The Boss's Baby Affair (9 page)

“Oh, yes. The sunshine is beautiful.”

Candace helped her mother into a wheelchair and planted Jennie on her lap. Then she pushed them both out into the sunlight.

“Let's go to the rose gardens,” Catherine suggested.

Halting the wheelchair in her mother's favorite spot, Candace said, “Here, let me take Jennie from you. She must be heavy.”

“She's fine.” Catherine gave her a faint smile. “It's been a long time since I held a baby. She smells just as I remember you did…of that special fragrance babies have. Clean skin, well-laundered clothes and something else—” she bent her head and inhaled “—lavender?”

“And tea tree.”

“Lavender will help her sleep.” Her mother looked startled. “I'd forgotten that.”

“It has good antiseptic properties, too.” Candace didn't want to look too elated at the tiny breakthrough in her mother's ability to recall information.

“But the lavender doesn't always work.” Reaching out a hand, Candace touched the baby's head tenderly.

“She doesn't sleep?”

“Most of the time she's an angel.” That instantly reminded her of Nick. He'd called
her
an angel…

“There's a rocker in her room that I sit in when I give Jennie her nighttime bottle. That sends her to sleep most nights.”

“But what about her parents?”

Candace looked up to find her mother watching her, a frown wrinkling her forehead.

“Where are her parents?” Catherine asked again.

Drawing a deep breath, Candace said, “Her mother is dead.”

“Oh, poor little tyke. What about her father?”

“He's a businessman—he owns a string of garden centers that keep him busy.”

“That's a shame.” Her mother's brow wrinkled. “I used to visit Valentine's Garden Centers. I loved buying plants—particularly my roses.”

Candace stared at her mother. “I work for Nick Valentine,” she said slowly, the air that had been so summery suddenly chilling her. She shook the eerie sensation off.

Her mother wouldn't—couldn't—know that Nick and Candace were Jennie's parents. It wasn't possible. Catherine only remembered the centers because she'd been an avid gardener before the accident.

“In fact, we recently took Jennie to one of the centers—she loved the ducks.”

“There must've been swans, too.”

“Oh, there were.” Was her mother starting to remember? Months ago the doctors had said that her mother might never remember things from the past, so each recollection was a moment to treasure and be grateful for. “There were geese, too—one pecked Jennie.” That memory was one Candace would sooner forget.

But there would be other memories to replace that. Like the sight of Jennie in her grandmother's lap. This was a moment Candace would treasure forever.

 

By the time Candace pulled the station wagon up in front of the Valentine mansion, the late-afternoon rays of sun had taken on a golden hue. The light warmed the stark lines of the residence, softening the hard, sculpted angles of the design.

She—and Jennie—were exhausted. But in Candace's case it was the exhaustion of deep satisfaction, the feeling of a mission accomplished.

The glow didn't dissipate when the front door opened and Nick appeared.

“So you've decided to come back,” he said from the bottom of the stairs as she clambered out of the car.

A quiver of apprehension fluttered in her stomach. Nick Valentine always looked crisply immaculate, but the man who faced her appeared nowhere near as well-put-together as usual. He was wearing suit pants, his jacket had been discarded and the white striped business shirt hung out, giving him an unusually rumpled look. She noticed that the top two buttons were unbuttoned, revealing a triangle of golden skin at his throat. Candace jerked her gaze upward, and clashed with a stormy pair of navy-blue eyes.

“Where have you been?”

She couldn't have found her voice even if she'd tried.

“I've been calling you for hours,” he bit out.

Oh, no!
Candace scrabbled in the side pocket of her tote and extricated her phone. Switching it on, she was met by a chorus of beeps signifying missed messages.

“My phone was off.” Remorse filled her. “I'm sorry, Nick. I didn't realize.”

A vague memory of switching the phone off before entering her mom's room surfaced. She'd been so preoccupied she'd forgotten to turn it back on.

She could hardly blame Nick for being irate.

Though normally he would never have noticed her absence. He never left the office early—that was one of the golden rules
of Nick Valentine's busy life. Everyone agreed on that. Jilly, Mrs. Busby, his chauffeur. Their schedules had all revolved around his very set hours.

Yet today that had changed…

“Was it something urgent you were calling about? Is everything okay?”

The tumble of questions was met with a short terse nod. Candace took in the way his hair stood up, as though he'd been running his fingers through the almost black strands.

“If everything's okay, then why are you home?”

As the words left her mouth, it occurred to her that those were not the words of an employee. She sounded like a wife.

Flushing uncomfortably, she muttered, “Sorry, that's none of my business.”

“It is your business all right. You're the reason I came home. I canceled a meeting with a new supplier, because my sister wanted to see you.”

“She wanted to see me?” Candace frowned.

Why?

“Alison's been concerned about you.”

“Oh.” So much had happened it seemed like a century since that awful confrontation that his sister had witnessed. “I'm sorry we were out.” Candace started up the stairs, Jennie firmly clasped in her arms.

Nick's hand came down on her shoulder, halting her. “Where were you?”

With her standing two steps above him their eyes were level. Seeing the dark blue this close up was strangely intimate…and incredibly disconcerting. Candace sought a distraction. “Is your sister still here?”

“No, she left hours ago. I was about to file a missing persons report.”

She hitched Jennie up higher in her arms and smiled uncertainly. “You're joking, right?”

The brooding scrutiny he subjected her to made her heart skip a beat. “Except I wasn't sure that you were missing…I thought you might have taken Jennie into hiding.”

“Kidnapped her?” Astonishment caused her to blink. “I'd never do something so stupid.”

His mouth relaxed imperceptibly. But all he said was, “Good.”

“If I did something like that, I'd kiss goodbye to any sympathy I might get from the courts when I challenge your custody of Jennie.”

Nick glanced over her shoulder, and Candace became aware of Mrs. Busby hovering in the lobby.

“I'll take the baby, shall I?” she asked.

Reluctantly, Candace surrendered Jennie to the housekeeper.

“Come into the sitting room.” Nick stood back, allowing her to pass into the stark room that Candace had decided she hated.

She halted in the middle of the cold space and wished, for once, that the immense flat-screen television was on so it could break the taut silence that vibrated between her and Nick. Candace could see the tension humming in his tall lean frame.

“I'd advise you to think long and hard before deciding to drag this through the courts,” he murmured. “You have everything to lose.”

Instantly, she started to panic. “What do you mean?”

He came closer, and the breathless fear changed into something else…something more dangerous, rooting her to the spot.

“It would be foolish to threaten me.” He spoke through his teeth. “I'm being as patient as I can. Don't push me too far.”

“Or what?” Candace challenged boldly. “What will you do?”

“I might be tempted to pursue court proceedings myself
and have you prohibited from coming within a hundred feet of Jennie.”

The impact of his words jolted her. Candace stared at him, stunned by his reaction. If he made good on his threat, her baby would disappear behind high walls and electronic gates. Then she'd be forced to go to court to challenge the legality of his custody of Jennie. That would take money. A great deal of money. Money that she didn't have.

A vision of a future too bleak to contemplate faced her. She'd be standing on the outside—in a world that would become a desert if she was without her baby.

“You can't do that.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“No…
please.
” Tears spilled out her eyes. “I couldn't bear never to see Jennie again. Please, not that.”

“Oh, Christ, don't cry!”

The rough brush of his mouth against hers came as a shock. Yet instead of shoving him away Candace found herself yielding…leaning into the warmth of his body as he kissed her again. And again.

She tasted the salt of her tears, a hint of mint. Then she closed her eyes and her body slumped against him, his heat and hunger filling the empty numbness. His arms steadied her, pulling her more firmly into his embrace.

One hand stroked her hair, and he whispered, “Steady on.”

She rested her head against his shirt and sniffed.

His hands cupped her nape, tipping her head back. She shut her eyes, refusing to let him see the hopelessness, the hurt flooding through her.

“Look at me, Candace.”

Finally, she opened her eyes.

There was an expression on his face that caused her throat to constrict.

“I shouldn't have said that.”

“You're such a bastard.” She discovered she was crying in earnest now. “How could you do that to me?”

“Candace—”

“Don't touch me.”

She wrenched herself away and rushed from the room before he kissed her again…and she lost what little of her heart still remained intact.

I
n the summery morning light that streamed into his bathroom and sparkled off the white tiles, Nick stared at a face half covered in shaving cream in the mirror.

His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. Through the long hours of the night he'd been unable to shake from his mind the hurt, shocked look in Candace's eyes. Her pain had haunted his dreams last night.

He didn't much like what he saw; he wasn't proud of himself.

Without flinching, he thought about how the women in his life might have reacted if they'd been caught in the same position as Candace: Bertha Williams, his grandmother, his sister…even his devious wife. And he came to one conclusion.

Every one of them would have fought to keep her child. And every one of them would've been stunned that he could threaten to cut a woman off from the child she'd given birth to.

Even if she had agreed to give that baby up…

Nick lifted his hand and carefully brought the razor down in a long sweeping line. In minutes the white foam was gone, the shave complete. His skin glowed, clear and unsullied by stubble.

Yet Nick suspected the same wasn't true of his soul…

Once showered and dressed, Nick paused on the upstairs landing. Glancing at his watch, he saw it was already well past breakfast time.

Instead of heading for the stairs, he checked himself and went the other way. To the wing that held the nursery—and Candace's room.

Where the landing widened into a sitting area, he stopped.

Candace had pushed the glass table aside and was lying flat on her back on the carpet. A DVD showing a group of mothers doing exercises with babies was playing on the television screen that hung on a wall. Candace's arms were fully extended as she swung Jennie above her.

Both of them were laughing.

The shorts Candace wore were white and very, very brief. The ice-blue tank top fitted snugly over her curvy breasts.

Hell. The hollow in Nick's chest contracted into a tight, hard ball.

Desperately he looked away, scanning the room. The place looked—sounded—like a home. In a way that the perfectly decorated space never had before.

It even felt like a home.

He dithered on the periphery, not wanting to break the mood.

But a movement must've given him away because Candace turned her head—and saw him. Her laughter stilled. She lowered the baby and started to sit up.

“Don't stop,” he said. “It looks like Jennie's having the time of her life.”

Candace smiled hesitantly, and Nick felt as if the room had been flooded with more sunshine.

His cell phone chose that moment to ring.

It was his doctor confirming that he was almost certainly Jennie's father.

Nick thanked him for his help and killed the call. Staring at the woman on the mat, a heavy beat thundered in his ears.

Candace had told the truth.
He hadn't believed her. Once again the sense of his soul being less than pure struck him. He shook off the thought, strode forward and sank onto the floor beside her, his legs awkwardly long in the confined space.

Jennie reached a hand toward him, and he gave her his. She grasped his thumb with a grip that was surprisingly strong.

“You'll get wool from the carpet all over your suit,” Candace warned, folding slim, bare legs under her and resting Jennie in her lap, still attached to his finger.

Nick forced his eyes away from her smooth limbs.

Down, boy.

So this was how she was going to play it. As if that ugly scene between them last night had never happened.

For a split second Nick considered forcing the issue, trying to explain his confusion—what Jennie was coming to mean to him. Strangely enough, he hadn't needed the doctor's call to care about the baby. That had happened all by itself in some miraculous way.

The hesitation stretched into a pulsing pause, became overlong, and the moment passed.

Finally, he took the conversational olive branch she'd offered. “A bit of lint on my trousers hardly matters.”

Everything that mattered in his life sat right in front of him. Jennie, snuggled into Candace's lap, holding on to his thumb like there was no tomorrow. Candace, her cheeks flushed with exertion, her eyes sparkling.

“Candace—”

Her eyes were bright, inquiring. “Mmm?”

“That was my doctor.”

The brightness faded a little.

“And?”

“The tests are back. You were right. Jennie is my daughter.”

Ominously, she didn't say that she'd told him so. She tightened her arms around the baby until Jennie objected. Her stillness was starting to concern him.

He needed them…both of them.

Jennie perched on Candace's lap looking comfortable and at ease. Both had been so utterly absorbed in each other until he'd come along and ruined it. They didn't need him at all.

That realization made his heart miss a beat.

For the first time he had some inkling of how Jilly must've felt in those long years she was married to him.

He'd behaved like a bastard, resenting the fact that Jilly had trapped him into a marriage he hadn't wanted…yet couldn't refuse. It had been a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea, and he'd been determined not to drown. So Jilly, the agent of his downfall, had borne the brunt of his anger.

Nick was starting to like himself less and less…

As if she sensed his thoughts, Jennie dropped his thumb and turned her attention to tugging at strands of blond hair that had escaped Candace's hair tie. Instead of pulling away, Candace simply laughed.

Nick cleared his throat. “Look, every year there's a carnival at the Super Center on the Sunday closest to Valentine's Day. That's this weekend. It's very festive.” God, he was starting to sound desperate. With studied casualness he asked, “Would you like to come with me this year?”

“You're asking me on a date? To be your Valentine?”

Damn.

He couldn't read her expression. What the hell was he supposed to say now?

Nick forced a laugh. “No, no. Nothing like that.”

“Oh…”

God, he was screwing this up badly.

“Candace—” He broke off and reached out the hand Jennie had held and covered Candace's with it. She flinched.

He withdrew swiftly and brushed a nonexistent piece of fluff from his jacket, trying to face up to the fact that he wasn't behaving with very much subtlety or grace.

“I just thought you might want to join us—spend the day with Jennie.”

The joy that lit up her eyes was blinding. “Thank you. I'd love that.”

So spending the day with him held no appeal, but spending it with Jennie was something else. He should've expected that. He might be driven by lust, but clearly Candace didn't reciprocate.

Ah, well. “Valentine's…growing happy families. A loving home begins at Valentine's.”

“What?” Confusion clouded her eyes.

“Those slogans are part of our latest advertising campaign,” he explained.

“Oh, yes.” Her face had cleared. “I've seen the television ads.”

She didn't think he'd lost it.

Yet.

Just as well she couldn't read his mind—she'd have run screaming from the room.

“It's a day for families,” he said awkwardly. “For Jennie's sake, you should be there.”

This time Candace didn't say a word.

Nick wondered if that had been overkill. Too late to wish he hadn't been quite so heavy-handed on the whole family angle. There was nothing for him to do but rise to his feet and say, “Well, I'd better get moving or I'll be late for work.”

“You're the boss, what would it matter?”

“It matters,” he said. “I've always believed a boss should
lead by example. And lately I've been sneaking out quite a bit.”

Though what worried him most was how much he'd enjoyed playing hooky.

 

The temperature rose swiftly, turning into one of those glorious summer days that lingered.

With Nick at work, Candace decided to take advantage of the weather and take Jennie swimming. The water in the pool was silken and cool—and Jennie was in her element, hanging over Candace's arm, smacking the surface of the water with fat palms while Candace laughed.

All through the day she'd been kicking herself. Why hadn't she told Nick that Jennie should live with her, not him? She'd had the perfect opportunity this morning…

Instead, she'd chickened out.

Perhaps it had been the look on his face. There'd been something—a vulnerability—that had tugged at her heart. He'd looked…lonely.

Candace told herself that she was being ridiculous. Men like Nick Valentine weren't lonely. They married wealthy trophy wives, lived in glossy architect-designed mansions, owned multimillion-dollar businesses.

Except Nick's wife was dead…

He couldn't possibly be missing Jilly, Candace told herself. Hadn't Nick told her he'd suspected Jilly of having an affair? The extent of Jilly's deception over the baby signaled to Candace that theirs had not been a healthy marriage.

A footfall scraped the deck and Candace turned her head. The sight of Nick coming toward her, threading his way between the lounging chairs, caused a flutter in her belly.

This made it two days in a row that he was home early…maybe being the boss had its perks after all.

“You're early,” she commented, squinting up at him as his highly polished Italian shoes halted at the pool's edge.

“I secured a contract to do the landscaping and supply the plants and garden furnishings for two coastal resorts. It's a coup. I called it a day.” Nick glanced at his watch, then met her gaze and raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Half past six is not much earlier than normal.”

“Half past six?” Candace squawked. “Already?”

“Time flies when you're having fun.”

Candace ignored his quip. “Gosh, Jennie will turn into a prune.”

“She looks fine to me.” Nick squatted down on his haunches and wiggled his fingers at the baby. She gave him a delicious smile and chuckled. “I might go change into swim trunks and join you.”

The notion of being trapped with a good-humored, nearly naked Nick in a pool on such a balmy summer's evening was more than Candace could handle.

“I should get Jennie out. She must be starving.”

His face went wooden, and she felt suddenly small and mean. “You know, a little while longer won't kill her. You go change…we'll wait for you.”

 

It took Nick only five minutes to change into swim trunks, grab a towel and hurry back to the pool.

Candace and Jennie were still in the water, the baby squealing with pleasure as Candace swung her back and forth, skimming the pool's surface.

After dropping his towel on the lounger, Nick launched himself into the water. Jennie's eyes popped out as he surfaced beside them. Her face puckered in distress and for a moment it looked like she might cry.

“Hey, hey,” he murmured, mentally kicking himself. “It's only me…not some sea monster.”

When he looked up, Candace was watching him, but she was smiling.

“She wants you.”

Jennie had her arms out, and she rewarded him with a gurgle as he swam closer.

Nick's insides melted. “Come here, you.”

Taking her from Candace, he scooped her to him and made little growls against her neck.

Jennie giggled, and bounced excitedly in his arms. Her fingers hooked around his hand as she bumped up and down.

“Hey, take it easy. I'll be in trouble if I drop you,” he whispered. The memory of the day she'd been pecked by the goose and he'd nearly fallen in the lake still made him shudder.

That wasn't happening again…

Jennie stuck out her fingers and closed them around his. Gold glinted on his left hand in the slanting rays.

“You wear a wedding ring.”

He glanced at the wedding band, then across to the woman who'd asked. Her gaze was still trained on his hand. “Yes.”

“A lot of men don't wear a ring.”

“Jilly bought it for me.” She'd bought her own rings, too, Nick remembered with a touch of discomfort. But wearing a ring had saved him plenty of explanations at inopportune moments—not that some of Jilly's acquaintances had paid much attention to the band of gold that had marked him as her property.

“You're still wearing it.”

“I hadn't thought about taking it off.” There hadn't been another woman in his life so it hadn't entered his mind. Except now there was Candace…

Their eyes meshed—and held. Her pupils, so black against the misty gray eyes, expanded. Trapping him.

“Ouch!”

He gazed down at Jennie's fist clutching at the dusting of hair on his arm. “That hurt.”

The baby dimpled up at him, showing a gleam of pearly white.

“She's got a tooth.” He stared at Candace.

“One. Lower incisor. The next one should cut any day now…”

“Wow.” Nick transferred his attention back to the wriggling bundle in his arms. “You're growing up fast. I hadn't even thought about braces yet.”

“Soon she'll be dating.”

But Nick didn't laugh. Instead, he squeezed his eyes shut. “Jeez, that idea really hurts. I don't want to think about it.” When he cracked open one eye, he found Jennie watching him. She cooed.

It made Nick feel like the most important man in the world. Hell, he
was
the most important man in his daughter's world—at least until she turned sixteen and started dating—and he wasn't about to screw up again.

“I'll have to lock you up,” he told her. “Vet all the boys who come visiting.”

He peeked across at Candace, but she wasn't laughing. Instead, he was surprised by the strange expression on her face. Then she turned away and made for the pool end nearest the house and gracefully exited the water.