Baby Under the Christmas Tree

by Teresa Carpenter

  “Daddy! Daddy! Look at me!” Troy waved from the middle of the jumper, lost his balance and tumbled to his butt. He lay on his back giggling before rolling over and scrambling to his feet to start the process all over again.

  She met Max’s eyes and they grinned at each other. He winked and butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

  “So you liked Deb?”

  The question was so carefully casual Elle knew it was anything but nonchalant. Deb was obviously important to him in ways he didn’t even admit to himself. This arrangement wasn’t just to benefit Troy but to help Deb. And it was clear to Elle if he hadn’t gone in person to ask for her help, Deb wouldn’t have left the property.

  “Yes. She’ll be good with Troy.”

  Max curled his fingers around the rubber corner of the huge jumper and leaned close. “He’ll be good for her, too. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. I’ve hated to see her on her own so far from town.”

  “She looks like she can handle herself,” Elle assured him softly.

  “Just because she can doesn’t mean she should have to. She deserves better.”

  “She won’t cramp your style?”

  “Troy beat her to that.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You are incorrigible.”

  “Just telling it like it is.”

  He clearly believed his decree yet he still planned to make the sacrifice. She had to respect his determination.

  Enough of the fan fest already.

  “Listen, I understand if you want to leave,” she said. “I really appreciate you coming in with me. You made Walter’s party a big hit.”

  “No problem. He’s a neat kid.” He propped his hands on his hips. “I promised I’d stop by his hockey practice next week. And it’s not the worst time I’ve ever had, even counting the showdown with the fearless foursome. You know you could have given me a little warning.”

  “Where would be the fun in that?” she shot back. Then sighed because the threat of her mother had been tossed around and the truth was she’d be horrified by Elle’s behavior. “I’m sorry.”

  He yanked on her ponytail, running his hand down the length in a near caress then tugging at the end. The back of her knees tingled.

  “Forget it. That was nothing compared to what I deal with daily. Besides, they were just protecting their little sister.”

  “Well, your half hour is up so it’s okay if you want to leave.” And why did the prospect of that suddenly seem like a letdown?

  The man was more than annoying. Already he’d broken rule number one, wasting her time by being late and then by dragging her out to meet Deb. If he’d worked with her, she could have accomplished twice as much in half the time.

  “Nah. Your dad just put a steak on the grill for me. Troy is having fun. I can hang out and give you a ride back to your car.”

  “What about your game tonight?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t have to be there until five. We have time. Since Deb can’t start until next week, can you watch Troy tonight? I’ll figure out something for the rest of the week tomorrow.”

  “Sure— Ah!” She jumped, startled by her brother Adam’s sudden appearance. He took her arm and drew her a few feet away then swung her around.

  “I didn’t appreciate the way you talked about Stephanie—”

  “You’re going to want to let her go.” Suddenly Max appeared next to her and Adam, his shoulders relaxed, his expression pleasant as he took a sip of soda.

  Adam dropped his hand. “This doesn’t concern you. It’s between me and my sister.”

  “You’re right.” Max shrugged. “I just have two words to offer, time and place.”

  “Max is right.” Elle tried to defuse the tension. “I shouldn’t have brought Stephanie into our argument, but you guys drive me nuts with—”

  “Elle.” Max cut her off.

  “What? Oh, right.” She focused on Adam. “Sorry.”

  “We’re only trying to look out for you.” Adam defended the brothers’ interrogation of Max.

  “Adam, stop.” Stephanie appeared at her husband’s side, wrapping her arm around his. “Elle, he only gets this way when his women are threatened. Say you’re sorry, dear.”

  “She’s my sister. It’s my duty to—”

  Unimpressed, Stephanie went onto her toes, cupped Adam’s rigid jaw in her hands and kissed him boldly.

  Elle glanced away and caught Max staring at her, his gaze as hot as the embrace taking place next to them.

  “Don’t.” To her horror the demand sounded more like a plea.

  The smolder intensified. “It’s your brother’s fault.”

  Snort. “That’s the first time I’ve heard that excuse.”

  Stephanie broke off the kiss and pulled back. “Come on, hero. I need help with the piñata.” She snagged Adam’s hand and led him away.

  “Neat trick,” Max muttered.

  Adam suddenly stopped and swung around. “Elle, I’m sorry. But I can’t promise it won’t happen again, little sis.” His gaze shifted to Max. “You can stay.”

  Max lifted his chin in acknowledgment. “Okay,” he told Elle, “maybe your brother isn’t a complete ass after all.”

  “Yeah.” Elle watched the couple’s retreat. “And Stephanie is my new hero.” She made the mistake of looking back at Max.

  She longed for him.

  Her heartbeat tripped as fast as the flittering wings of the hummingbird buzzing by. In the middle of a kid’s birthday party she nearly squirmed with the heat flowing through her body. And she had the nerve to lecture her brother on the inappropriateness of his behavior?

  Right. At least Stephanie’s kiss had served to distract Adam from his irrational protective streak. Max actually surprised Elle. As a professional hockey player, aggression was a daily deal for him, yet he’d been the one with the level head. The one to defuse the situation before it could get out of hand.

  Which only served to make her want him more. What made it worse was knowing he wanted her, too.

  Maybe leaving with him wasn’t such a good idea.

  She knew better than to believe in the illusion of his interest. All she had to do was remember back to the Gala last year.

  For a woman who’d dreamed of being a princess as a little girl the night had been a winter fantasy come true. She’d felt beautiful in her fancy gown and upswept hair. The setting had been magical, a true tropical wonderland at an oceanside resort celebrating the Christmas holiday in sparkling, candlelit grandeur.

  Still new to the job, she’d been enchanted to be rubbing shoulders with the players, VIPs and celebrities. Yes, she worked the first half of the evening, but then she was free to enjoy the festivities until Ray needed her help with the auction.

  Having broken up with Brad the month before, she’d been determined to have a good time. She’d danced and laughed and flirted, having a great time. She’d been standing in a doorway opening onto the terrace when a couple of the single players stopped, pointed at the mistletoe decorating the threshold and demanded a kiss. She’d obliged them with a buss on the cheek and then waved them away.

  She had turned to step out for air and Max stood there. Suddenly she was under the mistletoe being kissed by The Beast. She’d never forget the magic of that moment.

  This was no obligatory peck. Instead he cupped her cheek, lowered his head and claimed her mouth in a hot slide of passion that led from one kiss to the next as he drew her onto the terrace into the d
arkness. Into temptation. Into an erotic interlude out of time.

  For the next hour they danced, swaying to the music floating on the air, soft as the breeze drifting off the ocean. He was so strong, moving her with confidence and surety, dipping her over his arm and lifting her into another kiss. He seduced her with equal parts gentleness and demand.

  And then it was over. Duty drew her into the room to assist Ray with the auction. As she worked she was appalled at her actions. Ray had made it clear the players were off-limits. And she believed in following the rules.

  But her body still tingled from Max’s touch and when the auction wrapped up, she looked for him, secretly hoping to be swept off her feet. She found him—leaving with another woman.

  Betrayal burned a hole in her stomach as she watched him escort the other woman from the room with a hand on her back. It was obvious they were together, obvious he’d been playing with Elle.

  All her secret hopes, all the promise of the evening, all the potential of something special, followed him from the room. She went from flushed and happy to deflated and hurt in the blink of an eye.

  The magic of the night turned to dust in a moment.

  So no, she wouldn’t be leaving with him after all. The less time she spent in his company the better.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  HER PARENTS WERE HAPPY to give Elle a ride to her office to pick up her car.

  “It was nice of you to bring Max to the party.” Her mom glanced back at Elle from the front seat. “Walter was thrilled.”

  “I thought it was against team policy for you to date the players,” her dad grumbled.

  “We’re not dating— Mom.” Elle pleaded for intervention. The men in her life would wrap her in cotton candy and set her on a shelf if she let them.

  “Leave her alone, Jim. Elle is entitled to her privacy. If she wants to break the rules with a hunky hockey player, that’s her business.”

  “Mom!”

  “Becca, don’t encourage her.” Dad growled his displeasure.

  “Hush,” Mom scolded him. “I will encourage her. She works too hard and deserves to find someone special.”

  Go Mom.

  “Thanks, Mom.” Elle flipped through her emails on her phone. Maybe she’d get a chance to answer a few before the game.

  But she spoke too soon.

  Because Mom turned her eagle eye on Elle.

  “You can protest all you like, Elle, but it was obvious to everyone at the party that there’s strong chemistry between you two.”

  “You’re wrong.” Elle did protest because it was her only defense against an unwanted truth. “That was just residual falloff from Adam and Stephanie.”

  “It wasn’t Adam defending you.” Becca flipped down the mirror to check her makeup and fluff up her hair. Pride for her beautiful mother burned in Elle. She admired and respected her so much.

  Both redheads, with the same slim, athletic build, they’d been mistaken for sisters more than a few times. But Becca’s blue eyes and softer features gave her a beauty Elle—with the brown eyes and defined cheekbones inherited from her father, who had a touch of Native American in him—lacked.

  Becca met Elle’s gaze in the mirror. “It’s the way he was looking at you that had your brothers’ and father’s hackles bristling.”

  “Okay. There may have been a moment of awareness,” she confessed, never able to keep things from her mother for long. “But it doesn’t matter, so don’t get your hopes up. Dad is right, the team has rules.” And so did she. “Max is off-limits. Besides, the truth is I’m a glorified babysitter.”

  “Is there a problem with his son?” A total mom, Becca immediately latched on to any baby concerns. “Troy seemed like such a sweet boy.”

  “He is, except for the screaming jags.” Elle recounted her experiences with the toddler. “It’s a bad habit that’s worked for him.”

  “How did you get him to stop?” Becca wanted to know.

  “I held him wrapped up in my arms, told him I wanted him to take deep breaths, and we breathed together. After a couple of minutes, I hummed to him until he settled down. Then I told him I would not put up with screaming.”

  “And that worked?”

  “He hasn’t screamed with me again. I don’t know about Max.”

  “He needs a nanny,” her dad threw in.

  “He hired a nice woman,” Elle confided. “She used to be a foster mother of his, but she has to wrap up some things with the sale of her property and can’t start until next week. And he’s so sensitive about whom he leaves Troy with that I’ll probably end up watching him this week.”

  “I don’t know how much help it will be, but I can watch him during the day,” Becca volunteered. “Just for a week, right?”

  “Yes. Mom, that would be awesome.” Elle leaned forward in her enthusiasm. “Are you sure you wouldn’t mind? Terrible twos, screams and all?”

  “I raised five hellions. I think I can handle it,” she said serenely. “I have Adam’s kids on Tuesday afternoons. He’ll have fun with them.”

  Elle reached through the seats and wrapped her arm around her mom’s neck. “I don’t even care that you called me a hellion when I was totally innocent. You are the very best mom in the whole wide world. I love you.”

  “She wasn’t a hellion,” Dad defended her. “She was my pretty little princess.”

  Elle grinned and turning the other way she kissed her dad on the cheek. “I love you, too.”

  “It says something, doesn’t it—” hope filled Becca’s voice “—that he trusts you with his son.”

  Elle gave a long-suffering laugh. “Good try, Mom. Not going to happen.”

  “Okay.” Her mom sighed. “But it’s a shame.”

  “Why is that?” Elle was almost afraid to ask.

  “As Dad says, you were his pretty little princess. As a little girl you spent hours playing Belle. I can just see the two of you together, Beauty and The Beast.”

  Elle nearly choked on the moisture stick she was using on her lips. People really had to stop saying that.

  * * *

  Later that week Max made his way through the silent arena. Elle had texted him to say she’d commandeered an empty suite to watch the game so Troy could stretch out on the couch when he fell asleep.

  It had been a tough week adjusting to being a full-time dad. Surprisingly rewarding, but equally exhausting. He was grateful to Elle’s mom for watching Troy during the day and to Elle for helping out during the games.

  Donna had returned only to pack her things and fly back to Las Vegas for good. She and Troy had had a good visit and Max had dropped her at the airport this morning. Max was happy for her.

  Right behind Elle’s text was one from his investigator telling him Amber was on the move. And finally there’d been a voice mail from Amber saying she was back and ready to pick up Troy. She’d be waiting for him at his place.

  Not only no, but hell no. Not going to happen.

  If he had his way, he’d cut all ties with her, but she was Troy’s mother. Max wasn’t such a jerk daddy he’d deny his son access to his mother. But it would be on Max’s terms.

  He reached the suite, opened the door and came to a dead stop. Elle sat on the couch with Troy in her lap, snuggled against her chest. They were both asleep. The domestic scene tugged at something elemental deep in his chest.

  How telling that he’d seen more affection and caring in Elle’s attitude with Troy than he’d ever seen
in Amber’s.

  Why couldn’t Amber be more like Elle?

  The unexpected urge to wrap them both up in his arms and hold them close made him hesitate. He didn’t do cuddly. Hell, this whole parenting thing was outside his comfort zone.

  Elle had warned him he’d have to push himself.

  Taking a quiet moment to hold a hot woman in his arms hardly seemed a chore. So it included his kid. Deb would say new experiences were good for his soul.

  Willing to put off the confrontation with his baby mama—let Amber see how it felt to wait on someone—he dropped his gear bag and settled into the corner of the couch, carefully pulling Elle into his arms. She fitted perfectly.

  At the change of position Troy lifted his head. He blinked at Max, smiled and went back to sleep.

  No screams.

  The silent acceptance brought a lump to Max’s throat. It was a gift, one Max had rarely received. He let out a deep breath and relaxed for the first time in an overly long day.

  He drew in the scent of cherry blossoms and...popcorn? Smiling, he eased back into the corner and closed his eyes. He savored the peaceful moment before the approaching storm.

  It always surprised him how comfortable he found it to be around Elle.

  “Good game,” a sleepy voice said softly.

  He shifted, drew her closer. “We lost.”

  “Yes, but it was hard-fought. You only lost by one goal. It’s the best the team has played together since Ian was injured.”

  He ran his thumb over the soft skin of her throat. “Coach asked me to be the interim captain until Ian comes back.”

  Her chin lifted and she looked at him through lush black lashes. “I can see that.”

  He grunted. “I can’t.”

  “So you have no opinion about how the team is doing? No thoughts on how it can be improved?”

  “I didn’t say that.” He did have ideas actually. Had been playing around with a bait-and-switch play.

  “So you’re interested?”

  “Now you’re baiting me.” They really should get going, but he had no desire to move, especially considering what waited for him at home.