mother.
He returned to the house. Candace was in the kitchen warming a bottle of formula. The baby continued to showcase an impressive set of lungs. His housekeeper shot him a concerned glance.
“You let her go?” Candace rocked the baby.
“What was I supposed to do?”
“Convince her to take the baby with her?” She didn’t sound all that certain. “You and I both know she isn’t yours.”
“You sound pretty sure about that.”
Liam gave her a crooked smile. Candace had started working for him seven years ago when the former housekeeper retired. Diane Garner wasn’t the first woman to show up unexpected and uninvited on his doorstep, although she was the first one to arrive with a baby.
“You’ve been different this last year.” Candace eyed him. “More settled.”
She’d never asked what had prompted his overnight transformation from carefree playboy to responsible businessman. Maybe she figured with his thirtieth birthday he’d decided to leave his freewheeling days behind him. That was part of the truth, but not all.
“I’ve been living like a monk.”
She grinned. “That, too.”
“What am I supposed to do with a baby?” He eyed the red-faced infant with her wispy blond hair and unfocused blue eyes. “Why won’t she stop crying?”
“She’s not wet so I’m assuming she’s hungry.” Or maybe she just wants her mother. Candace didn’t say the words, but the thought was written all over her face. “Can you hold her while I get her bottle ready?”
“I’d rather not.”
“She won’t break.”
The child looked impossibly small in Candace’s arms. Liam shook his head. “Tell me what to do to get a bottle ready.”
The noise in the kitchen abated while the baby sucked greedily at her bottle. Liam made the most of this respite and contacted a local company that specialized in placing nannies. Since it wasn’t quite seven in the morning, he was forced to leave a message and could only hope that he’d impressed the owners with the urgency of his need. That done, he set about creating a list of things that baby Maggie would need.
* * *
Hadley Stratton took her foot off the accelerator and let her SUV coast down the last thirty feet of driveway. An enormous Victorian mansion loomed before her, white siding and navy trim giving it the look of a graceful dowager in the rugged West Texas landscape.
The drive from her apartment in Royal had taken her fifteen minutes. Although a much shorter commute than her last job in Pine Valley, Hadley had reservations about taking the nanny position. Liam Wade had a playboy reputation, which made this the exact sort of situation she avoided. If he hadn’t offered a salary at the top of her range and promised a sizable bonus if she started immediately, she would have refused when the agency called. But with student loans hanging over her head and the completion of her master’s degree six short months away, Hadley knew she’d be a fool to turn down the money.
Besides, she’d learned her lesson when it came to attractive, eligible bosses. There would be no repeat of the mistake she’d made with Noah Heston, the divorced father of three who’d gone back to his ex-wife after enticing Hadley to fall in love with him.
Parking her SUV, Hadley headed for the front door and rang the bell. Inside a baby cried, and Hadley’s agitation rose. She knew very little about the situation she was walking into. Only that Liam Wade had a sudden and urgent need for someone to care for an infant.
A shadow darkened the stained glass inset in the double door. When Hadley’s pulse quickened, she suspected this was a mistake. For the last hour she’d been telling herself that Liam Wade was just like any other employer. Sure, the man was a world-class horseman and sexy as hell. Yes, she’d had a crush on him ten years ago, but so had most of the other teenage girls who barrel raced.
A decade had gone by. She was no longer a silly fangirl, but a mature, intelligent, professional nanny who knew the risks of getting emotionally wrapped up in her charges or their handsome fathers.
“Good morning, Mr. Wade.” She spoke crisply as the door began to open. “Royal Nannies sent me. My name is—”
“Hadley...” His bottle-green eyes scanned her face.
“Hadley Stratton.” Had he remembered her? No, of course not. “Stratton.” She cleared her throat and tried not to sound as if her heart was racing. Of course he knew who she was; obviously the agency had let him know who they were sending. “I’m Hadley Stratton.” She clamped her lips together and stopped repeating her name.
“You’re a nanny?” He executed a quick but thorough assessment of her and frowned.
“Well, yes.” Maybe he expected someone older. “I have my résumé and references if you’d like to look them over.” She reached into her tote and pulled out a file.
“No need.” He stepped back and gestured her inside. “Maggie’s in the living room.” He shut the door behind her and grimaced. “Just follow the noise.”
Hadley didn’t realize that she’d expected the baby’s mother to be ridiculously young, beautiful and disinterested in motherhood until she spied the woman holding the child. In her late forties, she was wearing jeans, a flannel shirt and sneakers, her disheveled dark hair in a messy bun.
“Hadley Stratton. Candace Tolliver, my housekeeper.” Liam cast a fond grin at the older woman. “Who is very glad you’ve come so quickly.”
Candace had the worn look of a first-time mother with a fussy baby. Even before the introductions were completed, she extended the baby toward Hadley. “I’ve fed her and changed her. She won’t stop crying.”
“What is her normal routine?” Hadley rocked and studied the tiny infant, wondering what had become of the child’s mother. Smaller than the average newborn by a few pounds. Was that due to her mother’s unhealthy nutritional habits while pregnant or something more serious?
“We don’t know.” Candace glanced toward Liam. “She only just arrived. Excuse me.” She exited the room as if there were something burning in the kitchen.
“These are her medical records.” Liam gestured toward a file on the coffee table. “Although she was premature, she checked out fine.”
“How premature?” She slipped her pinkie between the infant’s lips, hoping the little girl would try sucking and calm down. “Does she have a pacifier?”
Liam spoke up. “No.”
Hadley glanced at him. He’d set one hand on his hip. The other was buried in his thick hair. He needed a haircut, she noted absently before sweeping her gaze around the room in search of the normal clutter that came with a child. Other than a car seat and a plastic bag from the local drugstore, the elegant but comfortable room looked like it belonged in a decorating magazine. Pale gray walls, woodwork painted a clean white. The furniture had accents of dusty blue, lime green and cranberry, relieving the monochrome palette.
“Where
