Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,185
he asked Lara. “The times I had to be cold with her? The times I couldn’t pick her up when she cried?”
“Marlee is one of the most well-adjusted children I know.” Lara brushed his jaw with her fingers. “Whatever she might’ve missed out on in her childhood, she always knew that you loved her.”
Emotion rising in a tide inside him, Walker spread his hand over her hip. “When shall we tell the family?”
“After I do the test, double confirm.” Lara’s voice was shaky. “I feel like I’m made of champagne, bubbles of happiness fizzing up my brain.”
Walker could’ve never come up with that description, but it was exactly right. “Me, too,” he admitted, bending until their breaths kissed and he could drink in her sheer joy. “Me, too.”
Chapter 55
JUDD DIDN’T KNOW quite how he’d ended up with an armful of baby, but someone had handed the child to him, and so he now found himself looking into big brown eyes that looked back at him with just as much curiosity. She wasn’t one of the newborn pupcubs. He was fairly sure this child belonged to a leopard soldier named Emmett and his human mate, Ria.
Baby stealing was rampant at the party, the children passed around to be adored and kissed and spoiled. The pups and cubs and pupcubs seemed to take it in their stride, pack creatures that they were. But since no one seemed to realize that Judd had a baby, he stepped a little farther away from the main lights so he could spend more time with this tiny brown-eyed creature.
“Hello,” he said, though he knew the baby was too young for verbal communication.
She waved a fist at him.
Cradling her in one arm, he took the offered fist in his free hand. Her skin was so fragile, her bones so soft, and her grip delicate but determined when she tugged at his finger. He found himself smiling, fascinated by her small movements, the way she clearly wanted to bite down on his finger though she had only the merest suggestion of her first two teeth.
“Gorgeous man, you just melted my heart into a puddle.”
He’d known Brenna was coming nearer. He could feel her always. When she stopped at the other side of the baby and sighed, he glanced over to meet the extraordinary beauty of her gaze. “Why are you melted?”
“Seriously hot, seriously dangerous man with a tiny, adorable baby in his arms, both of them fascinated with one another?” Uncaring of her stunning ankle-length gown in poppy red, Brenna fell dramatically onto the ground, arms flung out. “Dead.” Pushing up onto her elbows, she said, “Especially since it’s my hot man holding a baby.”
He helped her up using his telekinesis. “You want to hold her?” he asked, strangely reluctant to pass over the soft, warm weight.
“No, it’s okay. You keep holding her.” Brenna smiled, obviously able to read his emotions. “Her name is Mialin Corrina.” Kissing the baby’s cheek, Brenna whispered, “Pretty, just like this tiny kitten.”
That kitten smiled and made happy sounds that did things inside Judd.
“Did you ever hold Marlee or Sienna?” Brenna asked.
“Marlee.” Not often, only when he’d been able to slip the leash of his trainers, and then only when his brother was alone except for the baby. “She used to do this, too.” Grip at his finger and later, at his hair. “I always found it so peaceful to hold her.” Feel the beat of her heart, the warm puff of her breath. “I never had the chance with Sienna.”
Brenna stroked his forearm. “If I’m right, you’ll be holding another baby very soon.”
Judd began to ask what she meant when he caught the line of her sight. His brother Walker was standing in the shadows thrown by a distant cabin, but there was no mistaking the joy on his face, or the protective way he had his hand over a beaming Lara’s stomach.
Judd’s heart gave this great big kick of a beat. “If anyone deserves to be a father again, it’s Walker.” His brother was the best father, the best man, that Judd had ever known.
Brenna tucked herself under his arm when he held it out. “Do you want kids?”
Judd looked down at the now sleepy-eyed baby in his arms, found himself nodding. “One day. When we’re a little older and more . . . like Walker and Lara. More steady. Do you know what I mean?”
“I know exactly. They’re rooted and solid, anchored.” She slipped her arm around his waist. “We’re