Heiress for Hire (4 page)

Piper smelled a little like rotten banana.

She figured it must take a rather long time for a child to ripen to that extent, which meant Piper hadn't bathed in God knew when.

"She likes you," Amanda said, a funny lump lodging in her throat, as Baby snuggled into the crook of Piper's arm. "See? She's lying down for a nap."

"She's so soft." And Piper gave a beatific, heartfelt sigh.

And Amanda found herself wanting to stroke Piper's arm just like the little girl was petting Baby.

Danny was feeling a little like he had when his cousin Jimmy had run over his foot with a tractor. Stunned, panicked, and just about blind with pain.

"So what are you going to do with her?" Shelby asked.

Rubbing his temples, Danny shrugged. "I'm keeping her. Her mother is dead, her stepfather's an idiot, and given the looks of her clothes, no one else gives a care about her."

"How do you know she's really your kid?" Boston asked, darting a glance over at Piper.

His daughter was petting Amanda's goofy little dog, a rapturous expression of terror and joy on her face. "The timing is right. And she looks like me."

"She's got your eyes," Shelby said, her voice sounding amazed. "And look at the way she tilts her head. That's just the way you do it."

It was pretty damn amazing. And Danny was finding that he liked it, once he mucked through the fear and the panic and the guilt that Piper had been around for eight years and he'd never once set eyes on her.

But he wouldn't have hurt Shelby for the world, and she was looking a bit like she'd taken a punch to the gut. "Shel… I'm sorry. I didn't know, please believe that."

It wasn't just about the fact that he'd been intimate with another girl when he and Shelby had been taking a break that summer; it was that not so long after, Shelby had given in to his increasing pushy demands for sex. And wound up pregnant. They'd gotten married, only she had suffered a miscarriage.

So while Piper was standing there petting Baby, Danny was damn sure it was causing Shelby to remember their child who would have been seven years old already.

"Hey." Shelby took his hand, squeezed it. "It's alright, Danny. Water under the bridge, and neither one of us did anything wrong. It just turned out the way it turned out. And now I've got Boston." Her husband put an arm around her waist, and she leaned into him. "And you've got Piper."

That relieved him. He cared a great deal about Shelby and wouldn't want any rift in their relationship.

"Even if I did a DNA test, even if it was negative, I can't give her back. She's mine now." There was no way he could close his eyes to Piper's need, her vulnerability. And deep in his gut, he was certain that any paternity test would only verify what he already knew. This was his daughter.

"I wouldn't expect that you would, Danny Tucker." Shelby smiled at him. "So what now?"

Now he needed some help. His mother wasn't home, and he'd only spoken to his father on the phone, who in spite of the shock of learning he had a grandchild, had been very supportive and re-assuring. But his father didn't know any more about taking care of a little girl than he did, and Danny was hoping Shelby could give him her female opinion.

"I need you to go shopping with me. She needs a bath." He kept his voice low so he wouldn't hurt her feelings. "But I couldn't bring myself to get her all clean, only to stick her back in those nasty clothes. So I figured we should go shopping first."

"Shopping?" Amanda Delmar straightened up, her perfect chin jutting out just a little as she honed in on what Danny figured was her favorite word. She could probably hear it even if she were sitting in a soundproof booth.

"If someone is going shopping, I want to go too."

Just run a pitchfork through him. There was no way in hell he wanted to go shopping with Miss Madison Avenue. She was extravagant, impractical, and worst of all, sexy as hell. He didn't need her distracting him right now with that Barbie-doll-size skirt she was wearing.

So he ignored her.

"I don't know anything about clothes for kids, especially little girls, so I really need your help, Shel." Danny subtly turned his back toward Amanda so she wouldn't hear what he was saying.

But Shelby was already shaking her head. "Sorry, Danny, I can't tonight. I have a ghost tour I'm running at seven o'clock. Whole busload of tourists want the 'real' story of Red-Eyed Rachel and her attack on Boston. I can go tomorrow if you want. Or I'm sure your mom would go with you."

"I'll go," Amanda called from the couch ten feet away. "I'm an expert at shopping."

He'd just bet she was. Danny sighed. "Not this kind of shopping, Amanda, trust me. I guess I'll just go by myself. I forgot my mom is out of town. She went on a tour of the Longaberger basket factory today in Newark. She won't be back until tomorrow."

He was about to call to Piper to come along, when Amanda stood up and took a step in his direction. Danny froze. Damn, she did it to him every time. She laid one look on him, and he was like a drooling dog. Half the time he felt like turning tail and running away to save his ass, the other half he wanted to just dig his fingers into her platinum blond hair and ram his tongue down her throat.

Neither seemed like a good plan with his ex-wife and his daughter looking on, so he stood his ground.

Amanda flipped her hair over her shoulder and stuck a hand on her naked hip. Her clothes always looked like she'd shrunk them in the dryer on high heat. Her skimpy skirt only covered enough to keep her PG-13, and her top was like a blue rubberband stretched across her firm breasts.

"I'm an expert at all shopping. Any kind. Day, night, clothes, furniture, art, anything with any sort of fabric that might go on your body or in your house belongs to me. I don't know about tractors, or crops, or why farmers always seem to have a plug of tobacco stuck in their cheek, but I know shopping."

She almost sounded insulted, and it suddenly amused him. So Amanda knew Chicago shopping. He'd bet the farm she'd never set foot in a Wally's World. "Ever been to Wal-Mart?"

"Nooo," she said carefully, a white-tipped fingernail running over her bottom lip, licking at the control he kept over his libido. "But I know what it is and you can buy clothes there. So we're all set. One complete wardrobe for a cute eight-year-old girl coming up. Break out your credit card—this will be fun."

Danny didn't move, hoping someone would save him. He darted a pleading glance at Shelby, but she just shrugged.

Amanda sailed out of the parlor on her skyscraper shoes. "Come on, Tucker. These things take time, and you're burning daylight. Bring my handbag, please. Piper has the dog."

Shelby
grinned. Boston smirked. Danny felt complete and utter terror. Amanda Delmar in a discount store wasn't going to be pretty.

But like an idiot, and left with no choice if he didn't want to be completely rude, he picked up her gigantic straw purse. He gripped the pink leather handle while Shelby busted out with a laugh.

"If only I knew where the camera was. Dang, that's too funny seeing you carry that."

He knew his damn face was red, he could feel it. "Boston, control your wife before I smack her with this ugly straw basket from…" Danny caught himself before he swore in front of Piper. Couldn't be just blurting things out anymore. He had a daughter to raise proper.

One who'd seen God only knew what. Worried he might have scared her with his teasing Shelby, he glanced at Piper. She was still holding the dog, but she had leaned around the side of the coffee table, peering behind the lamp with the colored glass shade. It didn't seem like she'd heard their conversation, all her concentration focused toward the back wall by the fireplace.

"What's the matter, Piper? You see something?"

Her head jerked back and forth, but her eyes stayed trained on the corner.

"You sure?" He didn't see anything, but she was staring so intently, he walked in that direction.

One of her soft, cool hands gripped his arm, halting his progress. "No."

Danny looked down at her. The grimy baseball hat prevented a clear view of her face, but she shivered slightly, her one hand grip on the poodle tightening. "You can tell me if something's wrong, you know."

Not that he knew how to fix it. Or how to read Piper's expressions and emotions. They were total strangers to each other, with eight' years to make up for. But he already felt protective of her. He felt love, brand new and fledgling, like a spark on kindling.

She just nodded and turned toward the door, her willowy shoulders straightening. "Are we bringing the dog?"

He didn't want to, but he didn't think Amanda would give him much choice. "Yeah. Let's go before Amanda starts shopping without us. You'll end up with nothing but high heels."

Guiding Piper with a hand on her back, he headed for the door. "Thanks, Shel. Boston. I'll talk to you soon."

"We'll help any way we can, Danny."

That the words came from Boston meant a hell of a lot to Danny. "Thanks."

"Nice meeting you, Piper," Shelby said.

That brought his daughter up short. She looked up at him, her eyes worried. Danny sensed her confusion, that she didn't know what to say. "Nice to meet you, too," he whispered to her, giving her a wink.

The words came out on a painful whisper, but she said them, her little chin coming up with gutsy determination.

Danny gripped her shoulder and felt the damnedest thing. Pride.

Then the yipping dog wiggled, upsetting Piper's hold. He caught Baby in a quick save before there was a poodle pancake on Shelby's floor.

Baby scratched his wrist with her tiny claws, searching for a hold. He grimaced as his broken flesh stung a little.

Piper sighed in relief.

And Danny realized he was carrying both Amanda Delmar's overpriced purse and her damn dog like an errand boy.

Danny winced as they went through the automatic doors at Wal-Mart. Two feet in the store and Amanda was already attracting attention.

"Hello, welcome to Wal-Mart."

Amanda lifted up her pink sunglasses to gape at the old guy in the requisite blue vest. "Ohmigod, it's just like the commercial. If a smiling yellow dot bounces toward me, I'm going to freak out."

Good thing she'd kept her voice down. It wasn't like twenty people had just turned and stared at her, slack-jawed. Danny pulled off his hat, scratched his head, and tried not to turn tail and run. He plunked his hat back down and grabbed a shopping cart, determined to get this over with. "Freak out after we're done."

"Miss." A store manager, tugging on the collar of his button-up shirt, cleared his throat. "You can't bring your dog in here."

Geez, almighty, she'd brought the poodle, even after he'd told her to leave it in the car. Baby's tiny tongue hung out over the strap on Amanda's purse as she panted enthusiastically. Danny wasn't sure which irritated him more, Amanda's disobedience, or the way Piper edged herself closer to Amanda's leg.

Her long and lean, bronze and beautiful leg.

This was a huge mistake.

"Oh, it's okay. Baby is a working dog." And Amanda strode forward, stopping only briefly to touch a striped women's shirt on display. Her lip curled in disdain.

Danny pushed the cart behind her, amazed at her nerve. "A working dog?" he asked, when she paused to read the department signs hanging from the ceiling. "What could that dog do? Guide blind mice?"

Piper laughed, a quick giggle before she clapped her hand over her mouth.