hands tightened around the bar of the stroller, no color left in her face. She read the question in his eyes and slowly nodded, devastation glimmering in her eyes as she confirmed his worst suspicions. “She was there, at the place we had arranged to meet. She must have seen me arrive and slipped out when I linked Ellie to her.”
Linc placed his hands on his hips and tipped his head back to look at the ceiling. He swore quietly, before returning his gaze back to Tate, who was rocking on her heels. “So, what do you want from me?”
Because I know what I want from you and that’s to unbutton that blouse, slide it off your sexy shoulders and feel your silky skin beneath my hands, your made-for-sin mouth fusing with mine. I want to know the shape of your breasts, dig my fingers into the skin of your ass...
Sex? That’s where his head went after her shocking statement. What the hell?
For God’s sake, Ballantyne, get a freakin’ grip! Why, after all the crap Kari had put him through, did he have the hots for her sister?
Linc rubbed the back of his neck. “I need coffee. Would you like a cup?”
“Only if you don’t poison it. Or spit in it.”
Linc felt his lips twitch and fought a smile. So, she had a bit of a mouth on her. Back in the world he normally lived in, the one that made sense, Linc didn’t mind sassy women. There was nothing more annoying than someone who agreed with everything he said, so desperate to please. He’d dated quite of few of them.
He didn’t like this woman, he reminded himself sternly; he didn’t have any intention of liking her, ever. They were going to have coffee, a conversation, and, hopefully, in ten minutes he’d be back at his desk and life would return to normal.
He looked down into the stroller again. “What’s her name?”
“In her letter, Kari calls her Ellie.”
“Pretty name,” Linc said, undoing the harness that kept Ellie in the stroller. He picked her up and placed her on his hip, his arm around her little butt. God, it felt weird, but almost right, to have a baby in his arms again. He’d always wanted a big family, tons of kids. But, since babies usually came with a mother and that species came with complications and drama, he was resigned to being a one-child dad. And that child was pretty damn cool...
“Follow me.” Linc led Tate through the second floor of the brownstone and hit the stairs leading to the garden level. Stepping into the large open-plan room, he walked into his, and Shaw’s, favorite area of the brownstone—the living room that flowed out from the kitchen and informal eating area. It held long, comfortable couches, a large-screen TV, books and Shaw’s toys. Massive French doors led to the enclosed garden with pots of herbs and garden furniture. The rest of The Den held priceless art and rare antiques, but this room was functional, lived-in and cozy.
Linc, still holding the baby, headed to the coffee machine and hit the button to power up the appliance. It was nearly 4:00 p.m., was it too early for something strong and alcoholic? After making coffee, Linc walked back into the sitting area and placed their mugs onto the coffee table.
Tate looked as white as a sheet, shell-shocked and more than a little panicked. She needed to calm the hell down.
“Take your coat off, sit down and breathe,” Linc instructed her, relieved when Tate nodded her agreement. In real life, she wouldn’t be so quick to acquiesce, Linc mused. It might have been her snarky comment earlier about him spitting in her coffee, but he just knew that Tate wasn’t a pushover. It added a layer of intrigue to the sexy.
He watched as she removed her coat, revealing more of that almost perfect body and her glorious blondish-brown hair. “I’ve lost my hat.”
“I think you have bigger things to worry about than a hat,” Linc stated, leaning forward to pick up his coffee cup.
Questions that had nothing to do with his ex and her baby jumped into his mind. Would her eyes deepen or lighten with passion? Was she a moaner or a screamer? Would she be...
Linc closed his eyes and forcefully shook his head, reminding himself to start using his brain.
He needed to hear her story so that he could hustle her out of the door and get back to his predictable, safe, sensible world. She was pure temptation, and being attracted to his crazy ex’s sister was a complication he most definitely did not need.
“So, start at the beginning and tell me how Kari managed to sucker you into looking after her child.”
Tate sank back into the cushions of the super comfortable couch, wishing she could just close her eyes. When she woke up, this would all be a horrible dream, and she’d have a vacation to start, a career to obsess over.
She wouldn’t have a baby to think about or to care for, and she certainly would not be in Linc Ballantyne’s fabulous mansion on the Upper East Side, looking at Manhattan’s hottest and most elusive bachelor.
The photographs of him online and in print publications didn’t do this man justice. They simply told the world that he was incredibly good-looking. And by good-looking, she meant fantastically hot. It was toasty warm inside his house, but she was still shivering, partly from shock but mostly from a punch of “throw me to the floor and take me now.”
Under Linc’s button-down shirt and tie was a wide chest and, she was sure, a hard, ridged stomach. His shoulders were broad, his legs long and muscular and his short, thick dark hair was just this side of messy. And those eyes, God, his eyes. They were a deep and mysterious gray, a color somewhere between summer thunderclouds and pewter. Short, thick black lashes, a slightly crooked nose and dark, rakish eyebrows added character to his too-sexy face.
But the photographs didn’t capture the power sizzling under his skin, the intelligence radiating from those eyes, the don’t-BS-me vibe emanating from him. They certainly didn’t capture the sheer and unrelenting masculinity of the man.
The man she was fiercely, ridiculously attracted to. Of course she was, Tate sighed, because she was a Harper woman and Harper women never made life easy for themselves.
Her eyes moved from his face to the baby tucked into the crook of his elbow, and she swallowed hard. She remembered his earlier question about what she wanted from him, and, not for the first time since stepping into the brownstone, she wondered what she was doing here. She wasn’t the type to fall apart in a crisis, who needed a man to sort her life out and she’d learned, at a very early age, not to depend on anyone else to help her muddle through life. People, she’d found, and especially those who were supposed to love her, were generally unreliable.
Ellie was her responsibility, not Linc’s. So, really, there was no point in extending this very uncomfortable visit. And the zing of sexual awareness dancing along her skin, making her heart bounce around her chest, added a level of awkward to their encounter.
Tate got to her feet, walked over to him and reached for Ellie, pulling the little girl into her arms. Eleven months old and abandoned, Tate thought. How could Kari do this? Again?
“I’m sorry, Linc, we shouldn’t have come here.” Tate heard her words running together and tried to slow down. “We’ll get out of your hair now.”
Linc
