The Man Who Would Be Daddy by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella [Marie Ferrarella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459280113
Publisher: Harlequin

There weren’t too many people frequenting the outdoor mall on a weekday morning. Malcolm had most of the area to himself, which was just as well. He didn’t care for crowds and noise anymore. Not the way he had once.

Outdoor vendors eyed him hopefully as he walked with Robin in his arms. He’d tried walking hand in hand with her, but it took five of her childish steps to match one of his and he’d begun to develop a crick in his neck. Holding her in his arms was easier, at least on his neck.

His heart was another matter.

He looked at the tiny, expressive face. She looked a lot like her mother, he realized. “So, what do you want to do while we wait?”

There was no hesitancy in her answer. “See Bibur.”

“Bibur?” What the hell was Bibur? Above them, the wind whipped the edges of a small shop’s yellow awning. The color connected with an image. He remem-bered the program she’d been watching just before they left. “Big Bird?” he asked.

Her face was a wreath of smiles. “Bibur.”

“Sorry, he’s probably in New York.”

Malcolm looked around. They had really remodeled the mall since he had been here last. Nothing was where it was supposed to be. Everything seemed to be centered around a huge fountain that periodically shot up water. A myriad of stores, arranged along six different paths that all led to the fountain, made him think of a large maze.

Wandering first in one direction, then another, he finally found what he was looking for. The pet shop. He reasoned it might be good for a quarter of an hour or so. “Want to see puppies, Robin?”

“Seepuppies,” she exclaimed, running the two words into one. “Seepuppies!”

“Okay, we’ll see puppies.” There was an eager Lhasa apso leaping up and down in the window as they entered. “I just hope the puppies don’t regret it.”

He took her deep into the store, where the dogs were housed in cages behind sliding glass doors. Robin squealed with excitement as soon as she saw them. Lunging forward in his arms, she patted the glass just the way she had his face last night.

Her excitement was infectious. “I think I’m jealous, Robin.”

The dark-haired attendant in the corner stopped sweeping and retired her broom. “Would your little girl like to pet one of the dogs?”

“Pet, pet, pet,” Robin echoed, bouncing up and down? in his arms.

He was about to say she wasn’t his little girl, but that would be getting into an unnecessary conversation. “No, that’s too much trouble.”

But the attendant was already unlocking the sliding doors. “No trouble at all. It’s a slow morning.”

Before he knew it, Malcolm was holding not only Robin but a cocker spaniel puppy, as well. It was hard to say which one wiggled more.

The attendant laughed and led him to what she told him was a petting booth in the back. He thought of some of the men he’d shared his career with who would have had another use for a booth with that name, and bit back a grin.

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