Melissa Senate - The Maverick's Baby-In-Waiting

“Every time a Jones man says that, one finds him,” Lindsay said. “So beware.”

Jensen froze as the image of Mikayla Brown putting two mere packages of baby pajamas on the checkout came to mind.

“Told you,” Walker said to his wife. “Look up the word bachelor in the dictionary and you’ll find a little photo of my kid brother—the ladies’ man Jensen Jones.”

“Ladies’ man?” Jensen said on a laugh. “I haven’t taken out one woman since I’ve been in Rust Creek Falls.”

“Yeah, because Dad’s been after you to get the hell out of here before some woman gets you to put a ring on her finger.”

“Don’t you have three stuffed animals to buy or something?” Jensen grumbled at his brother.

Lindsay cracked up. “We most certainly do. Come on, Walker. You’ve been ragging on your baby brother since he was born.”

“I owe you, Lindsay,” Jensen said.

He wasn’t anti-commitment in general. Just for himself. And maybe even just for now. For the next few years, at least. Maybe when he was forty he’d settle down.

But as he watched his brother and his wife walk hand in hand into Baby Bonanza, once again he was struck by how alone in the world he was. He’d never really felt that way before, except when Adrienne betrayed him.

What in the hell was going on with him?

Chapter Four

“Mikayla, your fairy godmother is here,” Eva called out from downstairs.

Huh? Mikayla got up from her bed, where she’d been making a list of possible jobs she could apply for after the baby was born, and glanced out the window. A huge Baby Bonanza truck was in front of the farmhouse.

She headed downstairs to find Eva standing at the front door, watching two burly guys taking out a giant box marked White Spindle Crib.

That’s weird , she thought. That’s the crib I put on layaway.

“Eva! Did you and Luke buy me that crib?” Mikayla asked, stunned.

Eva shook her head. “Wasn’t me. And besides, you told me you planned to keep the baby bedside in a bassinet.”

But then who? Amy? Maybe her cousin Brent?

The delivery guys leaned the box on the porch, then went back for another box, this one a deluxe bouncer—the exact one she’d ogled and had on her wish list. Wait—what? The porch was soon full of baby paraphernalia—all items that looked very familiar.

“Um, Eva, this is bizarre. This is everything from either my layaway account or my wish list at Baby Bonanza.”

“Rich relative?” Eva asked.

“Not a one,” Mikayla said. She knew Brent loved her, but not this much, and besides, he could barely keep himself afloat.

The burlier delivery guy held a clipboard and walked over to Mikayla. “I assume you’re Mikayla Brown. No offense,” he added, gesturing at her huge belly.

She smiled. “Well, I am the likely recipient of all this, but I didn’t order any of it. I mean, it’s all stuff from my layaway and wish list, but I owe a ton more on layaway and the wish list is exactly that—just wishful thinking. There must be some mistake.”

The guy glanced at the order form on his clipboard. “Nope. No mistake. Paid in full, including delivery and our tip. You can thank—” he scanned the sheet “—Jensen Jones.”

Eva gasped.

Mikayla’s mouth dropped open. What?

“Where should we place everything?” the delivery guy asked. “The order includes white-glove assembly.”

“Of course it does,” Eva said with a grin. “I take back what I said, Mik. You don’t have a fairy godmother. You have a fairy god father .”

Jensen Jones, any kind of father? Ha. Mikayla couldn’t see it. Hadn’t he run screaming—well, maybe not screaming—out of Daisy’s Donuts when he realized the woman he was trying to pick up was pregnant?

But hadn’t he also driven all the way to Kalispell to buy presents for his brother’s triplet toddler nephews and niece? Granted, there wasn’t a dedicated baby shop in Rust Creek Falls, but he could have bought three stuffed animals at Crawford’s General Store and called it a day. He hadn’t.

She bit her lip and recalled how she’d dashed off to the checkout, needing to put a little distance between them. He must have overheard her paying another week on her layaway, then gone and bought everything for her—including all the stuff she’d added to her wish list, items she’d never spend money on. A wipes warmer? Come on.

“Why would Jensen Jones have bought me all this?” Mikayla said more to the air than to Eva.

“Oh, I have a few ideas why.” Eva turned to the delivery guy. “Upstairs, first room on the right.”

“Wait a minute,” Mikayla said, holding up a hand. “I can’t accept this. Any of it.” She glanced at the deluxe bouncer that had almost had her in tears in the store. The huge container of wipes and the crazy wipes warmer so the baby’s tush wouldn’t startle from a chill. The diaper pail. The beautiful white spindle crib on the side of the giant box. The Exersaucer. A play mat. Crib mobile. Bassinet. Changing table with a deluxe pad. The lovely pale yellow baby carriage. The blanket with the bulldogs. And so many onesies and pajamas.

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