The Baby Inheritance. Maureen Child

she said, “It works for me.”

      “Yeah.” He turned his face into the wind again and said, “So, my family’s different. They like having children, they just don’t like having them around. Nannies, governesses and boarding schools are the favorite child-rearing tools for the Hudsons.”

      Before she could say anything about that, he went on, “Spring hated it. It was a kind of torture for her to be locked away in a school she couldn’t leave.” He swiveled his head and stared at her. “How could I give Rose over to people who would only do the same thing to her that they did to her mother? No.”

      Warmth opened up in the center of her chest and Lilah was caught off guard. The cold, hard lawyer seemed to have disappeared and she didn’t know quite what to make of the man he was now.

      “You’ve agreed to stay,” he was saying, and Lilah came up out of her thoughts to listen.

      “For a while, yes.” For Rosie. For Lilah’s own sake, she would stay until she was sure the baby girl would be safe. Happy. She’d closed her artisanal soap shop temporarily and could run the online business from her laptop, so there was no rush to get home.

      Reed had wanted to pay her to stay. What he didn’t realize was he would have had to pay her to leave.

      “Then you can help me choose the house.” He finished off his scotch. “And furnish it. I won’t have time for a decorator.”

      Stunned, she just looked at him. “You want me to—”

      “Don’t all women like shopping?”

      She laughed shortly. “That’s completely sexist.”

      “Sue me. Am I wrong?”

      “No, but that’s not the point,” she said.

      “It’s exactly the point. You’ll have free rein,” he tempted her. “You can pick out the furnishings that’ll make the house baby friendly.”

      Help choose the kind of house Rosie would grow up in? How could she refuse? Shopping to outfit an entire house on someone else’s dime? What woman wouldn’t accept that offer? Besides, if left to his own devices, Lilah was sure he’d furnish the whole place in black and white, and that thought was just too hideous to contemplate.

      “Free rein?” she repeated, wanting his assurances.

      “That’s what I said.”

      “So you’re okay with lots of color.”

      His eyes narrowed. “How much color?”

      He was worried and that made her smile. “Free rein,” she reminded him.

      * * *

      Buying a house wasn’t that difficult when you were willing to pay any price to get what you wanted when you wanted it. The Realtor quickly decided that Lilah was the person she needed to convince, and so Reed was able to hang back and watch the show. He had to admit, Lilah was picky, but she knew what would work and what wouldn’t. She wasn’t easily swayed by the Realtor’s practiced patter about square footage, views and school districts. He admired that.

      But then, he was finding the whole package of Lilah Strong intriguing. She wasn’t sure of him still, so there was a simmer of anger about her he couldn’t miss. Most women he knew were cautious enough to only let him see carefully constructed smiles. They laughed at his jokes, sighed at his kiss and in general tried to make themselves into exactly what he might want.

      Strange, then, that the woman who didn’t care what he thought of her was the one he found the most intriguing. Hell, watching her move through an empty house, the Realtor hot on her heels, was entertaining. And damned if the view wasn’t a good one.

      She wore a long-sleeved white button-down shirt with a sleek black vest over it. Her blue jeans hugged a great behind and an excellent pair of legs, and black boots with a two-inch heel completed the look. Casual elegance. Her reddish-gold hair hung loose to the middle of her back in a cascade of waves that made him want to bury his hands in the thick mass.

      But then, he remembered she’d looked damn good the night before, too, wearing only a sky blue nightgown that stopped midthigh.

      He woke up at the sound of the baby crying and realized that this was his new reality. Rose was his now and he took care of what was his.

      Moving through the darkened suite, he walked to the room Rose and Lilah were sharing, gave a brief knock and opened the door. Lilah was standing in a slice of moonlight, the baby held close to her chest. She was swaying in place and whispering things Reed couldn’t make out.

      “Is she all right?” he asked, keeping his own voice hushed.

      “Just a little scared,” Lilah told him, giving the baby soothing pats as she rocked her gently. “New place.”

      “Right.” Wearing only a pair of cotton sleep pants, he walked barefoot across the room and scooped Rose right out of Lilah’s arms, cradling the baby to his chest.

      For a moment, it looked as though Rose would complain. Loudly. But the baby stared at him for a long minute, then sighed and laid her little head down on his shoulder.

      That one action melted something inside him and felt...powerful. He held that tiny life close, felt her every breath, every shuddering sigh, and knew in that one shining moment he would do anything to keep her safe.

      Then he looked into Lilah’s eyes and found her measuring him. Her hair was a tangle of curls around her face, her eyes were wary and she crossed her arms over her chest, lifting her breasts high enough that he got a glimpse of cleavage at the V-neck of her nightgown.

      “Sorry she woke you,” Lilah said, voice soft as a feather.

      “I’m not,” he said, surprised to find it was nothing but the truth. “We have to get used to each other, don’t we?”

      “Yes, I guess you do.” She reached out one hand to smooth her palm over Rosie’s dark curls. “She’s usually a good sleeper, but her routine’s a little messed up right now.”

      “She’ll get a new routine soon.”

      At that, Lilah let her hand drop to her side and stared up at him. “Are you ready for that?”

      He looked down at the baby asleep on his shoulder. “I will be.”

      And in the quiet of the night, with a sleeping baby between them, he and Lilah watched each other in the silence.

      Reed had wondered then, as he did now, if she had felt the heat that snapped and sizzled between them.

      Today, her blue eyes were sharp and clear as she inspected the kitchen of the fifth house they’d seen that morning. She stepped out onto a brick patio, with the Realtor hot on her heels. Reed walked out after them, listening to their conversation.

      “I like that there’s a fence around the pool,” Lilah said, looking at it as if she could judge its strength with the power of her gaze.

      “Electronic locks with a parental control,” the Realtor said, giving a wide, plastic smile as she smoothed black hair so stiff that it probably wouldn’t have moved even if she were in the middle of a tornado. “There’s a top-of-the-line security system in the house as well, and both remotes are accessible in the garage as well as the house.”

      “Security,” Lilah mused thoughtfully. “So this isn’t a good neighborhood?”

      The Realtor paled while Reed smothered a smile.

      “This is one of the finest neighborhoods in Laguna,” the Realtor protested. “A security system is simply for peace of mind.”

      Reed saw the humor in Lilah’s eye and knew she was just giving the other woman a hard time.

      “I do like this yard,” she said, turning in a slow circle to admire the picture.

      Reed did as well, and he had