Have Baby, Need Beau (2 page)

“The look on your face,” Seth said. “What gives?”

“It’s tradition for the grandmother of the Hartwells to give each granddaughter a hope chest when she’s getting married.”

“You’re getting married?” Seth asked.

Mimi shrugged at his incredulous tone. “No, never—the very reason I don’t see the need for a hope chest.”

“So you’ve sworn off men because of that creep Joey?”

“No, just commitment. I want a guy to have fun with.”

And he wanted a woman to settle down with. They were complete opposites. Not that it mattered.

Still, somehow she looked vulnerable…

Mimi wobbled and accidentally slammed the chest into his side. He gritted his teeth to hide the pain shooting through his ribs. “Just angle it a little more to the right and I think we’ll have it.”

“Sorry,” Mimi said softly.

Vulnerable, hell. She was a walking danger zone. Especially with that throaty voice.

Mimi caught her bottom lip with her teeth as she tried to follow his instructions, at the same time not letting the wooden doorjamb scrape the delicate gold embossing. For someone who didn’t even want the chest, she certainly seemed determined to keep it from harm.

“Watch out for ice on the steps,” Grammy warned. “That sky’s so dark it reminds me of ‘eighty-two when that blizzard knocked out everyone’s power for days.”

“I hope you’ll be all right here, Grammy.” Mimi looked worried. “Do you want to come to Sugar Hill with us?”

“Heavens, no,” Grammy said. “I’ve got plenty of wood and canned food here to last me. And my buddy Winnie will be by directly to spend the night.”

Seth’s foot hit the slick wood and he wobbled, throwing Mimi off balance. She stumbled forward, almost taking out Seth’s eye with the corner of the chest. He exhaled, thinking he’d be black-and-blue all over before they finished. Finally they both steadied themselves. He inched his feet along so he wouldn’t fall as they descended the remaining steps and crossed the front yard.

Mimi’s grandmother was right. The sky was black, the snow falling so thickly the dirt road was already blanketed. With the sun fading and the temperature dropping, the roads would ice over, making driving dangerous until the few snowplows available could be resurrected to clear the streets.

“There’s Winnie now.” Mimi’s grandmother waved at an elderly lady in hot-pink sweats exiting a blue sedan. Seth wanted to offer his assistance, but he had his hands full. Instead, he nodded a greeting and veered sideways, leading Mimi down the dirt road toward his car. Mimi’s grandmother yelled goodbye and ushered her friend inside. Snow crystals dotted Mimi’s curly auburn hair and clung to her eyelashes. She must be freezing in that slinky rose-colored bridesmaid dress. Her breasts were practically spilling out, her nipples puckering against the satiny fabric.

“Where the heck did you park? Sugar Hill?” Mimi asked.

“No, but I arrived late, so I had to park down the hill.”

“You could have moved your car up to the house,” Mimi said.

Seth winced as his foot hit a rock. “You seemed in a rush to leave, but if you want to set this thing down, I’ll go get it.”

“It’s not that heavy,” Mimi said. “And I’d hate for the chest to get wet.”

“You’re awfully protective of something you don’t want.”

Mimi frowned at him as if he was a moron. “My grandmother did have it specially made for me. Don’t you have any respect for family tradition?”

So, she had a sappy side to her, just as he’d suspected. Mimi was much more emotional than Hannah had ever been—that is, until the day Hannah had canceled their wedding. “My family isn’t the sentimental type. What’s in here, anyway?”

“I don’t know. If it’s like Hannah’s, it’s Pandora’s box.”

“What do you mean?”

“When Hannah opened her hope chest the night before her … er, your wedding, her whole life went crazy.” Mimi blew her bags from her eyes and averted her gaze.

“You mean her hope chest had something to do with that weird dream, the reason she canceled the wedding?”

“The ring was in her hope chest. It had that silly legend to it…”

They both eyed the gold chest with distrust.

“Look, Mimi, we still have a ways to go down the hill. Let’s set it down and I’ll go get the car.” He blinked snow from his eyelashes and stumbled. His foot caught on a raised tree root and he lost his balance. He slid, yelping and trying to gain control.

His feet flew out from under him and the hope chest crashed down on his legs. Mimi toppled, too, lading on her stomach across the hope chest. Her arms cycled out by her sides as she struggled not to dive into the snow, and one fist smacked his eye. She rolled away and plopped into the cushiony snow beside him, anyway, and the latch to the chest suddenly sprang open.

It took them both a moment to realize what had happened. Seth pushed the chest aside to the ground. Mimi jumped up, shivering from the cold. The snow had dampened her dress, casing the silky material to cling to her voluptuous body. The damp bodice accentuated the fullness of her breasts, and the neckline dipped precariously off her shoulder, giving him a glimpse of luscious cleavage and creamy skin.

He stood and slapped the snow off his suit, dragging his gaze from her tempting body. He absolutely could not allow himself to be attracted to Mimi Hartwell. She was his ex-fiancée’s sister, for heaven’s sake. Plus, she was definitely the wrong type of woman for him. Mimi stared at him, and he noticed that the corner of the chest had ripped a hole in the crotch of his pats. He plastered his hands over his nearly visible privates and froze.

They both jerked their eyes from each other and spoke at the same time. “I’ll go get the car.”

“Go get the car.”

He clutched the front of his pants together with his hands and hauled himself down the hill, praying Mimi hadn’t noticed his burgeoning arousal.

* * *

Mimi gaped at Seth’s departing back, shocked to see he’d been turned on by her klutzy moves. The man must miss Hannah terribly and be completely desperate. Of course, he was a man, and his physical reaction had probably been simply that, a male reaction, not real attraction, or the man wouldn’t he running down the icy drive as if a hungry lion was chomping at his heels.

She shivered. Her feet were wet and starting to get cold inside the dress shoes. The top of the chest stood open, the contents fairly begging to be examined. Curiosity won over her fear of superstition, and she peeked inside. Hannah’s life had gone berserk the day she’d opened her hope chest.

What in the world had her grandmother put inside hers?

Chapter 2

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H
ad Grammy Rose also given her an heirloom ring to wear so she would dream about her future husband?

Impossible. She was never getting married. Mimi laughed and ran her finger over the hope chest’s velvety grape-colored lining. On top of the lavender tissue paper lay a pale pink envelope, but she heard Seth’s car coming, so she stuffed the letter in her purse’ deciding to read it as they drove.

Seth parked the Lexus and climbed out, snow dotting his thick hair and glistening on his bronzed skin. He’d buttoned his suit coat to hide the tear in his pants. Mimi stifled a giggle
.

“What’s inside?” Seth asked.

“I’m afraid to look.”

“Don’t be silly. Nothing in there could possibly affect your future.”

Mimi bit down on her lip. Seth lifted the tissue paper and her stomach flip-flopped. A beautiful bouquet lay in the center of the hope chest.

Two wedding bouquets in one day—not a good sign.

“Grammy Rose carried this bouquet when she married Gramps. I saw a picture of it in her photo album.”

“See, nothing so strange about that.”

Right. Nothing earth-shattering happened. No knight in shining armor appeared. Just dull Seth Broadhurst in a gray Lexus.

Mimi pushed aside the remaining tissue, her gaze resting on a blue-and-white baby quilt, a rocking-horse design appliquéd on the front. An antique silver baby rattle lay beside it.

“Now I know Grammy’s confused,” Mimi said with a nervous giggle. “I’m certainly not mommy material.”

“Anyone can see that.”

Mimi narrowed her eyes. “What does
that
mean?”

“Nothing.” Seth shifted onto his other foot. “Just that I can’t see you having kids.”

“Well, I can’t see you having them, either.”

Seth arched a brow. “And why is that?”

“You’d probably psychoanalyze them to death.”

“I would not.”

“So you want children?” Mimi asked.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“Forget it.” Seth glanced up at the dark clouds.

“Hurry up and see what else is in there so we can get going.”

Mimi nodded, still stinging from his comment about her and motherhood. “Look, Grammy included her recipe book.”

“I guess she thought you could use it at the coffee shop.”

“I’m not going to work there forever,” Mimi said, slightly defensive. “I’m trying out for a part in that soap opera that’s going to be filmed in Atlanta called
Scandalous
. They need a belly dancer.” Mimi turned around and shook her body, snowflakes splashing her cheeks.

* * *

The image of Mimi Hartwell in a harem costume was sexy and titillating. Not at all an appropriate way for Seth to be thinking about Hannah’s sister.

He quickly squelched it. Mimi was a bona fide wannabe actress who probably changed boyfriends more often than he changed socks. Besides, the storm was getting worse and they needed to move.

Mimi slammed the chest shut. “Let’s put it in the car and get going.”

Grateful to be pulled back into reality, Seth helped her lift the hope chest and situate it in his trunk. Mimi rushed to the passenger side and climbed in, shivering and damp. He jumped in and turned on the heater, wishing he’d invested in snow tires.

Mimi adjusted the radio to a soft-rock station and began to hum softly, her voice melodious and rich, her hands fidgeting with an envelope in her hand. He turned his attention to his driving, the wind swirling snow through the wooded area around them, the road already growing slick. Tree limbs bowed with the weight of the snow, and a bitter wind wheezed through the trees, occasionally cracking thin branches and flinging them into the road. He dodged the branches and braked, shifting to low gear as he wound down the mountain.

“This weather’s making me nervous,” Mimi finally said. “I can hardly see the road.”

Seth was uneasy, too. “Now that it’s dark, it’s only going to get worse.”

“You think we’ll make it back to Sugar Hill?”

Seth shrugged, his shoulders tight as he gripped the steering wheel. “I’ll do my best to get us there.”

The envelope rustled in Mimi’s hands as she twisted them together. “Good, I have plans later on tonight.”

A date? Had Mimi already recovered from Joey and moved on to someone else? Or was she planning to visit Joey in prison?

The thought irked him, although he didn’t know why.

The car was growing warm, and he saw that she’d relaxed, so he adjusted the heat, faintly aware of the exotic scent of her perfume. With the windshield fogged, the blizzard whirling around them and some mellow oldie playing on the radio, the interior of the car suddenly seemed way too intimate.

He yanked at his tie, loosening the knot at his neck. “What is that perfume you’re wearing?”

Mimi smiled, obviously thinking he liked the strong scent. “Passion Point. You’re supposed to dab it on your…”

He arched a brow.

“Well, you know. All your erogenous zones.”

Which must have been her whole body.

Seth swung his gaze back to the road, the blur of imagined fantasies nearly blinding him to the white haze in front of him.

The radio announcer bleeped in. “Folks, we’re in the midst of a full-fledged winter storm alert. Already some major expressways have been closed for safety reasons. We’re advising you to stay off them. If you’re a traveler, seek shelter in a hotel until morning when snowplows can clear the roads.” He finished by listing areas suffering from downed power lines and trees.

“I guess we’d better try to find a hotel,” he said. Mimi narrowed her eyes as if spending the night at the same hotel with him was a horrendous imposition.

Well, he wasn’t too happy about it, either, but he was too much of a gentlemen to say so. After all, he had an important date tonight, too.

Of course, his date was a copy of
Strategies for Coping with Divorce
in the Single-Family Home, but he didn’t have to tell her that.

Mimi avoided looking at Seth, uneasy about the hazardous conditions, but Hannah had always claimed Seth was completely reliable. Not mind-boggling in the love department, but dependable. Come to think of it, Hannah had never mentioned that she’d slept with Seth, but Mimi had assumed they had. She’d also assumed Hannah hadn’t talked about their love life because it had been lacking in umph. Seth probably had to consult his pocket calendar to schedule sex. Seth never did anything impetuous, could be depended on to keep a cool head—exactly what she needed when surrounded by a raging blizzard. Someone who wasn’t driven by hormones, as Joey had been.

Feeling calmer, she opened the letter and smiled at her Grammy’s loopy handwriting. She could almost hear her grandmother’s Southern drawl…

My spunky little Mimi,

You have always been special to me because you were the middle child, the one who tagged along to her older sister’s recitals, the one who wore hand-me-downs and rolled with the punches whenever there were problems. You never ran from a fight, never fussed when your dad was too busy working to come home at night, never complained that you never got anything first. You have a heart of gold, an infectious smile, and you’re a sucker for strays. You made us laugh when we thought there might never be laughter in the house again.

You’re feisty and witty, creative and determined, but independent to a fault. You know how to have fun in life and laugh at your problems. You are a survivor. I hope you learn to trust in others, to take comfort, as well as offer it.