Snowbound Baby (Silhouette Romance) by Susan Meier Read Free Book Online Page A

“I wasn’t taking you up on your proposition! I want the remote.”
    “You said I could watch television.”
    “Yeah, but then you fell asleep…” Damn it! Her heart wouldn’t slow down. Her limbs were trembling. He’d just about scared her lungs into collapsing.
    “I wasn’t asleep. I was listening to the game.”
    “Right,” she scoffed.
    “I really was,” he said, then gave her the exact score.
    Because basketball was a game where points could be added in a matter of seconds, she knew he wasn’t lying and, chastising herself for having any kind of attraction to such an idiot, she went back to the poker table. Before she sat, however, she heard Daphne stir so she changed direction and went to check on her.
    As Zoe entered thebedroom, Daphne opened her eyes and Zoe saw they were glassy. Combining the look in Daphne’s eyes with her now bright red cheeks could have been enough to confirm that she had a fever, but wanting to be safe rather than sorry, Zoe took the thermometer to check Daphne’s exact temperature. Sure enough, it was above normal. Not high enough to worry, but high enough to warrant medicine.
    After setting the thermometer on the dresser again, Zoe reached down to lift the baby from the center of the double bed and turned toward the door. Grabbing the medicine with her free hand, she headed for the kitchen. Apparently dazed from her virus, Daphne didn’t even whimper until Zoe slid the teaspoon of liquid medicine on her tongue, then her lips trembled and she opened her mouth to protest and a red stream of fever reducer poured from each corner.
    “It’s okay, Daphne. You’re going to be fine.” Zoe used the teaspoon to gather the medicine from the baby’s chin and force it back into her mouth, but by this time Daphne was crying in earnest and the liquid came sputtering out again.
    It took three tries, but eventually Zoe was satisfied with the amount of medicine Daphne had swallowed and she cuddled the baby against her chest, rocking her back and forth.
    “It’s okay, sweetie. Mommy knows you don’t feel well. Just give the medicine a few minutes and you’ll go to sleep again.”
    Daphne cried harder. Zoe began pacing the kitchen, rocking, cooing soothing words. But nothing helped and before Zoe could prevent it, Daphne began to scream.
    Cooper sat up on thecouch. “Are you beating her?”
    Zoe sighed. “No.” She paused, considering whether or not she should tell him her daughter had caught a virus—which meant he had been exposed to a virus—and decided she might as well. In these close quarters, there would be very few secrets from him.
    “Daphne must have caught a virus at day care.”
    Cooper looked at Zoe for a few seconds as she stood in the hall between the kitchen and the great room, rocking the sobbing infant.
    “So this is what I have to look forward to for the next few days?”
    “No, only a couple of hours,” Zoe guessed. “If it’s a twenty-four-hour bug she may have had symptoms I didn’t notice last night.” She drew a quick breath. “So, she could be over this in twelve hours or so.”
    Cooper frowned and said, “If you’re worried about me, don’t. I’ve made the best of worse situations before.” Then he lay down on the sofa again.
    “I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about her.”
    He sat up again. “Don’t worry about her, either. My mom always taught me that you shouldn’t borrow trouble. Do you have a thermometer in that trash can of yours?”
    “Yes. I already took her temp. It was a little high.”
    “Does she feel like she’s burning up?”
    “No. She’s hot but she’s not burning up.”
    He smiled patiently. “Okay, then. Your thermometer’s probably right. She has a temperature, but it’s not too high. No borrowing trouble.”
    As he said the last, Zoe noticed that Daphne was no longer crying. Her eyelids were droopy, her cheeks still bore two round red spots and she gave her mother a pitiful look.
    “Mommy’s going