Her Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

wasn’t he rushed off his feet, living off the money he charged for his investigating skills. What had happened to him?
    “It’s OK. I’ll eat something else,” he said, and the look in his eye was of a man slightly offended that a woman was offering to pay for him… No, not offended. What, then?
    “What’s wrong? Your pride won’t let a girl pay for your dinner?”
    “No.” He averted his eyes; she could almost read the emotions flitting across his face. Then he grinned at her. “Pizza sounds good.”
    “Do you have that menu?” she asked.
    “Somewhere.” He left the room and she heard his footsteps fade away, and with it the sense of being connected to him. To tear herself away from the sense of loss, she looked down into Connor’s darling face, and smiled at him. “You are going to be loved, Connor. No matter what happens.”
    Connor smiled at her around his bottle, and then went back to contentedly sucking, his eyes beginning to close, until by the time he had finished his bottle and she rubbed his back, the baby was asleep. Elise placed him on the sofa, using pillows to prop him in place, and once she was satisfied he wouldn’t roll off, she went to find Beau.
    He was rummaging in the kitchen, looking in drawers, his face creased into a frown. “I’m sure it was here somewhere.”
    “Don’t worry, what’s the name of the place? I’ll look it up on my phone.” She took out her cell. “No reception.”
    “It’s bad out here, but if you go up into my room, near the window, you can usually pick it up.” He must have seen the look on her face, and laughed. “That is not a ploy to get you into my bed.”
    Pity, her bear said.
    “I never thought it was,” she said quickly, turning to hide the blush as it spread across her cheeks.
    “Top of the stairs, turn right, and the second door on the left. I’ll stay down here to protect your reputation.”
    She turned away from him, not rising to his taunt. Normally she could take all forms of teasing, but he had hit a nerve, not least because she would love to have him pull her into bed and make love to her. Sweet, beautiful love. There was an itch inside her that only he could scratch, as if the mating bond was a wound that needed to be healed. Would it get worse if she kept denying there was anything between them?
    Running up the stairs, knowing that food would be the best thing to take her mind off Beau’s bed, she followed his directions and opened the door of a most definitely male bedroom. The decoration was plain, three walls painted a fresh cream color, with the wall behind the bedstead picked out in a deep midnight blue, making a feature of it. It was the color of the inky night when the moon was full.
    Moving to the window, she looked out on the view below her, cell phone reception temporarily forgotten. The late evening sun was just disappearing over the mountain peaks, casting its rosy glow over the valley before her. She could just about make out the small village, with the houses clustered together, as if for safety. Maybe it had been built when bear shifters roamed the wilderness, before they began to hide away from human life. Before humans defended themselves with guns, and the only safety shifters knew was in hiding themselves away.
    The lights twinkled, little pin pricks as the shadows lengthened, allowing the darkness to fill the streets. It reminded her of her life, a sea of darkness, the loss of her sister almost overwhelming. Connor had been one of those pinpricks of light, a small flame, fighting back the dark cloud that had threatened her.
    Revenge . It was a cloud of cloying darkness that swept over her like a storm, tugging at her, telling her there was only one reason she should find Gable… To put a knife in his heart and twist it.
    That wasn’t what Eleanor wanted, she was sure of it. But it was what Elise wanted. From the moment she had gone home to find her sister sick and alone with the baby, she had wanted to