Page 42 of Treat Her Right

Zack sat, rocking his daughter in his arms.

Wynn shook her head and fetched the hose. After about half a minute of freezing cold water running over her tiny foot, Dani struggled to sit up. She took one look at Zack, and patted his chest. “I’m ’kay.”

He hugged her close, half-laughing, but still shaken. He also kissed her foot, then had to move so Josh could kiss it, too. Dani accepted the healing kisses as her due.

Zack kissed her one more time, then asked, “Dani, why did you have your shoes off?”

Evidently, this was something forbidden, for Dani summoned a pathetic, apologetic look, and then pointed at Bo. “I was tryin’ on his shoes.”

Bo took an appalled step back and his entire face darkened with guilt. “My shoes!”

“They’re so big,” Dani explained, looking down at her lap and giving another little sob. “Even bigger than Daddy’s.”

Everyone looked at Zack’s feet. He muttered, “Size twelve.”

Bo, still flushed with guilt, shrugged. “Thirteens,” he admitted. “She’s right, they are bigger.”

Wynn had been stationed by the hose, watching the byplay, the way everyone looked from Zack’s feet to Bo’s and then to Dani’s, doing some sort of bizarre comparison.

Her emotions had been on a roller-coaster ride since meeting Zack, keeping her on edge. Now the idea of a bunch of gargantuan men comparing foot sizes with a child who was so petite she barely reached any of their knees, just struck Wynn funny. She burst out laughing and couldn’t stop. When everyone stared toward her, she laughed even harder.

On the edge of embarrassment, no doubt afraid he was the object of hilarity, Bo chuckled, too. Of course, that made Clint and Marc laugh. Dani finally started to giggle, drawn to the sound of the hilarity, though likely her humor wasn’t for the same reasons. And with laughter being so contagious, within minutes everyone roared. Dani bounced on Zack’s lap, her sting totally forgotten.

Watching Zack laugh was a special delight. Wynn had the feeling he didn’t often give in to great displays of any kind of outward emotion. He wasn’t, according to Josh, a man who lost his temper or his control.

Yet, with her he’d gone from one extreme to another. Surely, that counted for something. What, she didn’t know, but perhaps she’d find out tonight.

Now that she’d made up her mind, she could hardly wait.

CHAPTER 8

ZACK CHECKEDon Dani one last time. Her tiny foot stuck out from under the sheet, and from the glow of the hall light he could just make out the rainbow print bandage she’d insisted on putting over her bee sting. He bent and kissed her toes, then tucked the foot away.

Dani stirred and stretched. “Daddy?”

A lump in his throat nearly strangled him. She only called him “daddy” when she was very tired, or hurt. He sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed her cheek. “Yeah, sweetie. It’s me.”

She yawned hugely, then reached for his hand. “We had a swell time today.”

Smiling at the way she consistently phrased everything as a statement, Zack said, “Yes, we did.”

“I really like Wynn.”

“Do you?”

She nodded against her pillow. “You do, too.”

Zack hesitated. His daughter had never played matchmaker in her life, so this particular statement totally took him by surprise. He said finally, “I like her fine.”

“I like her more than fine. She’s the funnest.”

“Brat,” Zack teased, and asked, “More fun than me?”

“The funnestwoman,” she clarified, and yawned yet again. “I’m gonna keep her.”

Her voice had been faint, on the edge of sleep, but still he heard. “Dani? What do you mean you’re going to keep her?”

“I want her to be mine,” his half-awake daughter announced.

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