The Doctor's Secret Bride(25)

Erik moved closer to the bed where she lay with Bradie clutched in her arms. His jaws flinched when he saw the white streaks on her cheeks. She’d been crying. God, he hoped she hadn’t heard his argument with Michelle. As angry as he’d been, he’d tried to keep his voice low so it wouldn’t carry up the stairs.#p#分页标题#e#

Erik sat on the side of the bed and picked up her limp, warm body. He laid her across his lap, cradling her head against his chest. Unbidden tears rolled down his cheeks and melted into her head of tangled curls. He just held her, and allowed the essence of her innocent childhood to seep under his skin, melt his pain.

“I’m sorry, Precious. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. It’s not your fault, Muffin. Your mommy loved you very much. That was the last thing she said to me. She asked me to take care of you, and I haven’t been doing that, have I? Baby, I promise I’ll try from now on. I’ll do my best to love you the way she did.”

Precious stirred and clutched the front of his shirt. “Mommy.”

Erik held his breath, his heart racing in his chest. “Precious,” he whispered.

“Daddy.”

“Yes, baby. It’s daddy.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, baby.”

He gazed into her face. Her eyes were still closed. Was she dreaming or did she know he was actually holding her? Dreaming or not, her words sent a feeling of genuine filial warmth rushing through Erik’s heart. Something he hadn’t felt for a long, long time.

***

The sounds of laughter caught Erik’s attention as he came down the stairs. He followed it to the family room where he found Michelle and Precious on a couple of oversized pillows on the floor in front of the wall-mounted TV.

With mild interest, he noted the contrast of Michelle’s short black hair to his daughter’s long brown mane. They were both wearing white shorts and cotton tops. New clothes, he noted with a smile, glad that Michelle had something new, something of her own to wear.

Watching them brought back memories of coming home to find Cassie and Precious sprawled on the floor—sometimes reading, sometimes playing a board game, sometimes having tea with her dolls, and sometimes watching TV. And just as Michelle was enjoying Bugs Bunny—Precious’ favorite cartoon—so had Cassie.

He wasn’t sure what to make of his comparisons between his wife and his daughter’s new nanny. He never had the same thoughts about Holly even though she’d participated in the same activities with Precious. Perhaps his feelings were derived from the fact that Precious had taken to Michelle like lightening to a rod when it had taken her weeks to warm up to Holly. His daughter had known Michelle for exactly one day and she’d already shared her heart’s deepest fears and secrets with her—fears and secrets she couldn’t share with him—her own father.

He, too, had succumbed to the magical spell of this beautiful woman when he’d told her about Cassie just hours after they’d met. Then last night, she’d made him face his own harrowing fears. There was no denying it: there was something special about Michelle.

Was she an angel?

A wistful expression crowded his face as he wondered if Precious remembered him holding her last night. He dreaded their impending talk about the day her mother died, but he knew it had to be done today if their relationship was to improve. He couldn’t have his daughter carrying the guilt of her mother’s death or worrying about him leaving her any longer.

Bang! Bang! Michelle and Precious roared with laughter as Elmer Fudd fired his shotgun only to discover that the mischievous rabbit had bent the barrel backward so it went off in the hunter’s face. Erik found himself grinning as well.

As his eyes fixated on Michelle’s firm buttocks, slim hips, and a narrow waist he could easily span with his hands, his grin faded. Bolts of lightning shot through his veins as he imagined her sleek thighs and long smooth brown legs wrapped around his waist. The woman was temptation, personified. And she made him hard and hot and heavy. Erik knew his feelings went far beyond the physical when he found himself imagining a little boy with short black hair and black eyes lying beside Michelle and his daughter.#p#分页标题#e#

“Hey you two,” he said, walking into the room. He needed something—anything—to derail those dangerous thoughts.

Precious jumped up and ran over to wrap her arms around his thighs. She gazed up at him with excitement. “We’re watching Bugs Bunny. You wanna watch him with us, Daddy?”

“In a little while, dear. You and I need to have a talk, first.”