Page 47 of Christmas with the Denton Billionaires

“Does it?” Mitch stepped closer, and the two of them leaned forward to examine the scene. “I’ve never really noticed.”

The blankets around Baby Jesus shifted.

And then his arm moved.

Jules gasped. “I think that’s a real baby in there.” She surged forward, feeling inside the wooden manger. Her stomach sank to her feet when her fingertips connected with a soft, warm body. “Oh my god, it is a baby.”

4

MITCH

“Please, tell me you’re kidding. Who would do something like that?” Mitch asked. He watched as Jules scooped up the baby and unwrapped the wool blanket that had been disguising its presence.

“There’s a note pinned to the baby’s jacket,” she said as she made soft cooing noises.

“What does it say?”

I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore. Please help her find a better life and give her a better Christmas than I ever could.

Emotion clamped Mitch’s throat, as he looked from the baby to Jules, her own eyes wide with disbelief.

“Mitch…” Her voice came out in a whisper.

He watched, as she held the baby close in her arms, her body swaying as the baby nestled against her chest. “Who would do something so horrible as to abandon a baby like this? There were other places that would have been safer. What if no one had seen her?”

Mitch had his phone out and was dialing 911. “I’ve no idea, but I’m calling emergency services.” When he got a fast busy, he disconnected the call. “Well that didn’t work. I got an ‘all systems busy’ message.”

She joined him. “What are you going to do?”

“Come on. Let’s go someplace warm,” Mitch said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and urging her back into the lobby. He looked around, hoping to catch Patrick, but he wasn’t there and the front desk was busy.

Heat blasted over them as they re-entered the hotel. Mitch guided her toward a small alcove overlooking a central courtyard, which was dappled with evergreen bushes. Outside, the sky had turned a bleak gray as snow continued to fall. Looking at Jules, she looked as stricken as he felt. He watched her swallow hard, while looking down at the sleeping baby in her arms.

“What should we do?” she asked. Her voice cracked on the question and he could see her swallow again, as if she was trying to push down something distasteful.

Mitch wet his bottom lip, his icy blue gaze sweeping up to meet hers. He was trying to wrap his brain around why someone would leave a baby at a hotel when there were other places far better equipped to help. What the hell did he know about a baby?

“We’ll figure this out,” he said in a low voice.“Just give me a second.”

The hustle and bustle of the lobby ratcheted up to a commotion. And it wasn’t because of the baby—nobody else knew or noticed that they’d discovered a real liveinfantabandoned in the manger out front. Mitch’s head spun as he guided Jules to sit down with the baby in her arms, his brain in overdrive.

He searched for an available staff member to recruit. Every single person was in a different state of losing their cool on a phone call, with a guest, or both at the same time.

“I’ll be right back,” Mitch said to Jules before heading toward the front desk. The air in the lobby felt pulled tight, as if it might snap at any second. He strode toward the desk but stopped as some guests nearby sighed loudly.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to stay here, but we can’t leave either,” one of them was saying. Mitch paused, feeling the customer service side of him leap into high gear.

“Hi, I’m Mitch Denton, owner of this hotel.” He offered his hand to the frazzled-looking man and his wife. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

“I don’t know.” The man raked a hand through the sparse field of hairs left on his head. “We were about to leave for the airport, but we got word that our flight was canceled because of the snowstorm. We can’t keep our room for another night because it’s been booked.”

Mitch led them toward the front desk, intent on resolving this. He made sure that the first desk clerk who hung up was tasked with their rebooking issue.

Which meant that it took some time before someone was able to tend tohim. Mitch made sure all his guests were helped before he took his turn. The customer always came first—that was the family motto. When he glanced back at Jules, her brows were drawn together as she looked down at the baby in her arms.

They needed to figure out whose baby this was, stat.

“Hey. I need to know if any of you saw any suspicious activity near the manger scene today,” Mitch said once a lull had hit the lobby.

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