He chided himself silently for not realizing how hard the bedside vigils and constant attention to his brother and mother at the other hospital had been for her. Away from there, she blossomed again, her cheeks rosy from the warmth of the room beyond the open door.

Her strawberry blond hair had been pulled up in a loose bun that didn’t have enough hairpins to hold every wayward curl. A few had escaped and lay against her cheek. A longer tendril curled down her neck. He could just see a few of the delicate freckles that he liked so much.

He longed to kiss the soft skin of her shoulders once more, but the giant gown thing had her covered.

Mary Beth, with her gorgeous curves completely concealed and her arms full of someone else’s baby, was dazzling. It was all too easy to imagine her holding his baby.

He had never had such a thought before in his life. Fatherhood hadn’t been on his five-year list of things he wanted to do. Not even his ten-year list. Suddenly it seemed like an urgent priority.

The tenderness in her expression, the pretty smile when she laughed at something his cousin Eve said, and the joy in her green eyes made his heart race. He knew he was looking at the woman of his dreams.

The hell of it was that he couldn’t have her.

He had to snap out of it. He couldn’t walk into that room looking starry eyed and sentimental. His cousin Eve would instantly guess at his true feelings for his brother’s fiancée.

Bobby Joe would get up and walk again if he could see Mary Beth like this.

Parr amended the thought after a moment of reflection. Maybe he would. And maybe not. Bobby Joe didn’t talk much about Mary Beth when she wasn’t there. He didn’t seem all that grateful for her devotion when they got a chance to talk in private.

Parr hated to think that his brother was putting on a show for the family, especially their mother. But he wasn’t sure of it. However, if that proved to be the case, the problem wasn’t something he could resolve tonight.

He took one last, long look as if he wanted to remember what he’d just seen forever. Then he stepped forward and knocked lightly on the open door.

“May I come in?” He held out the bouquet.

“Parr! My goodness! Look at those beautiful flowers. I’m honored.”

Eve took them from him, smiling like a beauty queen. Which she was, in a delightfully disheveled, I-just-had-a-baby way. She wore a multicolored chenille bathrobe she’d brought from home and fake fur scuffs.

“They match my outfit,” she said, holding them front and center.

“You look great,” he said gallantly. “Hello, Mary Beth.”

She nodded and murmured a greeting, completely absorbed in the baby.