Little Cowgirl on His Doorstep. DONNA ALWARD

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      CHAPTER TWO

      AVERY HAD SURMISED that twenty-four hours might not be enough time to work things out with Callum, so when she’d booked her return flight she’d left a full day between arrival and departure. Since Callum wasn’t at all interested in Nell, she called the airline and asked about switching to an earlier flight. Unfortunately, because it was high season, everything was sold out. She could put herself on the standby list, but traveling standby with a baby didn’t sound like her favorite way to spend a day. They’d just make a mini vacation of it, then spend the full day in Cadence Creek and then head back as planned.

      They stayed at the bed-and-breakfast and now, in the bright sun of a July morning, she had the window to their room open. A perfumed breeze wafted in from the flower gardens and Avery could hear birds singing in the bushes as they perched on the edge of the birdbath nestled among the plants. She’d enjoyed a full breakfast in the dining room and now Nell was buckled into her seat, staring at a bar of brightly colored toys.

      Nell had been so good last night. They’d checked in and Avery had changed her, mixed up a bottle and fed her. Then they’d taken a bath together in the big tub and Avery had put her to bed in the portable playpen she’d brought as a second piece of luggage.

      Traveling light wasn’t an option with infants, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Despite the change in bed, Nell had only woken once in the night to be fed, and the bed-and-breakfast owners had moved a rocking chair into the room when they’d seen she had a baby. All in all it had been extremely comfortable.

      “Come on, pumpkin. We’ve got a whole day to kill. Why don’t we explore a little? There must be something to do in this town.”

      She’d had time to think about yesterday’s events. While she was sad that Nell wasn’t going to grow up knowing her father, the knowledge that Callum wasn’t going to challenge her custody of Nell put a new spring in her step. She put a lace-trimmed bonnet on Nell’s tiny head and once outside the bed-and-breakfast, she placed her in an umbrella stroller. They made their way through the small town, sticking to the few streets that had sidewalks and a selection of stores. It really was a cute little community with definite Western flair. False-fronted shops lined the streets and hanging flower baskets decorated the lampposts.

      There was an old-fashioned general store that carried daily necessities as well as a selection of penny candy and knickknacks; a small department store dealing with household items and mostly work clothing and a hardware store. Farther along she found a craft shop that was charming, and they spent several minutes browsing inside. Avery knew she shouldn’t, but she walked out with four balls of soft rose-colored yarn and a new pattern. She could tuck the yarn into the corners of her suitcase, and the pattern would knit up a sweet sweater and cap for Nell to wear when the weather turned chilly this fall. Avery looked down at the baby in the stroller and felt her heart swell. Autumn was her favorite time of year, and this year she and Nell would cozy up together during the longer evenings and she could knit to her heart’s content.

      They stopped at a bakery and Avery paid closer attention. This was her world—sugar and flour and butter and all the other mysterious, wonderful things that went into baking. The plain storefront window and shelving showcased a good selection of what she guessed to be high-quality items—good home-cooking if she were any judge. The bread was golden-brown and looked beautifully light, the pies were heavy with fruit, the crusts perfectly fluted and the meringue on the lemon ones stood a good two inches thick, the swirled peaks golden. There were cookies, squares, and cakes, too, but the cakes were boring: vanilla and chocolate, plainly decorated, without a bit of creativity. There was no fondant or sugar flowers, just buttercream piped through various tips. And only one lonely tray of chocolate cupcakes. Nice, but lacking in imagination and technique for sure.

      She bought a cupcake and ventured back outside to eat it. Two stores away she spied a bench and she pushed the stroller to it, locked the wheels, handed Nell a rattle to keep her occupied and finally bit into the cake.

      It wasn’t bad. Not imaginative by any stretch, but the texture was good. A higher grade of cocoa would make a big difference. It wasn’t quite to The Icing on Top standard, but then Avery made her living at the boutique bakery, specializing in cakes and cupcakes to order. She was always looking for new variations to experiment with, and loved how every day she always made something new. Lately her favorite had been making custom decorations for the tops of cupcakes. Her favorite so far had been the tiny mortarboards she’d done for June graduations, complete with gold leaf tassels. For one party she’d done red velvet cupcakes with white buttercream to match the redand-white school colors. They’d been a huge hit. And last month had been insane with weddings. More and more brides were choosing cupcakes over a traditional wedding cake. The lemon chiffon cakes with edible flowers on top were to die for.

      She’d just licked the last of the frosting from her fingers when a shadow fell over the bench. She angled her face up to see Callum standing over them. At least this time his shirt was neatly tucked in and his hair had been combed…sort of. It still hung past his collar, giving him a rough and ready appearance, and he hadn’t shaved, either. She usually didn’t go in for facial hair, but she had to admit his rugged appearance made him seem both a little dangerous and incredibly sexy.

      Her heart began to pound faster as she looked up into his eyes. Not because it was him, she assured herself, but because she hadn’t planned on seeing him again and having him appear out of the blue felt like trouble was on its way. She should have known better than to let down her guard—should have known it had been too easy yesterday.

      “Hello,” she said quietly.

      “Hi. I stopped by the bed-and-breakfast looking for you. Jim and Kathleen said you’d decided to have a look around town.”

      Her heartbeat quickened even more. “So you came looking for me?”

      “Yeah. I did.”

      The sidewalk traffic was sparse and while Avery didn’t want anyone eavesdropping on their conversation, there was a small comfort in being in a public place. “Do you want to sit down, Callum?”

      She’d used his first name, she realized. Up until now it had been Mr. Shepard. Even this small familiarity seemed intimate and she made a point of breaking eye contact, looking down at Nell. She fussed with the baby’s outfit even though everything was perfectly fine.

      “You don’t want to go somewhere more private?” he asked, and her pulse skipped.

      “There’s no one around, and Nell likes it outside. See how contented she is?”

      Some “ba, ba” sounds came from the stroller, along with rattles from the toy as Nell batted her hands up and down.

      The shadow disappeared as Callum moved to the side and took a seat on the bench.

      Avery looked over at him. He was staring at Nell, his face unreadable. Like he was looking for something and not finding it. She waited a moment or two and then nudged. “Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?”

      He sat back, resting his hands on his jeans. “About yesterday…”

      “I believe you made your thoughts clear.”

      “I was shocked.”

      “Clearly.” Nell dropped the rattle and Avery picked it up, dusted it off and gave it back to her.

      “Wouldn’t you be?” he asked quietly. “If someone showed up on your doorstep СКАЧАТЬ