were seven, and not by what you’d accomplished since then.
The other people in the ice cream store pretended not to be looking at them, but Brady wasn’t fooled. They knew he was Brady Ward and he was with Maggie Brown and her daughter. If people hadn’t put two and two together before, their being together would leave little doubt.
It bothered him that people would see that Maggie wasn’t talking to him.
But it bothered him more that Maggie wouldn’t meet his eyes. he didn’t like that she wouldn’t talk to him, except for in clipped words. And he didn’t like the pressed thinness of her lush lips.
“Maggie?” he said.
She faced him with a questioning look in her eyes. None of the spunk that had drawn him to her years ago reflected in them.
What could he say to make her happy? To bring back that little smile she’d give him when he said just the right thing.
“I might be late tomorrow.” Dumb, dumb man. That wasn’t what he’d meant to say, but darn it all, he wasn’t used to being around women in a nonwork environment. He wasn’t used to someone counting on him outside of work projects.
Her eyes grew frostier, and she nodded briskly. He flinched internally.
“Amber, you need to go wash.” She went back to ignoring him as Amber raced off to the bathroom.
Maybe over the years, he’d let his work consume him until work was all he had. There wasn’t a separation between the relaxed him and the work him. It was how he protected himself. He couldn’t let that go for a couple of weeks to “hang out.” He needed to work, it had kept away the pain that he’d felt when his mother had passed so soon after his father. The anger and rage that had engulfed him; that had forced his hand and made him flee not a hundred miles away, but across an ocean.
In London, no one had asked him about his parents. No one had offered sympathy for his loss, because they hadn’t known. Here, it was in their eyes and words, even if they never said it out loud.
As they walked home in the ebbing twilight, Amber rambled on about this and that. Brady couldn’t get out of his head. It didn’t help that Maggie continued her silent treatment. The street was lined with trees and though he hadn’t walked this particular street much as a kid, it was familiar. Like every other street in Tawnee Valley. The past seemed to press in on him and force his hand in the present. He had nothing to give to anyone. What made him think Amber even wanted him for a father?
He had run away from the responsibility of being part of a family. He had run out on Sam and Luke—his own brothers. Even though Sam had been controlling, he could have used some guidance.
As they reached the porch steps, Amber spun around. “Do you want to see the scrapbook Nana and I put together?”
“Sure.” Brady didn’t know if Maggie wanted him to hang around any later, but he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to be part of this family, part of whatever they were creating here. Tonight he didn’t want to run.
Amber bounded into the house. The screen door slammed behind her. Maggie climbed a couple of steps before stopping. Brady barely kept himself from running into her.
“I need to know if you are in this.” Maggie didn’t turn to meet his gaze. The light from inside the house lit her profile, but he couldn’t make out her expression.
“I wouldn’t have come all this way if I weren’t.” He wasn’t sure what she was referring to, but he could only assume this was a continuation of their earlier argument about work.
“Either you tell Amber you are her father or you don’t, but I need to know what you are going to do. I can’t keep lying to her.” Finally, she turned to face him. On the steps she was the same height as him. In her eyes was the fierce protectiveness of a mother trying to keep her child from harm.
“I’ve done a lot of things since I left Tawnee Valley.” Brady cleared his throat. “I’ve made a lot of deals and created thousands of jobs.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and looked down her nose at him. Not impressed with his resume.
“But…” What could he say to convince her? Years of negotiating multimillion-dollar deals failed him.
“But what, Brady?”
He searched her eyes, trying to figure out what technique would work. Trying to assess the risks versus the rewards of each scenario, but this wasn’t work. This was a little girl. His little girl.
“I’m good at what I do, but—” he shrugged and gave up trying to hide “—I suck at the emotional stuff.”
Her face softened slightly, but her body remained tense.
He took a deep breath as if he were about to jump into a pool. “I don’t know how to be a daddy.”
She dropped her arms. “She needs to know you care about her. No one’s asking you to be her daddy.”
“But I want to be.”
“You do?” Skepticism lingered in her expression.
He closed the distance between them. “I’ve missed so much already. I don’t want to miss any more. Amber is an amazing kid.” He paused. “Our kid.”
“I haven’t made my mind up about you yet.”
He could tell that he was winning here. Even as he felt more exposed than he had ever felt. “What if she doesn’t like me? What if her fantasy of her dad is built up so high in her mind that only Superman could fulfill her dreams?”
Maggie’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “All a little girl wants from her father is for him to be there for her.”
“Was your father there for you?” he asked, pushing gently for more information. There was something there. He’d sensed it before.
She shook her head, and a tear escaped down her cheek.
He smoothed it away with his thumb. “I’ll do my best to not disappoint either of you.”
That small smile crept onto her lips and he wanted to shout his victory. Her smooth skin beneath his thumb sent electricity down his spine. His body tensed at the sudden flood of desire pumping through his veins.
“I know you won’t.” She placed her hand over his on her cheek.
Trust. Had he ever known anyone quite like Maggie Brown? From a starry-eyed girl to a sultry teenager to this glorious woman standing before him, Maggie would never cease to amaze him.
He kissed her. He’d only meant to kiss her briefly. He wasn’t even sure why. He wanted to, so he did. He could taste the vanilla ice cream. Her lips were incredibly soft beneath his. His only thought was he didn’t want to stop kissing her.
Brady’s
