Prince Charming in Dress Blues Read Online Free PDF Page B

better than she had in years. In fact, she felt completely energized. As if she could run a marathon or climb a mountain or…okay, maybe not. But the least she could do was sit up and talk to the man she owed so much to.
    He turned his head and looked up at her, and as the firelight flickered across his features, a feminine dart of admiration shot through her. Really, he was way too good-looking. Then he smiled and her heartbeat skipped a bit.
    “I think she’s starting to look for dinner.”
    “Hmm? Oh!” Shaking her head she told herself to get a grip on obviously rampaging hormones, then held out her arms for the baby. John gently handed over her daughter, but didn’t move back as Annie tucked the infant into the crook of her arm.
    “She’s amazing,” he whispered, and she felt the brush of his breath across her cheek.
    “She really is beautiful, isn’t she?” Annie asked, turning her face toward his and almost gasping at just how close he was. Only a breath away. And in a deep corner of her mind Annie realized that if the circumstances were different, she just might be fantasizing about being kissed.
    Her gaze dropped briefly to his mouth, and she sucked in air and deliberately looked away. Boy, this hormone thing could really get out of hand.
    “So what’s her name?” he asked.
    The baby. Good. Talk about the baby, keep her mind off his mouth. “Jordan,” she said, smiling at the child she’d been waiting forever to meet in person.
    “Pretty name.”
    “Thanks,” she said, then added, “and thanks again for what you did for me and Jordan.”
    “You already thanked me,” he said quietly, his voice blending in with the hiss and crackle of the flames just a few feet away.
    Not enough, she thought, knowing that a part of her would always be thanking him. For the rest of Jordan’s life, Annie would be saying an extra prayer each night for the man who’d seen them both safely through. “Yeah, well, I figure delivering a baby deserves more than just one thank-you.”
    “Okay,” he said, smiling at her again, and one more time she felt that quickening of her heart.
    For heaven’s sake. She’d just given birth a few hours ago.
    “But I ought to be thanking you, too,” he pointed out.
    She laughed shortly. “For what? Squeezing your hands hard enough to break bones?”
    He grinned, and Annie’s breath caught. She wondered if he was aware just how lethal a weapon that smile of his was.
    “Nope,” he said, “though you do have a hell of a grip. I meant for missing me when you threw that lamp.”
    Annie winced at the memory. “I’m sorry about that, but you did surprise me and—”
    “No problem,” he said, “I’m just glad you don’t have better aim.”
    “I have great aim,” she countered. “Labor pains distracted me.”
    “For which I’m grateful.”
    “As it turned out, so am I,” she admitted with a wry smile. After all, what would she have done if she’d knocked out her only help?
    The baby squirmed restlessly, and Annie stroked one fingertip along her cheek. Jordan turned her head into Mommy’s touch, opening and closing her mouth as she blindly searched for food. Annie smiled to herself. This she could do. Even without any of the baby supplies she had waiting at home. “She’s hungry,” she whispered.
    “Looks like,” John said, and eased back a little. Then shifting his gaze to hers, he said, “Why don’t you feed her, and I’ll go fix us something to eat. Give you two some privacy.”
    One corner of her mouth lifted into a small smile. “It’s a little late to be worrying about my modesty, isn’t it?”
    He actually looked embarrassed as he stood up, shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and looked down at her. “That was different. That was an emergency situation. This is…”
    “Dinnertime?” Annie finished for him.
    “Exactly,” he said, nodding and turning for the kitchen.
    As she watched him retreat, Annie smiled to herself. An