Page 31 of The Cowboy's Unlikely Love

Chapter Eight

Colt arrived back atthe old homestead after lunch. He’d told his parents what had happened, and they had agreed that staying with Taylor and Shannon was the right thing to do.

Taylor met him at the door, JJ on her shoulder. She looked anxious, and he wondered if she’d been worried because it had taken him a while to return. “I helped my dad doctor an injured cow before I came back here,” he explained. “That’s what took so long.”

She nodded. “That’s okay. We were fine here.” But he could see the tension ease from her shoulders as she turned and walked toward the living room. It was good that he was staying with them if she was this worried about their safety.

“We cleaned out your room some, but it’s still a mess. And we put clean sheets on your bed. I hope it’ll be okay. Let me show you.”

He followed her toward the bedroom. “I’m sure it’s fine. I don’t need much.” He could see that the room had been used for storage, but Shannon and Taylor had obviously rearranged it so that he had room to walk around. “This is perfect. Thanks.” He dropped his bag on the bed and hung his clothes in the small closet.

He went to the window and twitched back the faded green curtains. As he’d thought, he had a perfect view of the front of the house. Nobody could come up the drive without him spotting them.

JJ began to fuss. “His diaper’s probably wet,” Taylor said. “I just finished burping him.”

“This is the perfect time to show me how to change his diaper, don’t you think?” He’d been wanting to learn that for a while so that he could be of more help—and now that he’d be living here, it was especially important.

She grinned. “I certainly won’t argue with that.” She headed for the nursery, patting JJ gently on the back as he fussed.

It turned out there were a lot of steps to a simple diaper change, but he paid close attention and soon had a nice dry diaper on the little guy. He picked him up and cradled him in his arms, looking into his clear blue eyes. “You feel better now, don’t you, big boy?”

“You did a great job, for a first-timer,” Taylor said with a grin.

“I’ve got the hang of it now, and practice makes perfect. I’ll start doing his diaper changes from now on, okay?”

She laughed. “Okay, but you haven’t changed a poopy one yet.”

He grinned. “Well, I have that to look forward to, I guess.”

***

After a quiet evening, Colt awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of JJ crying. It came from the direction of the nursery. He waited a few moments, but the baby didn’t calm down.

He got up in the darkness and headed for the nursery. He could see the dim light from the nightlight streaming through the open door. When he walked in, Taylor was holding a howling JJ over her shoulder as she walked the floor. She wore a nightshirt that showed the beautiful curves of her slender body, and her eyes held a desperation that he’d never seen before.

He went to her and held out his arms. “Would you like me to try?”

She said, “I’ve nursed him, and I’ve burped him, and I’ve tried everything I know. He just won’t quitcrying.” She handed JJ to him.

He cradled the baby in his arms, holding him slightly away from his body, and began swinging him from side to side.

The tone of JJ’s howls changed. Colt kept swinging and began to sing quietly, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,” in his deep, rumbling voice.

JJ’s howls became whimpers as Colt continued to sing the familiar nursery song. When the song ended, he began again, and then again, as he continued to swing the baby. Ten minutes later, JJ was sleeping peacefully in his arms.

Taylor shook her head and said softly, “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Colt laid the baby gently on his back in the crib. In a whisper, he said, “What child doesn’t like to swing?”

Standing beside him and looking down at her son, she said, “You’re a miracle worker, that’s what I think.”

She put her arm around his waist and leaned her head against him.

Shooting waves of pleasure swept through him.

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