“Of course I’m kidding. Her virtue is safe,” West told Gigi.
“Then I must ask…” Gigi said to Annie with an airy sweep of her hand. “If he does not want a wife, and he does not want anything else, why on earth are you wasting time with him?”
4
“Teddy,” Annie and West explained simultaneously, and West pointed to the baby in Annie’s arms.
“Oh, no!” Gigi’s mouth pursed. “You mean you’ve had a babeee—with him?” Staring at West, her eyes widened with disbelief. “Why on earth would you do that?”
“Hey, what’s wrong with me?” West asked.
“I’m sure she didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” Annie soothed, the corners of her mouth turned upward in a semblance of a smile.
But Gigi looked worried. “You never even gained an ounce, Annie. And you’d better check out the hospeetal. The baby does not look like either of you!”
“Is she always like this?” West asked, directing his question straight to Annie as though Gigi wasn’t there.
Annie barely smiled. “She’s usually funnier.”
That wasn’t exactly what he meant, but West let it go. None of this was really happening. That had to be it. He had been alone so much he was finally flipping over into a Twilight Zone where one woman after another was going to show up at his door until he finally ran from the house screaming like a lunatic.
Considering that, he gave Annie another long look as she explained to her aunt that Teddy wasn’t their baby. Maybe his own private lunacy might not be too bad, if all the women who showed up looked like Annie.
“Well, ma petite,” Gigi said, “whose baby ees it? I’m afraid I don’t understand any of this.”
“That makes two of us,” West piped in dryly.
Annie ignored him. “The baby is the son of one of my clients. My client abandoned Teddy on West’s doorstep and sent me a note asking me to check on him.” Annie quickly explained the rest of what had happened that evening, including the part about the bet.
“And you think you will be the better mother?”
“Parent,” West corrected quickly. All three of them, including Teddy, turned their heads to look at him. “Better parent!”
“Of course,” Gigi said swiftly. “You are a handsome man, West Gallagher.” West looked embarrassed, and Annie shared a smile with Gigi. “My niece cannot stay here alone. It ees good this house has ample room for her old aunt.”
Annie knew she’d feel better with Gigi there, and wondered if that was because she didn’t trust West, or because she didn’t trust herself. “West? It is all right, isn’t it?”
“Oh, she can stay,” West said. “Why not?” This was all so crazy, he was past caring about yet another houseguest.
“Maneefique,” Gigi said, making West grimace as she slaughtered the word. With a whirl of her silk skirt, Gigi hurried back through the door, calling over her shoulder, “I will get my things.”
Not quite believing all this was happening to him, West turned toward Annie. Her hazel eyes were shining with fondness as she watched her aunt leave, but her head was shaking back and forth. “Sometimes I can’t quite believe I’m related to her.”
That made two of them, West thought. “She brought luggage?” he asked.
“I called her earlier.” Her hazel eyes examined him carefully. “It’s very nice of you to let her stay.”
“I figure I’ll be safer with a chaperon in the house.”
The edges of Annie’s mouth curved upward. “Worried about your virtue?”
“Yep.” He smiled that beguiling smile again, the one that had to be responsible for his success on the seminar circuit. She read definite interest in his eyes, and felt a tug inside her that told her she was interested in him, too.
But they were night and day in personality and doomed as a potential couple. He didn’t seem to want anyone around him who might become close, and she longed for that in her life. She totally disagreed with the way he encouraged people to seek their hearts’ desires without considering the consequences. And she couldn’t stand losing another husband, so she wasn’t about to set herself up for that kind of heartache. Not that any of that mattered anyway. She had no time for her clients who needed her, where on earth would she find time for a relationship?
For the next three days she was just going to have to ignore the fact that West Gallagher was one appealing hunk. It should be easy enough with Aunt Gigi here to divert her attention, and then she would have Teddy and be gone.
“Your aunt’s name,” West said quietly, “is it really Gigi?”
“Ginger,” Annie told him, keeping her voice just as low. “But she hates it. Says it makes her sound like somebody’s pet poodle.”
“Is that accent real?”
“Of course not. But it’s part of Gigi. I think she’s a frustrated actress.”
“I heard that,” Gigi said loudly, only to be shushed by both West and Annie as she hustled back inside. She dropped a small overnight bag on the floor in front of them and smiled at the drowsy baby, whose heavily lashed eyes were closing. “I have given up acting,” she said in a softer voice. “To be a singer ees now—how do you say?—my fantasy, my calling, my.
“Dream?” West suggested, grinning at Annie.
“Oh, Lord, help,” Annie whispered, looking heavenward. “Two of them in the same house.”
Gigi beamed, all red lipstick. “So Monsoor West, where do I sleep?”
West glanced down at the small piece of luggage, and then looked at Annie. “There’s a spare bedroom at the head of the stairs. You can share, or one of you can sleep on the couch down here.”
“Lovely.” Gigi nodded, picked up the bag, and headed toward the staircase on the far side of the foyer. “Oh, Annie,” she said in a loud whisper, turning ing and walking back to them. “I almost forgot. I have two nightgowns, in case you didn’t go home to get something in which to sleep.”
“No, that’s all right,” Annie said, seeing interest spring to life in West’s eyes at the mention of nightgowns. “I brought something.” She’d had no intention of going around in a nightgown or pajamas in West’s house. That would make the situation a little too intimate.
“I know what you wear—a T-shirt and shorts to bed. Non!” the older woman said, frantic but quiet, plopping her case down on the thick rug and flipping it open. Light glinted off the mirror on the lid. “Non, non, non. You will not get a good night’s sleep wearing a brassiere—Just zee thing!” Gigi triumphantly held up a black negligee. “You can sleep in this.”
Annie could see light through the cloth. Cheeks flushing red, she avoided looking at West. “No,” she said tightly. “Not in a stranger’s house, Aunt Gigi.”
“Oh, please, don’t let me stop you,” West said. “I’ve never met a stranger.” Especially not one in a black satin negligee. He eyed the black shimmer of the delicate material and wondered if Annie wore that kind of thing to sleep when she was at home alone. He could picture her slim, almost willowy body in the gown, her curves gliding against the silk, his hands—
West, whatever you’re thinking, stop.” Annie shot him a look that said he was never going to see her in the gown. “You can give that dream up right now.”
West threw up his hands in defeat but continued to stare at the negligee.
“But my darling Annie—” Gigi started.
“No!” Annie said, whispering more fiercely because the other woman was still waving the gown as if her niece might change her mind. Worse, West was now staring at her speculatively. “Forget you saw that,” she told him sternly.
West and her aunt gave heartfelt sighs of disappointment at the same time. But thankfully, her aunt put her gown back in her case and shut the top. When the older woman had disappeared upstairs, West turned to Annie and grinned.
“She’s such a nice woman,” he said. “Surely you could have tried to accommodate her a little.”
“Dream on, Gallagher,” Annie answered sweetly, pulling T
eddy’s bottle from his grasp. The baby slept peacefully.
“You got him to go to sleep.” His voice held admiration.
“Experience,” she whispered. “Know-how. Since I’ve got it, Teddy, of course, will be sleeping in my bed.”
“Nohow,” he said, shaking his head. “No way.”
“Oh, Gallagher,” she said in mock admiration, “aren’t you good verbally?”
“Horizontally, too.” He grinned, and she groaned. Teddy stirred, reminding her to keep quieter. “Teddy might need something in the middle of the night. I don’t think you’ll wake up.”
“And how could you possibly know?”
“You’ll be too busy dreaming—it is what you do best, right?” Her hazel eyes gleamed triumphantly.
This time it was his turn to groan, and she smiled. But her arms and upper back protested a little under Teddy’s weight, so she resumed the argument. “The trouble with you, West, is that you’ve never learned to compromise.”
“And you have?”
“Yep,” she agreed amiably. “I’m compromising for Teddy’s sake by agreeing to this bet, but you’re insisting on having everything your way.”
“You’re wrong,” he said with great assurance. “If I had everything my way, I’d be alone right now.”
“Oh, and here I thought we were starting to get along so well,” she said, her words hiding her hurt at his abruptness.
His dark eyes narrowed. “The bed in the spare room will fit you and your aunt. Teddy stays with me.”
Annie fervently wished she’d slept at the office tonight instead of going home. But then she looked down at Teddy and knew it was destiny for her to be here, helping him. “You’ll crush him.”
“It’s a king-size mattress. Real soft, and lots of room to roll around on.” The sexy, sizzling grin that accompanied Gallagher’s answer robbed Annie of her breath and her heart skittered.
“Good,” she murmured. “Then Teddy and I will be quite comfortable on your bed.”
“We’re all sharing?” West asked, sounding happier than he ought to sound.
“You’re sleeping on the couch.”
“My bedroom doesn’t have a couch.”
“Right” Teddy still in her arms, she walked toward the stairway.
“This isn’t settled,” West said, following Annie up the stairs.
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law, West, and I’m holding the baby. Cope.” Fully aware West was right behind her, Annie opened doors until she found the other bedroom. Heading directly for the bed, which was big enough to live up to West’s promise, she gently set Teddy down as close to the middle as she could get, then started situating the pillows so he wouldn’t roll off.
West watched her from the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. Why was he letting her sweep away all the control he’d won over his life? It took him a minute to remember. Oh yes. He was letting her boss him around because he didn’t want her getting mad, leaving, and bringing back bad publicity. He didn’t want her getting a grip on Teddy and putting him into a foster home.
Spotting the worried expression on West’s face, Annie kept herself from smiling. Gallagher was more frightened of her than she was of him. He was going to let her camp out in his bed; she was positive of it.
Once Teddy was safe and settled, Annie faced him. “It’s getting late, West.”
She meant, West thought, Get out. “Does your aunt Gigi know you’re sleeping in my room?”
“I’m sure she won’t blink her super-deluxe eyelashes when she finds out—as long as you’re sleeping somewhere else.”
More tired than he could remember ever being, West gave up. “All right,” he said quietly. “I’ll sleep on the couch downstairs. You try to sneak away, I’ll hear you.”
Her look of relief made him frown. Apparently she didn’t want to be around him any more than he wanted to be around her. That was good, he reminded himself, and the way he wanted it. Annie Robicheaux was one damned pesky female, and the sooner he got her to leave here, the better off he would be.
“Thank you, West,” she said softly, truly grateful he’d finally given in without too much of a fight. “You won’t be sorry. Teddy will probably wake up during the night, and this way, you’ll get all the rest you need.” She gave him a long look. “I promise I won’t take him away. And if there’s one thing I never break, West, it’s my word.”
Somehow, even though West didn’t trust anyone in the system, he knew Annie would be there in the morning. As he looked in his dresser for what he would need the next day, he had to wonder if he was starting to like her.
Just a little.
West jolted awake as his hand slid off his chest and hit the edge of the coffee table. Disoriented, he sat up and stared around him in the dusky light. He must have fallen asleep on the couch again. He did that a lot lately, usually because he’d had no reason to go ahead upstairs to his lonely king-size bed.
Yawning, he got up and went for the stairs, half stumbling up them. His eyes were almost shut and he kept them that way, hoping to maintain the hazy state he was in so he’d go back to sleep the second he hit the mattress.
Entering his room, barely registering the dim light of early morning seeping in through the blinds, something in the back of his mind told him that it was now Saturday, and he wasn’t booked anywhere till five that afternoon, so he could sleep as late as he wanted and it still wouldn’t matter. He threw himself down on top of the sheets a foot or so from the top of his extra-long bed.
“What are you doing in here?” came a terrified, feminine screech inches from him, along with a baby’s cry. In total shock, West reeled his arms backward and fell off the bed onto the floor with a thump. At about the same time, everything came back to him with startling clarity. Someone was sleeping in his bed….
And it wasn’t Goldilocks.
“How can you be trusted if you can’t be trusted to be trusted?” Annie asked, half asleep and fully in shock.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, a little too forcefully, still on the floor. He ran his fingers through his hair and blinked, trying to get his bearings.
“With the baby, I mean. How can you be trusted with Teddy, if you can’t be trusted to not come in here?” Her voice seemed very loud, even compared to Teddy’s crying. “How can you tell people how wonderful you are and then do something like this?”
“I’m not that wonderful, and I forgot about you!” he yelled in protest—not that Annie seemed to be listening. As she continued to rant, he got up off the floor, slowly coming out of his ozoned state. She flipped on the light, giving him a full view of her.
Her T-shirt stretched over her breasts, outlining her curves, making the totally modest garment seem more enticing than it had any right to be. Her legs were covered to mid-thigh by a pair of champagne satin tap pants that didn’t go with the T-shirt at all. He could just imagine the top half of that lingerie set—and her in it.
Aunt Gigi chose that minute to burst into the room, and maybe, West thought, that was a good thing.
“Oh, my poor babee!”
“I’m all right,” he said, but Gigi was already heading toward Teddy, whom both women began to comfort. Telling himself he was stupid for feeling neglected, West started toward his dresser to get a pair of jeans, before he remembered that they were all in the wash and that had been the first thing he’d planned to do when he got up.
“Gallagher,” Annie said warningly, “you stay on your side of the room—” Suddenly she giggled. “Oh, my.” She laughed some more as she continued to stare at him, and then Gigi stared, and she giggled, too. Teddy, sensing the dissipating anger in the room, began to quiet.
Glaring at them all, West, frozen where he was at the foot of the bed, remembered. He remembered that his pants were downstairs where he’d taken them off last night before they’d all gone to sleep, and he remembered that all he was wearing now was a pair of cotton boxer shorts that were a size too small. And as if that weren’t
embarrassing enough, they were covered withHe groaned. Now he remembered. Cherubs. Pale, rosy-faced little cherubs floating around on a sky-blue background. Babies. He glanced down and for one long second, they all looked like Teddy.
He was going insane.
Annie stared at him with a wide grin on her face. “Oh, please, let me guess. A girlfriend’s Valentine’s Day gift?”
“My brother’s wife sent them to me,” he said, grabbing the sheet off the bed and wrapping it around him. “She thought women would find me irresistible in them and fall in love with me, if you must pry into my private—”
“Oh, non, non, we are not going to pry into your privates!” Gigi pushed at Annie, who walked with her toward the door. Annie started laughing so hard Teddy was almost bouncing off her chest. She turned her head to look back at West.
“I was wrong, wasn’t I?” she asked. “You can catch cuteness. In those shorts, you’re adorable.”
West scowled. “My sister-in-law thinks I ought to get married,” he said irritably. “She thinks I’ll be a lot happier. I personally think she must be crazy.”
Despite her aunt’s urging, Annie stopped long enough to turn, her eyes sparkling over the top of Teddy’s head. “Gallagher, take my word for it-your sister-in-law has it wrong. It’s not the shorts when it comes to winning a woman, it’s what’s inside that counts.”
“Ooh la la!” Gigi interrupted, smiling.
“Inside the man, Aunt Gigi.” Annie gave her a mock frown. “You have a dirty mind.”
Laughing, Gigi pulled at Annie again, and they disappeared into the hallway with Teddy, closing the door behind them. Ignoring the gales of laughter floating through the door, West stared after Annie for a minute.
He’d been kicked out of his bed over a baby. He’d been dictated to in his own home. He’d been caught in a pair of shorts that would make him the laughingstock of New Orleans if word got out. No more.
Hurrying to his door, he locked it. After he showered and put on a pair of dress slacks, he was going downstairs and damn well get control back over his life.
The One-Week Baby (Yours Truly) Page 5