Lisa Childs - Father by Surprise - A Man of Distinction / His Baby Surprise

He was going to go back to his life in Chicago, that was a given. Things here were worse than ever—at least all he’d had to worry about when drinking the water from the river as a kid had been getting an upset stomach. Now the water here was contaminated. Even if he wrung a huge settlement out of Midwest Energy, it still wouldn’t cover the whole cost of cleanup once the legal fees were paid. And even though he had no concrete evidence, there was no doubt in his mind that Bear’s health issues were directly connected to that contamination. All of which made one thing brutally clear.

He couldn’t leave Bear on this rez.

He watched Tanya as she prepared to enter the circle for the women’s shawl dance. She looked up to where he sat and shot him a small, private smile.

A sudden, powerful urge to take her with him all but smacked him between the eyes. He shook it off, though. They’d had this argument before. She wasn’t going anywhere. She liked this hellhole. Sure, the sky here was pretty, and yeah, he was glad he’d come, but he didn’t want to live here. A man couldn’t survive on sweeping vistas alone. He had grown fond of his spacious condo, fine-dining choices and sailing on Lake Michigan. He didn’t want to go back to polluted water and cardboard-covered windows.

No use getting ahead of himself. Before he started game-planning how Doreen and Bear fit into his case against Midwest Energy, he had to have his facts straight, which meant that he had to get some hard evidence that Doreen Rattling Blanket’s water was contaminated and that Doreen’s and Bear’s health problems were tied to that. He’d need water samples and health records. And if it turned out he was right about this, then those same facts would be what he needed to win a custody battle.

He didn’t want it to come to that. He didn’t even want to be thinking about dragging Tanya into court. But no matter what a custody case would do to her—or his reputation back in Chicago—he refused to leave Bear in a situation where his health was in danger. This was about his son, first and foremost.

He’d have to go around Tanya. If she realized what connections he was making and what he intended to do with those connections, she might panic. He’d seen that before, too—people did stupid things when they felt cornered. He’d just found his son—he didn’t want Tanya to up and disappear with the boy. No, this situation required the utmost discretion.

By the end of the day, Nick had a plan. Now he just needed an opportunity, and he got one handed to him on a silver platter. Bear was fussy—or so Nick assumed. He hadn’t figured how hard it would be to understand a kid who didn’t make any noise. The boy was wriggling and flopping and scowling and no matter what Tanya did, it only got worse.

“I need to take him home. He’s super cranky.”

Doreen looked around. “The closing dance…well, if he needs to go, we’ll go.”

Nick heard the disappointment in Doreen’s voice and jumped at his chance. “I can take you home later, if you want to stay.”

Doreen rewarded him with a huge grin. “Really? You’d do that for me?”

Her joy was so real that Nick almost felt bad for having ulterior motives. “Of course—if it’s okay with Tanya, that is.” They both turned to Tanya.

Nick didn’t like the look on her face because it was the same look he’d been seeing a lot—one of optimism and hope mixed with a healthy dose of skepticism. Was she on to him, or was this just more of what he had coming?

“Sure,” she said slowly. “That would be great.” It didn’t sound great, but he took it.

Tanya kissed her mom goodbye, and then Nick carried Bear back to Tanya’s rust bucket of a car. Nick recognized it as the same car Doreen had been driving years ago. “This still runs, huh?”

Tanya was silent for a moment, leaving Nick to wonder if he’d managed to insult her again. But then she said, “Yup. At least I don’t have to worry about Bear trashing it, you know? Not like that car of yours.” Her tone was light, but not suspicious. Perfect.

“Hey, no big deal. And I got a vehicle we can put the car seat in, just so you know.”

Tanya looked up at him through wary eyes. “Bought a new car, did you?”

“Actually, it’s an F-250 extended-cab truck. Figured I’d need something to handle winter weather sooner or later,” he added, so she wouldn’t think he’d bought a truck just for child transportation reasons.

Tanya sighed, her shoulders drooping down. “I can’t get used to you throwing money around, Nick. I just can’t.”

That he understood. It had taken several years for him to get to the point where he bought things for the fun of it instead of stuffing the money under a mattress like a squirrel hoarding nuts for the winter. “I want to see you again.”

“Me or Bear?”

No, she didn’t trust him. “Both. You have a standing invitation to come to my place. I bought a toddler bed for Bear and everything, so you wouldn’t even have to pack.”

“Where would I sleep?” She asked it carefully, as if she knew exactly what sort of detonator was on that bomb of a question.

If they were back in her little house instead of in the parking lot of a powwow, he’d kiss her. Hell, he was thinking about kissing her anyway, but he was pretty sure he’d get punched for his trouble. He’d undoubtedly stirred up an epic hornets’ nest by showing up at all, let alone spending the afternoon playing with Bear. People were going to figure out he was Bear’s father sooner or later, but sooner didn’t have to be this instant.

So he leaned back even as he kept his eyes locked on hers. “Babe, you may sleep wherever you want.”

“Oh,” was all the answer he got, but the way her cheeks colored up with a beautiful pink told him plenty. No, she didn’t have to love him. He didn’t have to love her either. It wasn’t a strict requirement. But she still wanted him.

Luckily, the feeling was mutual.

Tanya had Bear tucked under the blankets in record time. The poor boy was exhausted. With all the excitement at the powwow, he’d missed his nap and passed out in his car seat before she’d made it half a mile down the road.

She was almost as tired, but she didn’t think she was in danger of falling asleep anytime soon. Nick’s words still waltzed around her mind, spinning her in tighter and tighter circles.

Want. That was the word her brain was stuck on. He’d asked her if she still wanted him. He’d told her she could sleep anywhere she wanted. He wasn’t asking her to do anything she didn’t want.

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