help. That is, if Riley had cereal. She could always just have a glass of milk. The small crib on wheels they’d bought was set up beside the bed now. A mobile dangled on one side. She stood by it, looking down at her sleeping son. He was practically her whole world. Overnight she’d gone from a self-absorbed career woman to a mom. Derek had changed everything about her life.
But the career woman in her still had a to-do list. She’d have to check in with her store manager tomorrow, then with her fabric supplier, not to mention her PR consultant.
Time to get that cereal, she decided, stopping the racing thoughts.
Rubbing her hand in a full circle over Derek’s back, she finally left him and went to the kitchen.
After opening two of the upper cupboards, she found what she was looking for and she had to smile. This was the same kind of cereal Riley liked in high school—sweet and sticky. Old times were the best times? Maybe that was true for her and Riley.
She was pouring cereal into a bowl when he entered the kitchen. She looked up and her breath practically stopped. He was shirtless and the waist button of his jeans was unsnapped. She couldn’t seem to pull her gaze from all that black hair running a route down his chest.
“Want some company?” he asked.
“Can’t sleep, either?” she might as well just ask.
“My head’s too full of everything that’s going on, about Derek and things I should do for him.”
“And about me being under your roof? My parents not liking that idea one little bit?”
When he approached her and stopped right beside her, she wished she’d stayed in her room. He was all man, all temptation, all Riley, and he was close enough to touch.
“Having you under my roof is keeping me awake, too. Add that to your list.” Desire was in his eyes and she could feel an answering response to it in her belly. So he wouldn’t see it, she turned away, went to the refrigerator and pulled out the milk.
“You’re running, Brenna.”
“I’m not running. I’m turning away from what shouldn’t happen. I’m getting a midnight snack. Do you want one or not?” She knew she was being defensive and that she wasn’t handling the attraction between them very well. But she had to put some kind of barrier between them or they wouldn’t only tumble into bed, they’d tumble into heartache.
He caught her arm and she stopped moving. Gazing up into his so-blue eyes, she felt her resistance melting away, and that wasn’t good.
“Exactly how long are you going to stay in Miners Bluff?”
So that’s what was bothering him. “A month. I have to get back to be ready for my fall show.”
He looked somewhat relieved as if he’d expected her to say she’d be leaving at the end of the week.
She asked a question that had been in her mind all afternoon. “When are you going to tell your dad and the rest of your family about Derek?”
“I have to figure out the best way to do it.”
“Best way?”
“My father’s sober now. He has been for the past five years. I don’t want to do anything that’s going to rock that boat.”
“My father never meant to destroy your dad’s life. You’ve got to know that.”
He appeared to measure his words carefully as he said, “No, I don’t know that. I know your father was a ruthless businessman. All he cared about was expanding his department store. When my dad couldn’t pay rent to him, your father took advantage of that. He stepped right in, and kicked him out.”
“It was a business decision!”
Now Riley’s composure cracked a little as bitterness seeped out. “Maybe he should have looked behind the business of it. My dad was already sinking financially and that made sure he sank. Then my mom didn’t stick around because she was tired of four kids pulling on her, tired of hardly making ends meet, tired of being with a man who couldn’t get back on his feet. After she left, Jack Daniels became Dad’s best friend. Sometimes, I swear, he didn’t even know we were around. If I hadn’t worked at the grocery store and gotten day-old bread and expired meat, I’m not sure what would have happened.”
Brenna had never known that things were that bad for the O’Rourkes. Oh, yes, she’d known her father had pushed Liam O’Rourke out of the restaurant so he could expand his department store. But she’d never known the rest.
“Riley, I’m sorry. I never knew. Even in high school, you never said.”
“Back then, I was afraid of your opinion. I was afraid of anyone’s opinion. The O’Rourkes stood on their own. They made do. They got by. Now we’re all on our feet, even Dad. I don’t want to do anything that might make him pick up that bottle again.”
Maybe so. But Riley was forgetting something. “We went to my father’s department store together and stopped for gas. Tomorrow we’re going to the pediatrician. You know Miners Bluff. If your dad doesn’t hear it from you, he’s going to hear it from someone else very soon.”
Riley’s gaze told her he’d already thought of that, and he was worried about it.
Brenna stepped back to the cupboard and took out another cereal bowl, but Riley shook his head.
“Never mind. I think I’m going to go outside on the porch for a bit. Enjoy your snack.”
She wanted to tell him he needed a shirt. She wanted to tell him the temperature had dipped like it always did at night here. But she didn’t get the chance to tell him anything because he left the kitchen and went out the front door.
Riley still didn’t want her pity. He still had his pride. He’d rather be cold than sit in the kitchen with her.
That thought tightened her throat.
Chapter Three
On Saturday morning Derek suckled as Brenna sat in the wooden rocker in her room. She rocked back and forth before the sun was up, wondering if there was any new mother in the world who wasn’t sleep deprived. Not that she minded. She knew these moments with her child in her arms were precious because he was already growing fast. After all, she’d read all the baby books. Before long he’d be rolling over, sitting up, standing, crawling. She didn’t want to think about all of that. She just wanted to enjoy Derek in her arms.
However, rocking couldn’t prevent her from thinking about yesterday and the appointment with the pediatrician. She’d held Derek while the doctor swabbed the inside of his cheek and hers. Then she’d left the room with her son, knowing Riley was having his cheek swabbed, too.
She hoped just having the DNA test done would convince Riley he could trust her. Whenever they were in the same room, they didn’t seem to know how to act!
After the appointment she’d taken Derek to visit with her mom for a few hours but her father had been at the store. She wanted to find her way somehow to a new father-daughter relationship better than the
