Page 74 of Conveniently Wed
Fran’s cheeks pinked. “Oh… Thank you.”
“Listen,” Beau said. “This was the first time in the month we’ve been down here that Beau Jr. has been calm.”
“It’s true,” Melody said. “I think being around Mother puts him on edge.”
Edgar wisely kept his trap shut about that.
“Would it be too much to ask—” Beau started, and then cut himself off.
“Y’all want to take a walk around the town? Let me and Fran watch the kid for a half hour or so?” Edgar asked.
The relief on the man’s face was almost comical. “Would you mind terribly?”
“Not at all,” Fran said, reaching out for the toddler. He came into her arms easily, reaching for one loose curl that had slipped out of her hairdo and rested on her neck.
Edgar wanted to do the same thing.
He ushered her outside of the noisy lobby.
The evening air cooled her flushed cheeks as they brought little Beau Jr. outside and found a quiet spot at the end of the boardwalk between the hotel and another building.
The little tot seemed enamored with crawling up and down the step. Repeatedly.
“He’s getting dirty,” she pointed out.
“They didn’t tell us to keep him clean,” her husband returned. “Only to watch him. Besides, little boys need to get dirty every once in a while.”
She smiled as he sat on the top step, long legs reaching all the way to the ground. He supported the boy with one large palm as Beau Jr. pulled up, using Edgar’s pant leg for support.
“You’re good with him,” she said.
“Lots of practice.” He grinned back at her over his shoulder.
The sight of him sent a thrill of pure joy through her. Imagining him with a child of his own, of their own, sent a pang of longing throbbing right through her heart.
“Have you never wanted…children of your own?”
He didn’t answer.
She thought perhaps she’d offended him until she saw him staring at a man lounging against the outside of a building across the street, partly hidden by a support post.
“You know that guy?” Edgar asked, voice low.
“No. Why?”
He stood, bringing Beau Jr. and tucking the boy against his side easily, as if he did it every day.
He took her hand and for a moment her heart soared.
Until he said, “He’s been watching us since we stepped out of the hotel.”
A shiver went through her. Could he be one of Underhill’s men?
“He might be trying to figure out where the kid came from. Are you a good little distraction? Are you?”
Edgar’s high-pitched baby talk eased her a little. He wouldn’t let anything happen to the child. She knew that, knew him.
She could trust him to take care of her.
