“How does she feel about tv? I’ve got all the channels. I’m sure we could find something for her to watch on one of the kid’s channels.”
Freya relaxed some. The television at the motel hadn’t always been reliable. The cable often went out. But her girl loved a few shows, and it would be the distraction they needed to cart everything inside. “That should do it. Especially if we can find some Sesame Street or Bluey.”
“You get her, and I’ll get the playpen.”
Once Maddie was happily watching Bluey from her playpen with some raisins and animal crackers, they worked together and hauled everything inside. Then he gave her a quick tour of the place. To say it was nice was like saying the sun was hot. Because it didn’t describe the richness of the golden hardwood floors, how lush the throw rugs were, or the artwork displayed on the interior tan stone walls. The house was fully furnished with heavy, expensive furniture, the kind she had only seen in the pages of a magazine.
On the second floor, he pointed to a heavy wooden door at the end of the hall. “That’s my room. Until we’re more comfortable with each other, you can pick whatever room you’d like to use from the other three.”
Freya chose the room at the opposite end of the hall from his, needing the space and distance. He was right. They needed to acclimate to one another before they started sleeping in the same room. And she was thankful he was providing her with the space needed to get to know him better before they did something as intimate as sleeping in the same bed.
Once all the supplies had been stored away, she let Maddie run around the living room. This way she’d get the wiggles out of her system. Her laughter echoed in the living room with the high, vaulted ceiling, which only made her laugh even harder.
Freya’s heart felt light. Lighter than it had in months because of the sheer joy on Maddie’s face.
And she couldn’t get over this place and the fact that they got to live here. The wooden floors were smooth, with no nicks or scarring. The tan stone walls gave it this rustic feel when it was anything but. And then there were the soaring two-story windows with the most incredible view of the mountains.
Maddie had already gotten her pudgy handprints on it. Jasper had laughed when she stood at the window, slapping her palms against it and happily babbling. She was glad, otherwise she would have been mortified.
Freya stared just as transfixed as Maddie by the view and the pool carved into the stone patio in the back, when she finally realized the emotion swimming in her chest—hope.
It had been a long time since she had any hope.
Amusement filled him. Maddie’s reactions to everything from the animal crackers to the acoustics in the cabin were darling. Any time he thought he’d become a crazy bampot, she giggled, and he knew he’d done the right thing. If nothing else, he was making a difference in a child’s life.
His mum would spoil the kid rotten and be pleased as punch he was married. And hopefully would give him at least a little time before hounding him for offspring of his own.
And his future bride? Her face the moment he pulled into the driveway had been priceless. Her jaw had dropped, although she shut it quickly and tried to play it off like it was no big deal.
At least until you looked into her eyes. She’d be horrible at poker. She wore every expression on her face like a beacon. And she’d been beaming with as much excitement as her daughter.
He found the pair irresistible. After years of women who looked at his wealth with keen, calculating eyes, the exuberance Freya tried to hide was as refreshing as a walk through a field of heather in the Scottish Highlands after a spring rain.
He kept mulling over the kiss that never should have happened. Because now that he had the taste of her, he craved another sampling. Much like a dieter long denied sweets, the first drop of sugar had only whetted his appetite for his future bride.
He wouldn’t push her into bed with him—but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t take strides to seduce her. Because he’d enjoyed the way she felt in his arms. It felt like she belonged there. Which was preposterous. He didn’t believe in fate or soulmates.
But he believed in sating his lust when a woman captured his interest. And his bride-to-be had seized his attention in spades. He would take supreme delight in seducing her into his bed. She’d been like kissing a downed electrical wire. Her kiss burned and engaged every one of his senses until they were suffused with her.
She hadn’t fought him off when he assumed command of the kiss either. She’d surrendered fully, going fluid in his arms. It left him wondering if she was submissive.
But bloody hell, he couldn’t wait to find out.
Until then, they had loads to accomplish. While they fixed dinner, heating more of the leftovers from the barbecue because they were hungry and too tired to even think about cooking, he realized they were going to need things for Freya’s kid other than just food and diapers—like a highchair, a bed, and all the other things toddlers needed.
They sat at the table with their plates full, chowing away. Freya had Maddie in her lap and took bites of her food between feeding the kid. He kept making faces at Maddie because her belly laughs were infectious. And she looked at him as if he were the greatest thing since sliced bread. The kid wasn’t bad for his ego one bit. It made the prospect of having children of his own one day much more appealing.
“How old is she?” he asked after swallowing a bite. His cousin Colin sure as hell could cook. But then, he owned the restaurant chain New Dublin Table and was the chef behind the dishes they served.
“Maddie turned twenty months a week ago. She’ll be two on October sixteenth. Why?”
“Just curious since we’ll be living together and married for the next year.” He shrugged, but internally the wheels were turning. What he knew about kids could fit on his plate. But with his cousins spawning the next generation, he understood infant and toddler clothing sizes.
Freya and Maddie had little in the way of clothes or belongings. He would fix that. First with Maddie, because she would be easy to buy for now since he knew her age.
Then he would work on his future bride because Freya would be a harder nut to crack. With her kid, she was a pushover. So that was the angle he would use to get her to cave.
“What do the two of you like to do in the evenings?”
“I’m going to give her a bath after dinner. Then we’ll watch some Sesame Street and read. It’s how I get her to wind down in the evenings before I put her to bed.”
Sounded like she had it all worked out. He knew kids needed routines, but he was glad hers was simple enough.
“Where are you going to have her sleep? Is it safe for her to sleep in a normal bed?”
“No. She rolls around far too much. I’ll just put the playpen in my room.”
“I’ll get that into your room for you.” Jasper would ensure that tonight was one of the last nights her daughter spent sleeping in a playpen. The little girl needed a proper bed.
Freya assessed him as she finished her meal, like she didn’t know how to take him helping her. He understood her hesitancy to trust him, considering they’d met rather inauspiciously. “And I’ll take care of the dishes too.”
She finally agreed with a slight nod. “Okay, I appreciate it. Come on, sweetie, it’s bath time.”