by Cat Schield
“She’ll go into foster care and eventually be adopted.” Although the words were hopeful, the nurse’s smile was strained.
Hadley recognized that look. She’d seen it on the faces of plenty of her fellow nannies who’d grown too attached to their charges.
“Thank you for your time.” Liam glanced down at Hadley, his expression unreadable. “Shall we rejoin the party?”
All warmth had been leeched from his manner by the story of Baby Janey. Hadley nodded and strolled back toward the elevator at Liam’s side. Although her hand remained tucked in his arm, the emotional distance between them was as wide as an ocean. She recognized that this had nothing to do with her. Liam had retreated behind walls she couldn’t penetrate, defenses a young boy had erected to deal with his mother’s abandonment.
“Why don’t we get out of here,” Hadley suggested as they descended in the elevator. “I don’t think you’re in the mood for a party anymore.”
“You’re right.” One side of his lips kicked up. His gaze warmed as he bent down to brush a kiss across her lips. “But I should at least spend an hour here. If for no other reason than to show off my gorgeous date.”
Hadley blushed at the compliment. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought of her looks; as long as she could bask in Liam’s sizzling admiration, she felt flawless.
By the time the elevator doors opened, Liam seemed to have gotten past whatever had affected him in the neonatal unit. Once again the charming rascal she adored, he worked his way around the room, collecting smiles and promises of funds for several pieces of equipment the hospital still needed.
Watching him work, Hadley reveled in his charisma and marveled at his ability to strike just the right chord with everyone he met. This is what made him an astute businessman and a masterful horseman. He didn’t approach every situation with the same tactic.
“I’m ready to get out of here if you are,” he murmured in her ear an hour later.
“Absolutely,” she replied, anticipating what awaited them back at the ranch house.
On the ride home, Liam lapsed back into silence, his public persona put aside once more. Hadley stared at his profile in concern. Her hopes for a romantic evening fled. Liam’s troubled thoughts preoccupied him.
As Liam unlocked the front door, Hadley set aside her disappointment and decided to see if she could get him to open up. “How about I make some coffee and we talk about what’s bothering you?”
Liam’s chin dipped in ascent. “I’ll get a fire started in the den.”
Once she got the coffee brewing, Hadley ran upstairs to check on Maggie. She found the baby sleeping and Candace in the rocking chair, reading on her tablet. The housekeeper looked up in surprise as Hadley crossed to the crib.
“You’re home early. Did you have fun?”
“It was a nice party. The facilities are wonderful.” Hadley knew she hadn’t directly answered Candace’s question. While she’d enjoyed the company and the conversation, Liam’s mood after learning about Janey Doe had unsettled her. “Thanks for watching Maggie. Any problems?”
Candace got to her feet. “She went to sleep at eight and hasn’t made a peep since.”
“Good.” Maggie’s hair was soft beneath Hadley’s fingers as she brushed a strand off the baby’s forehead. “I made some coffee if you’re interested in joining us for a cup.”
“No, thanks. I’m almost done with this book. I’m going to head back to the carriage house and finish it.”
The two women headed downstairs. Liam was in the kitchen and gave Candace a cheerful thank-you as she left. By the time the housekeeper pulled the back door shut behind her, icy air filled the space. Hadley shivered and filled the mugs Liam had fetched from the cupboard. Cradling the warm ceramic in her hands, she led the way into the den and settled on the sofa.
Liam set his mug on the mantel and chose to stand, staring into the fire. “I’m sorry I was such bad company tonight.”
“You weren’t bad company.” Hadley was careful not to let her disappointment show. “Obviously something is bothering you. Do you feel like talking about it?”
“It was hearing about Janey Doe.”
“That was a very upsetting story.” She refrained from adding her own opinion on the subject, wanting Liam to share his thoughts.
“Her mother just leaving her like that. On the floor of a public bathroom. She could have died.”
Hadley kept her voice neutral. “She was fortunate that someone found her.”
“I thought it was bad that Maggie’s grandmother left her with us. This is so much worse. How could any mother abandon her child like that?”
“Not every woman is cut out for motherhood.” Hadley thought about all the families she’d worked for in the last five years and all the stories shared by her fellow nannies. “Sometimes the responsibility is more than they can handle.”
“You mean they wish they’d never given birth.”
Trying her best to hide a wince, Hadley responded, “I mean that parenting can be challenging, and sometimes if a woman has to do it alone, she might not feel capable.”
“Perhaps if she’s young and without financial means, I could understand, but what can you say about a woman who has family and fortune and turns her back on her children so she can pursue her career?”
Not wanting to sound as if she were picking sides, Hadley chose her next words carefully. “That she acted in her best interest and not in the best interest of her children.”
Liam crossed to the sofa and joined Hadley. A huge gust of air escaped his lungs as he picked up her hand and squeezed her fingers. “Maggie must never know that her grandmother left her with us the way she did. I won’t have her wondering why she didn’t want to keep her.”
This was the true source of Liam’s disquiet, Hadley realized. Whether he acknowledged it or not, being abandoned by his mother had sabotaged his ability to trust women. And where did that leave Hadley?
* * *
Liam could feel the concern rolling off Hadley as he spoke. He’d grown attuned to her moods since their days in Vail and didn’t have to see her expression to know her thoughts.
Hadley covered their clasped hands with her free one and squeezed. “It’s okay to be angry with your mother for not being there for you.”
The knot of emotions in his chest tightened at her words. Not once as a child had he seen his grandfather demonstrate anything but understanding toward the daughter who’d run out on her children. Liam had grown up thinking that what his mother had done was acceptable, while inside him was a howling banshee of anger and hurt that was never given a voice.
“You might feel better if you talked through how it made you feel.”
“I don’t know how to begin.” The words, long bottled up inside him, were poised to explode. “I grew up thinking it was okay that she chose to leave us with Grandfather.”
“Why?”
“She had a career that she loved, and like you said earlier, she really wasn’t cut out to be a mom. She got pregnant when she was seventeen. Our father was on the rodeo circuit and had no interest in settling down to raise a family. Mother felt the same way. Grandfather always said she had big dreams.” Liam offered up a bitter laugh. “I guess Kyle and I are lucky she decided to have us at all.”
Hadley’s shocked intake of breath left Liam regretting the venomous statement.
“You don’t mean that.”
“No,” he agreed. “Although I’ve thought it a hundred times, I don’t think she ever considered terminating her pregnancy. In that respect, she didn’t take the easy way out.”
“Getting back to what you said earlier, growing up did you really think that it was okay she left you with your grandfather, or was that just a coping mechanism?”
“In my mind, I understood her decision.
I can’t explain to you why that made sense. Maybe because it happened when we were babies and I never knew any different. But recently I started realizing that deep down inside, I hated her for leaving us.”
He’d coped by becoming a champion rider. Throwing himself into competition had preoccupied him in his teenage years. The closer he’d gotten to manhood, the less he thought about his mother’s absence. The day he’d kissed a girl for the first time, he’d stopped caring.
“Grandfather wasn’t exactly the most affectionate guy in the world, but he loved us in his tough-guy way. It might have been different if we were girls, but growing up on the ranch, we had more father figures than anyone could ever want.”
“You sound very well adjusted.” Her tone said otherwise. “Do you think not having a mother affected your relationships with women?”
“You mean because I never got married?”
“You have a well-earned reputation for being a playboy. I can’t imagine you trusted your heart after what your mother did.”
“I’ll admit to having a wandering eye when it came to women, but that’s changed.”
“Just because you think you’re ready to settle down doesn’t mean you’ve learned to trust.” She smiled to take the sting out of the words, but her eyes reflected wariness.
“You’re the first woman I’ve been with in a year,” he reminded her, voice rasping as frustration overcame him. “I think that proves I’m already settled down. And I trust you.”
Doubt continued to shadow her eyes. He shifted on the couch, angling his body toward her. Gripped by the urgent need to kiss her, Liam dipped his head, shortening the distance between them. He would demonstrate that he was serious about her.
Before he could kiss her, Hadley set her fingertips on his lips. “Thank you for sharing how you felt about your mother not being around. I know that couldn’t have been easy.”
“It wasn’t.” And yet it had been a relief to share his anger and sense of betrayal with her. “Thank you for listening.”
A moment earlier he’d had something to prove, but the mood was no longer right for seduction. Instead, he planted a friendly kiss on her cheek and held her in a tight hug.
“Let’s go upstairs,” she murmured, her hands sliding beneath his suit coat, fingers splaying over his back. “I want to make love to you.”
At her declaration Liam took a massive hit to his solar plexus. Pulse quickening, he caught her by the hand and drew her toward the stairs. They climbed together in a breathless rush. By the time they reached his bedroom, he was light-headed and more than a little frantic to get them both naked.
Once they crossed the threshold, Hadley plucked the pins from her hair, and it tumbled around her shoulders. Liam came to stand behind her, pushing the thick mass of blond hair away from her neck so he could kiss the slender column and make her shiver. He stripped off his jacket and shirt before turning his attention to the zipper of her dress. With more urgency than finesse, he stroked the dress down her body. When it pooled at her feet, he skimmed his palms back upward, hesitating over the ticklish spot beside her hip bones and investigating each bump of her ribs. The rise and fall of her chest grew less rhythmic as he unfastened her strapless bra and tossed the scrap of fabric on to a nearby chair.
Her hand came up to the back of his head as he cupped her breasts in his palms, thumbs flicking over her tight nipples. She shuddered, her head falling back against his chest, eyes closed as she surrendered to his touch. Although the tightness in his groin demanded that he stop all the foreplay and get down to business, Liam had no intention of rushing. He’d rather savor the silken heat of her skin and bring her body as much pleasure as it could take before seeking his own release.
She turned in his arms, her soft breasts flattening against his chest as she lifted on tiptoe and sought his mouth with hers. She cupped his face in her hands to hold him still while her tongue darted forward to toy with his. Liam crushed her to him, his fingers dipping below her black lace panties to swallow one butt cheek and lift her against his erection.
They both groaned as he rocked against her. She lifted her foot and wrapped her leg around his hips, angling the bulge behind his zipper into the warm, wet cleft between her thighs. The move unraveled all of Liam’s good intentions. He plucked her off her feet and moved toward the bed. She set the soles of her feet against his calves to keep him anchored between her thighs and impatiently removed his belt. It was torture to let her undress him. Every time her fingers glanced off his erection, he ground his teeth and bit back a groan. Only by watching the play of emotions race across her beautiful features was he able to maintain his control. By the time she’d slid open his zipper and pushed the pants down his thighs, his nerves screamed with impatience.
Liam stripped off pants, shoes, socks and underwear without ever taking his eyes off Hadley. With a sensual smile she moved backward, making room for him on the mattress. He stalked onto the bed, fitting between her spread thighs, covering her torso with his before claiming her lips in a hard kiss and her body with a single deep thrust.
He loved the way her hips lifted to meet his. How she arched her back and took him all the way in. Her chest vibrated with a moan. A matching sound gathered in his lungs. For a long moment they lay without moving, lips and tongues engaged.
Framing her face in his hands, Liam lifted his lips from hers and stared into her eyes. “Thank you for being my date tonight.” It wasn’t what he’d intended to say, but nevertheless his words pleased her.
“Thank you for asking. I had a lovely time.”
“Lovely?” He grinned. “Let’s see if we can’t upgrade that to fantastic.”
Her eyebrows lifted, daring him to try, while her fingers stroked down his sides. “We’re off to a wonderful start.”
Liam nuzzled his face into her throat and began to move inside her. “We certainly are.”
Ten
The night after the party at the hospital, Hadley was back on the neonatal floor she and Liam had toured. After receiving Maggie’s blood work back, Dr. Stringer had determined she should undergo phototherapy treatments for her jaundice. Despite being overwhelmed with ranch business, Liam had accompanied them, wearing his concern openly, but once he discerned how straightforward the process was, he’d relaxed.
Maggie had been stripped down to her diaper and placed in an incubator equipped with a light box that directed blue fluorescent light onto her skin. The light was meant to change the bilirubin into a form that Maggie could more easily expel through her urine. While the procedure was simple, it also took time to work. Maggie would be in the hospital for a couple days while undergoing the treatment. Hadley had agreed to stay with her to let Liam focus on the ranch.
Hadley caught herself humming as she fed Maggie her late-afternoon bottle. After the party at the hospital and the night spent in Liam’s arms, she’d stopped resisting what her heart wanted and let herself enjoy every moment of her time with Liam. Why fight against the inevitable? She’d fallen deeply in love with the man.
While a part of her couldn’t help but compare what was between her and Liam to what she’d had with Noah, deep down, Hadley recognized the vast difference between the two relationships. With Noah she’d never enjoyed any sort of emotional security. As much as he’d gone on and on about how much he wanted her, how his kids adored her, she always got the sense that he was looking over her shoulder for someone else. It turned out that someone else had been his ex-wife.
Liam never once let her think she was second best. His focus was always completely on her, and Hadley found that both comforting and wildly exciting. For the first time in a long time, she’d stopped focusing on the future and lived quite happily in the moment. School would start when it started. Her time with Maggie would grow shorter. Already arrangements had been made for the new nanny to start at the end of the month. This freed H
adley from her professional responsibilities, and she was eager to see where her relationship with Liam led.
Maggie’s eyelids started to droop before the bottle was finished. Hadley set it aside, lifted the infant onto her shoulder and patted her back to encourage a burp. A nurse stood by to test Maggie’s bilirubin levels. The staff members were monitoring her every hour or so. Hadley was calling Liam with the results.
His concern for Maggie’s welfare had warmed her when she thought the baby was his daughter. Now that she knew Maggie was his brother’s child, Liam’s commitment was just another reason Hadley found him so attractive.
She was tired of restraining her emotions. Liam made her happy, and she thought he felt the same way about her. When Maggie left the hospital, Hadley promised herself she would stop holding back.
* * *
Several days after the hospital party, Liam had an appointment with former Samson Oil lawyer Nolan Dane, who’d joined his father’s family law practice. Recently, Nolan had been accepted for membership in the Texas Cattleman’s Club, and the more Liam got to know the man, the more he liked him. The idea that had begun percolating in his mind took on a whole new urgency on the trip back from Colorado. With Maggie in the hospital and Hadley staying with her, the notion had solidified into a plan that required a savvy lawyer.
Liam stepped into Nolan’s office. “Looks like you’re all settled in.”
Nolan grinned. “It’s taken longer than I figured on. I didn’t expect to be so busy this early in my start-up.”
“That must mean you’re good. Looks like I’ve come to the right place.”
“Can I offer you coffee or water before we get started?” Nolan gestured Liam into a chair at the round conference table.
“Thanks, but I’m good.” While Nolan took a seat, Liam pulled out the paternity test as well as Maggie’s birth certificate and her mother’s death certificate that Diane Garner had sent at his request.