Nanny Makes Three. Cat Schield

      Weariness pulled at her as she turned the SUV on to the deserted highway and headed for Royal. Her last few assignments had involved school-age children, and she’d forgotten how exhausting a newborn could be. No doubt Liam would be weary beyond words by the time she returned at seven o’clock tomorrow morning.

      This child, his daughter, was going to turn his world upside down. Already the house had a more lived-in feeling, less like a decorator’s showplace and more like a family home. She wondered how it had been when Liam and his brother were young. No doubt the old Victorian had quaked with the noisy jubilance of two active boys.

      Twenty minutes after leaving the Wade house, Hadley let herself into her one-bedroom apartment. Waldo sat on the front entry rug, appearing as if he’d been patiently awaiting her arrival for hours when in fact, the cat had probably been snoozing on her bed seconds earlier. As she shut the front door, the big gray tabby stretched grandly before trotting ahead of her toward the kitchen and his half-empty food bowl. Once it was filled to his satisfaction, Waldo sat down and began cleaning his face.

      The drive had revived her somewhat. Hadley fixed herself a cup of Sleepytime tea and sipped at it as she checked the contents of the bags a good friend of hers had dropped off this afternoon. After seeing what Candace had bought for the baby, Hadley had contacted Kori to purchase additional supplies. She would owe her friend lunch once Maggie was settled in. Kori had shown horses when she was young and would get a kick out of hearing that Liam Wade was Hadley’s new employer.

      Hadley had a hard time falling asleep and barely felt as if she’d dozed for half an hour when her alarm went off at five. Usually she liked to work out in the morning and eat a healthy breakfast while watching morning news, but today she was anxious about how things had gone with Liam and Maggie.

      Grabbing a granola bar and her to-go mug filled with coffee, Maggie retraced the drive she’d made a mere five hours earlier. The Victorian’s second-floor windows blazed with light, and Hadley gave a huge sigh before shifting the SUV into Park and shutting off the engine.

      The wail of a very unhappy baby greeted Hadley as she let herself in the front door. From the harried expression on Liam’s face, the infant had been crying for some time.

      “It doesn’t sound as if things are going too well,” she commented, striding into the room and holding out her arms for the baby. “Did you get any sleep?”

      “A couple hours.”

      Liam was still dressed for bed in a pair of pajama bottoms that clung to his narrow hips and a snug T-shirt that highlighted a torso sculpted by physical labor. Hadley was glad to have the fussy baby to concentrate on. Liam’s helplessness made him approachable, and that was dangerous. Even without his usual swagger, his raw masculinity was no less potent.

      “Why don’t you go back to bed and see if you can get a little more sleep?”

      The instant she made the suggestion, Hadley wished the words back. She never told an employer what to do. Or she hadn’t made that mistake since her first nanny job. She’d felt comfortable enough with Noah to step across the line that separated boss and friend. For a couple months that hadn’t been a problem, but then she’d been pulled in too deep and had her heart broken.

      “It’s time I headed to the barn,” Liam said, his voice muffled by the large hands he rubbed over his face. “There are a dozen things I didn’t get to yesterday.”

      His cheeks and jaw were softened by a day’s growth of beard, enhancing his sexy, just-got-out-of-bed look. Despite the distraction of a squirming, protesting child in her arms, Hadley registered a significant spike in her hormone levels. She wanted to run her palms over his broad shoulders and feel for herself the ripple of ab muscles that flexed as he scrubbed his fingers through his hair before settling his hands on his hips.

      Light-headed, she sat down in the newly purchased rocking chair. Liam’s effect on her didn’t come as a surprise. She’d had plenty of giddy moments around him as a teenager. Once, after she’d had a particularly fantastic run, he’d even looked straight at her and smiled.

      Hadley tightened her attention on Maggie and wrestled her foolishness into submission. Even if Liam was still that cocky boy every girl wanted to be with, she was no longer a susceptible innocent prone to bouts of hero worship. More important, he’d hired her to care for this baby, a child who was probably his daughter.

      “Do you think she’s okay?” Liam squatted down by the rocker. He gripped the arm of the chair to steady himself, his fingers brushing Hadley’s elbow and sending ripples of sensation up her arm.

      “You mean because she’s been crying so much?” Hadley shot a glance at him and felt her resolve melting beneath the concern he showered on the baby. “I think she’s just fussy. We haven’t figured out exactly what she likes yet. It might take swaddling her tight or a certain sound that calms her. I used to take care of a baby boy who liked to fall asleep listening to the dishwasher.”

      “I know we talked about this yesterday,” Liam began, his gaze capturing hers. “But can you make an exception for a few weeks and move in here?”

      “I can’t.” The thought filled her with a mixture of excitement and panic. “I have a cat—”

      “There’s always plenty of mice in the barn.”

      Hadley’s lips twitched as she imagined Waldo’s horror at being cut off from the comforts of her bed and his favorite sunny spot where he watched the birds. “He’s not that sort of cat.”

      “Oh.” Liam gazed down at Maggie, who’d calmed enough to accept a pacifier. “Then he can move in here with you.”

      Hadley sensed this was quite a compromise for Liam, but she still wasn’t comfortable agreeing to stay in the house. “I think Maggie is going to be fine once she settles in a bit. She’s been through a lot in the last few days.”

      “Look at her. She’s been crying for three hours and you calm her down within five minutes. I can’t go through another night like this one. You have to help me out. Ten days.”

      “A week.” Hadley couldn’t believe it when she heard herself bargaining.

      Triumph blazed in Liam’s eyes, igniting a broad smile. “Done.” He got to his feet, showing more energy now that he’d gotten his way.

      * * *

      After a quick shower and a cup of coffee, Liam felt a little more coherent as he entered his bookkeeper/office manager’s office. Ivy had been with Wade Ranch for nine years. She was a first cousin twice removed, and Grandfather had hired her as his assistant, and in a few short years her organizational skills had made her invaluable to the smooth running of the ranch.

      “Tough night?” Ivy smirked at him over the rim of her coffee cup. She looked disgustingly chipper for seven in the morning. “Used to be a time when you could charm a female into doing your bidding.”

      Liam poured himself a cup of her wickedly strong brew and slumped onto her couch. “I’m rusty.” Although he’d persuaded Hadley to move in for a week. Maybe it was just babies that were immune.

      “Have you considered what you’re going to do if the baby isn’t Kyle’s?”

      As Ivy voiced what had filtered through Liam’s mind several times during the last twenty-four hours, he knew he’d better contact a lawyer today. Technically, unless he claimed the child as his, he had no legal rights to her.

      “I really believe Kyle is her father,” Liam said. “I’m heading to a clinic Hadley recommended to have a DNA test run. I figured since Kyle and I are identical twins, the results should come back looking like Maggie is my daughter.”

      And then what? Margaret was dead. With Kyle estranged from his family, it wasn’t likely he or Maggie would spend much time at Wade Ranch. And if Liam was wrong about his brother being Maggie’s father, Diane Garner might give her up to strangers.

      Liam was surprised how fast he’d grown attached