CHAPTER Three
Left without a choice, Katie pushed around Dean and shot straight to Savannah to pick her up. She’d slept for three hours this time, the longest stint since she’d shown up in the early morning hours. Too bad she couldn’t wait ten more minutes so Dean could have left clueless.
Now Katie was forced to come up with a viable reason why an infant was sprawled out in the middle of her massive king-size bed.
Katie leaned over and lifted the tiny bundle into her arms. The fatigue of moments ago evaporated like steam when Savannah’s cries muffled to only whimpers once she was drawn close to Katie’s chest. “Are you hungry, baby girl?” Katie lifted her little finger to Savannah’s mouth, just like Monica had shown her, watched Savannah bite the tip and give it a hefty suck. “C’mon, let’s get you something to eat.”
Katie fidgeted until she successfully tucked Savannah into the crook of her arm and turned to leave her room. Her eyes collided with Dean, who Katie nearly forgot was there.
“So this was who you were hiding?”
“Not hiding,” Katie said a bit too quickly. “I just didn’t want you to wake her up.” Let him think what he would, she’d keep the information to a minimum to avoid a waterfall of lies that would surely catch up with her.
She made her way to her kitchen, all the while holding Savannah. It was crazy how after only a handful of hours Katie had the ability to hold Savannah with one hand and work with the other. The task wasn’t effortless, and she was slow with the multitasking, but it was getting easier.
Behind her, Dean followed. What he was thinking was a mystery. Which was just as well.
“Who is she?”
“Her name’s Savannah.” Katie kept her back to Dean knowing he always caught her when she lied. “I’m watching her for a friend.”
“Who?”
“No one you know. Can you hand me a bottle from the fridge?” She hoped putting him to work would stop his questions.
Dean handed her a premade bottle, which Katie put in a pot of water on the stove to warm.
Savannah started to fuss and Katie found herself rocking back and forth to keep her quiet. “It will just be a minute,” she cooed. “Oh, I’ll bet you need to be changed.” They eat, sleep, and need to be changed. Welcome to motherhood. Monica’s words ran like a tape inside Katie’s brain.
“Watch this, will you?” Katie gestured toward the bottle before walking around him to tend to Savannah’s needs.
Back in her bedroom, she went to work on the diaper with a surprising smile on her face. Dean seemed to take the “babysitting” excuse. Why wouldn’t he? He certainly wouldn’t believe the truth.
Focused on changing Savannah into one of the few outfits in the diaper bag, feeding her, and then ushering Dean out the door, Katie outlined the next half hour in her head.
The tiny pajamas were kicked free of Savannah’s skinny legs. Katie leaned down to kiss her baby toes. What a precious gift. How could anyone give her up willingly? The thought never left Katie’s mind. Even in the stolen moments of sleep, Katie dreamed about a desperate mother walking away from her door in the middle of the night.
Then again, not all mothers were the same. Katie’s own walked away years ago, never looking back. Even before she left, Katie remembered the cold disapproval that hovered around her mother like an aura. Hell, Katie felt more love from her daddy’s housekeeper, Beth, and her Aunt Bea than she’d ever experienced from her mother.
What if the letter left by Savannah’s mother wasn’t really heartfelt? What if Savannah’s mommy wasn’t ready to be a mom and she left her baby and never even glanced over her shoulder again?
Katie dismissed the thought instantly. Too many fingers pointed to this mother’s desperate need to find a safe home for her daughter. The letter had said that Savannah would win Katie’s heart by morning, and by God, that’s exactly what had happened.
While Katie tucked Savannah into a lavender cotton shirt that snapped between her legs and fashioned a tiny skirt around the baby’s waist, she thought of all the supplies needed to care for a baby.
She needed more diapers, wipes, and formula. Certainly a few more outfits were in order and a bassinet. Sleeping in the middle of a king-size bed wasn’t safe. She could roll off and get hurt. Maybe a baby book with a list of expected milestones would be a good thing to have on hand. Monica seemed to know all about babies, but Katie wanted to understand Savannah’s needs so she could meet them.
Back in the kitchen, Dean had removed the bottle from the pan and stood holding it with a faraway look on his face.
“Is that ready?”
“Couldn’t tell you. But I’m pretty sure it isn’t supposed to boil.” He waited for her to sit down at her kitchen counter before handing her the bottle.
Katie tested the formula like Monica had taught her during the night. The milk was still a little cool, but Savannah’s fussing was turning into a full-blown Give me something to eat cry.
Once the nipple was in Savannah’s mouth, she quieted and sucked down the formula in greedy fashion.
“You know, for a tiny bitty thing, you sure do eat a lot.”
Savannah blinked her eyes, barely focused on the bottle in front of her.
“How long are you babysitting her?”
Katie swallowed and didn’t meet Dean’s eyes. “For today.”
“How long have you been watching her?” Dean leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Since last night.”
“You were at the wedding last night.”
Right. A post-midnight drop off wouldn’t sound good. “I mean the night before last. She doesn’t sleep for long, the hours kind of speed by.”
Dean nodded, his expression unreadable.
Katie shifted in her seat, uncomfortable under Dean’s stare. “Why are you here again?”
“In a hurry to get rid of me?”
“Yes, actually. I told you I wasn’t ready for visitors and now you know why. So be a doll and show yourself out.” The sappy sweetness of her voice with a little extra Texas twang usually produced exactly what she wanted.
Unfortunately, Dean wasn’t one to bend to her charms easily.
“You didn’t say anything about babysitting last night. I wonder why that was?”
“Go home, Dean.”
“And since when does a new mother leave an infant with a friend overnight? That baby can’t be more than a month old.”
“Two weeks.” Katie regretted her words the second they popped out of her mouth. Dammit, she really needed to shut the hell up.
“Has her cord even come off yet?”
Right, that’s why Savannah’s belly button was pink. Katie glanced down at her lap.
Dean advanced on her with slow, easy steps.
As he did, the room started to lose its oxygen and the familiar feeling of being trapped hovered all around her. He leaned in and rested a hand on the table behind her. He used his six-foot-two frame of solid steel muscle to intimidate her. Had she not been holding a helpless baby, Katie would have been happy to push Dean away and lay into him with her razor sharp tongue. As it was, her lips had already said too much so she kept her mouth sealed.
When Dean was close enough for Katie to scent the flavor of his toothpaste, he whispered, “That is a heaping lump of bullshit spewing from your mouth, Katelyn, and I’m determined to find out what the truth is.”
Savannah took that second to finish the formula and suck in a few swallows of air. Katie removed the nipple and lifted her to her shoulder. When she did, Dean backed away.
Determined to keep Dean from learning anything more, she rubbed Savannah’s back to coax a burp. Instead of a little gas to match her size, Savannah let out a sound bigger than a bark. With it came half the formula she’d drunk, which soaked both Katie and the new outfit Savannah wore.
“Well, damn.” Katie used her sleeve to wipe up some of the mess on Savannah’s chin.
When Dean cracked a smile, Katie lost it. “Get out of my house.”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
“I’m a little busy, Dean. Dealing with your paranoia isn’t on my list of things to do today.” She marched out of the kitchen and walked to her front door. She shifted the baby in her arms and tossed open the door.
“Fine, I’ll go. But when I come back, if your explanations don’t measure up, I might have to do some of my own investigating to determine the truth.”
“Really, and how do you plan on doing that?” He was really starting to piss her off.
“I’ll start with Monica.” When she smiled, knowing Monica would be much better at keeping her trap shut that Katie had been, Dean added, “Then I’ll move on to your father. My guess is Gaylord would be very interested in his daughter playing house with a Barely out of the womb baby.”
Her jaw tightened. The last thing she needed was her daddy poking around. He’d scrape the truth out of her in a matter of minutes.
Smiling smugly, Dean waltzed past her, stopping only to glance down at her arms, then winked before walking away.
Katie shut the door on his back…hard.
Back in stalker mode, Dean leaned against the outside edge of the hotel Katie called home in order to corner Monica. If there was one thing he’d learned from his friend Jack’s relationship with Jessie, it was that sisters, even newly in-lawed sisters, talked.
He needed answers and the best way for him to obtain them was through manipulation. He knew it wasn’t noble, but he didn’t give a damn.
Seeing Katie holding Savannah, cooing over the infant with an expression Dean could only describe as bliss, evoked pain, anger, and even a bit of hope. Pain and anger he could deal with. Those emotions he understood. The pain at witnessing Katie hold on to something he’d always wanted for the both of them. His anger stemmed from how she’d reacted after her miscarriage, after their baby had slipped from her womb.
But hope? Hope for what?
He’d wanted a family, a life with Katie by his side. In the beginning, he thought she was right there with him.
Sex with Katie had always been spectacular and sinful. Just thinking about how Katie responded to his touch shot unwanted desire through Dean’s body as he waited for Monica to finish her run.
For Dean, his relationship with Katie was founded on friendship, exploded in passion, and evolved into love.
For Katie it was only about the sex.
Where was the hope in that?
Monica’s blonde head bobbed up and down as she rounded the corner, her presence forcing Dean’s attention to his recent goal. He eased from the side of the building and placed himself between her and the entrance to the lobby.
Recognition shifted over Monica’s face like a curtain falling on a stage. It slowly fell over her eyes first, causing her lips to turn into a grin. And when Dean purposely shifted his gaze up the side of the building, then back to her, she slowed her pace, and let her smile fall. Like a switch, her guard went up.
“Hi, Dean. W-what are you doing here?”
He hit her hard with quick questions, to see how fast he could catch a lie. Then he’d know for certain Katie’s story about the child was bogus. “Checking on Katie for Jack. You didn’t tell me you guys had a roommate.”
“A roommate?”
“Savannah.”
“Ah…” Monica looked over her shoulder and back. “Savannah?”
“Don’t be coy, Monica, I’ve already seen Katie.”
“Oh, well.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t tell me last night about your guest.”
Monica shifted on her feet. “It was a last-minute thing.”
“Right, Katie said Savannah has been here since…when was it?”
“Yesterday.”
Dean nodded. “Right. When is the mom coming to pick her up? Katie is supposed to be designing the interior of Jack’s hotel.”
“Why didn’t you ask Katie these things?” Monica was catching on to him, and drying up her information. She’d already confirmed that Katie was lying through her teeth. But why?
“She had her hands full.” Literally.
Monica moved around him, so she was angled close to the door. “I’m sure Katie will tell you all about it when she’s ready.”
“So there is something to tell.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yeah, you did, darlin’. But don’t stress yourself out. I already knew Katie wasn’t telling everything. She’s a lot easier to read than she thinks she is.” Dean figured that, once these two started to talk, he wouldn’t get another chance at any information. He might even find himself barred from Katie’s door.
“Why do you care?”
Good question. “Jack wanted me to check on her. He’s worried about her.”
Monica shook her head back and forth in confusion. “Jack? How could he know anything? Savannah arrived after the wedd…” Her voice trailed off, her eyes shot to his.
After the wedding would have been in the middle of the night. And no matter how you spun that bottle, it landed on trouble. “Listen, Monica, if Katie’s in some kind of trouble, you’ve got to let me help. Jack would kill me if I let his kid sister—”
“Katelyn isn’t a kid, Dean. She’d a grown woman with a mind of her own. If she wanted your help, she’d ask.” It was then that Dean noted the flash of concern embedded deep in Monica’s eyes. The same look that passed over her face and Katie’s when they’d noticed Danny’s concern over the helicopter landing on them at the reception.
Dammit. Katie was in trouble. The question returned. What kind of mother left her infant with someone less two weeks after they were born?
“At least tell me how long the baby is going to be here.”
Monica started for the door.
Dean placed a hand on her arm to stop her.
“Talk to Katie.”
Which meant Monica didn’t know.
As she walked into the air-conditioned lobby, the knot inside Dean’s chest started to rise in his throat like the Texas heat.