"No, really," Scott said, trying to smile.
She was close now, and even in the moonlight, he could see that she was a very pretty young woman. Pretty women usually liked him. Women in general, in fact, usually fell all over him. Surely once he'd explained....
"I wasn't throwing them at her. I was throwing them to her. You do see the difference, don't you?" He gave her the "we adults understand these things" look and shrugged charmingly, expecting to see that familiar little glint appear in her gaze, to see the line around the mouth soften, the lips begin to turn up at the corners.
Unfortunately, those things didn't happen.
Instead, she put her hands on her hips, facing him as though he were a barking dog and she a mama cat protecting a basketful of kittens. The hard line around her mouth tightened. Her blue eyes flashed unfriendly fire.
"I've heard about you, mister," she told him evenly. "You lay a finger on anyone of my children and I'll make sure you're sorry for it."
Scott would have liked a pause in which to pursue the topic. He'd never made any bones about the fact that he liked his privacy, that he would prefer to live among adults in a place where the patter of little feet was not often heard.
But he wasn't the boogie man. This reputation for hating kids seemed to be getting out of hand.
Before he could begin his own defense, a sound came from the house. Everyone turned toward it. Easy enough to identify, it seemed to strike each one of them with the same sense of horror.
"Babies," Scott said, staring at the pretty woman. "More babies."
He quickly counted the three still outside. The sound coming from the house indicated at least two more.
"How many kids do you have, lady?" he asked incredulously.
Her eyes shone with defiance. "As many as I want, mister," she replied.
Get the whole book on Kindle at Amazon.com
The Baby Invasion by Helen Conrad