Page 5 of Cowboy's Christmas Wife

Daryl opened the container and sniffed it. He expected for it to smell terrible; he remembered the baby food that his sister used to feed his nieces and nephew. He wouldn’t wish that on an enemy. Instead, though, Laura’s homemade food smelled delicious. Daryl was nearly tempted to sneak a taste, but Lily must have seen the container because her wails were outright shrieks now. Laura took the container and the soft, pink spoon that he fished out of a pocket and then settled with the girl in her lap.

Lily made the sweetest, most blissed-out noises as she ate, and Daryl couldn’t help but be charmed by her. “She seems like a good baby,” he said, thinking of how Caitlin and Callie screeched when they were babies and how Thomas still couldn’t be trusted around markers.

Laura smiled, warm and real. “She’s the best,” she said. “Had a little trouble with sleeping early on, but she sleeps through the night now.” She rubbed her nose into the girl’s blonde hair, and Daryl could have melted. Laura’s love for her daughter was so real and obvious. “She screams like a banshee sometimes,” she added with a little laugh, “as you just heard, but that’s really only when she’s starving. She rarely fusses without cause.”

Not like Georgina’s kids at all, Daryl mused with a little smile. “Can I hold her?”

Laura looked surprised. “Sure,” she said and handed off the baby. “Mind if I borrow some soap?” She held up the now empty container.

He gestured at the sink, eyes still on Lily. “Have at it.” Daryl could hear the sink running—and from the clinking, he could tell she’d grabbed their bowls too. He walked the baby around the kitchen and hummed lightly to her like he did when his nieces and nephew were tiny.

“Clark’s not involved in her life?” he asked.

Laura paused. “No,” she said, “and I’m not interested in her having any relationship with him.”

Good, he thought although he couldn’t be sure why he felt so satisfied with that response. “You don’t need that mean old man, huh, kid?” he murmured. “Not when you’ve got a mama bear to look after you.”

Laura turned, and the smile on her face made his heart skip in his chest.Stop that, he demanded of himself. “You know you’re the first person besides Jeanette who agrees with me? All of the friends I’d made through my charity work back in Denver, all of the wives of the other stockbrokers in Clark’ firm, were horrified that I would keep her from her father.”

He snorted. “It’s nobody’s business but yours, Laura Jo.”

She crossed the kitchen and hugged him. She wasn’t pressed right against him—she’d kept her body back so as to not squish Lily—but her soft, sweet scent filled his nose. “That is precisely why I think you should marry me.”

Lily squirmed, and Laura slipped her from Daryl’s grasp. “Laura Jo—”

“Don’tLaura Jome, Daryl,” she said. “I’m not being rash here. I need help, and I think I can help you too.”

“You said that before, but I still don’t understand what you mean.”

She nodded. “Without Clark stopping me from using my trust fund, I could easily handle the mortgage payments that you’re behind on.”

“I can’t take your money,” he said. There was no way that he would allow her to pay him off like that.

Laura scoffed. “That’s dumb,” she told him. “You told me that you’re going to lose the ranch—”

“We’rewhat?”

They turned, and Daryl cursed: Kyle stood in the threshold between the kitchen and the long hall that connected the bedrooms with the rest of the house. His hair was still wet from the shower. “Kyle, that’s not—” Daryl fumbled with his words. “We’re not losing anything.” He said it as a comfort and a promise.

His younger brother, though, must have heard how empty the words sounded, because he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked far older than twenty-four, and it burned Daryl up inside because he was the reason for it. “What happened at the bank, Daryl?”

Daryl deflated. “They won’t extend the loan. If we aren’t caught up by the end of the year, they’ll foreclose.”

Kyle stared at him for a long beat, anger clear on his face. “I’m going to Georgina’s for the night,” he finally said and turned on his heel.

“Kyle—”

His brother stopped and looked back. “We’ll need to talk about this, I know,” he said, voice flat. It cut into Daryl like a blade. “But if we want to keep it from turning into a fight, then I need some air tonight.” Then, he was stalking up the hallway, refusing to look at Daryl again.

“Daryl, I am so sorry—”

He looked back at Laura. She smoothed a loose piece of hair behind her ears and wouldn’t meet his eyes, like she was afraid that he was going to yell at her.What did Clark do to you?“I was going to have to tell him anyway,” he said. Kyle’s heavy footsteps could be heard in the hallway again. He came through the kitchen, grabbed his keys and wallet, and then he was gone. When the rumbling sound of Kyle’s truck receded, Daryl added, “If I was going to marry you, we’d need to establish some boundaries.”

Laura’s eyes went a touch wide. She nodded a little too hard. “Absolutely,” she agreed.

“First, I’m not going to just take your money,” he said. “It’ll be a loan.”

Laura frowned but dipped her head in acknowledgement. “You can pay me back when things are turning a regular profit again. Not a day before.”

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