by Cat Schield
“Hadley Stratton. Candace Tolliver, my housekeeper.” Liam cast a fond grin at the older woman. “Who is very glad you’ve come so quickly.”
Candace had the worn look of a first-time mother with a fussy baby. Even before the introductions were completed, she extended the baby toward Hadley. “I’ve fed her and changed her. She won’t stop crying.”
“What is her normal routine?” Hadley rocked and studied the tiny infant, wondering what had become of the child’s mother. Smaller than the average newborn by a few pounds. Was that due to her mother’s unhealthy nutritional habits while pregnant or something more serious?
“We don’t know.” Candace glanced toward Liam. “She only just arrived. Excuse me.” She exited the room as if there were something burning in the kitchen.
“These are her medical records.” Liam gestured toward a file on the coffee table. “Although she was premature, she checked out fine.”
“How premature?” She slipped her pinkie between the infant’s lips, hoping the little girl would try sucking and calm down. “Does she have a pacifier?”
Liam spoke up. “No.”
Hadley glanced at him. He’d set one hand on his hip. The other was buried in his thick hair. He needed a haircut, she noted absently before sweeping her gaze around the room in search of the normal clutter that came with a child. Other than a car seat and a plastic bag from the local drugstore, the elegant but comfortable room looked like it belonged in a decorating magazine. Pale gray walls, woodwork painted a clean white. The furniture had accents of dusty blue, lime green and cranberry, relieving the monochrome palette.
“Where are her things?”
“Things?” The rugged horseman looked completely lost.
“Diapers, a blanket, clothes? Are they in her room?”
“She doesn’t have a room.”
“Then where does she sleep?”
“We have yet to figure that out.”
Hadley marshaled her patience. Obviously there was a story here. “Perhaps you could tell me what’s going on? Starting with where her mother is.”
“She died a few days ago in a traffic accident.”
“Oh, I’m sorry for your loss.” Hadley’s heart clenched as she gazed down at the infant who had grown calmer as she sucked on Hadley’s finger. “The poor child never to know her mother.”
Liam cleared his throat. “Actually, I didn’t know her.”
“You had to have...” Hadley trailed off. Chances were Liam Wade just didn’t remember which one-night stand had produced his daughter. “What’s your name, sweetheart?” she crooned, glad to see the infant’s eyes closing.
“Maggie. Her mother was Margaret.”
“Hello, little Maggie.”
Humming a random tune, Hadley rocked Maggie. The combination of soothing noise and swaying motion put the baby to sleep, and Hadley placed her in the car seat.
“You are incredibly good at that.”
Hadley looked up from tucking in the baby and found Liam Wade standing too close and peering over her shoulder at Maggie. The man smelled like pure temptation. If pure temptation smelled like soap and mouthwash. He wore jeans and a beige henley beneath his brown-and-cream plaid shirt. His boots were scuffed and well worn. He might be worth a pile of money, but he’d never acted as though it made him better than anyone else. He’d fit in at the horse shows he’d attended, ambling around with the rest of the guys, showing off his reining skills by snagging the flirts who stalked him and talking horses with men who’d been in the business longer than he’d been alive. His cockiness came from what he achieved on the back of a horse.
“This is the first time she’s been quiet since she got here.” His strained expression melted into a smile of devastating charm. “You’ve worked a miracle.”
“Obviously not. She was just stressed. I suspect your tension communicated itself to her. How long has she been here?”
“Since about seven.” Liam gestured her toward the black leather couch, but Hadley positioned herself in a black-and-white armchair not far from the sleeping child. “Her grandmother dropped her off and left.”
“And you weren’t expecting her?”
Liam shook his head and began to pace. “Perhaps I should start at the beginning.”
“That might be best.”
Before he could begin, his housekeeper arrived with a pot of coffee and two cups. After pouring for both, she glanced at the now-sleeping child, gave Hadley a thumbs-up and exited the room once more. Liam added sugar to his coffee and resumed his march around the room, mug in hand.
“Here’s what I know. A woman arrived this morning with Maggie, said her name was Diane Garner and that her daughter had died after being in a car accident. Apparently she went into labor and lost control of the vehicle.”
Hadley glanced at the sleeping baby and again sorrow overtook her. “That’s just tragic. So where is her grandmother now?”
“On her way back to Houston, I’m sure.”
“She left you with the baby?”
“I got the impression she couldn’t handle the child or didn’t want the responsibility.”
“I imagine she thought the child was better off with her father.”
“Maggie isn’t mine.” Liam’s firm tone and resolute expression encouraged no rebuttal. “She’s my brother’s child.”
At first Hadley didn’t know how to respond. Why would he have taken the child in if she wasn’t his?
“I see. So I’ll be working for your brother?” She knew little of the second Wade brother. Unlike Liam, he hadn’t been active in reining or showing quarter horses.
“No, you’ll be working for me. Kyle is in the military and lives on the East Coast.”
“He’s giving you guardianship of the child?”
Liam stared out the large picture window that overlooked the front lawn. “He’s unreachable at the moment so I haven’t been able to talk to him about what’s going on. I’m not even sure Maggie is his.”
This whole thing sounded too convoluted for Hadley’s comfort. Was Liam Maggie’s father and blaming his absent brother because he couldn’t face the consequences of his actions? He wouldn’t be the first man who struggled against facing up to his responsibilities. Her opinion of Liam Wade the professional horseman had always been high. But he was a charming scoundrel who was capable of seducing a woman without ever catching her name or collecting her phone number.
“I’m not sure I’m the right nanny for you,” she began, her protest trailing off as Liam whirled from the window and advanced toward her.
“You are exactly what Maggie needs. Look at how peaceful she is. Candace spent two hours trying to calm her down, and you weren’t here more than ten minutes and she fell asleep. Please stay. She lost her mother and obviously has taken to you.”
“What you need is someone who can be with Maggie full-time. The clients I work with only need daytime help.”
“The agency said you go to school.”
“I’m finishing up my master’s in child development.”
“But you’re off until the beginning of February when classes resume.”
“Yes.” She felt a trap closing in around her.
“That’s four weeks away. I imagine we can get our situation sorted out by then, so we’d only need you during the day while I’m at the barn.”
“And until then?”
“Would you be willing to move in here? We have more than enough room.”
Hadley shook her head. She’d feel safer sleeping in her own bed. The thought popped into her mind unbidden. What made her think that she was in danger from Liam Wade? From what she knew of him, she was hardly his type.
“I won’t move in, but I’ll come early and stay late to give you as much time as you need during the month of
January. In the meantime, you may want to consider hiring someone permanent.”
Despite what Liam had said about Maggie being his brother’s child, Hadley suspected the baby wasn’t going anywhere once the DNA tests came back. With the child’s mother dead and her grandmother unwilling to be responsible for her, Liam should just accept that he was going to need a full-time caregiver.
“That’s fair.”
Liam put out his hand, and Hadley automatically accepted the handshake. Tingles sped up her arm and raised the hair on the back of her neck as his firm grip lingered a few seconds longer than was professionally acceptable.
“Perhaps we could talk about the things that Maggie will need,” Hadley said, hoping Liam didn’t notice the odd squeak in her voice.
“Candace started a list. She said she’d get what we needed as soon as you arrived.” His lips curved in a wry grin. “She didn’t want to leave me alone with the baby.”
“Why not?”
“It might seem strange to you, but I’ve never actually held a baby before.”
Hadley tore her gaze away from the likable sparkle in Liam’s arresting eyes. She absolutely could not find the man attractive. Hadley clasped her hands in her lap.
“Once you’ve held her for the first time, you’ll see how easy it is.” Seeing how deeply the baby was sleeping, Hadley decided this might be a great opportunity for him to begin. “And there’s no time like the present.”
Liam started to protest, but whatever he’d been about to say died beneath her steady gaze. “Very well.” His jaw muscles bunched and released. “What do I do?”
Two
Going balls-out on a twelve-hundred-pound horse to chase down a fleeing cow required steady hands and a calm mind in the midst of a massive adrenaline rush. As a world-class trainer and exhibitor of reining and cutting horses, Liam prided himself on being the eye of the storm. But today, he was the rookie at his first rodeo and Hadley the seasoned competitor.
“It’s important that you support her head.” Hadley picked up the sleeping baby, demonstrating as she narrated. “Some babies don’t like to be held on their backs, so if she gets fussy you could try holding her on her stomach or on her side.”
Hadley came toward him and held out Maggie. He was assailed by the dual fragrances of the two females, baby powder and lavender. The scents filled his lungs and slowed his heartbeat. Feeling moderately calmer, Liam stood very still while Hadley settled Maggie into his arms.
“There.” She peered at the sleeping child for a moment before lifting her eyes to meet Liam’s gaze. Flecks of gold floated in her lapis-blue eyes, mesmerizing him with their sparkle. “See, that wasn’t hard.”
“You smell like lavender.” The words passed his lips without conscious thought.
“Lavender and chamomile.” She stepped back until her path was blocked by an end table. “It’s a calming fragrance.”
“It’s working.”
As he adjusted to the feel of Maggie’s tiny body in his arms, he cast surreptitious glances Hadley’s way. Did she remember him from her days of barrel racing? He hadn’t seen her in ten years and often looked for her at the events he attended, half expecting her name to pop up among the winners. At eighteen she’d been poised to break out as a star in the barrel-racing circuit. And then she’d sold her mare and disappeared. Much to the delight of many of her competitors, chief among them Liam’s on-again, off-again girlfriend.
“I almost didn’t recognize you this morning,” he said, shifting Maggie so he could free his right arm.
Hadley looked up at him warily. “You recognized me?”
How could she think otherwise? She’d been the one who’d gotten away. “Sure. You took my advice and won that sweepstakes class. You and I were supposed to have dinner afterward.” He could tell she remembered that, even though she was shaking her head. “Only I never saw you again.”
“I vaguely remember you trying to tell me what I was doing wrong.”
“You had a nice mare. Lolita Slide. When you put her up for sale I told Shannon Tinger to buy her. She went on to make over a hundred thousand riding barrels with her.”
“She was a terrific horse,” Hadley said with a polite smile. “I’m glad Shannon did so well with her.”
Liam remembered Hadley as a lanky girl in battered jeans and a worn cowboy hat, her blond hair streaming like a victory banner as her chestnut mare raced for the finish line. This tranquil woman before him, while lovely in gray dress pants and a black turtleneck sweater, pale hair pulled back in a neat ponytail, lacked the fire that had snagged his interest ten years earlier.
“We have a three-year-old son of Lolita’s out in the barn. You should come see him. I think he’s going to make a first-class reining horse.”
“I don’t think there will be time. Infants require a lot of attention.”
Her refusal surprised him. He’d expected her to jump at the chance to see what her former mount had produced. The Hadley he remembered had been crazy about horses.
“Why’d you quit?”
Hadley stared at the landscape painting over the fireplace while she answered Liam’s blunt question. “My parents wanted me to go to college, and there wasn’t money to do that and keep my horse. What I got for Lolita paid for my first year’s tuition.”
Liam considered her words. When was the last time he’d been faced with an either-or situation? Usually he got everything he wanted. Once in a while a deal didn’t go his way, but more often than not, that left him open for something better.
Maggie began to stir, and Liam refocused his attention on the baby. Her lips parted in a broad yawn that accompanied a fluttering of her long lashes.
“I think she’s waking up.” He took a step toward Hadley, baby extended.
“You did very well for your first time.”
Unsure if her tiny smile meant she was patronizing him, Liam decided he’d try harder to get comfortable with his niece. Strange as it was to admit it, he wanted Hadley’s approval.
“Would you like a tour of the house?” Liam gestured toward the hallway. “I’d like your opinion on where to put the baby’s room.”
“Sure.”
He led the way across the hall to the dining room. A long mahogany table, capable of seating twelve, sat on a black-and-gold Oriental rug. When he’d overhauled the house six years ago, bringing the plumbing and wiring up to code, this was the one room he’d left in its original state.
“It’s just me living here these days, and I haven’t entertained much in the last year.” The reason remained a sore spot, but Liam brushed it aside. “When my grandfather was alive, he loved to host dinner parties. Several members of Congress as well as a couple governors have eaten here.”
“When did you lose him?”
“A year and a half ago. He had a heart condition and died peacefully in his sleep.” Grandfather had been the only parent he and Kyle had ever known, and his death had shaken Liam. How the loss had hit Kyle, Liam didn’t know. Despite inheriting half the ranch when their grandfather died, his brother never came home and Liam dealt with him only once or twice a year on business matters.
“I remember your grandfather at the shows,” Hadley said. “He always seemed larger than life.”
Liam ushered her into the large modern kitchen. Her words lightened Liam’s mood somewhat. “He loved the horse business. His father had been a cattleman. Our herd of Black Angus descends from the 1880s rush to bring Angus from Scotland.”
“So you have both cattle and horses?”
“We have a Black Angus breeding program. Last year we sold two hundred two-year-olds.”
“Sounds like you’re doing very well.”
After a quick peek in the den, they finished their tour of the first floor and climbed the stairs.
“Busin
ess has been growing steadily.” So much so that Liam wasn’t able to do what he really loved: train horses.
“You don’t sound all that excited about your success.”
He’d thought the abrupt cessation of his personal life would provide more time to focus on the ranch, but he’d discovered the more he was around, the more his staff came to him with ideas for expanding.
“I didn’t realize how focused my grandfather had been on the horse side of the business until after his heart problems forced him into semiretirement. Apparently he’d been keeping things going out of respect for his father, but his heart wasn’t really in it.”
“And once he semiretired?”
“I hired someone who knew what he was doing and gave him a little capital. In three years he’d increased our profits by fifty percent.” Liam led Hadley on a tour of three different bedrooms. “This one is mine.”
“I think it would be best if Maggie is across the hall from you.” Hadley had chosen a cheerful room with large windows overlooking the backyard and soft green paint on the walls. “That way when she wakes up at night you’ll be close by.”
While Liam wasn’t worried about being up and down all night with the infant, he preferred not to be left alone in case something went wrong. “Are you sure I can’t convince you to live in?”
“You’ll do fine. I promise not to leave until I’m sure Maggie is well settled.”
That was something, Liam thought. “If you have things under control for the moment, I need to get back to the barn. I have several calls to make and an owner stopping by to look at his crop of yearlings.”
“Maggie and I will be fine.”
“Candace should be back with supplies soon, and hopefully we’ll have some baby furniture delivered later today. I’ll have a couple of the grooms empty this room so it can be readied for Maggie.”
Hadley nodded her approval. In her arms, the baby began to fuss. “I think it’s time for a change and a little something to eat.”
