Daniel's Daddy. Stella Bagwell

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      The knock at the door had Hannah bolting straight up out of a dead sleep. Her heart beating wildly in her chest, she glanced around, disoriented, until she finally realized she’d fallen asleep sometime early this morning on the living-room couch.

      The knock came again. Louder this time.

      Hannah wrapped the white plissé robe more tightly around her and hurried to answer the door. When she opened it and saw that the caller was Jess Malone, she very nearly gasped out loud.

      “Jess. Is—uh—is something wrong?” Her eyes darted quickly downward at Daniel, who was clinging to his father’s hand and smiling broadly up at her.

      Jess stared at Hannah. He hadn’t expected to wake her at this hour. It was eight-thirty. He’d figured she was an early riser, even on Saturdays. But it was obvious from her appearance that he’d woken her. She looked different. Very different with her long red hair down and curling wildly around her face and shoulders. Although she was holding the robe tightly together at her throat for modesty’s sake, Jess couldn’t help but notice the way the white material was stretched against her breasts, outlining their feminine shape. Pure male attraction surged through him, blotting out that part of his brain that was telling him to quit staring.

      “Uh—no. We were just—” he thrust the empty thermos bottle at her “—returning your thermos.”

      “Oh, I’d forgotten,” she said, then quickly added, “But there was no need for you to bother.”

      The early-morning breeze caught at her hair and blew it in her face. One of her hands let go of the robe to push it back, allowing the fabric to fall away and expose the smooth skin of her throat.

      Needing no further invitation, Jess’s eyes slid downward, hoping the wind would do what his fingers were itching to do. Part the robe even more and expose the creamy swell of her breasts.

      She blushed furiously as she noticed Jess looking at her. Suddenly, he felt ridiculous because she’d caught him staring. Dear God, he was in trouble when he started fantasizing about a thirty-three-year-old spinster!

      “It’s—not a bother,” he said while inwardly wishing he could kick himself.

      Edging behind the doorjamb as much as she could, Hannah said, “I was just waking up. Have you two had breakfast yet?”

      Jess shook his head. “We were headed down to McKay’s. Would you like to join us?”

      Join them! The last time a man had invited her to go out with him had been years ago. And that invitation had been from a man she should have never trusted. But she had, and in the end she’d regretted it. Since that time, she’d avoided men like the plague. If she suddenly showed up at McKay’s with Jess Malone and his son, she’d very likely put the whole town into shock.

      “That’s very nice of you, Jess. But I—it would take too long to get ready.”

      It was just as well, he thought. He’d only invited her on a crazy impulse, anyway, thinking it would please Daniel to have her company during breakfast. And him, too. Damn it!

      “McKay’s isn’t fancy,” he said, trying again. “Just go throw on some jeans. I’ll wait for you.”

      He was serious, Hannah realized, her heart hammering heavily behind her breast.

      “I don’t know—if I should,” she stammered, a part of her hungering for a chance to act like any normal woman, while the other part was terrified because she didn’t know how.

      Jess didn’t know why he was patiently standing here waiting for her answer when she was acting as though he’d just asked her to go to bed with him instead of to share breakfast with him. What could she be worried about? Daniel would be with them.

      “Hellfire, Hannah Dunbar! You act like you’ve never had a man invite you out to breakfast before. Either you want to go, or you don’t. Which is it?”

      She hadn’t been invited out to breakfast before. But she could hardly tell him that. If possible, her creamy white complexion grew even redder at the thought. “I—do.”

      She pushed the screen door open wide and stood back to allow them entry. “Please come in while I change. I’ll hurry.”

      Jess guessed she would hurry. By the time he and Daniel had stepped inside the house, she was scurrying quickly down the hallway, the white robe flapping against her long, slender legs.

      Daniel moved away from his father and looked curiously around the room.

      “Don’t touch anything,” Jess instructed as he, too, glanced around the living room, which was filled with antique furniture dating back to the forties. It was all very womanly, he decided as he took in books, flowers and candles scattered randomly around the room, but it wasn’t fussy. In fact, it was much homier than his living room back home in Douglas.

      “Wow! There’s a bird!”

      Jess turned around to see Daniel racing over to a bird cage by the picture window.

      “He’s pretty! Look how pretty he is, Daddy,” Daniel exclaimed as he stood admiring a white cockatoo.

      “Don’t get too close,” Jess warned. “He might want your nose for breakfast.”

      Giggling loudly, Daniel covered his nose with both hands. “He won’t get my nose. I’ll keep it covered.”

      Back in the bedroom, Hannah’s hands shook as she fastened the buttons on her dress. It was a pink shirtwaist with elbow-length sleeves. Nothing special. But Hannah didn’t own anything special, and as for him telling her to throw on jeans, she’d almost laughed. She didn’t own a pair of jeans! Those things were for chic young girls who wanted to show off their sexy bodies. Did he really think she could wear them?

      “I was wondering,” his voice came to her from the living room, “if you knew some church or charity that I could give my father’s things to. I stayed up last night packing them. Now all I need to do is load them into the truck.”

      “Uh…yes,” she called loudly back to him. “I do know a place. The church I attend would welcome anything you have to give. I’ll show you where it is after we eat.”

      She pushed her feet into a pair of white flats, then quickly knotted her hair at the back of her head and secured it with bobby pins. She looked dowdy. But that was nothing new. She’d always been less than pretty and felt it would be foolish of her to ever think she could be. She wasn’t like her mother, who’d been young-looking and glamorous right up until the day she’d had the car accident.

      Jess, who’d been watching the cockatoo with Daniel, turned when he heard Hannah’s footsteps.

      She smiled tentatively at him. “I’m ready,” she said, hoping he’d put her breathlessness down to hurrying.

      She СКАЧАТЬ