The Baby Arrangement. Moyra Tarling

key to restart the engine.

      It was at that precise moment he spotted the baby stroller as it turned into the leaf-covered driveway. His heart shuddered to a halt, and he felt his breath back up in his throat as he focused his gaze on the mother of his child.

      He blinked several times, fearful his eyes were playing tricks on him. But there was no mistake. Reaching for the door handle, Jared was out of the car in a flash.

      Faith Nelson slowed the baby stroller to a halt the minute she saw the sleek black car parked in her driveway. She watched as a tall, dark-haired man dressed in crumpled gray slacks and a navy sweater emerged from the front seat.

      Her heart slammed against her ribs and a ripple of apprehension chased down her spine at the look of fury she could see etched on the stranger’s handsome features. Instinctively she tightened her fingers on the handle of the baby stroller as his long strides ate up the driveway.

      “Hello, Paula,” the man said, coming to a halt a few feet in front of the stroller. “You look surprised to see me.” His voice was deep and resonant, but with an edge that could easily have cut glass.

      Faith moistened lips that were suddenly dry. “I’m sorry. I’m not—”

      “You’re sorry!” the man interrupted, his voice quavering with barely suppressed rage.

      “You don’t understand,” Faith said, but before she could even begin to explain, his eyes flashed with a look of contempt that effectively silenced her.

      “Oh...you’ve got that right,” he drawled. “But then I doubt I’ll ever understand how you could disappear without a word,” he said. “We had an agreement, remember? Did you really think I wouldn’t come looking for you?”

      At his challenging tone an icy rivulet slithered down Faith’s back, and she cast a quick glance toward the house.

      “Don’t even think about it,” the man said, taking a step closer. “I’ve come for my son. I’m taking him home with me, and I’d advise you not to try to stop me,” he added, and dropped into a crouched position in front of the stroller.

      “But you can’t...” Faith protested, looking around in the hope a police car might happen to be cruising the area.

      “Just watch me,” he replied.

      “Please, you don’t understand. I’m not...” Faith tried anew to explain, but the words dissolved in her throat when she saw the harsh angry lines on his face vanish, replaced by an expression of awe.

      “He’s beautiful....” The words were a mere whisper of sound as Jared stared in wonderment at the tiny but perfect infant asleep in the stroller. Not even seeing the grainy pictures of his unborn son on the hospital sonogram had prepared him for this heart-stopping moment.

      Gazing for the very first time at his own flesh and blood, his own son, an avalanche of emotions more powerful than anything he’d ever felt before gripped him, squeezing his heart and bringing tears to his eyes.

      The intensity of his feelings caught him completely off guard, and so too did the sudden and urgent need to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Reaching out, he gently touched his son’s smooth cheek.

      At the contact Jared felt a tightening in his chest. As his glance drifted over the baby’s angelic face, he noted with some pride the shock of jet black hair peeking out from beneath a knitted blue bonnet.

      Inhaling deeply, he caught the sweet scent of baby powder mixed with milky formula. He silently acknowledged that nothing in his thirty-seven years had prepared him for such a profound moment.

      Jared released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. As he withdrew his hand he made a promise to his son, to be a loving, caring father—the kind of father he himself had longed for as a child.

      Faith watched the array of emotions flitting across the stranger’s face and felt as if her heart were being torn from her body. Stifling a moan, she began to push the stroller toward the house.

      “Hey! Just a minute.” Jared stretched to his full height and came marching after her. He grabbed the handle of the stroller, halting her progress. “You’re not running out on me again.”

      He watched as tears pooled in her eyes.

      “And you can cut the tearful act, Paula,” Jared continued, his tone scathing. “After what you’ve put me through these past two weeks, I’m not going to fall for that old trick. I’m here for one reason, and one reason only—to take my son home.”

      Faith bravely met his fierce glare. That the stranger had mistaken her for her identical twin sister, Paula, was obvious, and from the description Paula had given her, he in turn could only be Jared McAndrew, the baby’s father. But why hadn’t Paula bothered to mention she’d been running away from the man?

      “If you’d just let me finish...” Faith tried again, but this time her attempts to explain were suddenly drowned out by a baby’s cry.

      Startled, they both stared at the source of the sound. The volume of the cries increased, and Faith quickly took control. Bending, she lifted the infant into her arms, hugging him to her. Rocking him gently, she crooned words of comfort.

      Over the baby’s shoulder she met the stranger’s piercing gaze, daring him to challenge her. But when she glimpsed the anxiety shimmering in the depths of his blue eyes, her heart contracted.

      “He’s hungry,” she told him. “And he doesn’t like to be kept waiting,” she added, moving past him toward the front door.

      Faith dug in to her jacket pocket and located her keys. Opening the door, she threw a quick glance over her shoulder. It came as no surprise to see Jared McAndrew following her, bringing the baby stroller with him.

      Once inside, Faith headed for the kitchen. Earlier that morning, before Nicky had awakened, she’d made up several bottles for him. Retrieving one from the fridge, she crossed to the sink.

      “You’re not breast-feeding. Good. That will simplify matters,” the baby’s father said, standing in the doorway.

      Faith fought down the bubble of hysterical laughter threatening to break free. “No, I’m not breast-feeding,” she responded, filling the bowl in the sink with hot water from the tap. Dropping the baby’s bottle into it, she turned to face the man hovering behind her like a vulture.

      “He needs to be changed, then fed,” Faith said assertively. “When I’m finished feeding him, we’ll get this sorted out.”

      “I’m not going anywhere,” he replied. “Besides, what’s there to sort out? I thought I’d made myself perfectly clear. Once you’ve finished feeding my son, I’m taking him home with me.”

      A variety of emotions ranging from fear to frustration tugged at Faith, but she kept them in check. This wasn’t the time to argue, not when she had a hungry baby in her arms.

      She strode down the hall and into her bedroom. After Paula had left for the airport last night, Faith had transported her dressing table into a makeshift change table by placing a thick bath towel on top of it.

      Not for the first time since her twin had appeared on her doorstep twelve hours ago, Faith wondered what kind of mess her sister had gotten herself into.

      Precocious and outgoing as a youngster, Paula had been the favorite child. Their parents had indulged her and encouraged her in her goal to become an actress. Faith, shyer and more introverted, had sat in the shadows, quietly developing her artistic talent, a talent that had led her to a career illustrating children’s books.

      Throughout their teenage years Paula had landed herself in more scrapes than Faith cared to recall. She’d delighted in pulling reckless and sometimes dangerous stunts with no thought to the consequences.

      Faith, a scant ten minutes older than her twin, had often been left to soothe ruffled feathers, pacify angry neighbors, or take the blame for things her sister had done.

      After