turned to him. “Oh, kiddo, you’re so out of your element. We need to unpack the rest of your toys this morning.” She opened a lower cupboard and retrieved a large metal mixing bowl, then a plastic serving spoon from the utensil drawer. Once she handed them to Hudson, he contentedly made a racket with the two items.
Gage leaned against the counter, facing Emma as she stirred the eggs in the pan. She didn’t look at him.
“Anything I can do to help?”
“Nope. This is too easy to require assistance.” After finishing the eggs, she turned off the burner, carrying the pan over to Hudson’s high chair. She used the spatula to spread some of the scrambled eggs onto the tray and then blew across them. Once she returned the pan to the stove, she scooped Hudson up from the floor and transported him to the high chair.
“Do you want some eggs? Does that sound good?” She buckled him in, securing a bib around his neck. He fisted a handful of food and maneuvered it, not so gracefully, into his mouth.
Emma got a plate out of the cupboard next to Gage. “Hungry?” She nodded toward the pan. “I made enough for you.”
“And you?”
“No. I already ate.”
She moved to the utensil drawer, but Gage beat her to the spot, blocking her from opening it. “Emma, what were you doing around five this morning?”
“Sleeping.” Her answer came out fast, but it slipped up at the end, almost a question.
“So there’s no way it was your car I heard, right?”
Her profile stayed stoic for all of three seconds before cracking into something near embarrassment. “Before I left last night, I wanted to wait it out. Make sure there wasn’t an emergency or that you didn’t need me right away. And then I fell asleep in my car.”
“Are you serious?” His voice dialed up to a nine. She’d slept out there almost all night? In the cold?
“I promise it wasn’t planned. And I’m so sorry I woke you. If I hadn’t, Hudson might have kept sleeping.” She huffed. “It was stupid of me to let that happen.”
“It was stupid, but not because you woke me. I could care less about that. And I’m not worried about Hudson being up for a few minutes. He did great. But I am concerned about you. Emma, you can’t be doing stuff like that. You need to take care of yourself. Hudson and I will be fine. And I’ll call you if we’re not. Okay?”
Her mouth pursed to one side. “I just...needed to make sure the two of you were good. And it truly was an accident. Okay?” A grin tempered the cheeky mimicked addition, seasoning it sweet.
The brittle parts of him softened. It was hard to stay upset around Emma. She just sort of...diffused him.
“Next time you pull something like that, I’m going to put you in a time-out.”
Her laughter brightened the room as much as a strand of twinkling white Christmas lights.
What was he going to do with this woman? How could Emma be so considerate and selfless? It was starkly different from anything Gage had ever experienced with Nicole. After they’d married, his ex-wife had pretty much focused on herself. He had hoped that the tendency would change with age and maturity, but it hadn’t.
Nicole had put her needs above everyone else’s. She would never have watched out for Hudson—and him—the way Emma did.
When Gage had told Emma yesterday that he planned to pay her for watching the baby, she’d thrown a royal fit. He still would...somehow. But in her mind, she was just volunteering at this point. Before Hudson had come into his life, Gage had known that