The Snow Leopard's Baby (Glacier Leopards 2)

Leah shrugged, a little uncomfortable. “She just doesn’t like the car very much. My mom keeps telling me that all babies like the car, but not her, not even when she was a newborn.”

“That’s a long drive you were making, with a baby who hates the car.” Jeff was looking at her, now, not at Emily, and his tone was sympathetic.

Leah nodded. “It was,” she said briefly.

She kept her own voice soft, but it probably still sounded abrupt. But the absolute last thing she wanted was to explain her whole sad situation to this handsome, capable, heroic ranger.

Jeff took a step closer to her, a questioning expression on his face. “Listen, you don’t have to tell me anything about your situation. It’s your business, not mine. But if you need any help, if there’s anything I can do...?”

Leah just shook her head, not trusting her voice.

He seemed so warm and kind. She almost wished there was something he could do. But she already owed him her life. She couldn’t imagine being even more obligated to him than she was already.

And anyway, there wasn’t anything for him to do. What she needed most was money, and she wasn’t going to ask a man she’d just met to pay for her car to be fixed.

Maybe he’d know somewhere in town that had a temporary job opening, so that she could make a few hundred dollars to pay for a mechanic.

And maybe he’d also know somewhere cheap, clean, and safe she could stay while she worked, and somewhere else that had free, trustworthy childcare for Emily, and maybe unicorns were real and she could just ride one the rest of the way across the state to her mom’s house, and when they got there, they’d find a pot of gold.

“No,” she said, and cleared her throat around the lump inside it. “I’ll be fine, thank you.”

He nodded, although he didn’t look satisfied.

But he let it go, and turned to Emily. “What about you, kiddo?” he asked. “Do you need anything right now?”

“A diaper change, I bet.” Leah seized on the one thing guaranteed to make a man run the other way.

But it didn’t work the way she’d expected. Instead of instantly making excuses and finding something else to do, Jeff turned aside and picked up her backpack, which had been sitting next to the couch. “The diapers are in here?”

Leah blinked. She’d been assuming just the mention of diapers would send him heading for the hills, or at least for some less messy chore.

Rob, her fiancé, had always disappeared the moment a diaper change was needed, especially after she’d made the mistake of standing over him and making him do it once. She’d had to redo it herself, and he’d complained for a solid day afterward.

Jeff, meanwhile, was digging through the backpack, and came up with diapers, wipes, ointment, and the folded changing pad tucked into the very bottom. “Is this everything?”

“That’s everything, thanks.” Leah held out a hand for the supplies, trying to negotiate the logistics of how she was going to do this when her feet

were less than functional. She guessed she’d just put the changing pad on the couch next to her and hope nothing got too messy.

But Jeff didn’t hand the fresh diaper over to her. Instead, he said tentatively, “I can do it, if you don’t mind. That way you don’t have to move too much.”

Leah stared at him. “Do you know how to change a diaper?” She glanced at his left hand. No ring.

But she didn’t have one either, after all. Maybe he had a child.

“Sure.” He sounded completely nonchalant. “I come from a big family—lots of nieces and nephews. I’ve changed a few diapers.”

Leah looked down at Emily, who was still silently watching everything that was happening. She wasn’t actively happy, but she didn’t look like she was going to freak out just yet.

“Okay,” Leah said finally, even though she was having a hard time believing that this man was volunteering to change a diaper. “Thank you.” She lifted Emily up to stand on her lap and asked her, “Are you ready to go to Jeff?”

Emily was used to strangers, what with all of the makeshift babysitters Leah had had to get for when she was working, and she didn’t protest when Jeff picked her up. He held her on his hip like a pro while he spread the changing pad out on the floor, and then he laid her down on it in a natural, easy motion.

This was nothing like Rob had been. Not only had he avoided diapers, he’d never volunteered to take care of Emily at all. When she’d been crying for too long, he’d head out in his truck to meet the guys for some beers. He didn’t get excited about her little outfits or even her first smile, and he definitely never got up with her in the night.

Leah had thought that that was just typical man behavior. Most guys didn’t want to deal with diapers or crying babies, right?

When she’d called her mom to ask about it, that’s just what her mom had said. Men don’t like any of that. It’s not natural for them like it is for us.