Baby In Her Arms
Baby In Her Arms
Judy Christenberry
What was she going to do about Josh? (#ue903e52f-9b5d-5e15-bf22-e4abfd1e6322)Letter to Reader (#u94c33c24-c106-5a4f-9a38-fc2c15cf4760)Title Page (#u8813144a-d22a-5615-82c5-5dc86e2526e2)About the Author (#uffd50573-53b6-5656-b9cc-88c1bb7d05c2)Chapter One (#ud8ed3384-e3d7-5b4b-9d82-55288cdee00f)Chapter Two (#uc93bbf93-4110-54aa-91f3-1c3c805ec996)Chapter Three (#ucb75925f-5dd1-5ae1-8acd-803c7dab39af)Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
What was she going to do about Josh?
That was number one on Maggie’s list of interesting topics.
Sunday morning, when she woke up in his arms, she’d figured out that she loved him. She hadn’t wanted to leave his embrace. But she had—even though she’d had to work her anger to fever pitch to do it. Without that anger, she would have melted into his arms.
And now he was offering her a permanent place in his life. At least for a while.
But he wasn’t offering love.
Which meant she couldn’t ever be in his bed.
Could she live with the man and not plead for his touch? She didn’t know. And that was what she would have to decide before she could give him an answer to his latest proposal....
Dear Reader,
Happy Valentine’s Day! What better way to celebrate than with a Silhouette Romance novel? We’re sweeter than chocolate—and less damaging to the hips! This month is filled with special treats just for you. LOVING THE BOSS, our six-book series about office romances that lead to happily ever after, continues with The Night Before Baby by Karen Rose Smith. In this sparkling story, an unforgettable one-night stand—during the company Christmas party!—leads to an unexpected pregnancy and a mustread marriage of convenience.
Teresa Southwick crafts an emotional BUNDLES OF JOY title, in which the forbidden man of her dreams becomes a pregnant woman’s stand-in groom. Don’t miss A Vow, a Ring, a Baby Swing. When a devil-may-care bachelor discovers he’s a daddy, he offers the prim heroine a chance to hold a Baby in Her Arms, as Judy Christenberry’s LUCKY CHARM SISTERS trilogy resumes.
Award-winning author Marie Ferrarella proves it’s Never Too Late for Love as the bride’s mother and the groom’s widower father discover their children’s wedding was just the beginning in this charming continuation of LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER. Beloved author Arlene James lends a traditional touch to Silhouette Romance’s ongoing HE’S MY HERO promotion with Mr. Right Next Door. And FAMILY MATTERS spotlights new talent Elyssa Henry with her heartwarming debut, A Family for the Sheriff.
Treat yourself to each and every offering this month. And in future months, look for more of the stories you love...and the authors you cherish.
Enjoy!
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Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance
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Baby in Her Arms
Judy Christenberry
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
JUDY CHRISTENBERRY
has been writing romances for fifteen years because she loves happy endings as much as her readers do. She’s a bestselling writer for Harlequin American Romance, but she has a long love of traditional romances and is delighted to tell a story that brings those elements to the reader. Judy quit teaching French recently and devotes her time to writing. She hopes readers have as much fun reading her stories as she does writing them. She spends her spare time reading, watching her favorite sports teams and keeping track of her two daughters. Judy’s a native Texan, living in Plano, a suburb of Dallas.
Chapter One
“Wahhhh!”
Josh McKinley stared down at the baby in the car seat next to him as if she were an alien newly arrived on earth.
“Listen,” he began, desperation in his voice, “I know you’re not happy, but I’m not, either. I mean, it’s not that I don‘t—that is, I know you’re—hell. I don’t know what I’m trying to say.”
A little sob was the only response. Not that he expected conversation from an eight-month-old, but he didn’t have anyone else to talk to. And it made the baby stop crying.
At least, he’d thought it had. She’d apparently only been taking a breather so she could scream louder.
Nervously he leaned over and snapped on the radio. The hard rock he usually listened to didn’t seem appropriate, and he scanned several stations until he found one playing a soothing melody.
Again the baby—his baby—stopped crying.
His baby.
When Child Protective Services had called his office earlier that day, he hadn’t gotten back to them right away. He was busy. Besides, he didn’t do kids.
Joshua McKinley, Private Investigator, was one of the top private eyes in Kansas City. He could pick and choose among the many cases offered.
They called back, leaving another message.
He’d had a client consultation that was tricky. He’d call them later. They probably only wanted a donation or something.
At five-thirty he had wrapped up the details of several cases and was chatting on the phone with a model he’d dated a time or two when call-waiting had interrupted. He’d almost ignored it. But the model seemed to have rocks in her head instead of brains. Besides, the call might have been a new case.
“Hello?”
“Is this Joshua McKinley?”
“Sure is. What can I do for you?”
“You could try returning your calls,” the female voice had said indignantly.
“Who is this?”
“Abigail Cox, Child Protective Services. Didn’t you get my messages?”
Even his mother hadn’t chastised him as determinedly as this stranger. He’d straightened his shoulders. “Yes, I did, but I’m running a business here.”
“And I have a very unhappy baby who needs her daddy.”
“Lady, if the case isn’t too complicated, I can take it on, pro bono, in a couple of days. Send me the details.” He wasn’t an unfeeling monster.
“Mr. McKinley, it won’t take the detective skills of Sherlock Holmes for you to find the baby’s father. It’s you.”
He’d opened his mouth, but no sound had come out. Taking the phone receiver away from his ear, he’d stared at it as if it had bitten him. Finally, he’d put it back to his ear. “What did you say?”
“Are you deaf as well as slow? I said—”
“Listen, lady, I don’t have to listen to your insults, and I’m not—”
“You’re right, and I offer my apologies. It’s been a very frustrating day.”
He’d heard the weariness in her voice and figured he should cut the lady some slack. He knew he wouldn’t want to deal with a bunch of kids, and the poor woman was going to have to face the fact that she’d made a mistake.
“Hey, you’ve got my sympathies. Hope you find the right guy.” He was starting to hang up when she’d yelled loud enough to get his attention even though the phone was inches from his ear.
“Yeah?”
“Mr. McKinley, you are the right guy.”
Joshua was snapped back to the present by his companion in the darkened car. Obviously tired of the music, she drowned it out with her hysterical crying, distracting him from the review of earlier events.
“Baby, you can’t do that,” he muttered, grabbing his head with one hand. The pain between his eyes was growing unbearable.
Big blue eyes stared at him. Then the baby opened her mouth and screamed again.
Hell, what was he supposed to do? He knew nothing about babies. And it was a girl! Maybe if the baby had been a boy, he would have been able to figure things out. But a girl! The plumbing wasn’t even the same, much less the emotions.
Desperately reviewing the females of his acquaintance, not for the first time, he shook his head in despair. His only family consisted of a distant cousin somewhere near Boston. He hadn’t been seeing anyone regularly since Julie—and look what that had gotten him. He eyed the screaming baby with astonishment again.
He scanned the neighborhood as he drove, but he didn’t expect an answer. The world seemed uncaring of his difficulties. Until he saw the illuminated sign of the Lucky Charm Diner.
Mike O’Connor!
Josh had done some work for Mike a couple of years ago, just before the man died. He’d had a couple of daughters, and Josh had discovered a third one Mike hadn’t known about.
Kind of like his situation.
What were the daughters’ names? Kathryn, Mary Margaret and...and Susan. Right.
He whipped his car into the parking lot. It was almost ten o’clock. If nothing else, he could buy some milk for the baby. And maybe some advice.
He’d take whatever he could get.
Mary Margaret O’Connor smiled. Kate was going to be so pleased. Not that Kate was dependent any longer on the diner or her catering company, since she’d married Will, but the more money the diner made, the more she would be able to help Susan.
Kate paid one-third of the profits from the diner to Susan, one-third to Maggie and kept one-third. After all, the diner was their father’s legacy to them.
Dear Pop. He wouldn’t even recognize the diner if he were alive. Kate had made it nouveau chic for the bluebloods of Kansas City.
Maggie’s thoughts were interrupted by a noise that she at first mistook for a siren, but soon determined was a baby crying.
Here? This late at night?
Curiosity propelled her out of her chair. Grabbing her empty coffee cup as an excuse, Maggie left the small office behind the kitchen and pushed through the swinging doors into the restaurant.
There she stopped and stared at the handsome hunk who was holding a baby as if someone had just handed him a bowling ball that he didn’t know what to do with.
“Glad you’re here, Maggie,” said Wanda, the night waitress, as Maggie entered the restaurant
“What’s up?” Maggie called over the screaming baby. Why didn’t the man do something?
“This guy’s looking for you or Kate.” The waitress, tired and cranky, glared at him, then turned her back.
Maggie stared at him. What could he want with her? Suddenly wishing her big sister were here, she barely nodded at the man; he was handsome enough to leave any woman speechless, with his tight jeans, broad shoulders and bright blue eyes. Involuntarily, her insides turned to Jell-O.
“You’re Mary Margaret? Mike O’Connor’s daughter?”
“Maggie. I’m called Maggie.” He probably hadn’t come here with a screaming baby to find out her nickname.
“Maggie, I’m in trouble here.”
She could tell that, in spite of the fact she knew little about babies. But what did he want from her? “Wh-what’s the problem?”
To her shock, he shoved the baby toward her. Automatically she put out her arms and found herself holding the screaming baby. Then she jiggled the child gently and crooned to it, “Easy, sweetie, don’t cry. It’s okay, don’t cry.”
Immediately, the baby stopped crying.
A loud cheer went up from the few patrons.
The baby began screaming again.
The man spun around and glared at the customers, putting his finger to his well-shaped lips.
Though Maggie continued to try to soothe the baby, her gaze never left the man. He turned back to stare at Maggie, as the baby settled down again, a hopeful look on his face that made her nervous.
“Who are you?” she finally asked softly as the baby’s eyes slowly closed.
“Josh McKinley.”
Frantically she ran that name through her head and came up with nothing except a vague feeling that she’d heard it before. But where? Most of the men she knew worked at the accounting firm where she was employed. This man wasn’t one of them. Not with those muscles. She would’ve remembered.
“I’m sorry, I don’t—”
“I’m a private investigator. I found your sister for your father.”
“Oh. Right. Pop mentioned—”
“I know you don’t owe me anything, but I need a woman.”
Maggie felt her jaw drop, and she quickly snapped her lips together. If someone had needed a woman, an O’Connor woman, it had always been Kate, her vibrant, red-haired sister. Not quiet Maggie.
“Why?” she whispered.
He stared back at her as if she’d just asked the stupidest question in the world. “Why? The baby, of course.”
Maggie stared at the sleeping infant in her arms and then back at him. “You’re looking for a baby-sitter? Why do you think I would know where to—”
“Not a sitter. At least—” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, I will need a sitter, I guess, but right now, I need someone to tell me what to do.”
Maggie kept thinking everything would become clear if she asked a few questions, but each answer was only muddying the water. “What to do about what?”
She’d forgotten to whisper, and the baby’s eyes fluttered open and she began crying again.
“That!” he said in frustration.
Putting the baby on her shoulder and patting her back, Maggie stared at him. “The baby?”
“Of course the baby! What else could I mean?”
Fed up with the going-nowhere conversation, she straightened her shoulders. “Look, Mr. McKinley, let’s start at the beginning. Whose baby is this?”
“Mine.” His single word seemed to come out reluctantly, and he looked away.
Maggie stared at him, blinking rapidly at the unexpected answer. “Yours? You’re the father?”
“Yes, damn it!”
“What’s her name?”
“How do you know it’s a girl?” he demanded.
“She’s wearing pink.”
“Oh. Yeah.”
“Her name?” Maggie prompted.
“It’s—Damn, I can’t remember!”
Maggie gasped as if he’d revealed a heinous crime. “You don’t know your own daughter’s name?”
His cheeks flushed. “I...I was in shock. You don’t understand. I didn’t even know about her until they...they handed her to me. I know they mentioned—” He rubbed his forehead. “It’s an oldfashioned name. It’ll come to me.”
“I can’t believe you don’t know your—”
“Lady, cut me some slack! I told you—it’s on the papers I have in the car.” He turned to leave, and Maggie was filled with fear that he wouldn’t return.
“Where are you going?”
He stared at her in surprise. “To the car to find out her name. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”
“No! I mean...how do I know you’ll come back?”
Her question didn’t make him happy. That much was evident by his glowering face. Suddenly he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a thick wallet. “Here’s my driver’s license, my money and my credit cards. Okay?” He laid the wallet down on the counter and strode to the door.
Maggie stood there, holding the baby, staring at the wallet as if she feared it would try to get up and run away by itself.
Two minutes later he reappeared with a small bag. “Everything’s in here,” he muttered, digging around. Triumphantly he pulled out papers. “Virginia Lynn. That’s her name, Virginia Lynn.”
Maggie pulled the baby away from her shoulder. “Ginny? Is that your name, sweetheart?”
The child hiccuped, then reached for Maggie’s dark hair.
“When was she last fed?”
“They gave her a bottle at four, because I hadn’t called. I remember they told me four o’clock.”
He acted as if he deserved a prize. “Okay, then she’s probably hungry. What is she supposed to eat?” Maggie asked.
“Hell, lady, why are you asking me all these questions? I don’t know anything about babies. That’s why I need a woman.”
Maggie let her lids settle gently over her eyes to hide herself from the angry man in front of her. But he didn’t go away. She knew because she could hear his raspy breathing, as if he’d run a race...or was upset.
“Did they include anything in the bag?”
“The bottle’s in here, but it’s empty.” He dug it out and handed it to her.
“Wanda?” she called over her shoulder. “Could you clean this bottle and fill it with milk?”
“Whole milk or skim?”
Maggie looked helplessly at Josh McKinley, and he shrugged his shoulders. She moved closer to hand him the baby.
He backed away. “Hell, lady, you aren’t going to give up because I don’t know what kind of milk, are you?”
Exasperated, she said, “No! But I thought you could hold the baby while I call my sister. My nephew is almost a year old. Kate will know what to do.”
He reluctantly took the baby back into his arms, holding her against his body, as if he’d learned from watching Maggie.
She headed for the phone, and the baby started crying again.
“She hates me,” he protested, following Maggie.
“Don’t be silly. She’s probably not used to a man’s voice. Speak softly.” She dialed Kate’s number.
“Kate, do you know what kind of milk a baby should have?” she asked as soon as Kate answered.
“Maggie? What?” her sister asked.
“A man is here with a little baby, and we’re fixing a bottle, but I don’t know if she should have skim milk or whole milk.”
“How old is she?”
Maggie hated to ask the man for more information, but she had no choice. Not that she expected him to know. “How old?”
To her surprise he said, “Eight months. She was born last October.”
She repeated the information to Kate.
“Whole milk is fine. She can probably eat a little mashed potatoes, too, if they’re not heavily seasoned. Now, tell me what’s going on.”
Maggie explained about Josh McKinley.
“Hey, maybe your sister could take her in tonight, just until I can arrange things,” the man suggested.
Maggie suddenly realized he was standing right next to her, his shoulders brushing hers. “I doubt—”
“Ask her.”
“Kate, he wants to know if you can take Ginny tonight.”
“He what?” Kate squawked. “No, no, I can’t. Nate has come down with the chicken pox from a child in his play group. I don’t think it would be good to—”
“Oh, no. You’re right.”
“Look, I’ll pay—” Josh urged.
“Her baby has the chicken pox,” Maggie explained.
Before the man could respond, Ginny whimpered again.
Kate spoke before Maggie could. “You’d better get off the phone and feed her. And don’t forget to change her diaper. She’s probably wet.”
Maggie hung up the phone. “Do you have any dry diapers? When did you last change her?”
“Change her?” Dawning realization stole over the man’s handsome features. An unpleasant realization. “You mean—” He gestured to the baby’s bottom.
“Of course that’s what I mean. You haven’t changed her, have you?” she asked as her own realization occurred. “How long have you had her?”
“A couple of hours. I couldn’t figure out what to do.”
“Do you have diapers?”
“You’ll have to look,” he insisted, clutching the baby against him with two hands, as if he feared she’d run away.
Maggie opened the bag and found five unused disposable diapers. “Good. I’ll show you where you can change her while I fix some potatoes and her bottle.”
“Potatoes?”
“My sister said she could eat them. This way.”
“Wait a minute!” he gasped as he followed her. “I can’—I mean, I’ve never—You do it!”
“It’s not difficult, Mr. McKinley. And she is your daughter.” She wasn’t about to admit that she wasn’t very experienced in that area herself.
Gesturing to the sofa in her office, she turned and left the room, feeling guilty. She hoped poor Ginny didn’t suffer from her father’s lack of experience.
In the kitchen she heated up some mashed potatoes Kate had prepared before she’d left for the day. Wanda washed the bottle in silence, a sure sign that she was upset, and slapped it down on the counter beside the milk she was warming.
“There! It’s clean. But I think you should throw the guy out on his ear. His story sounds pretty hokey to me.”
“We really haven’t even heard his story, Wanda, and the baby’s so sweet.”
“Hmmmp!” Wanda snorted and pushed through the swinging doors.
“She’s changed,” Josh said, stepping into the kitchen.
Maggie stared at the mangled diaper, its sticky tabs at strange angles. But at least the diaper wasn’t falling off. “Good job.” She could afford to be generous.
His sheepish look surprised her. “I had to throw away two others. Those sticky things got stuck on—on other things.”
“Then your next stop had better be somewhere you can buy diapers. The two you have left won’t last very long.” She knew that much, at least. Kate was always complaining about the number of diapers Nathan used.
He looked panicky again, but as he drew closer to Maggie, Ginny gurgled and held out her hands, plainly asking Maggie to take her.
Maggie’s heart flipped over and she grabbed the warm little body. “Oh, you sweetheart. Are you hungry?”
She held the baby in one arm and picked up the bowl of potatoes. “Fill the bottle with warm milk and bring it to me,” she ordered, as if she cared for Ginny every day of the week, and sailed through the swinging doors.
Josh stared at Maggie’s cute little backside as she swung away from him. Then he shook his head. He shouldn’t even be noticing such a thing. He had a baby to care for.
Ginny. He had Ginny to care for:
And Ginny wanted Maggie.
He couldn’t blame her, but he also couldn’t deny the pang of jealousy that filled him.
Dismissing such silliness, he took the milk from the stove and filled the bottle, screwing on the nipple, and followed Maggie.
“Have you eaten?” Maggie asked as he slid into the booth across from her.
“Me?” It took time for him to remember. “Uh, no. I went to see about...about Ginny and—no.”
“Wanda, bring Josh a menu,” Maggie ordered, never lifting her gaze from Ginny.
Josh knew why. His child, little Ginny, suddenly seemed to have eight hands, waving and reaching, trying to catch hold of the spoon Maggie wielded.
Then he was distracted by the menu Wanda handed him. It took him no time to place his order; and the food was brought to him amazingly fast.
After shoveling food down with as many manners as he could summon, he leaned back against the seat and realized Maggie was holding his child, watching him in silence.
Ginny wasn’t watching anyone. Snuggled against Maggie’s neck, she slept peacefully.
Josh wasn’t slow. He immediately realized what he needed. He asked Maggie the only possible question.
“Will you come home with me?”
Chapter Two
Quiet, shy Maggie O’Connor stared in disbelief at the handsome man opposite her.
His cheeks burned red and he hurriedly added, “I mean, for Ginny. Come home with me to help out with Ginny.”
Still, she could say nothing. Words wouldn’t come to her.
“I promise I don’t mean anything else. No...no playing around. I mean, your dad trusted me. You can, too.” He was getting his embarrassment under control, she could tell, since the red in his cheeks began to disappear.
If only she were as quick to recover. “I...I don’t think—”
“Think about Ginny. I don’t know how to care for her. Every time I touch her, she cries. Her mama just died and—”
Those words got Maggie’s attention. “Her mother just died?”
“Yeah, so—”
“You don’t seem very broken up about it!” She couldn’t keep the accusatory tones out of her voice. Having lost both of her parents, Maggie took death seriously.
She expected a quick show of sorrow, a repentant attitude. Instead she discovered frustration when she looked at him.
“I’m not exactly celebrating,” he said grimly, “but I hadn’t seen Julie in almost a year and a half. She never even told me about Ginny. It wasn’t until today that I learned of her death and Ginny’s existence. I’ve been hit kind of hard.”
Maggie turned her head to stare at the baby, whose warm little body pressed against Maggie. Sympathy welled up in her for the orphan. Her own mother had died at Maggie’s birth. She and Ginny had a lot in common, because the child would never remember the mother who’d given her life, just as Maggie didn’t.
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
“I’m still hoping you’ll come home with me.”
She studied him under lowered lashes. He was a sexy, handsome man. A lot of women wouldn’t question his intentions if he asked them to come home with him. They’d even be disappointed if he expressed disinterest. Maggie, however, wasn’t surprised by his promise that he didn’t mean anything sexual with his offer.
Kate said she gave off the wrong vibes to single men. Maggie didn’t know if that was true, but she’d found it easier to deal with numbers than real live men. Ginny, however, was another story.
“Where do you live?”
He sat up straighter, a spark of hope lighting his eyes. “I have a condo a few blocks from here, near the Plaza.”
His private investigator business must be successful, Maggie realized, since that was a pricey neighborhood. “Even if I take care of Ginny tonight, that’s only going to delay your problem twenty-four hours.”
“One Day at a Time. That’s my motto.” He sent her a smile that she figured usually got him whatever he wanted from a woman.
“Why did you take her?”
He looked like she’d thrown a glass of cold water in his face. “What?”
“I said—”
“I heard you. Because I’m her father.”
“Are you sure?”
“Why are you asking these questions? What difference does it make to you? I asked you to help care for her for twenty-four hours, not write a biography.”
Maggie stiffened, causing Ginny to shift. “It seems to me that you should be more agreeable if I’m supposed to do you a favor.”
“Ah. We’re wanting to know how much I’ll offer? Is that it?”
Enraged, Maggie slid from the booth. “Here, Mr. McKinley, take your baby and leave. I don’t need insults.” Though she tried to hide how reluctant she was to let Ginny go to her father, she bent toward the man so she could hold on to the soft bundle of joy a little longer.
“Wait!” he protested, panic in his eyes. “I didn’t mean to insult you. And you’d be doing me a huge favor. I don’t mind paying.”
“I don’t think I asked for any money.”
“Maggie, please help me, just until tomorrow.”
She hadn’t intended to agree to his crazy plan. After all, she didn’t know him. Her father may have trusted him with a few family secrets, but he hadn’t said he’d hand over one of his daughters to him for repayment.
But Maggie had no fear that he would be interested in her. And she had a lot of fear about what would happen to Ginny. Not that she herself knew all that much about babies, but she knew a little. She’d taken care of Nathan on occasion.
“Please?” His blue eyes, exactly like Ginny’s she suddenly realized, pleaded along with his word.
“I...I suppose I could help you out tonight. I’ll take Ginny home with me and you can pick her up in the morning.” She cuddled the sleeping baby against her again, aware of how happy she was to do so.
“No!”
Maggie blinked at the man as he jumped to his feet, crowding her in the aisle.
“But you said—”
“I asked you to help me, not take my baby away.”
“But I can’t spend the night at your place. That would—”
“That would be best,” he hurriedly said. “I promise I won’t touch you. Ginny needs to get used to her new home.”
She tried to picture what it would be like to stay in the same apartment as Josh McKinley. He probably had a bachelor pad, completely inappropriate for a baby. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“You’re not taking Ginny some other place. She stays with me. But I could use your help.”
Ginny smacked her rosebud lips, as if still taking the bottle, and Maggie’s heart swelled with love. She’d heard of falling in love at first glance, but she hadn’t expected the recipient of her emotions to be a baby. “All right. I’ll help you out until morning. I go to work at seven-thirty.”
“Maggie, you’re the best!” he exclaimed, smiling that sexy smile again. “Are you ready to go? We need to buy some diapers and some milk before we go home.”
Josh couldn’t believe his luck. He’d convinced Maggie to come home with him and take care of Ginny.
They’d moved the baby seat to the back and Maggie had strapped Ginny in without waking her. Then they’d driven to one of the few all-night groceries. Josh knew its location because he usually shopped at odd hours.
Maggie had remained in the car while he’d purchased only the necessities. Then they headed toward his apartment.
“I hope you don’t mind not going to your place. But it’d take an hour to go to North Kansas City and back. I bought you a toothbrush.” He glanced her way, not sure what kind of response he was looking for.
“Thank you. I’ll pay you back as soon as we get the baby settled.”
Her cool tones told him he hadn’t been forgiven for the things he’d said earlier. “Come on, Maggie. I didn’t mean to insult you. I apologized.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll still pay you for the toothbrush.”
He grinned. “I should’ve known you’d be stubborn. After all, you’re Irish, just like your father.”
She didn’t respond to his smile. “I’m not like my father.”
Even as he mentally made a note of her response, he muttered, “You could’ve fooled me.”
Nothing else was said until he wheeled his car into his parking space in the garage attached to his building.
“If you’ll get Ginny, I’ll bring everything else.” There were two suitcases Child Protective Services had given him, as well as the grocery bag.
As their small procession made its way to the door leading to his condo, Josh realized his life had changed. This morning he’d had no idea he had a daughter.
Yep, everything had changed. But he wasn’t going to let it affect him.
Maggie marched along, still disturbed both by Josh’s attempt to pay her and her acceptance of his plea for help. She’d never spent the night with a man, even as a baby-sitter. She couldn’t help being nervous.
When Josh told her they’d arrived, setting down the suitcases and juggling the grocery sack to find his keys, she suddenly wondered what she’d find in his apartment. She’d always heard bachelors were messy. After all, she’d seen Animal House. When he pushed the door open and gestured for her to precede him, she prepared herself for anything.
To her surprise, she discovered a spacious, comfortable living room, with only a few items out of place. “How nice.”
“What did you expect? A hovel?” he asked, grinning again.
“No, but I’d heard—that is, some men aren’t neat.”
“Don’t go putting a halo on my head, Maggie. I have a cleaning woman who comes in every week. She was just here yesterday.”
“Oh. Well, it’s still nice. I like the colors.” The room was mostly done in masculine colors—forest green and tan.
With a nod, he started down the hall. “You and Ginny can sleep in my bed. Bring her this way.”
“But she can’t sleep in a regular bed. She’ll turn over and fall off,” Maggie protested. At least she knew that much about babies.
“She can turn over?” Josh asked, staring at his daughter as if he expected her to perform the miracle right now.
“Yes. They start turning over when they’re about four months. Ginny can probably crawl, too.
“What are we going to do? I don’t have a crib.” He stood there, his hands on his hips, a puzzled look on his face.
Maggie fought the urge to put her arms around him. He looked so concerned for his baby. In fact, in spite of all the questions in her head, she had to give Josh credit. For a tough guy, he was being remarkably sensitive to his baby girl’s needs.
“Maybe we can put pillows around her, build a barrier so she can’t fall off before one of us notices.”
“Good idea. Thank God you came with me, Maggie. I wouldn’t have managed without you.”
Maggie savored his words as she followed him into his bedroom. The king-size bed would provide plenty of room for her and Ginny, that was for sure. “Do you have another bed? Where are you going to sleep?”
“The other bedroom is a home office, right now. I’ll take the couch.” He busied himself lining up the back of a chair next to the bedside table. “I’ll get the other chair from my office.”
Maggie laid Ginny down on the bed and checked her diaper. Just as she’d expected. The baby needed another change. She unfastened the sleeper, taking the little feet from their warm pockets.
“What are you doing?” Josh gasped over her shoulder.
Maggie jumped, unprepared for his sudden return. “I—I’m changing her diaper. She’s wet.”
“Again? Already?”
“Babies are like that. Would you bring me a clean diaper?” She wasn’t sure where he’d left the bag he’d had earlier or the grocery sack.
Without a word he hurried out, returning quickly with a clean disposable diaper. “Aren’t you afraid she’ll wake up?”
“I think she’ll sleep through the change,” Maggie whispered. “All that crying wears a baby out.”
“I’m glad it’s good for something,” he muttered, returning to his construction of a barrier on the other side of the bed.
“Does she have any clean clothes in those bags? She rubbed mashed potatoes into this outfit.”
“I’ll get the suitcases.”
Inside the bags, they discovered numerous articles of clothing and several stuffed toys. Maggie couldn’t help thinking about the woman who’d given birth to this darling baby and bought so many things for her. “Her mother certainly provided well for her.”
“Yeah...except for a daddy.”
She had no answer for his response. Selecting an adorable pink nightgown, she gently dressed the sleeping baby, only rousing her slightly before Ginny settled back into sleep.
“I can’t believe she’s sleeping so soundly,” Josh said in a whisper.
Maggie smiled but said nothing. Josh had lined the side of the bed with chairs and a long king-size pillow. She felt sure Ginny would be safe. She pulled back the cover with one hand before settling the baby on the mattress, breathing a sigh of relief when a tiny snore signaled Ginny continued to sleep.
Maggie slipped carefully off the bed and stood there, staring at the baby.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Josh murmured.
“That wasn’t your attitude when you arrived at the diner,” she reminded him with a weary smile.
“Babies don’t look so good when they’re screaming.” He continued to stand there. Finally he said softly, “Do you think she’ll ever get used to me? Like me?”
The warm feelings that rushed through Maggie scared her. They almost overwhelmed her intentions to keep her distance from Josh McKinley. But in spite of her warnings to herself, she couldn’t help but reassure him. “Of course she will. Little girls always love their daddies.”
“Did you love yours?”
“Of course I did!” She stared at him, wide-eyed, wondering what could’ve made him think she didn’t love her father.
“You seemed upset when I said you were like him.”
“Not upset. But Pop often said I was a changeling, unlike him and Kate.” She dismissed the silly pain that that thought always caused her. “I think I’ll get ready for bed. I usually get up at seven, but I’ll need to make it six-thirty so I can go home and change.” She paused and stared at the sleeping baby. “I hope I’ll know if Ginny needs help. I’m a very deep sleeper.”
Josh grinned at her. “I believe she’ll let you know. After being the recipient of her screams most of the evening, I’m an expert on how loud she can be.”
“I hope so,” Maggie agreed, but knowing her own ability to sleep through alarms, she still worried.
“I’ll get you a T-shirt to wear,” he said, acting as if he had complete faith in her. He took a T-shirt out of the dresser and then went back to the living room to get the toothbrush he’d bought her.
After taking it from him and saying good-night, Maggie went to the master bath and prepared for bed, even taking a quick shower with her long brown hair pinned up on top. She washed out her underwear and hung it on the towel rack. Then, dressed in his shirt which came almost to her knees, she opened the bathroom door and peeked out.
Josh wasn’t in sight. She hurried over to the bed and slid beneath the covers. Just as her head hit the pillows, there was a knock on the door.
“Yes?” she called softly, her heart thudding.
“Do you need anything?” he asked through the door.
“No. We’re fine.” Or she would be if she could forget that Josh McKinley was sleeping in the next room. Had he forgotten his pajamas? Was that why he’d come to the door?
She almost asked if he needed to get anything before common sense warned her to say nothing. She didn’t think Josh McKinley looked like a pajamas kind of guy.
Great. Thinking about what he slept in wasn’t going to make it easier to get to sleep.
Josh called a soft good-night, and Maggie turned on her side and thumped the pillow. But several minutes of peace and quiet, broken only by the even breathing of the baby beside her, and, contrary to her expectations, Maggie drifted off to sleep.
A sudden ringing jerked Maggie from a deep slumber. She reached toward the sound and lifted the telephone receiver. “Hello?” she muttered, her head falling back onto the pillow.
She almost drifted back to sleep because no one said anything. Then a rough voice asked, “Where’s Mac?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered, and started to hang up the phone when the bedroom door opened.
“Maggie? Was that the phone?”
Why was a man in her bedroom? She stared at the shadowy figure, confused. “They want Mac.”
“That’s me.” He crossed to the side of the bed and took the phone from her. “Mac, here.”
Maggie let her eyes close, ignoring the conversation next to her. She wanted to go back to sleep.
“Damn! I’ll be right there.”
Blessed silence and she’d almost lost consciousness when that sexy voice intruded again. “Maggie, I have to go. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Umm-hmm.” The door closed again and she was in total darkness. Sleep claimed her.
“Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!”
Maggie rolled over. What a strange night. First she’d dreamed there was a man in her bedroom, and now someone—or something—was babbling.... Maggie sat bolt upright. The baby!
“Oh, Ginny, are you all right?”
The baby was lying on her tummy, drool running down her little chin, and she actually smiled at Maggie. Suddenly the day seemed brighter.
“I guess you are. Though I’d bet you’re ready for a diaper change and some breakfast. I’ll just have enough time to take care of those things if we hurry. Then your daddy can manage. I hope.”
Maggie slid from the bed and dashed into the bathroom to gather the slacks, shirt and underwear she’d worn last night. She’d have to change while watching Ginny to make sure the baby didn’t fall off the bed.
Once she was dressed, Maggie picked up the baby and opened the bedroom door. “Maybe we should be quiet in case your daddy is still sleeping,” she said softly.
Tiptoeing into the living room, Maggie came to an abrupt halt when she discovered the sofa vacant. Ginny, unaware of Josh’s absence, began to whimper, distracting Maggie from her discovery.
She located the diapers and returned to the bedroom, snatching up a clean sleeper from the suitcase. As she quickly changed the baby, she tried to figure out where Josh was. Maybe he’d gone out to get a paper. Or bagels? Her stomach rumbled at the thought. Or maybe he was in the hall bathroom. She hadn’t heard the water running, but then she was concentrating on Ginny.
“There, now you feel better, don’t you, sweet girl? Let’s go scramble you some eggs for breakfast.”
She surreptitiously checked the hall bathroom on the way to the kitchen, but it was empty. No one in the kitchen, either. How was she going to scramble eggs and hold Ginny at the same time?
Returning to the suitcases in the bedroom, she found a large baby blanket. Pulling the comforter off the bed, she folded it several times and put it on the floor in the living room and spread the baby blanket over it. She put Ginny in the center of it with one of her stuffed animals. The baby seemed content.
Maggie hurried to the kitchen. She might not be the cook her sister was, but she could scramble eggs. Only a couple of minutes later she carried a saucer of scrambled eggs and a hastily refilled bottle to Ginny.
Two hours after that, with Ginny contentedly playing, Maggie sat rigidly on the sofa, staring at the morning news on the television. She’d turned the TV on to see if Josh McKinley had made the headlines overnight. He hadn’t come back from any of the places she’d imagined he’d gone.
Then, as she waited, vague memories of a phone call in the night came to her. And Josh telling her he’d return as soon as possible. She wondered just how long that could be.
Because she had to go to work. She’d been with the accounting firm of Jones, Kemper & Jones ever since she’d graduated from college four years ago. And she’d never missed a day of work.
But today she’d had to call in sick. She figured Josh McKinley would be on TV news tonight because either he’d been the victim of a violent crime, or she was going to kill him when he walked through the door.
Chapter Three
It wasn’t until Josh emerged into the sunshine at about ten o‘clock that morning that he remembered Ginny...and Maggie O’Connor.
And suddenly he was reminded why he’d never considered remarrying and having children.
“Damn,” he muttered beneath his breath.
The man beside him, the one who’d called him in the middle of the night, his best employee, Pete, asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“You sure it doesn’t have anything to do with the sexy lady who answered your phone at three in the morning?”
“I guess that’s why you’re so good at your job, Pete. You figure things out.” He shrugged his shoulders, trying to dismiss any concern.
“Don’t worry, boss. She’ll come back. You know this P.I. stuff makes them think you’re a combination of Superman and Dick Tracy.”
Josh stared at his employee as if seeing him for the first time. “And you play it for all it’s worth?”
Pete must’ve picked up on Josh’s tone of voice, because his own grew more serious. “Only if it’s what they want. You know how women are.”
He’d thought he did. But somehow he didn’t think a certain lady was going to accept his occupation as a reason to abandon his child. What was he going to do?
“Do we have anything else that can’t wait?” Josh asked, his lack of sleep finally hitting him.
“I don’t think so. Want me and Don to handle things for a day or two?”
“Yeah. Take some time off today to catch up on your sleep, but tell Sharon not to call me unless its unavoidable. I’ve got some things to do.”
“Right, boss.”
Josh strode toward his four-wheel-drive vehicle, feeling about ninety years old. He used to be able to pull an all-nighter without a problem. Was he getting too old at age thirty-three? Pete was only about five years younger.
No, it must be the worry about Maggie and Ginny. He already knew what Maggie’s reaction would be. He’d seen his mother limit his father’s. life because she wanted him to conform to her rules.
His father had been a fireman, dedicated to his job. He’d finally given it up when Josh was ten, selling insurance for a living the rest of,his life.
And as unhappy as any man could be.
Josh had married when he was twenty-four. He’d thought he was in love. But he made sure he explained his work and why he wouldn’t give it up. Six months later he’d walked out because she insisted he go to work for her father.
No way, no how.
Then he’d met Julie, Ginny’s mom. She hadn’t liked his job, either. But he’d explained his terms. They’d rocked along for almost a year. Until they both realized the other was convenient for good sex and a fun date—but nothing more.
She’d left, and she hadn’t bothered to tell him about Ginny.
Sliding behind the wheel, he sighed. What was he going to do? As Maggie had pointed out, he had to make some decisions, not just about today but long-term.
But first he had to face Maggie.
When he walked into the apartment, Maggie was on the phone and Ginny wasn’t in sight.
“I’ll be over in a little while, Kate. Mr. McKinley just arrived.”
Josh winced as she hung up the phone. Her sarcastic tone confirmed what he’d expected.
“Sorry, Maggie.”
“How interesting,” she said coolly. “You say that as if you expect your apology to be enough.” She folded her arms over her nicely shaped chest and glared at him.
“I say that because I don’t know what else to say.”
She didn’t respond. He guessed Pete was wrong. Being a private investigator wasn’t winning him many points.
“Look, Maggie, it was an important case for my best client. There was a man who was about to get away with a lot of money.”
“And Ginny? What if I hadn’t been here?”
It struck Josh that she hadn’t complained for herself. Only for his child. And she had a valid point.
“I don’t know.”
“Josh, a baby can’t be—”
He lifted his lids, trying to stave off sleep, wondering why she’d stopped.
“You haven’t had any sleep, have you?”
He shook his head. Frowning, he looked around again. “Where’s Ginny?”
“In bed, taking a nap. I suggest you join her.”
A miracle. He’d discovered a woman who knew what he needed. With a thankful smile, he struggled to his feet and headed to the bedroom. Then he came to an abrupt halt.
She’d also gotten up. And picked up her purse.
“Where are you going?”
“Home. If I hurry, I can change and make it to the office for a half day of work.”
All thought of sleep left him. “No! You can’t go! I need you.”
“Mr. McKinley, in spite of your lack of sleep, I think you’ll have to admit I kept my promise. I told you I had to leave at seven-thirty. It’s now ten-thirty. Enough is enough.”
His tired brain wasn’t functioning at top speed. “But—but what if she wakes up?”
“You change her diaper, feed her and cuddle her. It’s simple.” She started toward the door.
He might be tired, but he could still run. He beat her to the door, leaning against it, making it impossible for her to leave. “Maggie, just a few hours more.”
“I can’t believe you have the nerve to—”
He held up his hands. “I know. You’ve been more than generous. But as soon as I get some sleep, I need to go shopping for all the things she’ll need. And I don’t even know what she can eat. Just help me with those things. Please, Maggie? I’m more than willing to pay you for your time.”
Maggie stared at the man in front of her. The dark circles under his eyes and the slump of his shoulders pleaded for her to be understanding, even more than his words. Josh McKinley had had a rough night.
But Maggie believed that as long as she was his crutch, he would never deal with his baby girl. He wouldn’t change his life to include Ginny.
“Josh,” she began, reverting to his first name instead of the more formal Mr. McKinley, “you can’t stash a baby somewhere and then disappear. You’re going to have to change your life.”
“I will, I promise, Maggie, but give me today. You’ve already missed half a day. What’s another half? I bet you seldom miss work.”
Maggie could have told him she never missed work, but Kate had assured her that wasn’t always an admirable trait. And he was right. Her perfect attendance record was gone, whether she missed a half day or the rest of the year.
Trying to ignore the relief that was flooding through her, she said, “All right. I’ll stay and help you shop. While you sleep, I’ll make a list.”
To her surprise, he leaned forward and cupped her face in one of his large hands, placing a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks, Maggie. You’re a doll.”
Then he stumbled into the bedroom, softly closing the door behind him.
Maggie stood there, staring at the space Josh had occupied, touching her cheek. She was staying for Ginny. She told herself she needed to repeat those words over and over again.
Until she forgot the excitement that had filled her at his touch.
Until she dismissed his words and the yearning to believe them.
Until she remembered she was just Maggie.
“Josh, you’ve already bought a bed, a playpen and a high chair. Do you really think you need to buy a swimming pool?” Maggie asked in disbelief.
“But she enjoyed her bath so much, Maggie,” Josh observed. “Don’t you think she’d like this little swimming pool?”
Maggie stared at the stranger in front of her. Gone was the private investigator. In his place was a doting father. As long as he didn’t have to hold his baby.
Every time she’d suggested he hold the baby, he’d had a reason not to. He’d watched Maggie bathe Ginny, chuckling over Ginny’s enthusiastic splashing. He’d fixed another bottle for her, but he’d insisted Maggie should feed her.
Now he was willing to buy almost anything and everything in the store.
“No swimming pool. You don’t have room for it.” She pushed the buggy down the aisle.
“How about a stroller?”
Maggie turned around and found Josh had only moved a couple of feet and was studying some very elaborate strollers.
“Josh, we have to finish. I still have a long drive home, and we haven’t been grocery shopping yet.”
She’d intentionally mentioned her going home. Josh had sworn he only needed her to help with the shopping. She needed to keep reminding them both of that.
When he’d pleaded with her to stay, she’d been honest enough to admit to herself that she was relieved. Ginny was firmly wrapped around her heart.
And that was the main reason she had to go.
“You’re right, Maggie. We’ve certainly taken advantage of your good nature.” He accompanied his charming words with an even more charming smile.
She returned his smile, careful to hide the disappointment inside her. Disappointment? She should be thrilled to return to her own life.
“I found a big book about babies on the other aisle. I think I’ll add it to our purchases. Then I can study up on what to do.”
“You can always call me if...if you have a question. I’ll leave my number for you.” The only problem would be whether she knew the answer. Her own experience was limited to taking care of her nephew, Nathan, for an hour or two at a time. But somehow she couldn’t face losing touch with Ginny and her sexy daddy.
“That’s very nice of you.”
Maggie knew it wasn’t niceness that had prompted her words.
“Will you watch her while I go find that book?”
“Of course.” Replaced by a book. That didn’t say much for her mothering skills, did it? Maggie turned to the gurgling baby, sitting in the baby seat in the buggy, her heart lifting at the happy sound. “We haven’t done so badly, so far, though, have we Ginny?” she said softly.
When Josh returned with the aforementioned book, he added it to the pile of purchases. “Can you think of anything else we need?”
“No, Josh. I think you’ve bought enough things for ten babies.”
“Gosh, I hope I don’t get any more,” he said, eyes wide. “It’s a frightening thought, that I might have more babies out there that I don’t know about.” He moved ahead of the buggy, hooking his finger in the front of it and pulling it toward a checker. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
Maggie didn’t argue. Lifting Ginny out of the seat, she cuddled the baby against her. The approaching departure, leaving Josh and Ginny on their own, already hurt. But she had no place in their lives. Better to leave now, while she could survive, than to hang around until he didn’t need her anymore.
Josh got one of the stock boys to help him load all their purchases in the back of his Jeep Cherokee. Maggie strapped Ginny in her car seat, handing her a rattle Josh had insisted she needed.
“Here, sweetheart. Enjoy.”
After a kiss on Ginny’s chubby little cheek, Maggie got in the front seat and fastened her seat belt. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Josh did the same.
He said nothing until they reached the grocery store. Then, however, he reached over and caught Maggie’s arm as she started to get out.
“Wait. I just want to tell you again how much I appreciate all you’ve done for me...and Ginny. I don’t know how I would’ve managed without you.”
His words were sweet. His touch took her breath away.
“It was nothing.”
“It was a lot, to trust me like you did.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I’d be glad to take care of Ginny a little longer if I didn’t have to work.”
“Like you said, that would solve my problem for one night, but I’ve got to make some long-term changes.” He frowned. “I’m just not sure exactly what they are.”
“You’ll need to find a nanny. Someone who will live in, to cover for you when you have to go out late. There are agencies you can call.”
“How soon do you think they’ll be able to find someone? I mean, I’ll take off work, but emergencies happen.”
Maggie’s pulse sped up. She stopped to consider before she spoke. After all, she’d never been impulsive. But the past twenty-four hours with Josh and Ginny had been more exciting and pleasurable than any in the past year. For that matter, years.
She’d hidden from life most of her existence. But her father’s death had taught her an important lesson. Life offered no guarantees. She’d promised herself she would learn to live it more joyfully. But all she’d done was follow the same routine she’d established long ago.
Her father would’ve hated such cowardice.
“Why don’t I stay with you until Monday? I’m sure they can find someone for you by then.”
Josh stared at her. “Are you serious? You would do that?”
He seemed almost as surprised as Maggie was at her offer. She shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve got a lot of vacation time due to me, and I’ve fallen in love with Ginny. She’s such a sweetheart.”
“If you’re sure, Maggie, I’ll accept your offer. And I owe you big-time.”
With the lightness that filled Maggie’s heart, she wondered if perhaps she might be the one owing him.
Maggie had insisted on driving her car back to his condo after their trip to her apartment. Josh had followed her, not liking the idea of her driving after dark alone. She’d laughed at his concern. But he’d followed her anyway.
Panic filled him every time he thought about the changes he was going to have to make in his life. But he would make them. He didn’t shirk his responsibilities.
Tomorrow morning he was going to start calling agencies and find a nanny. That’s what he needed. A twenty-four-hour nanny.
One just like Maggie.
After they got back from the drive to her apartment, he spent the evening putting together the crib, the high chair and the playpen, leaving Maggie to deal with Ginny.
She was a beautiful baby. But he wasn’t going to fall into the trap of having to give up the job he loved, like his father had. And he feared time spent with Ginny would trap him.
Maggie and Ginny appeared in the door of his second bedroom, now in total disarray with the desk shoved back against the bookcase to leave room for the newest purchases.
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Judy Christenberry
What was she going to do about Josh? (#ue903e52f-9b5d-5e15-bf22-e4abfd1e6322)Letter to Reader (#u94c33c24-c106-5a4f-9a38-fc2c15cf4760)Title Page (#u8813144a-d22a-5615-82c5-5dc86e2526e2)About the Author (#uffd50573-53b6-5656-b9cc-88c1bb7d05c2)Chapter One (#ud8ed3384-e3d7-5b4b-9d82-55288cdee00f)Chapter Two (#uc93bbf93-4110-54aa-91f3-1c3c805ec996)Chapter Three (#ucb75925f-5dd1-5ae1-8acd-803c7dab39af)Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
What was she going to do about Josh?
That was number one on Maggie’s list of interesting topics.
Sunday morning, when she woke up in his arms, she’d figured out that she loved him. She hadn’t wanted to leave his embrace. But she had—even though she’d had to work her anger to fever pitch to do it. Without that anger, she would have melted into his arms.
And now he was offering her a permanent place in his life. At least for a while.
But he wasn’t offering love.
Which meant she couldn’t ever be in his bed.
Could she live with the man and not plead for his touch? She didn’t know. And that was what she would have to decide before she could give him an answer to his latest proposal....
Dear Reader,
Happy Valentine’s Day! What better way to celebrate than with a Silhouette Romance novel? We’re sweeter than chocolate—and less damaging to the hips! This month is filled with special treats just for you. LOVING THE BOSS, our six-book series about office romances that lead to happily ever after, continues with The Night Before Baby by Karen Rose Smith. In this sparkling story, an unforgettable one-night stand—during the company Christmas party!—leads to an unexpected pregnancy and a mustread marriage of convenience.
Teresa Southwick crafts an emotional BUNDLES OF JOY title, in which the forbidden man of her dreams becomes a pregnant woman’s stand-in groom. Don’t miss A Vow, a Ring, a Baby Swing. When a devil-may-care bachelor discovers he’s a daddy, he offers the prim heroine a chance to hold a Baby in Her Arms, as Judy Christenberry’s LUCKY CHARM SISTERS trilogy resumes.
Award-winning author Marie Ferrarella proves it’s Never Too Late for Love as the bride’s mother and the groom’s widower father discover their children’s wedding was just the beginning in this charming continuation of LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER. Beloved author Arlene James lends a traditional touch to Silhouette Romance’s ongoing HE’S MY HERO promotion with Mr. Right Next Door. And FAMILY MATTERS spotlights new talent Elyssa Henry with her heartwarming debut, A Family for the Sheriff.
Treat yourself to each and every offering this month. And in future months, look for more of the stories you love...and the authors you cherish.
Enjoy!
Mary-Theresa Hussey
Senior Editor, Silhouette Romance
Please address questions and book requests to:
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Baby in Her Arms
Judy Christenberry
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
JUDY CHRISTENBERRY
has been writing romances for fifteen years because she loves happy endings as much as her readers do. She’s a bestselling writer for Harlequin American Romance, but she has a long love of traditional romances and is delighted to tell a story that brings those elements to the reader. Judy quit teaching French recently and devotes her time to writing. She hopes readers have as much fun reading her stories as she does writing them. She spends her spare time reading, watching her favorite sports teams and keeping track of her two daughters. Judy’s a native Texan, living in Plano, a suburb of Dallas.
Chapter One
“Wahhhh!”
Josh McKinley stared down at the baby in the car seat next to him as if she were an alien newly arrived on earth.
“Listen,” he began, desperation in his voice, “I know you’re not happy, but I’m not, either. I mean, it’s not that I don‘t—that is, I know you’re—hell. I don’t know what I’m trying to say.”
A little sob was the only response. Not that he expected conversation from an eight-month-old, but he didn’t have anyone else to talk to. And it made the baby stop crying.
At least, he’d thought it had. She’d apparently only been taking a breather so she could scream louder.
Nervously he leaned over and snapped on the radio. The hard rock he usually listened to didn’t seem appropriate, and he scanned several stations until he found one playing a soothing melody.
Again the baby—his baby—stopped crying.
His baby.
When Child Protective Services had called his office earlier that day, he hadn’t gotten back to them right away. He was busy. Besides, he didn’t do kids.
Joshua McKinley, Private Investigator, was one of the top private eyes in Kansas City. He could pick and choose among the many cases offered.
They called back, leaving another message.
He’d had a client consultation that was tricky. He’d call them later. They probably only wanted a donation or something.
At five-thirty he had wrapped up the details of several cases and was chatting on the phone with a model he’d dated a time or two when call-waiting had interrupted. He’d almost ignored it. But the model seemed to have rocks in her head instead of brains. Besides, the call might have been a new case.
“Hello?”
“Is this Joshua McKinley?”
“Sure is. What can I do for you?”
“You could try returning your calls,” the female voice had said indignantly.
“Who is this?”
“Abigail Cox, Child Protective Services. Didn’t you get my messages?”
Even his mother hadn’t chastised him as determinedly as this stranger. He’d straightened his shoulders. “Yes, I did, but I’m running a business here.”
“And I have a very unhappy baby who needs her daddy.”
“Lady, if the case isn’t too complicated, I can take it on, pro bono, in a couple of days. Send me the details.” He wasn’t an unfeeling monster.
“Mr. McKinley, it won’t take the detective skills of Sherlock Holmes for you to find the baby’s father. It’s you.”
He’d opened his mouth, but no sound had come out. Taking the phone receiver away from his ear, he’d stared at it as if it had bitten him. Finally, he’d put it back to his ear. “What did you say?”
“Are you deaf as well as slow? I said—”
“Listen, lady, I don’t have to listen to your insults, and I’m not—”
“You’re right, and I offer my apologies. It’s been a very frustrating day.”
He’d heard the weariness in her voice and figured he should cut the lady some slack. He knew he wouldn’t want to deal with a bunch of kids, and the poor woman was going to have to face the fact that she’d made a mistake.
“Hey, you’ve got my sympathies. Hope you find the right guy.” He was starting to hang up when she’d yelled loud enough to get his attention even though the phone was inches from his ear.
“Yeah?”
“Mr. McKinley, you are the right guy.”
Joshua was snapped back to the present by his companion in the darkened car. Obviously tired of the music, she drowned it out with her hysterical crying, distracting him from the review of earlier events.
“Baby, you can’t do that,” he muttered, grabbing his head with one hand. The pain between his eyes was growing unbearable.
Big blue eyes stared at him. Then the baby opened her mouth and screamed again.
Hell, what was he supposed to do? He knew nothing about babies. And it was a girl! Maybe if the baby had been a boy, he would have been able to figure things out. But a girl! The plumbing wasn’t even the same, much less the emotions.
Desperately reviewing the females of his acquaintance, not for the first time, he shook his head in despair. His only family consisted of a distant cousin somewhere near Boston. He hadn’t been seeing anyone regularly since Julie—and look what that had gotten him. He eyed the screaming baby with astonishment again.
He scanned the neighborhood as he drove, but he didn’t expect an answer. The world seemed uncaring of his difficulties. Until he saw the illuminated sign of the Lucky Charm Diner.
Mike O’Connor!
Josh had done some work for Mike a couple of years ago, just before the man died. He’d had a couple of daughters, and Josh had discovered a third one Mike hadn’t known about.
Kind of like his situation.
What were the daughters’ names? Kathryn, Mary Margaret and...and Susan. Right.
He whipped his car into the parking lot. It was almost ten o’clock. If nothing else, he could buy some milk for the baby. And maybe some advice.
He’d take whatever he could get.
Mary Margaret O’Connor smiled. Kate was going to be so pleased. Not that Kate was dependent any longer on the diner or her catering company, since she’d married Will, but the more money the diner made, the more she would be able to help Susan.
Kate paid one-third of the profits from the diner to Susan, one-third to Maggie and kept one-third. After all, the diner was their father’s legacy to them.
Dear Pop. He wouldn’t even recognize the diner if he were alive. Kate had made it nouveau chic for the bluebloods of Kansas City.
Maggie’s thoughts were interrupted by a noise that she at first mistook for a siren, but soon determined was a baby crying.
Here? This late at night?
Curiosity propelled her out of her chair. Grabbing her empty coffee cup as an excuse, Maggie left the small office behind the kitchen and pushed through the swinging doors into the restaurant.
There she stopped and stared at the handsome hunk who was holding a baby as if someone had just handed him a bowling ball that he didn’t know what to do with.
“Glad you’re here, Maggie,” said Wanda, the night waitress, as Maggie entered the restaurant
“What’s up?” Maggie called over the screaming baby. Why didn’t the man do something?
“This guy’s looking for you or Kate.” The waitress, tired and cranky, glared at him, then turned her back.
Maggie stared at him. What could he want with her? Suddenly wishing her big sister were here, she barely nodded at the man; he was handsome enough to leave any woman speechless, with his tight jeans, broad shoulders and bright blue eyes. Involuntarily, her insides turned to Jell-O.
“You’re Mary Margaret? Mike O’Connor’s daughter?”
“Maggie. I’m called Maggie.” He probably hadn’t come here with a screaming baby to find out her nickname.
“Maggie, I’m in trouble here.”
She could tell that, in spite of the fact she knew little about babies. But what did he want from her? “Wh-what’s the problem?”
To her shock, he shoved the baby toward her. Automatically she put out her arms and found herself holding the screaming baby. Then she jiggled the child gently and crooned to it, “Easy, sweetie, don’t cry. It’s okay, don’t cry.”
Immediately, the baby stopped crying.
A loud cheer went up from the few patrons.
The baby began screaming again.
The man spun around and glared at the customers, putting his finger to his well-shaped lips.
Though Maggie continued to try to soothe the baby, her gaze never left the man. He turned back to stare at Maggie, as the baby settled down again, a hopeful look on his face that made her nervous.
“Who are you?” she finally asked softly as the baby’s eyes slowly closed.
“Josh McKinley.”
Frantically she ran that name through her head and came up with nothing except a vague feeling that she’d heard it before. But where? Most of the men she knew worked at the accounting firm where she was employed. This man wasn’t one of them. Not with those muscles. She would’ve remembered.
“I’m sorry, I don’t—”
“I’m a private investigator. I found your sister for your father.”
“Oh. Right. Pop mentioned—”
“I know you don’t owe me anything, but I need a woman.”
Maggie felt her jaw drop, and she quickly snapped her lips together. If someone had needed a woman, an O’Connor woman, it had always been Kate, her vibrant, red-haired sister. Not quiet Maggie.
“Why?” she whispered.
He stared back at her as if she’d just asked the stupidest question in the world. “Why? The baby, of course.”
Maggie stared at the sleeping infant in her arms and then back at him. “You’re looking for a baby-sitter? Why do you think I would know where to—”
“Not a sitter. At least—” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, I will need a sitter, I guess, but right now, I need someone to tell me what to do.”
Maggie kept thinking everything would become clear if she asked a few questions, but each answer was only muddying the water. “What to do about what?”
She’d forgotten to whisper, and the baby’s eyes fluttered open and she began crying again.
“That!” he said in frustration.
Putting the baby on her shoulder and patting her back, Maggie stared at him. “The baby?”
“Of course the baby! What else could I mean?”
Fed up with the going-nowhere conversation, she straightened her shoulders. “Look, Mr. McKinley, let’s start at the beginning. Whose baby is this?”
“Mine.” His single word seemed to come out reluctantly, and he looked away.
Maggie stared at him, blinking rapidly at the unexpected answer. “Yours? You’re the father?”
“Yes, damn it!”
“What’s her name?”
“How do you know it’s a girl?” he demanded.
“She’s wearing pink.”
“Oh. Yeah.”
“Her name?” Maggie prompted.
“It’s—Damn, I can’t remember!”
Maggie gasped as if he’d revealed a heinous crime. “You don’t know your own daughter’s name?”
His cheeks flushed. “I...I was in shock. You don’t understand. I didn’t even know about her until they...they handed her to me. I know they mentioned—” He rubbed his forehead. “It’s an oldfashioned name. It’ll come to me.”
“I can’t believe you don’t know your—”
“Lady, cut me some slack! I told you—it’s on the papers I have in the car.” He turned to leave, and Maggie was filled with fear that he wouldn’t return.
“Where are you going?”
He stared at her in surprise. “To the car to find out her name. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”
“No! I mean...how do I know you’ll come back?”
Her question didn’t make him happy. That much was evident by his glowering face. Suddenly he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a thick wallet. “Here’s my driver’s license, my money and my credit cards. Okay?” He laid the wallet down on the counter and strode to the door.
Maggie stood there, holding the baby, staring at the wallet as if she feared it would try to get up and run away by itself.
Two minutes later he reappeared with a small bag. “Everything’s in here,” he muttered, digging around. Triumphantly he pulled out papers. “Virginia Lynn. That’s her name, Virginia Lynn.”
Maggie pulled the baby away from her shoulder. “Ginny? Is that your name, sweetheart?”
The child hiccuped, then reached for Maggie’s dark hair.
“When was she last fed?”
“They gave her a bottle at four, because I hadn’t called. I remember they told me four o’clock.”
He acted as if he deserved a prize. “Okay, then she’s probably hungry. What is she supposed to eat?” Maggie asked.
“Hell, lady, why are you asking me all these questions? I don’t know anything about babies. That’s why I need a woman.”
Maggie let her lids settle gently over her eyes to hide herself from the angry man in front of her. But he didn’t go away. She knew because she could hear his raspy breathing, as if he’d run a race...or was upset.
“Did they include anything in the bag?”
“The bottle’s in here, but it’s empty.” He dug it out and handed it to her.
“Wanda?” she called over her shoulder. “Could you clean this bottle and fill it with milk?”
“Whole milk or skim?”
Maggie looked helplessly at Josh McKinley, and he shrugged his shoulders. She moved closer to hand him the baby.
He backed away. “Hell, lady, you aren’t going to give up because I don’t know what kind of milk, are you?”
Exasperated, she said, “No! But I thought you could hold the baby while I call my sister. My nephew is almost a year old. Kate will know what to do.”
He reluctantly took the baby back into his arms, holding her against his body, as if he’d learned from watching Maggie.
She headed for the phone, and the baby started crying again.
“She hates me,” he protested, following Maggie.
“Don’t be silly. She’s probably not used to a man’s voice. Speak softly.” She dialed Kate’s number.
“Kate, do you know what kind of milk a baby should have?” she asked as soon as Kate answered.
“Maggie? What?” her sister asked.
“A man is here with a little baby, and we’re fixing a bottle, but I don’t know if she should have skim milk or whole milk.”
“How old is she?”
Maggie hated to ask the man for more information, but she had no choice. Not that she expected him to know. “How old?”
To her surprise he said, “Eight months. She was born last October.”
She repeated the information to Kate.
“Whole milk is fine. She can probably eat a little mashed potatoes, too, if they’re not heavily seasoned. Now, tell me what’s going on.”
Maggie explained about Josh McKinley.
“Hey, maybe your sister could take her in tonight, just until I can arrange things,” the man suggested.
Maggie suddenly realized he was standing right next to her, his shoulders brushing hers. “I doubt—”
“Ask her.”
“Kate, he wants to know if you can take Ginny tonight.”
“He what?” Kate squawked. “No, no, I can’t. Nate has come down with the chicken pox from a child in his play group. I don’t think it would be good to—”
“Oh, no. You’re right.”
“Look, I’ll pay—” Josh urged.
“Her baby has the chicken pox,” Maggie explained.
Before the man could respond, Ginny whimpered again.
Kate spoke before Maggie could. “You’d better get off the phone and feed her. And don’t forget to change her diaper. She’s probably wet.”
Maggie hung up the phone. “Do you have any dry diapers? When did you last change her?”
“Change her?” Dawning realization stole over the man’s handsome features. An unpleasant realization. “You mean—” He gestured to the baby’s bottom.
“Of course that’s what I mean. You haven’t changed her, have you?” she asked as her own realization occurred. “How long have you had her?”
“A couple of hours. I couldn’t figure out what to do.”
“Do you have diapers?”
“You’ll have to look,” he insisted, clutching the baby against him with two hands, as if he feared she’d run away.
Maggie opened the bag and found five unused disposable diapers. “Good. I’ll show you where you can change her while I fix some potatoes and her bottle.”
“Potatoes?”
“My sister said she could eat them. This way.”
“Wait a minute!” he gasped as he followed her. “I can’—I mean, I’ve never—You do it!”
“It’s not difficult, Mr. McKinley. And she is your daughter.” She wasn’t about to admit that she wasn’t very experienced in that area herself.
Gesturing to the sofa in her office, she turned and left the room, feeling guilty. She hoped poor Ginny didn’t suffer from her father’s lack of experience.
In the kitchen she heated up some mashed potatoes Kate had prepared before she’d left for the day. Wanda washed the bottle in silence, a sure sign that she was upset, and slapped it down on the counter beside the milk she was warming.
“There! It’s clean. But I think you should throw the guy out on his ear. His story sounds pretty hokey to me.”
“We really haven’t even heard his story, Wanda, and the baby’s so sweet.”
“Hmmmp!” Wanda snorted and pushed through the swinging doors.
“She’s changed,” Josh said, stepping into the kitchen.
Maggie stared at the mangled diaper, its sticky tabs at strange angles. But at least the diaper wasn’t falling off. “Good job.” She could afford to be generous.
His sheepish look surprised her. “I had to throw away two others. Those sticky things got stuck on—on other things.”
“Then your next stop had better be somewhere you can buy diapers. The two you have left won’t last very long.” She knew that much, at least. Kate was always complaining about the number of diapers Nathan used.
He looked panicky again, but as he drew closer to Maggie, Ginny gurgled and held out her hands, plainly asking Maggie to take her.
Maggie’s heart flipped over and she grabbed the warm little body. “Oh, you sweetheart. Are you hungry?”
She held the baby in one arm and picked up the bowl of potatoes. “Fill the bottle with warm milk and bring it to me,” she ordered, as if she cared for Ginny every day of the week, and sailed through the swinging doors.
Josh stared at Maggie’s cute little backside as she swung away from him. Then he shook his head. He shouldn’t even be noticing such a thing. He had a baby to care for.
Ginny. He had Ginny to care for:
And Ginny wanted Maggie.
He couldn’t blame her, but he also couldn’t deny the pang of jealousy that filled him.
Dismissing such silliness, he took the milk from the stove and filled the bottle, screwing on the nipple, and followed Maggie.
“Have you eaten?” Maggie asked as he slid into the booth across from her.
“Me?” It took time for him to remember. “Uh, no. I went to see about...about Ginny and—no.”
“Wanda, bring Josh a menu,” Maggie ordered, never lifting her gaze from Ginny.
Josh knew why. His child, little Ginny, suddenly seemed to have eight hands, waving and reaching, trying to catch hold of the spoon Maggie wielded.
Then he was distracted by the menu Wanda handed him. It took him no time to place his order; and the food was brought to him amazingly fast.
After shoveling food down with as many manners as he could summon, he leaned back against the seat and realized Maggie was holding his child, watching him in silence.
Ginny wasn’t watching anyone. Snuggled against Maggie’s neck, she slept peacefully.
Josh wasn’t slow. He immediately realized what he needed. He asked Maggie the only possible question.
“Will you come home with me?”
Chapter Two
Quiet, shy Maggie O’Connor stared in disbelief at the handsome man opposite her.
His cheeks burned red and he hurriedly added, “I mean, for Ginny. Come home with me to help out with Ginny.”
Still, she could say nothing. Words wouldn’t come to her.
“I promise I don’t mean anything else. No...no playing around. I mean, your dad trusted me. You can, too.” He was getting his embarrassment under control, she could tell, since the red in his cheeks began to disappear.
If only she were as quick to recover. “I...I don’t think—”
“Think about Ginny. I don’t know how to care for her. Every time I touch her, she cries. Her mama just died and—”
Those words got Maggie’s attention. “Her mother just died?”
“Yeah, so—”
“You don’t seem very broken up about it!” She couldn’t keep the accusatory tones out of her voice. Having lost both of her parents, Maggie took death seriously.
She expected a quick show of sorrow, a repentant attitude. Instead she discovered frustration when she looked at him.
“I’m not exactly celebrating,” he said grimly, “but I hadn’t seen Julie in almost a year and a half. She never even told me about Ginny. It wasn’t until today that I learned of her death and Ginny’s existence. I’ve been hit kind of hard.”
Maggie turned her head to stare at the baby, whose warm little body pressed against Maggie. Sympathy welled up in her for the orphan. Her own mother had died at Maggie’s birth. She and Ginny had a lot in common, because the child would never remember the mother who’d given her life, just as Maggie didn’t.
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
“I’m still hoping you’ll come home with me.”
She studied him under lowered lashes. He was a sexy, handsome man. A lot of women wouldn’t question his intentions if he asked them to come home with him. They’d even be disappointed if he expressed disinterest. Maggie, however, wasn’t surprised by his promise that he didn’t mean anything sexual with his offer.
Kate said she gave off the wrong vibes to single men. Maggie didn’t know if that was true, but she’d found it easier to deal with numbers than real live men. Ginny, however, was another story.
“Where do you live?”
He sat up straighter, a spark of hope lighting his eyes. “I have a condo a few blocks from here, near the Plaza.”
His private investigator business must be successful, Maggie realized, since that was a pricey neighborhood. “Even if I take care of Ginny tonight, that’s only going to delay your problem twenty-four hours.”
“One Day at a Time. That’s my motto.” He sent her a smile that she figured usually got him whatever he wanted from a woman.
“Why did you take her?”
He looked like she’d thrown a glass of cold water in his face. “What?”
“I said—”
“I heard you. Because I’m her father.”
“Are you sure?”
“Why are you asking these questions? What difference does it make to you? I asked you to help care for her for twenty-four hours, not write a biography.”
Maggie stiffened, causing Ginny to shift. “It seems to me that you should be more agreeable if I’m supposed to do you a favor.”
“Ah. We’re wanting to know how much I’ll offer? Is that it?”
Enraged, Maggie slid from the booth. “Here, Mr. McKinley, take your baby and leave. I don’t need insults.” Though she tried to hide how reluctant she was to let Ginny go to her father, she bent toward the man so she could hold on to the soft bundle of joy a little longer.
“Wait!” he protested, panic in his eyes. “I didn’t mean to insult you. And you’d be doing me a huge favor. I don’t mind paying.”
“I don’t think I asked for any money.”
“Maggie, please help me, just until tomorrow.”
She hadn’t intended to agree to his crazy plan. After all, she didn’t know him. Her father may have trusted him with a few family secrets, but he hadn’t said he’d hand over one of his daughters to him for repayment.
But Maggie had no fear that he would be interested in her. And she had a lot of fear about what would happen to Ginny. Not that she herself knew all that much about babies, but she knew a little. She’d taken care of Nathan on occasion.
“Please?” His blue eyes, exactly like Ginny’s she suddenly realized, pleaded along with his word.
“I...I suppose I could help you out tonight. I’ll take Ginny home with me and you can pick her up in the morning.” She cuddled the sleeping baby against her again, aware of how happy she was to do so.
“No!”
Maggie blinked at the man as he jumped to his feet, crowding her in the aisle.
“But you said—”
“I asked you to help me, not take my baby away.”
“But I can’t spend the night at your place. That would—”
“That would be best,” he hurriedly said. “I promise I won’t touch you. Ginny needs to get used to her new home.”
She tried to picture what it would be like to stay in the same apartment as Josh McKinley. He probably had a bachelor pad, completely inappropriate for a baby. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“You’re not taking Ginny some other place. She stays with me. But I could use your help.”
Ginny smacked her rosebud lips, as if still taking the bottle, and Maggie’s heart swelled with love. She’d heard of falling in love at first glance, but she hadn’t expected the recipient of her emotions to be a baby. “All right. I’ll help you out until morning. I go to work at seven-thirty.”
“Maggie, you’re the best!” he exclaimed, smiling that sexy smile again. “Are you ready to go? We need to buy some diapers and some milk before we go home.”
Josh couldn’t believe his luck. He’d convinced Maggie to come home with him and take care of Ginny.
They’d moved the baby seat to the back and Maggie had strapped Ginny in without waking her. Then they’d driven to one of the few all-night groceries. Josh knew its location because he usually shopped at odd hours.
Maggie had remained in the car while he’d purchased only the necessities. Then they headed toward his apartment.
“I hope you don’t mind not going to your place. But it’d take an hour to go to North Kansas City and back. I bought you a toothbrush.” He glanced her way, not sure what kind of response he was looking for.
“Thank you. I’ll pay you back as soon as we get the baby settled.”
Her cool tones told him he hadn’t been forgiven for the things he’d said earlier. “Come on, Maggie. I didn’t mean to insult you. I apologized.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll still pay you for the toothbrush.”
He grinned. “I should’ve known you’d be stubborn. After all, you’re Irish, just like your father.”
She didn’t respond to his smile. “I’m not like my father.”
Even as he mentally made a note of her response, he muttered, “You could’ve fooled me.”
Nothing else was said until he wheeled his car into his parking space in the garage attached to his building.
“If you’ll get Ginny, I’ll bring everything else.” There were two suitcases Child Protective Services had given him, as well as the grocery bag.
As their small procession made its way to the door leading to his condo, Josh realized his life had changed. This morning he’d had no idea he had a daughter.
Yep, everything had changed. But he wasn’t going to let it affect him.
Maggie marched along, still disturbed both by Josh’s attempt to pay her and her acceptance of his plea for help. She’d never spent the night with a man, even as a baby-sitter. She couldn’t help being nervous.
When Josh told her they’d arrived, setting down the suitcases and juggling the grocery sack to find his keys, she suddenly wondered what she’d find in his apartment. She’d always heard bachelors were messy. After all, she’d seen Animal House. When he pushed the door open and gestured for her to precede him, she prepared herself for anything.
To her surprise, she discovered a spacious, comfortable living room, with only a few items out of place. “How nice.”
“What did you expect? A hovel?” he asked, grinning again.
“No, but I’d heard—that is, some men aren’t neat.”
“Don’t go putting a halo on my head, Maggie. I have a cleaning woman who comes in every week. She was just here yesterday.”
“Oh. Well, it’s still nice. I like the colors.” The room was mostly done in masculine colors—forest green and tan.
With a nod, he started down the hall. “You and Ginny can sleep in my bed. Bring her this way.”
“But she can’t sleep in a regular bed. She’ll turn over and fall off,” Maggie protested. At least she knew that much about babies.
“She can turn over?” Josh asked, staring at his daughter as if he expected her to perform the miracle right now.
“Yes. They start turning over when they’re about four months. Ginny can probably crawl, too.
“What are we going to do? I don’t have a crib.” He stood there, his hands on his hips, a puzzled look on his face.
Maggie fought the urge to put her arms around him. He looked so concerned for his baby. In fact, in spite of all the questions in her head, she had to give Josh credit. For a tough guy, he was being remarkably sensitive to his baby girl’s needs.
“Maybe we can put pillows around her, build a barrier so she can’t fall off before one of us notices.”
“Good idea. Thank God you came with me, Maggie. I wouldn’t have managed without you.”
Maggie savored his words as she followed him into his bedroom. The king-size bed would provide plenty of room for her and Ginny, that was for sure. “Do you have another bed? Where are you going to sleep?”
“The other bedroom is a home office, right now. I’ll take the couch.” He busied himself lining up the back of a chair next to the bedside table. “I’ll get the other chair from my office.”
Maggie laid Ginny down on the bed and checked her diaper. Just as she’d expected. The baby needed another change. She unfastened the sleeper, taking the little feet from their warm pockets.
“What are you doing?” Josh gasped over her shoulder.
Maggie jumped, unprepared for his sudden return. “I—I’m changing her diaper. She’s wet.”
“Again? Already?”
“Babies are like that. Would you bring me a clean diaper?” She wasn’t sure where he’d left the bag he’d had earlier or the grocery sack.
Without a word he hurried out, returning quickly with a clean disposable diaper. “Aren’t you afraid she’ll wake up?”
“I think she’ll sleep through the change,” Maggie whispered. “All that crying wears a baby out.”
“I’m glad it’s good for something,” he muttered, returning to his construction of a barrier on the other side of the bed.
“Does she have any clean clothes in those bags? She rubbed mashed potatoes into this outfit.”
“I’ll get the suitcases.”
Inside the bags, they discovered numerous articles of clothing and several stuffed toys. Maggie couldn’t help thinking about the woman who’d given birth to this darling baby and bought so many things for her. “Her mother certainly provided well for her.”
“Yeah...except for a daddy.”
She had no answer for his response. Selecting an adorable pink nightgown, she gently dressed the sleeping baby, only rousing her slightly before Ginny settled back into sleep.
“I can’t believe she’s sleeping so soundly,” Josh said in a whisper.
Maggie smiled but said nothing. Josh had lined the side of the bed with chairs and a long king-size pillow. She felt sure Ginny would be safe. She pulled back the cover with one hand before settling the baby on the mattress, breathing a sigh of relief when a tiny snore signaled Ginny continued to sleep.
Maggie slipped carefully off the bed and stood there, staring at the baby.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Josh murmured.
“That wasn’t your attitude when you arrived at the diner,” she reminded him with a weary smile.
“Babies don’t look so good when they’re screaming.” He continued to stand there. Finally he said softly, “Do you think she’ll ever get used to me? Like me?”
The warm feelings that rushed through Maggie scared her. They almost overwhelmed her intentions to keep her distance from Josh McKinley. But in spite of her warnings to herself, she couldn’t help but reassure him. “Of course she will. Little girls always love their daddies.”
“Did you love yours?”
“Of course I did!” She stared at him, wide-eyed, wondering what could’ve made him think she didn’t love her father.
“You seemed upset when I said you were like him.”
“Not upset. But Pop often said I was a changeling, unlike him and Kate.” She dismissed the silly pain that that thought always caused her. “I think I’ll get ready for bed. I usually get up at seven, but I’ll need to make it six-thirty so I can go home and change.” She paused and stared at the sleeping baby. “I hope I’ll know if Ginny needs help. I’m a very deep sleeper.”
Josh grinned at her. “I believe she’ll let you know. After being the recipient of her screams most of the evening, I’m an expert on how loud she can be.”
“I hope so,” Maggie agreed, but knowing her own ability to sleep through alarms, she still worried.
“I’ll get you a T-shirt to wear,” he said, acting as if he had complete faith in her. He took a T-shirt out of the dresser and then went back to the living room to get the toothbrush he’d bought her.
After taking it from him and saying good-night, Maggie went to the master bath and prepared for bed, even taking a quick shower with her long brown hair pinned up on top. She washed out her underwear and hung it on the towel rack. Then, dressed in his shirt which came almost to her knees, she opened the bathroom door and peeked out.
Josh wasn’t in sight. She hurried over to the bed and slid beneath the covers. Just as her head hit the pillows, there was a knock on the door.
“Yes?” she called softly, her heart thudding.
“Do you need anything?” he asked through the door.
“No. We’re fine.” Or she would be if she could forget that Josh McKinley was sleeping in the next room. Had he forgotten his pajamas? Was that why he’d come to the door?
She almost asked if he needed to get anything before common sense warned her to say nothing. She didn’t think Josh McKinley looked like a pajamas kind of guy.
Great. Thinking about what he slept in wasn’t going to make it easier to get to sleep.
Josh called a soft good-night, and Maggie turned on her side and thumped the pillow. But several minutes of peace and quiet, broken only by the even breathing of the baby beside her, and, contrary to her expectations, Maggie drifted off to sleep.
A sudden ringing jerked Maggie from a deep slumber. She reached toward the sound and lifted the telephone receiver. “Hello?” she muttered, her head falling back onto the pillow.
She almost drifted back to sleep because no one said anything. Then a rough voice asked, “Where’s Mac?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered, and started to hang up the phone when the bedroom door opened.
“Maggie? Was that the phone?”
Why was a man in her bedroom? She stared at the shadowy figure, confused. “They want Mac.”
“That’s me.” He crossed to the side of the bed and took the phone from her. “Mac, here.”
Maggie let her eyes close, ignoring the conversation next to her. She wanted to go back to sleep.
“Damn! I’ll be right there.”
Blessed silence and she’d almost lost consciousness when that sexy voice intruded again. “Maggie, I have to go. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Umm-hmm.” The door closed again and she was in total darkness. Sleep claimed her.
“Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!”
Maggie rolled over. What a strange night. First she’d dreamed there was a man in her bedroom, and now someone—or something—was babbling.... Maggie sat bolt upright. The baby!
“Oh, Ginny, are you all right?”
The baby was lying on her tummy, drool running down her little chin, and she actually smiled at Maggie. Suddenly the day seemed brighter.
“I guess you are. Though I’d bet you’re ready for a diaper change and some breakfast. I’ll just have enough time to take care of those things if we hurry. Then your daddy can manage. I hope.”
Maggie slid from the bed and dashed into the bathroom to gather the slacks, shirt and underwear she’d worn last night. She’d have to change while watching Ginny to make sure the baby didn’t fall off the bed.
Once she was dressed, Maggie picked up the baby and opened the bedroom door. “Maybe we should be quiet in case your daddy is still sleeping,” she said softly.
Tiptoeing into the living room, Maggie came to an abrupt halt when she discovered the sofa vacant. Ginny, unaware of Josh’s absence, began to whimper, distracting Maggie from her discovery.
She located the diapers and returned to the bedroom, snatching up a clean sleeper from the suitcase. As she quickly changed the baby, she tried to figure out where Josh was. Maybe he’d gone out to get a paper. Or bagels? Her stomach rumbled at the thought. Or maybe he was in the hall bathroom. She hadn’t heard the water running, but then she was concentrating on Ginny.
“There, now you feel better, don’t you, sweet girl? Let’s go scramble you some eggs for breakfast.”
She surreptitiously checked the hall bathroom on the way to the kitchen, but it was empty. No one in the kitchen, either. How was she going to scramble eggs and hold Ginny at the same time?
Returning to the suitcases in the bedroom, she found a large baby blanket. Pulling the comforter off the bed, she folded it several times and put it on the floor in the living room and spread the baby blanket over it. She put Ginny in the center of it with one of her stuffed animals. The baby seemed content.
Maggie hurried to the kitchen. She might not be the cook her sister was, but she could scramble eggs. Only a couple of minutes later she carried a saucer of scrambled eggs and a hastily refilled bottle to Ginny.
Two hours after that, with Ginny contentedly playing, Maggie sat rigidly on the sofa, staring at the morning news on the television. She’d turned the TV on to see if Josh McKinley had made the headlines overnight. He hadn’t come back from any of the places she’d imagined he’d gone.
Then, as she waited, vague memories of a phone call in the night came to her. And Josh telling her he’d return as soon as possible. She wondered just how long that could be.
Because she had to go to work. She’d been with the accounting firm of Jones, Kemper & Jones ever since she’d graduated from college four years ago. And she’d never missed a day of work.
But today she’d had to call in sick. She figured Josh McKinley would be on TV news tonight because either he’d been the victim of a violent crime, or she was going to kill him when he walked through the door.
Chapter Three
It wasn’t until Josh emerged into the sunshine at about ten o‘clock that morning that he remembered Ginny...and Maggie O’Connor.
And suddenly he was reminded why he’d never considered remarrying and having children.
“Damn,” he muttered beneath his breath.
The man beside him, the one who’d called him in the middle of the night, his best employee, Pete, asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“You sure it doesn’t have anything to do with the sexy lady who answered your phone at three in the morning?”
“I guess that’s why you’re so good at your job, Pete. You figure things out.” He shrugged his shoulders, trying to dismiss any concern.
“Don’t worry, boss. She’ll come back. You know this P.I. stuff makes them think you’re a combination of Superman and Dick Tracy.”
Josh stared at his employee as if seeing him for the first time. “And you play it for all it’s worth?”
Pete must’ve picked up on Josh’s tone of voice, because his own grew more serious. “Only if it’s what they want. You know how women are.”
He’d thought he did. But somehow he didn’t think a certain lady was going to accept his occupation as a reason to abandon his child. What was he going to do?
“Do we have anything else that can’t wait?” Josh asked, his lack of sleep finally hitting him.
“I don’t think so. Want me and Don to handle things for a day or two?”
“Yeah. Take some time off today to catch up on your sleep, but tell Sharon not to call me unless its unavoidable. I’ve got some things to do.”
“Right, boss.”
Josh strode toward his four-wheel-drive vehicle, feeling about ninety years old. He used to be able to pull an all-nighter without a problem. Was he getting too old at age thirty-three? Pete was only about five years younger.
No, it must be the worry about Maggie and Ginny. He already knew what Maggie’s reaction would be. He’d seen his mother limit his father’s. life because she wanted him to conform to her rules.
His father had been a fireman, dedicated to his job. He’d finally given it up when Josh was ten, selling insurance for a living the rest of,his life.
And as unhappy as any man could be.
Josh had married when he was twenty-four. He’d thought he was in love. But he made sure he explained his work and why he wouldn’t give it up. Six months later he’d walked out because she insisted he go to work for her father.
No way, no how.
Then he’d met Julie, Ginny’s mom. She hadn’t liked his job, either. But he’d explained his terms. They’d rocked along for almost a year. Until they both realized the other was convenient for good sex and a fun date—but nothing more.
She’d left, and she hadn’t bothered to tell him about Ginny.
Sliding behind the wheel, he sighed. What was he going to do? As Maggie had pointed out, he had to make some decisions, not just about today but long-term.
But first he had to face Maggie.
When he walked into the apartment, Maggie was on the phone and Ginny wasn’t in sight.
“I’ll be over in a little while, Kate. Mr. McKinley just arrived.”
Josh winced as she hung up the phone. Her sarcastic tone confirmed what he’d expected.
“Sorry, Maggie.”
“How interesting,” she said coolly. “You say that as if you expect your apology to be enough.” She folded her arms over her nicely shaped chest and glared at him.
“I say that because I don’t know what else to say.”
She didn’t respond. He guessed Pete was wrong. Being a private investigator wasn’t winning him many points.
“Look, Maggie, it was an important case for my best client. There was a man who was about to get away with a lot of money.”
“And Ginny? What if I hadn’t been here?”
It struck Josh that she hadn’t complained for herself. Only for his child. And she had a valid point.
“I don’t know.”
“Josh, a baby can’t be—”
He lifted his lids, trying to stave off sleep, wondering why she’d stopped.
“You haven’t had any sleep, have you?”
He shook his head. Frowning, he looked around again. “Where’s Ginny?”
“In bed, taking a nap. I suggest you join her.”
A miracle. He’d discovered a woman who knew what he needed. With a thankful smile, he struggled to his feet and headed to the bedroom. Then he came to an abrupt halt.
She’d also gotten up. And picked up her purse.
“Where are you going?”
“Home. If I hurry, I can change and make it to the office for a half day of work.”
All thought of sleep left him. “No! You can’t go! I need you.”
“Mr. McKinley, in spite of your lack of sleep, I think you’ll have to admit I kept my promise. I told you I had to leave at seven-thirty. It’s now ten-thirty. Enough is enough.”
His tired brain wasn’t functioning at top speed. “But—but what if she wakes up?”
“You change her diaper, feed her and cuddle her. It’s simple.” She started toward the door.
He might be tired, but he could still run. He beat her to the door, leaning against it, making it impossible for her to leave. “Maggie, just a few hours more.”
“I can’t believe you have the nerve to—”
He held up his hands. “I know. You’ve been more than generous. But as soon as I get some sleep, I need to go shopping for all the things she’ll need. And I don’t even know what she can eat. Just help me with those things. Please, Maggie? I’m more than willing to pay you for your time.”
Maggie stared at the man in front of her. The dark circles under his eyes and the slump of his shoulders pleaded for her to be understanding, even more than his words. Josh McKinley had had a rough night.
But Maggie believed that as long as she was his crutch, he would never deal with his baby girl. He wouldn’t change his life to include Ginny.
“Josh,” she began, reverting to his first name instead of the more formal Mr. McKinley, “you can’t stash a baby somewhere and then disappear. You’re going to have to change your life.”
“I will, I promise, Maggie, but give me today. You’ve already missed half a day. What’s another half? I bet you seldom miss work.”
Maggie could have told him she never missed work, but Kate had assured her that wasn’t always an admirable trait. And he was right. Her perfect attendance record was gone, whether she missed a half day or the rest of the year.
Trying to ignore the relief that was flooding through her, she said, “All right. I’ll stay and help you shop. While you sleep, I’ll make a list.”
To her surprise, he leaned forward and cupped her face in one of his large hands, placing a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks, Maggie. You’re a doll.”
Then he stumbled into the bedroom, softly closing the door behind him.
Maggie stood there, staring at the space Josh had occupied, touching her cheek. She was staying for Ginny. She told herself she needed to repeat those words over and over again.
Until she forgot the excitement that had filled her at his touch.
Until she dismissed his words and the yearning to believe them.
Until she remembered she was just Maggie.
“Josh, you’ve already bought a bed, a playpen and a high chair. Do you really think you need to buy a swimming pool?” Maggie asked in disbelief.
“But she enjoyed her bath so much, Maggie,” Josh observed. “Don’t you think she’d like this little swimming pool?”
Maggie stared at the stranger in front of her. Gone was the private investigator. In his place was a doting father. As long as he didn’t have to hold his baby.
Every time she’d suggested he hold the baby, he’d had a reason not to. He’d watched Maggie bathe Ginny, chuckling over Ginny’s enthusiastic splashing. He’d fixed another bottle for her, but he’d insisted Maggie should feed her.
Now he was willing to buy almost anything and everything in the store.
“No swimming pool. You don’t have room for it.” She pushed the buggy down the aisle.
“How about a stroller?”
Maggie turned around and found Josh had only moved a couple of feet and was studying some very elaborate strollers.
“Josh, we have to finish. I still have a long drive home, and we haven’t been grocery shopping yet.”
She’d intentionally mentioned her going home. Josh had sworn he only needed her to help with the shopping. She needed to keep reminding them both of that.
When he’d pleaded with her to stay, she’d been honest enough to admit to herself that she was relieved. Ginny was firmly wrapped around her heart.
And that was the main reason she had to go.
“You’re right, Maggie. We’ve certainly taken advantage of your good nature.” He accompanied his charming words with an even more charming smile.
She returned his smile, careful to hide the disappointment inside her. Disappointment? She should be thrilled to return to her own life.
“I found a big book about babies on the other aisle. I think I’ll add it to our purchases. Then I can study up on what to do.”
“You can always call me if...if you have a question. I’ll leave my number for you.” The only problem would be whether she knew the answer. Her own experience was limited to taking care of her nephew, Nathan, for an hour or two at a time. But somehow she couldn’t face losing touch with Ginny and her sexy daddy.
“That’s very nice of you.”
Maggie knew it wasn’t niceness that had prompted her words.
“Will you watch her while I go find that book?”
“Of course.” Replaced by a book. That didn’t say much for her mothering skills, did it? Maggie turned to the gurgling baby, sitting in the baby seat in the buggy, her heart lifting at the happy sound. “We haven’t done so badly, so far, though, have we Ginny?” she said softly.
When Josh returned with the aforementioned book, he added it to the pile of purchases. “Can you think of anything else we need?”
“No, Josh. I think you’ve bought enough things for ten babies.”
“Gosh, I hope I don’t get any more,” he said, eyes wide. “It’s a frightening thought, that I might have more babies out there that I don’t know about.” He moved ahead of the buggy, hooking his finger in the front of it and pulling it toward a checker. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
Maggie didn’t argue. Lifting Ginny out of the seat, she cuddled the baby against her. The approaching departure, leaving Josh and Ginny on their own, already hurt. But she had no place in their lives. Better to leave now, while she could survive, than to hang around until he didn’t need her anymore.
Josh got one of the stock boys to help him load all their purchases in the back of his Jeep Cherokee. Maggie strapped Ginny in her car seat, handing her a rattle Josh had insisted she needed.
“Here, sweetheart. Enjoy.”
After a kiss on Ginny’s chubby little cheek, Maggie got in the front seat and fastened her seat belt. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Josh did the same.
He said nothing until they reached the grocery store. Then, however, he reached over and caught Maggie’s arm as she started to get out.
“Wait. I just want to tell you again how much I appreciate all you’ve done for me...and Ginny. I don’t know how I would’ve managed without you.”
His words were sweet. His touch took her breath away.
“It was nothing.”
“It was a lot, to trust me like you did.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I’d be glad to take care of Ginny a little longer if I didn’t have to work.”
“Like you said, that would solve my problem for one night, but I’ve got to make some long-term changes.” He frowned. “I’m just not sure exactly what they are.”
“You’ll need to find a nanny. Someone who will live in, to cover for you when you have to go out late. There are agencies you can call.”
“How soon do you think they’ll be able to find someone? I mean, I’ll take off work, but emergencies happen.”
Maggie’s pulse sped up. She stopped to consider before she spoke. After all, she’d never been impulsive. But the past twenty-four hours with Josh and Ginny had been more exciting and pleasurable than any in the past year. For that matter, years.
She’d hidden from life most of her existence. But her father’s death had taught her an important lesson. Life offered no guarantees. She’d promised herself she would learn to live it more joyfully. But all she’d done was follow the same routine she’d established long ago.
Her father would’ve hated such cowardice.
“Why don’t I stay with you until Monday? I’m sure they can find someone for you by then.”
Josh stared at her. “Are you serious? You would do that?”
He seemed almost as surprised as Maggie was at her offer. She shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve got a lot of vacation time due to me, and I’ve fallen in love with Ginny. She’s such a sweetheart.”
“If you’re sure, Maggie, I’ll accept your offer. And I owe you big-time.”
With the lightness that filled Maggie’s heart, she wondered if perhaps she might be the one owing him.
Maggie had insisted on driving her car back to his condo after their trip to her apartment. Josh had followed her, not liking the idea of her driving after dark alone. She’d laughed at his concern. But he’d followed her anyway.
Panic filled him every time he thought about the changes he was going to have to make in his life. But he would make them. He didn’t shirk his responsibilities.
Tomorrow morning he was going to start calling agencies and find a nanny. That’s what he needed. A twenty-four-hour nanny.
One just like Maggie.
After they got back from the drive to her apartment, he spent the evening putting together the crib, the high chair and the playpen, leaving Maggie to deal with Ginny.
She was a beautiful baby. But he wasn’t going to fall into the trap of having to give up the job he loved, like his father had. And he feared time spent with Ginny would trap him.
Maggie and Ginny appeared in the door of his second bedroom, now in total disarray with the desk shoved back against the bookcase to leave room for the newest purchases.
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Judy Christenberry
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: Baby In Her Arms, электронная книга автора Judy Christenberry на английском языке, в жанре современные любовные романы