by Day Leclaire
But then, he never did. Grace sighed. He’d bowl them over like ninepins and never realize they’d fallen. To his credit, it wasn’t calculated. He simply loved women and treated every last one with a devastating courtesy and warmth, the way he’d explained earlier. Without question, she considered it his greatest charm and her own greatest weakness.
“I think an explanation would be very helpful,” Hatcher interrupted, keenly attuned to his partner’s reaction. He strode across the room, firing a quelling glance at Cable. Somewhat chagrined, she reverted to a more professional demeanor.
“I believe you met my brother Brando Salvatore when you were downstairs,” Luc began.
“He was the one involved in the altercation with the young woman?”
“A small family squabble,” Luc said dismissively. “We’re a very, shall we say, emotional household.”
“What is the young woman’s relationship to him?”
“His wife.”
Grace’s mouth fell open at the blatant lie, the first she’d ever heard him utter, and a tiny gasp escaped before she could prevent it. She stared at Luc in disbelief. He never blinked an eye. Nor did he look at her. But Officer Hatcher did. Grace quickly shut her mouth and focused her attention on the baby, but she suspected it was too little, too late. Sure enough, he approached.
“You have something to add, Ma’am?”
“It’s Barnes. Grace Barnes. And yes, I do. Could you hand me that diaper bag? I believe we’ve had a little accident here.”
The officer’s eyes narrowed but he didn’t call her a liar to her face, which came as a relief. He bent down and picked up the bag. She took it with a grateful smile and gently deposited the baby on top of Luc’s desk, smack dab in the center of his leather blotter. Serve him right if she ruined it, she decided. He shouldn’t have lied to the police. She unwrapped the blanket around Tony and made a production of unsnapping the bottom of his jumper.
“To get back to the matter at hand,” Officer Hatcher continued. “Could you supply the young lady’s name?”
“Carina Donati Salvatore,” Luc replied.
“And she left to go to the airport?”
“Yes, her mother in Italy is very ill. My brother asked her to wait until they could all fly together, but she wanted to get home as soon as possible. I’m sorry you had to be involved.” He shrugged. “It really wasn’t necessary.”
“About the baby,” Officer Cable interrupted. “You’ve been left with the infant until your brother returns?”
“It’s only for a few hours.”
Grace kept her head down and removed a fresh diaper, wipes, and powder from the bag. She struggled to unfasten the diaper tabs. Tony seemed determined to fight her, his little legs plumping and churning away.
The officers conferred in low voices and she could tell they weren’t comfortable with the situation. So could Luc, who sighed. “Look. I’m a responsible man, respected in the community. I’m babysitting my nephew for a few hours. Why is that a problem?”
Grace slipped off the heavy diaper, definitely wet, took one look at the baby, then glanced, wide-eyed at Luc. Uh-oh. If she didn’t move fast, something very nasty would hit the fan. Tossing the dirty diaper toward the trash can with one hand, she fumbled for a clean one with the other. To her horror, it slid to the floor.
“Would it help if I provided references?” Luc offered.
“You have someone who can vouch for your babysitting abilities?” Hatcher retorted. Clearly, he resented Cable’s less than professional reaction toward Luc and intended to make matters as difficult as possible. “You look like a busy man,” he added, his gaze suspicious. “Are you sure you can provide adequate care?”
Grace saw the fierce expression appear on Luc’s face and froze. That look did not bode well for any of them. He glanced at her with grim intent, then at her left hand and she knew, before he even moved, what he planned to do.
Without a moment to lose, she whipped a new diaper from the bag, dropping it across Tony’s lower extremities the exact same instant Luc draped a possessive arm around her shoulders. Fighting his embrace, she struggled to position the diaper to cover strategic areas.
“Cara,” he muttered. “Let me show them.”
“Not now!” she whispered frantically.
“Yes, now.” He grabbed her left hand and held it out toward the police officers. “Perhaps I should have said my fiancée and I are babysitting little Tony.”
“Luc, the baby,” Grace whispered. He frowned at her, and she snatched her hand from his grasp. “I have to finish changing . . . him.”
Not daring to give the police time to come closer, she yanked open the tabs and taped them haphazardly across the plastic diaper. Praying the thing would stay in place for the next two minutes, she wrapped the blanket around the baby. Then she collapsed into Luc’s chair, lifted Tony to her shoulder and began to pat the baby’s back, as if a brisk burping commonly followed a diaper change.
“You’re engaged?” Officer Cable struggled to hide her disappointment. Hatcher shoved his hat to the back of his head and grinned.
Grace shot Luc a fulminating glare. “Yes,” she admitted, forcing out the lie. “I am.” Fortunately they didn’t ask the name of her fiancé. Lying to the police came low on her list of ambitions in life. Not that she hadn’t lied anyway, considering she wasn’t really engaged at all.
Cable gave a philosophical shrug. “I guess it’s a false alarm,” she said to her partner.
Hatcher wasn’t so accommodating. “We’ll be writing this up,” he informed them. Grace didn’t have a single doubt he suspected several vital details had been omitted from their story. “Next time I come here—and I will be back—I’ll be having words with the baby’s parents.”
“Of course,” Luc agreed.
He escorted the police officers to the elevators, leaving Grace and Tony behind. The minute they were gone, Grace returned the baby to the desk and, quickly and efficiently, repaired the droopy diaper. Tony fussed through the entire procedure, undoubtedly annoyed at having to suffer the same fate twice in less than five minutes.
Luc appeared in the doorway. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“Changing the baby.”
“Again?”
“Yes, again. I was in such a hurry the first time, I didn’t get it right.”
“Why—”
She turned on him. “Do you realize what would have happened if Officer Cable came over while I was changing the baby?”
Amusement sparked in his eyes. “She would have seen how a baby gets changed?”
“She would have seen that Tony is actually Toni.”
“Come again?”
Grace picked up the baby and carried her to the couch. She fussed with the cushions to build a safe nest and then deposited the baby in the middle. Satisfied, she faced Luc. “I mean, Toni isn’t your nephew but your niece.”
“He’s what?”
Grace folded her arms across her chest. “She. Toni apparently stands for Antonia, not Antonio.”
“You’re kidding!” Luc grinned in amazement. “That’s wonderful. She’s the first female Salvatore in four generations. Or is it five?”
Grace struggled to control her temper. “You’re missing the point. If the police had discovered that you didn’t even know the sex of your brother’s child, the whole game would have been up. They’d have thrown us both in jail and taken the baby into custody.”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have let them.”
“You couldn’t have prevented it,” she snapped. She couldn’t remember when she’d last been so angry. “How dare you?”
He stood, leaning against the doorframe, watching her intently. “How dare I what?”
“How dare you lie to them? I mean, when you finally cut loose with a fib, it’s a whopper. But did you have to start with the police?”
He shrugged. “It seemed appropriate at the time.”
“Great,” she grumbled. “So why i
nvolve me in your family problems?”
He grabbed her shoulders, hauling her close. “Our problems,” he reminded in a soft, deliberate voice. “We’re engaged. You even told the police that, remember?”
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t. I just agreed that I was engaged, not who I was engaged to.”
He cut her off. “That isn’t how they’ll recall the conversation.”
“But, it’s all a lie,” she protested. “Every bit of it. I’m not engaged to you. Brand and Carina aren’t married. Darn it, Luc, the baby’s not even a him.”
She saw the storm clouds gathering in his eyes, saw the fury and determination lock his expression into a cold, taut mask. “Let me explain something to you. I will not allow the police, or anyone else, to take Toni from me. I will do anything, anything, to protect her.”
She didn’t doubt him for a minute. And she could even sympathize with his feelings. The Salvatores were a close, unified family. All for one and one for all had long been their credo. If truth be told, she did feel a certain obligation to Luc. After all, hadn’t she spent the past year lying to him? She owed him a lie. But only a small, short-term one. After that, she’d consider them even.
“What do you want from me?” she asked warily.
He had her and knew it. He relaxed, the fire in his eyes dying until the gold gleamed like banked embers. His grip relaxed into a caress. “Not much. I just want you to stay with me, posing as my fiancée should the need arise, until Carina or Brand return.”
“Two hours. That’s all you get,” she bargained.
“Not good enough. I need you until my brother picks up Toni.”
“No.”
He gave her a wounded look. “You’d desert me in my hour of need?”
“Yes.”
“You’d leave Brand and Carina in the lurch?”
“Without question. We’ve been through this before. Remember?”
“So we have,” he agreed softly, releasing her. “I believe this is where I ask if you’d turn your back on a helpless baby. As I recall that seemed to make a difference last time.”
She really, truly tried to refuse. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t desert Toni, no matter how mad she was at Luc. “You don’t play fair,” she complained.
“No,” he agreed. He caught her hand in his and raised it to his lips in a graceful gesture. Then he smiled, a most charming, dangerous smile. “I play to win.”
Chapter 3
The Great Lie
Day 337 continues to worsen . . .
“No, no! That’s too much. It says here three scoops of formula to six ounces of water. Dammit, Grace, now look what you’ve done. You’ve spilled it!”
“I spilled it?” Grace shoved a tumble of curls out of her eyes and glared at Luc. “You jostled my arm.”
“Well, your arm was in my way. This time watch what you’re doing or you’ll knock it—” The bottle clattered off the desk, milk soaking into the rug.
She released a long suffering sigh. “Knock it to the floor?”
“Get another bottle. This one’s contaminated. We’ll have to start over.”
“We can’t.”
He planted his hands on his hips. “And why not?”
“Simple.” She struggled to remain cool, calm, and collected in the face of staggering odds—namely one Luc Salvatore. “We’re out of bottles.”
“Not for long.” He marched to the interoffice phone, snatched the handset from the cradle, and punched some buttons. “Edward? I want you to arrange for an infant car seat, just in case we need to take the baby somewhere. We’re also out of bottles. Order up another batch. And send out for more formula, too. Grace has gone clumsy on me.”
“How could I have ever thought he was charming?” she muttered, struggling to repin her hair in its customary knot. “Charming, in a pig’s eye. I must have been out of my mind.”
He slapped his hand over the receiver. “What’s that? Did you say something?”
“I said, make sure he gets the right kind.”
“Edward. Make sure you get the right kind of formula. Grace is afraid you’ll screw up again.”
She raced to the phone and yanked it from his hand. “Edward? It’s Grace. I did not say that. I didn’t even think it. Hello? Hello?”
Luc held up the wire he’d disconnected from the wall. “Hang up on you, did he?”
She returned the phone to its cradle and confronted him, poking her glasses higher on the bridge of her nose. “That was really low, even for you. And considering how much you need my help, I suggest—”
“Shh. The baby, remember?” As though in response, a tiny squawk drifted from across the room. “Uh-oh. Too late.” He folded his arms across his chest and regarded her accusingly. “You made her cry.”
“Ohh. I ought to—”
“Temper, temper.” He grabbed for the phone again, remembered he’d unplugged it, and reconnected the wire. “Edward! Edward, she’s crying. What? How would I know? I haven’t been a baby for years. Oh, really? No, kidding. Diapers or bottles, you say?”
Grace winced at the sarcasm. Time to take matters into her own hands. She headed out of Luc’s office and into the reception area. Luc’s voice drifted to her through the open door.
“That might prove a little difficult since you haven’t sent any up! And another thing—”
She settled a hip on the edge of her desk and lifted the extension phone. “Edward? It’s Grace. Just so you know, I did not say I thought you might screw anything up. I want that clearly on the record.”
“Yes, Ms. Barnes,” Edward said with a deep sigh.
She opened her steno pad. “Now. You’ve ordered the correct formula? It has to be exactly like the can Carina left. The one with extra iron.”
“Yes, Ms. Barnes.”
“He’s not an idiot, Grace. He’s not going to make the same mistake twice,” Luc informed her. “Are you, Edward?”
“No, Mr. Salvatore.”
“Luc, hang up. I can handle this.”
“Like you handled the bottle and formula?”
“That wasn’t my fault! Hello? Hello?”
“He hung up, Ms. Barnes.”
“Oh. Well, good. Let’s see, what else do we need? Here it is. We must have those sterilized bottles as soon as you can get them.” She made a quick notation, then asked, “And what about diapers? We’re almost out. There were only a handful in the bag.”
“What size?”
That stopped her. “Small?”
“They go by weight.”
Grace nibbled on her lip. “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
“Yes, Ms. Barnes.”
“Damnation!” The shout came from Luc’s office. “Grace? Grace! Get in here, quick!”
“Gotta go, Edward.”
“I couldn’t be that lucky.”
“Grace!”
She frowned. “What was that, Edward?”
“I said, er, that would be just ducky.”
Luc appeared in the doorway. “Get off that phone. Now. And get in here. There’s something wrong with Toni.”
Without another word, she tossed the receiver onto the cradle and hurried after him. He crossed to the makeshift crib they’d constructed out of couch cushions and winter coats. “What is it?” she asked, standing beside him and peering down at the baby. “What’s wrong?”
“Look at her,” he ordered. “She’s foaming at the mouth. That’s bad, right? Don’t they shoot you when you do that?”
“She’s blowing bubbles,” Grace explained. “At three months, we say it’s cute. We frown on it when a child turns six. At thirteen, a stern reprimand is in order. It’s only bubble-blowing adults we shoot.”
“You’re certain?”
“Positive. Now for the next problem.”
He grimaced. “You mean the problem of getting any work done today?”
“No. The problem of diapers.”
“I’ll call Edward.”
“No, you
won’t. I’ve already spoken to him about it and we need to know what size to order.”
“Small. Very small,” Luc decided promptly.
She flashed him a superior look. “It goes by weight.”
“Light. Very light.”
Her lips twitched, and an instant later Luc laughed, a low, rumbling sound that drew her in and before she knew it, forged yet another bond of intimacy between them. Unable to resist, she laughed, too. “This is crazy, isn’t it?” she asked with a wide, open smile.
“But fun. I have a niece. That’s a nice feeling.”
He slid an arm around Grace’s shoulders, tucking her close, and together they stared down at Toni. His hold felt comfortable. Too comfortable. She should move away. But she didn’t want to, not when they fit together so perfectly. With a tiny sigh, Grace gave in to the companionable mood and accepted his embrace. Hardly aware of what she did, she snuggled her head against his shoulder and relaxed her curves into his angles.
Just for this moment, she’d let down her guard and enjoy what the gods offered. It didn’t mean anything. She knew better than to take it seriously. But right now, after all she’d been through, she needed his touch as much as she needed food and drink. Maybe even more.
When had their relationship changed? Or had it been changing all along? They’d worked together for almost a year, enjoyed a business relationship that gradually teetered on the verge of something more personal. Today, it had tipped to the other side of the scale. The wrong side of the scale. And yet, when he held her close, when their bodies aligned so perfectly, how could it be wrong?
Though she kept her gaze fastened on the baby, her awareness of Luc intensified. It surged through her, sizzling nerve endings and generating an irresistible warmth. She wanted him in a way that had nothing to do with what an employee should want from a boss. If it weren’t for the baby, she’d turn into his arms, unable to resist. She’d wrap herself around him and kiss him, opening to him in a way she’d never opened herself to any other man.
But he was her employer. And she’d made an agreement with Dom which would be broken if she allowed this to go any further. Then there was the small problem of the baby. She had no business kissing Luc or doing anything else with him. Not with all that stood between them. And especially not if she hoped to open her own business.
