Bargaining for Baby by Robyn Grady Page B

talking about that gala?
    “Why would I need a bag?”
    “Simple.” He stepped out from the shadows and a jagged streak of light cut across his face. “You and I will be staying the night.”

Six
    S he’d been wrong. Jack wasn’t self-assured. He was plain-and-simple arrogant.
    To think he expected her to not only attend this gala affair with him, but also stay the night, made Maddy more determined than ever to stand her ground. She wasn’t going. Fantasizing about throwing self-control to the wind and submitting to Jack’s smoldering advances was one thing. Agreeing to spend the night together was quite another.
    If it’d been any other man, she’d have laughed in his face. Or slapped it. But Jack wasn’t any other man. He was a man of action who didn’t see a thing wrong with going after what he wanted.
    And it seemed he wanted her.
    Thankfully during the drive back to the house he didn’t bring the subject up again, although she was certain he hadn’t taken her objections seriously. He kept sending outthe vibes…lidded looks and loaded phrases that left her half dizzy and, frankly, annoyed. Yes, she’d let him kiss her—deeply. Thoroughly . That did not mean she had any intention of acting impulsively and stealing away with him…even if part of her desperately wanted to.
    After dinner, Jack took Beau out onto the veranda for some cool air while Maddy stayed behind to help Cait.
    “I’m good here,” Cait told her, frothing soapy water at the sink. “You go keep Jock company with the bairn.”
    Not on your life. She’d copped more than enough of Jack’s company—and sex appeal—for one day. Maddy flicked a tea towel off its rack.
    “I’m sure he’d like time alone with Beau.” She rescued a dripping plate from the drainer and promptly changed the subject to something safer. “I’ve been meaning to say…the nursery’s beautiful. So fresh and the colors are just gorgeous.” Pastel blues and mauves with clouds stenciled on the ceiling and koalas painted on the walls.
    Dishcloth moving, Cait nodded at the water. “I washed all the linen and curtains when Jock let me know.”
    “Has that room always been the nursery? I mean, was it Jack’s and Dahlia’s room when they were babies?”
    Cait’s hands stopped milling around in the suds. “Jock and Sue…his wife…they did it up.”
    Maddy digested the information and slanted her head. “I didn’t think Jack wanted a family.”
    “Did he tell you that?”
    “In not so many words.” When Cait kept her focus on the sink, a dreadful goosebumpy feeling funneled through Maddy’s middle. What wasn’t the housekeeper telling her?
    “Cait?” She set the tea towel aside. “What is it?”
    After two full beats, Cait slumped and hung her head.“Sue wasn’t the only one who was taken from Jock that night three years ago.”
    Maddy absorbed the words. When her mind settled on a plausible explanation, her hip hit the counter and a rush of tingles flew over her scalp.
    Oh God . She closed her eyes and swallowed. “There was a baby, wasn’t there?”
    “A baby boy who was wanted very much. And to have that happen just a year after his parents’ passing and Dahlia running off… He’d given up on the idea of family. Having a baby here at Leadeebrook…well, it’s hard for him.”
    Maddy pressed against the sick feeling welling in her stomach. She could barely absorb it. “I wish I’d known.”
    “He doesn’t talk about that day, though I’m sure he thinks about it often. Poor love, he blames himself.”
    Jack exuded the confidence and ability of a man who could defeat any foe or would die trying. Having to face that he hadn’t been able to save his wife, his child…
    Maddy swayed. She couldn’t imagine the weight on his conscience. Perhaps it was similar to the guilt she felt about pushing Dahlia out the door that day to have her nails and hair done. Would she ever forgive herself?
    Maddy dragged herself back to the here and now.