by Susan Meier
“Shhh, shhh, shhh,” Ty crooned, panic churning in his stomach. He could not raise a baby! Hell, he couldn’t even get her to stop crying! “This isn’t going to work, Pete!”
Pete grimaced and raised his voice another notch because Sabrina had somehow gotten louder. “Ty, I’m sorry, but that’s not my problem. You’re named guardian. I gave you the baby. That’s the end of my responsibility. What you do now is between you and her grandparents or you and child services.”
Child services!
Before Ty had a chance to take that thought any further, his office door burst open and Madelyn Gentry stormed in. She sighed heavily and marched over to Ty. “Really, you guys. What’s going on?” she asked as she took the baby fromTy’s arms. Without waiting for an answer, she strode to the diaper bags and began rummaging around. “Even through the closed door I could hear this poor child screaming. Were you beating her in here?”
Not at all happy to have a PR guru in the room to witness this disaster, Ty watched Madelyn retrieve a bottle. He knew very well that once she told the story of a lawyer bringing Ty a baby, everyone would assume Sabrina was his illegitimate child. He normally didn’t care about rumors, but he also wasn’t so stupid as to let one start three weeks before a reporter from the Wall Street Journal arrived. Particularly since he could so easily stop it.
“My cousin and his wife died. I got custody of their baby.”
“Just like this?” As Sabrina continued screaming, Madelyn arranged her across her arm to feed her and faced Pete. “Without a word of warning, you’re dumping this poor baby in his lap?”
“I’m perfectly capable of hiring a nanny,” Ty shouted, doing the further damage control of nipping any potential tale of his incompetence in the bud, but his voice echoed around him because Sabrina had stopped crying. Madelyn was leaning against his desk, feeding a bottle to the little girl, who gulped greedily as if she were starving.
Pete laughed and turned to Ty. “You’ll be fine,” he said, shaking Ty’s hand as if to finalize the deal. “Nice seeing you!” he said, as he and Renee hurried out of Ty’s office.
Ty glanced at the fired public relations gal. Even though he didn’t want to be wowed by her ability to get the baby to quiet down, he had to admit he was. But he was more impressed that she’d come in to help after he’d fired her. Of course, she could have been looking for leverage to get her job back. Ty almost slapped his forehead at his stupidity. Of course, she only came in to get her job back.
He took the suckling baby from Madelyn’s arms, careful not to knock the bottle from the infant’s mouth. “I believe I just fired you.”
Madelyn glanced at the baby and then back at him. Her pretty green eyes were full of confusion, but also concern. “You’re going to care for this child by yourself?”
“Like I said. I’m perfectly capable of hiring a nanny.”
Madelyn studied him for a few seconds and the curiosity left her expression. Her demeanor became professional and she pushed away from his desk. “Yes, you are. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“Of course I’ll be fine!” Ty snapped. The fact that she felt entitled to an opinion really rubbed Ty the wrong way. This was why he kept his private life private. He didn’t like answering to anybody.
Before Ty could say anything further, Madelyn Gentry began striding to the door. Almost simultaneously, Sabrina peered up at him and stiffened in his arms. Ty felt the storm brewing even before the baby spit the bottle out of her mouth and screamed.
He panicked. He might be able to hire a nanny eventually, but he didn’t have one now and the only help within a hundred yards was walking out the door.
“Wait!”
Madelyn laughed. “No. You don’t want me here. Call a relative or a girlfriend.”
“Shhh-shhh-shhh,” Ty whispered, patting Sabrina’s back as he inexpertly cuddled her to him. Apparently unimpressed that he let her slobber on his thousand-dollar suit, Sabrina cried all the louder. “With Scotty gone, my brothers are the only blood relatives I have aside from this baby.” Sadness rippled through him at the realization that his only cousin was now gone, but he didn’t let that show on his face or in his voice as he continued. “And you heard my secretary say she was leaving for the day. She’s not even going home. She’s taking her kids to the dentist. I couldn’t find her if I wanted to.”
Madelyn stopped walking and faced him. “No girlfriend?”
He wanted to tell her that was none of her business, but with Sabrina screaming on his shoulder, he only shook his head.
Madelyn sighed, then strode over to Ty. “I should have known no woman would have you.” She took the sobbing baby and bottle from Ty.
“I’m single by choice.”
“Whatever.”
Madelyn arranged Sabrina across her arm, slid the bottle into her mouth again, and resumed her position of leaning against Ty’s desk. “Poor baby,” she murmured, soothing the child, but irritating the hell out of Ty.
“Poor baby? This kid will have her own personal nanny, whose full-time job will be to cater to her every wish and whim.”
“Maybe. But you don’t have a nanny now and Sabrina is stuck with you tonight.”
Ty scowled. Damn it! She was right. A competent nanny couldn’t be brought in on a moment’s notice, not without investigating his or her background. Which meant he was going to be alone with this baby tonight. And he didn’t have a clue of how to keep Sabrina from crying, let alone how to care for her.
But Madelyn Gentry really seemed to know what she was doing.
“So what makes you such an expert about kids?”
“I have three brothers and sisters and eight nieces and nephews,” Madelyn said, aware that her ex-boss was up to something because his voice had shifted from rude to curious. “I’ve fed a bottle or two in my day.”
“Yeah, well, I raised two brothers, but Cooper was eighteen and Seth was fifteen when I took over. Until just now, I’d never even held a baby.” He paused and glanced at Madelyn. Sounding uncharacteristically vulnerable, he said, “I don’t think they like me.”
Madelyn couldn’t argue that. She knew firsthand that most adults didn’t like him. Why should a baby be any different? Still, she didn’t trust the sudden spurt of honesty. His vulnerable act could very well be a trick to get her sympathy. She cautiously said, “I take it you haven’t had much contact with this child before.”
“No. And even if Seth wasn’t out of town for the weekend, he wouldn’t be any better with her than I am. He’s only cooed at her when Scotty brought her to visit.”
“Great.”
Ty drew a quick breath. “Do you think it’s going to be hard to find a nanny?”
Oh, so that was it. He was making himself look vulnerable because he needed assistance finding a nanny. Well, sorry. He was out of luck.
“I don’t know. I lived in Atlanta for two of the past three years. Any contacts I made there are too far away.” Madelyn snuggled the baby closer and Sabrina’s sucking slowed, an indication that she was drifting off to sleep. “So I’m afraid I’m not much help.”
“Actually, you look like lots of help.”
Their eyes met and Madelyn read Ty Bryant’s intentions as clearly as if he had spoken the words. He didn’t want assistance finding a nanny. He wanted her to be the nanny!
Though careful not to jar the baby, she bounced away from his desk. “Oh, no. No. No. No. I am not a nanny.”
“You might not be a nanny, but you’re certainly better with a baby than I am. And Seth’s already investigated you. Nobody gets the kind of authorization you got to interview staff and look at our five-year plan unless Seth has human resources run background checks. So you’re cleared.”
“No.”
“I’m not asking you to take the job permanently,” Ty angrily retorted as if she were the one being unreasonable. “I only need you for a few days, maybe a week. Just until I have time to properly interview and investigate a few candidates.”
“It will take more than a week to interview and investigate candidates!” Madelyn gaped at him. “Do you know what you’re asking?”
“Yes.”
“No, you don’t!” Madelyn emphatically disagreed as she leaned against the desk again to finish feeding Sabrina. “Babies get up in the middle of the night! I’d have to stay at your house!”
“I’d pay you well….”
“It’s not a question of money!”
“Okay, then. How about this? I won’t simply rehire you to do the PR job, I’ll do absolutely everything you want me to do to prepare for the Wall Street Journal interview.”
That stopped her. And she knew he’d done it on purpose. A sharp negotiator, he’d let her get out all of her objections before he went in for the kill and offered the only things she wanted. The job and his cooperation. “Are you kidding me?”
“No. Do this favor for me and I will do whatever you feel needs doing to make myself look nicer to the reporter,” he said, back to sounding like the in-control executive who had fired her, and Madelyn’s business instincts shot to red alert. Sure, he made it appear that they were on even terms, but this was the kind of guy who always kept the upper hand. There was a catch here somewhere.
So handsome he could have posed for GQ, Ty Bryant strolled closer and didn’t stop until he was mere inches in front of Madelyn and Sabrina. “Can I take her?”
Madelyn nodded and eased the nearly sleeping baby into his arms. He nestled the little girl against his chest as she sleepily suckled her bottle, but he didn’t move away from Madelyn.
Holding her gaze with his hypnotic brown eyes, he said, “I have something you want. A job. You have something I want. The ability to care for a baby. I’m offering you a simple deal. Take it or leave it.”
Feeling mesmerized by his magnetic gaze, Madelyn blinked, but it didn’t help. His nearness had caused her heart rate to triple. Her breathing had become feathery and light. She desperately wanted to swallow, but couldn’t because she knew he would see and take it as a sign of weakness.
Forcing herself to think his proposition through, she tried to come up with a downside and knew there wasn’t one. He might believe he could bully her out of his agreement once he had her commitment, but that wasn’t true. His inability to care for Sabrina gave Madelyn a weapon that she wouldn’t hesitate to use. Until he hired a nanny, any time he refused to do anything she asked, she would simply leave him alone with the child that he clearly couldn’t care for. Then he would either adhere to the terms of their deal, or be miserable. Of course, once he hired a nanny that leverage would be gone, but by then her advance work for the Wall Street Journal reporter would be done.
She still didn’t trust him.
“Even give away thirty thousand dollars worth of playground equipment and deliver a sappy speech?”
He grimaced but said, “If you honest to God think I need to do that, I will do it.”
For all practical intents and purposes, she had a deal. But she couldn’t force her mouth to form the words of acceptance. She’d seen his real temperament and demeanor when he fired her. She also remembered all the complaints his employees had made about him. There was a lot of damage to be repaired here. Though confident in her own abilities, she recognized that unless she could figure out a very solid way to get Ty Bryant to look, sound and behave like a totally different guy before the Wall Street Journal reporter arrived, she was going to fail. Because, the truth was, he could do every darned thing she said and still come across as an ogre.
Or, more realistically, Madelyn thought, he would come across as a powerful, distanced executive so wealthy and clueless about the real world he was heartless.
And if an employee got that opinion into the Wall Street Journal article, it would be all over.
The bottle slipped out of Sabrina’s mouth, a sign that she was asleep and Ty set it on the desk, passing within a millimeter of Madelyn’s shoulder as he did so.
Madelyn suppressed a shiver, as the room grew unbearably hot. What the hell was happening to her?
“Excuse me, Mr. Bryant?”
At the sound of Neil Ringler’s voice, Madelyn and Ty looked at the mailroom employee, who was at Ty’s door.
“What is it, Neil?” he asked quietly, obviously not wanting to awaken the sleeping baby.
“I’m sorry, but Joni’s not here.” Neil very cautiously stepped in the room, virtually shaking in his shoes. “And you got this package from a special courier. I…I was just about to leave when it arrived. But I stayed…” He gulped. “You know, so you’d get it. But I can’t sign for it. I’m not on that level yet.”
“Let Ms. Gentry sign for it.”
Again, Ty’s voice was quiet and the previously shaking mailroom employee not only gave Ty a baffled look, he also relaxed a bit.
“Here,” Neil said, handing the fat envelope to Madelyn along with the delivery log to be signed. As Madelyn put her signature on the appropriate line, Neil faced Ty. “Whose baby?” he whispered.
Ty said, “Shhh!” indicating Neil should lower his voice even more, then very quietly added, “Mine. Sabrina was the daughter of my cousin who was killed. I got custody today and I don’t want her to wake up, so grab that log and leave.”
Even though Ty’s command was straightforward, with his voice softened, it didn’t come across harshly, and Neil grinned.
“Okay,” he stage-whispered, then snatched the clipboard and left the room.
Madelyn stared at Ty.
“Did you see what you just did?”
Ty faced her. “Don’t lecture me on yelling at my employees.”
“You didn’t yell. You…” She stopped her explanation because if she came right out and told Ty that the soft voice he used while holding the baby made his demand more palatable, he would tell her that was liberal elitist crap. But his quiet tone had changed the entire dynamic of his exchange with Neil.
She took a quick breath as an idea began to form. She couldn’t have Ty hold a baby until all his employees saw what Neil saw. But as Ty cared for Sabrina over the next few weeks while he looked for a nanny, she probably could teach him to speak more softly. She might even be able to get him to laugh once or twice. Time alone with him and a baby had endless possibilities for inching him toward lightening up.
And any changes Ty made wouldn’t be questioned. Neil would quickly spread the news that Ty had taken in his deceased cousin’s baby, and before long every employee in the building would ascribe kindness to their scrooge boss, which they hadn’t before. More than that, though, they would ultimately believe that the baby was responsible for any change in Ty’s behavior, not the upcoming article.
It was perfect.
“I’ll do it.”
Ty glanced over and whispered, “What?”
“I’ll help you with the baby on the condition that you really do every darned thing I say both with her and for your PR.”
Ty smiled victoriously, but Madelyn sternly said, “I mean it. You have to really promise to do what I say. The first time you tell me no, I leave. And you’ll be alone with this baby.”
“Deal,” Ty said, then extended his free hand to shake hers.
Madelyn grasped it and a lightning bolt shot through her and warning bells went off in her head. She had just agreed to spend at least a week or more living with a guy she not only admitted to herself was gorgeous, but with whom she was having all kinds of weird physical reactions.
She stopped that thought because it was ridiculous. The man was a mean-spirited dictator and she was a smart professional woman. Smart women didn’t get involved with grouchy self-absorbed men.
“Deal,” she said, shaking once as she caught his gaze.
Big mistake. When she met his sexy dark eyes, the zing of attraction exploded through her again. Desperate to distract herself, she glanced at the baby he held, but when she did, she realized what was happening and she almost laughed.
All along she’d noticed Ty was gorgeous, but she hadn’t
felt an attraction to him until he picked up the baby. The same thing that would ultimately make him attractive to his employees was making him attractive to her now: the baby.
Reaching to pull Sabrina from his arms, she said, “Let me take her.”
“No, I’m fine with her,” Ty argued.
But Madelyn shook her head. “Until we both adjust to this situation, I’m holding the baby when we’re alone.”
Chapter Two
Madelyn carried Sabrina, and Ty lugged her car seat and diaper bags to his black SUV, which was parked beside the private entrance to the Bryant Building—the entrance that prevented him from having to go through the lobby and interact with a boatload of employees on his way to his office in the morning.
After storing the diaper bags in the rear compartment, he tried to install the car seat. But when he couldn’t immediately get all the buckles and snaps aligned, he stepped out of the way, took the baby from Madelyn and let her connect it.
He wasn’t going to be an idiot about this. Raising Sabrina might be a high priority, but doing menial tasks involved in her upbringing weren’t. That was why he had hired the woman beside him.
With the seat installed and the baby contentedly cooing as she pounded on the padded seat guard in front of her, Ty drove Madelyn to her parents’ home to retrieve the clothes and accessories she would need for the weekend.
He stole a peek at the woman he’d coerced into helping him. Her straight red hair glistened in the late-afternoon sun. Her smooth pink skin gave her the look of a fresh-faced, all-American girl. For the first time, something very important struck Ty. Madelyn was young. He’d already guessed her age at around twenty-five. At most she had three years of experience in her chosen field. Yet, he’d agreed to let her splash his name all through the papers and get him out in the community for a love fest with people who should already be kissing his behind for providing them with jobs. That side of the agreement wasn’t exactly a good deal for him.
