Rising Stars. Maisey Yates

cut her off. “I will take the guest room.”

      “I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

      “You won’t.” Coming forward, he touched the infant’s soft, downy head. “I want you to be here. Both of you.”

      Looking up at him, she breathed, “You—you do?”

      “Of course I do.” Eduardo looked at her, and his dark eyes cut straight through her heart. “I’ve dreamed of having a family like this. Of keeping them safe and warm. Protecting them.” He squared his shoulders. “And I will.”

      The cold, ruthless edges of his expression had melted away, changing to something warm, something fiercely tender. He looked like another man, she thought in wonder. The man he might have been if his childhood had been less of a tragedy.

      Compassion mixed with longing and the echoes of her love, rising in her heart. But she couldn’t let it win. She wouldn’t. She took a deep breath. “Thanks for taking such good care of me.” With a trembling smile, she looked down at the baby falling asleep in her arms. “And Soleil.”

      “Marisol,” he said abruptly.

      She blinked. “What?”

      “Marisol. It’s a classic Spanish name. A blend of your favorite name—Soleil—and my aunt’s name. María.”

      Callie licked her lips. “Marisol,” she tried. She didn’t hate it. She tried again, “Marisol … Cruz.”

      “Marisol Samantha Cruz,” he said softly.

      She looked up, her eyes wide with shock. “After my sister?”

      “She brought our family together.”

      “Sami betrayed me!”

      “She’s family. You will forgive her.” He looked down at her. “We both know you will.”

      Callie stared at him in consternation. No. No way! She’d never forgive her sister for going behind her back and telling Eduardo about the baby—never!

      And yet …

      How could she be angry at Sami for betraying her, when telling Eduardo the truth had been the right thing to do? Even if Sami’s motives hadn’t been totally pure. A tremble went through Callie. Even if her sister’s motivation had only been because she was in love with Brandon.

      Sami was in love with Brandon. Callie had to face it. For years, she’d seen the way Sami hung on Brandon’s every word, but she’d told herself it couldn’t possibly be serious. Her sister had a crush. Puppy love. Callie hadn’t seen the truth. She doubted Brandon did, either. They’d never noticed Sami’s devoted, anguished love, right in front of their very eyes.

      But Brandon deserved to be loved like that, as every husband wanted to be loved by his wife. Callie had been selfish to accept his proposal, to think, even for an instant, that friendship would be enough for a marriage. How could she have even thought of allowing him to make that sacrifice? A sob escaped her throat. She’d very nearly ruined so many lives.

      Looking down, Eduardo put his hand gently on her shoulder.

      “I’ve heard you talk about your little sister for years,” he said quietly. “You send her gifts, write her letters. You’re putting her through college. We both know you’re going to forgive her.”

      Callie looked up at him, blinking back tears. “You’re right,” she whispered. “I was so angry at her. But she didn’t do anything wrong.” She closed her eyes. “It was all me.”

      Silence fell. When she opened her eyes, Eduardo’s forehead was furrowed, as if he couldn’t understand her. Their eyes met, and she felt that strange tugging at her heart. With an intake of breath, she turned away. “Fine.”

      “Fine?”

      “Her middle name can be Samantha.” Callie touched her baby’s plump, soft cheek. “Marisol Samantha Cruz.”

      “I don’t believe it.” A ghost of a smile lifted the corners of Eduardo’s lips. “Are we in agreement? I can fill out the birth certificate?”

      Looking up at him, she smiled back. “Yup.”

      “Wonders never cease.” For a long moment, their eyes met in the soft light of the nursery, with their baby slumbering between them. Then clearing his throat, he glanced at his platinum watch. “It’s nearly ten. You must be starving.”

      “Not really …” As if on cue, her stomach growled. “I guess I am.”

      “I’ll make you something.”

      “You? You’ll cook?” she said faintly.

      She must have sounded dubious, because Eduardo smiled. “I am not completely helpless.”

      “You must have changed a lot in the last nine months. The man I knew could barely find his own kitchen.” She shook her head with a snort. “I’m amazed you even survived without me.”

      He looked at her.

      “It wasn’t easy,” he said gruffly. Turning, he paused at the door. “Come down when you are ready.”

      Callie stared at the empty doorway, bewildered at this friendlier mood between them. Looking down at her sleeping newborn, she rocked back and forth in the soft cushioned glider, cuddling her close. She gazed in wonder at her downy dark hair. Her daughter had Callie’s snub little nose and round face, with her father’s dark coloring and olive-colored skin. She would be a beauty. How could she not be, with such a father?

      In all the years Callie worked for Eduardo, she’d never once seen him put someone else’s comfort above his own. But in the last two days, he’d asked her to marry him. He’d slept in a chair for two nights at the hospital. He’d brought her to his home. Turned his study into a nursery. He’d given Callie his bed while he himself was relegated to the guest room down the hall. He’d asked her to teach him how to swaddle their baby and change her tiny, doll-size diapers. Coldhearted billionaire tycoon Eduardo Cruz, changing a baby’s diaper? That was something she’d never imagined in a million years!

      It won’t last, Callie told herself fiercely. When the novelty wore off, Eduardo would chafe at the responsibility and intimacy of family. He would crave the freedom of sixteen-hour workdays and endless one-night stands. He would return to the selfish, cold playboy he was at heart. Very soon—likely before the three months was even up—

      he would divorce Callie, and be relieved to make his parental support of Marisol the distant, financial kind.

      Once that happened, Callie and her baby would go back to North Dakota. To her family. To the people who loved her.

      Or did they?

      She swallowed. Her phone call to her family, just hours after the birth when she was still exhausted and in pain, had officially been a disaster. Callie tried to explain that she’d just had a baby and gotten married to a man they didn’t know except by reputation, and planned to live in New York for the foreseeable future. Her mother had just sobbed as if her heart was breaking. As for her father …

      Her shoulders tightened. Her father never reacted well when his wife was crying. But he’d never spoken to Callie like that before—as if she were such a disappointment he didn’t even want to call her his daughter. As if he yearned to disown her.

      An ache filled her throat. She’d never planned to get pregnant, but keeping her baby a secret had just made it a million times worse. And that phone call had changed something between them. She felt estranged from her family, and it was like half her heart was missing.

      But she also felt angry. How could her family have turned on her like this? They were supposed to love her. Why couldn’t they see her side?

      And her father had been so harsh to Eduardo. Callie still didn’t know exactly what he’d said. She just remembered how