usual, you were right about Coleman. He left as soon as I got pregnant. But before he left, I got him to sign away his rights to Rosie. She doesn’t need him in her life.
I love you, Reed, and I know Rosie will, too. So thanks in advance—or from the grave. Whichever. Spring.
He didn’t know whether to smile or howl. The letter was so like Spring—making light of a situation that most people wouldn’t think about. In seconds, vignettes of Spring’s life raced through Reed’s mind. He saw her as a baby, a child who followed him around whenever they were together, a teenager who loved nothing more than shocking her parents and finally, a woman who never found the kind of love she’d always searched for.
He folded the paper slowly, then tucked it away again before he let himself look at Spring’s child. The baby was clearly well cared for, loved...happy.
Now it was up to him to see that she stayed that way. At that thought everything in Reed went cold and still. He knew what his duty was. Knew what Spring would expect of him. But damned if he knew a thing about babies.
“I see panic in your eyes.”
Instantly, Reed’s normal demeanor dropped over him. He sent Lilah a cool stare. “I don’t panic.”
“Really?” she said, clearly not believing him. “Because your expression tells me you’re wishing Rosie and I were anywhere but here.”
He didn’t appreciate being read so easily. Reed had been told by colleagues and judges alike that his poker face was the best in the business. Knowing one small baby and one very beautiful woman had shattered his record was a little humbling. But no need to let her know that.
“You’re wrong. What I’m wondering is what I’m going to do next.” And that didn’t come easy to him, either. Reed always had a plan. And a backup plan. And a plan to use if the backup failed. But at the moment, he was at a loss.
“What you’re going to do?” The woman stood up, smiled down at the baby then turned a stony stare on him. “You’re going to take care of Rosie.”
“Obviously,” he countered. The question was, how? Irritated, he pushed one hand through his hair and muttered, “I’m not exactly prepared for a baby.”
“No one ever is,” Lilah told him. “Not even people who like to plan their lives down to the last minute. Babies throw every plan out the nearest window.”
“Wonderful.”
Rosie squealed until the sound hit a pitch Reed was afraid might make his ears bleed. “That can’t be normal.”
Lilah laughed. “She’s a happy baby.”
Tipping her head to one side, Lilah watched him. “After I found out about Spring’s family, I did some research. I know you have a lot of siblings, so you must be used to babies.”
Another irritation, that he’d been looked into, though he knew potential clients did it all the time. “Yeah, a lot of siblings that I usually saw once or twice a year.”
“Not a close family,” she mused.
“You could say that,” Reed agreed. Hard to be close, though, when there were so damn many of them. You practically needed a spreadsheet just to keep track of his relatives.
“My family’s not at issue right now,” he said, shifting his gaze away from blue eyes trying to see too much to the baby looking up at him with Spring’s eyes. “Right now, I’ve got a problem to solve.”
Lilah sighed. “She’s not a problem, she’s a baby.”
Reed flicked Lilah a glance. “She’s also my problem. Now.”
He would take care of her, raise her, just as his sister had wanted. But first, he had to get things lined up. He’d made his fortune, survived his wildly eclectic family, by having a plan and sticking to it. The plan now entailed arranging for help in taking care of Spring’s daughter.
He worked long hours and would need someone on site to handle the child’s day-to-day needs. It would take a little time to arrange for the best possible nanny. So the problem became what to do with the baby until he could find the right person.
His gaze settled on Lilah Strong. And he considered the situation. She already knew and cared about the baby. Yes, she still looked as though she’d like to slap him, but that didn’t really matter, did it? What was important was getting the baby settled in. He had a feeling he could convince this woman to help him with that. If he offered her enough money to compensate her for her time.
He knew better than most just how loudly money could talk to those who didn’t have any. “I have a proposition for you.”
Surprise, then suspicion, flashed in her blue eyes just before they narrowed on him. “What sort of proposition?”
“The sort that involves a lot of money,” he said shortly, then turned and walked to his desk. Reaching into the bottom drawer, he pulled out a leather-bound checkbook and laid it, open and ready, on top of his desk. “I want to hire you to stay for a while. Take care of the baby—”
“Her name is Rosie...”
“Right. Take care of Rosie then, until I can arrange for a full-time nanny.” He picked up a pen, clicked it into life then gave her a long, cool look. “I’ll pay whatever you want.”
Her mouth dropped open and she laughed shortly, shaking her head as if she couldn’t believe what was happening. Fine. If she was unable to come up with a demand, he’d make an offer and they could negotiate from there. “Fifty thousand dollars,” he said easily.
“Fifty?” Her eyes were wide. Astonished.
“Not enough? All right, a hundred thousand.” Normally, he might have bid lower, but this was an emergency and he couldn’t afford to have her say no.
“Are you crazy?”
“Not at all,” he said with a shrug to emphasize that the money meant nothing to him. “I pay for what I need when I need it. And, as I believe it will take me at least a week or two to find and hire an appropriate nanny, I’m willing to buy interim help.”
“I’m not for sale.”
He smiled now. How many times had he heard that statement just before settling on the right amount? Everyone had a price—the only challenge came in finding the magic number. “I’m not trying to buy you,” Reed assured her, “just rent you for a week or two.”
“You have enough arrogance for two or three people,” she said.
He straightened up, shot her a level look. “It’s not arrogance. It’s doing what needs to be done. I can do that with your help—which allows you to continue to be a part of the child’s—”
“Rosie’s—”
“—life,” he finished with a nod at her correction. “You can stay, make sure the person I hire is right for the job. Or, you can leave and go home now.”
Of course, he didn’t believe for a moment that she would leave
