Texas Bride. Kate Thomas

to deal with failure long enough to succeed. Josh had simply flashed a wry smile, made some comment about “third time lucky” and reached for another diaper. Moments later, with a triumphant flourish, he’d handed her the securely diapered baby.

      Dani sighed. Every baby should have a father, whether he did any diapering or not. Hers would only have... A mother who loves him with all her heart. A mom he can always depend on.

      “That’s not so bad, is it, Michael?” she whispered into the falling water.

      Michael James Caldwell. A good, strong name for a boy—and for the man he’d grow into. If she did her job.

      The tears escaped and poured down her face. “Oh, stop it,” she told herself, grabbing the little bar of soap. She rubbed it over the washcloth, then doggedly spread lather over her body. “Cope, don’t mope—remember?”

      Her goals for the immediate future were simple: get back her energy, care for Michael, find a job.

      And repay Josh Walker. While she washed and rinsed her hair, Dani calculated that, intangibles aside, her debt to the man in the next room already exceeded her meager savings.

      Still simple, if not exactly easy.

      Not easy at all. After drying off and getting dressed, Dani felt as limp as unset gelatin, but managed to braid her reddish-brown mop, then checked on her sleeping son—and couldn’t help touching him in wonder. I really ought to straighten the room before lunch arrives, she thought, smiling at Michael’s cloud of pale, fine hair.

      Oh, be honest—it’s Josh you’d like to impress, not a hamburger.

      It was almost noon, which meant he’d soon be bringing lunch. And if Michael was awake, she’d get her meal with a gruff order to eat while he took care of the baby.

      Seeing her tiny son cradled against one of Josh’s massive shoulders made her insides heat.

      The kiss they’d shared seared through her again and she wished...

      Crossing to the bed, Dani jerked the covers into place, then dumped the baby’s things on the bed and started reorganizing them. She would not waste her time on impossible dreams.

      They weren’t very big dreams—a home, a family, she told herself for the eight millionth time. Why had Jimmy run from them? And me?

      Slowly, Dani collapsed on the bed, still clutching the little snap-front shirt she’d just folded. She knew there was no answer; she was just tired. And they were my dreams, she thought sleepily, not his. Against her will, Dani’s eyes drifted closed....

      

      Shutting the door with his hip, Josh tossed the package of diapers at a chair and dropped the food sack on the dresser. Then he shoved yesterday’s shirt aside and plopped down on the bed. After adjusting the pillows behind his head, he picked up the remote, crossed his ankles and tried to get interested in the heated discussion on television. Couldn’t. He really didn’t give a damn about spouses who dated their ex-spouse’s ex-spouse or whatever today’s theme was.

      He wanted to be with his baby, who was right next door.

      Leaning sideways, Josh moved aside a balled-up sock so he could see the bedside clock.

      Good. Nearly noon. In a few minutes he’d stroll over to the connecting door, knock and poke his head into Dani’s room. While he asked if she was hungry yet, he’d get a glimpse of Michael.

      Josh grinned at the couple crying on TV. If he was really lucky, Dani would be in the bathroom or sleeping or something and he’d get to tiptoe over to the crib. Have a few minutes to absorb more fascinating details about that darling baby. Maybe even reach down and stroke his unbelievably soft skin.

      The talk show host hit a sympathetic pose for the camera. Josh curled his fingers into fists. Dammit—he needed that baby!

      Sunday, while the motel manager had hunted up a crib and the doc put Dani to bed, he’d gotten almost twenty uninterrupted minutes to hold Michael. To marvel at his incredible, tiny fingers and toes.

      Since then, however, the situation had deteriorated severely. Yesterday, Dani had said something about not needing to hover over them.

      Hover? He’d barely been near the baby! Or her. He’d only been allowed to burp the little guy a couple of times. So far, he’d only managed to change eight or nine diapers. Just one little shirt. One!

      Josh pulled off his boots and let them drop. The couple on TV turned to shout at the audience.

      He needed more time with Michael.

      The talk show couple embraced. The studio audience applauded. Josh scowled and began surfing through the channels. He had to convince Dani to let him take her husband’s baby to Virginia.

      But how?

      Persuasive argument? Bribery? Seduction?

      Josh paused at a tennis match, but one of the players was positioned behind a T-shirt draped over the corner of the TV set.

      Too damned dangerous. With her luminous jade-green eyes, incredible coppery hair and smooth, creamy skin, Dani Caldwell roused protective, possessive instincts in a man. And that made him vulnerable.

      Josh mashed the remote once more. He refused to let another woman hurt him.

      Through the sizzle of mushrooms in a sauté pan and some sappy theme music, Josh heard the softest of whimpers.

      Instantly he was on his feet, flying through the connecting doorway.

      The scene that met his eyes was...his worst nightmare.

      Michael lay on his back in the crib, kicking his adorable little legs. Dani was sitting on her bed, short tendrils of hair writhing gloriously around her flushed cheeks, her emerald eyes glowing beneath heavy lids.

      Desire streaked through him like hot lightning.

      Gritting his teeth against it, Josh concentrated on the disaster: she was packing Michael’s things into that damned yellow quilted bag.

      “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded, then forced his voice to steady. “Sorry. I meant something more like ‘Are you sure you should be up? The doctor said you needed plenty of rest.”’

      “I’ve been resting.” A wry smile quirked those luscious lips into a soft curve as she brushed at her hair with one hand.

      Josh’s gaze went straight to her full breasts. He should have thought about mother’s milk and Michael. Instead, another jolt of pure male desire spiked through him. He wanted his own mouth nuzzling that sweet feminine flesh—

      “Josh?” She was looking at him expectantly.

      “You, ah, must be feeling stronger, right?”

      Dani winced. Pretty blatant hint, she thought, but who can blame him? Why would he want to stick around playing nursemaid to a hick from Lufkin?

      “Y-yes.” She made herself look straight into his turquoise eyes. It was safer than ogling the rest of him. And that’s what she wanted to do because—well, honestly, Josh Walker had looked sexy in wet jeans, and like a Greek statue undressed, but this... This ought to be illegal!

      The white dress shirt set off his tan the way black velvet sets off priceless diamonds. He’d folded back the sleeves, too, which just emphasized his tanned, muscular forearms. And that hint of dark, crinkly hair at the open neck—Dani knew how it swirled across the broad muscular plane of his chest, then narrowed to a wedge angling downward to... Control yourself.

      To expensive dark dress slacks and patterned dress socks.

      Dani sighed. The man positively radiated sleek virility and mature sophistication. Of course, he wanted her out of his hair.

      Well, she had no money, no transportation and no idea where to go, but she still had her pride. “I—I can be packed in twenty minutes.” And her manners. “I sure thank you, Josh, for