Christmas Baby: A Baby Under the Tree / A Baby For Christmas / Her Christmas Hero

Chapter Six (#ulink_52897592-2599-5fef-9584-e2f5cb09bce0)

As dusk settled over Brighton Valley, Shane and Jillian stepped out of the honky-tonk and into the parking lot, which was filling up with a variety of pickups and cars.

“Did you drive from the motel?” he asked.

“No, I walked. The doctor encouraged me to get plenty of exercise, and since I’d been in the car for the past two hours, I thought… Well, it was only a couple of blocks, and it was a good way to stretch my legs.”

So she’d already seen a doctor. That was good.

“Is everything going okay?” he asked. “No problems?”

“I had a little nausea at first, but it wasn’t anything to complain about.”

He was glad to hear that. Marcia had been pretty sick when she’d been pregnant with Joey, although she felt a bit better by the time she was four or five months along. In fact, if he remembered correctly, Marcia had been at that stage when they’d learned that Joey was going to be a boy.

Shane assumed that, since Jillian was seeing a doctor, she was having all the appropriate tests and exams. So he asked, “Do you know whether it’s going to be a girl or a boy?”

“No, I told the doctor I wanted to be surprised.” She shrugged. “At least, I’d thought so at the time of my sonogram. But I have to admit, I’m getting more and more curious now.”

As they continued walking to the street, their feet crunching along the graveled parking lot, Shane couldn’t help stealing a glance at Jillian, checking out the way her belly swelled with their child.

He suspected that she was going to be one of those women who was even more beautiful when she was nine months pregnant. But he didn’t want her to think his only concern was the baby, so he asked, “How’s school going?”

“It took a little while to get back into the swing of taking notes and studying, but I’m doing okay now. I’m taking two summer courses, and I have finals in two weeks, but nothing too difficult.”

“Then what?” he asked.

“I’ll begin the student-teaching phase during the fall semester…?. Well, that was my game plan before finding out about the baby. It’s due right before Christmas, so I’ll probably have to wait another semester.”

“How are you fixed for money?” he asked.

“I’m okay.” She pulled up short. “That’s not why I came out here.”

He stopped, too. “You need to understand something. I don’t expect you to support the baby all by yourself. I’ll do my part.”

She bit down on her bottom lip, then her gaze lifted and locked on his. Sincerity flared in her eyes, as well as determination. “You don’t have to.”

Yes, he did.

Unable to help himself, he reached for her hair, touched the silky platinum-blond strands, then let them slip through his fingers. Jillian might be pregnant, and he might have been blown away by the news, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a beautiful woman. Or that he’d stopped thinking about wanting to spend another night with her.

Jillian slowly turned away from him, and they continued down the street for two short blocks. Their conversation ceased, as Shane let his thoughts run away with him.

There were a lot of things to consider, a lot yet to be seen. He probably ought to ask more questions. After all, he certainly had plenty of them bouncing around in his head. But he didn’t want things to get any heavier between them than they were now.

Not with a lover’s moon lighting their path to the motel where she had a room.

The Night Owl, a typical small-town motor inn, sat near the highway, catering to travelers on a budget and to those just passing through. It was the only place to stay on this side of Brighton Valley.

Across town, closer to the thriving community of Wexler, builders and developers had been hard at work, creating several subdivisions along the perimeter of the lake and recreation area.

The Brighton Valley Medical Center, which served the citizens from the entire valley, was located in that part of town, too, as was a supermarket, a department store and a much nicer motel.

But since Shane hadn’t wanted to give Jillian any complicated directions, he’d chosen the Stagecoach Inn because it would be easier for her to find. However, he hadn’t expected her to need lodging, too. So he should have come up with something closer to Wexler.

He supposed the Night Owl wasn’t so bad, even if it wouldn’t provide her with the kind of accommodations she was probably used to.

As they approached the single-story building with white stucco walls and a red-tile roof, he spotted a couple of older vehicles in the parking lot, but his gaze lit upon a white, late-model Mercedes coupe in the space closet to number ten, which had to be where they were heading.

Jillian’s steps slowed as she reached into her purse, then lifted an old-fashioned key instead of a more modern card and smiled. “I guess this place is in a bit of a time warp.”

Her smile suggested she wasn’t too bothered by the age of the motel, then she turned and led him to number ten.

Shane was reminded of the last time she’d let him into her hotel room.

As much as he’d like to wrap his arms around her again, kiss her senseless at the door, stretch out naked on the bed and make love until dawn, things were going to be different tonight.

At least, he assumed they would be.

Yet just as before, Shane held the door for Jillian, then followed her inside.

The room, which was clean but sparse, had been simply decorated with a queen-size bed and the typical, nondescript box-style furniture. Again he was reminded that she wasn’t used to this kind of lodging, even if she hadn’t complained.

He set their bag of food on the small Formica table in the corner, then dug inside for the takeout cartons, plastic utensils and napkins Trina had packed inside.

After setting everything out on the table, he turned to Jillian, intending to follow her lead.

She blushed, and her thick, spiky lashes swept down, then up in a hesitant way.

“What’s the matter?”

“I…” She bit down on her bottom lip. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just a little concerned about what the future will bring.”

For a moment, he wondered if she was talking about them having dinner together in her motel room, while a queen-size bed grew in prominence. But she probably meant the changes the baby would make in their lives, about them trying to be coparents when distance was going to be an issue.

Either way, he didn’t like the idea of her being stressed—and not just because she was pregnant. So he stepped forward, cupped her cheeks with both hands and caught her eye. “If you want to know the truth, Jillian, I’m nervous about the future, too. But maybe, if we take the time to get to know each other a whole lot better, things will be easier to deal with.”

Her smile, which bordered on pleasure and relief, nearly knocked him to the floor. And he found himself wanting to kiss her in the worst way—and just as he’d done before.

Who was this woman? And what was she doing to him?

Struggling to get his hormones in check, he nodded toward the food on the table. “Why don’t we start by having dinner?”

“Okay.” She crossed the small room in three steps, then pulled out a chair and took a seat at the table.

He followed her lead, but in spite of suggesting that they eat, he wasn’t nearly as hungry as he’d once been. Not for food anyway. But making love had gotten them into this mess in the first place, and doing it again wasn’t going to solve any of the problems they now faced.

Instead, it would be imperative to learn more about her.