The Widow's Bachelor Bargain

by Teresa Southwick

  “Did you meet him? How old is he?”

  “We did. I’d say he’s somewhere in his midthirties. Handsome. Dark. Brooding.”

  “And reclusive,” Maggie said. “As far as I know, no one in town sees him. At least not anyone I know.”

  “You should go out there, march up to the front door and introduce yourself,” Jill suggested.

  “Are you playing matchmaker again?”

  “What gave me away?” her friend teased.

  “Your big, generous heart.”

  That and the fact that they’d been friends for a long time. Jill had taken shifts at the ice cream parlor when Maggie had experienced a problem in her pregnancy with Danielle and was ordered to stay off her feet. It had made the difference in keeping her business afloat through a very difficult time. And her friend was just interested in helping her now. If only scooping ice cream could fix her current problem.

  “I love you for it, Jill.” She smiled. “But matchmaking for me is doomed to failure.”

  * * *

  “I think your mom is home, Shorty.”

  Sloan heard a car drive up, but Danielle was completely oblivious. She continued talking to her doll in a language no one but her could understand. It looked as if every toy she owned was on the floor. If there was a way to harness her energy and market it, he could make a fortune. He’d been with her for about an hour and the closest she’d come to stopping was putting her head on his shoulder in a sort of hug. The kid was a hoot and a half.

  The front door opened and Maggie walked in carrying a couple of grocery bags. She did a double take, and he figured that had more to do with Josie not being here than the fact that her living room looked as if a toy store exploded inside it.

  “Where’s Josie?”

  Before he could explain, her little girl said, “Mama!”

  Maggie smiled. “Hi, baby girl.”

  The toddler let loose with another stream of unintelligible sounds and an occasional word that was clear. But it was the weirdest thing. The tone, inflection and gesturing looked as if she was explaining that for the past hour he’d been sitting on the floor, playing when encouraged and generally just making sure she was okay.

  Maggie set the bags just inside the door and walked over to hug her child. Then she looked down at him and asked again, “Where’s Josie?”

  “Ah, you don’t understand her, either.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Danielle was just telling you what’s going on. It’s clearly exposition, but average humans like you and me can’t understand.”

  “Very observant of you, Sloan. But I’d still like to know what’s going on. Preferably in exposition that a run-of-the-mill human like myself can comprehend.”

  “Josie had a date for dinner. The early-bird special, I guess.”

  “With who?”

  A hint of romance brought out the curiosity in a woman, he noted. “She didn’t say. It came up suddenly and she was going to call you. I happened to be here working. Mostly to get away from the phone.”

  “That’s what you get for volunteering your number at a town meeting,” she pointed out.

  “Lesson learned.” He watched the little girl tug on her mother’s hand, then pat the rug next to him. The message was as clear as Maggie’s reluctance to take the hint. Danielle wanted her mother to sit beside him. He was all in favor but Maggie was still waiting for the rest of his explanation. “I told Josie not to bother you to come home early. I needed a break from the work and volunteered to watch Shorty.”

  “That’s very nice of you, Sloan. I hope she hasn’t been too much of a bother.”

  “No trouble at all. I feel like one of those dancers who just stands there while his partner does cartwheels and dances circles around him, making him look like a world-class hoofer.” He shrugged. “I just sat here.”

  “So you were simply keeping her safe.”

  There was a soft look in Maggie’s eyes, the kind of look that made a guy feel like a hero.

  “Yeah. I didn’t want her to stick her finger in a light socket or invite boys over.”

  Maggie laughed. “I think that’s a few years off. But I can’t help wondering what you’d have done if you had to change a diaper. One of those.”

  “One of what?” Then it hit him. “Oh. Well... Hmm.”

  “Yeah. Hmm.” She grinned.

  “Smart aleck.”

  “Rookie.” She was still smiling. “Have you ever changed a dirty diaper?”

  “I’ve never changed one at all,” he said. “But I like to think I’d have rallied to the occasion. Risen to the challenge.”

  “Oh, how I would have loved to be there for that. I can see the magazine headline now—Dapper Bazillionaire Bachelor on Diaper Duty.” This time when her little girl tugged on her hand and patted the rug, Maggie sat beside him. Danielle sat on his thigh, between them.

  “I’m sure you would,” he said drily.

  “Is there anything more irresistible to a woman than a big strong man caring for a child?”

  “I don’t know. You tell me.”

  Right here in this house he’d told her that he could do something about showing her she deserved to be happy and had meant every word. He would bet his last nickel that she hadn’t been with anyone since her husband died. That probably should have warned him off, but he couldn’t stop himself from wanting her. He wanted to be the man who showed her that life was good and there was nothing wrong with living it to the fullest.

  Hell, he wasn’t a saint. The fact was, they had chemistry and he couldn’t let it go.

  “I think one picture of you being nice to a child would have women all over the world throwing themselves at your feet. And breaking into your hotel room.”

  “Writing their phone number on my cardboard coffee cup?”

  “Buying your coffee,” she said.

  “The thing is, I wasn’t asking about whether or not women in general would find me irresistible. I was asking if you do.”

  A flush crept into her cheeks and she didn’t quite meet his gaze. “It doesn’t matter what I think.”

  It did, oddly enough, and the fact that she wouldn’t answer directly meant he got the answer he wanted. She might have a problem resisting him. But he sensed that pushing her too far too fast would drive her away.

  “Maggie, the truth is that I enjoyed hanging out with your little girl. She’s very good company.”

  “Interesting.” She met his gaze now. “Considering the fact that, as you so accurately pointed out, she’s not exactly a gifted conversationalist just yet.”

  “In reality, it was the perfect dialogue. She spilled her secrets in code so I can’t rat her out to you. And I ran construction numbers past her while she trashed the room with toys. Everyone is happy.” He glanced around and picked up the pink car she’d dropped beside him. “Did you buy her all of these?”

  “No way. Most of them came from her uncle.”

  “Way to go, Brady.” Sloan could see himself spoiling a niece or nephew shamelessly.

  Then Danielle stood, walked over to a soft stuffed doll and picked it up before wandering around the room with it in her arms as she chattered away.

  “Can I ask you a question, Sloan?”

  “That was a question.”

  “You’re impossible. I’d hate to be a reporter who was trying to interview you.” She made a frustrated sound.

  “Okay. Sorry. It’s a firmly embedded deflection technique.” He’d noticed the tone of her voice had become serious and that made him wonder what she was thinking. If he didn’t want to answer, he’d find a way not to. “Ask me anything.”

  “You’re so good with kids.” She met his gaze directly and didn’t glance away. “Why aren’t you married with a family o
f your own?”

  Curious, he thought. It had taken Maggie a while to ask what was usually one of the first things a woman wanted to know about him. Since he was divorced, he would simply tell everyone that he wasn’t very good husband material. That had backfired and he was dealing with the consequences and ducking the truth in interviews.

  But he didn’t want to avoid it with Maggie.

  “My mother’s Italian. Antonia Delvecchio Holden is outgoing, loving and an incurable romantic.”

  “She sounds wonderful.”

  “She is—a force of nature.” He couldn’t help smiling. “Also pushy, determined and bossy. She believes with every fiber of her being that she knows best. I think it was at my college graduation that she started dropping not-so-subtle hints about me taking a wife and having babies. I just laughed it off, assuming she was joking.”

  “She wasn’t?”

  “My mother doesn’t joke about that sort of thing,” he said ruefully. “The more I ignored her, the more she pressed. Resisting the suggestion of settling down became a reflex for me, automatic.”

  “But that changed?” Maggie asked.

  He nodded. “I met Leigh at a children’s hospital charity event. She was a personal trainer. To this day I’m not sure how she scored a ticket to the affair and at the time I really didn’t care. I was blown away and thought I’d found the one. Just shows how screwed up my judgment is. Then I made the mistake of marrying her first and asking questions later.”

  “Why?”

  Sloan didn’t think Maggie was judging him at all, let alone as hard as he was criticizing himself. He remembered his disillusionment and thought about how different his ex-wife was from Maggie. She’d insisted on taking out a small-business loan and turned her home into a B and B to pay for it instead of taking interest-free money from her brother. He looked into her dark brown eyes and knew integrity was staring back at him.

  “Shopping and status were more important to my bride than having a family. I ignored the credit card bills coming in, assuming the retail thrill would wear off. But a year later it still hadn’t and I thought maybe she needed a different focus.” When Maggie opened her mouth to say something, Sloan held up a hand to stop the words. “I know. If the relationship already had problems, bringing a child into it was just going to make it worse. At that point I hadn’t admitted it was a mistake.”

  “What convinced you?”

  “I jumped in with both feet and suggested we start a family.” A familiar knot of anger and bitterness coiled inside him at the memory. “She laughed and said that it had taken too much work to keep her body in perfect shape. If I wanted her to ruin it, I would have to pay her the big bucks.”

  “I can’t believe anyone would do that.” Maggie’s eyes grew wide with disbelief. “I assume that before the wedding she understood that you wanted a family.”

  “Yes. And she claimed to want that, too.” He stared at Danielle sitting in the center of the room fitting together plastic blocks that were as big as her tiny hands. This child had been conceived out of love, the way it should be. “She lied to me.”

  “That’s really low.” There was sympathy in Maggie’s gaze and something else that wasn’t as clear.

  “I took the failure of my marriage badly, but the breakup hit my mother even harder. She’d grown attached to Leigh and treated her like one of her own daughters.”

  “That doesn’t make you bad husband material,” Maggie pointed out.

  “It’s proof that my judgment is flawed, which is almost the same thing.”

  “I see. And now you have trust issues.”

  “Yes.” That was part of it. The other part was being made a fool of. Sloan wouldn’t let it happen again.

  “That’s too bad. You’d have made a terrific father.”

  “Back at you.” At her blank look he said, “It’s too bad you’re standing in your own way, because you’re a terrific mom and should have more children.”

  Her existing child had disappeared from sight and there was a suspicious rustling of bags by the front door.

  Maggie didn’t seem to hear it. She was looking at him intently. “Aren’t we a pair. Both of us with so much baggage we’re tripping over it.”

  Sloan was almost sure there was regret in her comment, a chink in her armor. Before he could ask, Danielle toddled over to them with a box in her hands.

  “Cookie,” she said.

  Maggie laughed, then looked at Sloan. “What was that you said about not understanding her?”

  “I believe I said an occasional word was comprehensible.”

  “Why did it have to be this one?” She took the box from her daughter, who started to protest loudly. “Just one. You’ll spoil your appetite.”

  Sloan definitely felt regret when she stood and walked away because he missed the warmth of her body and the sweetness of her that was like sunshine to the soul. But he didn’t regret answering her question about why he’d vowed never to marry again. He was glad he’d given her the facts. She should know what she was getting into when she slept with him.

  And she would. He would bet his last nickel on it.

  Chapter Ten

  Sloan was having trouble concentrating on work. Maggie was on his mind, more specifically her reaction to learning why he never planned to marry again. The problem was, he’d been unable to gauge her reaction. Would that strengthen her resistance to anything personal between them?

  With an effort, he pushed that problem to the side for right now. He and Burke were in his cousin’s office with Ellie McKnight, their local architect. She was sitting in the chair behind the desk while they stood on either side of her, going over preliminary plans for the new resort complex near the base of the mountain.

  Sloan was intently studying the blueprints and zeroed in on the hotel walls. “You know there’s a plastic wrap that can be put around the building to reduce the amount of air leakage through the envelope, that barrier between inside and outside.”

  “I’m aware of it.” Ellie tucked a strand of long brown hair behind her ear then made a note on the plans. “I’ve included an initial materials list for your consideration, alteration and approval.”

  Burke nodded absently as he studied the top paper on the thick stack that was nearly as wide as his desk. “At the risk of sending you screaming from the room, Ellie, can we round these walls that face north? It’s more self-contained that way. The interior temperature is comfortably maintained without an increase in energy usage.”

  “I can do anything you want,” she said cheerfully. “You’ve both made it clear that it isn’t just the construction process that needs to be green, but the energy sustainability of the building itself.”

  Sloan was glancing through the list Ellie had provided. “I don’t see it on here, but I can provide you the information. There’s an innovation for elevators. A company has put a high-friction polyurethane coating over a carbon-fiber core to create a lighter and stronger conventional steel rope. It eliminates the disadvantages of the material currently being used, and the efficiency reduces energy consumption.”

  “Can you make a note of that on the list?” Ellie asked.

  “Of course.” He grabbed a pencil from Burke’s desk and did as requested.

  Sloan knew that the foundation of any construction project was rooted in the concept and design stages. Building, as a process, wasn’t streamlined and changed from project to project. Each one was complex, composed of a multitude of materials and components, each constituting various design variables. Any difference in one of them could affect the environment during the building’s relevant life cycle. It was important to get this right, and they plowed through the details for the rest of the morning.

  “I think we’ve got this,” Sloan finally said, glancing at his watch. Noting that it was just af
ter one, he picked up the phone and asked his assistant to order in some food from the Harvest Café. “I don’t know about anyone else but I’m starving.”

  “Right there with you,” Burke said.

  “I hope the café sandwiches are all right with you two?”

  “I love the food there,” Ellie chimed in.

  “Me, too.” Burke straightened and looked at the architect. “This is really good work.”

  She flashed a pleased smile and said in her charming Texas drawl, “Aw, you’re just sayin’ that because you’re engaged to my sister-in-law and would rather walk on hot coals than have her mad at you for hurting my feelings.”

  “No offense,” his cousin said, “but this is business and I can’t worry about your emotional well-being. That’s your husband’s job.”

  “And Alex is really good at it, but you’re talkin’ awfully brave,” she teased. “Seriously, I’m glad you’re happy with the overall design. I will incorporate all the changes you’ve mentioned. And it has to be said that I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with your firm. It will be an impressive addition to my résumé.”

  “You’re very talented and we’re lucky to have you,” Burke said. “And I’m impressed by your conscientious attention to detail, your punctuality and, most important, you really listen.”

  “Thank you for saying so. My goal is always to be as professional as possible.”

  “It may not be completely professional, but I believe it falls under the heading of friendliness to ask about someone’s family. So I’m going to,” Burke said. “You have a little girl, don’t you?”

  “Yes. Leah.”

  Sloan had heard about pregnancy glow, but nothing about the glow of pride on a mother’s face when talking about her child. Although he’d seen Maggie wear that look every time she glanced at her daughter. “How old is Leah?”

  “A little over two. A challenging age for sure.”

  Right around the same age as Danielle, and he wouldn’t describe her as challenging. Cute as could be, maybe, but not difficult. But he wasn’t her primary parent and didn’t feel the weight of responsibility for her whole life. If it were up to him, he would give her a cookie whenever she wanted one, so it was probably a good thing it wasn’t up to him.