The Baby Claim

by Catherine Mann

  While strapping himself into the pilot’s seat, he glanced at Glenna and Fleur again, enjoying the sight of them from his mirror. He had to focus. He settled his headset into a good fit and felt the rush of preflight squarely in his stomach, right up until he accelerated the plane. The drumroll before being airborne had always thrilled him. He longed for the feeling when the craft lifted from ground or sea and found life in the air.

  As he saw the panorama unfold before him, his breath caught. Untamed wilderness flooded his vision.

  He felt connected to the wild land in his home state—an heir to tenacity and resilience. Off to the left, he saw a herd of caribou galloping in the spring sunshine.

  Broderick called over his shoulder, “We’re level now if you would like to move forward and talk.” He studied her in the rearview mirror. “Looks like the munchkin is sleeping hard. You can watch her in the mirror up here.”

  Glenna worried her bottom lip, then reached for her seat belt. “Sure, we could get started on work.”

  Or they could talk.

  Yes, they were here for Fleur and for their families, but he also needed to use every moment of this time together to figure out his attraction to Glenna. If the opportunity presented itself, he wanted back in her bed. Because his desire for her messed with his thinking at a time when he needed clear focus.

  The plane hit a pocket of air, bobbling for an instant, then settling. He latched on to Fleur as a topic that could open an honest dialogue with Glenna about how they would move forward. “Looks like Fleur is sleeping well. She’s a cute little munchkin, for sure.”

  Glenna didn’t immediately respond, but when she did her words hit him with an emotional punch. “She could be your munchkin. Have you thought about being a father? And please don’t make a joke. I’m asking a serious question.”

  He thought it over while the plane slid through the clouds, the white puffs dragging along the windscreen. He needed to offer up honest answers if he wanted her honesty in return.

  “I’m known as the commitment-phobic sort, so I guess the answer naturally follows that I never expected to be a father.” He shrugged, eyes darting to the equipment on the dash. Everything was as it should be. “I’m careful,” he added, hoping the comment reminded her just how attentive he could be.

  She inched down the zipper on her parka, the sound hinting at the intimacies he wanted to share with her.

  “Broderick? Do you like children?” Her question corralled his heated thoughts.

  “I’m not sure I’ll be a good father, but yes, I like children. I thought—hoped—I would be an uncle several times over by now.” Like him, his siblings were focused on their careers and less focused on child rearing.

  “I just wondered, because you’ve made a concerted effort not to hold her, even though I could swear I see the hint of a natural.”

  He thought about her words and the squeeze to his heart each time he saw the kid. “Oldest brother syndrome, I guess. I helped out with my siblings. But I honestly don’t have much experience with babies beyond the occasional employee bringing in a new son or daughter to show off around the office.”

  “I hear Steele Oil has a top-notch on-site child care facility. I would assume you’ve seen it.”

  He nodded in her direction, keeping his eyes on the horizon. “Yes, I tour every part of the building.”

  “Hmm. So, the magazine photo shoot of you on the floor in the child care facility playing with toddlers wasn’t a publicity stunt.”

  He could hear the playful smirk in her voice.

  “You set me up with that lead in about the on-site day care.”

  “I did. Although I am curious. Was it a ploy to win women?” she asked with a challenge in her voice.

  “I was there visiting a friend’s child. I didn’t know the photos had even been taken until they showed up in the article.”

  “That’s nice to know.”

  “Don’t let those photos fool you, though. I’m still not the go-to guy on anything more than the fractions for mixing formula. I’m hoping you know more than I do about what we’re supposed to do with her.” They’d been dropped into caretaking with no warning. If Fleur was his, he would read all the books, figure it out.

  “I have taken care of friends’ babies,” she said. “I have the nurse practitioner on speed dial, and we can look up answers on our phones. I expect you to give one hundred percent.”

  “Totally on board with that. Willing to learn what I don’t know.” He’d always been willing to solve tough problems. He just needed the chance to get acclimated.

  “Which brings me back to my original question. What happens if she’s your daughter?”

  “Then I will be a father and I will work to be the best father I can be.”

  And he meant it.

  Although with each moment that passed, he saw Glenna growing more attached to the baby. He couldn’t help but worry about what it would mean for her to have no claim to the child.

  His hopes of conversation making things easier between them had only reminded him of all the reasons this wasn’t a simple getaway meant to end with them in bed.

  * * *

  Broderick was certainly full of surprises. Or perhaps, more accurately, she was seeing a version of him that she’d forgotten about.

  His commitment to the potential of being Fleur’s father reminded her of a twentysomething Broderick.

  Memories floated in her mind’s eye as she watched him check some equipment, his lips forming a satisfied curl as he read the numbers.

  In college, it had been Broderick’s confidence that attracted her. They’d been assigned a group project—a task she normally dreaded. But he’d proved to be just as dedicated to the presentation as she was. He’d pulled all-nighters with her and they’d been excellent study partners, pushing each other to be better, smarter.

  His gaze had always been electric and his body delicious.

  It was still delicious. When he’d hefted the suitcase and supplies into the seaplane, he’d proved his muscles were just as tight and enticing as they had been over a decade ago. In that moment, the careful way she’d forced herself to think of Broderick as a cutthroat businessman faltered.

  Chewing the inside of her cheek, she realized how much more there was to him and how damn difficult it’d be to spend all this time alone with him.

  He was a man. In every sense of the word.

  She tore her eyes off him now, searching for some distraction. She looked up into the mirror, half hoping Fleur would be waking and need her. But the infant slept on.

  The plane dipped, hitting harder pockets of air as they made their way to the mountains.

  Glenna devoured the sight of springtime in Alaska, particularly from the sky. A field of impossible emerald green and pockets of lakes served as contrast to the snowy mountains. When Glenna was a child, she’d thought of the land as a magical space. When she’d gaze out at the backdrop of green land and white mountains, it’d always seemed as if two seasons existed simultaneously.

  She reached out to touch the cool glass at her side. The engine rumbled, reverberating slightly. “It’s been so long since I flew in one of these.”

  “Perhaps because your family spent more time operating out of the Dakotas. I’m sure there are equally awesome sights you could show me there that I’ve missed.”

  “Sure, sure,” she said, enticed by the idea of showing this man her stomping grounds. She folded her legs under her, sitting in the lotus position. “One good thing will come from this family merger. We’ll bring new experiences to the table.”

  “I imagine there can be some other positives.”

  Did he have a hidden meaning in those words? His face appeared honest, calm, focused on flying. Lord, but he was handsome. The sun streamed through the window, playing across the strong line of his jaw, his broad shoulders in
that plaid shirt, those jeans fitting him like denim was made just to hug that fine butt.

  Her eyes roamed back up to the hard angles of his face. He always had that five o’clock shadow, even when he wore a crisp suit.

  The man freaking oozed testosterone.

  And her body sensed every pheromone.

  She pulled on her black cashmere sweater, hoping the ritual tug on the sleeves would calm her. Ground her.

  Staying in that cabin with him was going to be...difficult. To say the least.

  She pulled her attention back to work and the more manageable reason for their retreat to the mountains. “Figuring out the corporate logistics of blending both employee rosters will be challenging,” she reminded him, simultaneously reminding herself that Broderick Steele should be off-limits to her wandering feminine imagination. “There’s no way everyone can keep their jobs at the current level. Demotions are inevitable. Everything can’t be a co-job. Someone has to be the boss. CEO...CFO...” She ticked the list off on her fingers.

  There. That should put some distance between them.

  “We’ll work it out,” he answered vaguely, his hands clenching briefly on the steering yoke.

  Strong hands. She remembered how they felt on her last night, his palm steadying her, burning through the fabric of her shirt.

  “This peace between us can’t last.” She looked away from him, fingers tapping on her denim-clad thigh.

  And no, she wasn’t thinking about Broderick’s touch on her thigh. It must be the cashmere sweater that was overheating her to this degree.

  “Why not? Isn’t there anything else in the company you would enjoy overseeing?” His question was a welcome distraction.

  Did he really think she would give up her job without a blink? “Why should I be the one to find a new place in the business? What about you? Isn’t there something else you would ‘enjoy overseeing’?”

  “In the end, it may not be up to either of us. Let’s not make this getaway more difficult by arguing.”

  She studied him. No question, he had on his poker face today. She’d seen it often enough across the boardroom or on an occasional television show as he made a comment on behalf of his business. He was charming, sure, but gave little away.

  Glenna played with the zipper on the folded parka in her lap, finding the interior of the small plane still too warm. “You’re not going to attempt to push me out or seduce me into stepping aside?”

  “Is that what you think I’m trying to accomplish here? Seducing you for Machiavellian gains?” His voice was dry as he adjusted their course.

  “Aren’t you?” There. She’d said it. Put it out there. Her heart picked up speed as she wondered what he would say.

  And wondered even more what she wanted him to say.

  His eyebrows shot up. “Well, in the past couple of days I’ve realized you’re more plainspoken than I remembered. I’ll answer as plainly as I can. I’m attracted to you and that has nothing to do with business. I always have been. Is that so difficult for you to believe? You’re the one who walked out on our relationship. Not me.”

  Relationship. The word hit her hard. In fact, she never would have anticipated he’d characterize their time together that way. “It was a weekend.”

  He didn’t back down. “It was a friendship that led to a weekend.”

  “A friendship? Are you sure? We barely knew each other. We thought we were Romeo and Juliet, rebelling against our parents.”

  “You were using me to get back at your parents?”

  She stared hard out the window as they descended toward a lakeside cabin. Where they would be together. The flight had passed all too quickly.

  Kota whined from the back, and Glenna’s eyes flicked to baby Fleur. Still sleeping.

  Broderick’s question still hung in the air.

  Looking intently at the cabin, noting the large fenced-in area and kidney-shaped hot tub, she spoke. “Isn’t that what it was about for you?”

  “Not at the time. No.”

  His words stole the air from her lungs and her stomach lurched as if the plane had just taken a significant plunge. “Then I’m sorry.”

  “But knowing that wouldn’t have changed your leaving.”

  Would it have? She wasn’t sure. It had been so long ago. And in the intervening years, she had met and loved her husband. His betrayal had shredded her heart. His death had nearly finished the job.

  And now all the changes to their lives that had come so quickly? She couldn’t afford the emotional stakes of another relationship.

  “Our parents may have found a way to be a couple, but I can’t envision that sort of strange, statistical improbability happening again in our family.”

  “Then it sounds like we have a challenge in front of us. Take care of the baby, who loves to sleep. Work on financials, which we can’t start until tomorrow, when the latest reports come in. And work on becoming friends again, because, lady, we’re stuck with each other.”

  * * *

  After securing the plane, Broderick fixed his eyes on the mountainside cabin where Glenna and Fleur waited. That A-frame building held a lot of memories of family retreats for him.

  The place had been one of his father’s earlier acquisitions, when the stresses of work had started to take a toll on family time. Jack Steele had always told them family came first or the rest would fall apart. They’d been tight-knit, no question, and that had made it all the tougher after his mother’s and sister’s deaths.

  He pulled gear out of the plane, one bag at a time, remembering so many other trips. Each kid had been responsible for packing his or her own duffel bag, and if they forgot a crucial piece of snow gear, that meant limited activities for that person. Jack made them learn their lessons the old-school way.

  But they sure didn’t forget a second time. Or in other cases, they learned to share and work together. Corporate team building, even back then.

  Broderick’s cell phone rang and he fished deep in his parka pocket. Reception up this way used to be tricky until his dad added a booster tower. Money sure did have its perks.

  Broderick read the screen, but didn’t recognize the number. Still, given the unknown situation with Fleur and the merger mess, he figured he’d better take the call.

  “Yes, Broderick Steele speaking. And this is?” He hitched a carry-on bag and a large duffel with a portable crib over his shoulder, tucked the phone under his chin and then grabbed two more suitcases. Damn, babies came with a lot of stuff.

  “Steele, this is Trystan Mikkelson,” a gruff voice barked.

  Glenna’s brother, the one who worked their family ranch. The voice sounded familiar now that he’d identified himself. What did the guy want? “Is there a problem?”

  “I’m checking on my sister.”

  Oh-kay. Broderick started his hike up the dock toward the cabin. “We arrived at the retreat on schedule. We’re unpacking now and setting things up for the baby. Any news?”

  “Nothing to report.”

  He frowned at the oddness of this call coming out of the blue from a man he barely knew. “Then please pass along the message to the rest of the family that we’re fine. I’ll send out periodic texts and emails with our progress on the business front. We would appreciate you sharing any news you receive.”

  There. That should appease his father that he was trying to make nice with the enemy—aka, his future stepsiblings.

  “Can do,” Trystan answered, his tone clipped. “And Steele? One last thing.”

  Broderick started up the steps, his eyes locked on Glenna. She stood at the floor-to-towering-ceiling window wall. “What would that be?”

  “Hurt my sister and I will kick your ass clear to Canada.”

  The phone line disconnected.

  Broderick dropped a suitcase and caught the cell as it slipped from under h
is chin. He studied the screen and saw the connection was fine, plenty of signal. Trystan had hung up on him. Plain and simple.

  But the message had been clear enough, and oddly, for once, Broderick found himself commiserating with a Mikkelson. As a man. As a brother. Because if anyone hurt one of his sisters, Broderick would hunt the bastard down and pummel him personally.

  His gaze trekked right back to the window and the woman who tugged at him in a way no other ever had.

  With all that was going on in their families, he would have to tread very, very carefully.

  Seven

  Needing to collect her thoughts, Glenna sat on her bed, while Kota patiently settled at the door, head cocked to the side.

  All her clothes had been neatly unpacked, hung in the closet or tucked away in drawers. Throughout dinner, she’d been the one to take care of baby Fleur. Not that she minded, but it concerned her. If the child was not Gage’s... If the child was indeed Broderick’s, then his avoidance was worrisome.

  Perhaps he needed more time. Or perhaps she’d found the one area in his life where he didn’t have a skill set and bravado.

  She walked out of her room and into the main living area, the scent of pine furniture and floors cleaned with lemony oil filling the air. Broderick sat on the couch, eyeing Fleur in the baby swing. He seemed wistful, eyes warm, but he made no move toward the child.

  Kota made laps around the baby swing, tail wagging. Protective. Eventually the dog curled on the dark brown throw rug in front of the hearth. They looked like a still life from a family vacation promotion.

  Glenna scooped up Fleur, looked intently at her little face, again hoping a distinct feature would manifest and hint at her father.

  Instead, she met Fleur’s fluttering eyes, felt a connection to the infant and her innocence. Baby cradled in her arms, Glenna walked to the bedroom and put her down for the night. After turning on the monitor, she returned to the living area, fully taking in Broderick for the first time since supper.

  Dressed comfortably as he was in navy jogging pants and a long-sleeved gray T-shirt, his muscles were on display. His dark hair slightly askew, he looked up at her.