BEVERLY BARTON - Having His Baby

“What!” Donna screamed the word.

Louisa whimpered, then cried. Donna cuddled the child close to her bosom and crooned comforting nonsensical words to her She glared at Jake.

“Go away! I don’t need you and I don’t want you. And neither does Louisa.”

Jake cupped the back of his daughter’s tiny head. It filled his huge palm. “Do you think it’s that easy to get rid of me? I’m not going anywhere until we set up some ground rules concerning my daughter. And you’re dead wrong if you think she doesn’t need me or want me ” He took the infant away from Donna and up into his arms. Trembling inside as if his body had been hit by an earthquake, Jake lifted the whimpering baby up against his chest, patted her back and said, “It’s all right, Sugar Baby. Daddy’s got you now.”

Donna looked up at the big man cradling Louisa against his chest and, for just a moment, couldn’t breathe. The sight of father and child overwhelmed her senses. There was something so essentially right about the two of them together. Strength protecting helplessness. A powerful man guarding what was his.

The awareness of Jake as her child’s father surprised Donna. She had tried not to think about J.B. during the months she was carrying Louisa, though memories of that weekend had often invaded her thoughts. And in the hours since she’d learned her weekend lover was actually Jake Bishop, she had refused to acknowledge the possibility that he would play a significant part in her daughter’s life.

But here he was now, as big, powerful and rugged as he’d been the first night he’d held her in his arms at the Blue Bonnet Grill—the night she’d lost her mind and succumbed to purely physical pleasure. She’d fought the memory of this man for nine months, but he had wreaked havoc on her subconscious. How many nights had she awakened, hot and aroused, after dreaming about him? Even now, only hours after giving birth, she couldn’t deny the strong attraction she felt for Jake. And the sight of his gentle hold on her baby did crazy things to her heart.

“Jake, I think we should talk—really talk—about our situation.” Donna motioned for him to come to her.

Carrying Louisa in his arms, he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, then turned their daughter so that she rested between them.

“I don’t especially care for the name Louisa Christine,” Jake said. “But as long as her last name is Bishop, I won’t object.”

Donna clenched her teeth to keep from making a stinging reply. Just what was wrong with her grandmothers’s names? “You want your name on her birth certificate?”

“Damn right I do! She’s a Bishop and I want her name to be Bishop on her birth certificate.”

“All right,” Donna agreed, rationalizing to herself that if she gave in to him on this matter, he might be more reasonable when it came to other things—things about which she wasn’t willing to compromise.

“I’m going to stay the night with y’all tonight.” Jake gazed down adoringly at Louisa. “I’ll run over to Hank’s in the morning to shower and shave and then I’ll come back and take you and my sweet sugar baby home.”

“That won’t be necessary—” When she noticed the fury in Jake’s dark eyes, she decided it was best to change tactics. “All right, you can stay the night and then take us home tomorrow afternoon. But when your family leaves, after supper, I expect you to leave, too.”

“I’m going to be working for Old Man Henry out at his ranch for the next few months,” Jake told her. “Once we get married, I can drive out there everyday, but when he sells the place to me, I’ll want us to move out there and live on the ranch.”

Live on a ranch? Around smelly horses? With a man she barely knew? She didn’t think so.

“About our getting married—” she began.

“I’ll give you some time to get used to the idea. I know you’ll need to recuperate from giving birth and all, so let’s set a date for six weeks from now.” The corners of Jake’s mouth curved into a devilish smile. “We wouldn’t want to waste our wedding night.”

Donna’s cheeks flushed. Dammit, she was too old to be blushing, but the thought of a wedding night with Jake was almost more than she could bear. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t forget what it had been like to be his lover for sixty of the most passionate, hedonistic and wildest hours of her life. She didn’t know much about Jake Bishop, but she knew he was, without a doubt, an incredible lover.

“I’ll agree to think about your marriage proposal over the next six weeks, but I’m afraid it’s out of the question for you to live with Louisa and me.”

Holding the back of her head securely, Jake lifted the baby up toward her mother. “Did you hear what Mommy said? She doesn’t want me to live with y’all. What do you say to that, Sugar Baby?”

As if on cue, Louisa began to whimper. Jake grinned.

“Give her to me,” Donna told him. “And wipe that silly grin off your face. The whimper wasn’t a statement of her feelings toward your not living with us. She probably needs to be nursed.”

“Nursed?”

“Yes, nursed. I’m breast-feeding Louisa.”

Jake felt as if he’d been poleaxed between the eyes. The thought of his child at Donna’s breast created an array of emotions inside him. Surprise. Tenderness. Arousal. Curiosity.

He handed the baby over to her mother. “Here you go, Sugar Baby. Mama’s serving dinner.”

Donna groaned. What a typically crude male thing to say! Mama’s serving dinner, indeed! “Please stop calling Louisa ‘Sugar Baby.’ Nicknames often stick. She’d be terribly embarrassed if children at school called her such a silly, juvenile name.”

“I don’t care for the name Louisa and you’ve already vetoed Lou and Christy.” Jake rose from the side of the bed. “She’s my sweet sugar baby and that’s what I’m going to call her:”

Donna huffed. “Oh, all right. But for now, just go away.” She shooed him with one hand. “Go eat dinner or buy some cigars or something.”

“You’re right. I should buy some cigars before Hank and Caleb come back to the hospital.” Jake headed toward the door, paused, turned and grinned at Donna. “Maybe I’ll buy the pink bubble gum kind, since the Bishop brothers don’t smoke.”

Donna breathed a sigh of relief when Jake finally left her room. Whenever she was around him, she felt as if she were caught in the swirl of a cyclone that swept her far from the safety of home. There was something about him—something primeval—that overwhelmed her whenever they were together.

She couldn’t let him take charge of her life, push her into a marriage she didn’t want and destroy the life she had planned for herself and Louisa. Once she’d settled in at home and had gained back her strength, she would confront Jake and explain to him how disastrous it would be for them to marry. There was no way on earth a marriage between them could work. From what she knew of Hank and Caleb Bishop’s big brother, she realized that he wasn’t the type of man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, nor was he the kind of father Louisa would need. Better no father than a wild hellion womanizer, who’d never be able to settle down and be a faithful husband and devoted parent.

Jake pulled out his credit card, handed it to the salesclerk at the florist shop in the Marshallton Mall and waited for her to ring up his order. He knew that if he were going to persuade Donna to marry him, he’d have to woo her first. He hadn’t ever really thought about marriage. Not seriously. He’d figured that he was meant to die an old bachelor. But having a child changed all that. His own father had been a worthless burn and his grandfather had been a stern, cold care-giver. He wanted better for his daughter. Sugar Baby deserved a devoted, full-time father. A man who’d be around when she needed him. And the only way he could give his baby girl what she needed most from him was by marrying her mother.