The Cowboy's Baby(24)

There was no way he went around tidying up himself, and she’d never seen a single maid. They must be like well-trained ninjas. When Esme padded, barefoot, into the expansive, gleaming kitchen, however, all thoughts of maids and hidden staff vanished.

Though she’d been in the room several times since she’d arrived in the house, she’d never had the time to stop and truly admire it. Dark marble floors, what seemed like endless lines of mahogany cabinetry, state of the art-stainless steel appliances – from the immense double fridge to the six burner stove – and every possible gadget you could possibly think of. Coupled with a floor space of roughly seven hundred fifty square feet and you literally had her dream kitchen.

For a moment, she simply stood in the center of it all, savoring the sheer size and utility of the place. Then, a grin splitting her face, she made a beeline for the pantry, set on appeasing the hungry life growing within her.

Though the kitchen wasn’t as familiar to her as her own, Esme soon found everything she needed. It was almost as if a chef already resided there, so organized was the pantry. Within an hour, she’d made a sizeable mess, singing softly to herself as she prepared dishes from the top of her head – whatever caught her fancy. It seemed like it had been ages since she’d been allowed creative freedom in a kitchen – and never one of this size.

She knew she was making entirely too much food for one person, but Esme hardly cared. When she cooked, time, place, and quantity cased to access. All the tension bled from her as she sampled, added ingredients and sautéed, stirred and baked to her heart’s content. She reveled in the quality of the ingredients in Daniel’s kitchen – pure Colombian dark chocolate, Madagascar vanilla, Anchoa chiles from Argentina…

A low sound of appreciation escaped her as she sampled the chocolate chili sauce she’d created to go on her rare filet mignon before she sidled over to continue pan-frying some lightly seasoned baby potatoes. Then, she quickly sautéed the spinach she was working on before checking on her white chocolate soufflé.

She pinched off a corner of her beef to savor before her stomach rumbled, making her laugh softly. It seemed like the little one was just as hungry as she was. Honestly, it seemed like since she’d been pregnant, she had to eat every two hours or so. She wondered, off hand, if Daniel had the same appetite as his son or daughter. The man was immense. He had to put away as much as a small horse – especially if he worked on the ranch as much as she suspected.

“Esme?”

Jumping, the young woman whirled, torn from her thoughts as the very subject of them appeared before her. Quickly, she turned down the heat on her spinach before she burned it, straightening with her hands held before her like a criminal caught in the act.

Daniel stood in the main entryway of the kitchen, ten feet away, clad in a pair of dark sweat pants and a white t-shirt that exposed the rippling muscles of his arms. He appeared to be freshly showered, his damp hair slicked back from his face. His short beard was carefully groomed, his feet bare, and Esme swallowed thickly as her libido immediately kicked into overdrive. Heat shot to pool between her legs as she momentarily forgot everything she was currently cooking.

Christ. Did he have a right to be so good-looking?

The man had to be over a decade older than her and still he haunted her dreams like some teenage heartthrob. She was a grown woman, wasn’t she? Nothing said she couldn’t resist his ridiculous allure, right?



The man lifted his nose into the air, sniffing lightly before his lips curved in divine appreciation. “What is that smell?”

Esme shuddered, knowing that any attempt to reign in her libido would be a lost cause. “It’s…um…filet mignon.” She ventured tentatively, with sautéed spinach and baby potatoes.” At that moment, the double oven beeped, announcing it was time to check her soufflés. Quickly, she turned from the man, feeling his eyes on her back as she rushed across the kitchen to extract her precious package from the heat of the oven.

They were utterly gorgeous – the perfect light brown color with bubbling beige centers from which white chocolate ganache would ooze from them when they were penetrated. Esme’s mouth watered at the very sight of them as she very gently set them on the counter to cool.

“You made all this?”

The young woman turned back to Daniel to see him hovering over the beef resting on the cutting board. When his eyes met hers and locked, her stomach did a little somersault that had nothing to do with her pregnancy. She nodded quickly. “Is it really so surprising.?”

Please don’t let him be one of those guys who thought women shouldn’t be chefs. She’d fought enough men with those attitudes to last her a lifetime.