Page 48 of Duke's Baby Deal
“Not much that you can do about it though, except hope.”
“Yeah.”
“Bax said for you to drop over and have a look at baby clothes, see what he can pass on. Though I bet you’ll have to give them back again after—I don’t think he and Abel are done. I suspect they’re going for a round dozen.”
I laughed and got creakily to my feet. “I need to clean up the room before the pups wake up and mess it up again. There’s coffee and juice in the nursing room if you want some. I just put a new pot on—Becca’s feral if she doesn’t have enough coffee.”
Jason laughed and got up too. “I think that’s just Becca. Mac tells me stories sometimes about when they were all kids. Nobody messed with Becca.”
We parted ways, him to the nursing room, me back to my charges.
I had the room tidy and was just wiping down the last of the blocks to make sure I got all the germs and boogers off them when Elise showed up in the door.
“Hey, Bram. Full house today.”
“Yeah. They’re busy. Everything’s clean. Jason’s in the nursing room, waiting for Macy to wake up. Oh, and Sabio is on cold medicine. It’s not bothering him, but you’ll have to keep an eye on his nose. It’s training for the Olympics.”
“Awww, poor snotty-nosed baby. Don’t worry, I’ll keep on top of it. How are you doing?”
“I’m fat. And tired. But Duke’s almost finished the cradles, so I’mfinallygoing to get to see the big surprise.”
“You know, that was the most romantic story I’ve ever heard.”
“What was?” I put the cleaner away in the cupboard and tossed the rag in with the rest of the laundry. My belly felt weirdly tight and I rubbed it absently as I took a final glance around the room.
“Well, how you and Duke were just yearning for each other forever and neither of you thought the other one was interested, and then you told him and he was all like ‘Let’s get mated!’ and then you ended up pregnant right away and it’s just the most romantic thing I ever heard!”
“Uh, okay. Where did you hear that?” Boy, if she knew the real story…
“Oh, I don’t really remember. I think Edmund heard it from the security guys, and he told Felicia, and she told a bunch of people. But really, everyone else just has a boring ‘how we met’ story. I hope I have something that romantic some day.”
“I hope so too.” I forced myself to smile, though I felt both sick and relieved hearing all the lies going around the pack. “I better get going. Supper to start, and I need to head up to the laundromat.” Duke’s clothes from last night were a muddy mess and I’d left them soaking, planning to scrub the stains out of them when I got back from work today. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Sure. Say hi to your sweetheart for me!”
“I will.” I gathered up my coat and changed my sneakers for my winter boots and headed out the door.
On the way home, I thought about Duke and me and what really happened. And what would happen if Duke went after the Montana Border guys. I knew he was mad, though he never said much to me. But every once in a while the subject would come up, and he’d give off these alpha vibes, violent ones, like if Justin were to walk in the door there’d be blood on the floor. It worried me, because it was so unlike him.
As our home came into sight, I decided I’d have to talk to him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Duke brought one of the cradles with him when he came home that evening. He hoped Bram would like it once it was finished. The whole thing had been sanded smooth, and then he’d carved scenes into the head and foot boards from an old nursery tale that explained how shifters came to be. It wasn’t finished yet—the carvings had only been roughed in—and he thought he’d spread out a sheet and spend the evening watching a movie with Bram and finishing the images at home.
“Hey, I’m home.” He set the cradle down in the living room and went to collect a kiss from Bram, busily stirring something at the stove. As their lips met, he felt that tiny pang of guilt, because he knew Bram did it for him. There was nothing in it for Bram, after all. But Bram always smiled after and asked him how his day went, and at night he curled right into Duke as if it was the most natural thing in the world, so maybe Duke was overthinking things.
Yeah. That was it. But still, there was that niggling worry. He loved Bram; he certainly didn’t want to hurt him, or push him to do things he didn’t want to do.
Damn that Justin anyway.
Bram smiled. “Supper’s almost ready, if you want to go wash up.” He turned back to his small pot, stirring again. “I made goulash with some of the leftovers out of the freezer, to put over those noodles we got last time.”
“I brought home one of the cradles. I thought I’d stay in with you and finish up the carving.”
Bram dropped the spoon and spun in place. “Really? Where did you leave it?” He pushed past Duke into the living room and stopped dead with his hands over his mouth. “Duuuuuuke!” His walked slowly toward the cradle and fell to his knees beside it. He ran his hands over the smooth wood, tracing the roughed out carvings on the end. “This is Lysoonka and the Lost Children of Men?”
Duke walked over to kneel beside him. “Yes. Here’s the scene where the children were abandoned, and the Firebeast was threatening them. Or it will be, anyway. The other end is when she changed the children so they could protect themselves.”
