understood exactly what he was saying. For an infant who’d endured what she had, she was astonishingly happy. Cord felt a silly grin spreading across his own face in response.
“You were a good girl last night,” he praised. “You didn’t wake up once. Sharon Lynn’s gonna be real grateful that you’re starting to sleep through the night.”
With Ashley tucked into the crook of his arm, he popped a cup of last night’s coffee into the microwave, then heated her bottle. When both were ready, he sat at the kitchen table and fed her, while sipping the coffee.
A glance at the clock told him he’d better make a call to White Pines. Work would be getting underway and Cody was bound to wonder where he was. He reached for the phone and dialed.
“White Pines,” Cody growled.
Obviously not a good morning, Cord concluded.
“Cody, this is Cord.”
“Where the hell are you?”
“In town with your daughter and the baby.”
That was greeted by a long, telling silence. “I see,” he said finally, though he sounded as if the opposite were true. “Mind telling me when you intend to get back to work?”
“Look, it was a rough night last night,” Cord explained. “Justin thinks he’s found the baby’s grandmother. Sharon Lynn was taking it hard. I couldn’t leave her here alone.”
Cody muttered a harsh expletive, then added, “No, I suppose not. Is she okay?”
“She’s sleeping now. She’s due at Dolan’s within the hour. As soon as she’s up and on her way, I’ll be out there. Leave my assignment with Harlan Patrick or one of the other men.”
“Just see me when you get here,” Cody said and hung up abruptly.
“Oh, boy,” Cord murmured, grazing a knuckle over the baby’s cheek. “Looks like I’m in for it.” She regarded him with wide, solemn eyes. “Not to worry your pretty little head, though. I’ll handle it.”
“Handle what?” Sharon Lynn murmured groggily, wandering into the kitchen just then.
She was clad in a thick, terry-cloth robe, but she was still sexily tousled, reminding him all too vividly of the night and the bed they’d shared. No woman had the right to be that seductive at the crack of dawn, not when there was nothing to be done about it.
“Nothing,” he replied in a choked voice, regretting that he couldn’t snag her wrist and haul her down for a long, slow kiss that would wake them both thoroughly.
She seemed to accept the response at face value. “You should have gotten me up,” she complained with a yawn. “I could have fed the baby, so you could get to work. Daddy’s probably fit to be tied.”
“He’s a reasonable man,” Cord said, despite recent evidence to the contrary. “He’ll understand.”
“Are we talking about my father?” she inquired dryly. She reached for the baby. “Go. Don’t jeopardize your job.”
After his conversation with Cody, Cord knew she was right. He relinquished the baby reluctantly, then finished the last of his coffee. He was almost to the door, when she stopped him.
“Cord?”
Shrugging into his coat, he turned back. “Yes?”
“Thank you for staying last night. Thanks for...” She seemed at a loss for words. “Thanks for everything.”
He grinned at the all-encompassing word. “Anytime. I’ll see you two later.”
“It’s not necessary.”
He frowned. “You keep saying that, darlin’, I’ll get the feeling you don’t care about me. Besides, I thought we were past that. I’ll be back.”
She nodded, a smile barely perceptible on her lips. “I’m glad.”
He resisted the urge to go back and kiss her. He’d been hard and aching all night long. He knew he could never pull off a quick, chaste brush of his lips over hers. If he touched her now, it would be a go-for-broke kiss and it would lead them down a path she wasn’t anywhere near ready to take. He had to keep reminding himself of that—over and over, if that’s what it took.
“See you,” he promised again and left before he could change his mind.
At White Pines, he found Cody in his office, clearly waiting impatiently for his arrival. He leaned back in his chair and scowled at Cord’s entrance.
“Finally.”
Clearly his boss was spoiling for a fight. Cord tried to placate him. “I got here as quickly as I could. What is it you need me to do today?”
“We’ll get to that. First I think you and I need to have a talk.” He gestured toward a chair. “Sit.”
Cord had a feeling this talk wasn’t going to be about ranching, that it was going to be about matters he’d just as