Victoria Pade - Her Baby and Her Beau

She kept an eagle eye on him, but unlike his bravado at the door, he was infinitely cautious when he actually reached for Immy. In fact, he went at a snail’s pace, easing his big hands under her and raising her from the mattress as if she were a bomb that might go off at the slightest jarring.

Which actually wasn’t far from the truth, in Kyla’s experience.

But this time Immy didn’t so much as whimper even as Beau straightened up and pulled her close to—though not completely against—his flat belly.

It was awkward and not pretty, but from the sight of his bulging biceps and forearms it was a weight he could bear without bracing her against him, so Kyla didn’t say anything.

He gave Kyla an almost imperceptible shrug and nod that said he guessed he’d pulled it off, and took the baby out to the car, with Kyla again following close behind.

Immy went on sleeping like an angel as he laid her very gently in the car seat that had a soft, fleecy head support at the ready. Then he strapped the infant in and closed the door firmly but without slamming it.

“Okay,” he said, as if the first of many steps had been accomplished. “Now you.”

“I can take care of myself,” she assured him curtly, returning to the motel room to close the door.

Still, Beau was waiting, standing sentry-straight with the passenger door open for her when she turned back to the SUV.

“It’s a pretty high step up—you should let me help you,” he said, holding out his hand to her.

There was no way Kyla was accepting it.

“I’m fine,” she said, gritting her teeth to hide the pain it caused her to get into that seat on her own and hating that she was less than graceful doing it. But she still made it and managed the seat belt with her left hand only.

Beau’s expression was completely blank when she caught sight of his face, so she had no idea what he thought of her stubbornness or her lack of agility—or if he’d even registered any of it. But once she was belted in he closed her door the same way he had Immy’s.

Who remained asleep through Beau getting into the car, too, and starting the engine.

Kyla had already called the front desk to let them know she was leaving, so there was no need for anything but to get on the road.

As Beau merged onto the highway, Kyla took note of too much about him. More even than how great-looking he was. The SUV was big and yet she couldn’t see him in anything smaller. Not only had he bulked up considerably, but he exuded so much power and presence that it just seemed to take a large space to accommodate it. He was like a brick wall of man—a force to be reckoned with. Quite a change from when they were teenagers.

He also smelled fabulous—a clean, citrusy scent that gave him an added appeal to go with how mind-blowingly handsome he was now. Altogether it made for a heady mix that was getting to her. A little.

Until she reminded herself that fourteen years ago he’d lied about what had happened between them and denied it all.

Until she reminded herself that he’d portrayed her as some kind of slut.

And abandoned her.

That steeled her against his current appeal.

“How did all this happen?” Beau asked then, nodding at her braced wrist.

Small talk. Okay.

Kyla explained how and why she’d come to Denver, the housing situation on her cousin’s property, and how she’d come to have Immy with her that night.

Then she said, “The fire department thinks it was an electrical fire that started on the second floor, where Rachel and Eddie’s bedroom was. I was asleep in the guesthouse. There was no smoke alarm—I’m not sure what woke me up, but whatever did, it was already too late for me to do anything but get us out. I could see the main house through one window and it was... Mostly I could just see huge, bright flames. And the guesthouse was on fire, too—there were flames right outside the bedroom door, and I guess the roof out there fell in, because there was a huge crash. I just kept thinking that no one would know we were back there in the guesthouse, to come and help, and I had to get us out.”

The terror of that memory flooded Kyla.

“I slammed the bedroom door to keep the flames out—I was just hoping that if the fire had to burn through the door it would give me a few more minutes. Luckily Immy was in a portable crib in my room—if she’d been anywhere else I wouldn’t have been able to get to her. But the only way out was the window in the bathroom that faced the back. We were above the garage and...” Kyla swallowed hard and shrugged. “I didn’t really know what to do. I thought about throwing Immy out first, but I was afraid to do that. Like I said before, the bubble wrap was right there, so I rolled her in it, wrapped a blanket around that, and—”

“Jumped out the window?”

“It was really more like we fell out the window—I kind of got us up to sit in it. It was a straight drop from there. I tried to hold Immy to one side and twist so I’d fall on my back and maybe be the cushion for her. But I ended up falling on my other side—Immy was on my left and I fell on the right—and I guess maybe I tried to brace us or catch us or something with my hand out.” She shook her head. “I don’t know for sure—that part is a blur—but the next thing I knew I was on the ground and Immy was crying and I was hurt and it was so hot, and I knew I needed to get us to where someone would be able to see us to help because we were way in the back.”

She shrugged again. “I got over to the neighbor’s place next door and out to their front yard. Somebody saw us coming then and...there was help, but I couldn’t find Rachel or Eddie, and I kept asking where they were. I think I just kind of collapsed.”

Beau took his eyes off the road for only a second. “You did a lot before that—you’d make a good soldier.”

Kyla shook her head. “No, thanks.”

“How long was it before you knew that your cousin and her husband hadn’t made it out of the fire?”

“I’m not sure of that, either. My concept of time from there is off. I know I started to think it was bad when no one would tell me anything about them. I kept asking—the EMTs in the ambulance, the hospital staff—but all anyone would say was that it was Immy and me who they needed to think about. Immy was in the hospital nursery and they kept me informed about her, but it was sometime the next day I think when they finally told me Rachel and Eddie hadn’t made it.”

Kyla had to blink away tears at that thought, and as she did she focused on the scenery to get herself out of the nightmare in her head.

They’d driven into the heart of Denver and now they seemed to be in an area called Cherry Creek, where the houses were old and enormous.

Beau pulled into the driveway of a beautiful, stately two-story white Colonial saltbox with wings that stretched out from both sides of the first floor. It was trimmed in black with wood shingles, there were two chimneys on the roof, and lantern sconces on either side of a red front door.

“ This is your house?” Kyla said, amazed by the difference between it and anywhere she’d ever lived.

“It has been for three weeks.”

“For only three weeks—are you still living out of boxes?”

“No, ma’am,” he answered as if that could only be true of a slacker. “There are some empty rooms—two less as of this morning when one got turned into a nursery and another into a guest room—but you’ll find it shipshape.”

“And you live in this huge place alone?”

“Yes. When I’m left alone,” he said, nodding in the direction of a sedan parked at the curb as he pulled farther up the drive. There was a woman sitting behind the wheel.

“That would be my sister January,” he explained. “Jani, we call her. Uninvited, but with good intentions, I’m sure. I’ve only been back for two months—”