She was quoting books she’d memorized—long ago—in another life. He was checking the foam beneath the seat cover and the straps, too. Her initial analysis indicated that he was fairly distraught himself.
Not what she would’ve predicted from a hard-core businessman possibly stealing from her father.
“Who is she?” she asked, figuring it was best to start at the bottom and work her way up to exposing him for the thief he probably was.
He straightened. Stared at the baby in her arms, his brown eyes softening and yet giving away a hint of what looked like fear at the same time. In that second she wished like hell that her father was wrong and Collins wouldn’t turn out to be the one who was stealing from Owens Investments.
She didn’t move. Just stood frozen with her arms holding a baby against her.
“Her name’s Diamond Rose.” His tone soft, he continued to watch the baby, as though he couldn’t look away. But he had to get that seat dealt with. Fast. The lump in her throat grew.
“Whose is she?” She was going to have to put the baby down. Sooner rather than later. Her permanently broken heart couldn’t take much more. The tears were already starting to build. Dammit! She’d gone almost two months without them.
“Mine...sort of.”
Her head shot up. “Yours?” She glanced at the cell phone on his desk and then noticed the portable baby monitor. “You don’t have a baby crying ringtone?”
“No.”
“You have a baby?”
There’d been nothing in his file. According to her father, he’d only been dating his current girlfriend—some high-powered attorney—for the past six months. He’d brought her to a dinner Howard had hosted for top producers and their significant others. And had explained where and how they’d met. Which was pertinent because soon after he’d taken the first full vacation he’d had in eight years.
“She’s not mine,” he said then frowned, glancing at Tamara hesitantly before holding her gaze. “Legally, she is. But I’m not her father.”
“Who is?” His personnel records hadn’t listed any next of kin other than an incarcerated mother.
He shrugged. “That’s the six-million-dollar question. No idea. Biologically she’s my sister.”
Tamara flooded with emotion. She couldn’t swallow. Standing completely still, concentrating on distancing herself from the deluge, focusing on him, she waited for her skin to cool. With a warm baby snuggled against her chest.
She had to get rid of that warmth.
Get away from the baby.
“Your mother had a baby?” she heard herself ask, sounding only a little squeaky.
He nodded.
“I thought she was in prison...” She suddenly realized she might have revealed too much. She was being too invasive for a first business meeting. “Um, Bill told me. He said you’d overcome a...difficult past.”
He nodded. “She was. And the fact that she was a convict makes the question about Diamond’s father that much harder to answer. Who’s going to admit to fathering a child illegally?”
Her nerves were quaking. “She gave birth in prison?”
“Three days ago.”
She’d been right. The child was only days old...
Days older than any of hers had lived to be.
“And she gave her to you?” She wasn’t going to be able to keep it together much longer.
He’d agreed to take a baby. That said something about him. He needed to take her from Tamara.
He’d taken on a child. But then, his mother, a criminal, had agreed to take him on, too. By birthing him. Keeping him.
“My mother died in childbirth.”
Flint’s shocking words hit her harder than they would have if she’d been on the other side of the room. Or in another room. Speaking to him on the phone.
Knees starting to feel weak, she knew she was out of time. “And just like that, you become a father?”
“Just like that.”
There were things she should say. More questions to ask. But Tamara simply stood there, staring at him.
Unable to move.
To speak.
She was shaking visibly.
And had to get rid of the bundle she held.
Pronto.
Chapter Five
“Here, you need to take her.”
As the pink-wrapped bundle came toward him with more speed than he would’ve expected, Flint reached out automatically, allowing the baby’s head to glide up to his elbow, her body settling on his lower arm. While holding a baby was still foreign to him, he was beginning to notice a rhythm, a sense of having done it before.
“She needs to bond with you.” The woman was a stranger to him and yet she was sharing one of the most intimate experiences in his life. His coming to grips with a reality he had little idea how to deal with and a role he was unsure of. Burying his mother. Meeting his sister. Becoming for all intents and purposes, a father. All happening in one day. He’d been about to lose it—and she’d saved him.
Just like she’d saved him from almost certain job loss earlier.
Could she really be, somehow, heaven-sent? By his mother, not any divine source watching out for him. He’d long ago ceased hoping for that one.
Did he dare even think of his mother making it to an afterlife that would allow her to help her baby girl?
Was he losing his damned mind?
“Until two days ago, I didn’t know the first thing about children.” He hardly remembered being one. It seemed to him he’d grown up as an adult. “Babies in particular.”
“You’ve had her for two days?” The woman had backed up to the other side of the desk and was halfway to the door. A couple of times she’d rubbed her hands along shapely thighs covered by a deliciously short skirt and was now clasping them together as though, at any second, they might fly apart.
“I just got her today,” he said, calming a bit now as the baby settled against him as easily as she had with the efficiency expert. It was the first time he’d actually held the infant.
All he’d done so far was pick her up to lay her on a pad on the table. And to put her back in her carrier to feed her. That was it.
“So, how often does the holding thing need to happen?” How far behind was he?
“All the time.” She was nodding, as though following the beat of some song in her head. Rubbed her thighs again, then was wringing her hands. Then reached for the doorknob. “When you’re feeding her, certainly, and other times, too. Whenever you can. There are, um, books, classes and, you know, places you can go to learn everything...”
“I spent the weekend crash coursing. I guess I zoned out on the holding part.”
“Parents holding their babies is a...biological imperative. They can’t get enough of it. The babies, I mean. And...”
She turned away as though she couldn’t wait to escape. Which made no sense to him, considering how naturally she’d rescued Diamond Rose from his inept attempts to “parent” her.
“What did you want?” His question was blunt but he wasn’t ready for her to go. Not until his baby sister had a few more minutes with him—while he still had the efficiency expert’s child-care guidance. To make sure Diamond was satisfied, for now, with what he could do for her.
“Um...oh, it can wait.”
She glanced at the baby again, her eyes lingering this time. And then she seemed unusually interested in the wall on the opposite side of the room.
“Seriously. You needed something from me. I’m here to work.” He couldn’t afford to be a problem, considering how badly he needed this job.
The expert took a step away from the door and he waited for the business discussion to start. Tried not to pay attention to how beautiful she was. Like no woman he’d ever encountered before. A compelling combination of business savvy, sexy,
glamorous and natural, too.
He thought her name was Tamara, but wasn’t positive he was remembering correctly. He’d been a bit distracted when they’d met earlier.
But if he could get her to put in a good word with Howard on his behalf...
“I’m sorry about your mother.” She sounded a little less harassed.
He nodded. Settled his bundle a little more securely against him.
She stared at the crook of his arm, then looked around the office. Seemed to spy the Pack ’n Play still in its box tucked away by the long curtain on the far window. “I guess you haven’t had time to make child-care arrangements.”
Efficiency expert. Finding a problem with his efficiency?
“I sold three thousand shares at 475 percent of their purchased value today.” He’d made an outrageous amount of money for a client who liked to take risks. And a hefty sum for the brokerage, though it wasn’t an investment Howard would have approved of because of the risk. He could just as easily have lost the entire sum.
The efficiency expert blinked. Gave her head a little shake. Drawing his attention to the auburn curls falling around her shoulders.
“I...asked about child care?” She sounded as though she was doubting his mental faculties now. She could join the club. If ever a man had lost it, that was him.
“Because if you need help, I know someone...”
Oh.
“I need to find out if I have a job first,” he told her. Bill hadn’t fired him. But he hadn’t said his job was secure, either. Flint hadn’t heard from him all afternoon. Or from Howard.
Either of them could have seen the sale he’d made, with their access to the company’s portfolios. He assumed they both had. They were that kind of businessmen. Always on top of what mattered.
Which was why he was working there.
“Were you intending to open your own business? I heard Mr. Coniff ask about that as I approached his officer earlier.”
Not an efficiency-related question. But it was a human one. He was standing there, holding a baby, and had just told her, before he’d made anyone else in the company aware, that the child was suddenly his.
And that he’d lost his mother.
He’d also told her that he wasn’t sure he still had a job.
“Yes, I was in the process of opening my own business.” No point in denying the truth. Lying wasn’t his way. “I intended to tell Howard as soon as the final paperwork was in order.”
“And now you aren’t?”
Diamond Rose sighed. He felt that breath as if he’d taken it himself. “Starting a new business, especially in this field, takes an eighteen-hour-a-day commitment and comes with more than average financial risk. I can no longer afford the time or the risk.”
“Because of the baby.”
Because he had no idea how to be a father. He had to learn. “I’m her only family.”
She nodded, looking at him, meeting his gaze. Not glancing, even occasionally, at his baby sister. She wasn’t wringing her hands anymore, either, which he considered to be a good thing.
Still...
“Howard doesn’t know about her yet. I didn’t actually see her myself until this morning. I’d appreciate it if you’d give me a little time to get my act together before you say anything.”
“I work for him,” she said. And then, “How much time?”
He calculated...between the month he’d probably need and the minute or two she seemed willing to give him. “Twenty-four hours, max.”
She watched him.
“I’ve got sixty times that in vacation days coming to me.” From an efficiency standpoint, she wouldn’t be risking anything. He could certainly ask for twenty-four hours.
“But you...didn’t take today off.”
“I rarely take time off. And I had stocks I had to sell or risk a big loss.”
He’d had all the losses he could handle. His mother. His fiancée. His business. All at once. In the past couple of days. Astonishing that he was still standing there.
Except that he’d had no choice. Someone had to take care of his mother’s brand-new baby.
Tamara—yes, that was definitely her name, Tamara Frost—was silent. A few long seconds later she said, “I see no harm in allowing you the time to go to your boss yourself.”
He could have kissed her. He shook off the feeling. He’d just met the woman! Whether or not she was his mother’s way of helping him from the great beyond, he had no time—and no mental or emotional capacity—to engage in any kind of liaison.
Yet he clung to the idea of having her on his side.
“Thank you.”
“So...you just got her this morning? And came straight here?” She sounded a bit incredulous.
“I had stocks I had to sell,” he repeated. A job to save. He couldn’t afford a big loss on top of everything else. That much he knew. He needed Howard Owens to need him around; he certainly didn’t want to give the older man more reason to fire him.
Her expression changed. Softened, although she hadn’t looked at the baby again. Not in a while. “I’d like to give you the name of a friend of mine. She runs a day care not far from here. Most places don’t take infants younger than six weeks, but considering your circumstances, I’m pretty sure she’d make an exception. I promise you, you won’t be sorry. She treats the children in her care like they’re her own. Gets to know them. Loves them. Babies get dedicated holding time. She takes everything that happens to her kids personally.”
He wasn’t ready to pass off his bundle to a stranger. Not out of his sight, at least.
Ms. Frost had given him twenty-four hours to report to Howard with some kind of baby management plan—well, to report to Howard that he had a child. Having the plan was his own stipulation.
“Does she watch your children?” Tamara wasn’t wearing a ring, but she’d been such a natural with Diamond Rose... Seemed to know everything about babies...
A shadow passed over Tamara’s face. He pretended not to notice. But when you knew the depth of sorrow yourself, you noticed.
“I don’t have children. My work is my life. My job requires a lot of travel. It’s not as if companies can come to me! And I don’t think it’s right to have children and then not be there to raise them. I love what I do, so I made a conscious choice.”
Then why the shadow in her eyes?
And what business was that of his?
Particularly since he already owed her so much. She’d interrupted at exactly the right time that morning, preventing him from losing his job, at least temporarily.
Giving him time to close the deal he’d opened at the end of the prior week. To make his company so much money, it would be harder to fire him.
She’d agreed he could have time to come up with a plan to present to Howard regarding his changed life status. A way to convince him that in spite of everything that had happened, he was still a smart business risk.
And she was the expert Howard had just hired—meaning Howard most likely trusted her implicitly. If Flint could stay on her good side...
“I’d appreciate your friend’s information,” he said. He nodded to a pad and pen on his desk that she could use to write down the woman’s name and phone number. All the while, he held the sleeping newborn between his left arm and body.
He could do this. Work. Take care of business. And a baby.
As long as his baby sister didn’t cry again. He’d hold her. Feed her. Burp her. Change her. And hold her again. How hard could it be?
“I’ll leave you to it, then...”
Momentary panic flared as Tamara Frost walked back to the door of his office. “Wait!”
She turned.
“You... What did you want? Initially?” She couldn’t have come to give him her friend’s number. She hadn’t known he had a baby. “When you knock
ed at my door?”
“I’m going to be conducting interviews with all department heads, with all top producers and with some randomly chosen office staff throughout the next week or so. I stopped by to set up an appointment to meet with you. But clearly you need to get your ship in order before I climb aboard.”
She was smooth. All business. If he hadn’t already been attracted to her, he’d have fallen right then. He wasn’t going to start anything—or even think about it. But he couldn’t help his reaction and was smart enough to acknowledge it to himself. Rather that than have it club him over the head at some point. Now that, he couldn’t afford.
Reminding himself he’d decided to stay on her good side, to shield his position with Howard, he sent her a smile reserved for his best clients. “Whatever works for you,” he told her. “I’ll make myself available.” Career came first with him.
The bundle in his arms blew a loud fart.
He’d forgotten, for a brief second, that he was no longer the man he’d been.
“Talk to Mallory,” Tamara said, referring to the friend whose number she’d written down. “Talk to Howard. And then give me a call.”
“I don’t have your number.”
“It’s in the email sent to everyone this morning.”
It was late afternoon and he’d yet to read any company-related mail. He’d handled his clients’ correspondence, though. Made all his phone calls. Set up a couple of important lunches for later in the week.
Flint would have come up with some charming, pithy response if the expert had waited a little longer. Apparently she was too efficient for that.
Watching the door close behind her, he glanced at the baby in his arms and felt...weak.
The boy who’d been resilient enough to get on a school bus as a runt kindergartener and sit among the bullies wasn’t sure how he was going to proceed through the next hour.
Chapter Six
Tamara canceled dinner with her parents two hours after she’d accepted her mother’s invitation. Dr. Sheila Owens had reached her after rounds that afternoon, thrilled that Howard had finally spoken with Tamara about his business problems and that she was already at work, trying to find the thief who was stealing from them. Sheila had wanted them to meet as a family and talk about the issue.
An Unexpected Christmas Baby Page 5