The New Baby. Brenda Mott

was silent a moment. “Hey, how about I push you?” With obvious effort, he’d lightened his tone.

      “Push me?”

      “Yeah.” He took hold of the chains, above where she gripped them. “When was the last time you played on a swing?”

      She laughed in spite of herself. “I don’t know. Longer ago than I care to think about.”

      “Well, then you’re overdue for some fun.”

      Before Amanda could protest, he pulled the swing backward, lifting her feet off the ground. Her stomach gave a sharp jump at the sudden motion, and she tightened her hands on the chains, letting out a little yelp. Her hair lifted away from her face as Ian let go, giving her a push, sending her forward. She chuckled, feeling silly, and tucked her feet out of the way so they wouldn’t drag. At five-five, she wasn’t exactly tall, but she was still too big for the child-sized swing. Too big, but apparently not too old.

      Joyful anticipation rose within her as the swing arced backward once more, and Ian’s hands came firmly into contact with her back, sending her skyward. Higher and higher he pushed the swing, and Amanda clung to the chains, letting the silliness enfold her, leaning back to let her hair fly wildly away from her shoulders as he sent her sailing into the air over and over again. She shrieked with laughter when the swing hit a point so high it bounced on the chains, and Ian gripped her waist as she came back down, his hands steady.

      But she’d been ready to thrust forward again, and the momentum of the swing, coupled with his holding on to her, sent her sliding backward instead.

      “Whoa!” Ian slipped his arms around her, lost his balance and pulled her off the swing. The two of them tumbled to the ground, and he put out a protective hand to stop the swing from coming back to whack her in the head.

      Amanda froze in place, fully realizing what an intimate position they’d ended up in, limbs entwined, their faces mere inches from one another. “I haven’t done that in ages,” she said, attempting to take her mind off the urge to stay right where she was. Ian smelled wonderful, looked even better, and felt so warm and solid, she didn’t want to let go or get up. But she forced herself to do both.

      She brushed off the knees of her jeans. “This reminds me of the tree swing Grandpa Satterfield made for Nikki and I when we were small.”

      Ian picked up the cap that had tumbled from his head, and put it back on. Amanda straightened, and tried not to notice the way he watched her.

      He cleared his throat. “I never really heard Papaw talk about your grandpa.”

      “That’s probably because Granny was a widow for so long.” Amanda pushed her hair away from her face with both hands, knowing she must look a mess. “I can barely remember him. The tree swing is one of the only memories I have.”

      But Ian wasn’t thinking of swings anymore. The expression in his eyes said he wanted to kiss her, and Amanda took a step backward, making sure she didn’t do something foolish like let him. Or worse still, kiss him first.

      “Your hair looks fine,” he said, stilling her motions with a gentle touch to her wrist. “I like it that way.”

      “What way?” she joked, in an effort to make light of how he made her feel. “Tangled like a bird’s nest?”

      “No.” He reached up to gently pull a strand away from where it had snagged on one of her earrings. “Windblown. Natural. You look like you’ve been having fun.”

      She nearly choked. For one crazy second, she’d thought he was about to say she looked like she’d been having sex. Get a hold of yourself! Amanda knew it was only the fact that she hadn’t been intimate with anyone for such a long time that had her thoughts running rampant. It had been one more sore spot between her and Mark, shortly before their breakup. He’d been against the surrogacy procedure for many reasons, but finding out that it meant abstaining from sexual relations until a pregnancy was confirmed had sent him over the edge. The subject had led to their final argument and ultimate parting.

      The sobering thoughts brought her back to reality.

      “Listen, Ian, I’ve had a wonderful time with you this evening. But I really need to get home.”

      “Sure,” he said. “No problem. I had a nice time with you, too.” He pressed his hand against the small of her back, walking her toward his truck.

      The gesture was friendly and nothing more, as though he realized he’d overstepped the boundary she’d drawn. Still, Amanda couldn’t stop the feelings his touch evoked, bringing back a reminder of the way his strong hands had pressed against her when he’d pushed her on the swing. Making her wish things were different, and that there could be more than friendship between them. With difficulty, she reminded herself she wasn’t ready for anything more, and that she’d better listen to her head, even if it would have been much more enjoyable to follow her heart.

      The heart that told her Ian was everything she’d ever wanted in a man. Warm, funny, sexy, compassionate. She’d seen the pain in his eyes when he’d spoken of his son, and knew he hadn’t made the decision to give up his child lightly. She’d safely bet her last nickel Ian Bonner would make the best father and husband a woman could ask for.

      It figured she would find the perfect man now, when she was no longer looking.

      IAN HEADED FOR Shade Tree Manor as soon as he’d dropped Amanda off at her place. It was that, or face going home to an empty house with only Cuddles to greet him. There, he might be tempted to sit in the living room and think about how hard it had been to keep his distance from Amanda. It would be easy to dwell on the way she’d made him feel, and take things a step further by pondering what he might do to make her feel the same way about him.

      It was obvious Amanda had no interest in getting serious. Which shouldn’t matter, since he barely knew her. But somehow it did matter. He wanted to get to know her better, and planned to see what he could do about that, even if she didn’t want to take things past casual dating. He had time. He wasn’t in a rush to find Mrs. Right. Never had been before now anyway, so what difference did it make if he spent some time with Amanda?

      Wondering what issues she was dealing with that had made her come to Boone’s Crossing, Ian strode across the parking lot and into the building. He called out a greeting to the nurses at the front desk, already missing Amanda’s presence. Papaw was watching an old western on cable TV when Ian entered his room.

      “Hey, Papaw. How’s it going?”

      Zeb gave him a toothless smile. “Fine and dandy.” He reached out to clasp Ian’s hand in an affectionate greeting. His blue eyes twinkled. “So how’d it go? Tell me all the juicy details about your date with Miss Kelly.” He leaned forward in his wheelchair. “Well, not all of ’em, just the G-rated ones.” He cackled and punched Ian in the arm.