A Baby In His Stocking (Harlequin Treasury 1990's) by Hayley Gardner

Author:Hayley Gardner [Gardner, Hayley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Romance, Women's Fiction, Forever Love, Adult, Bachelor, Single Woman, Sensual, Hearts Desire, Holidays, Christmas, Family Life, Estranged Husband, Christmas Gift, Pregnancy, Feared Fatherhood, Holiday Hero, Parenthood
Publisher: Harlequin Treasury-Silhouette Romance 90s
Published: 2011-07-15T04:00:00+00:00

The church could have been any old church. What stopped Jared in his tracks, though, were the twinkling Christmas lights strung all along the west side of the building and around the windows and doors.

“This place is lit up like a...” Words failed him.

“Christmas tree?” Shea suggested. She grinned when Jared mugged a frown at her. “It’s for the kids, Jared.”

Jared was grinning inside, actually enjoying this great Christmas-tree chase, but he knew his happiness wouldn‘t—couldn’t—last. It was just that she was starting to wear him down with her charm. But if she wore him down, then that, coupled with the constant physical attraction that he still felt and knew was never going away, was sure to lead him straight into wanting to call off the divorce. And should that happen, they would only end up right back where they’d been before, with the desires she had that he didn’t feel he could fulfill, and his own worries that he could never make her happy.

He couldn’t let her wear him down.

Together, they entered the church. Six kids were at the front, facing the filled pews, singing their hearts out—and one of them was Molly.

Transfixed by the scene, Jared stood rooted there for a moment. The little ragamuffin who had popped up in the store while he’d been questioning people that afternoon now had her dusty cheeks scrubbed to a blushing pink. Atop her head she wore an angel’s silver halo, and between the halo and her cloud of tawny hair, he thought he was seeing something almost... angelic.

Shea followed Jared’s gaze and recognized Molly from his previous description and from the visit the child had made to her office. She ventured a glance back at her husband. Her heart skipped a beat. Jared’s face had softened and she saw the hint of tears forming in his eyes.

Then he blinked and resumed his normal guarded look. But Shea had seen enough to tell her that the man did have a heart where children were concerned. For their baby’s sake, she would have to keep on trying to thaw it out permanently.

The singing ended, the parishioners clapped, and then everyone seemed to be standing and milling about at once, with some heading toward a side door.

“We need to find Molly,” Jared said, taking Shea’s hand and leading her toward the front. His heart was telling him there was nothing at all special about the child, but there was. He just didn’t understand what it was.

Molly spotted him first. Leaving the side of a petite woman in her forties, she ran to him. “You came! I knew you would come—Santa told me! He loved the tree!” She threw her arms around his legs. “Thank you so much.”

Jared threw a “get me out of this” look at Shea. Stifling a grin, she bent down and took one of Molly’s hands in her own. “Remember me, Molly? You dropped by my office the other day at Denton’s department store. I’m Shea Burroughs.”

Molly let go of Jared, then Shea heard his grateful sigh and hid her smile.

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