With one last glance at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, she cataloged every bit of stress and excitement duking it out in her stomach. Why did Vaughn want to spend time with Danika? He’d made it very clear over the months he and Brie had dated that he was a free agent.
Maybe tonight was nothing more than simple curiosity.
When Brie made her way to the living room, the babysitter was standing beside the front door holding Nika and chatting with Vaughn. When the older woman said her goodbyes, Brie tensed. She wasn’t sure how to play this.
Vaughn took the decision out of her hands. Casually, as though they hadn’t been separated by two years and countless miles, he leaned forward, cupped her face in his big, warm hands and kissed her on the forehead. “Hello, Brie. I like what you’ve done with the house.”
The affectionate greeting flustered her. She didn’t trust his good humor.
“Thank you. I was lucky to find a suitable rental so close to my office.”
Boring. Something about this reunion made her gauche and awkward. She felt as if this moment was some kind of test, and she was failing miserably.
She wanted to roll back the clock, fling her arms around Vaughn and kiss him until he was dizzy with wanting. What followed next would be good for both of them. For the moment, at least.
But that wasn’t going to happen.
Swallowing her disappointment that Vaughn seemed far more calm about this shared meal than she was, she managed a smile. “Dinner’s almost ready. Would you like to open the wine?”
“Of course. If you’ll point me to the corkscrew and crystal, I’ll do the honors.”
Brie set Danika in a quiet corner of the kitchen and gave her a wooden spoon and a plastic mixing bowl. It was a combination guaranteed to keep the child happy for at least fifteen minutes.
Vaughn poured the merlot as promised and handed Brie a glass. “To surprises,” he said, his expression enigmatic.
Her throat was tight, but she managed to swallow. “To surprises.” She paused. “I don’t mean to disrupt your life. I hope you know that. And hopefully, this won’t create too many complications for you. It might be awkward if you lived here, but you don’t.”
She studied him while he sipped his wine, his gaze downcast as if he were studying the shine on his expensive Italian leather dress shoes. His dark slacks and pristine white shirt were topped with a tweedy sport coat that matched his thick brown hair.
And that square jaw. Oh, lordy. She remembered pressing kisses across Vaughn’s face and along that gorgeous chin.
At the moment, he leaned casually against the cabinet, his long legs crossed at the ankle. He swirled his wine and studied the resultant pattern as if it held answers she couldn’t give him.
Finally, he looked up. “I don’t live here, that’s true. But Royal is my home. And Danika is my child. I have some opinions on the matter, as it happens.”
Brie stiffened. She heard the veiled threat clearly. Now that she had involved Vaughn, he wasn’t going to quietly disappear. Questions hovered on her lips, but she restrained herself. It was almost impossible to win a battle of wits with Vaughn. With the full day she’d put in, she was physically tired—and all the fretting she’d done over this dinner had her emotionally exhausted. Needless to say, she was not at her best, not to mention the fact that she had a meal to get on the table.
“I’m sure you do,” she muttered. “But Nika will start fussing if I don’t feed her soon. When she’s ready to eat, she’s ready.”
He nodded slowly. “Very well. My opinions will keep for the moment. What can I do to help?”
She shot him a startled glance. The Vaughn Blackwood she remembered rarely frequented the kitchen. He was the least domesticated man she knew.
Her skepticism must have been visible. His wry smile took him from handsome to heartbreaking. “Do I seem so incompetent to you, Brie?”
She weighed her words. “Not incompetent. More like uninterested. And that’s fine,” she said quickly. “I don’t need any help with the meal. Just keep an eye on the baby, please.”
She worked quickly. The small house didn’t have a formal dining room. But the kitchen was fairly large and accommodated the slightly scarred oak table the landlord provided per the “mostly furnished” portion of her lease. Brie set out neutral place mats and the brightly colored Fiestaware that had been her grandmother’s.
Soon, everything was on the table, including a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing and the yeast rolls she had purchased at a local bakery on her lunch break. She scooped up the baby, washed Nika’s hands and popped her in her high chair.
Vaughn watched the entire exercise in silence, waiting to seat Brie. His innate courtesy brought him far too close. His warm breath brushed her cheek. “Are you comfortable?” he asked, scooting the chair an additional inch.
Brie squirmed inwardly. Was he joking? The last thing she wanted to do was eat dinner right now. He was too handsome, too tempting. Too everything...
Six
Vaughn wasn’t comfortable, not in the least. He’d been half-hard since he walked in the front door and saw his ex-lover. He had vivid memories of making love to Brie, her beautiful body naked, wearing nothing but that single-pearl necklace.
Was the jewelry choice intentional? Was Brie trying to spark a reunion? It seemed unlikely. Despite that, she looked so damned sexy and seductive tonight, he could barely remember why they had argued and split up. Until his gaze landed on the toddler happily shoving mashed carrots and potatoes into her mouth.
Brie hadn’t been kidding about the kid’s appetite.
He hadn’t thought he was hungry, but the aroma of roast beef and all the trimmings made his stomach growl. “I didn’t know you were such a good cook,” he said. Now that he thought about it, the two of them had never done anything so ordinary as enjoying dinner and a movie at home. When their affair was at its peak, he had wined and dined her at the finest restaurants around when he wasn’t making love to her under the inky Texas night sky.
Then it was over.
Brie’s smile seemed genuine. “Thanks. This is an easy meal. I try to feed her healthy stuff, but I’ll admit I sometimes resort to chicken nuggets on days when I have to work late.”
“You shouldn’t have to work at all,” he said. “She’s my child. I can pay for her support entirely.”
Now his dinner companion bristled visibly. “I like my job. Not more than my child, obviously. And I’ll admit, it would be a luxury to stay at home with her. But being a vet is what I’ve trained for, what I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid. Moms can be moms and do other things, too. This is the twenty-first century, Vaughn. Try to keep up.”
Her snappish response amused rather than insulted him. “I’m as evolved as the next man. But even you have to admit that money makes life easier.”
Both of her eyebrows went up at the same moment. “Even me? What does that mean?”
He shrugged. “When we were dating, you didn’t like me showering you with gifts. You said it made you feel weird. Like I was paying for your affections.”
“I had a chip on my shoulder about your money. It’s true.” Her cheeks took on a rosy hue, making her look younger and more vulnerable. “I was a ranch hand on your father’s property. Literally no one thought we were a good match. And they were right.”
“Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. But we were talking about money. Regardless of what relationship I have with my daughter, my moral obligation is to support her financially. I certainly have the means. There’s no reason the two of you should ever want for anything.”
Brie’s gaze narrowed. “You’re forgetting how well I know you, Vaughn Blackwood. In that scenario, you’d be expecting me to do things your way as soon as I cashed the first check. You can set up a college fund for her. And we can talk about things like insurance. But Danika and I are
fine.”
“The offer stands,” he said calmly. “Child support aside, there’s a bigger angle to consider.”
“Oh?”
“I want Nika to have every opportunity to receive what’s due her when it comes to my father’s holdings. I’ve said loudly that I don’t care about my father’s money, and that’s true. Danika changes everything, though. Kellan and Sophie have already started a legal process to challenge the will. I wasn’t planning to join them, but I won’t disqualify myself if it means possibly securing Danika’s future. Her university studies, a wedding one day. She’s a Blackwood. She deserves to inherit a portion of her grandfather’s estate.”
Brie set her fork on her plate and stared at him. “I’ve never really thought of her as Buck’s grandchild. That’s odd, isn’t it? I think of her as my baby and your daughter. It’s been just the two of us, me and my little one. Until Sophie showed up yesterday, I honestly hadn’t realized that your siblings might care about her, too.”
“Sophie came here?”
“Yes. She wants Danika to be a flower girl in the wedding. I told her it was your call. Sophie said even if you don’t want to claim Nika just yet—or ever—she could simply say to anyone who asks that she and I are friends, and that I agreed to let Danika play a part in the festivities.”
Vaughn frowned. Did his own sister think he would be such a moral coward as to hide the fact that he was Danika’s father? “The child is mine. I’ll do my duty by her, regardless. I won’t let anyone say I’ve shirked my duty.”
Brie wrinkled her nose. “Lovely.”
“I’m sensing sarcasm.”
“What do you expect?” Stormy blue eyes judged him and found him wanting. “The only reason I decided to tell you about Nika is that she may seek you out one day. Emotionally, if for no other reason. Little girls need their daddies. If nothing else, they should know who their daddies are.”
“I thought you had plans to get married.” It was a cheap shot under the circumstances, but he was in the midst of a battle.
Brie blinked and speared a carrot. She looked at it blankly as if she had forgotten they were all having dinner. “I do. I want to. But I can’t guarantee I’ll find someone.”
Vaughn disagreed. Even if Brie and Danika were a package deal, it was a foregone conclusion that any number of men would want to wrangle a spot in Brie Gunderson’s bed. Vaughn certainly had at one time. He’d been obsessed with her.
Echoes of that maddening physical insanity swirled in his gut. It had been sexual attraction back then, nothing more. And though the pheromones might still be the same, he and Brie were different people now.
The adults finished their dinner mostly in silence. Nika babbled constantly. Even Vaughn was beginning to pick out words and phrases. And while he was hardly an expert on toddlers, he thought her vocabulary was wider than he would have expected. She really was smart...he could already tell. Pride swelled in his chest. Totally ridiculous, of course. Even so, he was damn proud that he had fathered such a delightful child.
Without warning, the baby chortled and flung her arms wide, hitting Vaughn square in the chest with a blob of mushy carrots. For a split second, nothing happened. Danika’s eyes opened wide, as if she realized she had broken some unspoken rule.
Brielle, on the other hand, burst out laughing. She laughed so hard her face turned red, and her cheeks were wet.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped, trying to compose herself and failing miserably. “If you could see the look on your face...”
Vaughn stood and grabbed a paper towel, wetting it and dabbing the front of his shirt. “I’m glad you find me so entertaining,” he muttered.
When he began unbuttoning his shirt, every trace of amusement fled from Brie’s face. “What are you doing?” she asked. The last word came out as more of a gasp.
He unfastened his cuffs one at a time. “I thought it was obvious. I’m taking off my shirt so you can help me get the stain out. This one is brand-new, damn it. And it’s one of my favorites.”
Brie stood suddenly, almost knocking over her chair. “No, no, no,” she sputtered. “Stop that.” She shoved his hands away and tried to pull the sides of the shirt together. “It can’t be your favorite, surely. It’s nothing but a white shirt. I’ll buy you another.”
He’d been about to tug the tail of the shirt from his pants, but now he stopped. When Brie’s fingers touched his skin, he froze as his erection came to life again. He swallowed. “Does my bare chest bother you that much, Brie?”
She was so close to him he could smell the tantalizing scent of her light perfume. Something with roses and magic and other things designed to make a man go mad with lust.
Her bottom lip trembled visibly. “Of course not,” she said unconvincingly. “But I can’t have a half-naked man wandering around my house.”
“Why not?” He moved slowly, waiting to see if she would protest. But her gaze locked on his, and she leaned forward the slightest bit. He tugged her a few feet away, out of Nika’s line of vision, and kissed Brie’s chin, moved below her ear for another kiss. Then one cheek and the other.
Brie stood like a deer in the forest hoping a hunter won’t notice its presence. Her chest was rising and falling so rapidly she might be in danger of hyperventilating. One of her hands gave up the battle to realign the sides of his shirt and instead flattened against the center of his rib cage.
“There’s a baby here,” she said. “I don’t want her to see you like this.” She stroked his collarbone slowly, clearly unaware that she was driving him crazy.
“Are you worried about Nika or you, Brie?”
Her mouth opened and shut. “You know the answer to that,” she said wryly. “Kiss me, Vaughn.”
He settled his lips over hers, groaning inwardly. God, she was sweet. His tongue stroked hers coaxingly, feeling and hearing the little catch in her breath.
Suddenly, the calendar rolled backward, dragging them toward a time when nothing had mattered but the physical pleasure they could find together. Brie was warm and soft in his arms. He shuddered hard, as if hit by an electric shock. The kiss went from sweet to carnal in a white-hot flash of heat.
Brie kissed him back. Unmistakably. Her arms linked around his neck. Her teeth nipped his bottom lip, then suckled it.
His knees threatened to buckle. He reached for the button on her jeans, intent on only one thing. He had to have her.
When his fingers brushed the downy skin of her belly, Brie screeched and jumped back, nearly falling. She covered her cheeks with her hands, her expression aghast. “Are you mad?” she whispered. “The baby.”
Danika, in her total innocence, had no idea that the adults were contemplating doing naughty things on the kitchen table. Or at least one of the adults was. Vaughn’s heart galloped like a Derby winner. “I forgot,” he said. Then he winced when he heard the words aloud. What kind of parent forgot his own kid?
Brie backed away another few inches, her gaze not meeting his. “I have to bathe her and get her ready for bed. Make yourself comfortable in the living room. We can...talk when she’s asleep. And please button your damn shirt.”
The tiny pause before the word talk gave him hope. Was Brie thinking the same things he was thinking? “I can help bathe her,” he said, wanting to hurry things along.
Brie shook her head. “No. She’s slippery and small. You’re not used to it...”
“How can I ever learn if I don’t practice? I was pretty good at holding on to a football when I quarterbacked in college.”
A wry smile twisted Brie’s lips. “If you’re comparing our little toddler to a piece of sporting equipment, I have a feeling you’re not ready for the nighttime routine.”
He winced. “Bad choice of words.” Perhaps he needed to back off and give Brie some breathing room. That little moment between them had clearly rattled her. It sure as hell had rattled
him.
He held up his hands. “Fine. But do I at least have permission to load the dishwasher?”
She looked uneasy. “I suppose so. But it’s not necessary.”
“I think I can handle it.”
Brie scooped up her daughter, brushed what looked like a pound of crumbs into the high chair and stripped the baby down to her diaper. Danika laughed and pulled her mother’s hair.
Again, Brie gazed at Vaughn with hesitation. “Go,” he said. “I’ve got this.”
Moments later, he heard water running in the hall bathroom. The house was small. Sounds carried. The conversation between mother and daughter was strangely sweet. Completely ordinary, but tender and heartwarming.
As he went about his task on autopilot, he couldn’t help thinking about all the nights like this he had missed. Anger stirred again, mixed with searing regret. No one was to blame for what had happened. That didn’t make it any less painful.
Would anything have changed if he had known Brie was pregnant? It was a difficult question to answer. Two years ago he had spent a great deal of time pushing her away, making it clear that he wasn’t interested in a serious or lasting relationship. He had told himself he was being honest. A straight shooter.
The truth wasn’t so clear-cut. When Brie broke up with him and disappeared, he had been forced to face up to his own duplicity. Why had he let her go? And worse, why had he really gotten involved with her? Had he gone out with her initially to get in his father’s face? To make the old man angry? One of the Blackwood heirs consorting with a ranch hand?
The fact that Vaughn couldn’t say a definitive no made him ashamed. With most of the kitchen tidy, he made his way down the hall and leaned against the door frame of the bathroom. Brie was on her knees beside the tub trying to shampoo the baby’s hair.
Danika was having none of it. She wriggled and squirmed and then howled when she got soap in her eyes. Brie shot him a glance over her shoulder. “Hand me that towel, will you?”
He reached for the white terry cloth with the yellow duck-face hood. “Is it always like this?”
Too Texan To Tame (Texas Cattleman's Club: Inheritance Book 5) Page 5
