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He sed and looked down at her “Why are you crying, principesa?”

She looked at hi

He reached out to her slowly, placing his hand flat on her round tuled beneath his pal to one of curiosity When he didn’t satisfy it iain

He could go and pull Paige out of the shohich she had done to him Of course, his had been a shoith a self-destructive bent, rather than one intended for cleanliness Or he could handle this himself

He couldn’t remember if he’d ever held a baby before He doubted if he had But he had seen the way Paige held her, with infinite care and sweetness Close to her body to keep her safe And if…if his carelessness had resulted in a pregnancy, he would have to learn

He bent forward and scooped her into his arainst his chest The discomfort that bordered on fear whenever he saw Ana started to fade, replaced with that tenderness he always saw on Paige’s face when she held her daughter He didn’t want to acknowledge it, that softening in his chest But surely it was right to feel tender toward a baby? A sign that perhaps not everything in him was frozen

Ana stopped crying, her heart beating fast like a little bird’s as she nestled into his chest “Is that all you wanted?” he asked, his voice breathless “To be held?”

She melted into him, her little body supported by his hands The trust she had in hi deep inside of him

She shifted, a sharp cry of discontentment on her lips

He sat down in the rocking chair, hoping the back-and-forth movement would calm her

Sing to her

He reht

I don’t know any lullabies

A lie

Ana wiggled against hi more insistent

He took a deep breath,his hand over her back For a moment he could not force the words out They stuck in his throat, stuck, along with the ie in his mind of the little boy curled up on the floor That was the last ti The last time he had let the words out