and he promptly burst into tears. She didn’t blame him. She swooped down and lifted him in her arms, patting his back as he snuffled against her neck. ‘Well, lesson number one is to not yell around them. It upsets them.’
Aunt Katherine came into the room with her brisk step. ‘Goodness, I thought I heard a baby. So the cot and pram that were just delivered weren’t mistakes, then?’
Jasper gave a curt shake of his head and gestured towards George. ‘Emily’s baby.’
Her aunt’s eyes widened. ‘Well, now, that’s a turn up for the books.’ She moved across and clasped one of George’s hands. ‘Hello, little man, it’s nice to meet you. I knew your mummy, back in the days before you were born.’ She glanced back at Jasper. ‘Poor little tyke looks tired. How long is he here for?’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’
Imogen refrained from pointing out that if he read his sister’s letter, they might get an answer to that particular question.
Katherine pursed her lips. ‘Right.’
Imogen glanced from one to the other, trying to make their relationship out. Katherine had been on the island for the past two years. Before that she’d worked for the Coleman family for seventeen years. Were they friends? She bit her lip. Were they lovers? The question disturbed her, though she couldn’t have said why. At forty-nine Katherine was still young, and she was certainly attractive. While Jasper would be what—mid-thirties? It didn’t seem outside the realm of possibility.
Her aunt was keeping secrets. Every instinct Imogen had told her that. Was Jasper one of those secrets?
If he were either a friend or a lover, though, he’d have given Katherine the week’s leave she’d requested at Christmastime.
Her aunt’s laughter hurtled her back. ‘Don’t look at me like that, Jasper, because the answer is a big fat no. If I’d wanted to look after a baby, I’d have had one of my own.’
That made Imogen smile. Katherine didn’t have a maternal bone in her body.
‘But—’
‘No buts,’ Katherine said without ceremony. She glanced at Imogen and then Jasper again, and her eyes started to gleam. ‘I’ll let you continue your negotiations with Imogen, shall I?’
‘What negotiations?’ he grumbled. ‘She’s as hard-headed as you.’
Imogen surveyed her perplexing boss. For someone who’d been shocked into white-faced silence at the arrival of the baby, he seemed to have taken it into his stride now, seemed almost…resigned. Why—if he didn’t want the baby here—wasn’t he making arrangements to send the child back?
Katherine turned and patted Imogen’s arm. In a low voice she said, ‘Get him to help with the baby,’ before disappearing into the kitchen.
If she did what her aunt asked, would Katherine stop avoiding her and tell her what was wrong?
‘What did your aunt just say to you?’
She did her best to smooth out her face. ‘Only that lunch is ready.’
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t call her on the lie. She pulled in a breath. ‘Mr Coleman, I think between the three of us we can work something out.’
He widened his stance. ‘You heard your aunt—she’ll have nothing to do with him.’
‘She won’t change dirty nappies or bathe George. But she’ll give him a bottle and be happy to keep an eye on him when he’s napping.’
‘There’s one other thing you need to take into consideration, Ms Hartley, and that’s the fact that I’m not looking after that baby.’
‘Mr Coleman,’ she said very gently, ‘that’s not my problem. It’s yours.’
He knew he was being unreasonable—not to mention irrational—but he could barely check the panic coursing through him. It’d smashed through the walls he’d put up to contain it, and while part of him knew the panic was illogical, another part understood all too clearly that he had every reason to fear the consequences of his nephew’s visit.
Aaron wanted revenge, and Jasper didn’t doubt that his brother-in-law would use George as a weapon—to hurt him or extort money from him. That was the best-case scenario he could come up with—that Aaron wanted money. And Jasper would give money—a lot of money—to keep this child safe.
But he’d learned to not rely on best-case scenarios. With his luck in another day or two police would show up and arrest him for allegedly kidnapping the baby. And then he’d be charged, and there’d be court proceedings…again. The thought had exhaustion sweeping through him.
Ms Hartley was right, though. This wasn’t her problem. It was his. He dropped to the edge of the nearest sofa.
Focus.
Fact number one: the baby was here now, and arrangements needed to be made for his care. Fact number two: he didn’t want the press getting wind of this—whatever this was. Instinct warned him it’d be wiser to scotch any rumours before they started. He had to keep this as quiet as possible, which meant the fewer people who knew, the better. Those were the important facts for the moment. He could worry about the rest later.
‘Can…can you just stay there with the baby while I make a phone call?’
She frowned but nodded. Not giving her a chance to change her mind, he grabbed his phone and speed-dialled his assistant in Sydney. He needed information. ‘Evan, my sister has just had a nanny service deliver her baby to my house without warning.’
Two seconds of silence greeted him before Evan said, ‘What do you need me to do?’
‘Can you find out what Emily and Aaron’s movements are at the moment? Discreetly.’
‘I’ll be in touch as soon as I find anything out.’
‘The sooner the better, please.’
He tossed his phone to the coffee table and scratched a hand across his head. It was entirely unreasonable to ask Imogen to be on call with the baby all the hours of the day and night. It contravened every workplace agreement he subscribed to. It was unethical. He’d taken great pains to ensure his company’s workplace practices were above reproach. It was especially important now to continue in the same vein.
Besides, neither Katherine nor Imogen were the kind of women to be browbeaten by a domineering boss. Not that he was domineering, but he wouldn’t be able to cajole either one of them into doing something they didn’t want to do. There was a part of him that was glad about that. It indicated that they had integrity. It was important right now to surround himself with people of integrity.
The sofa dipped a little as Imogen sat beside him. ‘I want to pat your back much the same way as I am little George’s at the moment.’
He met warm brown eyes flecked with green and filled with sympathy. He straightened. ‘Please don’t.’
