Page 18 of Red Boar's Baby

“What?” Diana said, a second before something bounded over the back of the couch and slammed into her spine with what felt like the business ends of several tiny shovels.

“She turned into an antelope in the night,” Costa said—unnecessary at this point, as Diana had rolled over in time to receive a faceful of tickly antelope kisses.

Diana sat up and cuddled Emmeline, who flailed with her knobby-kneed legs and then settled down in Diana’s lap. Costa turned on a light in the kitchen.

“Sleep okay?” he asked over the sound of running water.

“Better than I thought I would,” she admitted. “I hope you’re making coffee.”

“Happy to report that you’re in luck.”

The coffeemaker began to sputter, and Costa came over to lean against the back of the couch. Diana firmly crushed an almost overwhelming urge to smooth down her hair, which even without the help of all-in-one shampoo had a tendency to dry into a shape that looked like it was going to detach from her head and tumble past a stagecoach at any moment. But she did tug the loose T-shirt a little higher on her shoulder—it kept trying to slip off—before she looked up at him.

And instantly regretted it. Somehow she had failed to remember that Costa would be in his sleeping attire too, which was roughly similar to hers (a T-shirt and shorts), except it fit.

Boy, did it ever fit.

The T-shirt wasn’t quite tight enough to be pornographic, but she could make out muscle definition that was going to have a starring role in her fantasies for months. The shorts that came down almost to her knees left most of Costa’s powerful thighs bare, and she got an excellent view when he went back into the kitchen to attend to the coffee. He was barefoot, which somehow made it hotter.

It wasn’t like she had never seen Costa in a T-shirt and shorts before; it was a hot climate, after all. But she had very rarely seen him likethis: tousled and sleepy, bare-legged and barefoot.

“How about you, how did you sleep?” she asked, trying to be polite, but then it just sounded like she was either trying to make pointless small talk, or thinking way too much about Costa in bed. Which, okay, she was doing both of those, but she didn’t want him to know that. “I mean, did she keep you—oh, honey, don’t do that.” She detached Emmeline from chewing on the edge of the blanket.

“She was up and down all night,” Costa said with a sigh. “Probably should have expected it, she was so deeply asleep earlier.”

“I think she’s hungry,” Diana said, as Emmeline switched from chewing on the blanket to sucking Diana’s fingers. “The formula I got for her is in my bag. It’s by the door.”

“I know. I gave her a bottle last night. Hopefully we didn’t wake you up.” He added thoughtfully, “If she stays this way, do you suppose we ought to feed her like an antelope, or a human baby?”

“She does have teeth,” Diana remarked, separating Emmeline from her fingers. “I would think a bottle should be fine, though. They feed baby animals at zoos from bottles, don’t they?”

“True,” Costa said. “She’s probably old enough to eat solid food anyhow. Or soft food. I guess I’ll ask Mavis about it. I need to see if she’s found anyone to hand the kid off to yet.”

Right. The baby was someone else’s, and neither Diana nor Costa could take care of her full-time. Diana looked down at the baby antelope curled up in her lap, looking up at her with wide, dark-lashed eyes. She ran her fingers lightly across the small wings, feeling them flutter.

“—doing today, Di?”

“What?” Diana asked, jolted back to reality.

“I said, what are you doing today?”

“Working, obviously. The first thing I need to do is check in with the sheriff’s office.”

“Do you have anything pressing other than that? I’d like to commandeer you for part of the day, if you don’t mind. I need to send a team out to look at the crash site, and I’d like you to fly them there. You know where it is, and you can show them where you found the kid.”

“Oh.” She thought her way around her feelings on it; she didn’t want Costa to think she would drop everything for him. But her initial reaction was eagerness. She did genuinely want to go back to the crash site. The mystery had personal significance for her now.

And, if she was to admit it to herself, she liked the idea of being able to bring a solution to Costa, or at least part of a solution.

“Di?” Costa prompted.

“Yes, of course. I’ll make sure I’m not needed urgently, but I doubt I am. Just put your team in communication with me.”

Costa nodded, then nearly spilled his coffee as Emmeline sprang from Diana’s lap and bounced to the back of the couch in a single wing-assisted leap.

“And that,” Diana said pointedly, “isyourproblem for a while..”

CHAPTER7

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