Page 105 of No Place for Single Cowboys

He wiped her tears away with his thumb. Couldn’t she see that? And she’d been ready to do this all alone, which was even braver. He’d been a damn coward, and she’d been magnificent.

When his thumb touched her wet cheek, time slowed. It felt like a massive wave was pulling him under, a wave he’d seen coming from miles away but never thought would hit him.Chance went down and down and down, until his mouth, nose, lungs, all of him was filled with this feeling.

He was in love with Cordelia Grace Johnson.

This wasn’t any kind ofI love you like a friendorlikea friend with benefitsor evenlike a sister.

This was full-on Kessal love madness. Chance suddenly understood his father, his uncles, his brother, and even Jesse from long ago. Because he was ready to run out into a blizzard to catch her a zebra before he started on that second porch she wanted.

But all that seemed easy compared to what he had to do now—watch her go through the most dangerous thing a woman could do. And he had to be calm and stoic and never admit how insanely in love with her he was.

Chance was well and truly screwed.

The shining misery of Cordy’s tears wrenched him out of his thoughts. All right, he didn’t have to walk into a blizzard; he only had to do what he’d already promised.

Cordy sniffled. “I guess… I guess I was freaking out.” Her shoulders relaxed. “I’m feeling better.” She managed to smile at him. “I have to tell you, in case?—”

Chance laid a finger on her lips. If she spoke any of that out loud, she’d undo him. “Nope. Not hearing anyin cases.Everything is going to be fine.”

When he lifted his finger, she said, “I just wanted to say I’m glad you answered the ad. I couldn’t do this with anyone else.”

For a moment, his throat threatened to close. “I’m glad it was me too.”

Then they both got down to the hard work ahead of them.

twenty-four

Cordy had a daughter.A beautiful, perfect daughter.

Looking down at the baby on her chest, Cordy felt a rush of pure bliss. The deepest kind of happiness and truest love she’d ever known.

This was herbaby.

She knew immediately that this child was now her entire life and heart. She would do anything for this little girl.

The seventeen hours of labor and two hours of pushing already seemed like distant memories. Had Cordy actually done that? It seemed beyond what a body was capable of, but somehow, hers had—and out had come this tiny miracle.

“Hi.” She whispered into the baby’s soft hair. So much dark hair—it made Cordy want to laugh each time she saw it. “Hi. Welcome. I’ve waited so long to meet you.”

The baby’s eyes opened. They were big and gray, so beautiful Cordy could hardly stand it.

At the end of the bed, the medical team was messing around. Cordy had been so poked and prodded and monitored and stitched she didn’t much care what they did to her anymore. But she did wish they would go away so she could be alone with her baby and Chance.

“Dad,” Dr. Shenoy said to Chance, “could you take Baby so we can finish up with Mom?”

Chance hesitated. Because he didn’t like being called Dad? Cordy’s heart hiccupped.

“I don’t know how,” Chance said quietly. “We took the class, Ms. Reston showed us, we practiced, but”—he gestured at the baby on Cordy’s chest—“I don’t know how.”

“We’ll help,” the nurse said briskly as she scooped up the baby. “You already know to support her head.”

Then she put Cordy’s little girl into Chance’s arms.

He went very still. His expression was surprised, a hint of fear around his eyes. But then his hesitation dissolved like cotton candy in the rain, swept away by a wave of pure love.

“Hey, little girl,” he said. “I’ve wanted to meet you so bad. And here you are.”

Cordy’s heart swooped. She’d felt overwhelmed by emotion since her baby had arrived, but now she felt like she was expanding. Her heart pressed against her ribs, making space. And pressed some more.

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