by Cat Schield
“Here’s my cell and office numbers.” Liam handed her his business card. “Let me know if you need anything.”
“Thank you, I will.”
The short drive back to the barn gave Liam a couple minutes to get his equilibrium back. Kyle was a father. That was going to shock the hell out of his brother.
And Liam had received a shock of his own today in the form of Hadley Stratton. Was it crazy that she was the one who stuck out in his mind when he contemplated past regrets? Granted, they’d been kids. He’d been twenty. She’d barely graduated high school the first time she’d made an impression on him. And it had been her riding that had caught his attention. On horseback she’d been a dynamo. Out of the saddle, she’d been quiet and gawky in a way he found very appealing.
He’d often regretted never getting the chance to know anything about her beyond her love of horses, and now fate had put her back in his life. Second chances didn’t come often, and Liam intended to make the most of this one.
* * *
The grandfather clock in the entry hall chimed once as Hadley slipped through the front door into the cold night air. Shivering at the abrupt change in temperature, she trotted toward her SUV and slid behind the wheel. An enormous yawn cracked her jaw as she started the car and navigated the circular drive.
In order for Hadley to leave Liam in charge of Maggie, she’d had to fight her instincts. The baby was fussier than most, probably because she was premature, and only just went to sleep a little while ago. Although Liam had gained confidence as he’d taken his turn soothing the frazzled infant, Hadley had already grown too attached to the motherless baby and felt compelled to hover. But he needed to learn to cope by himself.
Weariness pulled at her as she turned the SUV on to the deserted highway and headed for Royal. Her last few assignments had involved school-age children, and she’d forgotten how exhausting a newborn could be. No doubt Liam would be weary beyond words by the time she returned at seven o’clock tomorrow morning.
This child, his daughter, was going to turn his world upside down. Already the house had a more lived-in feeling, less like a decorator’s showplace and more like a family home. She wondered how it had been when Liam and his brother were young. No doubt the old Victorian had quaked with the noisy jubilance of two active boys.
Twenty minutes after leaving the Wade house, Hadley let herself into her one-bedroom apartment. Waldo sat on the front entry rug, appearing as if he’d been patiently awaiting her arrival for hours when in fact, the cat had probably been snoozing on her bed seconds earlier. As she shut the front door, the big gray tabby stretched grandly before trotting ahead of her toward the kitchen and his half-empty food bowl. Once it was filled to his satisfaction, Waldo sat down and began cleaning his face.
The drive had revived her somewhat. Hadley fixed herself a cup of Sleepytime tea and sipped at it as she checked the contents of the bags a good friend of hers had dropped off this afternoon. After seeing what Candace had bought for the baby, Hadley had contacted Kori to purchase additional supplies. She would owe her friend lunch once Maggie was settled in. Kori had shown horses when she was young and would get a kick out of hearing that Liam Wade was Hadley’s new employer.
Hadley had a hard time falling asleep and barely felt as if she’d dozed for half an hour when her alarm went off at five. Usually she liked to work out in the morning and eat a healthy breakfast while watching morning news, but today she was anxious about how things had gone with Liam and Maggie.
Grabbing a granola bar and her to-go mug filled with coffee, Maggie retraced the drive she’d made a mere five hours earlier. The Victorian’s second-floor windows blazed with light, and Hadley gave a huge sigh before shifting the SUV into Park and shutting off the engine.
The wail of a very unhappy baby greeted Hadley as she let herself in the front door. From the harried expression on Liam’s face, the infant had been crying for some time.
“It doesn’t sound as if things are going too well,” she commented, striding into the room and holding out her arms for the baby. “Did you get any sleep?”
“A couple hours.”
Liam was still dressed for bed in a pair of pajama bottoms that clung to his narrow hips and a snug T-shirt that highlighted a torso sculpted by physical labor. Hadley was glad to have the fussy baby to concentrate on. Liam’s helplessness made him approachable, and that was dangerous. Even without his usual swagger, his raw masculinity was no less potent.
“Why don’t you go back to bed and see if you can get a little more sleep?”
The instant she made the suggestion, Hadley wished the words back. She never told an employer what to do. Or she hadn’t made that mistake since her first nanny job. She’d felt comfortable enough with Noah to step across the line that separated boss and friend. For a couple months that hadn’t been a problem, but then she’d been pulled in too deep and had her heart broken.
“It’s time I headed to the barn,” Liam said, his voice muffled by the large hands he rubbed over his face. “There are a dozen things I didn’t get to yesterday.”
His cheeks and jaw were softened by a day’s growth of beard, enhancing his sexy, just-got-out-of-bed look. Despite the distraction of a squirming, protesting child in her arms, Hadley registered a significant spike in her hormone levels. She wanted to run her palms over his broad shoulders and feel for herself the ripple of ab muscles that flexed as he scrubbed his fingers through his hair before settling his hands on his hips.
Light-headed, she sat down in the newly purchased rocking chair. Liam’s effect on her didn’t come as a surprise. She’d had plenty of giddy moments around him as a teenager. Once, after she’d had a particularly fantastic run, he’d even looked straight at her and smiled.
Hadley tightened her attention on Maggie and wrestled her foolishness into submission. Even if Liam was still that cocky boy every girl wanted to be with, she was no longer a susceptible innocent prone to bouts of hero worship. More important, he’d hired her to care for this baby, a child who was probably his daughter.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Liam squatted down by the rocker. He gripped the arm of the chair to steady himself, his fingers brushing Hadley’s elbow and sending ripples of sensation up her arm.
“You mean because she’s been crying so much?” Hadley shot a glance at him and felt her resolve melting beneath the concern he showered on the baby. “I think she’s just fussy. We haven’t figured out exactly what she likes yet. It might take swaddling her tight or a certain sound that calms her. I used to take care of a baby boy who liked to fall asleep listening to the dishwasher.”
“I know we talked about this yesterday,” Liam began, his gaze capturing hers. “But can you make an exception for a few weeks and move in here?”
“I can’t.” The thought filled her with a mixture of excitement and panic. “I have a cat—”
“There’s always plenty of mice in the barn.”
Hadley’s lips twitched as she imagined Waldo’s horror at being cut off from the comforts of her bed and his favorite sunny spot where he watched the birds. “He’s not that sort of cat.”
“Oh.” Liam gazed down at Maggie, who’d calmed enough to accept a pacifier. “Then he can move in here with you.”
Hadley sensed this was quite a compromise for Liam, but she still wasn’t comfortable agreeing to stay in the house. “I think Maggie is going to be fine once she settles in a bit. She’s been through a lot in the last few days.”
“Look at her. She’s been crying for three hours and you calm her down within five minutes. I can’t go through another night like this one. You have to help me out. Ten days.”
“A week.” Hadley couldn’t believe it when she heard herself bargaining.
Triumph blazed in Liam’s eyes, igniting a broad smile. “Done.” He got to his feet, showing more energy now th
at he’d gotten his way.
* * *
After a quick shower and a cup of coffee, Liam felt a little more coherent as he entered his bookkeeper/office manager’s office. Ivy had been with Wade Ranch for nine years. She was a first cousin twice removed, and Grandfather had hired her as his assistant, and in a few short years her organizational skills had made her invaluable to the smooth running of the ranch.
“Tough night?” Ivy smirked at him over the rim of her coffee cup. She looked disgustingly chipper for seven in the morning. “Used to be a time when you could charm a female into doing your bidding.”
Liam poured himself a cup of her wickedly strong brew and slumped onto her couch. “I’m rusty.” Although he’d persuaded Hadley to move in for a week. Maybe it was just babies that were immune.
“Have you considered what you’re going to do if the baby isn’t Kyle’s?”
As Ivy voiced what had filtered through Liam’s mind several times during the last twenty-four hours, he knew he’d better contact a lawyer today. Technically, unless he claimed the child as his, he had no legal rights to her.
“I really believe Kyle is her father,” Liam said. “I’m heading to a clinic Hadley recommended to have a DNA test run. I figured since Kyle and I are identical twins, the results should come back looking like Maggie is my daughter.”
And then what? Margaret was dead. With Kyle estranged from his family, it wasn’t likely he or Maggie would spend much time at Wade Ranch. And if Liam was wrong about his brother being Maggie’s father, Diane Garner might give her up to strangers.
Liam was surprised how fast he’d grown attached to the precious infant; the idea of not being in her life bothered him. But was he ready to take on the challenge of fatherhood? Sure, he and Kyle had done okay raised by their grandfather, but could a little girl be raised by a man alone? Wouldn’t she miss a mother snuggling her, brushing her hair and teaching her all the intricacies of being a woman? And yet it wasn’t as if Liam would stay single forever.
An image of Hadley flashed through his thoughts. Beautiful, nurturing and just stubborn enough to be interesting. A year ago he might not have given her a second thought. Hadley was built for steady, long-term relationships, not the sort of fun and games that defined Liam’s private life. She’d probably be good for him, but would he be good for her? After a year of celibacy, his libido was like an overwound spring, ready to explode at the least provocation.
“Liam, are you listening to me?” Ivy’s sharp tone shattered his thoughts.
“No. Sorry. I was thinking about Maggie and the future.”
Her expression shifted to understanding. “Why don’t we talk later this afternoon. You have a fund-raising meeting at the club today, don’t you?”
He’d forgotten all about it. Liam had been involved with the Texas Cattleman’s Club fund-raising efforts for Royal Memorial’s west wing ever since it had been damaged by a tornado more than a year ago. The grand reopening was three weeks away, but there remained several unfinished projects to discuss.
“I’ll be back around three.”
“See you then.”
Fearing if he sat down in his large office, he might doze off, Liam headed into the attached barn where twelve champion American quarter horse stallions stood at stud. Three of them belonged to Wade Ranch; the other nine belonged to clients.
Liam was proud of all they’d accomplished and wished that his grandfather had lived to see their annual auction reach a record million dollars for 145 horses. Each fall they joined with three other ranches to offer aged geldings, sought after for their proven ranch performance, as well as some promising young colts and fillies with top bloodlines.
At the far end of the barn, double doors opened into a medium-sized indoor arena used primarily for showing clients’ horses. One wall held twenty feet of glass windows. On the other side was a spacious, comfortable lounge used for entertaining the frequent visitors to the ranch. A large television played videos of his stallions in action as well as highlights from the current show and racing seasons.
Liam went through the arena and entered the show barn. Here is where he spent the majority of his time away from ranch business. He’d grown up riding and training reining horses and had won dozens of national titles as well as over a million dollars in prize money before he’d turned twenty-five.
Not realizing his destination until he stood in front of the colt’s stall, Liam slid open the door and regarded WR Electric Slide, son of Hadley’s former mount, Lolita. The three-year-old chestnut shifted in the stall and pushed his nose against Liam’s chest. Chuckling, he scratched the colt’s cheek, and his mind returned to Hadley.
While he understood that college and grad school hadn’t left her the time or the money to own a horse any longer, it didn’t make sense the way she’d shot down his suggestion that she visit this son of her former mount. And he didn’t believe that she’d lost interest in horses. Something more was going on, and he wasn’t going to let it go.
Three
Hadley sat in the nursery’s comfortable rocking chair with Maggie on her lap, lightly tapping her back to encourage the release of whatever air she’d swallowed while feeding. It was 3:00 a.m., and Hadley fended off the house’s heavy silence by quietly humming. The noise soothed the baby and gave Hadley’s happiness a voice.
She’d been living in the Wade house for three days, and each morning dawned a little brighter than the last. The baby fussed less. Liam smiled more. And Hadley got to enjoy Candace’s terrific cooking as well as a sense of accomplishment.
Often the agency sent her to handle the most difficult situations, knowing that she had a knack for creating cooperation in the most tumultuous of households. She attributed her success to patience, techniques she’d learned in her child development classes and determination. Preaching boundaries and cooperation, she’d teach new habits to the children and demonstrate to the parents how consistency made their lives easier.
Feeling more than hearing Maggie burp, Hadley resettled the baby on her back and picked up the bottle once more. Her appetite had increased after her pediatrician diagnosed acid reflux, probably due to her immature digestive system, and prescribed medication to neutralize her stomach acids. Now a week old, Maggie had stopped losing weight and was almost back to where she’d started.
In addition to the reflux problem, Maggie had symptoms of jaundice. Dr. Stringer had taken blood samples to run for DNA, and the bilirubinometer that tested jaundice levels had shown a higher-than-average reading. To Liam’s dismay, the doctor had suggested they wait a couple weeks to see if the jaundice went away on its own. He’d only relaxed after the pediatrician suggested they’d look at conventional phototherapy when the blood tests came back.
By the time Hadley settled Maggie back into her crib, it was almost four in the morning. With the late-night feedings taking longer than average because of Maggie’s reflux problem, Hadley had gotten in the habit of napping during the day when the baby slept. The abbreviated sleep patterns were beginning to wear on her, but in four short days she would be back spending the night in her tiny apartment once more.
Yawning into her pajama sleeve, Hadley shuffled down the hall to her room. Seeing that her door was open brought her back to wakefulness. In her haste to reach Maggie before she awakened Liam, Hadley hadn’t pulled her door fully shut, and after a quick check under the bed and behind the chair, she conceded that the cat was missing. Damn. She didn’t want to tiptoe around the quiet house in search of a feline who enjoyed playing hide-and-seek. Given the size of the place, she could be at it for hours.
Silently cursing, Hadley picked up a pouch of kitty treats and slipped out of her room. The floorboards squeaked beneath her. Moving with as much stealth as possible, she stole past Liam’s room and headed toward the stairs.
Once on the first floor, Hadley began shaking the tre
at bag and calling Waldo’s name in a stage whisper. She began in the living room, peering under furniture and trying not to sound as frustrated as she felt. No cat. Next, she moved on to the den. That, too, was feline free. After a quick and fruitless sweep of the dining room, she headed into the kitchen, praying Waldo had found himself a perch on top of the refrigerator or made a nest in the basket of dirty clothes in the laundry room. She found no sign of the gray tabby anywhere.
Hadley returned to the second floor, resigned to let the cat find his own way back, hoping he did before Liam woke up. But as she retraced her steps down the dim corridor, she noticed something that had eluded her earlier. Liam’s door was open just wide enough for a cat to slip inside. She paused in the hall and stared at the gap. Had it been like that when she’d passed by earlier? It would be just like Waldo to gravitate toward the one person in the house who didn’t like him.
She gave the pouch of cat treats a little shake. The sound was barely above a whisper, but Waldo had fantastic hearing, and while he might disregard her calls, he never ignored his stomach. Hadley held her breath for a few tense, silent seconds and listened for the patter of cat paws on the wood floor, but heard nothing but Liam’s deep, rhythmic breathing. Confident that he was sound asleep, she eased open his door until she could slip inside.
Her first step into Liam’s bedroom sent alarm bells shrilling in her head. Had she lost her mind? She was sneaking into her employer’s room in the middle of the night while he slept. How would she explain herself if he woke? Would he believe that she was in search of her missing cat or would he assume she was just another opportunistic female? As the absurdity of the situation hit her, Hadley pressed her face into the crook of her arm and smothered a giggle. Several deep breaths later she had herself mostly back under control and advanced another careful step into Liam’s room.
Her eyes had long ago grown accustomed to the darkness, and the light of a three-quarter moon spilled through the large window, so it was easy for her to make out the modern-looking king-size bed and the large man sprawled beneath the pale comforter. And there was Waldo, lying on top of Liam’s stomach looking for all the world as if he’d found the most comfortable place on earth. He stared at Hadley, the tip of his tail sweeping across Liam’s chin in a subtle taunt.
