He tisked, keeping his back to her. “And here I was hoping our daughter got her smarts from you.” He seasoned whatever was simmering in the saucepan and only glanced back briefly, throwing a beautiful smile in her direction.
It landed on Melanie like a blanket, warming her to her toes. How did he do that? she wondered. She bent to kiss their daughter, her gaze going to Diana.
While Juliana made excited noises, her sitter looked uncomfortable and said quickly, “He came over earlier to be with Juliana.”
“It’s all right, Diana. I’m sure Jack bullied his way in.”
“On the contrary, he didn’t want to come in till you came home, and we called the bank, but you were out.”
“I was at the head office most of the day in meetings.”
“And he is the child’s father.”
Question laced Diana’s voice, and Jack looked back over his shoulder as if waiting for Melanie to deny that. “Yes, he is. But this is my home, Jack.”
“And my daughter’s.”
“I didn’t invite you here.”
“She did. Isn’t that right, princess?” he said, turning from the stove to lean down to the baby. Juliana grabbed his face and rubbed his nose with hers.
Melanie’s heart dissolved in a puddle at her feet.
Jack flashed Melanie another smile that lit her insides like Christmas morning, then rushed back to the stove.
Well, this was a news flash, Melanie thought, fighting her smile. A U.S. Navy SEAL was at her stove, with an apron tied around his waist and looking awfully comfortable for a man who was more at ease wielding a machine gun than a spatula. With a quick glance she noticed the table was set beautifully for two; Diana was enjoying a cup of coffee and Juliana was in her high chair, gurgling at her father and chewing on the end of a wooden spoon.
Diana rose and set her cup in the sink. “I’ll see you in the morning,” she said, moving to the back door.
“Diana, you don’t have to leave so soon.” That sounded too much like a plea, even to her own ears.
Over at the stove, Jack chuckled.
“Oh, honey, yes I do,” Diana said with a glance at the table setting.
Melanie rolled her eyes and waved the sitter off. That grin of Diana’s spoke volumes. “Are you trying to seduce me with cooking?” she asked Jack after Diana was gone.
He looked at her. “No, but if that’s what it’ll take to get you to relax around me again…”
“I am relaxed.”
“Then why are your hands in fists?”
“Because I want to pummel you for coming into my home without asking me.”
“I tried. You should keep your pager on.”
“The battery died this morning.” She kicked off her shoes and went over to Juliana, lifting her out of the high chair and cuddling her close.
“I’m on leave, Melanie. I had all day to do nothing while my daughter was here with a baby-sitter. I just wanted to get to know Juliana.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Tipping her head to the side, she watched him. His ease in the culinary department was a bit of a shock. “I didn’t know you could cook.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” His tone said he’d planned to change that. He poured steaming pasta into a strainer. “I have a lot of time spent just waiting around for the go ahead, so I read.”
“Cookbooks?”
“Any book that’s handy, to be honest. I don’t get the chance to cook for more than myself very often, so grabbing this chance seemed like a good idea.”
She rose and moved to the counter, careful to keep the baby away from the stove in case of splatters. Jack chopped fresh herbs, then lowered the temperature on a roux and stirred. The scents dancing through her kitchen were fantastic.
Melanie snatched a sample of the chicken he had cooling while he worked on a sauce, popping the chunk into her mouth. “Oh, man.”
“Good?” he asked with a quick glance.
“Incredible.”
“Why don’t you change and get comfortable? I fed Juliana already.” As if he read her mind, he showed her the empty baby-food jar.
She took a step away, then paused to look back at him. He moved in her kitchen as if he’d been there before, and worked with great care, she noticed, dipping to taste, season, stir. But the fact that he was here, inviting himself into her life, her home, said that Jack wasn’t going to be pushed out. If he was here for Juliana, she’d never deny him, but Melanie had a sneaking suspicion he had a plan she’d have a tough time to fight.
But right now she was so hungry she’d have gnawed through shoe leather, so if he wanted to cook, let him, she thought.
“Go on, Melanie. Have some time with Juliana.” He didn’t turn to look at her, and his ability to sense her like that was unnerving.
She headed to the bedroom with Juliana and couldn’t help but notice how the baby gurgled loudly for Jack as she went.
Jack knew he was being a little devious, but with the way Melanie had reacted to him yesterday he knew she’d try her best to keep him out of her life. He wanted in. He told himself it was to see his daughter, that he’d already missed too much of her life and needed to catch up. But the truth was, there was more to it, and it had everything to do with Juliana’s mama. He added a splash of water to the sauce and thought about how Melanie had looked when she arrived; businesslike, confident and sexy in that snug-fitting blue suit. He wanted to peel it off her and see what she wore beneath.
He marshaled his restraint and kept focused on dinner. He wasn’t trying to impress her. He didn’t think his culinary skill made a difference to Melanie, but the fact that she didn’t have anything in her freezer made him assume that she probably didn’t do anything more than open a box and hit “express cook” on the microwave, and she hadn’t been doing much for herself lately.
A half hour later, he heard her footsteps in the hall again just as he was popping the cork on the bottle of wine.
She stopped near the table, the baby on her hip. “I didn’t have any wine.”
“You didn’t have much of anything. Jules and I went shopping.”
“You took her out?”
“Yes, in my car, in the car seat, with Diana. Good grief, Melanie.” He looked insulted.
“Sorry, I just haven’t had to trust anyone with her except Diana in a while.”
“I know.” He offered a smile and a glass of wine. She thanked him, sipped and made a pleased noise as she moved toward the windows facing the backyard. In soft cotton leggings and a lavender linen blouse she looked delectable, her deep-red hair spilling over her shoulders and catching the setting sun. Juliana was growing sleepy, and she rested her head on her mother’s shoulder, her tiny fist wrapped in Melanie’s hair.
Jack felt a swell of something close to pride when he watched them for a moment. Melanie whispered to the baby, rocking her gently. She’d already bathed Juliana and dressed her for bed. Jack didn’t want his daughter to be sleepy. As far as he was concerned, he’d missed six months of seeing her grow.
Melanie set the glass aside, holding the baby closer, rubbing her back.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Yes.”
When she went to put the baby down for bed, Jack came to her. “Not yet, please.”
“Have you ever tried to eat with a child on your lap?”
“Guess I’m going to learn.” He took the baby from her.
Melanie’s heart did a flip when Juliana curled against him with a contented sigh. They sat and Jack held their daughter, encouraging Melanie to eat while the food was hot. She tasted the meal. It was heavenly.
“Whoa. Okay, you’re hired.”
He chuckled and Juliana lifted her head to stare at him. Wide eyes skimmed his face, as if trying to understand who he was and why he was here. He smiled, kissed her, and satisfied with that, she laid her head back down on his shoulder.
Jack thought that nothing in this world would ever touch him as deeply as feeling h
is child in his arms, accepting him.
“Aren’t you having any food?” Melanie asked.
“My mom said if the cook goes hungry, there’s something wrong with the food. I will. I just don’t want to give up my hands right now.”
Melanie smiled. The baby looked like a pink dot against his wide muscled chest; his hand spanning the baby’s back nearly covered her completely. Juliana’s pink pajamas left fuzzies on his navy-blue polo shirt, but he didn’t seem to care.
He held Melanie’s gaze and whispered softly, “I love her already, Mel.”
“I know,” she said, and felt a catch in her throat. “I can tell.”
It was good, too, she thought. He could have ignored her completely and never shown up, never wanted to see his child. It would have been hard to explain later on to her daughter, and it certainly would have made Melanie hate Jack. But that wasn’t what she wanted. He was welcome to be with his daughter.
He shifted the baby into the crook of his arm and reached for his fork. Juliana opened her eyes briefly, then feeling safe, closed them. The man has already charmed his daughter, she thought, because Juliana was rarely content to just sit by while the world went on around her. She always wanted to participate in it, investigating her surroundings, tasting lint and paper, but her daddy made a difference. They had a rapport.
The realization should sting, since Melanie had been doing all the work since Juliana had arrived. But it didn’t. How many times had she imagined Jack holding Juliana? How often had she wished he’d been here to share those first growth spurts, the day the baby could hold a cup, feed herself.
Tears burned Melanie’s eyes and she focused on the meal. She didn’t want to feel like this, confused and needing. She wanted to feel independent and in control.
Jack ate, but he could tell something was wrong with Melanie. She wouldn’t look at him and she barely said a word.
“Well, since I can’t talk about my work, why don’t you tell me about yours?”
She looked up, blinking, and he saw the trace of tears and frowned softly.
“I manage a bank.” She shrugged. “And I’m a troubleshooter for two others. It keeps me busy.”
“What about this guy who called, Michael?”
“He manages one of the other branches.”
“Do you want to date him?”
“No, Jack. I don’t want to date anyone.”
“So you’re going to close yourself off because you have a child?”
“No, I don’t plan to, but she’s young and she needs me right now.” Melanie smiled at her daughter. “I’d rather be with her than out on a date any day.”
Jack released a breath. He could understand that. Being with Juliana was more pleasurable than anything. His gaze snapped to Melanie. Well, almost anything, he thought, then tried to cut the chicken marsala using one hand.
“Can I cut that for you, or do you want to put her in her bed now?” Melanie asked.
He handed her the knife.
Melanie rose up a bit to help, laughing as she said, “I imagined doing this for her, not you.”
“I bet you didn’t imagine doing anything for me.”
Her hands stilled before she went on cutting. “That’s not true.”
“Really?”
“Let me ask you something. What would you have done if you learned I was pregnant when I was pregnant.”
“Come home and married you.”
“I thought so. But you couldn’t come home, so we’d still be just like this. In this situation.”
“I’d have convinced you to marry me.”
“No, you wouldn’t have. It has nothing to do with you, the man. It’s me.” She pushed the plate closer to him.
“Tell me, then.”
“I can’t marry a man for the sake of a child.”
“I know, low expectations, which is garbage, but you and I…we’re good together.”
“In bed, yes.”
“It was more than that.”
She didn’t answer. She couldn’t let herself believe that or she’d be helpless around him, and she was already trying to deal with her need for him. “I don’t know.” She’d made mistakes before and didn’t want to repeat them. She had her daughter to think about now, and what she did affected her, too.
“So you just shut me out?” he said.
She sighed, fingering the stem of her wineglass. She watched her movements. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Jack.”
“And how do you know I can’t? It’s the job, isn’t it.”
“No, it’s not that.” He was gone for long periods of time, and usually even his family didn’t know where he was.
“My daughter needs my name.”
“But her mother doesn’t.”
“Dammit.”
Juliana fussed and Jack stood. “I’ll put her down,” he said when she reached for the baby. “At least give me that.” She nodded. He was gone for only a few minutes and Melanie sipped her wine. She could hear him and was tempted to go look, to check if he’d covered the baby, then somehow she knew he would. She just knew. Jack wasn’t a man who did things halfway.
When he came back she was exactly as he’d left her, twiddling, moving food around her plate. He was pushing her and couldn’t help it. The longer his daughter didn’t have his name, the angrier he grew. He tried to see reason but one look at his child, he couldn’t. Juliana would suffer for being illegitimate, even if her mother wouldn’t. Juliana would know what it was like to be ridiculed through no fault of her own. She would be on the receiving end of the judging looks. Jack recalled one day when he was about seven and how he’d hitched a ride with a neighbor to his baseball game, and while all the other boys had dads cheering them on, he’d been alone because his mother was working her tail off to provide him with food, clothes and a decent place to live.
Other kids came from single parents and did fine, but it was the stigma of being a bastard that stung. Kids teased and often were ugly about it.
He refused to put his own child through that.
Jack went to the stereo and pushed in a CD, then came back to the table. He didn’t say anything as he let the music soothe the rough edges.
“I’ll back off, if that’s what you want,” he said.
Melanie’s head jerked up.
“I’ll stop pestering you to marry me.” For now, he thought, since they were butting heads like two bulls. “But I want to be in Juliana’s life and on that I’m not budging.”
Melanie’s gaze locked with his. She nodded. “Okay.”
“Good.”
“Why don’t you come over during the day?”
He was well aware of the ploy. Be here when the sitter was and not when Melanie was. “You’re setting limits?”
“No, it’s just that—”
“Can’t handle being me near, Melanie?” he interrupted. “Afraid you’ll like it?”
“Of course I can handle it,” she said.
“Outstanding. Because I have two months’ leave and this is the only place I plan to be.”
Two months, she thought. Oh, no.
He leaned back in the chair, chewing his dinner, and then grinned. Melanie looked nervous already. This was going to be interesting, he thought, and poured her more wine.
Jack was true to his word. He didn’t mention marriage again. But he was being a nuisance. Melanie couldn’t turn a corner and not find him near. And now this was going too far. He was at the doctor’s office when she’d arrived, waiting for her. He wanted to see who was caring for his daughter and butted into the examination, asking a dozen questions. That was fine. He was Juliana’s father.
But Juliana had to have one of her regular shots, and when the baby cried, Melanie cried, too. The nurse left them and Jack slipped his arms around her, holding both of them close.
“She’s so little and I’m letting them hurt her,” Melanie said.
His smile was filled with tender humor. “No, darlin’,” he said softly. “
She has to have them, you know that.”
“I know, I know. I just don’t want to cause her any pain.”
The baby still cried and Jack lifted her from her mother’s arms, holding her tightly and rubbing her tender thigh. He murmured to his daughter, his voice a soft drone of tenderness. When the baby quieted, he handed her back to Melanie.
“Well, I feel foolish,” Melanie said, sniffling.
“Hey, I wanted to cry for her, too,” he said, walking with Melanie to the front desk. “Navy SEALs don’t cry—ruins the image.”
“Ahh, my hero,” she said.
He stilled, meeting her gaze, and sudden heat rippled between them. She’d said that to him once before when they were making love, and the memory of it flooded between them. Warm, wicked. Greedy. The softness in her green eyes said she remembered, too.
The nurse at the desk cleared her throat.
Jack dragged his gaze from Melanie. “I’m Juliana’s father,” he said to the nurse. “And her medical bills are insured by TriCare.” He handed over a temporary card, his ID card, and Melanie frowned.
“What are you doing?” she said.
“She’s legally my dependent, so she’s entitled to the benefits. Though there aren’t many anymore.”
“I can manage this alone,” Melanie said.
“I know you can,” he said softly. “But it’s there for her. I earned the right to have those benefits extend to her. When she’s ten she’ll have an ID card and use of facilities on the base.”
Although they spoke softly, people were staring, listening. Melanie hitched the baby on her hip. “We can discuss this later.”
“Sure,” he said easily, taking his cards back and slipping them into his wallet. He walked to the far side of the room, opened the stroller and rolled it back to her. Juliana reached out for him, practically squirming to get to him.
Jack put her in the stroller, kneeling to strap her in. “You were so brave,” he said to her. “I’m proud of you, princess.” He dried her tears, kissed her head and with Melanie, led her out of the front door.
Almost like a real family.
Five
Melanie grabbed her handbag from her desk and was heading for her office door when her secretary popped her head in.
The SEAL’s Surprise Baby Page 5
