Sherryl Woods - Dylan And The Baby Doctor

Dylan spent nearly a half hour talking to Bobby, trying to ease his fears, then tucking him into bed and waiting until he drifted off to sleep. All the while, he kept thinking of all the nights he'd missed doing exactly the same thing with Shane, all the stories he could have read to his son, all the sleepy talks they could have shared. The experience reinforced his decision to see Kit as soon as possible the next day. He wanted his son back in his life. He needed to be a dad again. Even part-time would be better than nothing.

As he went back downstairs, though, his thoughts shifted back to the woman waiting for him. He had seen her shattered expression when Bobby had revealed his fear of being taken away again by his dad. The fact that she had allowed him to step in and reassure the boy, then put him to bed, told Dylan just how distraught she had been. She'd been afraid Bobby would detect her own fear.

Obviously, she had been wanting to believe, just as he had, that Bobby hadn't been affected by the events of the last few days. Now they could no longer delude themselves. He'd been able to step in tonight, but what if Bobby needed more help than either he or Kelsey could give him?

Dylan walked into the living room to find Kelsey curled up at one end of the sofa. She hadn't turned on the lights and the room was in shadows.

"Is he okay?" she asked, sounding lost and defeated.

"Sound asleep," Dylan reassured her as he crossed the room, sat down beside her and drew her into his arms. She came willingly.

"Oh, Dylan, I wanted so badly for him to have come through this unscathed.''

"To tell you the truth, I think he was just worried about leaving you again. I don't think it had anything to do with him being frightened of his father.'' "But he saw Paul shoot that gun in the air and tie you up. How could he not have been terrified? I must have been crazy to think he would forget all about it just like that."

"We talked about that. I told him nothing really bad happened, that it was like a game between his dad and me to see who would get to bring him back to you fastest. He seemed to accept that."

"In other words, you lied to him. Is that good?"

"It's better than telling him his dad did a terrible thing that could have had tragic consequences. He'll figure that out for himself when he's older. For now, I think it's better just to ease his mind. Maybe you should talk to a psychologist. See what he says."

"Of course," she said, sounding relieved to have something concrete she could do. "I don't know why I didn't think of that. It's exactly what I'd recommend to the parent of any patient of mine who'd been through a traumatic experience. I'll call a friend of mine in Miami first thing in the morning. I just wish I had some answers now."

"Bobby's sound asleep. The answers can wait until morning." He gave her a knowing look. "But just in case you don't see it that way, my guess is you have a few psych books left over from med school tucked away somewhere around here."

She brightened at the suggestion. "In the attic." She started to get up.

"Not just yet," Dylan said, holding her a little more tightly. "Let's talk about you for a minute. Will you be able to sleep tonight or are you going to spend the whole night running into Bobby's room just to make sure he's there?"

"I'll try to limit it to once an hour," she said candidly.

He debated asking his next question, then decided to make the offer anyway. "Would it help if I stayed here? On the sofa," he elaborated before she could jump to the wrong conclusion.

Her hesitation suggested she badly wanted to resist the idea, that she was used to handling crises on her own and needed to start doing that again. Finally she released a soft sigh. "Would you mind?''

"I offered, didn't I?"

Her gaze clashed with his. "Not on the sofa, though. Upstairs. With me." Dylan's heart beat a little faster, but he shook his head. "Bad idea."

"Why?"

"We won't sleep, Kelsey, and you know it."

"Would that be so terrible?"

Dylan struggled with himself, with his sense of honor. "I thought we'd decided not to rush into anything."

"It's just sex, Dylan, not a commitment."

She uttered the words so damned bravely, but they both knew better. She didn't have casual relationships, and though he'd had his share, he knew this wasn't going to be one of them. She deserved better from him.

"You're wrong," he told her. "You don't have casual flings and when it comes to someone like you, neither do I.I want to make something of what we have, Kelsey. I don't want to mess it up by getting into something heavy at the wrong time, when you're vulnerable. I don't want you waking up in the morning with regrets."

"I'm stronger than I seem, Dylan. You've seen me at my worst. Believe me, under normal circumstances, I'm perfectly capable of making a rational decision."

He laughed. "Oh, I'm certain of that, darlin', but you're not thinking with your brain just now."

She stared at him indignantly, then chuckled selfconsciously. "Shouldn't that be my line?"

"I'll give you a rain check to use it on me," he promised."Now scoot before I change my mind and decide I can't resist ravishing you, after all. You can hunt for that psychology book and read yourself to sleep with all that dull, dry material."

She regarded him with obvious regret. "You're not going to be noble forever, are you?"

Dylan laughed, despite the ache that was already building with no immediate relief in sight. "No, darlin'. I think you can count on me getting past this in no time at all."

To Kelsey's amazement, after checking on Bobby only twice and reading just a few pages of the child-psychology textbook she'd found in the attic, she actually fell soundly asleep and slept through the rest of the night. She knew she owed that to Dylan's presence downstairs. While the rational part of her brain knew that Paul couldn't come after their son again, on another level she had feared he would somehow find a way out of jail and do just that. Having Dylan there to stop him had relieved her illogical worries.

The man was definitely one of the good guys. She had recognized his strength from the beginning, but she was just now beginning to understand how deep his integrity ran. Last night she had found his sense of honor inconvenient, but today she was grateful for it. She had been caught up in an adrenaline rush, no doubt about it.

One thing she knew, though, the attraction she had developed toward Dylan Delacourt wasn't going away. If anything, it was growing deeper day by day. Sometimes, with some people, a lifetime of getting acquainted could be crammed into a few short days. It had been with them.

Down the hall she could hear Bobby thumping around in his room, probably tossing half his toys on the floor in search of the one buried deepest in the pile. The sound brought a smile to her lips.

Then she heard Dylan stirring downstairs and her smile spread.

She took a quick shower, tugged on a clean outfit, then poked her head into Bobby's room. He was sitting on his bed, totally absorbed in his favorite picture book, one with lots of fire engines and police cars in it. He gave her a distracted wave and went right back to it.

Back to normal, she told herself with a relieved sigh. At least that was the way it seemed right now. Hard to tell what the day would bring.

Downstairs, she could smell the coffee brewing as she walked toward the kitchen. She found Dylan with one jeans-clad hip propped against the counter, his shirt hanging open and a cup of coffee in his hand. He looked sleepy and rumpled and indescribably sexy. His expression brightened when he saw her.

"Good morning."

Staring at his partially bared chest, she murmured something that was probably incomprehensible. Finally she tugged her gaze away and looked into eyes dancing with amusement.