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  “Gloria, you know how happy I am for you and Christina, too. It was so awful when you were both gone. I tried to fill the void with Mom and Dad as best I could. But I wasn’t enough to make up for you and Christina.”

  Gloria spared her sister a regretful look. “Christina and I made life terrible for you, Sierra. I don’t know how either one of us can ever make it up to you.”

  Sierra quickly shook her head. “Don’t be silly. I just want the both of you to be happy.”

  By now the two women had reached Sierra’s old bedroom. The door was ajar and without waiting for her sister’s permission Gloria pushed it aside and hurried into the room.

  Thankfully, Bowie was already awake and the happy squeal that Gloria emitted when she saw him lying in the middle of the bed didn’t do anything but catch his attention.

  “What a precious! Sierra, he’s gorgeous!”

  Unexplained pride surged through Sierra as she watched an enchanted smile spread across Gloria’s face as her sister leaned over the baby for a closer inspection.

  “Talk about changing your life,” Sierra said wryly. “Having a little one in the house makes everything different.”

  “No late-night dates with Chad, I’ll bet,” Gloria said. Then, as soon as the comment passed her lips, she slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, Sierra, I’m so sorry! I keep forgetting that you and Chad called it quits. I wasn’t thinking.” Concerned now, she straightened away from the baby to study Sierra. “How are you doing?”

  Sierra shrugged. “To tell you the truth, I think I’m better off without Chad Newbern. He wants to play the field. He wants excitement in his life. My wants are more centered on hearth and home. Boring, huh? But that’s just me and I can’t change for anyone.”

  Gloria slung her arm around Sierra’s slumped shoulders. “There’s not one boring thing about you. You’re the sweetest sister any girl could have. You stuck up for Christina and me when we were both—well, more than a little misguided.” She wrinkled her nose affectionately at Sierra. “And I’ll tell you something else, you’re going to find someone who’ll be a hell of a lot better for you than Chad Newbern.”

  Collecting a clean diaper off the dresser top, Sierra went over to the bed and began to change Bowie.

  “You sound like Alex,” Sierra said. “He’s been shouting hallelujah at Chad’s departure.”

  Gloria tapped a thoughtful forefinger against her pretty chin. “Mom said Alex signed papers with you so that you could keep Bowie. That was awfully big of him.”

  The corners of Sierra’s lips tilted upward. “Yeah. Alex can be wonderful when he wants to be.”

  “I’m wondering why he did it. There wasn’t anything in it for him,” Gloria said, pondering out loud.

  Sierra frowned at her sister’s remark. “Gloria! Alex isn’t one of those unfeeling lawyers who have nothing on their mind but winning a case and making big bucks.”

  Linking her fingers together, Gloria walked over to the bed and sat down facing her sister. “Really? That surprises me to hear you say that. I always remember you saying he was one of the most callous, unfeeling men you’d ever known.”

  A rosy color swept across Sierra’s high cheeks. “Well, he can be that way,” she admitted. “But lately he seems to be changing—mostly for the good.”

  Gloria’s delicately arched brows inched upward. “Mom says he told child services that you two were getting married. What brought that on? Wishful thinking on his part?”

  Sierra laughed heartily as she smoothed the sticky tabs on Bowie’s clean diaper. “Not hardly! Do you honestly think a man like Alex Calloway would take a second look at me?”

  “Of course I do,” Gloria answered with conviction. “You’re an intelligent, educated woman who has a wonderful gift for dealing with people. On top of all that, you’re pretty and sexy. What more could a man ask for?”

  Sierra rolled her eyes before she turned a sardonic look on Gloria. “Uh, maybe a sister to feed his ego?”

  Gloria laughed. Sierra picked up Bowie and carefully rose to her feet. “Come on. Dad’s surely got the brisket off the grill by now.”

  By the time Sierra drove back to town and turned onto Austin Street, it was well past dark. She certainly wasn’t expecting to find a vehicle parked in her driveway at this late hour.

  Was that Alex’s SUV? She parked next to the black vehicle and as she climbed out to the ground, she spotted him standing on the porch, leaning lazily against one of the carved post. The unexpected sight of him filled her with a sweet sense of pleasure and she knew her smile could be heard in her voice as she called out to him.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Waiting for you.” He jumped off the edge of the porch and walked across the short driveway to meet her. “I was just about to give up and go when I saw your headlights. Where’s Bowie?”

  This was the second time he’d been to her house this week. Alex just didn’t call on her like this. Not unless he had some sort of agenda. But for the life of her, she couldn’t imagine what that might be, unless he was here just as a way to show a little concern for their new charge.

  Sierra motioned toward the car. “In the back seat. Want to get him out for me?”

  “Sure.” He opened the back door and leaned in to unfasten Bowie from the car carrier. “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for ages.”

  He cradled the baby in the crook of his arm. Sierra collected the diaper bag from the car and the two of them started to the house.

  “Why didn’t you call first?” she questioned. “I drove out to my parents’ to have supper.”

  They stepped up onto the porch and he held the screen door out of the way while she unlocked the main, wooden door.

  As Alex followed her into the house, he said, “I took it for granted that you’d be home. I didn’t think you’d be out gallivanting around with little Bowie. Especially at this hour.”

  Sierra laughed with disbelief. “It’s only eight o’clock, Alex. And I was hardly gallivanting. You sound like a jealous husband or something,” she joked.

  Alex grimaced as he gazed down at Bowie. He supposed he was getting close to sounding possessive. And to tell the truth, just before Sierra had shown up, he’d been getting downright annoyed that she wasn’t yet home. He’d driven all the way over here because he’d wanted to see her. And he’d wanted to see the baby. Finding them gone had been more disappointing than he wanted to admit.

  “All right. Make fun of me. But I’ve had a hell of a long day in the courtroom and I drove all the way over here just to see how you and Bowie were doing.”

  The tartness in his voice caught Sierra’s attention and she looked at him with surprise. “Well, I’m sorry, Alex,” she said contritely. “And I am glad you’re here.”

  He offered her a halfhearted smile. “I’m glad I’m here, too.”

  “Good. Now that we got that out of the way, would you like something to eat? I brought food home from my parents’. Brisket, potato salad, pinto beans and corn bread.”

  This time he really smiled at her and she felt that sudden surge of joy rushing up in her like an overflowing fountain. What in the world was going on with her anyway? she wondered. It wasn’t like her to get a bubbly feeling around a man. And especially not Alex. If he knew some of the things she’d been thinking about him lately, he’d have a fit. And she’d be rightly embarrassed.

  “You little darlin’,” he crooned. “How did you guess I was starving?”

  “You have the look of a hungry man,” she said with a knowing smile. “Just have a seat and I’ll go carry in the food from the car.”

  Sierra’s mother had placed all the covered containers of food into one large cardboard box to make it easier for Sierra to transport into her car. Sierra carried in the load and quickly set about placing everything onto the table.

  When she returned to the living room to announce that the meal was ready, she found Alex sitting on the couch with Bowie still cradled in his arms.
He was talking to the baby about selecting jurors and how important it was to look into a person’s eyes to gauge their honesty. Bowie appeared to be mesmerized by the legal lesson and, just as Sierra approached the two of them, he gave Alex a toothless smile.

  “Look at this, Sierra,” Alex said excitedly. “He’s smiling at me! I’ll bet he’s never done that to you!”

  Only two dozen or more times, but Sierra wasn’t about to burst Alex’s proud bubble. It was nice—no, it was more than nice—to have him wanting to be something special to the baby.

  “Nope. He must really be impressed with all that law jargon,” Sierra told him.

  “He should be. It took years of having my nose stuck in a book to get it.” He glanced up at Sierra. “Supper ready?”

  She nodded. “I’ll push Bowie’s bassinet into the kitchen and he can lay in it while you eat.”

  The old house had a big, roomy kitchen with high ceilings and a row of windows that looked onto a back porch that was shaded by a huge pecan tree. Beneath the windows was an old white farm table covered with a red tablecloth. In the middle she’d lit a hurricane lamp just to make the room a bit cozier.

  Why Sierra had wanted to make things cozy was beyond her. She wasn’t about to set her eye on any man. Like her sisters, she’d sworn off men. Yeah, and look at her sisters now, she thought wryly. Their lives now centered around a special man. But that didn’t mean that Sierra was going to succumb to the opposite sex. No, this last experience with Chad had left her feeling like a complete idiot. She didn’t want to repeat the process. Even with someone as handsome as Alex.

  The two of them carefully situated Bowie in the bassinet and then took their seats kitty-cornered to each other at the breakfast table. While Alex dug into the food, Sierra sipped on a glass of iced tea.

  “You’ll have to overlook the mismatched dishes,” she apologized. “They’re some of the restaurant’s throwaways. When I moved into this old house, Mom wanted to buy me a new set of dishes, but I discouraged her from that. The odds and ends match me better.”

  “Who cares about matching dishes,” Alex said just before he bit into a forkful of tender smoked brisket. “Mmm. No wonder Red is so popular. Your parents are the best cooks in the world.”

  “They are,” Sierra agreed with a proud smile. “But it’s been years since they’ve actually done any of the cooking in the restaurant. Thankfully it was successful enough for them to hire cooks and all the help they needed to make it run smoothly. Now they’re coasting on easy street.”

  She watched him eat for a moment, then asked, “Why were you in court late today? Trouble?”

  He shook his head as he chewed. “Not really. Just arguing a motion to suppress evidence.”

  Propping her chin on her fist, she studied him with interest. “How did the judge rule? In your favor?”

  “I wish,” he answered, then frowned. “She won’t make a ruling until next week. The trial will resume after that.”

  “Oh.” Lifting her chin, she leaned her shoulders against the back of the chair. For some reason she was finding it hard to relax. Her gaze kept wandering over the navy blue pin-striped shirt Alex was wearing. The fabric accentuated his broad shoulders and the rolled-back cuffs exposed strong forearms sprinkled with dark hair. Sometimes she’d heard him talking about working out at the gym and it definitely showed in the hard, muscular shape of his body.

  His body is off-limits to you, Sierra. Don’t even think about it.

  “So what did Pauline think about Bowie?” she asked as she struggled to get her mind on safer topics.

  “What does any woman think about a baby when she sees one?” he asked flippantly. “She oohed and aahed and then she wondered what in heck I was doing getting tangled up in such a mess.”

  “I beg your pardon! Bowie is not a mess,” she said with a huff that told him she was clearly insulted.

  Alex waved his fork at her. “She didn’t say he was. At least she didn’t use the word “mess.” But she implied that she thinks Bowie’s parentage could come into question and there won’t be anything either of us will be able to do about it.”

  Uneasy now, Sierra leaned anxiously toward him. “I don’t know why there should be a problem. If called upon, I’m sure Ginger would sign her rights to the baby over to me. She hasn’t shown up here these past few days and I’d bet my last dollar that she isn’t going to.”

  Alex’s fork paused in midair, as he looked over at her. “Pauline doesn’t understand why I’ve gotten involved. And, frankly, I don’t, either.”

  Suddenly, keeping Bowie meant nothing without Alex along.

  Reaching over, she gripped his hand with hers. “Are you regretting signing those papers with me?” she asked bluntly.

  Was he? Over the past week Alex had asked himself that same question several times and all it had taken for an answer was to think about the joy on Sierra’s face when she held Bowie to know that he’d done the right thing.

  “Are you?” he countered.

  “Never,” she uttered passionately.

  A brief smile crossed his face. “Then I don’t regret it, either.”

  A long sigh of relief eased from her lungs. “I saw Gloria this evening at my parents’. She and Jack had supper with us. Being pregnant herself, she was enamored with Bowie.”

  Alex glanced over at the baby. “Hmm. You’re enamored with Bowie and you’re not pregnant. Or are you?” he said teasingly.

  Sierra’s mouth popped open. “Alex! Do you always have to be—such a lawyer!”

  Actually it wasn’t the lawyer in him that had prompted the question. As a man and as a friend, he wanted to know.

  With a nonchalant shrug, he said, “Well, you appeared to be crazy about Chad ‘the loser.’ And you were so torn up when he left that I was thinking—something more than just breaking up was bothering you.”

  Rising to her feet, she went over to the sink and, turning her back to him, began to rinse a few glasses she’d used earlier in the day. “Not that torn up,” she muttered. “And there’s not a chance I’m pregnant.”

  Alex’s brows lifted slightly as he studied her rigid posture. “You sound awfully positive. Weren’t you and Chad that close?”

  Incredulous that he was probing into her love life, Sierra turned and folded her arms against her breasts as she faced him. “Do you really think what I did or didn’t do with Chad is any of your business?”

  A crafty grin teased his lips. “Probably not. But I am the foster father of your child. That ought to garner me some privileges,” he argued.

  Slapping her hand against her forehead, she shook her head in dismay. How could she be irked at the man when he was sitting there looking so adorable with his collar open, his sleeves rolled up, his brown hair rumpled and the dimples in his cheeks aimed straight at her?

  “Oh, I suppose it does,” she conceded, trying her best to sound cross with him but failing terribly. “So for your information, Chad and I weren’t lovers.”

  He didn’t appear to be all that surprised by her confession. In fact, he almost seemed pleased about the news. Or maybe that was just amusement on his face, Sierra thought.

  “Why not?” he asked.

  Wiping her hands against the front of her jeans, Sierra walked back over to the table and sank onto the seat she’d occupied before he’d begun cross-examining her.

  “I just wasn’t quite sure I wanted to take that big of a step with him,” she admitted. “Now I’m glad I didn’t.”

  Alex’s gaze suddenly took on a new light as he probed her pretty face. “Don’t tell me you’re still a virgin.”

  Hot color poured into her cheeks. “Believe me, I won’t tell you that,” she snapped back at him. “My innocence, or lack of it, is none of your business. Besides, being a virgin is nothing to be ashamed of.”

  Surprised to see her punching back at him, he countered smoothly, “I didn’t say it was.” Then, pushing his empty plate back, he glanced over at the counter. “Got any coffee
made?”

  At least his blatant hint got them off the subject of her love life and she gladly rose to her feet and started gathering the makings for a pot of coffee. “It doesn’t take you long to make yourself at home, does it?”

  “No. Sorry. But you have a way of doing that to me, Sierra,” Alex said as he watched her graceful movements.

  He didn’t go on to tell her that she was the only woman he’d ever felt completely comfortable with, the only one who made him want to kick off his shoes and lay down on her couch.

  If he allowed himself to really think about things, he’d have to admit that he was here tonight because being with Sierra made him feel good. She had always made him feel good. And his lonely apartment did nothing to nurture a cynical soul.

  With a fatalistic sigh, he rose to his feet and walked over to her. As he placed his hand against her back, her head twisted around and up. Her brown eyes were wide, her soft, pink lips slightly parted and the sudden realization that he desperately wanted to kiss her hit him like the wham of a baseball bat.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked as she spotted the tiny frown marring his forehead.

  “I—er, no. Not a thing,” he said. Then, taking her by the upper arms, he moved her aside and reached for the glass carafe. “Let me finish making the coffee, honey. You’ve already done enough for me tonight.”

  Chapter Five

  By the time the coffee had dripped, Bowie had fallen asleep. Alex pushed the bassinet onto the back porch. Sierra followed with the coffee and two bowls of dew-berry cobbler.

  A soft south wind was blowing in from the gulf, warming the already humid air. Frogs and insects were singing a nighttime lullaby and far across the yard a whip-poor-will’s cry pierced the steady chorus.

  “He must be lost,” Alex commented about the night bird. “I haven’t heard one of those around here in ages.”

  “I hope he stays,” Sierra said as she took a seat next to Alex on the porch swing. “He’ll eat the mosquitoes.”

  She hadn’t been all that keen on coming outside with him tonight. Not that she disapproved of being outdoors. Truth was she loved being out here. Many of her sleepless nights were spent here on this back porch. But where Alex was concerned, these past few days she’d been having strange vibrations around him. The closer she got to him, the more awkward she felt. And sitting next to him like this in the dark wasn’t helping the matter one whit.