my God.” Alex couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Are you sure?”
“They’re all tagged Banning, sir.”
“You didn’t accidentally grab up too many?”
“No, sir. They are all Daphne’s babies.”
Daphne Way was a hell of a woman, but he didn’t think she’d been capable of that.
“In poker it’s called a three of a kind, sir. Very advantageous. Congratulations.”
Alex ignored the felicitations and moved forward to eye the sleeping bundles. “Have you called for extra everything?”
“Yes.”
“Daphne didn’t require extra hospitalization?” He whirled to glance at Sinclair.
“No, but as I said, she is weak. In spite of your questionable methods, sir, I believe this is the best place for her.”
“Yes.” Alex blinked at the first bit of criticism Sinclair had ever leveled at him. He looked at his progeny. One tiny bundle squirmed in its blanket wrap pings, starting a chain reaction. Suddenly, all three pairs of eyes were open and staring around. “What are their names?”
Sinclair stepped close to examine the baby on the left. “That one, I believe, Miss Daphne called Yoda.”
“Yoda! She named my son after a fictitious intergalactic creature?” His roar set Yoda to crying and the help to a stand still. After an astonished second, a nanny came forward to pick up the child and comfort it with a malevolent glance at Alex.
“I don’t know her proper given name, sir. That’s all I heard Miss Daphne call the child.”
“Well.” That would have to be fixed, though Alex could see how the triangular-shaped head and big dark eyes might have earned the baby the nickname. Suddenly, his brain processed what his ears had heard. “Her proper given name?”
“Yes, sir. Miss Daphne has done you the honor of giving you three daughters.”
“I—” There were only Banning male portraits hanging in the great hall. “Every single one?”
“Every baby is a girl.”
He closed his eyes. A whole new, unexplored world laid out its vastness before him. Lace and ruffles. Diaries and separate phone lines. Three girls. He’d better buy stock in the phone company.
Boy friends.
Oh, Lord. “And this one?” he demanded, pointing to the next baby on a blanket.
“That one is Miss Magoo.”
“Miss Magoo!”
“Mr. Magoo if it had been a boy, of course. You see the resemblance.”
Alex stared at the lashless baby. She grinned hugely at him, unaffected by her surroundings. With the big bald head, he supposed the baby did resemble Mr. Magoo. With luck, she’d grow hair eventually.
In trepidation, he looked at the smallest baby. It was by far the most unattractive creature he had ever seen. To Alex’s mind, this wizened child had a face only its mother could love. “What did this homely child’s unnatural mother name her?”
“I believe Miss Daphne affectionately called her Alex Junior. Alexis, in the feminine sense, I should think.”
“This is the one she chose to bear my name?” Astounded, he stared at the tiny baby, who appeared to glare back at him. Daphne’s eyes, Daphne’s mouth and no doubt Daphne’s temper. “She’s scrawnier than the others. And, though I hate to say it, she’s…ugly.”
“Sir, please. The child hears you.”
“Well, her mother will soon hear me, as well. Something’s got to be done about these names.” He reached down, gently picking up Alex Junior. “This one doesn’t look like me at all. Why do you suppose she named this one Alex Junior?”
“She said that one was forced out of the um, chute, sir. Miss Daphne commented that being forced to do some thing against its will was in keeping with your situation.” Sinclair coughed delicately, but Alex knew he was trying not to laugh. “She was the first child born. I believe it is customary that first born males bear their father’s name. Miss Daphne believes gender shouldn’t affect any situation adversely.”
It damn well did. Alex stared at the baby doubt fully, receiving the full force of haunting Daphne eyes watching him. He sighed, almost frightened by the morning’s events. If Daphne did anything by convention it would be a first, and Sinclair knew it. He handed the baby to the valet with a shrug. “I’m going to see Daphne now.”
“I would take an heirloom from the vault, sir.”
Alex paused, thunder struck. “An heirloom?”
Sinclair kept his head turned stiffly forward. “It is generally looked upon favorably by the mother to receive a token from the father of her child, signifying his appreciation for her propagating his lineage.”
Alex’s brows raised. “Are you suggesting a tiara?” Did three babies require more of an appropriate gesture than one baby?
“Your mother’s pearls should do nicely, though I do believe Miss Daphne isn’t in a relenting mood.”
“I’ll stop by the vault on my way to her room.” Alex’s chest tightened as he left the nursery. If he owned a diamond mine in South Africa and signed it over in her name, Daphne would likely not care.
He wondered if she had ever loved him—the way he’d loved her.
Still loved her.
Chapter Two
Alex walked into the large bedroom he and Daphne had once shared. His heart thudded un com fort ably as he looked for the woman who’d sent him divorce papers. Receiving them had nearly killed him. He’d wanted to shred them and throw them into a fire place, but he’d filed them away in a cabinet. He couldn’t put her off forever. If she insisted on the divorce, he guessed he’d have to give it to her. It would be a hell of a one-year anniversary gift, one he didn’t want.
“Daphne? Are you in here?” he asked softly, glancing around the room.
She popped her head out from inside a closet. His heart stopped instantly, and his mouth dried out. Daphne was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Not pop-culture beautiful, no. Classically beautiful, with beautiful, large green eyes. Bronze hair waved down over her shoulders.
“Alex.” She came from the closet and seemed to find it hard to look at him.
“I—I brought you this,” he said stiffly, holding out the velvet pouch that contained his mother’s pearls.
She shook her head. “I don’t want anything from you.”
He bit the inside of his jaw, wondering how to proceed. What should he say to this woman who’d just borne his
