The Bachelor's Baby Dilemma (Family Renewal)

by Sheri WhiteFeather

  A message that continued to hold true.

  Now he realized why he’d felt as if he was going through a divorce during their argument yesterday. In a sense, he was already married to her—in his heart, without his even knowing it. Yet all along, he’d been worried and jealous about losing her to someone else.

  Candy Sorensen. The girl from his youth. The woman who longed to be a wife and mother. He wasn’t going to let her go, not this time. He needed to make it official, to become her dream guy and the father of her children.

  But what if it was too late? What if she rejected him? What it he’d blown it already? He didn’t like the sound of that, the feel of it, the possibility that he could lose her.

  He prayed that it didn’t happen.

  He poured his coffee, then decided not to drink it. He was already wired enough. Besides, today was Candy’s day off, leaving him with the responsibility of looking after Ivy.

  When the baby’s little voice played on the portable receiver he’d brought into the kitchen, he headed for the nursery to check on her. She didn’t sound happy.

  He noticed that her pajamas were soiled. There was even a bit of mess on the sheet.

  While he was cleaning her up, she arched and kicked, whining her displeasure. He could tell that she was tired and wanted to go back to sleep.

  “Okay,” he told her. “But first I have to change your sheet.”

  He placed Ivy in her cradle while he got her crib ready. Once the task was complete, he put her back to bed, his mind cluttered with thoughts of Candy.

  After he left the nursery, he carried the soiled sheet and her pajamas into the laundry room and tossed the smelly diaper in the garbage outside. He washed his hands in the bathroom.

  From there, he returned to the kitchen and came face-to-face with Candy, their gazes meeting across the room.

  She was wrapped in her robe and getting ready to make breakfast. He noticed she was going to fix something for him, too, since she’d placed a package of ham on the counter, along with her veggie stuff.

  Was that a good sign? God, he hoped so.

  He tried to think of an appropriate greeting like “Hello” or “Did you sleep okay?” But he’d never been this tongue-tied before. It wasn’t every day that a guy expressed what was in his heart.

  She reacted to him just as awkwardly, removing a pan from the cabinet without speaking.

  Should he talk to her now, before the meal got under way? Or wait until after they ate? He didn’t know how to start the basic dialogue, let alone a marriage proposal. He wanted the sentences to flow, to make it as romantic as he could, but to keep it grounded in reality, too.

  While he was debating his choices, a beeping sound emerged from the receiver that was still in the kitchen, signaling a dangerous alert on the baby monitor.

  Candy spun around, and they dashed out of the room together. Tanner feared the worst. If Ivy wasn’t breathing...

  But his niece was fine. She hadn’t even dozed off yet. Her eyes were open, and she was scrunching up her face, getting ready to cry from the invasion.

  He scooped her into his arms and shushed her, a flood of adrenaline still pulsing thought his veins.

  Then finally he sat in the rocker with the baby and clutched her desperately close. Silent, he gazed at Candy. She, too, seemed as if she was trying to recover and remain calm.

  * * *

  As soon as Candy was able to relax and to stop her legs from wobbling, she checked the crib, trying to figure out why the alarm had malfunctioned.

  She quickly located the problem. “The movement setting was on, but the sensor pad wasn’t plugged in.”

  “Oh, cripes.” Tanner made a terrible face. “That was my fault. I was so distracted this morning I must have jarred it loose while I was changing her sheet.”

  She heaved a laden breath. “Thank God it was a false alarm.”

  He shook his head. “I’m such an idiot. How could I have done that?”

  “It’s okay, Tanner.”

  “No, it isn’t. I should have never been that careless.” He stood up and put the baby back in her crib.

  Minutes passed with both of them staring at Ivy.

  Then he stepped away from his niece and said, “There’s something I need to tell you and it can’t wait any longer.”

  “About what?”

  He gently replied, “About Meagan being right. I do love you, Candy.”

  Stunned, she merely stared at him, her throat catching. “You just had an awful scare. You’re reacting out of fear. Saying things you don’t mean.”

  “I do mean it, and I’ve been up all night, thinking about what love means and how it’s been affecting me.” He motioned for them to leave the room and let Ivy sleep. The baby was closing her eyes.

  Candy followed him into the hallway, and they went into the living room. She sat on the sofa and tried to keep herself steady. “How can you love me in one day? Or decide overnight that it must be love?” That was too quick, too confusing.

  “It hasn’t been one day or one night, not technically. I just spent all kinds of time getting close to you, before Ivy was born and after she arrived. You’ve been there almost every second, helping me through it. You became my best friend, and then you became my lover. Isn’t that what love is supposed to be?”

  He made it sound so simple, so logical. But she couldn’t accept what he was saying, not that easily. “What if you feel differently later?”

  “I won’t. If anything, I’ll just fall deeper into you. Please, give me a chance.”

  He seemed so sincere, so honest, but she was still leery, her past rising up to haunt her. “The way I gave Vince a chance?”

  “I’m not Vince. And when did he ever say that he loved you?”

  “He didn’t. But I gave my heart and soul to him, and in the end, he tore me apart. If I let down my guard, and you change your mind, I’ll fall apart again.”

  “Now who’s reacting out of fear?”

  “I am.” She clutched at her robe. “But it wasn’t just Vince who hurt me. You hurt me when we were kids, too. You broke up with me. You left me. I can’t take something like that again.”

  “But I won’t leave you, not this time.” He leaned against the fireplace mantel, with his thumbs hooked into his jeans pockets, looking like the teenager he’d once been. “I called my brother this morning because I needed to talk to someone, and he warned me that I could lose you if I messed this up. I can’t live without you, Candy. I needed you from the start, and I need you now. Not just as my friend and lover, or as Ivy’s nanny. But as my future wife.”

  His wife? Her heart pounded, torn between hope and fear. “You want to get married? You? The devout bachelor?”

  His gaze searched hers. “After everything we’ve been through, is it so hard to picture us being married?”

  Her pulse all but jittered. She couldn’t begin to count the times she’d pictured them that way. “You do have husband qualities. I kept seeing them in you. But it still worries me that when push comes to shove, you might panic about being someone’s husband.”

  “I don’t want to be someone’s husband. I want to be yours. And if I’m going to panic, it’s going to be over losing you, not keeping you.”

  She wanted nothing more than to be his wife, but she hadn’t been prepared for a marriage proposal, not from a man who might be making a decision he could regret later.

  “I need some time alone to think about all of this.” She pushed herself off the couch. “I’m going to go outside and get some fresh air.”

  “I’ll be waiting, okay?”

  Waiting for her to accept that he actually loved her? To agree to be his future bride? To live a dream she’d never seen coming?

  Candy went onto the front porch and sat on the ste
ps. She could have gone into the backyard, where the garden was, but there were too many flowers out there. She didn’t want their messages to cloud her mind. She was confused enough as it was.

  While she was fighting the confusion, she glanced up and saw her mom’s car pulling up to the front of the house. Oh, no. With everything else that had been going on, she forgot that she’d invited her mom to visit today.

  That was the last person she wanted to see. But she couldn’t do anything about it now.

  Mom exited the car, carrying a sparkling gift bag decorated with a white bow—obviously the present she’d gotten for Ivy.

  “I didn’t remember that you were coming over,” Candy said, feeling much too overwhelmed.

  “Is that any way to greet a guest?” The older woman scowled at her. “And what are you doing sitting on the porch like a vagabond?”

  Candy blurted out the truth. “Tanner says he loves me and wants to marry me.”

  “Oh, my.” Mom dropped down beside her. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

  She’d never confided in her mother, but today, she did. She went through every word, every emotion, everything that had transpired between her and Tanner.

  Then her mom said, “I don’t think it’s odd that he loves you. It seems right up his alley to me. He agreed to help raise his sister’s child. That already makes him a family man.”

  “Since when? The last opinion of him you expressed was that he had no business raising Ivy.”

  “I only said that because I was annoyed that you were hanging around with him again. I always believed that Tanner was the settle-down type. Now, Vince, he wasn’t anything of the sort. You were always much more suited to Tanner.”

  Candy gaped at her. “I can’t believe you just said that. You never even liked Tanner.”

  “I didn’t like him because I was worried that someday you’d end up marrying him and having a passel of kids, and it would end your career. Tanner had a wild streak, but he still struck me as a boy who would want a wife. He withdrew after his sister died, but if she hadn’t passed away and if his parents hadn’t had such an ugly divorce, I think you two would have remained together and eventually gotten married.”

  Tears flooded Candy’s eyes. “And now you think I should be with him?”

  “It’s what you want, isn’t it? Besides, your modeling career has been over a long time.”

  “I hated modeling. And those stupid pageants.”

  “They weren’t stupid to me. I loved seeing my daughter so poised and beautiful. And you were good at it. You worked hard to win.”

  “I did that for you.”

  “And it felt wonderful, seeing you succeed. I wanted you to be an independent woman with an uptown lifestyle. That’s why I was happy when you got together with Vince. I knew that was the type of woman he wanted. A mistress, not a wife.”

  “Why did you want that me for, Mom?”

  “Because that’s the sort of life I’d envisioned for myself. But I wasn’t beautiful or glamorous. I didn’t fit that mold. So I married a handsome man and had a gorgeous daughter instead.”

  Candy had to ask, “Did you love my father?”

  Her mother frowned. “What kind of question is that?”

  “An honest one. I mean, come on, why don’t you ever talk about him?”

  “Because it hurts. But if you must know the truth, I adored that man. I loved him beyond belief, and I was certain that someday he would become a famous actor. That’s what he wanted, too. He devoted himself to his craft, trying to make it. But he died before he got the chance.”

  Candy couldn’t have been more surprised. “My dad was an aspiring actor?”

  “That’s why he came to California to begin with. Then he met me and we got together and had you. But he never gave up on his dream.”

  “So after he died, you pinned your hopes on me?”

  Her mom nodded. “I figured that somewhere inside you, you would have your daddy’s ambition to be famous. So I put you in pageants, trying to bring out the competitor in you.”

  “Yet all I ever really wanted was to be a wife and mother.”

  “And now you have your chance.”

  “Yes, I do.” Her eyes misted, her heart dancing on her sleeve. “To marry Tanner. To have his babies.”

  “Maybe one of your children will be in the arts,” Mom said in her busybody voice. “Then I can guide its career.”

  Candy couldn’t help but smile. “If one of them expresses an interest in Hollywood, I’ll be sure to let you know. Speaking of children...” She gestured to the gift. “What did you get Ivy?”

  “It’s a dress.” Mom removed it from the bag. The over-the-top garment was pink and puffy, decorated with ribbons and bows and lined with a ruffled petticoat. “As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to get it. It reminded me of the dress you wore when you were crowned Little Miss Princess.”

  Candy remembered that pageant well. It was her first win. Her first sash and tiara. She touched the fabric and said, “It’s perfect for Ivy. Tanner calls her his princess.”

  “Really? Your dad used to call you that, too. He would have been proud seeing you win those pageants.”

  Candy got teary again. “Then I’ll try to think of my beauty-queen days in a nicer way.” She wiped her eyes. “Do you want to come in and meet Ivy?”

  “I think I should do that another time. It would be better for you and Tanner to be alone right now. No doubt he’s going crazy, waiting to see if you’re going to accept his proposal.”

  They both stood up, and Candy put the dress back in the bag. “Thank you for coming by and for bringing Ivy’s present. Your timing was perfect.”

  For once, her mother had made everything all right.

  * * *

  When the front door opened, Tanner jumped to attention, much too anxious to see Candy. As soon as she entered the house, he could tell that the news was good. He saw it in her eyes.

  “I want to marry you,” she said, falling into his arms.

  He held her, burying his face in her hair. He had no idea why she was holding a fancy gift bag, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was that she was going to marry him. He loved her, and she loved him.

  She stepped back and told him about her mom and how she’d forgotten that she was coming by. She showed him the Little Miss Princess dress, too. He thought it was incredibly cool for her mother to buy such a sentimental gift for Ivy. He was also blown away that she’d encouraged Candy to be with him. That he was the man of choice. The man for her daughter. He and Candy were going to live happily-ever-after, with a few realistic bumps along the way.

  “What are we going to do about Meagan?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Now that we’re a couple, she’s going to press us even harder about adopting Ivy.”

  She met his gaze. “Would you want to adopt Ivy?”

  He nodded. He would take his niece in a heartbeat if it was meant to be, but he didn’t believe that it was. “I would love to be her father and for you to be her mother. But I don’t think it’s in Meagan’s best interest.”

  “I agree. Your sister needs time to heal. She also needs to gain the confidence to become Ivy’s mother. She shouldn’t make any crucial decisions about Ivy’s fate while she’s in prison.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll tell her. That we’ll always be here for her and Ivy. But no more talk of adoption, not for now. Later, if Meagan still feels that way, then we’ll discuss it.”

  She asked, “Do you think that’s going to be difficult for us? Wondering if Ivy is going to be our child someday?”

  “We won’t let it be difficult. We’ll love Ivy the same whether she’s our daughter or our niece.”

  Candy smiled. “I just graduated from being her na
nny to her aunt.”

  “Yes, you did.” He kissed her soft and slow, captivated by the feeling of being with her. “I want to dance with you.”

  He downloaded an old Backstreet Boys ballad from their youth and played it so she could hear the music, too.

  She smiled. “This was one of my favorite songs.”

  “I know. I remember.” He swept her into a rocking motion, and they danced and swayed, immersed in each other.

  * * * * *

  If you loved THE BACHELOR’S BABY DILEMMA,

  don’t miss the other books in the

  FAMILY RENEWAL series from

  Sheri WhiteFeather

  LOST AND FOUND FATHER

  LOST AND FOUND HUSBAND

  And Kade Quinn’s story...coming soon.

  Available from Harlequin Special Edition!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from FROM CITY GIRL TO RANCHER’S WIFE by Ami Weaver

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Special Edition story.

  You know that romance is for life. Harlequin Special Edition stories show that every chapter in a relationship has its challenges and delights and that love can be renewed with each turn of the page.

  Enjoy six new stories from Harlequin Special Edition every month!

  Visit Harlequin.com to find your next great read.

  Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

  Other ways to keep in touch:

  Harlequin.com/newsletters

  Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

  Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

  HarlequinBlog.com

  Chapter One

  After six hours in a middle-of-nowhere airport, two turbulent flights and a bottom-of-the-barrel rental car, Josie Callahan almost wasn’t shocked when she ended up in the ditch on a dark, out-of-the-way Montana road. In what seemed to be a monsoon.

  She swallowed what felt dangerously close to hysterical laughter, because at this point, after how awful her day had been, what was the point of getting mad?