Jace by Sarah McCarty & Sarah McCarty

Author:Sarah McCarty & Sarah McCarty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2011-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

MIRI was waiting for him on the porch when he got home. In the predawn light, it was easy to make out the hope lighting her face and the nervousness that had her clenching her hands in front of her. He didn’t need to read her energy to know how anxious she was. Her grip on her hands was white-knuckled and her shoulders were hunched while her head was thrown up and back, almost like she was expecting a blow.

Damn, he’d been hoping she would be inside.

He glared at Jared. “You said she’d stay asleep.”

“Must be she’s stronger than I thought.”

Miri’s gaze dropped to the bulge in Jace’s coat, his hands, the way he was cradling that bulge. He felt her hope flare, the breathless excitement. She watched him with unwavering intensity as he approached. Jace didn’t want to keep her in suspense, but he didn’t want to tell her the bad news before he was close enough to catch her when the bitter disappointment hit. His facial muscles ached with the effort it took not to show how much he hurt for her.

The closer he got, the less hope there was in her expression. When he reached the bottom of the steps, her lower lip was between her teeth and anguish was in her eyes.

“You found a baby.”

“Yes.”

She waited painful seconds. He couldn’t bring himself to elaborate.

“It’s not Faith, is it?” The question drifted on an insubstantial cloud of breath.

He climbed the four steps, cupped his hand behind her head, and leaned in. She ducked away. The rejection went straight to his center. “I’m sorry, Miri.”

She crossed her arms over her stomach and rubbed her hands up and down her upper arms as if to ward off a chill. “Whose baby is she?”

“I don’t know.”

“Her mother must be going crazy.”

“Tobias doesn’t seem to think so.”

“That’s insane.”

He reached for the zipper of his coat. Miri took a step back. Her tongue flicked over her lips. “No. I don’t want to see her.”

“I’ve promised to take care of her.”

“Promised who?”

“Peanut.”

Surprise flared in her gaze at the endearment. “You call her Peanut?”

“I’ve got to call her something. I don’t know her name.”

She took another step back. “I guess.”

“Slade’s going to be over in a bit with bottles and some formula.”

Miri’s nostrils flared, instinctively searching for the child’s scent. Her frown deepened, no doubt exacerbated by the child’s unique makeup. Were and vampire. Like their daughter. “Can she eat that?”

He opened the front door. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out. One thing’s for sure, she needs to eat something.”

She waved her hand in front of her nose as he passed by. “She stinks.”

He could feel her resentment that he had brought this child to her instead of her own. He could even understand it. It didn’t make a difference, though. “Tell me about it.”

Miri followed him into the house, maintaining her four-foot safety zone. “We don’t have a crib.”

“We’ll make do.”

“We don’t know the first thing about babies.”

“We’ll learn.”

“We might screw things up.

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