Page 78 of Rocky Mountain Home

It didn’t help that the next door was their destination. With no time to dig for courage, she was confronted with a sea of Coleman faces, a bevy of them gathered around a recliner.

A slightly older version of Jesse sat in the chair with a bundle of blue resting on his chest—that had to be Blake.

Marion caught sight of her before there was time to feel too awkward at invading a private moment. “He’s falling asleep. You need to come and say hello.”

Jesse’s mom took her by the hand and before she knew what was going on, Dare ended up next to the chair, having been pulled past the gathered crowd to Blake’s side.

She was torn between stealing glances at the baby and meeting the steady grey gaze of the man holding the child.

“Who’s going to sleep, the baby or the daddy?” The words snuck out before she could stop them.

Blake smiled gently, curling up to a sitting position. “I’m too excited to sleep, so Ma has to be talking about Justin.” He was on his feet, standing over her, the baby cradled comfortably in one arm as he offered his hand. “I take it you’re Darilyn?”

She shook his fingers briefly, panic sneaking in. “I am. Don’t you need two hands right now?”

Someone in the room chuckled, but Dare didn’t know who because she was watching the baby so she could catch him if Blake’s grip accidentally slipped. She’d been around Sasha and Emma as babies, but frankly had never been comfortable until they hit the sturdy-enough-to-crawl stage.

“I think we’re okay,” Blake assured her.

The baby opened his eyes, and all Dare’s panicked warnings vanished. “Oh my God, he’s so perfect.”

Blake laughed. “You have good taste in babies. Yes, he’s a particularly fine model.”

Then he shocked her to pieces, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close so he could press a kiss to her forehead. “Welcome, Darilyn.”

Dare was too surprised to say anything, then the scent of new baby hit her, and whatever operating brain cells she had vanished into thin air.

She tilted her head down and fell into out-of-focus big blue eyes. Justin couldn’t be watching her—she knew that—but it seemed as if he were peering into her soul, and even farther. Maybe communing on some cosmic level with Buckaroo.

Whoa. Unexpected and mind blowing.

So much so she finally realized she hadn’t responded to Blake’s sweet greeting. She peeled her gaze off the baby’s face and offered a hesitant smile. “Thank you.”

Blake adjusted the baby expertly, offering the bundle toward her. “Go on, you can hold him.”

She quickly took a half step back before Blake could transfer the baby to her arms. “I’ll just wait until later.”

No way was she about to explain that she had limited experience with newborns, and while she wanted to…

Hell, no.

Fortunately, there were other eager arms to take her place.

Blake was still smiling. “Sorry we weren’t there to greet you.”

“Babies don’t run on a schedule. It’s no problem.”

Blake had kind eyes. Not identical to Jesse’s, but the family resemblance was there, through and through. Blake was thicker through the torso than Jesse’s lean muscles, but like their father, they both had the look of men built by hard labour and endless chores.

Dare glanced over her shoulder to find Jesse standing in the doorway, gazing into the room as if he wasn’t sure he should take that final step. Then she couldn’t see him because a tall, blonde woman stepped out of what had to be a bathroom and enveloped Jesse in an enormous hug.

Jesse hugged the woman back, patting her shoulder gently. His gaze met Dare’s, and the first real smile she’d seen since they’d arrived in Rocky lit his face. He mouthed the word Jaxi, but Dare had assumed as much.

“What a surprise to find you here.” Jesse pulled back from the woman in his arms before glancing down at her briefly. “I thought you’d be out wrangling cattle already.”

“Tomorrow morning,” Jaxi joked. “Now, where is she? I’m so pissed I messed up our meeting.”

The woman whirled far quicker than Dare imagined someone who’d recently pushed out a kid the size of a watermelon should move.