Page 29 of Cowboy's Christmas Wife

“I asked him for some privacy for the night,” he explained. “He assumed.”

“Why do we need privacy, huh?” She flipped their steaks, and the sound of the sear made his stomach grumble. “What do you expect to happen? That I’m going to just fall into bed with you?”

Her tone told him that her problem wasn’t necessarily with him. “If you want to fall into bed with me,” he said after a moment, “I’m all for it, but if we just sit on the couch and watch a movie like we talked about at breakfast, I’d be all for that too.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re sure?”

Daryl nodded. “I have no expectations tonight except to spend some time with you during which we aren’t sharing a kitchen table with my brother and your daughter and/or covered in dust and sweat from doing repairs at your house, okay?”

That made Laura smile. “Okay,” she said. “That sounds fair. Can you give the baby some of the puree food there?” She pointed to the little bowl of green mush on the counter.

He nodded and went to fetch one of the baby spoons that Laura had brought from the house. They had their own little space in the drawer now, like they’d always been there. He liked seeing their stuff around the house. The baby was hooting now, practically dancing in her seat, and her hoots got louder when she saw the baby food in his hand. “She’s a hungry little thing, isn’t she?” he said.

Laura made ahmmnoise. “Yeah, she’s been eating good today.”

It was just an offhanded comment about their day, but it struck Daryl how domestic this whole scene was. Laura making dinner while he feeds the baby. In all the times he’d pictured what it would be like to be married, this was what he thought of—doing the domestic, everyday things together, the way his parents always had. His stomach filled with a warmth that seemed to lift his exhaustion from earlier.

Daryl scooped up some of the green mush and sniffed it. “What is this, exactly?”

“Peas, spinach, and green apple,” she said. “I made it this morning. I’m not sure if the apple will save well, so she’s going to eat it twice.”

He held the spoon out, and her little mouth popped open like a baby bird’s. When she tasted the food, she made a noise of contentment, and her mouth opened again, ready for the next bite. It took less than five minutes for her to polish off the bowl in his hands, and he was proud to say that she was only wearing a quarter of it. Laura turned around, steaks and baked potatoes on plates, and laughed when she saw the baby. “She enjoyed it,” Daryl said, which made her laugh all the harder.

“I can see that,” she said and handed him their plates. “Go get us set up while I get her hosed down.”

Daryl took the plates to the table, and then rushed back to pour them some sweet tea. After Laura got Lily cleaned, she settled her in the pack-n-play and came to the table. She frowned when she noticed that he hadn’t started eating. “Something wrong?” she asked.

He shook his head and picked up his knife. “Just waiting on you,” he said.

She looked so genuinely surprised. “Oh,” she breathed.

“Was that wrong of me?” He couldn’t understand her quietness, or the shock on her face.

Laura shook her head. “No, honestly, it’s…sweet,” she said. “You could’ve started without me; it wouldn’t have hurt my feelings.”

What in the hell kind of man were you with if he couldn’t even wait for you to eat?“My mama taught me that a gentleman waits for everyone to be at the table before starting a meal,” he said. “Plus, I wanted to have dinnerwithyou.”

“Daryl,” she said with a sigh. “You are too sweet to be mixed up with me.” She rested her head against her hand. “How is it possible that no one has snapped you up before now? You must have had girlfriends over the years.”

“I have,” he said. “A lot of playing around, but I had a few serious prospects.” Shame crept up the back of his neck. “I actually proposed to my last girlfriend,” he said. Daryl hadn’t told anyone about that, not even his brother and sister. He’d wanted it to be a surprise thing, coming in and showing them Margo’s ring, but when she turned him down flat, he decided to just let sleeping dogs lie. He’d simply told them they’d broken up.

Laura winced. “From the lack of marriage, I’m assuming it didn’t go like you planned?”

Daryl nodded. “Got it in one. Give the girl a prize,” he said, imitating a carnival barker. “We had been seeing each other a little less than a year, but I was sure that she was the one. We got along great, had great sex, talked about wanting the same things in life—but when I popped the question, she pretty much told me that I was creeping her out—that rushing into marriage so quickly made me seem either reckless or desperate.”

“Ouch.” She reached out and touched his arm. “She didn’t deserve you.”

“Clark didn’t deserve you either.”

She blinked, and her eyes dropped to her plate. “We make quite a pair,” she said.

Ain’t that the truth?“Movie after dinner?” he asked, trying to push past this awkward moment and get back to enjoying spending time with her.

Laura shook her head. She looked at him, and her eyes said all of things she wasn’t ready to say just yet. “Bed,” she said definitively. “We’ll put Lily down, and then you’re taking me to bed.”

Daryl’s heart thumped hard. “Gladly, ma’am.”

SEVENTEEN

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