She was upset. West knew if he went to Annie, he would take her in his arms and tell her how great he thought she was. Add that to the attraction he felt to her, and the baby she wanted, and it was a dangerous combination. He stayed at the sink.
“Not all men are like Jean-Pierre,” he said carefully.
“I know that.”
“Then you could have your dream by finding yourself another husband.”
Her eyebrow quirked upward in a “yeah, right” look. “Do you know what I’d be doing right now if we weren’t in the middle of this crazy bet?”
He shook his head.
“Legal briefs. Interviews. Just plain paperwork. I have a mountain of files on my desk that need to be put away. Just how would I find the time to nurture another relationship?”
“The same way you would find the time to nurture a baby.”
That stopped her, but only for a few seconds. “That’s my point, isn’t it, West? There is no way to make my dream come true.”
“A father would help. Children need two parents, Annie.”
Her gaze met his. “No. Children only need love. It can come from anywhere.”
He shook his head. “You may see it that way because of your aunt Gigi, but I don’t. A child needs a mother, a father, and a forever.”
“We both lost both our parents,” she said, “and in the long run, it didn’t matter for us, did it?”
“It mattered to me,” he said slowly, meaningfully. “Your past always influences how you are now. My past is why I don’t want to try for my own family.”
Annie hurt inside for West, and for what he was going to miss. “And my past is partly why I want my own so very much. But what happens to you if you fall in love with someone, West? Does your opinion about having a child change then?”
He shook his head. “Love can die just as fast as it’s born. Couples divorce, and all that’s left behind are the victims. I won’t be responsible for bringing a child into this world only to go through what I did—the foster home, the lack of parents.” The feeling of not being tied to anyone, anywhere. The feeling that no one would ever really care about him enough never to leave him.
“Did you ever see your parents again after they left you?” she asked, trying to understand the full extent of his pain. “Did you find out why they left you?”
West had sketched out how he’d been abandoned in his book, but now, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes focusing on something far away—memones?—he filled Annie in on what he’d learned from his reunion the previous year with his father, mother and brother. His father had been an alcoholic, and upon West’s mother’s ultimatum, had chosen the road and the bottle over his wife and sons. His mother had tried, but been unable to earn enough to support him and his brother and left them at the county home so they could eat, believing the “system” that had promised her she could get them back as soon as she got her life in order.
But his mother couldn’t find a good enough job, and the judge had placed him and Matthew in foster care, officially taking them away from her. As if losing his parents wasn’t bad enough, he’d been torn away from his beloved brother, and only recently, after twenty years, been reunited. But the years had taken their toll on both him and Matthew, and his family was now nothing more than friendly strangers.
“If having a child is your dream, Annie, by all means, have one,” West finished. “But choose the man wisely. Give this child of yours a fighting chance at having some real happiness and sense of belonging and security. Do that for the kids we were.” He paused. “Please?”
While she listened she had been watching Teddy, but now their gazes merged. Her eyes were wide and wet with tears. Concerned, West walked to her, hunkered down, and drew his fingers across her cheek to wipe away the tears, flashing her a smile. “Hey, for a dream chaser, I didn’t turn out that badly, did I? I ended up with a heart.”
A badly bruised one, Annie thought, trying to ignore the rush of sensual feeling evoked from West’s touch that mingled with the compassion she was feeling for him. West had been left entirely alone, and now, in his own way, he was trying to help people—even if it was in the rather peculiar fashion of chasing their fantasies—so he could alleviate some of the loneliness from his childhood. He was a good man at heart.
Not to mention sexy and absolutely appealing.
She blinked back tears and brushed her cheeks with the flat of her hand. “That was silly of me, West, but it’s so sad. You’re all alone.”
“Now I was just thinking the exact opposite,” he said, looking pointedly at Teddy and then at her as he stood.
“You know what I mean. You aren’t in real contact with your parents, you don’t know your brother anymore, and you don’t want a wife and kids. I’m afraid you’re never going to find happiness if you don’t have love in your life.”
“I’m happy,” he protested. “So don’t worry about me.” He went back to the counter and rinsed out his coffee cup, wanting to put some distance between them. He was happy, he repeated to himself. “Besides, we aren’t talking about my desires here, are we?”
“No,” she said softly, taking a deep breath.
Good thing, too, West thought, because she wouldn’t want to hear what he’d been desiring since his fingers had made contact with Annie’s soft skin. Her. Touching her. Tasting her peach-colored lips.
Damn. He wished he hadn’t discovered Annie had a caring side to her that could extend past babies all the way to him. He really wished he hadn’t found that out.
Work. He needed to concentrate on what he did best—guiding Annie into fulfilling her dream.
“Since I believe what I believe about babies needing two parents,” he said, “and since I really want to help you get your dream, that means only one thing.”
“What?” Annie asked, clueless.
“We’re going to have to find you a forever kind of guy.” He grinned at her. “One that dotes on and worships you and the kiddie-to-be, and wants a permanent place in your home.” And in her heart, West added silently. A part of him protested vehemently the idea of marrying her off, but since he wasn’t volunteering for this job-no way, not him-what choice did he have?
“No, West.” Annie rose from her seat and picked up Teddy, who was getting restless in the basket. “Remember what I told you? I don’t have time for a relationship. And besides, this is my dream, and I’m having it exactly the way I want it. One baby, one mama. Just like you said, too many marriages end in divorce—and you were right. If I do have a baby, I’m not having some creep in my life forever, wrecking my dream come true.”
“Then I can’t help you.”
Rocking the baby from side to side, Annie smiled over Teddy’s head. “Ha! I knew it. I knew you would find some way out of this. You are a charlatan, taking people’s money for nothing.”
“That hurt,” West said.
“Admit it.”
“I really do help people, Annie.”
She took a long look at Teddy, and then met West’s eyes, all the desire, the want, and the hope of the last few years centered in hers. “Then prove it, West. Put aside your personal beliefs and help me get my baby.”
Everything in West warred on the side of insisting she do it the right way, or he didn’t want any part in this. But he had a feeling, whether she thought she could afford a baby or not, that eventually Annie was going to have one. If it happened while he was around, maybe he could convince her that her baby would need both its parents in its life. Happily married if possible, but even he didn’t believe in that big of a dream.
But then again, what if he didn’t convince her of a thing, and he helped her achieve her dream anyway? Then he would have done the one thing he swore he would never do, even if indirectly, and that was to bring a child into this world who might end up suffering for the lack of a parent.
“I can’t go against what I believe in, Annie.”
“It’s so easy to stand up in front of a roomful of people
and rally them, isn’t it, West? ‘C’mon everyone, pay your money, and I’ll give you the universal cure. Believe in yourself, and do it yourself.’ But when it comes to truly sitting down and making the effort to help someone, one-on-one, you’d rather not get involved. Am I right?”
West shifted uncomfortably. Was Annie right? Was that all he was doing when he gave his seminarscheerleading? He thought in this age of people who were losing hope that motivating was helping them. But if he believed Annie, it wasn’t enough. “Let me think about this for a while.”
Annie took a deep breath. He’d think, and then say no. She told herself she shouldn’t be disappointedbut deep down inside, she was. For a few minutes she’d let herself believe in West and his faith in dreams. Dumb.
“Well, while you’re doing all your deep thinking, West, Teddy should have some fresh air and sunshine. I’m going to take him for a walk.” She smiled. “And that’s a point for me. I’ll jot it down on the way out.”
“I’ll go with you.” After their talk, West no longer believed she would steal Teddy away, but his years with the system made it difficult for him to totally trust. “But first, I was hoping to look in my registration records for Marcia’s address, and then make some calls to see if I can get someone to hunt her down.” He paused and added, almost gleefully, “Point for me.”
Mercy, Annie thought, at this rate every single point was going to count. She might as well use what she had. “I found out last night at the grocery where Marcia works that she quit on Thursday, and the manager at her apartment told me she said she was going on vacation.”
“Then she is coming back.” West’s eyebrows went into slashes. “When were you planning on telling me this?”
“Right now.” She smiled and held up two fingers. “Two points for all my legwork.”
It went on like that between them, back and forth, for the rest of the morning and early afternoon. Seemingly, the minute Annie thought of something that would be good for Teddy, West would come up with something equally important, or vice versa, both of them racking up points.
West tried to withdraw from both Annie and Teddy during the time the three of them spent together, but it was difficult. Just as he had himself convinced that he would be happy if the private detective he’d contacted found Marcia within the hour, he glimpsed Annie encouraging Teddy to crawl and found himself mesmerized. Just as he tried to go over his notes for his five o’clock seminar, Teddy held out his arms to West, and started crying with huge, wet eyes that touched his heart. Just as he’d convinced himself that he wasn’t going to help Annie after all, the thought of the baby she might have going through life without a father because he didn’t butt into her life and change it haunted him.
And finally he made his decision, reminding himself he was in no way getting personally involved with either her or Teddy. Dealing with both of them was merely a job he had to fit in between his seminars and working on plans for his infomercial. A temporary job, not meant to last forever. He didn’t believe in forevers.
“All right, Annie,” he said, walking back into the living room where she was with Teddy. “I’ll bite the bait. I have to go to a seminar now, but starting tomorrow, you and I are going to work on your dream.”
Sitting on the floor, Annie was changing Teddy on a plastic pad she’d bought the night before. Hurriedly snapping up the baby’s romper, she picked him up and stared at West, her jaw opening and her hazel eyes stunned—both at his announcement and at his clothes. His expensive-looking suit was chosen to show him off to perfect advantage, cut just right and in deep blues that brought out his eyes and black hair. If he was handsome in his regular clothes, he was powerful in these. Powerful and—okay, she would think it-charismatic. And sexy.
“You’re going to help me achieve my dream exactly as I’ve planned it?” He’d avoided the topic since they’d dropped it that morning, and she figured that was the end of that. “I have a baby, I continue to be able to work, and I don’t have to have a father involved?”
Oh, great, West thought, she had to add the last. Now he was going to have to almost lie, since he wasn’t about to let her get away with consigning the baby’s father to oblivion. “I’m going to prove to you I’m not a fake,” he said carefully, “and that I really care.”
He really cared. Never taking her eyes off him, Annie kissed the top of the baby’s head for luck. “West, I don’t truly believe you can do any better than I did on my own, but if you really do make this work for me, I would be forever grateful.”
“Enough to do a testimonial in my infomercial?”
“Don’t push it,” she warned, returning his smile.
“So we’ll work together on this.” Leaving the living room for his study, he stuffed some papers inside the open briefcase on his desk, closed it, and then turned to find her and Teddy standing at the door. “Just remember one thing.”
She waited, her eyes raised in question.
“I’m not the man for the job.”
“Of course,” she said softly. “You’ve made that perfectly clear.” And he had.
For a few seconds she wondered why she was agreeing to let him help her when she didn’t believe for one minute he’d do any better than she had with her life. The answer came swiftly. She was letting him help her because deep down, desperately, she wanted West to think he was really helping people, because he needed people in his life so much, and he didn’t even know it. Deep down, she was starting to really care about the man.
“So where do we start?” she asked, unable to stop herself from being pulled into his spell.
“I’ll have to make up a plan of action based on my theories. We’ll get started either when I get back, or tomorrow, first thing.” Taking his briefcase off his desk, he walked over to stand in front of her. “We will, that is, if you’ll promise me you won’t turn Teddy in to the authorities while I’m doing my seminar?”
“You really think I could listen this morning to everything that happened to you as a kid and still do the same thing they did?” She gazed at him, hurt in her hazel eyes. “You must think I don’t have a heart at all, West.”
“I’m going to trust you,” he said softly.
Annie didn’t know what to say. West was going to believe in her, and she knew how hard that would be for him, what with who she was, and who he was, and the baby’s future they both held in their hands. “I’ll be here with Teddy when you come home,” she whispered. “I promise.”
West’s hands rose to rest on her shoulders, and taking care not to crush Teddy, he leaned down and gave her a quick, feather-soft kiss that melted her heart and made her wish that they were different people than who they were. Slipping by her, he left the study without another word, and seconds later, she heard the front door shut.
Lord, her bleeding heart was going to be the end of her. She was about to let herself believe in him, and West wasn’t going to be able to help her, and her heart was going to get broken all over again. How had a simple bet over mothering a baby gotten so darned complicated-and dangerous?
6
“So, Teddy, I have a problem,” West muttered to the baby, who was trying to sit up by himself in the safety of the playpen, which, along with a car seat, West had gotten on a trip to the mall after his seminar was over the previous evening. “How do I help Annie get her wish without letting her get near another man?”
Hanging on to the tightly woven sides of the pen and having himself a gay old time, Teddy drooled and let go, falling sideways with a gurgle against a wealth of plush sofa pillows West had stuck in there.
“Yeah, I know. We’re both clueless.” West sighed, long and hard, throwing his notebook down beside him on the sofa. “I guess that makes me as brainy as a six-month-old.” It was not a pleasant thought.
His trouble in forming a plan had started last evening, when, after he’d returned home and found Annie still there, just as she’d promised, he’d realized that not only was he attracted to her, he could trust her.
The fact that she was going along with his wishes made him really want to reciprocate by coming up with some way for her to have her dream that didn’t force his ideals on her. And that was the catch.
He’d mulled over different possibilities after she and Teddy had gone upstairs to his bed, but none seemed right and, finally, around one in the morning, he’d given up. This morning had been filled with laundry and food shopping, since his normally notwell-stocked cupboards—he ate out a lot—were getting bare. And then Annie, early that afternoon, had left Teddy with him to go to her office, stating with a smile she hoped he was ready to go to work on a baby when she returned that evening.
Go to work on a baby with Annie. The very thought conjured up images that had him sweating all afternoon.
And now it was already seven. He’d spent most of the time she’d been gone thinking about how to help Annie achieve her dream, had even come up with some possible solutions for her money problems. But each time he got to the point where she actually conceived the child, he got hung up. The more he tried to make her dream come true, the more knotted up inside he became.
He should never have kissed her.
“Damn,” he said under his breath, picking up his notebook again. This whole thing was so complicated. He was only supposed to be the motivator, helping people believe they could have their dream. Despite what Annie thought, he’d never claimed to be able to overcome anyone’s obstacles. Yet he would have to slay Annie’s dragons for her if he were to ever make her believe she could have her dream come true, because she’d given up hope.
The One-Week Baby (Yours Truly) Page 7