The Millionaires' Club: David, Clint & Travis. Kathie DeNosky

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      Her pulse jumped as he moved within inches. His warm fingers brushed her collarbone and her shoulder. He stood close and she looked at his unshaven jaw covered in black stubble, his mouth with his slightly full lower lip, the sight of which stirred a bushel of curiosity about how those lips would feel on hers. He deftly removed the pin and placed it under the counter. “Anything else?” he asked.

      “Oh, yes!” she answered dreamily while looking at curls of dark chest hair at the open neck of his blue, short-sleeved western shirt and thinking she could let his fingers flit over her for another half hour or so.

      “Yes?” he repeated, his voice filled with curiosity while he stared at her with arched brows. Then she realized what she had just said.

      “I meant no!” she replied swiftly, feeling her cheeks flush. She turned away, but not before she saw his eyes narrow and his gaze became more piercing than ever.

      He took her arm. “My car is this way.”

      She had a ridiculous feeling she had just lost control of her life. All because she knew how to feed and hold a baby. “Don’t you like babies?”

      “I don’t know anything about them. Well, now I know they cry a lot and I know how to change a diaper.”

      Marissa hurried beside him, trying to keep up with his long-legged stride as they left the store and crossed the parking lot to his low-slung, dark green sports car. Sunshine spilled over them on the crisp November day, and Marissa still couldn’t believe what was happening to her. She glanced over her shoulder at the store and it seemed as if she were in a dream. Why wasn’t she back there working?

      She looked at the tall man beside her. In less than thirty minutes he had changed her life. Now here she was outside, invited to breakfast with an unbelievably appealing man and she was going to get to care for a precious little girl and make a lot of money doing it. She had to be dreaming, yet the sunshine was warm and very real. Enjoy the moment, she thought.

      He held the door for her. “I’ll take Autumn now and put her into her carrier.” Once again, their hands touched and she was too aware of each tiny contact. What was happening to her? She didn’t usually have that reaction when she handed things to men at the store.

      She looked down at her clothes. Did she want to go to the Royal Diner in her Bo-Peep costume she had worn for the store special today? Deciding she would, she sighed. It was her own outfit, not the store’s, and it would be too complicated to go home to change.

      Climbing into the car, Marissa watched David put the baby into her new carrier in the back seat. He buckled the infant and the carrier in and then slid behind the wheel.

      Beware of charming, appealing men, she reminded herself silently, glancing at David. She remembered how she had fallen head over heels in love—or had it been infatuation?— for her handsome ex-husband who had turned out to be a crushing disappointment in her life. A man who had used her for his own purposes, cheating on her while she worked to help put him through medical school. When he’d achieved his goal, he had discarded her, hurting her badly.

      When Autumn began to cry, Marissa twisted in the seat to talk to the baby and to try to give her the bottle. As soon as she did, Autumn became quiet.

      “Thanks for doing this,” David said.

      “She’s an adorable baby. So pretty.”

      He didn’t answer, and in minutes they whipped into a parking place in front of the Royal Diner. “I’ll take the carrier inside with us,” he said, climbing out to unbuckle the carrier. While he held the door for Marissa, she entered the warm Royal Diner. With every step she was aware of David’s presence, aware of brushing against his arm as she went through the open door.

      When the smell of frying bacon and brewing coffee assailed her, she realized that she was hungry. Sliding into a booth, Marissa smoothed her skirt and petticoats and patted the seat. “Put Autumn’s carrier here beside me. When she finishes this bottle, I can watch her.”

      He didn’t need any arm-twisting for that one. Instantly, he set the carrier with the sleeping baby beside Marissa and then he slid into the booth and sat facing her.

      Feeling nervous and self-conscious, Marissa smiled at him. She glanced around the diner and saw a familiar waitress heading toward them.

      Popping gum and giving a tug to her tight, pink polyester uniform, Sheila Foster brought them glasses of water and plastic-coated menus. “Hi, Marissa. Hi, David,” she greeted them, looking again at Marissa. “Cute dress and cute baby.”

      “Thanks, Sheila,” Marissa said with a big smile that revealed a dimple in her right cheek.

      “Would you like coffee?” Sheila asked.

      David nodded, still staring at Marissa’s dimple. “What about you, Marissa?”

      Every time he said her name in his deep voice, a tingle slithered through her middle. She shook her head. “No, thanks. I’ll have a glass of orange juice.”

      “I’ll have orange juice with my coffee,” David added.

      As soon as they were alone, Marissa asked him, “So, David, how are you related to Autumn?”

      David met Marissa’s gaze squarely. “I’m not,” he answered carefully, realizing that for once in his life, he hadn’t thought ahead to explanations.

      “She’s not related to you,” Marissa repeated, and there was no mistaking the surprise in her voice. “So how come she’s in your care?”

      The woman might dress strangely, David thought, but her brain was clicking right along. And those dark brown eyes of hers were slicing into him. He weighed what to reveal and what to keep to himself.

      “I was here last night with friends, and while we were eating, a woman came rushing in and collapsed.”

      “This is her baby?” Marissa demanded. “That was on last night’s news. How did you get the baby? Why isn’t she with her mother?”

      He had been so distraught over feeding and caring for Autumn, he hadn’t considered how fast the word would spread in Royal. Royal might be a town filled with some of the greatest wealth in the Lone Star State, but it was still a small place and news traveled like wildfire.

      “I know Dr. Justin Webb,” David answered carefully. “When my friends and I took the woman and her baby to the hospital, we met with Dr. Webb. Instead of turning the baby over to a state agency, he said I could take care of her until her mother is able to,” he explained.

      “Wow! No wonder you looked a little upset.”

      “Yeah, well, I haven’t spent time around a baby before. I haven’t ever even held one before last night.”

      Marissa looked at sleeping Autumn as if she was filled with sympathy for the little girl. “Well, I’m here now and I’ve held plenty of babies,” she said, with a confident tone that was reassuring to him. “We better discuss this job I’m supposed to do. I guess you want me to move in today.”

      “Damn straight I do,” he said with heartfelt sincerity. “I’ll be counting the minutes.”

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