Tied Up, Tied Down (Rough Riders #4)(12)

During dinner she shared the abbreviated version of her pregnancy and Eliza’s birth while Kade pored over the pictures and information in the baby book. When Eliza began to fuss, Skylar taught him how to mix formula, how to warm a cold bottle and how to test the temperature. After he finished feeding Eliza, Sky tossed him a spit-up rag and instructed him on burping.

Kade listened so attentively Skylar half-expected him to whip out a notebook and jot down notes. It didn’t faze him when Eliza barfed all over him. Changing a diaper didn’t make him turn green. He walked the floor until Eliza fell asleep in his arms, and he still wouldn’t relinquish his hold on her.

“Seriously. Put her in the bassinet. She’ll nap for an hour and then she’ll want to eat again before she’s out for the night. Or part of the night. She still doesn’t sleep straight through.”


Reluctantly, Kade laid Eliza on her back in the bassinet, tucked a blanket around her and flopped on the opposite end of the couch.

He expelled a long slow breath. “We need to talk.”


She waited, half-afraid/half-curious about how this’d play out.

A beat passed. “First off, I wouldn’t have taken the job if I woulda known you were pregnant.”


“What would you have done? I didn’t find out until the end of November. By then I was a little more than three months along. And I did call your parents’ house to talk to you. I had no idea what I should do when your brother said you’d be out of touch until the following summer.”


He scowled. “You talked to Kane?”


“Briefly. I wasn’t comfortable having him pass on the message about your impending fatherhood.”


“So you kept the information to yourself?”


“What other choice did I have?”


“What choice did you have? Jesus, Sky, that’s the problem. You seem to think you get to make all the choices and keep all the control in this relationship. You have since day one.” Kade shoved a hand through his hair. “I’ll admit I made a mistake in not tellin’ you I wasn’t Kane. But you cut me off without lettin’ me explain my side of things.”


She bristled. “You pretended to be someone else. I slept with you thinking you were Kane. How is that my fault?”


“It isn’t.”


“At least we agree on that point.”


Kade sighed. “Skylar. I don’t wanna fight with you.”


When it occurred to her he’d used the word relationship, she looked at him oddly.

He stared right back, completely nonplussed. “Does anyone ever mix you up with your sister?”


“No. Even before India became the tattooed woman we weren’t hard to tell apart.

Different eye color, facial structure, body type.” India was lean and muscular and sometimes Skylar resented that she’d been cursed with a rounder, womanly physique, but they were easily distinguishable from one another.

“This ain’t an excuse, but you don’t have any idea how that feels. Not only am I saddled with an identical twin, but we also look just like our other McKay cousins in three counties. Some folks act as if we’re all interchangeable. So I’ve heard ‘one of them McKay twins’ or ‘one of those wild McKay boys’ my whole life. Seems I don’t have an identity beyond my last name.


“So we’re sharing a bed strictly as parenting partners?”


“Yep.”


“You’ll be a perfect gentleman?”


“If that’s what you want. Besides, you’ll probably be so glad to get a full night’s sleep that you won’t even notice I’m there.”


“But—”


“But, it’s only for a few weeks, until you put her in her own room, right?”


“Ah. Right.”


“So, how hard can it be?”


The look on Skylar’s face was priceless. He knew she wasn’t convinced it’d be no big deal having him in her bed.

And that’s exactly what Kade was counting on.

Chapter Six


Two weeks later…


“Wah. Wah. Wah.” Pause. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.”


Skylar groaned and rolled toward the edge of the bed. “Hang on, baby. I’m coming.”


Kade placed his hand on her shoulder. “Stay put. I’ll get her. Go back to sleep.”


She mumbled, “Thanks.” The minute he was out of bed, she sprawled in the middle of the mattress and snagged his pillow.

What a bed hog.

“Wah. Wah. Wah.”


“Good Lord, child. Them lungs work fine at four in the mornin’, don’t they?” Kade murmured, scooping Eliza out of her crib. He skirted the footboard and snuck out of the room.

Downstairs in the kitchen, he kept the lights dimmed as he reheated a bottle. Eliza rooted against his chest, making angry snuffing sounds. He brushed his lips across the top of her head, inhaling her sweet baby scent, rocking her back and forth. “I know. Poor starvin’ girl.”


The timer dinged. Kade plucked the bottle from the pan, tested the temperature, shifted Eliza into the crook of his arm and popped the nipple in her mouth. Greedy sucking noises echoed in the quiet house as he headed for the rocking chair in the dark living room.