The Baby Bargain Read Online Free PDF Page B

frostbitten. It didn't seem terribly important. All she wanted was to reach the shelter of her bed and pull the blankets over her head. She wanted to go to sleep and wake up in the morning to find that none of this had happened.
    Her father's truck was parked in front of the trailer and Kelly almost collapsed. If her father caught her...if he ever guessed what she'd done...
    She crept around to the back, thankful that she'd thought to leave the window over her bed unlocked, though she'd planned to be home long before her father got back from his meeting. But then nothing had gone quite the way she'd planned.
    It took her frozen fingers several seconds to find the edge of the window and get a solid grip on it. It slid open with a soft scraping sound that made her catch her breath. But no light was turned on and there was no sound to suggest that she'd been discovered.
    Kelly lifted herself over the windowsill, sliding onto the bed. The air felt hot on her skin though she knew the little heater at the other end of the trailer barely kept the temperature above that outside. Kneeling on the bed, she eased the window shut, feeling her shoulders sag as it clicked into place.
    She'd made it. Now all she had to do was forget this night had ever happened.
    A soft click behind her flooded the little cubicle with light. Still on her knees, Kelly spun toward the light, her eyes wide and frightened. Her father sat on a chair just inside the doorway. He'd obviously been waiting for her to come home.
    And just as obviously, he could read at least some of what had happened from her appearance. She lifted a hand to her face, aware of the forbidden makeup that must be smudged under her eyes. Her hair was a wild tangle about her face.
    She shrank back against the wall as he reached for his belt but she didn't protest. She knew there was nothing she could say or do to stop what was about to happen.

Chapter 3

    March swept in like the proverbial lion, bringing with it snow flurries and below-freezing weather. Winter might have to surrender its hold but it wasn't going to do so without a fight. The land hunkered down to wait out winter's temper tantrum, knowing that spring lay just around the corner, no matter what the thermometer was saying.
    Dan scowled out at the chill, gray sky, asking himself for the thousandth time why he didn't just pack up and leave. He could move to a warmer climate. Arizona was nice this time of year. There was nothing to keep him in Remembrance— nothing and no one.
    "Hey, Dan. You wanna give me a hand with this engine?"
    Casting a last frown at the sky, Dan turned in answer to Lee's call. He'd gone to school with Lee, who was struggling to get his own auto-repair business going. Dan's desultory help had somehow become a full-time job and he'd been working in Lee's repair shop since just before Christmas.
    It wasn't the job that was keeping him, he thought as he helped Lee steady the engine they were lowering into a '67 Mustang. When he'd returned from the dead, his mother had given him everything she'd inherited from his father's estate. Her new husband was rolling in money, she'd told him bluntly, and she wanted him to have the money his father had left her. He was comfortable, if not wealthy.
    He'd thought of taking some of that money and starting his own business. His father had been a pretty successful contractor with his own company. That had been sold at his death, of course, but there was no reason Dan couldn't start up his own company.
    But what good would it do? he asked himself cynically. He could just as easily take the money and travel around the world, have a high old time for a few years and then die poor but well traveled.
    He wiped his hands on a greasy rag, trying to shake the depression that was an all too frequent companion these days. He had to make some decisions about his life. He couldn't keep drifting like this. It was all very well and good to spend a few months helping Lee get his business