“I’m kidding. I wouldn’t worry, Nick. Babies adapt and we’ll all be here to help. You know Grandmother is going to love this baby. She adored Artie. And pretty soon, we’ll all love her, too.”
“You’re right, I suppose. Grandmother is going to have to cooperate on this one. I can’t deal with a hassle from her.”
“Send me a picture of the teacher,” Stan said, going down the porch steps. He glanced over his shoulder. “I might want to propose. Then I’d be daddy and uncle to your little girl.” He laughed at his own joke and Nick shook his head.
“You’re hopeless, Stan. Take your suggestions and go,” Nick said, laughing with his brother.
“Seriously, I’ll help if you need me, although I don’t know as much about babies as you do. My expertise ends with colts and calves.”
“Thanks, Stan,” Nick said, feeling a bond with his brother.
As Stan drove away, Nick returned to his office, but he couldn’t get his mind to focus on the ranch work in front of him. He remembered Madeline. Since meeting Talia, he recalled everything about that night. He was sure he had used protection, yet here was this little baby and the DNA definitely made her his baby. He couldn’t get accustomed to the idea, and guilt swamped him at the thought he would have to take her away from someone who poured out love to her and place her in a family of strangers.
Enough, he told himself. It’d work out. It had to.
He picked up the leather-bound ledger but the figures swam before his eyes. All he could think about was his new status as a daddy...and his electrifying attraction to Talia Barton.
* * *
Late the following sunny May afternoon Nick paced back and forth. He was in his mansion in a gated community of Dallas, waiting for Talia to arrive, and then he would meet his daughter. That still didn’t seem possible. A night at a party—when he’d had too much to drink, been too long alone, hurting over his loss and trying to overcome the grief and desperation he felt—he’d had sex with a woman he’d barely known. Now he had a daughter for the rest of his life. A little girl who was going to move in with a father who was a total stranger. He knew that was better than the state and they would probably all grow to love her, but it was going to be rough for the little girl for a time and he hated that. And it was breaking Talia’s heart, something he could understand all too well because of the loss of his son.
When he heard a car, he glanced at his watch. Talia was on time. He thought about seeing her again and that was one bit of this whole thing that he looked forward to, even though he shouldn’t because she had already complicated his life beyond measure.
He hurried to the front door. When he reached for the door, he glanced out and saw Talia coming up the walk carrying a little girl in her arms. His pulse jumped as his glance swept over Talia’s high heels and her deep blue sleeveless dress. Her hair was high, pinned on the sides of her head, and fell in spiral curls over her shoulders. The curls bounced slightly with each step she took. His gaze shifted to the baby in her arms. The little girl had one thin arm on Talia’s shoulder with her fingers wound in Talia’s long curls. Her other arm hung at her side. She had wispy, tangled brown hair, and from a distance she looked like a pretty child. He couldn’t imagine that this was his baby, but she was. It was a shock each time he thought about it, and seeing her didn’t make it any more real to him.
A little girl he didn’t know in the arms of a woman he would like to know if circumstances were different. His life was going to change forever and he couldn’t even imagine how.
He opened the door. “Come in. You and Hattie.”
“Thank you,” Talia said in a tight voice. From the sound of it, he was sure she was hurting. If she felt this bad just introducing him to his daughter, how much worse was it going to get for her?
He looked down at the baby in her arms, gazing into wide green eyes with gold flecks that were like his own and ran in his family. Hattie had the same color hair he did, the same facial features, but slightly darker skin. As if sensing something was wrong with the adults around her, she gazed solemnly up at him.
He stepped back so Talia could enter and closed the door behind her, catching up with them, his gaze lingering briefly on the sexy sway of Talia’s hips as she walked. Hattie twisted around to stare at him, studying him intently.
“Let’s go to the family room. It’s probably the most childproof room in the house. Arthur wasn’t toddling around or even crawling, so we didn’t get anything ready for a baby to explore.”
“I’ll watch her and she’ll go home with me until you’re ready to take her,” Talia said. “Unless you have other plans.”
“Plans? I’m just trying to get a grip on my new status.”
She glanced up with worry in her big eyes.
“You’re worrying about me taking her from you,” he said.
She shook her head. “I’m worrying you won’t take her and the state will get her.”
He caught Talia’s arm lightly, instantly having that startling awareness from the physical contact. He heard her breath catch and realized she felt something, too. Why did sparks fly between them when they didn’t even know each other? Looking intently at her, he released her just as quickly. Standing so close, he was acutely aware of her while he tried to focus on the problem.
“Let’s settle that one right now. I have the DNA and Hattie is my baby. I’m not giving my baby to the state to try to place in foster homes or wherever they can find. I’ll take Hattie and you’ll get to see her. You have my promise,” he said, emotions tearing at him because he was making a huge commitment that he didn’t even know if he could live up to. He had been tossed into fatherhood abruptly and it brought back memories of his baby boy and of his wife, of being in love and happy and filled with plans for a future that vanished in a crushing blow when their private plane went down in a storm. He hadn’t ever expected to raise a little girl he didn’t even know, a child born to a mother he was with for only a few hours. As he looked down into Talia’s wide, frightened eyes, his insides churned and he wondered if he could possibly keep the promise he was making to her. This promise was monumental and a life-changer. Along with tremendous responsibility, it brought heartache. Every time he looked at this child he’d be reminded of what he had lost in the past.
As she searched his gaze, tears filled Talia’s eyes. She brushed away her tears hastily. “You really mean that, don’t you?” she asked softly.
“Yes, I do,” he said. “Don’t cry. I’ll take Hattie because she’s my child and you’ll get to see her. We’ll figure something out.”
“I wanted so badly to adopt her and be her mother. My attorney said I’d have to go through the state to apply.” Shaking her head, Talia turned away, carrying the baby to the window and talking softly to her. He let her go so she could get herself pulled together while he tried to calm his own nerves.
A few minutes later he glanced around and saw Talia was standing a few feet behind him, holding out Hattie to place her in his arms. As their hands brushed, he felt a frisson of electricity shoot up his arm. He inhaled her perfume, an enticing scent. As he took Hattie, his gaze met Talia’s, and if he let himself, he could drown in the blue depths of her eyes.
His heart pounding, he forced himself to
