Page 41 of The Irish Rogue

But that was nuts, he reminded himself.

Still, he walked over to the side window and peered outside. Then groaned. Looking down at Declan, who wasn’t overly concerned and was more fascinated by his tiny fists. Sean gave his tiny son a kiss, then said, “Brace yourself.”

He walked to the door and pulled it open. “What the hell do you want?” he demanded of Levi and Matteo. A cute brunette peeked around Levi, smiling up at him. “Is it true?” Clarissa asked. She just recently married Levi and the duo was deliriously happy. Clarissa had tamed the raging beast inside of Levi, a man with a brilliant mind and a heart of gold.

She spotted Declan and gasped. “Itistrue!” and she shoved her husband and Matteo out of the way with the enormous box in her arms. “Oh, Sean! He’s beautiful!”

Sean cradled Declan’s head protectively. “He’s ruggedly handsome, woman! My son isn’t beautiful!”

Clarissa laughed and Sean stepped back so that his friends could enter Kennedi’s tiny house. Sean followed, carefully turning Declan around so that the others could see his perfect child. “This is Declan,” he said by way of introduction.

Declan grinned, then tried to show off by grabbing his toes. Everyone laughed, delighted with his son, as they should be, Sean thought with a burst of pride.

“He’s adorable,” Clarissa announced, stating what the others were thinking. “How old is he?”

“Three months old,” Sean stated, then smiled as Declan decided that his fist was more interesting than his toes.

Sean looked around. “What is all this stuff?” he asked. There were giant boxes of diapers and boxes wrapped in blue paper with elaborate bows on top.

“We didn’t know what was going on, so we stopped by one of the baby stores and bought a few things,” Matteo announced, leaning a shoulder against the wall as he surveyed the group with amusement. Was there a touch of hunger in his dark eyed gaze?

Sean tried to understand the man. He always seemed to disdain women, and yet, he always had a beautiful woman on his arm. Granted, it was usually a different woman.

Matteo would learn, Sean thought.

With his new understanding of his relationship with Kennedi…okay, correction, he didn’t really understand what had happened between himself and Kennedi, other than the fact that she’d walked out after the most sensuous hours of his entire life!

With that reminder tugging at him, he turned away from Matteo’s hunger. That wasn’t a problem he currently had the bandwidth to figure out. Plus, Matteo wasn’t the kind of friend that one offered advice to. He redefined the term “loner”.

Perhaps his friends had described him like that, especially over the past year. And wasn’t that an astounding thought! Had he been as much of a bastard as Matteo? He definitely hadn’t used women in the same way. The opposite, in fact. And wasn’t that startling too?

Mentally, he shook himself. He’d have plenty of time to examine his thoughts and emotions later. Right now, he had an adorable son to show off.

“He can almost fit his entire fist into his mouth,” Sean announced, as if that were some sort of miracle. “He hasn’t quite figured out how to catch his toes though.”

Everyone laughed and Clarissa walked over, smiling as she tickled his fleece covered toes. “You are just the most adorable little man!”

Damn, he liked Clarissa! She had excellent taste! And she was good for Levi, too. The man had transformed from a grumpy ass into…well, Levi was still a grumpy ass, but not when Clarissa was around. Levi was an adoring ass when she was around. Which was a good thing.

For the next few hours, they played with Declan, fed him, and took him for a walk. Levi had bought a new swing, so he went outside and attached the seat-swing that was specially made for an infant, examined his options, then attached it securely to one of the thick tree branches. When Sean put his tiny son into the swing, he hovered, making sure that the swing wouldn’t topple his boy out if it went too high. But when Declan laughed and wiggled whenever the swing swayed, Sean nodded his approval.

Someone ordered food and they ate outside while Declan napped, shaded by the afternoon sunshine. And by three o’clock, everyone headed out, each of them offering their delighted approval of his new son.

Chapter 14

Sean pulled into the parking lot of the local sheriff’s office. Getting out, he reached into the backseat and collected Declan, car seat and all, and carried him inside.

“Hi there, can I…?” the receptionist stopped, her eyes dropping to the carrier. “Well, hello!” she gushed, sitting up so that she could lean over the counter that separated the sheriff’s department from the reception area. “Aren’t you the cutest little bugger I’ve ever seen!”

“This is Declan,” Sean replied. “I was hoping to speak with the sheriff, if he’s in.”

The receptionist, a woman in her mid-fifties with sparkling eyes and thick glasses perched on the end of her nose, smiled at Declan again, even tweaking his sock-covered big toe, before she pulled back. Her expression turned serious.

“May I ask what’s the nature of your visit?”

Sean put Declan onto the counter. “I’ve seen some strange things…flashes of red and a woman in…”

“Stop right there,” she ordered and lifted her phone. “Mick, you need to come out here.” A small pause but Sean couldn’t hear what he was saying. “Yep. I think so.” She paused again, then put the phone down. Looking up at Sean, she said, “He’ll be right out.”

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