The SEAL’s Surprise Baby (4 page)

“I’ll wait. But you go ahead.”

He frowned at her over his shoulder.

“I have to give her a bath after this. She sleeps better.”

Jack nodded. “I’ll wait for you. But…” He fished in a bag and took out a few egg rolls, then cut them in pieces and brought the plate to her. “Appetizers?”

She snatched up a piece and popped it into her mouth. Jack sat adjacent to her as she finished off the plate while she fed the baby. Then she cleared the dishes and lifted Juliana out of the high chair.

“Bath time,” Melanie said to Juliana, then looked at Jack. “We’ll be a little while.”

A direct hint for privacy, he thought and leaned back in the chair and folded his arms. He wanted to be a part of their lives, not a pest. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Dang. Hopes dashed again,” she said, and walked to the bathroom.

Jack shook his head. She was as determined to keep him at a distance as he was to get closer. But
then, she really didn’t know him that well. But she was going to learn.

A half hour later, Melanie closed the door to Juliana’s room and stepped into the bathroom to clean up the mess in there. She was beat. And she really didn’t want to deal with Jack on top of that, she thought, bending to collect dirty clothes and towels. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and groaned. Her hair was coming out of the ponytail, she didn’t have on a stitch of makeup, and her shirt had baby food all over the shoulder.

Some “I can handle everything” impression, she thought. She dumped the clothes in the laundry hamper and slipped into her bedroom to run a brush through her hair and change her blouse. It smelled, anyway.

When she stepped out of the bedroom, the aroma of
moo goo gai pan
made her mouth water and she walked toward the living room. Something more than maternal instinct made her pause at her daughter’s room. She heard Jack’s voice, soft and deep, like the distant rumble of thunder. Gently she pushed open the nursery door.

He was leaning over the crib, stroking the baby’s back. “No, I swear to you, princess, nothing is ever going to hurt you. I’m here for you, even if Mommy doesn’t want it. I’m not going away. And I’m going to protect you. You can count on it.”

Melanie’s throat tightened.

“I’ll slay your dragons for you, princess. I give you my word of honor.”

Tears burned in Melanie’s eyes.

“And if she’ll let me, I’ll slay Mommy’s, too.”

Melanie swallowed hard and tried not to notice the flutter of her heart. Quietly Jack lowered the side of the crib and bent to kiss Juliana’s soft brown curls. The night-light illuminated his features, fierce, and loving.

Her daughter had a champion, Melanie thought, backing out of the room. Whether she wanted it or not. But that didn’t mean she had to like it. And it didn’t mean she had to marry him just because he wanted it. She and Juliana had done just fine without him. She slipped into the living room and sank onto the sofa. She didn’t want to doubt herself, her capabilities.

When he came out, he paused at the edge of the hallway, his hands on his hips. Tipping his head back, he took a long cleansing breath and let it out, smiling as he did. He hadn’t noticed her yet. He looked as if he was measuring himself against the responsibility of fatherhood. She understood that. The day she’d learned she was pregnant with his child, she had done the same thing.

He met her gaze, like an arrow shooting straight toward a target. “Hi.”

“Hey,” she said. Lord, he was devastating to look at, she thought. In fitted jeans and a black T-shirt that flowed over every contour of his chest and arms, she wanted only to run her hands over that body. A body she’d had only one night to learn.

He moved toward her and her heart skipped an entire beat at that sexy hip-rolling walk of his. Did the man even know how powerful he was? Maybe he did, she thought as he slid down onto the sofa beside her.

His face was inches from hers, his gaze making a slow prowl of her features, the neckline of her blouse. Her breasts tightened in instant reaction.

“You keep looking at me like that and we won’t be dining on Chinese takeout,” he said softly.

“I’m starving,” she said, and knew she should have kept her mouth shut.

“Me, too. But I’m only hungry for you.”

Melanie felt herself turn to mush. “Jack, don’t.”

“What? Don’t be honest? Don’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about you?”

“This isn’t helping.”

“Denying isn’t helping,” he said, and leaned closer, his mouth a fraction from hers.

She could feel his breath on her lips. Almost taste him. And if memory served her, and it did, he tasted great. She leaned, and an instant before his mouth crushed hers, the phone rang.

She lurched to get it before it woke the baby.

“Hello,” came out on a croak and she had to clear her throat. “Oh, hi, Michael.”

Jack’s blue eyes narrowed dangerously, and Melanie thought that between her disappointment at the interruption and the stupidity of falling into his arms again, this was the bucket of ice water she needed.

“Busy? Well, actually I am.” She didn’t look at Jack. “Sure. Bye.” She hung up.

“Who was that?”

“A friend.”

“How close a friend?”

She didn’t mistake the edge to his voice. “I work with Michael.”

“Was he asking you out?”

“I imagine he was trying.”

“You’d date this man?”

No, she wouldn’t. It would be trading one piece of heartache for another. But she couldn’t resist asking, “Any reason I shouldn’t?”

“Yes, I can barely get you to sit still long enough to speak with me and we have a child together.”

And you’re more dangerous to me than Michael could ever be.
She could barely recall the guy’s eye color, but there wasn’t a thing about Jack she’d forgotten. “What is it that you want to say, Jack? Except propose marriage.”

“You’re not even going to consider it, are you?” he said.

“No, but thanks for the offer.”

“You act like I did this without thinking first.”

She folded her legs under her on the sofa. “It was a gut reaction, Jack. An obligation. I will not be a man’s ball and chain when he doesn’t want it.”

“Who says I don’t?”

“If Juliana wasn’t between us, would you have come here first?”

“I’ve been in-country for three days and two of them I’ve been here. What do you think?”

“You want to do the honorable thing. I can understand that. But I don’t need you to. Nor do I want to marry a man only for the sake of a child. Marriage is tough enough without going in with such low expectations.”

“I don’t have those—you do. I’ll be a good father.”

“Oh, I know you will,” she said gently. “But you don’t have to marry me to be one.”

Jack thought of his own blood father. The man didn’t marry Jack’s mother, wasn’t there for Jack when he was young and impressionable. Later, his mom had fallen in love with a great man, David, and they had married. Lisa was the product of that love, and the man Jack called Dad had been great to him, even when he didn’t have to be. But Jack resented that his birth father hadn’t the guts to marry his mother and left a little lost kid to bear the reaction of being a bastard. He would never do that to Juliana. Even if things didn’t work out between him and Melanie, he was in his daughter’s life for good.

He thought about telling Melanie his reason for wanting to marry, though he knew his father’s lack of backbone was only part of it. Melanie herself was the real reason, and she wouldn’t understand. She’d tell him that just because he was born out of wedlock didn’t mean he had to make up for his father’s mistakes—which was true.

Jack just didn’t want to repeat them. Not at his child’s expense.

M
elanie pushed through her front door, glad to be home. Her feet ached, and her head was brewing a whopper of a headache. Mostly because while managing the bank, she’d been plagued with thoughts of Jack and what happened last night.

She’d fallen asleep on him. Literally. And during a conversation she should have been paying strict attention to. This morning she’d awoken in her own bed, alone, the doors tightly locked and the dinner mess cleaned up. And no sign of Jack.

Jack at night was hard to handle.

Jack in the morning would just bring back a ton of memories of waking up in his arms, feeling his strength surround her.

She hadn’t set her briefcase down before the scent of something wonderful cooking hit her full force
and made her mouth water. Had Diana, her sitter, cooked? It wasn’t unusual since the older woman did more than just care for her daughter.

“Diana, you shouldn’t have gone to the trouble.”

“I didn’t, dear,” the woman said before Melanie stepped fully inside the kitchen. “It’s his show.”

Melanie went still with anger. “Jack.”

“Yes,” he said, his back to her while he stirred something in a saucepan.

“What are you doing here?”

He tisked, keeping his back to her. “And here I was hoping our daughter got her smarts from you.” He seasoned whatever was simmering in the saucepan and only glanced back briefly, throwing a beautiful smile in her direction.

It landed on Melanie like a blanket, warming her to her toes. How did he do that? she wondered. She bent to kiss their daughter, her gaze going to Diana.

While Juliana made excited noises, her sitter looked uncomfortable and said quickly, “He came over earlier to be with Juliana.”

“It’s all right, Diana. I’m sure Jack bullied his way in.”

“On the contrary, he didn’t want to come in till you came home, and we called the bank, but you were out.”

“I was at the head office most of the day in meetings.”

“And he is the child’s father.”

Question laced Diana’s voice, and Jack looked back over his shoulder as if waiting for Melanie to deny that. “Yes, he is. But this is my home, Jack.”

“And my daughter’s.”

“I didn’t invite you here.”

“She did. Isn’t that right, princess?” he said, turning from the stove to lean down to the baby. Juliana grabbed his face and rubbed his nose with hers.

Melanie’s heart dissolved in a puddle at her feet.

Jack flashed Melanie another smile that lit her insides like Christmas morning, then rushed back to the stove.

Well, this was a news flash, Melanie thought, fighting her smile. A U.S. Navy SEAL was at her stove, with an apron tied around his waist and looking awfully comfortable for a man who was more at ease wielding a machine gun than a spatula. With a quick glance she noticed the table was set beautifully for two; Diana was enjoying a cup of coffee and Juliana was in her high chair, gurgling at her father and chewing on the end of a wooden spoon.

Diana rose and set her cup in the sink. “I’ll see you in the morning,” she said, moving to the back door.

“Diana, you don’t have to leave so soon.” That sounded too much like a plea, even to her own ears.

Over at the stove, Jack chuckled.

“Oh, honey, yes I do,” Diana said with a glance at the table setting.

Melanie rolled her eyes and waved the sitter off. That grin of Diana’s spoke volumes. “Are you trying to seduce me with cooking?” she asked Jack after Diana was gone.

He looked at her. “No, but if that’s what it’ll take to get you to relax around me again…”

“I am relaxed.”

“Then why are your hands in fists?”

“Because I want to pummel you for coming into my home without asking me.”

“I tried. You should keep your pager on.”

“The battery died this morning.” She kicked off her shoes and went over to Juliana, lifting her out of the high chair and cuddling her close.

“I’m on leave, Melanie. I had all day to do nothing while my daughter was here with a baby-sitter. I just wanted to get to know Juliana.”

She couldn’t argue with that. Tipping her head to the side, she watched him. His ease in the culinary department was a bit of a shock. “I didn’t know you could cook.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” His tone said he’d planned to change that. He poured steaming pasta into a strainer. “I have a lot of time spent just waiting around for the go ahead, so I read.”

“Cookbooks?”

“Any book that’s handy, to be honest. I don’t get the chance to cook for more than myself very often, so grabbing this chance seemed like a good idea.”

She rose and moved to the counter, careful to keep the baby away from the stove in case of splatters. Jack chopped fresh herbs, then lowered the temperature on a roux and stirred. The scents dancing through her kitchen were fantastic.

Melanie snatched a sample of the chicken he had cooling while he worked on a sauce, popping the chunk into her mouth. “Oh, man.”

“Good?” he asked with a quick glance.

“Incredible.”

“Why don’t you change and get comfortable? I
fed Juliana already.” As if he read her mind, he showed her the empty baby-food jar.

She took a step away, then paused to look back at him. He moved in her kitchen as if he’d been there before, and worked with great care, she noticed, dipping to taste, season, stir. But the fact that he was here, inviting himself into her life, her home, said that Jack wasn’t going to be pushed out. If he was here for Juliana, she’d never deny him, but Melanie had a sneaking suspicion he had a plan she’d have a tough time to fight.

But right now she was so hungry she’d have gnawed through shoe leather, so if he wanted to cook, let him, she thought.

“Go on, Melanie. Have some time with Juliana.” He didn’t turn to look at her, and his ability to sense her like that was unnerving.

She headed to the bedroom with Juliana and couldn’t help but notice how the baby gurgled loudly for Jack as she went.

Jack knew he was being a little devious, but with the way Melanie had reacted to him yesterday he knew she’d try her best to keep him out of her life. He wanted in. He told himself it was to see his daughter, that he’d already missed too much of her life and needed to catch up. But the truth was, there was more to it, and it had everything to do with Juliana’s mama. He added a splash of water to the sauce and thought about how Melanie had looked when she arrived; businesslike, confident and sexy in that snug-fitting blue suit. He wanted to peel it off her and see what she wore beneath.

He marshaled his restraint and kept focused on
dinner. He wasn’t trying to impress her. He didn’t think his culinary skill made a difference to Melanie, but the fact that she didn’t have anything in her freezer made him assume that she probably didn’t do anything more than open a box and hit “express cook” on the microwave, and she hadn’t been doing much for herself lately.

A half hour later, he heard her footsteps in the hall again just as he was popping the cork on the bottle of wine.

She stopped near the table, the baby on her hip. “I didn’t have any wine.”

“You didn’t have much of anything. Jules and I went shopping.”

“You took her out?”

“Yes, in my car, in the car seat, with Diana. Good grief, Melanie.” He looked insulted.

“Sorry, I just haven’t had to trust anyone with her except Diana in a while.”

“I know.” He offered a smile and a glass of wine. She thanked him, sipped and made a pleased noise as she moved toward the windows facing the backyard. In soft cotton leggings and a lavender linen blouse she looked delectable, her deep-red hair spilling over her shoulders and catching the setting sun. Juliana was growing sleepy, and she rested her head on her mother’s shoulder, her tiny fist wrapped in Melanie’s hair.

Jack felt a swell of something close to pride when he watched them for a moment. Melanie whispered to the baby, rocking her gently. She’d already bathed Juliana and dressed her for bed. Jack didn’t want his
daughter to be sleepy. As far as he was concerned, he’d missed six months of seeing her grow.

Melanie set the glass aside, holding the baby closer, rubbing her back.

“Hungry?” he asked.

“Yes.”

When she went to put the baby down for bed, Jack came to her. “Not yet, please.”

“Have you ever tried to eat with a child on your lap?”

“Guess I’m going to learn.” He took the baby from her.

Melanie’s heart did a flip when Juliana curled against him with a contented sigh. They sat and Jack held their daughter, encouraging Melanie to eat while the food was hot. She tasted the meal. It was heavenly.

“Whoa. Okay, you’re hired.”

He chuckled and Juliana lifted her head to stare at him. Wide eyes skimmed his face, as if trying to understand who he was and why he was here. He smiled, kissed her, and satisfied with that, she laid her head back down on his shoulder.

Jack thought that nothing in this world would ever touch him as deeply as feeling his child in his arms, accepting him.

“Aren’t you having any food?” Melanie asked.

“My mom said if the cook goes hungry, there’s something wrong with the food. I will. I just don’t want to give up my hands right now.”

Melanie smiled. The baby looked like a pink dot against his wide muscled chest; his hand spanning the baby’s back nearly covered her completely. Ju
liana’s pink pajamas left fuzzies on his navy-blue polo shirt, but he didn’t seem to care.

He held Melanie’s gaze and whispered softly, “I love her already, Mel.”

“I know,” she said, and felt a catch in her throat. “I can tell.”

It was good, too, she thought. He could have ignored her completely and never shown up, never wanted to see his child. It would have been hard to explain later on to her daughter, and it certainly would have made Melanie hate Jack. But that wasn’t what she wanted. He was welcome to be with his daughter.

He shifted the baby into the crook of his arm and reached for his fork. Juliana opened her eyes briefly, then feeling safe, closed them. The man has already charmed his daughter, she thought, because Juliana was rarely content to just sit by while the world went on around her. She always wanted to participate in it, investigating her surroundings, tasting lint and paper, but her daddy made a difference. They had a rapport.

The realization should sting, since Melanie had been doing all the work since Juliana had arrived. But it didn’t. How many times had she imagined Jack holding Juliana? How often had she wished he’d been here to share those first growth spurts, the day the baby could hold a cup, feed herself.

Tears burned Melanie’s eyes and she focused on the meal. She didn’t want to feel like this, confused and needing. She wanted to feel independent and in control.

Jack ate, but he could tell something was wrong
with Melanie. She wouldn’t look at him and she barely said a word.

“Well, since I can’t talk about my work, why don’t you tell me about yours?”

She looked up, blinking, and he saw the trace of tears and frowned softly.

“I manage a bank.” She shrugged. “And I’m a troubleshooter for two others. It keeps me busy.”

“What about this guy who called, Michael?”

“He manages one of the other branches.”

“Do you want to date him?”

“No, Jack. I don’t want to date anyone.”

“So you’re going to close yourself off because you have a child?”

“No, I don’t plan to, but she’s young and she needs me right now.” Melanie smiled at her daughter. “I’d rather be with her than out on a date any day.”

Jack released a breath. He could understand that. Being with Juliana was more pleasurable than anything. His gaze snapped to Melanie. Well, almost anything, he thought, then tried to cut the chicken marsala using one hand.

“Can I cut that for you, or do you want to put her in her bed now?” Melanie asked.

He handed her the knife.

Melanie rose up a bit to help, laughing as she said, “I imagined doing this for her, not you.”

“I bet you didn’t imagine doing anything for me.”

Her hands stilled before she went on cutting. “That’s not true.”

“Really?”

“Let me ask you something. What would you
have done if you learned I was pregnant
when
I was pregnant.”

“Come home and married you.”

“I thought so. But you couldn’t come home, so we’d still be just like this. In this situation.”

“I’d have convinced you to marry me.”

“No, you wouldn’t have. It has nothing to do with you, the man. It’s me.” She pushed the plate closer to him.

“Tell me, then.”

“I can’t marry a man for the sake of a child.”

“I know, low expectations, which is garbage, but you and I…we’re good together.”

“In bed, yes.”

“It was more than that.”

She didn’t answer. She couldn’t let herself believe that or she’d be helpless around him, and she was already trying to deal with her need for him. “I don’t know.” She’d made mistakes before and didn’t want to repeat them. She had her daughter to think about now, and what she did affected her, too.

“So you just shut me out?” he said.

She sighed, fingering the stem of her wineglass. She watched her movements. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Jack.”

“And how do you know I can’t? It’s the job, isn’t it.”

“No, it’s not that.” He was gone for long periods of time, and usually even his family didn’t know where he was.

“My daughter needs my name.”

“But her mother doesn’t.”

“Dammit.”

Juliana fussed and Jack stood. “I’ll put her down,” he said when she reached for the baby. “At least give me that.” She nodded. He was gone for only a few minutes and Melanie sipped her wine. She could hear him and was tempted to go look, to check if he’d covered the baby, then somehow she knew he would. She just knew. Jack wasn’t a man who did things halfway.

When he came back she was exactly as he’d left her, twiddling, moving food around her plate. He was pushing her and couldn’t help it. The longer his daughter didn’t have his name, the angrier he grew. He tried to see reason but one look at his child, he couldn’t. Juliana would suffer for being illegitimate, even if her mother wouldn’t. Juliana would know what it was like to be ridiculed through no fault of her own. She would be on the receiving end of the judging looks. Jack recalled one day when he was about seven and how he’d hitched a ride with a neighbor to his baseball game, and while all the other boys had dads cheering them on, he’d been alone because his mother was working her tail off to provide him with food, clothes and a decent place to live.