by Ripley, Meg
“I worked my absolute ass off yesterday. I even called Cathy over here to help me. And then as soon as you come home, you just decide that I’m not worthy of taking care of her. Then you top it all off by acting like it’s just natural. I have a hard time believing for one second that a self-centered man like you knows shit about kids.” She gave him a stubborn look.
Blane shoved himself away from the wall and turned around before he did something he regretted. He crossed the room and picked up a book from the end table. “Guess what? There are books on these sorts of things, or would it surprise you that I know how to read? This Dr. Spock guy has been pretty helpful. You can read it for yourself if you’d like.” He chucked the volume onto the sofa and stomped up the stairs toward his room. “I’m going to work.”
“But you said you weren’t going in today!” Courtney argued.
Blane paused on the staircase. What did she want from him? He wasn’t allowed to stay home, but she didn’t want him to leave, either. “They’ll just have to deal with me. At least then you won’t have to,” he retorted.
It was going to be another long day.
Chapter Seven
When Blane was safely behind his bedroom door, Courtney dragged herself up the stairs to get dressed. Her body and mind were in turmoil over their encounter, and she couldn’t quite make sense of it.
As she pulled a blouse and a pair of slacks out of her suitcase—not yet having had the time to hang anything in the closet—she thought back on all her experiences with Blane. The man was barely able to take care of himself, and it didn’t follow that he would just instantly be able to take care of a baby. Most guys she knew probably wouldn’t even do well around a child that could feed itself and use the bathroom. Had he always just been lazy before because he knew she would take care of everything for him? She didn’t like that idea.
But admittedly, Courtney also couldn’t quite explain why she was so angry at him for stepping up. She should be happy that he wasn’t actually leaving the entire burden on her, as she had expected. Blane’s talent for baby care had been flabbergasting and a little disconcerting, though. Maybe Courtney was just too possessive over a child that wasn’t even hers. She blamed her inner dragon as she brushed her hair into a quick ponytail that wouldn’t get in the way of Amanda’s spitup.
She paused while putting on her shoes as she heard Blane’s bedroom door open and close, her body tensing. Courtney had never been as close to a full-on shift near Blane as she had been when he’d held her against the wall. He hadn’t even pushed her; their bodies had simply moved in unison until there was no place else to go. Her cheeks heated as she finished with her shoes, remembering the way it had felt to be so close to him. He was a handsome man, and Courtney had known that even before she had begun working for him. Most celebrities were, and it was part of her job to ignore that. But when their bodies were so close, feeling the heat from his chest wrapping around hers, it was a much harder task.
His footsteps moved down the stairs. Courtney wondered for a moment if he had already arranged for his driver to take him to the set, and she automatically thought she needed to do that for him. But no, he had already shown her that he could be responsible when he wanted to be. It was her services that had allowed him to be so lazy in the past, and if he wanted to be stubbornly independent all of a sudden, then that was up to him.
Peeking out into the hall, Courtney made her way back downstairs once she knew the coast was clear. Amanda was still asleep in her bassinet, completely ignorant of the tension between her father and her makeshift nanny. The baby squirmed and stretched, her eyes slowly opening.
“Hello, sweetheart.” All of the venom in her voice had vanished, and she picked up that soft, warm body and held it in her arms. “Maybe your daddy’s not completely wrong. I feel like I should be the one to take care of you, but don’t tell him that. It’ll take some time to find a new nanny anyway, right?”
Having already gotten a very late start on the day, Courtney knew she had a lot of lost time to make up for. She had phone calls to make and errands to run, but she was determined not to call Cathy unless she absolutely needed her. She would get it done, and she would be fine. Then, when Blane came home, it would be his turn to be impressed by how much she had done.
The universe seemed to have other plans for her, though. In an effort to hold both a fussy Amanda and the bottle that the baby wanted so desperately, Courtney managed to drop the bottle, sending it to the kitchen floor with a crash. The mess lay there for several minutes while she made a new bottle and fed the little girl, only getting cleaned up once the child had settled down a bit. Courtney made the mistake of finding her phone where Blane had hidden it in a drawer in the living room, and of course it began ringing constantly as soon as she turned it on. Some of the phone calls were from reporters trying to confirm the rumors of Blane’s child, and Courtney hung up before they had a chance to hear Amanda fussing. Most of the calls were legitimate, though, and she had to take them. It wasn’t professional to have a crying baby in the background while she spoke to directors, tailors and the manager of the marina, so she learned to keep the baby swing going with her foot while she jotted down notes.
Out of curiosity, Courtney attempted to pick up Blane’s copy of Baby and Child Care. She only managed to read the first page or two before the phone rang again, and then Amanda needed her before she could return to it. The book stayed in its place on the end table for the rest of the day.
Shortly before dinner, the house was too quiet. Courtney was used to the hustle and bustle of her normal life, but the phone calls had stopped coming and Amanda was quietly sitting in her swing for the moment. It was nice, but it was almost too peaceful. Courtney flipped on the radio and turned the volume down. Fortunately, they weren’t talking about Blane on the news for a change, something that she’d had to avoid all day. Toto’s “Africa” was playing, a song that she had always liked. She sang it softly to the baby, delighting in the way Amanda smiled at her when she got a little silly with it.
“How old are you, sweetie?” Courtney mused when she was done. “I just realized that I don’t even know your birthday. I hope the police can find your mother. Even if she doesn’t want you anymore, it’s clear that Blane does. He ought to at least know how old you are.”
Amanda cooed an unintelligible answer, and a heavy pounding sounded from the front of the house.
The baby jumped, and so did Courtney. She checked that Amanda was safely strapped in as she rose to her feet, intuitively not liking the sound. “You stay right here, honey. I’ll go see what this is all about.”
The sun was just beginning to go down, but as Courtney came into the foyer, she could see a figure pressed up against the glass front door. The knocking sounded again, desperate this time. “Blane?” a muffled voice called. “Open up! I need to talk to you!”
Only a few people had the code that would get them through the gate at the end of the driveway, like the mailman and Blane’s sister. Whoever this was either had the approval to be there or had climbed the fence. It was a woman; she could tell that much by the voice. “Who is it?” Courtney barked.
“I’m the mother of Blane’s baby!” the stranger replied. “Please let me in so I can see her!”
Courtney froze for a second, her heart crashing down to her feet. She had been the one to start the investigation, thinking they needed to know the other half of Amanda’s parentage. But she had never expected the mother to just show up at the front door. She couldn’t exactly tell her to go away now that she was there. Courtney unlocked the door and opened it, but instantly regretted her actions.
The woman on the doorstep was none other than Kimberly Dunn. Her brown hair had been pulled back in a tight braid, and her eyes were wild as she tried to shove her way through the door. Courtney blocked her, shoving her backwards. The fan stumbled, but didn’t give up, charging once again.
“You’ve got to let me in!” she screeched. “I’ve got to talk to Blan
e! I’m the mother of his baby!”
“If that’s true, then I suggest you get the fuck out of here before I kill you,” Courtney growled. She had a hard time believing that Blane would stoop so low as to sleep with someone like Kim, but she had made a point not to keep track of his conquests. “Anyone who just dumps a child on someone else’s porch doesn’t deserve to live!”
“Who are you? His bodyguard?” Kim challenged. She barreled forward again.
This was not going well, and Courtney knew from past encounters that this woman didn’t give up easily. Kim was strong, and she nearly had Courtney back over the threshold.
With a shudder, Courtney let her body go. This wasn’t the place to shift fully, but she allowed a long and muscled tail to finally release. Courtney used it as a brace as Kim lunged at her, swinging it out to shove her out the door as soon as she had her balance.
Surprised, Kim fell backwards, hitting the concrete with a thump.
Courtney slammed the door and locked it, grabbing the phone on the hall table, and immediately dialed the cops. “She’s a shifter, so you might want to bring your specialists.” It was well-known that dragons were far stronger than normal humans, and the last thing Courtney wanted to see was a group of unsuspecting officers slayed on the front lawn.
They showed up quickly, as they did any time they were needed at a celebrity home, and Kim was soon escorted off the premises in handcuffs. Courtney knew she must have given up to be taken away so easily, and a bubble of anxiety took up residence between Courtney’s lungs. This was the second time in as many days that Kim had shown up. Will she be back? At least she wouldn’t be while the police dealt with her, and that had to be good enough for now.
A few hours later, Courtney took Amanda upstairs and lay her in her crib. The baby had already been falling asleep in her arms, her breath warm on the side of Courtney’s neck. “I’m so sorry, little one,” she whispered as she tucked her in. “If that crazy woman really is your mother, then I’m sure Blane will do everything he can to keep you safe from her. And I’m also sorry that you’ve been stuck with an incompetent nanny like me.” The day had gone much better than the previous one, but Courtney still wasn’t sure she was capable of handling this task full-time. She and Blane made quite the odd couple, and if their argument earlier in the day was any indicator, Courtney would be fired before the week was out.
As she softly closed Amanda’s bedroom door behind her, Courtney heard the front door. She paused, bracing herself for another attack from Kim. But she could tell merely by the footsteps that it was Blane. She had come to know everything about him, including the way he walked. Well, she had thought she had known everything until that day, when he had shown her that he somehow knew how to babysit.
Okay, you can do this, she encouraged herself. Courtney had gone over her apology in her head several times over the course of the day. She had lashed out at him because she had been scared and bewildered, and she shouldn’t have taken that out on him. Courtney felt she deserved an apology as well, but Blane was her boss. She knew he would do as little as he could get away with. And Courtney needed this job. It would be much harder to start over with someone new. She steeled herself, reciting her atonement in her mind once again.
He was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. Her heart jumped when she saw him, ready for the verbal onslaught that she probably deserved. But his face was soft, even sheepish. He held up a large brown paper sack. “I brought dinner, if you haven’t eaten yet.”
“I haven’t.” She paused partway down. “Look, Blane, I’m sorry that I—”
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like you weren’t needed, and I can understand why my actions threw you off so much.”
Courtney came down two more steps. “I overreacted.” It seemed there was more she should say, but she couldn’t quite come up with the words. She had been expecting to have to track him down and make him listen to her, but he was just standing there waiting for her to accept his apology.
“We both did. I think this whole baby thing has been harder on both of us than we’d like to admit. That’s why I also brought some wine. I thought we could use it.” He held up his other hand, showing her the bottle.
She smiled despite herself and came the rest of the way down the stairs. “I’ll get a couple of glasses.”
As they laid everything out on the dining table, Courtney remembered there was something very important she needed to tell him. “Kimberly Dunn showed up today, and she tried to get in the house. I stopped her, but I had to call the cops to come and get her. She wasn’t going to just give up.”
Blane paused, a Styrofoam container in his hands. “Shit. You’re kidding me.”
“I wish I was. Clearly, she doesn’t care about a restraining order. The fence and the gate didn’t do anything to stop her, either. Unfortunately, the fact that she was here wasn’t as crazy as why she was here.” Courtney focused on the dark red liquid as she filled one glass, and then a second one. It would have been nice if she could have left this part out, but it was important that Blane knew. “She says that she’s Amanda’s mother.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
The levity in his voice was unexpected, and Courtney turned to look at him. “I wish.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Blane continued to empty the paper bag. “She’s nuts, and even though I don’t know who Amanda’s mom is, it’s definitely not her. Trust me, I would remember.”
They both had to laugh at that, and Courtney brought the glasses to the table. “Well, I have to be honest; I was hoping you had better taste than that. Oh, this is good wine.”
“I figured we deserve it. We’ll get this all figured out, and everything will feel normal again soon.” He handed her a container.
Courtney opened it to find chicken marsala and green beans. It looked delicious, but there were more things she needed to say before she could work up enough appetite to enjoy it. She’d thought long and hard about her actions, and if they were going to continue to work together, then they needed to be honest with each other. “I hope you’re right. The truth is, I was kind of offended when you said you wanted someone else to be the nanny. I had tried really hard, and it made me feel as though I had already failed.”
He stabbed a bite of green beans with his fork. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean it that way. At that point, I didn’t even know how well you had or hadn’t done. I just knew that I had needed you on the set. It was selfish of me.” Blane chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “And if we’re being candid, I was offended when you didn’t think I’d know anything about kids.”
Courtney shook her head, ashamed of herself. “I didn’t really mean that. I was frustrated that it all looked so easy for you, and I lashed out.”
Blane leaned back in his chair. “You probably don’t know this, but I took care of Jane a lot when she was little. My mom worked all the time, so we did what we had to do. I didn’t really appreciate having to do it at the time, but I guess the experience was kind of good for me.”
“And what about your dad?” She realized after she asked that she probably shouldn’t have, but it was already out there.
He’d had a reflective smile on his face as he’d spoken of caring for Jane, but it melted into something else. “My dad wasn’t really in the picture,” he replied roughly, setting his fork down and picking up his wine. “He left when I was pretty young.”
Courtney looked away, not wanting to intrude on his past. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It was no great loss. He hadn’t been around a lot to begin with, but then he decided to leave with another woman. She was a shifter, too, and Dad joined her clan and everything.”
This made her look back up again. “Really? I didn’t know anyone did that anymore.” The idea of living in clans was something that she’d heard of only as an old-fashioned idea, back before shifters were accepted in human society and had even risen to the upper echelons of it.
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Blane shrugged. “You’ve got to remember that this was twenty years ago. It was already becoming outdated, but there were still plenty of groups who wanted to stick together. Dad never even came back to visit us, because he didn’t want to risk getting thrown out of his new clan. At least, that’s the way I understood it. He said they were soulmates or some bullshit like that. There’s no telling how much of that was truth and how much is fiction. Either way, I mostly grew up without him around.”
Courtney felt terrible that this had all been brought up. “I really am sorry.”
“Please, don’t be. I don’t need anyone feeling sorry for me. I’ve done well for myself, better than I ever could have imagined, and now Jane has, too. It’s worked out for the best. But I do think having Amanda in my life has grounded me a lot. She was the kick in the pants I needed to remember what it’s like to be a real person and not just a celebrity douchebag. It’s no wonder you’re frustrated after spending two years treating me like a child, and then I suddenly stepped up and started doing things.”
She laughed a little. “It’s all right. It’s not like any of us are perfect.”
“Sure you are.” He was poking at his chicken again, sliding the mushrooms off to the side. “You know how to do everything. You never drop the ball. You never forget anything, even when you have a list of a hundred things to do. You’re the only person I know who cares more about making sure everyone else is taken care of than taking care of herself. I’m sure that if I hadn’t come into your room to take your phone and turned off the alarm, you would have been up with the sun this morning.”
Courtney frowned. It was a fair assessment of her, but she wasn’t sure it was one she liked. “I try too hard,” she said, suddenly feeling a great urge to tell him everything she had ever experienced. He was her boss, and their relationship had no business going anywhere past her doing the tasks that he asked of her, but she knew in that moment she just had to say it all. “I can’t help it. My parents died when I was really young. I didn’t have any siblings, so I just had to make it on my own. I went through numerous foster homes, and none of them were very good. They were just making money off of me until they had a child of their own or had a better opportunity come along.”