“That’s so sad. You were good friends with her?”
“That’s the really strange thing. I hardly knew her. We had a brief affair. She wasn’t in town long enough for me to get to know her very well. She was something of a drifter. No permanent home. She told me she grew up in the foster care system, so she probably didn’t want April to end up there. I guess that’s why she put my name on the birth certificate.”
“You’re sure you’re not her father?”
“Not unless Reanne was pregnant for fifteen months.”
“You mentioned trying to find April’s family.”
“I figure there has to be someone. At least, I’m hoping there is.”
“You don’t want to keep her?”
“What do I know about raising kids? I never even planned to have any.” After watching his parents’ marriage crash and burn, and seeing the way it affected his sisters, he’d decided never to marry. Sure, it could get lonely at times, but living in a tourist town, he never ran out of available women to date.
“It would be a huge responsibility for a single guy,” she said.
“I don’t exactly lead a lifestyle conducive to raising a kid. I’m a cop. Even though we don’t get a lot of violent crimes in Prospect, it’s still a dangerous line of work. If I were killed, what would happen to April then?”
“Foster care,” Sydney said.
“Exactly. Which I’m assuming is what Reanne didn’t want.”
“Have you considered adoption?”
“If I can’t find her biological family, that will be my only other option.” Sydney looked troubled, so he asked, “You think I’m a bad person for giving her up?”
Her expression softened. “No, of course not. I was just thinking how tough it will be for her at first, being bounced around. But kids are resilient. And it’s obvious you’ve taken good care of her. I take you didn’t already have the baby furniture and toys and bottles. Or the house.”
“I got most of it at second-hand shops. And I had been planning to move into a bigger place eventually, anyway. The one-room loft wasn’t cutting it anymore. This just sped things up a bit.”
“I’d say you’ve gone above the call of duty. She’s lucky to have you.”
“Well, I haven’t done it all on my own. The first few weeks, my sisters helped a lot.”
“How many do you have?”
“Five.”
Sydney’s eyes went wide. “
Five?
Wow. Older or younger?”
“Angie—Angelica—is my twin, and the other four— Abigail, Bethany, Delilah and Leah—are younger.”
“That’s a big family.”
“Yeah, considering my parents never should have gotten married in the first place. I’m sure there must have been a time when they loved each other, but I never saw it.”
“Divorced?”
“When I was seventeen.”
“I was thirteen when my dad bailed on me and my mom.”
“You’re an only child?” he asked.
“I had a brother. He was four years younger than me, but he died when he was three months old from SIDS. My mom never really recovered. She was severely depressed for years. Still is, as far as I know. I think she blamed herself for his death.”
April let out a warning shriek, one that usually meant she was about to start wailing. Daniel walked to the playpen and picked her up. Her diaper was wet. “I have to change her.”
Sydney shot up from her seat. “Do you want me to do it?”
“I’ve got it. But why don’t you come with me and I can show you where everything is.”
“Sure,” she said, following him to April’s room.
While he wrestled April into a new diaper he gave Sydney a quick rundown of where she could find things.
“Maybe I can help you organize,” she said, eyeing the moving clutter that he hadn’t yet found a place for.
“That would be a big help.” He lifted April off the changing table and turned to Sydney. She stood in the doorway, the towel still draped over her shoulders, and…
hello.
She must have been chilled, because he could see the outline of her nipples through her damp shirt. It was as if they were calling to him, silently begging him to notice.
He noticed. And God help him, he appreciated the view. His first thought was to ask if she’d ever been in a wet T-shirt contest. A clear indication that a month without female companionship was taking its toll. Maybe he could talk one of his sisters into watching April next Friday evening so he could go out. An evening at Moose Winooski’s, the local brewery, was exactly what he needed to shake off the stress of a month in captivity.
With any luck, the P.I. would find someone to take April soon, and Daniel would have his life back.
He realized that he’d zoned out staring at Sydney’s chest, and she must have noticed, too, because she pulled the towel down to cover herself.
“Did you want to hold her?” he asked.
She looked longingly at April, but said, “I shouldn’t while I’m all wet.”
“Maybe we should talk about money,” he said.
“Money?” she asked, confused.
“I do plan to pay you to watch April.”
“Oh, right. Sure.”
“Let’s go back to the family room.” He carried April over to the playpen and laid her inside, hoping she would play a little while longer before lunch. Sydney sat on the couch, and he took a seat beside her. Maybe it was his imagination, but she seemed uneasy. Maybe she just didn’t like talking finances.
“I’m not sure what the going rate for a nanny is, and I doubt I can even come close to matching your former salary—”
“Why don’t you just pay me what you can afford?”
What if what he could afford was less than what she needed? Or maybe whatever he could pay was better than no pay at all. “I want to be fair. Why don’t you give me a number. What you would expect for, say, a forty-hour week.”
She though about it for a minute, then quoted a sum that even he considered ridiculously low. Not that he wouldn’t love a great deal, but it wouldn’t be right to take advantage of her. “Are you sure that’s enough?”
“Let’s just say that I’m not hurting for money.”
He recalled hearing a rumor that she’d taken her ex to the cleaners in the divorce. It appeared as though it wasn’t just a rumor after all.
“Besides,” she added. “Think how convenient this will be for me. No morning commute, and if I have things to do at home, I can just bring her with me.”
“True,” he said, but it still seemed low to him. “You should know that occasionally I work the night shift.”
“I don’t have a problem with that. And maybe if I get a parking ticket…”
He grinned. “It would be nice if it disappeared?”
“Not that I would ever ask you to do anything unethical.”
“You get a lot of tickets?”
“Over eight hundred dollars’ worth in the past year.”
He winced. That was blatant harassment. He didn’t doubt the mayor’s posse was responsible. And though fixing it for her could put him in hot water, it would be worth a minor scalding or two. “Consider it done.”
“When do you need me to start?”
“Is Monday too soon?”
“Monday is fine.” She paused and then asked, “So we have a deal?”
If she wanted to work for peanuts, who was he to tell her no? “Yeah, we have a deal.”
He extended a hand to shake on it, and she hesitated before she slid her hand into his.
It was ice-cold. “Sydney, you’re freezing,” he said, rubbing her hand between both of his to warm it. “Why didn’t you say something? I could have loaned you a sweatshirt.”
She extracted her hand from his grasp and wound it with its mate in her lap, eyes lowered. “I-I’m fine.”
There she went again, getting all nervous. Maybe it would just take time for her to trust him.
But what if it had nothing to do with the fact that he was law enforcement? What if she was nervous because she was attracted to him? Now that he considered it, she seemed to get edgy whenever he got close or touched her.
Testing the theory, he leaned casually against the cushion and rested his arm on the back of the couch behind her head. She tensed, and he smothered a wry smile. Maybe she
was
attracted to him. Either that or she was uncomfortable with men in general. Or maybe she hadn’t been with one in a while. Far as he could recall, she’d split with her ex at least a year ago, and he’d never seen her at any of the local singles hot spots since then. And since he’d moved in next door he hadn’t noticed any men—besides her sleazebag ex—dropping by.
“Do your sisters live in Prospect?” she asked. Nervously, as though she felt the need to fill the silence.
He turned slightly, so that his knee was barely an inch from her thigh. “Angie, Beth and Dee live here. Abbi lives in Colorado and Leah is going to school in New York.”
“And your parents?”
“My dad passed away three years ago. My mom lives in town. She works at the resort as an activities director.”
He reached out and wound a damp ringlet of Sydney’s hair around his index finger. “Would you like a towel for your hair?”
“No.” She eased away from him, awkwardly smoothing her hair back down and tucking the ringlet behind her ear. “Thanks.”
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“O-of course not.”
“Are you sure? You seem awfully nervous.”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you?” He shifted so that his knee brushed her bare thigh and she jumped. “Call me crazy, Sydney, but I get the suspicion that you might be attracted to me.”
“What kind of question is that?” And why was he asking? And why were her cheeks suddenly on fire with embarrassment?
He couldn’t actually be trying to seduce her, could he? Did he think that was part of the babysitting package? She had to admit, it would be one hell of a perk, but even if she was in the market for a fling, it would never be with a man like him. He was way out of her league. He oozed sex appeal, and for years Jeff had referred to her as the Ice Queen.
“I’m wondering if that’s why you’re so nervous around me.”
“I just don’t like cops.”
“But you
know
I’m a good cop. If you didn’t, you never would have agreed to watch April. And you only get nervous when I get close, or do something like this.” His fingers brushed her earlobe.
“Stop that!” she said, batting his hand away.
He grinned, and if it hadn’t been so damned adorable she probably would have decked him.
“I rest my case,” he said, looking pleased with himself.
She hated that she was so skittish around men. It had just been so long since one had noticed her. And even longer since one had touched her. Not that she’d put herself in the position to be the object of anyone’s interest. The one time she’d let her hair down and had fun, she’d been hauled off in handcuffs. Staying home just seemed safer.
“Even if I was attracted to you,” she said, “I would
never
date a cop. Or someone I worked for. Or
anyone
nicknamed Deputy Casanova.”
“And I would never date a single mom,” he said. “Or a next-door neighbor.”
Yet his impish grin said dating her was irrelevant, and he had something else entirely in mind.
He took the longest shower he’d had in a month, then shaved. He dressed in jeans, cowboy boots and a black PCSD—Prospect County Sheriff Department—T-shirt. He grabbed his keys from the kitchen counter and was heading out the side door when he noticed Sydney’s dish sitting there. He’d forgotten to give it to her yesterday when she came by. And remembering her visit, the way she had jumped when he touched her, made him grin. She’d more or less admitted she was attracted to him. But, attracted to each other or not, they seemed to have an understanding that a relationship would be a bad idea.
He grabbed the dish and crossed the yard to Sydney’s side door. He knocked, and it swung open a few seconds later. But it wasn’t Sydney, it was her daughter.
“Hi, I’m Daniel from next door. Is your mom home?”
“Mom!” she called over her shoulder and held the door so Daniel could step inside. “The cop from next door is here!”
She looked as though she was probably a cute kid under the dark makeup and green hair. She had Sydney’s wide blue eyes and upturned nose.
“You must be Lacey,” he said.
“My mom said you hired her to be your nanny.”
He couldn’t tell if she thought that was a good thing or a bad thing. “Are you okay with that?”
“Sure. Considering my tool of a father got her fired from her job.”
He smothered a grin. Apparently Lacey’s opinion of her father wasn’t much better than Sydney’s.
“Don’t call your father a
tool,
sweetheart,” Sydney said, appearing in the kitchen doorway.
“Well, he is one,” Lacey mumbled, then a car horn blared outside. “That’s Veronica. Gotta go!”
She slipped past Daniel and out the back door, and Sydney called after her, “Have fun, honey! See you tomorrow!”
“Cute kid,” Daniel said.
“Who obviously has issues with her father.”
“I guess you can’t exactly blame her.” He held out the dish to her. “I forgot to give this back. The casserole was good. Maybe I can get the recipe?”
She took the dish, eyeing him suspiciously. “You cook?”
“I’m thirty-six and single. It was learn to cook or live on fast food and frozen dinners.”
For the first time since Sydney had walked into the room, Daniel really focused on her face and realized her eyes were a little swollen and red-rimmed, as if she’d been crying. Had she had a run-in with her ex? He felt his hackles rise. “What’s wrong?”
His concern seemed to confuse her. “Why would you think that?”
“You look like you’ve been crying. Did your ex do something?”
She laughed. “No, nothing like that. I was watching a movie on Lifetime. Friday is usually movie night for me.”
“But it’s a gorgeous evening. You should get out. Have fun.”
“The last time I did that, I was arrested. I feel safer staying home.”
“Don’t you miss seeing your friends?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “The truth is, I don’t really have any. Jeff got them in the divorce.”
Then they were even stupider than the mayor. And it bugged Daniel that Sydney was afraid to go out and have fun. She deserved better than that.
Before he could think what he was doing, he said, “Go get dressed.”
She looked down at her T-shirt and shorts. “I am dressed.”
“I mean, get
dressed,
I’m taking you out.”
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “I told you, I don’t date cops.”
“It’s not a date. It’s just friends going out for a drink. And you
need
to get out.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Trust me, you do.” He took her by the shoulders, turned her in the direction of the kitchen door, and gave her a gentle shove. “Now go. And wear something…sexy.”
She shot him a look over her shoulder.
“Trust me.”
She reluctantly left the room, then he heard her bedroom door close. The reason, he figured, for her tendency to be nervous around him, was a complete lack of self-confidence. Which was totally unwarranted because she was a beautiful woman. Not to mention really nice. And if she was ever going to get her confidence back, she had to put herself out there. He knew a dozen guys on the force who would trip over each other to dance with her. If not because she was hot as hell, then out of curiosity because she was the ex of the biggest ass in a thirty-mile radius.
He took a seat at her kitchen table and waited, looking at his watch occasionally, hoping Sydney wasn’t one of those women who took hours to get ready. Fifteen minutes passed before she appeared in the doorway.
“I’m ready.”
He looked up and gave a low whistle. “Wow.”
She’d dressed in form-fitting jeans that hugged all the right places, spike-heeled boots and a scoop-neck, sleeveless blouse made of some silky, layered fabric so transparent he could just make out the silhouette of her bra underneath. And the cleavage spilling out over the top…
Damn.
She’d put her hair up, leaving a few curls loose to frame her face and brush her neck. She’d applied only a little mascara and shiny lip gloss, but honestly, she didn’t need more than that. She looked…breathtaking.
“Too much?” she asked, shifting nervously.
“Perfect,” he said. She was going to have to beat men off with a stick. He got to his feet. “You ready?”
“I’m still not sure about this.”
“You’ll have a great time. Trust me.”
She looked as if she might argue, then she grabbed her purse off the kitchen counter and said, “Let’s go before I change my mind.”
They crossed the lawn to his truck, and he opened the door for her.
“Buckle up,” he said, as he climbed in the driver’s seat.
She fidgeted beside him, as though any second she might throw the door open, jump out and make a run for it.
“Relax,” he told her. “You’re going to have fun.”
He started the truck, backed out of the driveway, and headed in the direction of town. Thankfully it was only a few minutes’ drive, so she didn’t have much time to change her mind.
As they turned onto Main Street traffic grew thicker. The sidewalks were congested with tourists and locals. Though daytime activities kept most of the visitors up at the resort, town nightlife drew them down the mountain to the main strip. And because there was an antique car show this weekend, the city was exceptionally busy.
“I forgot to ask where we’re going,” she said
“Moose Winooski’s.”
She was dead silent, so he looked over at her and realized that most of the color had leached from her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Jeff hangs out there.”
“Sometimes. So what?”
“You don’t think that will be…awkward?”
Probably not for the mayor, who seemed to think he owned the town. Which was exactly why she needed to go. “If he’s there, ignore him. If he hassles you, I’ll take care of it.”
“He’s not someone you want to piss off, Daniel.”
“I told you before, I’m not afraid of him.”
The brewery parking lot was already filled to capacity but they found a spot on a side street a block down. After he parked, Sydney reached for the door handle. “Don’t touch that,” he told her.
She yanked her hand back. “Why?”
He got out and walked around the truck and tugged her door open. “Because you deserve to be treated like a lady.”
For the first time that night, she smiled. But as they walked down the street toward the entrance, the smile turned into a grimace.
“Don’t be nervous,” Daniel said.
“I’m not nervous. I’m
terrified.
”
Her steps slowed, and since he figured there was a good possibility she might turn tail and run, he grabbed her hand. As they neared the building, they could hear a cover of a Tim McGraw song blaring from within, played by the local country western band that performed every Friday and Saturday night.
When they got to the door he pulled it open and had to practically shove her through. The bar was packed, as was the dance floor, and every table seemed to be occupied.
“Danny!” someone shouted, and he craned his neck to see Jon Montgomery, one of his fellow deputies, waving him over to the bar. He stood with a group of Daniel’s friends. Keeping a tight grip on Sydney’s hand he dragged her along with him, letting go only to shake hands with Jon.
“Where the hell you been?” Jon asked, and when he saw Sydney standing there, it was as if Daniel ceased to exist. “And who is this lovely woman?”
“This is a friend of mine, Sydney Harris,” Daniel said. “Sydney, this is Jon.”
Jon took Sydney’s hand, but instead of shaking it, he kissed it instead. “A pleasure to meet you, Sydney Harris.”
She flashed him a wobbly smile. “Hi.”
Daniel heard someone call his name and turned to see his twin sister coming toward them.
“Hey, Angie,” he said and reached out to give her a hug. But Angie ignored him and went straight for Sydney.
“You must be Sydney,” she said, pumping Sydney’s hand. “It’s so good to finally meet you.”
Sydney looked a little confused.
“Sydney, this is my sister Angie,” Daniel said.
Angie laughed. “I guess I could have introduced myself, huh? You’re probably thinking, who is this crazy woman accosting me?”
“No, I figured it out,” Sydney told her. “You look a lot alike.”
“We favor our father. He was born in Argentina. Our mother is pure Irish. And she’s dying to meet you, by the way. Maybe we could do lunch some day? Just the three of us? Of course, Beth and Dee will probably want to come, too. They’re our younger sisters.”
“Um, sure,” Sydney said, seeming uncertain. Daniel didn’t blame her; Angie did have the tendency to come on a little strong.
“Danny tells me you have a fifteen-year-old daughter. I have a seventeen-year-old son.” She turned to Daniel. “Speaking of kids, where’s April?”
“Mom has her for the night.”
“Oh! Well, maybe I’ll stop over there tomorrow morning so I can see her.”
“I’m going to introduce Sydney around,” Daniel told his sister, before she really got going.
“Of course,” Angie said, shooing them away. “We’ll talk later.”
Daniel took Sydney by the shoulders and maneuvered her to the opposite end of the bar, saying under his breath, “So, is your head spinning?”
“A little. But I liked her.”
Daniel introduced Sydney to his friends and everyone seemed eager to meet the mayor’s ex. She was a little reserved at first, staying glued to his side, but after a while she started to relax. Eventually one of the women dragged her off to chat with a group of wives and girlfriends. And after a beer or two, she actually started to look as though she was having fun.
“So, is she the Sydney Harris I think she is?” Daniel’s friend Russ, the only trustworthy mechanic in town, asked. “The mayor’s ex?”
“Yep.” Daniel took a swallow of his beer, watching as one of the local firefighters asked Sydney to dance, and she reluctantly followed him out onto the dance floor.
David Smith, a fellow deputy who was leaning on the bar to Daniel’s left, asked, “And she’s just a friend?”
“Yep.”
“
Why?
She’s
hot.
” That earned him a slug from his wife, Sammi.
“Watch it, pal,” she warned, but she was grinning. She and David had started dating in high school, married a week after graduation and had been going strong ever since. Daniel wished all marriages could be so stable, but he knew they were the exception to the rule.
“I’ll admit it was tempting,” Daniel said. “But she’s my next-door neighbor, she has a kid, and starting Monday she’s going to be April’s nanny.”
“You know how pissed Harris would be if his ex was dating a cop,” Jon said. “Especially one who refuses to play by his rules.”
“Speak of the devil,” Sammi said, nodding to the door. “Look who just walked in.”