Bargaining for Baby(18)

His chest tight, Jack smiled at the galloping horses etched down the   cool handle. He shook the rattle and was rewarded by a sound similar to   sleigh bells. At the noise, Beau pulled his ear then threw a hand out.

Lowering the rattle, Jack sank into the chair and, feeling empty again, searched his soul.

He examined first the scan image in Sue's book then Beau. Then he looked   at each again. The pain behind his ribs intensified to a point where  he  almost lost his breath. But then, remarkably, the ache eased to a  warm  sensation rather than something bleak and cold and sour. He didn't  want  to feel that way anymore.                       
       
           



       

As the tension between his shoulders loosened, Jack bobbed Beau high on   his arm and, pressing his lips to the baby's forehead, handed the  rattle  over.



Later that day, Jack was back in the stables, preparing to brush down   Herc. But he was more interested in what was happening outside.

Beau was in the yard on a prickle-free patch of lawn and garden near the   house. He was enthralled by the motion of the baby swing, which his   uncle had hung from a tree branch that morning. Maddy pushed the swing,   carefully-not too high. Her face was a portrait of joy. Of   contentedness.

Smiling, Jack absently threaded Herc's brush strap over his hand.

Hell, no matter her mood, Maddy was attractive. Perfect symmetry,   graceful movements. In his humble opinion, this landscape was the ideal   foil for her skin and flaxen hair, particularly given the denim shorts   and blousy blue top she wore today … the same color as her eyes. He  itched  to go join them in the dappled shade of that cypress. But simply   looking from a distance raked the reawakened coals that smoldered deep   in his gut.

True, they both felt the same fire. Both wanted the chance to turn the   heat on to combustible high. But as much as it needled, he reminded   himself yet again that she'd been right last night and he, in turn,   meant to keep his word. He wouldn't crowd her. Foremost, she'd come to   Leadeebrook to keep a promise not to begin an affair.

Jack turned to Herc and, frowning, swiped the bristles down his glossy black neck.

Affair wasn't the right word. Affair implied some sort of ongoing   relationship and neither of them was immature enough to think that was a   possibility. They lived thousands of miles apart. He didn't like the   city. She was not a fan of the country. She might take up his offer and   come back to visit once or twice. But she was a young woman with a  life,  and who she was and what she aspired to be wasn't here.

When Herc's flank twitched and his rear hoof pawed the ground, Jack swiped the brush again.

Good thing really. He'd considered taking on a more serious relationship   with Tara and had concluded it would be a mistake. He'd had no choice   but to take responsibility for Beau. After the initial king-hit shock,   he was at peace with the arrangement. He'd do everything in his power  to  protect him, keep him close. Maddy, on the other hand …

Jack stopped brushing.

Well, Maddy was another matter.

Nell breezed by his leg, trotting out the door with a boomerang-shaped   stick in her mouth. Curious, Jack crossed to the window in time to see   Nell drop the stick at Maddy's feet.

It'd be a cold day in Hades before Maddy got chummy with a canine. Given   her past, he couldn't blame her. He, however, couldn't imagine not   having a dog around his feet. Not so long ago he'd owned five.

Her nose wrinkling, Maddy waved Nell back and Jack heard her say, "Shoo.   Get away." But Nell kept sitting there, every few seconds nudging the   stick closer to Maddy's city sneakers with her nose. Nell wanted to   play. She could catch a stick for hours if anyone was silly enough to   throw it. Nell thought Maddy was a good candidate.

Jack grinned.

And he'd thought Nell was smart.

He was about to rescue Maddy when she did the most remarkable thing. She   stooped and, as if she were handling a stick of dynamite, lifted the  no  doubt slobbery stick between a single finger and thumb. With a move   that reminded him a little of Swan Lake, she kicked out a leg at the   same time she flung the stick away. With a visible shudder, she wiped   her hand down her shorts' leg but before she could give Beau's swing   another push, Nell was back, the stick between her jaws, eyes drilling   her new playmate's.

When Maddy shrank back in alarm, Jack chuckled and set down the brush.   Poor Maddy didn't know what she'd started. She was so much ‘the lady.'   Not prim, but rather manicured, French-scented, lipstick-in-the-morning   female.

He liked that about her.

When Nell's ears pricked and she shot off into the western distance,   Jack reached for his hat. Only one reason she'd leave her sport.   Visitors.

By the time Jack had washed his hands and moved out into the true heat   of the day, the familiar engine groan was unmistakable. Snow's Holden   truck. Snow knew about Beau. The other evening, Jack had mentioned   Maddy. Guess Snow'd gotten tired of waiting for an introduction.

Maddy had scooped Beau out of the molded swing seat by the time Jack   joined her and Snow was alighting from his vehicle. Jack hadn't had time   to explain to Maddy who their visitor was, although, from the white of   Snow's beard, she might've guessed.

Snow didn't close the car door but rather clapped the thigh of his faded   jeans. A lamb leaped out, landing in a spray of Mitchell grass with a   scramble. Nell sniffed around the lamb but realizing the relationship   between these two-this was not a sheep to be worked-she trotted back to   her stick. But now Maddy seemed oblivious to Nell's insistent stare.  Her  own gaze wide, she clapped one hand over her mouth to catch an   enchanted laugh. The lamb was prancing after Snow as if the crusty   caretaker were his mother.                       
       
           



       

Snow offered his hand to Jack then announced in his tobacco-gruff voice,   "Seeing you got a guest at your sheep station, Jum, I reckoned she   might want to meet a sheep." Snow cordially touched his hat. "Snow   Gibson at your service." He dropped a glance at his woolly companion.   "This tagalong's Lolly."

Maddy introduced herself to Snow then, holding Beau on her hip, hunkered   down. "Hello, there, Lolly." She combed her fingers between Lolly's   fleecy ears and sighed. "You are the prettiest little darling ever."

Snow stroked his beard. "I see you got one of your own."

Maddy pushed up and spoke to Beau. "Say hello to Mr. Gibson, Beau."

Snow took the baby's tiny hand between a rough thumb and a stained knuckle. He sent Jack a hearty look. "He's like Dahlia."

His chest tight, Jack returned the smile. "Same grin."

"Think he'd like to see this other one fed?" Snow retrieved a bottle   from his inside vest pocket. When he handed the bottle to Maddy, eyes   sparkling, she sucked in a breath.

"Me?"

Wrinkles concertinaed down the side of Snow's face when he winked. "She'll be thirsty. You gotta hang on to this real tight."

Jack took Beau and both he and Maddy knelt down again. Lolly almost   wrestled her over when she nuzzled up for the teat. As the lamb latched   on, Maddy clung to the bottle with both hands while Jack considered a   warm stirring emotion he had trouble naming.

He'd grown up with orphaned lambs as pets. Sue's parents had been   farmers; livestock had been part of everyday life for both of them. He   hadn't seen this kind of awed reaction over an animal in … he couldn't   remember how long.

The emotion, he realized, was satisfaction.

With milk disappearing at a rapid rate, Maddy asked, "I didn't think there were any sheep left here?"

"I got a few," Snow expounded, "justa keep a hand in."

"You're a shearer?" she asked.

"Among other things, yes, ma'am."

"You'll have to give me a demonstration."

Snow shucked back his shoulders. "That would be my pleasure."

Beau squealed and thrust out an arm, fingers spread toward the lamb.

Snow chuckled. "The Prescott genes coming out."

Snow's Australian Services badge had lived on the side of his Akubra for   decades. Now the metal glinted in the sun as he straightened his hat   and put a question to Maddy.

"How you liking Leadeebrook?"

Jack's ears pricked. He'd like to hear her answer, too.

But, with a big smile, Maddy dodged the question with a throwaway comment. "Jack thinks he'll get me on a horse."