Harlequin Special Edition September 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: Maverick for Hire\A Match Made by Baby\Once Upon a Bride (20 page)

Before she could comment on
that
idea, he took the address book and his phone to his sister's bedroom for privacy.

Kaitlyn couldn't decide if she wanted to remember that night at the winery, or if she didn't. Returning to Raintree Winery with Adam was certain to resurrect something other than thoughts of wine tasting.

* * *

As Kaitlyn followed Adam's SUV onto the Raintree Winery property, she thought, not for the first time, that she'd never seen a more serene or beautiful setting. Besides the acres of vineyards with trellises, there were gardens blooming with roses, marigolds and chrysanthemums.

They parked behind the main house across from the guest cottage. No sooner had they exited their cars, than Sara and Jase were there, all smiles, welcoming them into their home.

Seeing Erica, Sara scooped her up into her arms. “She's a cutie. Do you think she'll like sitting in the garden?”

“We can try it,” Adam said. “On her new formula, she's been sleeping and seems more contented. But you never know when she's going to get unhappy with the world.”

Sara laughed. “That's the fun of babies.”

The look Sara exchanged with her husband told Kaitlyn volumes. There might be some baby fun at the winery very soon.

Amy came running over to her mom and looked up at Erica. “Can I play with her?”

“She's not quite as big as Jordan, and I don't think she's ready for your kind of play. But she might like one of your stuffed animals. Why don't you go get one.”

Amy grinned at her mom and ran into the house.

They all went to a covered seating area. “How about a glass of wine?” Jase asked.

Kaitlyn glanced at Adam, and they remembered the last time they had sampled the wine.

Adam said, “Nothing for me.”

Kaitlyn added, “We know your wines are great, but Adam hasn't had much sleep, and I never know when I'll get a call. But something cold would be good.”

Jase gave Sara an indulgent look. “Since your arms are full, I'll get iced tea.”

Sara glanced up at Adam. “So this is your niece.”

“Yes, she is. I'm watching her for my sister.”

Kaitlyn knew Adam didn't want to go further than that, and Sara seemed to get that signal. Erica made a little noise and Sara rocked her naturally, knowing exactly what to do.

She said to Kaitlyn, “Jase tells me the letter you wrote for his column in the paper will be published next week. How do you feel about that?”

Kaitlyn turned to Adam to explain. “Jase is spotlighting members of The Mommy Club and their stories. I told him I'd like to write an open letter to the women of Fawn Grove instead of doing the interview. He liked it and thinks it's a good idea.”

“His series is the reason I called The Mommy Club,” Adam revealed to Sara.

“I was hesitant for
my
interview to go public,” Sara explained. “The series is online, too, so people can make comments. You never know what they're going to say. It can be unsettling.”

“I don't think Kaitlyn gets unsettled often,” Adam responded.

Not unless you kiss me,
she thought.

Now just where had that come from? Sitting next to him was enough to ruffle her for the whole day.

“The Mommy Club's having a fund-raiser next Friday,” Sara told him.

“Really? I'd be glad to make a donation.”

Sara gave Adam a quick once-over and Kaitlyn shrugged, knowing what she was thinking. Adam would make a terrific “bachelor” for the auction.

Sara opened with, “Jase said you are the kind of guy who likes to have a good time.”

Adam's expression grew cautious. “I suppose I do.”

“I mean, you're no stranger to a tuxedo, right?”

“I've worn one now and then.” His voice became even more wary.

As well it should,
Kaitlyn thought.

“Let me tell you our problem, and then you let me know if you want to help.”

“Fair enough.”

“We're having a bachelor auction.”

Adam's brows drew together. “Uh-oh.”

Sara laughed and Kaitlyn had to smile herself. Yes it was definitely an uh-oh moment, but Sara could convince almost anyone to do anything.

“It's like this,” her friend admitted. “We had enough bachelors, we really did. But two of the businessmen had trips coming up.”

“I'll just bet those trips were absolutely necessary,” Adam said.

“They were,” Sara protested, humor in her voice. “And another of our bachelors is sick, really sick. He had bronchitis and then pneumonia. So we're short. Now our chief winemaker, Liam, has finally agreed to do it. But we really need at least one other guy, so we can round it out to an even dozen. This money is important, Adam. The Mommy Club does have a benefactress, but we can't rely strictly on her forever.”

“You don't have to convince me that this is a good cause. It is,” he agreed. “But the idea of walking down a runway...”

Sara waved her hand in front of his face.

“Oh, no, don't worry about that. It's not like you see on the TV shows. We're going to have the auction in our events room. It's just going to be some fake stairs you walk up and then down. Maybe you stop at the top for a couple of minutes. But that's it. And wouldn't you love to have an exciting date with somebody new?”

“Right now, my life's filled with enough newness. And besides all that, I wouldn't have anybody to babysit Erica.”

Some imp Kaitlyn didn't know she possessed urged her to say, “I'll babysit if someone buys you. I'd be glad to do it. That will be my donation. Well, at least part of it.”

At that moment, Jase came back with a tray of iced tea glasses and a plate of sweet rolls made with the winery's own grape jelly. Amy's grin spread ear to ear.

“Have they talked you into it yet?” Jase asked.

“You knew your wife was going to try to do that?”

“I knew my wife and Kaitlyn were probably going to tag team you. Why don't we take a walk and let them discuss a new strategy. I'll show you our vines.”

“Sounds good.”

Kaitlyn wondered if Adam would even consider being part of the bachelor auction. After all, how would she feel if another woman went out on a date with him? She shouldn't have any feelings about it at all.

Not at all.

* * *

Jase and Adam walked in silence toward the Merlot vineyard, just enjoying the scent of the fall earth and the beautiful dark blue berries on the trellises. Mountains rose up in the distance. Raintree Winery was indeed a special place. Adam could almost understand why Jase had settled here.

As they turned away from the main buildings and the house, Adam asked, “Do you miss your old life—flying the world, shooting pictures no one else can get?”

Adam knew Jase had won a Pulitzer before he'd gotten shot by bandits in Africa. He'd come back to Raintree to recuperate. That's when he'd met Sara for the first time, when she was his physical therapist. Two years later, when her house burned down, he gave her a place to stay at the guest cottage. A widow then, that kindness was all it had taken to bring them back together again. Anyone could tell when they looked at each other that they were in love.

In love. Exactly what was that? Adam wasn't sure he'd know it if it landed on his head.

Jase plucked a grape off the vine and handed it to Adam. “Smell it, squeeze it open and taste it. This is where winemaking starts. I learned the ins and outs of it when I was a teenager. It was the one thing my dad and I connected on. When I returned from Africa, this land, these grapes and finally Sara, made staying more important than leaving, made wanting a real family a goal. It's not as if I'm tethered here. Sara and Amy both will be traveling to Alabama with me for a literacy campaign. And I'm thinking about something else for the new year.”

“That just involves you?”

“It could, but I'd rather make it a family jaunt. Sara would like to study some methods of physical therapy in Switzerland, and I'd like to get a take on parenthood there. We could blog as we go, or I could try to sell the series with my contacts. It's just in its idea stage.”

“But it sounds like a way to stay involved in journalism. And I imagine when you go away, now you look forward to coming home.”

“I hadn't thought about it like that, but I guess it's true. What about you?”

“What about me?”

“When we met in Africa, you said you were out of the U.S. more than you were in it.”

Adam had told Kaitlyn the same thing.

“So is it the traveling that excites you...or the work?” Jase asked.

“It's the work that fascinates me, not the traveling. I think that's a realization I've been coming to over the past few years. My last trip really brought it home. I have a commitment in a few weeks in Thailand, but if everything isn't resolved with my sister, I can't imagine leaving. Do you enjoy being a dad?”

Jase grinned. “I haven't been one very long. But when Amy looks at me with those big eyes and asks me a question that she expects me to know the answer to, I feel ten feet tall. Tea parties? That's another matter.”

Adam chuckled. “You've always related well to kids. That's easy to see from all those photographs you took in the refugee camps. They looked at you as if you could do no wrong.”

“So what's it like caring for a baby when you've never cared for a baby?” Jase wanted to know.

“It's damn hard. I haven't really slept since she arrived. I mean, even when she sleeps, I worry about her not sleeping. I worry she's going to wake up and need something. With every little sound, I'm practically on my feet, ready to pick up a bottle or a diaper or something.”

It was obvious Jase was trying not to laugh. “My guess is that's a new-parent reaction.”

“But I'm not a new parent. And when all this is over—” He blew out a large breath. “I'm just hoping The Mommy Club can give Tina the help she needs.”

“They're an excellent group. They know how to delegate and they have lots of branches, from the thrift store to food drives to babysitting services to day care. It will work out, Adam, but it might take time.”

Time.

Wasn't that a precious commodity?

He and Jase talked about other things then—the political situation in Africa, the famine in Ethiopia, how bringing water to some areas would mean the difference between life and death. They ended up talking about the winery and new wines that were up for awards. Adam found himself relaxing as he hadn't in a long time, even before Erica had arrived in his care.

After they returned to the garden, Amy was sitting beside Erica, playing with her toes. Kaitlyn was looking down at them with an odd expression on her face. It looked to Adam like...regret. He suddenly wanted to know her story very badly.

When the women saw the men, they looked up hopefully.

“Did you make a decision?” Kaitlyn asked, and he knew she fully expected him to say no.

To his surprise, what came out of his mouth was something else entirely. “All right. I volunteer to be one of your bachelors on one condition.”

“What?” Sara asked cautiously.

“You let me go first, second or third so I can get it over with.”

Everyone laughed, and Kaitlyn studied Adam with renewed admiration. He really was a good sport.
He really is a good kisser, too,
that little imp inside of her reminded her. All at once, she thought about what another kiss would be like. All at once, she could imagine his lips on hers, his hands—

“Kaitlyn?”

She'd missed a question.

“I'm sorry. My mind was wandering.”

At Adam's glance, her cheeks flushed because she had the suspicion he knew where it had wandered.

“If Adam gets bought,
can
he count on you to babysit?” Sara asked again.

“Of course I can,” Adam said. “Kaitlyn's the kind of person you can count on.”

Kaitlyn thought about the last thing her husband had ever said to her. “I counted on you to put us first and you didn't. That's what caused the end of our marriage.”

She still didn't have it all sorted out properly. Until she did, she couldn't think about getting involved with another man.

However, she wasn't going to get involved with Adam. She was just going to babysit for him.

Chapter Five

A
dam's time with Kaitlyn visiting at Raintree had been enjoyable. To his chagrin, he didn't want that time with her to end. Back in Fawn Grove, she'd be going her way and he'd be going his.

As he drove toward town, he considered the bachelor auction he'd volunteered for. Sara had told him the list of bachelors would be circulated far and wide along with their photos. Their bios would be listed in ads from Sacramento to Stockton. He hadn't protested. After all, the event was for a good cause. He glanced back at Erica through the rearview mirror. A drive always seemed to lull her into a peaceful sleep. He didn't know what that meant for sleep tonight, but he was definitely in the go-with-the-flow plan right now. Checking his rearview mirror again, he saw Kaitlyn's car behind his.

Impulsively, he pressed a button on the dashboard and said, “Call Kaitlyn.”

Seconds later, Kaitlyn answered, “Yes, Adam?”

“There's an ice-cream stand about a quarter mile down this road. Let's pull over.”

“It's almost dinnertime,” she said with some amusement.

“We can get walnuts on a sundae for protein. Come on.”

“I really should get going—”

“You're running again.”

Her silence met his statement. He wanted to know more about her before her background went public. He had the feeling it was something she hadn't shared easily up until now, and he didn't want to read about it in the newspaper or online. He wanted to get to know her better. But he wasn't going to spook her by telling her that. Not yet.

Taking a lighter tone, he coaxed, “Ice-cream sundaes with hot fudge, whipped cream, a cherry on the top.”

She laughed. “Okay. It's such a beautiful evening, I don't want to go in yet, either. I'll meet you there.”

Minutes later, he pulled into the parking area beside the small ice-cream stand. Kaitlyn could easily drive on by. But she didn't. Her sedan pulled in beside his SUV.

There were only a few cars, and one person ordering ice cream at the window. Picnic tables dotted the back of the property near live oaks and some alders that gave shade. He climbed out of his SUV and unstrapped Erica's car seat. As he carried it toward one of the picnic tables, Kaitlyn followed him.

He set it on the table and said, “She looks like a pink angel.”

Kaitlyn stood very close beside him and he would have liked to have dropped his arm around her shoulders. He would have liked to kiss her. When she looked up at him, he almost did. But a kiss could send her running for the hills.

“Do you want to watch her while I get the sundaes, or do you want to get the sundaes?”

“I'll watch her,” she said, her voice all soft and tender as any woman's would be who loved children.

“So is it hot fudge, or something else?”

“I'm going to be really decadent. Hot fudge over raspberry ice cream, a dab of whipped cream on top, no nuts, no cherry.”

“A woman with particular tastes.”

“What are
you
getting?” she asked.

“A double-decker sundae with an extra layer of hot fudge, extra walnuts, whipped cream and a cherry on the top.”

“A man with extravagant tastes,” she quipped.

He laughed and went to buy their ice-cream sundaes.

When he returned to the table, he set their sundaes in front of each of them. He sat close to her, their elbows touching, and she didn't move away. Neither did he. Progress.

They ate in silence for a couple of minutes until she said, “We backed you into a corner with that bachelor auction. If you really don't want to do it, you can back out.”

“I don't back out once I commit.”

His words must have surprised her—her gaze rose to his.

“You might not believe it,” he said, “but even when I was a teenager, I was reliable. I tried to be for Tina. She'd had so much uncertainty in her life. I wanted her to be able to count on me.”

“But you went to college and couldn't be there for her.”

“Long distance doesn't mean out of mind, and I let her know that. When she came up to school to spend time with me, I made sure my calendar was clear. It's always been that way.” He paused. “But I don't want to talk anymore about me and Tina.”

He studied Kaitlyn as she swirled ice cream with her spoon, as she lifted it to her mouth, as she ate it and savored it. He practically groaned. He wanted her for the most basic reasons, and every little thing she did made his blood race faster.

He must not have hidden his desire as well as he should have, because her breath caught a little when their eyes met. Her hand stilled. Ice cream dripped from her spoon into the dish.

They seemed frozen in a little world of their own where remembering could get them into big trouble. He leaned closer to her, put his arm around her, let his jaw rub down the side of her face. She didn't jerk away or tell him not to do it, so he did it again. He didn't think she was wearing perfume, but there was a sweet scent around her tied-back hair that carried just as much potency.

His lips trailed down her temple to her ear and he whispered, “I want to kiss you, but I want to get to know you better even more.”

He leaned away, but kept his connection to her with his eyes. “Tell me what's going to come out in the paper next week.”

Her eyes widened and she looked surprised, maybe even shocked. “Adam.”

“If it's going to be public, why not tell me now?”

“It's a personal story. Writing it down was therapeutic and I knew it would help others. Telling you face-to-face seems—”

“Too intimate? As intimate as kissing? As intimate as shedding our clothes?”

Her shoulders stiffened and she shifted away. “All right, you've made your point. Maybe undressing physically is a lot easier than undressing emotionally.”

This time he covered her hand with his and held on. He didn't say any more.

Kaitlyn glanced at their hands, and he felt her release a resigned sigh. “Tom and I met when I was an intern. We got married later in my residency. He had a career in advertising and marketing for the wine industry. I decided to become part of the Fawn Grove practice, and we moved here though he preferred Sacramento. After we did, I got pregnant.”

Pregnant. Kaitlyn had been pregnant. He had a foreboding of what was coming because he'd glimpsed the sadness in her eyes when she held Erica. It was mixed in with other emotions, but it was there.

He squeezed her hand. “What happened?”

“Somehow, preeclampsia sneaked up on me.”

At Adam's blank look, she explained, “It's a condition that happens to some pregnant women. They start retaining fluid, their blood pressure spikes. Of course, I knew all the signs. But I'd been working long hours for years. I was used to pushing myself to my limits, physically and every other way. When I was pregnant, I got regular checkups, I watched what I ate, I stopped caffeine. That had kept me going a lot of the time, even though I didn't want to admit it. But I had this case in PEDS—a premature baby who needed a couple of procedures. I don't know if I was too focused on that—”

She shook her head. “I'll never know. But the preeclampsia caused a miscarriage when I was six months pregnant. A few months later, my marriage fell apart. I didn't really get back on my feet until I joined The Mommy Club support group. That's what helped me overcome it all. That group helped me see that I wasn't to blame for everything.”

“Of course you weren't to blame for everything,” Adam said gruffly. “I'm not a medical professional but even
I
know that. Stuff happens.”

He said it with such wry resignation that Kaitlyn looked at him with appreciation. “Thank you,” she murmured.

“For what?” he asked. “For knowing you're human just like everyone else? I've got to admit, sometimes your composure is a little unshakable, and that can be scary.”

“Composure is just a way to try to keep in control.”

“When you're feeling out of control?”

“Uh-oh. I think I've given away a secret.”

Adam shook his head. “I won't hold it against you.” Then he asked, “So why did your marriage come apart?”

“Isn't that obvious?”

“No, actually it's not. A tragedy like that sometimes brings people together.”

“Not in our case. Tom blamed me. I was a doctor. I should have seen what was happening. I should have known.”

Without thinking, Adam slipped his arm around Kaitlyn's shoulders. “That was your ex-husband's inadequacies talking.”

She shook her head. “I believed him. I think that's what destroyed our marriage. I let him blame me.”

“And where was he in all this? Was he watching your physical condition? Was he giving you foot rubs at night? Was he close enough to see any changes?”

Adam easily saw the pain in Kaitlyn's eyes when she shook her head. “We were up-and-coming professionals with careers. He wants to own his own advertising and marketing company someday.”

Adam would have asked more questions and held her even tighter, but at that moment his cell phone beeped.

Kaitlyn glanced at his belt as he released her and went for the phone.

“It's Tina,” he said, snatching it and holding it to his ear. As soon as he clicked it on, he heard silence. “Tina?”

Her end of the line went dead.

He swore and speed-dialed her number but she didn't answer.

“What am I supposed to make of that?” he asked the universe in general.

“Maybe she wants to let you know she's okay.”

“That's a funny way of doing it. If we don't talk, I can't tell her I care. I can't tell her there's help if she needs it.”

Looking thoughtful, Kaitlyn pushed her ice-cream dish away. “Maybe you
can
tell her. Maybe what Tina really wants is to make sure Erica's okay.”

“I can leave daily messages on her phone as progress reports. That might work.”

“At least she'd know how Erica's doing, and what you're doing for her. You can tell her the cute things.”

Adam studied baby Erica who was still sleeping peacefully. “I can send her pictures, too.”

“A picture
is
worth a thousand words.”

He snapped a picture of Erica with his phone. Then he typed in a line about going for ice cream and enjoying the summer night.

To Kaitlyn he said, “I'll leave a voice message for her later. I don't want to bombard her, or make her sorry she tried to call.”

Kaitlyn nodded as if she understood every bit of it, and maybe she did.

His phone back on his belt, Adam dropped his arm around Kaitlyn's shoulders again and turned her toward him. “Thank you for telling me about your ex-husband and your miscarriage. I know it's not easy to share memories that still cause pain.”

“The pain turns into regret more than anything,” Kaitlyn said.

She was right about that. Maybe he and Kaitlyn were more alike than they were different. He didn't know. He just knew he was monumentally attracted to her, physically and otherwise. But right now, the physical was taking precedence.

Taking her chin in his hand, he tipped her face up to him. She was watching him with such expectancy that he didn't think twice about lowering his head. He didn't think twice about covering her lips with his.

The alders and oaks sheltered them. The falling dusk enveloped them. The quiet seemed to intensify everything about the kiss. Adam wanted more. When his tongue slid into Kaitlyn's mouth, he knew that she did, too. She gripped his shoulders tighter. She gave a soft moan. She tasted him back and that was the most exciting sensation of all.

She was everything he'd remembered and dreamed of in his long nights away, when that winery office and that night were across the world.

Kaitlyn was the one to break the kiss. She was the one to stop them before it went deeper. He wasn't surprised. After all, she'd ended the passion once before. Now he could understand why a little better.

She wasn't the type of woman who usually had affairs. She was dedicated and loyal—the marrying kind. Maybe he'd known that from the beginning and that's why he hadn't contacted her since they'd first met. He was loyal, but he definitely wasn't the marrying kind.

“Wrong place, wrong time again,” he joked huskily, watching for her reaction.

“I'm not sure there will be a right place and the right time,” she confessed.

“Because of you, or because of me?” He was suddenly a little angry at that assumption.

“Adam, I don't—”

“Sleep around?” he filled in. “Yeah, I figured that out. Sometimes, Kaitlyn, grabbing the moment can be as worthwhile as looking for a future.”

“Spoken like a man with no roots,” she said lightly, but for some reason her words unsettled him a lot.

“And what are
your
roots?”

She looked surprised that he even asked. “The Mommy Club, friends, my profession.”

“
Roots,
Kaitlyn. You do for The Mommy Club. You do for your practice. You probably do for your friends, too.”

“I don't know what you're getting at.”

“I think we're both rootless.”

“You're wrong.”

“It wouldn't be the first time, but you have just as many walls as I do. Maybe a little sex could break them down.”

She looked outraged. “Maybe a little sex could get us into a whole lot of trouble. My heart isn't detached from passion and desire. Is yours?”

“I don't analyze it.”

“Maybe you should.”

He'd put her on the defensive, and he hadn't intended to do that. When he reached out to touch her, she backed away, and he could have predicted the next words out of her mouth.

She said, “I've got to go.”

He nodded. Kaitlyn had become a woman on the go so she didn't have to feel. She could feel for her little patients and she could feel for moms who needed help. But he wondered how much she could feel for herself. In many ways, he was the same.