.

Gail said, grabbing a couple of paper towels and moving toward Molly’s high chair. “I just would have tried to get her cleaned up before you saw her so you would think I’d managed to feed her without her getting it all over herself.”

      “So the just-fed clean one-year-old is a myth?” he asked.

      Gail nodded. “If you think this is bad, you should see SpaghettiOs.”

      “You mean canned spaghetti?” he asked in horror.

      Gail winced and chuckled. “Oops. Have I just deeply offended your Italian sensibilities? Sorry, but round noodles are great toddler food.” She wiped off Molly’s face and the baby began to protest. Gail put the paper towel in front of Molly’s face and whipped it away. “Peekaboo,” she said, and Molly smiled, reaching for the towel.

      Nicholas envied Gail’s ease with his daughter. Although he had hired Gail for the sole purpose of caring for Molly, he still wished he didn’t feel so damned incompetent with his own daughter. As Gail lifted Molly from her high chair, he noticed ice cream on the front of the child’s pajamas. “Be careful,” he said. “She’ll get ice cream on you.”

      Gail looked down and shrugged. “No problem. I’m not prissy.”

      That she wasn’t. Nicholas was not accustomed to un-prissy women. He followed Gail up the steps, his gaze caught by the sway of her cute rear end in jeans. Remembering the sight of her bare bottom, he imagined her athletic frame naked. He suspected she would appear more toned than muscle-bound. Those thighs would wrap around a man—

      He bit back an oath. This was his daughter’s nanny, for Pete’s sake. And she wasn’t even his type. She was different from the perfectly coiffed women he dated. Her hair was wild. She couldn’t completely tame it even when she pulled it back. A forbidden, instinctive image of Gail naked, with her red hair flying free, her face full of ecstasy, stole into his mind.

      He frowned and bit back another oath. Maybe it had been too long since he’d taken a woman to bed. Although he’d continued to attend public events with beautiful women, he’d been too distracted about becoming a father to focus on his sexual needs.

      Nicholas ruthlessly pushed his disturbing thoughts aside as he joined Gail in the nursery bathroom. Gail turned the water on full force in the tub.

      “How was the game?”

      “Thank you for asking. We won, of course,” she said, a hint of competitiveness glinting in her eyes.

      “Of course,” he said. “Does that mean you never lose?”

      “You have to be careful with the words ‘never’ and ‘always,’” she said, starting to undress Molly. “But we’ve been undefeated for three years. It’s a co-ed team, and the guys don’t hesitate to blast the women when we’re not aggressive enough.”

      “And there’s no one guy who is significant to you?”

      “They’re all special,” she said, bending down to test the water, then place Molly in the tub. “But to them I’m just one of the guys.”

      “They can’t be that blind,” Nicholas said.

      She looked at him and smiled. “That was very nice, thank you. Speaking of significant others, what about you?”

      “Molly is the only significant female in my present and future,” he said, feeling a faint twist of bitterness when he thought of Molly’s mother.

      “But what about your romantic future? Surely there’s someone who could be special to you.”

      “Nothing long term,” Nicholas said. “I’m committed to keeping my relationships with women short term. I’m up-front about it, so there are no hard feelings.”

      Gail gave a snort of disbelief. “Yeah, right,” she said as she washed Molly’s belly.

      “You don’t believe me,” he said, oddly affronted by her response. “I’m completely clear about my intentions with a woman. No one is left wondering.”

      “Maybe not wondering, but hoping,” she said, and rinsed Molly.

      “Hoping for what?”

      “Hoping you’ll fall madly in love with her,” she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

      Hard-earned cynicism cut through him. “I’ll never fall madly in love with a woman again. There’s no such thing as a happy ending.”

      Gail’s eyebrows knitted together as if she didn’t approve of his opinion but was holding her tongue. Nicholas suspected she found it difficult to hold her tongue when she had a strong opinion. She lifted Molly from the tub and wrapped her in a towel. In one smooth motion, she plopped his daughter in his arms. “I don’t know,” Gail mused aloud, glancing pointedly at Molly. “Looks to me like you got the winning hand this time.”

      Nicholas looked into the innocent wide eyes of his squirmy, damp daughter and felt his heart expand with protectiveness and love. He smiled at Molly. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

      Later that week Gail met Nicholas in the kitchen as he pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator. His afternoon had been jam-packed with meetings to solve production problems. He was so tense his neck muscles felt like rubber bands pulled taut.

      At her smile he felt the tension in him ease.

      “Welcome home. I hate to jump you as soon as you walk in the door.”

      His neck tightened again. “A problem?”

      “Not really,” she said, lifting a picture frame she’d held by her side. “I just have a special request. I need a photograph of you.”

      “Why?” he asked, taking a deep gulp of the water.

      “To put in Molly’s room. You’re gone all day, and I think it would be good if she has a constant visual reminder of you even when you’re not here.”

      He shrugged. “Okay.”

      “Something informal would be best.”

      He nodded. “I’ll see what I can dig up.”

      “And I need you to record a message to her.”

      Nicholas looked at her in confusion. “Record a message?”

      “Sure,” she said, moving closer to him and handing him the frame. “I got this today. It’s so cool. We put your photo in the frame and record a message, then every time you push this button, you get to hear the message. Molly will love it.”

      The excitement in her voice amused and warmed him. “How do you know she won’t start crying every time she hears my voice?”

      Gail tossed him a sideways glance. “Because she’s already warming up to you. And it’s so easy. You can go ahead and record your message now.”

      “Now?” he said, drawing a complete blank. “What should I say?”

      “Anything. You can sing part of a song. You can read from one of her favorite books. Or you can just tell her how special she is and how much you love her.”

      The doorbell rang. Gail glanced at the clock. “Oh, that’ll be Jonathan. He’s a friend,” she said, answering his question before he voiced it. “He called and said he wanted to watch a basketball game with me. You said I could use the downstairs den in the evenings if I want to have friends over. Is that still okay?”

      Not really, Nicholas thought. After his hectic day, he’d enjoyed the few moments of conversation with Gail. But it wasn’t fair to completely curtail her social life just because being with her had been as refreshing as the bottle of water. “Sure,” he said. “I’m headed upstairs soon, anyway.”

      “So you can record your message and find a photo,” she hinted with a wide smile, then headed for the front door. “I want to put it on Molly’s dresser, so she