Snowbound Baby (Silhouette Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

long as Zoe checked on the baby every few minutes, Daphne should be fine.
    Satisfied, Zoe ambled into the great room. She wasn’t much for TV, but she had seen a deck of cards. It had been a while since she’d played solitaire. Entertaining herself that way would be fun. In fact, it was a great deal of fun to be away from her house that always needed to be cleaned, the mountain of bills she couldn’t pay and the notice that told her her house was going up for sheriff’s sale because no one had paid the taxes.
    She entered the greatroom and found Cooper Bryant staring out the French doors behind the poker table. If it weren’t for him, this weekend away from reality might actually be a nice break.
    He didn’t turn from staring at the mounting snow, which Zoe had earlier watched just as he was doing right now. She was sure the look of disbelief on his face probably mirrored the one she’d worn staring at the sight.
    Approaching the poker table, Zoe said nothing. She opened the top drawer of a cabinet, found the cards, pulled a chair away from the table and sat. The only sound in the room was the noise the cards made as they slid against each other when she shuffled.
    “I’m not much of a card player.”
    “Great. I was going to play solitaire.”
    He turned. Crossing his arms on his chest he said, “Okay. I get it. I get it big-time. You are not a helpless female who needs someone to take care of her.”
    She began to lay out the cards. “Thanks for recognizing the obvious.”
    He scowled and Zoe dropped the cards and studied him for a second before she said, “Look, I know you’d rather be alone. Frankly, so would I. But since we aren’t, the alternative for us is to form some kind of a truce.”
    “A truce?”
    “Sure. We agree to share chores. Weagree to be civil. And we declare each other off-limits romantically. That way, we can talk pleasantly without worrying that one or the other is getting any ideas.”
    Because what she said made sense, Cooper almost agreed until a tantalizing thought entered his head. Whether she knew it or not she had just backhandedly admitted that she found him attractive, too. They were stuck together. They were both attracted. Neither one of them wanted a relationship with the other.
    This weekend could be a lot of fun if he could figure out a way to convince her that they should take advantage of their two days away from real life by having a bit of no-strings-attached sex.
    But before he could come up with a way to form the suggestion, Daphne cried and Zoe was off her chair and in the bedroom like a bolt of lightning. Cooper realized that was the reason he and Zoe couldn’t have no-strings-attached sex. Women with babies had a guaranteed, built-in defense mechanism. Every time things heated up, Daphne would probably start crying.
    Zoe came out of the bedroom carrying Daphne. The baby looked tired, but not sleepy, and though Cooper knew little to nothing about kids, he didn’t think this was a good sign. Zoe didn’t say a word. She simply walked back to the table, sat on the chair, put the baby on her lap, and continued her solitaire game.
    Cooper turned to look at the snow again. “I think a truce is a good idea.”
    “Okay. Great. Now we can be civil.”
    He nodded and relaxed a little, but not completely. He may no longer fear that she wanted something from him, but that didn’t stop his sexual attraction. Because he was a responsible adult he would curb it, but controlling it required being wise about distance and proximity, and also being careful about the conversational topics he chose.
    Luckily, the weatherwas always safe. “I’ve never seen snow fall like this before.”
    “I have. A few times.” She paused, then said, “Daphne, honey, don’t grab the cards.”
    Cooper faced the table again. Zoe held the baby on her lap with one arm and used the other hand to grasp Daphne’s little fingers to keep them away from the cards.
    She smiled up at him. “Would it