Frisco Joe's Fiancee Read Free Page A

them.”
    He went outside, his shoulders squared. “Ladies,” he said loudly, “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we’re not looking for a housekeeper at this time. We’ll be happy to pay your return bus fare to wherever you came from.”
    A middle-aged, not-unattractive woman stepped forward to be the spokeswoman. “How come you placed an ad, then?”
    “It was a mistake. We’re terribly sorry.”
    “You’re not the man who placed the ad. We saw his picture.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “We came all the way to apply with him. Where is he?”
    “He’s gone for the next two weeks,” Frisco said,determined to be patient, not meeting the blonde’s gaze, though he realized she was staring up at him as he stood on the wide porch. Trying not to look back at her made his scalp tighten and prickle as if he were sweating all over his head. “We’ve contacted our brother, and he said the e-mail was sent in error. As I said, we are happy to take you to the bus station in town. Now, if you all will load into the trucks my brothers will be bringing around in a moment, we’ll get you started on your way back home.”
    They didn’t like it; grumbling rose among them, but there was nothing he could do about that. A mistake was a mistake, an honest one.
    But he’d handled it, and handling twenty women was easier than he thought it’d be, he decided, opening truck doors and helping them into various seats. He didn’t see the little blonde and the baby; they weren’t among the passengers who jumped into his cab, but he’d be willing to bet Last had eagerly escorted the two of them to his vehicle.
    Better him than me.
    It was a motley, somewhat sad procession as the brothers drove six trucks to the bus stop, but it was the right thing to do.
    They left them in the station, having paid for tickets and making sure they had enough money for snacks. He handed the clump of tickets to the woman he dubbed the spokeswoman, tipped his hatto their silent faces, and feeling guilty as hell, slunk out with his brothers.
    “I’m gonna kill Mimi and Mason for this stupid stunt,” he muttered to Fannin. “Reckon they planned this?”
    “What for?” Fannin glanced at him as they walked through the parking lot.
    “I don’t know. I just know that when those two get together, there’s always hell to pay.”
    “I know. That’s why they can’t stay together in one room very long. It’s spontaneous combustion.”
    “I’m going home to have a beer,” Frisco said. “And then I’m going to bed.”
    “No poker tonight?”
    “Heck no. I’m all played out.” That baby wasn’t going to enjoy a long bus ride back to Lonely Hearts Station, he knew. And the little mother had looked so tired.
    Damn Mason and Mimi anyway. “See ya,” he said to Fannin, surly again. Then he got in his truck and drove home, deciding to skip the beer and go right upstairs.
    He’d been up since 4:00 a.m., and a lot had happened. If he went to sleep now, maybe he could forget all the events of the day.
    Stripping to his boxers, he left jeans, boots and his shirt on the floor, crawling quickly between the sheets to escape the slight chill in the room.
    His bare skin made instant contact with somethingsmall and soft in the bed. “What the hell?” he murmured, flipping on the bedside lamp in a hurry.
    It was the baby, no longer wearing her white bunting and sound asleep in the middle of his bed, peacefully sucking her tiny fist.

Chapter Two
    “Holy smokes, Frisco,” Navarro said as Frisco came barreling down the stairs. All ten of his brothers glanced at him. “Your drawers on fire?” Navarro asked.
    “There’s a baby in my bed!” Frisco shouted. Remembering that a baby could be loud when it was awake, he lowered his voice to an unnerved whisper. “That little blonde put her baby in my bed!”
    “Are you sure?” Fannin asked.
    Frisco looked at him as if he’d gone mad. “I think I know a baby when I see one!”
    “How do