Saving Dr. Ryan by Karen Templeton Read Free Book Online Page B

turning her dull brown hair a rich, golden color. And she had on one of his shirts, he noticed, that blue plaid that had gotten all soft, just the way he liked it.
    â€œOne problem with this hotel,” he said, his throat suddenly dry, “is the lousy room service.”
    Maddie smiled, slowly and lazily, and his heart just hopped right up into that dry throat. “Hardly,” she said in that scratchy little voice of hers, before carefully pushing herself upright. Her just-washed hair was all feathery and soft around a scrubbed face, making her look more than ever like a child.
    Only not.
    She yawned, then nodded toward the cases. “Thanks.”
    â€œNo problem.” He shifted, hooking his thumbs into his jeans pockets. Told himself he was the doctor, he had a right to be there. “Sorry to wake you.”
    Her eyes had gone a smoky-blue. From the colors in the shirt, he supposed. “S’okay,” she said, only then she must’ve noticed he was staring at the shirt, because she looked down at it, then back up at him, blushing a little. “Ivy said you wouldn’t mind if I borrowed this until I got my things.”
    â€œI don’t,” he said, because oddly enough, he really didn’t. Only then she laced her hands around her knees through the bedclothes, and smiled, and damned if something inside him didn’t just melt all to hell.
    Ryan cleared his throat. “How’re you feeling?”
    â€œLike I just gave birth. Other than that, not too bad.”
    â€œAny light-headedness?”
    â€œUh-uh.”
    â€œBleeding’s normal?”
    â€œSeems so to me, and Ivy said it was, too. I’m cramping some, but I guess that’s to be expected.”
    Ryan folded his arms across his chest, grateful to be back on solid ground again. “A good sign, actually.”
    â€œWhat they don’t tell you is the pain doesn’t quit once the baby’s born.”
    â€œYou want a Tylenol or something?”
    But she shook her head, just as he figured she would.
    â€œYou don’t have to tough it out, you know.”
    A thin smile stretched across her lips. “Yes, I do.”
    Not knowing what to say to that, Ryan walked over to the bassinet, grinning down at the ruddy-faced little girl asleep inside. “She kind of grows on you, doesn’t she?”
    This time, Maddie’s laugh was full and rich. “Takes after her mama, I guess.”
    Despite the lack of self-pity in her words, they perturbed him nonetheless. “You’re not red and wrinkled, Maddie,” was the only thing he could think of to say, which was at least worth another laugh.
    â€œNo, I suppose not. But I’m no beauty, either. Not likeKatie Grace. I imagine I’m gonna have to beat the boys off with sticks by the time she’s ten.”
    Amy Rose began to stir, making little “feed me” noises. Ryan gathered up the baby with an ease fine-honed from handling other people’s babies for so many years, talking silliness to her as he checked her diaper—no meconium yet, but he imagined that would pass with the next feed—then carried her to her mother. But he didn’t give Maddie her baby right away, using the infant as an excuse to bide his time until he figured out what to say.
    Damn. He was no good at this kind of thing. But there was no way he could let her self-deprecation pass, either.
    â€œDon’t sell yourself short,” he said, which earned him a puzzled look. “We never see ourselves the way others do, you know.”
    â€œOh,” was all she said, then reached for her daughter, a tiny crease settling between naturally arched brows. Her hair slithered over her shoulders in a hundred glistening layers as she spoke softly to her baby. Her scent surrounded him, shook him, a combination of shampoo, his own clean shirt and…her. Somehow, inexplicably, whatever it was that would enable little Amy able to pick