by Robyn Grady
When he interrupted, Zack’s voice was hoarse but also gentle. “Call me Zack.”
Maggie nodded. “And Ms. Cassidy… She said what a lovely couple you were.”
Zack blinked. “She did?”
“Uh-huh. But I already knew that. She had your number, the same one you told me that day when I got Bel back.” A look of uncertainty and fear shuttered over her face. “I hope I’m doing the right thing.”
Trinity squeezed Maggie’s cool, bony hand. “Of course you are. We’ll make sure you’re both safe.”
“But there’s more,” she said. “I’ve had so much time to think.”
Trinity took a breath and waited.
“You both looked so torn up when I left with her that day,” Maggie said, “and here you are, just like that, after a thirty-second phone call. I know you care about Bel. She’s so easy to love.” Maggie squirmed in her seat then, elbow on the table, she held her head. “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to say, to do, but I know in my heart that it’s right.”
Zack prodded. “What’s right, Maggie?”
A look of irreversible calm stole over her tearstained face. “I want you to step in. Will you adopt my baby?”
The sensation was akin to having a heavyweight’s glove belt him in the solar plexus. Zack lost his breath, instantly felt physically ill. At that moment, a waitress with a row of silver studs lining the shell of her left ear appeared at the table.
“You folks want coffee? Breakfast menu’ll be out soon if you’re hungry.”
Trinity said something, Zack didn’t hear what. His ears were ringing and he realized he was staring at the baby, looking so tiny and needing someone to rescue her. He’d rescued her once—was it only a week ago? He’d been edgy about that decision. If he’d known how events would play out, would he have left Trinity to sort things out while he’d followed his more basic, less flattering instinct and taken that cab home?
“Zack? Are you all right? Did you hear what Maggie said?”
He pushed back in his seat and the room began to tilt. “Of course I heard.” His voice sounded gruff to his own ears and when Maggie recoiled, he summoned up a shaky smile. “Maggie, you do know that Trinity and I… Well, we’re not married.”
Maggie nodded. “Ms. Cassidy told me. But you’re obviously committed to each other.” Her hopeful smile shone out. “You’re both here, aren’t you?”
But, God knows, he hadn’t come here for this.
“Excuse me a minute.” Feeling crowded, Zack fell upon a weak excuse. “I left my cell in the car.”
He got to his feet and made his way toward the exit, winding between tables, feeling as if he were moving across the deck of a lilting ship. At the main entry/exit, he put out his palm, crashed through the swinging glass door and out into blessed fresh air. But his stomach was still churning and his legs felt as if they might collapse beneath him. Setting his hands on his knees, he propped himself against the outside brick wall and bent slightly over as his head went into a spin.
He couldn’t adopt a baby, not even Bonnie. He was a sworn-to-uphold-the-code bachelor. Cold, hard fact was he didn’t have time to worry about a child full time. And Maggie had said she wanted them both to adopt. She thought they were committed to each other. Did that mean he was supposed to marry a woman he barely knew? Didn’t matter that the woman was Trinity.
He couldn’t do it. It might seem like an easy fix for young Maggie, but he was old enough to see on down the line. He wasn’t the marrying, settling-down-with-a-brood kind of guy. He’d never professed to be. He was a career man, pure and simple. No blurred lines or people got hurt. This request—the unique situation—changed nothing. And if that sounded harsh, then so be it.
The door swung open. Sucking down another gulp full of fresh air, Zack straightened. Slipping her hands into her coat pockets, Trinity crossed over.
“A bit of a shock, huh?”
He cleared his throat. “Just a bit.”
“I think Maggie’s really thought this through. She wants to get to know us better. Make a hundred percent sure it’s the right thing for the baby.”
His head pulled back. “You sound as if you’re actually considering this. That it’s a done deal.”
“If I can help them, I will.”
His laugh was clipped. “Well, don’t count me in.”
She blinked several times. Then a wry, sad grin hooked up one side of the mouth he’d kissed so thoroughly the night before.
“I guess this news has knocked us both out of the ballpark, especially given what I said earlier.”
“That we want different things,” he reminded her.
She gave a contrite nod. “I’m not sure what it will take to make sure Bel gets everything she deserves. I only know I can’t walk away. I truly thought you’d be on board, too. Or would at least consider it.” Her beautiful eyes filled. “I honestly thought you loved that little girl.”
His jaw clenched. “If I loved her, isn’t that all the more reason not to set her up like this? I’m not father material.”
“You’re wrong. You’d make an excellent dad. You’re just too stubborn to give up even a smidgen of who you were.”
His temper flashed. “Who I am.”
She folded her arms. “Well, I’m going to help Maggie and Bel.”
“With no job?”
“I have savings.” Her brows knitted. “Besides, money isn’t everything.”
“It goes a long way to helping. In fact…” The solution exploded in his head. If he hadn’t been so blindsided by Maggie’s surprise announcement, he would have thought of it sooner. He couldn’t adopt but he could certainly help financially.
“I’ll transfer money into Maggie’s account. As much as she needs.”
“So her mother or deadbeat ex can get to it?”
He growled. At times Trinity was so damn difficult. “No. So she can get a place, go to college.”
“Who’ll look after the baby?”
“Sitters. Even my brothers have sitters.”
“I think Maggie is looking at the baby having a stable upbringing, with people who will be there for the long haul rather than a string of girls after a few dollars an hour.” She gave him an evaluative, ultimately disapproving look that made him feel about five years old. “I’m going back inside to tell her I’ll be there for them both, and if Maggie wants me to take on that child on my own, if there’s a way, you can bet I’ll do it.”
“Trinity, you don’t have any support.”
That disappointed look turned to jaded pity.
“With that attitude, I think you might be right.” She firmed her bottom lip. “That baby’s better off without you.”
Fourteen
“Mind if I come in?”
With a small smile, Zack shoved his hands in his trouser pockets while Trinity debated with herself whether to slam her apartment’s front door in his face. Two weeks had passed since their rescue flight to Colorado, since he’d told her that she wouldn’t be able to help Maggie and that baby on her own. She’d brought Maggie and Bel back here to New York anyway and had devised a plan.
It gave her immense pleasure now to say, “As a matter of fact, I do mind. I’m busy.”
Looking delectable in black trousers and a white button-down shirt, the cuffs folded up to reveal strong, corded forearms, Zack peered around her. “Packing, I see. You’re leaving New York?”
“Heading back to Colorado.”
“With Maggie and Bel?”
“She has friends in Denver. There are some great colleges out that way, too.”
“Does she know what she wants to study?”
“Domestic law.”
“Bet she’ll do well.” He tipped closer and looked around. “Is she in? I imagine she’s been staying here with you.”
“She took the baby for a walk.”
He tugged an ear. “Do you mind if I come in?”
“You already asked and I already said no.”
; “I can help you pack.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“Some of those boxes look heavy.”
He gave her a hint of his sexy crooked smile but Trinity only glared. His sheepish act wouldn’t work. That morning outside of Denver he’d made clear he had his life and no one was going to meddle in it. Well, she had her life, too, and she didn’t appreciate it being interrupted now. Still, many times she’d imagined them meeting again, his trying to apologize and her dressing him down. It would be worth a few minutes of her time to make some of the imaginary payback real.
So, with a detached air, she waved him in, shut the door.
“How is Maggie?” he asked while she returned to dismantling her bookshelf.
“Better. We’ve had a good deal of time to get to know one another. She’s an intelligent woman who made a mistake. But when I look at Bel, hear her giggle, I have to be happy that she did.”
Zack moved over. Collecting her lone screwdriver from the floor, he began working to take off the top shelf.
“No word from the boyfriend?” he asked.
“He wants nothing to do with either of them.” She looked at him pointedly. “He has his own life.”
Zack didn’t seem to hear her sarcastic note.
She collected a stack of books and fit them in an empty box then pushed to her feet. She’d wanted the chance to show him how she hadn’t needed anyone’s support, including his. But this was just too awkward. Too painful.
“I really do have a lot to get through.”
“I’m helping.”
“You’re slowing me down.”
He set down the screwdriver and stood, too. She’d forgotten how tall he was. He seemed to tower over her. But she wouldn’t be intimated. Wouldn’t be seduced, either.
He rubbed the back of his neck and admitted, “I behaved badly the other night. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“And yet Maggie doesn’t have a bad word to say about you. Maybe because she accepts being fobbed off by men.” Her father. Her ex. It was a familiar story.
“Or maybe,” Zack said, “even in her youth Maggie understood that I needed time.”
When he stepped forward, Trinity put up her hands and stepped back. “Maybe I should be as accepting as Maggie but I’m a little touchy right now.”
He had the nerve to look contrite and sexy at the same time. “It was a huge thing to get my head around.”
“Sometimes a person simply needs to step up and act.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
She made a point of turning her back to reach and remove a painting from the wall. “You’ll have to speak to Maggie about any charity you want to offer her.”
“I’m not talking about financial support. Well, not exclusively.” A heartbeat later she felt his heat close to her back. Heard his deep voice close to her ear. “I’m here to ask you something.”
Gathering herself, willing the sudden giddiness away, she purposefully wound around him, painting in hand. “Ask me what?”
“If Bel still needs a father—” he shrugged “—I’m here.”
Those words struck her heart as surely as an arrow. He couldn’t mean it. He was playing with her emotions. Being cruel.
She growled, “Don’t tease, Zack.”
“I’m more serious than I’ve ever been in my life.”
She shook her head, certain. “You said you’d never give up who you were.” She had a thought. “Unless you’re talking about some arrangement…”
He stepped closer. “It’s called marriage.”
“Marriage?”
“On paper only.”
Trinity’s heart dropped to her knees. For a moment, she’d held her breath, not daring to believe. For a moment, she’d actually thought…
“You want to help Bel,” he said. “So do I. This way we can give her a normal life with a mother and father and all the financial support she needs.”
“And you still get to keep your career. Your life.”
“It’s a win-win.”
Her chest began to ache. “And would this marriage include conjugal rights?”
“I was hoping you’d bring that up.” His strong arms gathered her near. “I understand about your need to have a family and you understand about my position in the company.”
“You mean where your priorities lie.”
His brow pinched but then his chin went up. “Precisely.” His palms ran down her arms. “What do you say?”
She kept her expression schooled. She would never let him know how much he’d hurt her without even trying. He wanted to marry her. Out of convenience.
She sucked down a breath. “I’m afraid I can’t accept.”
His dark eyes widened but then he laughed. “Of course you can. This is what you wanted.”
Emotion choking her throat, she wound away from him. “It wouldn’t do any good to explain.”
“Try.” He spun her back. “Is it expenses you want to work out? Accommodation? I’ll still be working out of New York so you won’t have to put up with me all the time.”
“And Bel? What kind of a father do you want her to have?”
A frown darkened his eyes. “One who gives a damn.”
“You’re kidding yourself if you think this can work. How long will it take before you hook up with another starlet or model and find your face splashed over the tabloids again? You were right. You are what you are. And Bel deserves better… .” She lifted her chin. “I do, too.”
He thought he’d offered a solution but he’d only insulted her. She and Bel were worthy of respect. Of love and real commitment. But he obviously didn’t see that.
Tears filling her eyes, she crossed to the door and opened it wide.
“You need to go, Zack, and, please, do us all a favor and never come back.”
Fifteen
“I was surprised to hear you weren’t in the office today. Anything wrong?”
Zack had opened his door to find his father waiting. Without his usual untroubled smile, he stepped aside. “Just wasn’t feeling so hot.”
“You haven’t taken a day off in the whole time you’ve worked at the company.” His father stepped inside. “Maybe I should call a doctor.”
“I just needed some time…to think.”
Zack moved across the lounge room, out onto the balcony, his father right behind.
“Does this have anything to do with that young lady you were besotted with at your sister’s engagement party?”
Zack sat down at the outdoor setting. “I looked besotted?”
“At one stage, I wondered whether I was going to have to announce a second Harrison betrothal that night.”
Since seeing Trinity again, Zack thought he’d done a great job keeping his frustration, hurt, guilt, need, under control. He’d had so many short-term affairs, frankly, he’d lost count. Parting was never the highlight of any relationship, but he couldn’t recall ever having been involved long enough or deeply enough to suffer untowardly when the curtain had dropped.
Trinity was right. He was stubborn. And selfish. Intimate companionships without the demands and responsibilities had suited him down to the ground. But she was a hundred times different. A thousand. If she wasn’t he wouldn’t have asked her to marry him. He wanted to support them both, Trinity and the baby. And she’d told him to leave and never come back. God help him, she’d meant it, too.
He’d lost the only woman he’d ever really cared about and the finality in that truth was nearly driving him mad.
“I can’t see her again,” Zack growled as his father pulled up a chair, too.
“Although it’s evident you want to very much.”
Zack declined to answer. Rather, he simply gazed out over the view, imagining families enjoying Central Park on a perfect spring day, and then he wondered where Trinity and the baby were now. Whether they missed him like he missed them. But what more could he do?
His chest tightened, he clamped shut his eyes and groan
ed.
What the hell did she want from him?
After a time, his father spoke. “The heart’s a funny thing. There are some mighty powerful forces in this world of ours, but love beats them all, hands down.”
Zack frowned across. “Are you trying to say that you still love Mom?”
“Even if she decides it’s time to call it a day, I’ll never regret marrying her, having our family together.” He ran a finger over his graying moustache. “I’m not so young anymore. You begin to see life through a different lens when you hit sixty. Your ideas regarding success change. Some of the loneliest people in the world have bursting bank accounts.” He looked down and nodded to himself. “I often wonder where I’d be now if I hadn’t fallen so in love with your mother. I might have spent too much time away, but I was always so grateful to come home to you all. Birthdays, Christmas, all those great vacations in Colorado. Remember that old barn we spent that god-awful night in?”
Zack summoned up a smile. “I’ll never forget it.”
“When you’re counting down rather than building up, those are the times that matter, not whether or not you beat down some poor bastard in a takeover bid.”
Zack sat forward. “Were you ever afraid of becoming a father? The responsibilities, I mean.”
“Don’t know a man who isn’t. Just goes to show you’re not about to take the role lightly. Every child deserves that consideration. But if a man is fortunate enough to find his soul mate, in my opinion, he’d be a fool not to grab the whole package with open arms.”