Brady had left.
No. Sam was one demon Brady wasn’t ready to face yet. And given the silence from the kitchen, Sam wasn’t ready, either. Maybe they never would be. Two weeks and Brady would be gone again. Nothing was going to change that. And nothing would change between them.
Maggie sat at her desk working on some bills for the furniture store while Amber did her homework at the kitchen table. Brady had brought in his laptop and sat next to Amber. Two minutes later, he’d answered a call on his cell phone and wandered out to the front porch.
“Alex Conrad puked in the hallway today. It was so gross.” Amber tipped back in her chair to look around the door frame at Maggie.
“That sounds unpleasant. All four on the floor.” Referring to the chair legs. Maggie looked at her watch again. Brady had been outside for the past thirty minutes. She’d begun to like the guy yesterday. He’d been attentive and helpful in the airport and the car ride to Tawnee Valley. He’d focused on Amber, answering her nonstop questions like a pro. Just when she thought he was going to give it a real go and leave the workaholic in New York, the New York Brady had shown up at her door jonesing for an internet connection.
She’d wanted to ask how it went with Sam, but he hadn’t spared her more than a couple of sentences since he’d arrived.
“There were chunks—”
“That’s enough, Amber Marie. Get back to your homework.” Maggie finished the last check and started putting things away. “Maybe after homework and dinner, we can go get some ice cream.”
“Yay!” Amber bent her head over the page of math problems.
Maggie carried the stamped envelopes out the front door. Brady stood on the far end of the porch, gesturing while he spoke intensely on the phone.
She walked to the mailbox and dropped the bills in. At least he was passionate about his work. What would it be like if he were that passionate about Amber? Would he even give a second thought to the phone when it rang? Would it have been better if Maggie had left it alone? If he’d never found out about Amber? It’s not as if he would visit Sam and accidentally run into Amber and her. Besides, half the town thought Amber was Sam’s. The other half thought she was Luke’s.
“Don’t let Peterson take over, Jules.” Brady turned, and Maggie could feel his frustration like a heat wave. “We’ve worked too hard to let him step in and take the credit.”
Maggie perched on the porch railing and crossed her arms, waiting for him to be finished with his conversation. She had a thing or two to talk to him about.
“Tell him no.” Brady lifted his gaze.
Her body buzzed with energy as he met her eyes. Irritating attraction. It kept popping up when all she wanted to be was mad. He held up one finger to indicate one minute. She resisted the urge to hold up a different finger with a very different meaning.
“Fine. Tell him we’re dating and that’s the reason you guys can’t go out.”
Maggie’s heart sank like a lead balloon crashing into her gut. Dating? It made sense. The Brady she’d known had rarely been without a girlfriend in school. He was smart, sexy and a good guy. She never would have guessed the Brady she’d known would be a cheater, but New York Brady was someone entirely different. If she hadn’t stopped them, they would have had sex in New York. Thank goodness she’d come to her senses. He’d changed, and she had to remember that.
A different rant was forming in her head, but he wasn’t here for Maggie. He was here for Amber. And right now, he was sucking at it.
“It’ll be okay. Run the preliminary numbers again and cross-reference the new numbers. Email me the spreadsheet and I’ll see what I can do.”
Maggie shored up her defensive wall as she prepared to launch her attack. The bubble of heat welling within had nothing to do with the fact that he was a two-timing—She stopped her thoughts and drew in a breath. For Amber.
Brady hit a button on his phone and walked toward her.
When he stopped within touching distance, he looked worried. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes.” She swallowed the hurt of finding out he was dating someone as hoity-toity as he was, and the fact her crush on him wasn’t affected by that fact. Mother first. “Amber is expecting you to pay attention to her. I’m expecting you to put away the phone for the few hours you get to spend with her.”
The worry fell off Brady’s face. A little anger crept into its place. “This isn’t exactly a cakewalk for me. I didn’t ask for any of this and it isn’t the best time to be away from the office. I have people relying on me.”
Like Jules? The words pressed on her tongue to get out, but she clamped her lips shut.
“I promised I would get to know Amber, and I will.” The muscle in his jaw ticked.
“Fine, but no more phone calls. You have all day to take them—you don’t need to take them here.” She kept her head up and ignored the heat his body stirred in her.
“I can’t control when other people need to consult with me.” He took a step forward. “That was part of the deal, too. I need to work while I’m here.”
“While in Tawnee Valley, yes, but while at my house with my daughter, no.” Maggie’s heart stuttered against her chest. She hadn’t spent the past eight years being brave to crumple under pressure now. She pulled her shoulders back and met his gaze with an uncompromising one.
Eight years ago she would have backed down. So in love with the idea of Brady Ward that she would have done anything he asked of her. But that girl had grown up and could face down anything and anybody. Having a baby out of wedlock wasn’t as big a deal now, but with a small town, it hadn’t been a cakewalk, as Brady put it.
She could almost feel the battle that waged between them. Will against will. She had the advantage. She had the power to stop him from seeing their daughter. His jaw was tight and he looked as if he was about to say something they might both regret.
She tipped her chin up another notch. “Promises or not. She is my daughter.”
“She is our daughter.” He straightened more, towering over her and inside she crumpled a little, but on the outside she remained a rock. “If I have to get a court-ordered DNA sample, I will. But since you don’t deny that she is mine, it shouldn’t come to that. As long as you don’t make unreasonable demands of me, I won’t make unreasonable demands of you.”
She bristled. “I didn’t have to tell you about her.”
“But you did.” They stood close enough to touch, but neither of them moved an inch. Neither willing to retreat. She wouldn’t give on this one. “If you want to work, stay at the farm.”
“Fine.” The soft-spoken word caught her off guard.
“What?” Was Brady Ward giving in to her demands? Her confusion
