The Family Plan (12 page)

“Says the woman who just spent nearly a month on the road selling fishing lures to every little sporting goods store between here and Austin.”

Lindsey chuckled. “What can I say? Apparently fishing is the hottest hobby going right now. Retailers are practically lining up for FlashPopper Lures, and I need to be there to fill the demand if I’m going to bank enough commission money to take that European vacation I’ve always wanted to take.”

“So
who’s
the workaholic?”

“Ah.” Lindsey held up a finger. “But the difference is that I’m working with the specific goal of taking a long, leisurely vacation. You, on the other hand, are working for the express purpose of attracting more work.”

“When I figure out what you just said, I’m sure I’ll have a snappy comeback.” Caitlin ordered a glass of white wine and a shrimp cocktail from their flirtatious young waiter, then waited while Lindsey selected wine and shrimp toast for her appetizer. “How was your trip?” she asked when they were free to chat again.

Lindsey wrinkled her nose. “Let’s just say there aren’t a lot of hot spots in places like Bald Knob, Arkansas—although I did find a very nice Cajun restaurant there.”

They talked a few more minutes about the off-the-beaten-path places where Lindsey marketed her wares, and then their appetizers arrived. Caitlin had just dipped a fat shrimp into the spicy sauce when Lindsey asked, “So what’s this I hear about your sexy partner adopting a little girl?”

Caitlin dropped the shrimp. Fortunately, it landed on the dish rather than on her lap. She recovered it carefully. “Where on earth did you hear that? You’ve only been back in town since last night.”

“Are you kidding? Everyone’s talking about it. I went to the health club for a workout this afternoon, and two of the aerobics instructors were talking about him at the juice bar. One of them used to date him, apparently. Or wanted to date him, I’m not sure which. Anyway, word has gotten out that he’s adopted a little girl. Some people think she’s his illegitimate daughter. Most believe she’s the child his father had with that campaign worker a few years ago.”

“That’s the correct version. She’s his half sister, Isabelle. He hasn’t adopted her yet, but he is her legal guardian now.”

“I know Stuart McCloud and his wife died in that terrible accident earlier this year, but I thought the mother’s family had taken in the child.”

“Her maternal great-aunt took her, but she’s gravely ill now and can’t take care of Isabelle anymore. There wasn’t anyone else to take her. It was either Nathan or the state of California.”

“Poor little girl. She’s had a tough time of it, hasn’t she?”

“Very. She’s young enough that she doesn’t entirely understand all of it, of course, but it has still been difficult for her.”

“How’s Nathan’s family taking it? The word through the grapevine is that his mother freaked out.”

Caitlin grimaced as she flashed back to that uncomfortable conversation with Nathan’s mother. “She isn’t exactly pleased with him.”

“I bet. I remember very clearly what it was like around here when that scandal broke. It was a media circus, and poor Mrs. McCloud was humiliated.”

“I heard all about the debacle, of course. I had actually planned to vote for Stuart McCloud for governor.”

“You and another 52 percent of the voters polled before the affair with the young campaign worker and the resulting pregnancy hit the news. He probably would have been elected.”

“Very likely.” Caitlin ate another shrimp, savoring the taste even as she concentrated on the conversation.

“So…?” Lindsey prompted.

“So what?”

“So how’s Nathan working out as a daddy?”

Caitlin’s neck muscles tightened. “He’s a very good big brother.”

“It’s certainly going to change his social life. The aerobics instructor has completely lost interest in dating him, even though she thinks it’s sort of sexy that he’s raising a little girl. But she admits to being the high-maintenance type who wouldn’t want to share his attention. And, anyway, she doesn’t do runny noses.”

Caitlin curled her lip. “How honest of her to admit her shallowness.”

Lindsey sipped her wine, then asked over the rim, “How do
you
feel about runny noses?”

“What’s
that
supposed to mean?”

Lindsey waited until the waiter had replaced the appetizers with their main courses before explaining. “I was just wondering if Nathan’s responsibility for his little sister makes him any less attractive to you.”

Caitlin stabbed her fork into her entree. “Don’t start that again.”

“You’re going to deny it again?” Smiling smugly, Lindsey took a bite of her salmon.

Caitlin set her fork down with a thump. “How many times do I have to tell you that Nathan is my business partner and nothing more? I don’t think of him the way you’re implying. I never have.”

Lindsey rolled her eyes. “Oh, sure. You spend eight hours a day with a guy who’s certifiably drop-dead gorgeous, and I’m supposed to believe you’ve never even noticed? And then I suppose you have some land you want to sell me?”

Feeling a bit grumpy now, Caitlin picked up her fork again. “Well, obviously, he’s a good-looking man. I’m not blind.”

Lindsey made a show of wiping her brow. “I’m glad you admitted that. I was beginning to worry about your eyesight.”

“Still, my relationship with Nathan is strictly professional.”

“Hmm. I heard you were spotted grocery shopping with him and his little girl.”

Caitlin’s fork hit the plate again. “Where did you hear
that?
”

“Oh, around.”

Shaking her head in disbelief, Caitlin murmured, “This is unbelievable.”

“Frankly, that’s what I thought. I know you’re not all that fond of shopping. At least that’s what I always believed. And then I heard you spent most of Saturday picking out sheets and curtains.”

“Is there no privacy in this town?”

“I had to stop by the cleaners on the way home from the health club. Mrs. Albertson, who owns the cleaners, was shopping in the same department store as you were on Saturday. She was very intrigued that you were taking care of Nathan’s little sister that morning. Mrs. Albertson thinks Nathan’s going to be looking for a wife to help him raise that little girl. And she thinks you two make a lovely couple.”

“I’m losing my appetite.”

“Sorry. Just thought you would want to know what’s being said around town.”

It was probably the reason her friend was such a successful sales rep, Caitlin mused. Lindsey could walk into a roomful of strangers and know everyone’s story within the first fifteen minutes. She was the sort of person other people simply enjoyed talking to.

Caitlin usually did, too—until tonight, when the subject was a bit too close to home.

“I’m not romantically involved with Nathan McCloud,” she said distinctively, keeping her voice low so she wouldn’t be overheard. “We’re simply business partners. And friends, of course, in a casual way.”

Lindsey smiled in surrender. “Okay, I know there’s nothing really going on. Even though I think you’re crazy not to make a move on the guy. If I’d thought I had half a chance with him I’d have gone after him, myself, a long time ago.”

Caitlin found the mental picture of Lindsey and Nathan together unexpectedly disturbing. It was only because she didn’t think they would make a very good match personalitywise, she assured herself, though she couldn’t think of any specific reason why they wouldn’t get along.

She tried to keep those thoughts hidden when she said, “So, why didn’t you?”

“Well, he did flirt with me,” Lindsey acknowledged. “But no more than he does any other woman within range of his lethal smile.”

Lethal
was an apt description of Nathan’s smile, Caitlin mused, especially when he turned on the high voltage. She was no more immune to it than any other woman, though she prided herself on keeping her reactions well suppressed. Most of the time, at least.

“Besides,” Lindsey continued, peering at Caitlin through her lashes as she toyed with what was left of her dinner. “Seemed to me the only woman Nathan’s really interested in is his business partner.”

“You’re delusional.”

“Actually, I’ve often been described as very perceptive and insightful,” her friend responded cheerily. “And there’s definitely
something
there between the two of you—as I think I’ve mentioned before.”

It was true that Lindsey often teased Caitlin about her sexy business partner. So why was Caitlin feeling more self-conscious and defensive this time? Deciding to prove that she could give as good as she got, she said, “I still say that if you’re so taken with him, you should do something about it.”

Lindsey sighed with apparent regret. “Too late now. Back when it was just him, I might have been tempted.
Was
tempted, actually. But now that there’s a kid involved…”

“You mean you’re no longer interested in him because he’s become responsible for Isabelle?” Surely she had misunderstood.

But Lindsey nodded. “Maybe it makes me as shallow as the aerobics instructor, but I can’t see myself getting involved with a man with a little girl. Way too much pressure involved in that situation for my comfort.”

Caitlin couldn’t imagine why she was suddenly feeling rather indignant on Nathan’s behalf. Women who had once practically thrown themselves at his feet were suddenly scratching him off their eligible-bachelor lists. After all, didn’t she have her own rule about single fathers? And hadn’t she been cautioning herself about not getting too involved with Nathan and Isabelle?

But it was different with her, she tried to reassure herself. She hadn’t pursued him
before
he had Isabelle, either.

Lindsey seemed to sense that it was time to change the subject. “Tell me some more funny stories about your new office manager.”

That new conversational gambit and its offshoots took them through dessert. Though Caitlin was greatly relieved that they had changed the topic, Nathan and Isabelle remained at the back of her mind. One particular remark kept echoing through her thoughts—the one Lindsey had repeated about Nathan being on the lookout for a wife who could help him raise his little sister.

It was a prophecy Caitlin couldn’t seem to shake, no matter how hard she tried to dismiss it as idle gossip.

Chapter Seven

N
athan had Isabelle with him again when he showed up at the office late Tuesday morning. Studying the uncharacteristic shadows beneath his eyes and the lines around his mouth, Caitlin pulled him into the file room to ask, “What’s wrong? I thought you were going to find somewhere to take Isabelle during working hours.”

His answer came out in a growl. “I called around. There are two excellent preschools in this town. Both of them depend on my mother for fund-raising and enlisting volunteer pools.”

“You don’t mean…”

He nodded grimly. “When the administrators found out who Isabelle was, they suddenly discovered there were no openings.”

“That’s appalling.”

“That’s unacceptable.” Irene stood in the doorway of the file room, her steely eyes glinting, her crimson hair seeming to flame with ire. “I’m sorry, Mr. McCloud, but I couldn’t help overhearing. Did I understand you to say that two preschools turned down your application because they didn’t want to risk offending your mother?”

Nathan cleared his throat, as intimidated as always by Irene, especially when faced with her temper. “That’s exactly what happened.”

She tapped one orthopedically clad foot on the carpet, her mouth set in a grim line. “Which school was your first choice?”

“I’ve heard Miss Thelma’s is the best. But—”

She turned with military precision. “I’ll take care of it. In the meantime, you need to get ready for your court appearance this morning. Your sister will be fine here until you get back. Mandy and Loretta can take turns watching her.”

“Thanks, but…”

His voice faded when he realized he was talking to an empty doorway. The look he gave Caitlin then was almost comical. “You really think—”

“I think Isabelle will be enrolled in preschool before lunchtime,” Caitlin said, amused despite the gravity of the situation.

“If anyone can do it, it will be Irene.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I just hope if Isabelle does get in, she’ll be treated the same as the other kids.”

“She will be,” Caitlin predicted. “For one thing, they won’t be able to help falling for her once they spend time with her. And you
are
an attorney. They’re well aware that you could file a lawsuit if there’s any hint Isabelle is mistreated. And, finally, they might be a little worried about annoying your mother now, but they’re
really
not going to risk making Irene mad again.”

“You have a point there,” Nathan conceded with a weak semblance of his usual smile.

“I can’t help noticing that you look tired this morning. Are you okay?”

“I was up most of the night preparing for my case today,” he admitted. “I was a week behind, of course. And by the time I’d made dinner last night and cleaned up the kitchen and washed a couple of loads of clothes and given Isabelle her bath and read her bedtime stories, it was already sort of late. Then between work and worry about getting her into a quality day care program, I managed only a couple of hours sleep.”

She thought of all the single working mothers who had to deal with those very burdens, often unappreciated. And then she thought of the women who were no longer interested in Nathan precisely because of the chores he had just listed. And of the woman who had predicted that he would soon be looking for someone to share those chores with him.

“You need a housekeeper,” she blurted in sudden inspiration.

“A housekeeper?” he repeated, his hand going still at his neck.

“Of course. Someone to do the cooking and laundry and housework. You’ve managed to get by with once-a-week cleaning help until now, but with Isabelle there, you need daily help. If you’re really lucky, you’ll find someone who can do double duty as a baby-sitter when necessary. It won’t be cheap, of course, but I’m sure it will be worth it.”