The Baby Project

“Where do you want this, miss?” asked Archie.

“In there, please.” Mallory indicated the sitting room, to her right.

As the men hefted the sofa into the room, Jordan pounded down the stairs.

“Mallory—”

She turned to him, and he saw that her cheeks were flushed, her forehead moist. “I know you want to talk to me.” She shoved back a clump of auburn hair that had tumbled from her topknot. “But it’ll have to wait till the men have finished—”

“Get rid of it.”

“I beg your pardon?”

He waved a hand around the hall. “This stuff can’t stay here. Tell the men to take it away.”

She looked at him as if he were speaking in tongues. “Would you please go through to the kitchen while I see to this?” Rolling her eyes, she turned her back on him. “Whatever it is you want to talk about will have to wait.”

He grasped her shoulders and spun her around again. “This is what I want to talk about. You can’t stay here. Tell these men to take your things and pack them back in their truck and—”

“Sorry, mister, no can do.” Rock and Archie had come out of the sitting room. Rock handed Mallory a triplicated form. “You’ve checked the number of pieces?”

She nodded.

“Then sign here and we’ll be on our way.”

Impatiently, Jordan said, “I’m telling you, Mallory, I don’t want you living here any more. You can’t—”

Ignoring him, she signed the form.

As Rock ripped off her copy and gave it to her, he grinned at Jordan. “Don’t want her to move back in, buddy? You’re making a big mistake.” He ran an appreciative gaze over Mallory and winked. “This one’s a keeper, mate!”

Sidestepping the boxes, the two men left, leaving the front door wide open behind them.

Jordan looked exasperatedly at Mallory. “You’re going to have to get this stuff out of here—”

“And you’re beginning to sound like a broken record.” Anger made her eyes tawny as a tiger’s. “I told you, I’ve rented this house for the next year and—” She broke off with a “Tsk!” as a rattling noise came from her bedroom.

“That’s Matthew,” she said. “He’s awake—and no wonder, with all the fuss you’ve been making!” She brushed past him. “But you may as well come and meet him now. He’s at his best, first thing in the morning.”

“I’ve told you,” Jordan said grimly, “I don’t want to meet him. What I want is for the two of you to get out of this house right away—”

But she had disappeared into the bedroom.

And next thing, he heard her say in a tender voice, “So you’re awake, are you, sweetheart?” A chuckle. Then, “Oh, Matthew, get your fingers out of my hair…!” A second’s silence, followed by the unmistakable sound of a kiss.

He needed this situation like he needed a hole in his head! Gritting his teeth, Jordan rounded a wicker chair—cursing as he tripped over a vacuum cleaner—and stormed out through the front door. Then with resentment exuding from every pore, he strode down the drive, across the deserted street, and over the salt grass to the beach.

Three miles to the south jutted a rugged cape, with an inn nestled in its sheltering embrace. To the north, the small town followed the curve of the beach to a marina, where he could see yachts bobbing alongside narrow jetties.

He paused for a second, and then headed north.

The realtor’s office was on the town’s main street. He’d walk there now and list the house. That way, when he talked with Ms. Madison again, it would be a fait accompli. The moment the place sold, her lease would automatically be nullified. And it should sell fast, because he would ask a reasonable price. He didn’t need the money. What he needed was to get that woman out of his life, once and for all.

“He’s been gone a couple of hours, Elsa.” Mallory grimaced as she glanced out the sitting room window. “But I can see him coming back now—along the beach. Don’t forget to tell the sisters not to come around today. I’ll give them a call when things settle down.”

“Why has he come to Seashore?” Elsa’s voice came worriedly over the phone line. “He never visited while Janine was alive. Do you think he wants Matthew?”

“Oh, no. He’s made it plain he wants nothing to do with him.”

“Well, that’s good!”

“Mmm.” Mallory rubbed a hand over her nape. “But I feel uneasy. He’s been acting so strangely. Why would he think he had the right to order me to send my stuff back?”

“In my humble opinion, the man’s a control freak. Look how he tried to run Janine’s life! Now she’s gone, he wants to run yours too. But I recall Janine saying her brother hated small towns, so I don’t imagine he’ll hang around.”

Mallory’s nerves tightened as she watched Jordan cross the street, his lean energetic frame set off to perfection in a white T-shirt and taupe shorts. His beard gave him a rakish appearance and as she took in his black hair and rugged features, she had to admit he was an eye-catching sight. But he certainly was not her type! She liked men who were kind and compassionate; strong yet tender—

“Mallory?” Elsa’s voice broke into her musings. “Are you still there?”

“Mm? Oh…yes, Elsa, but I have to go now.”

“Good luck, dear. Let me know what happens.”

Mallory put down the phone and turning from the window, she scooped up Matthew, who was on his stomach, worming his way over the carpet. Slipping his blue T-shirt into his pants, she tucked him into the crook of one arm.

“You’re the most beautiful baby in the world.” She kissed his brow and inhaled the sweet scent of his skin. “And I want you to be a good boy when you meet your uncle. I know he doesn’t want to see you, but it wouldn’t be right to let him leave town without at least saying hello. He’s a bit of an ogre. Do you think you’re up to it?”

“Goo,” he gurgled. And tried to reach her topknot.

She laughed softly and arched her head back. “Oh, you just love to get your fingers into my hair, don’t you!” As she spoke, she heard steps crunching up the drive. And her pulse quickened when she heard Jordan come into the house.

“Mallory!” His deep voice reverberated from the front hall. The voice of a drill sergeant! “Where are you?”

With a fingertip, she tidied a wisp of Matthew’s hair. “Okay, sweetie,” she whispered, “let’s get this over with.”

Bracing herself, she walked out to the hall.

Jordan Caine was standing amid her belongings, with his back to her.

“I’m here,” she said.

As he turned, he held out a long white envelope. “I want you to read this—” He broke off when he saw the baby, and his brow lowered in a dark frown. “What’s going on?”

“I know you don’t want anything to do with Matthew, but it’s not going to kill you to say hi!”

Jordan stared at the baby wriggling in her arms, the infant’s gaze glued to her topknot as he endeavoured to reach it. This was Matthew? Well, he’d really screwed up there, hadn’t he! But it surprised him to see the delectable Ms. Madison with a child. She certainly hadn’t looked pregnant at her brother’s wedding…

He recalled Janine telling him that Tom’s sister was thirty-one and single. And he recalled saying irately to Janine, when she told him that unlike him, Mallory was enthusiastic about the upcoming marriage, “Tell that dried-up old spinster to butt out of our lives!”

That was before he’d met her, of course, and when he did meet her, on the wedding day, he’d found out that far from being dried-up, she was lush as a ripe exotic fruit. But not, definitely not, his type. He felt about redheads the way he felt about small towns…and about babies!

“I know this must be upsetting for you.” Mallory’s voice was apologetic. “I’m sorry. And I know how against the marriage you were, but Janine loved you so much, and I know she’d have wanted you to love this baby too.”

“Why the heck would Janine care if I loved this kid or not? Look, read my lips. I don’t like babies. And I have no interest in this one or any other. So if you’ll just put him back in his crib or whatever, then you and I can get on with business. This—” he waggled the white envelope at her “—is a contract I’ve just signed with Burton Barton, the local realtor. I’ve put the house up for sale.”

“House? Which house?”

“This house.”

“This house?”

“Number Five Seaside Lane. It’s mine.”

She couldn’t have looked more stunned if he’d told her he’d planted a bomb in the basement. “It can’t be yours!”

He felt a pang of compunction when he saw the panic in her eyes. He ignored it. “I bought it before the wedding, when I knew you’d beaten me and that come hell or high water those two were going to tie the knot—”

“It wasn’t a case of beating you! It wasn’t a competition, to see who would win—I just wanted what was best for Tom and Janine—”

“All the arrangements were made through my lawyer,” he continued tersely. “I knew your brother had taken a job in Seashore and I knew they were having a hard time finding a rental place they could afford so I bought this house and made sure they learned it was available—and for a minimal rent, because I wanted my sister to live comfortably.”

“Did they know,” she asked, “that it was yours?”

“No.”

“You did that for them?” This secret, generous gesture put him in a new light. Mallory felt herself soften towards him. “That was so kind of you—”

“I did it for Janine,” he interrupted rudely. “I no longer have any need of the place. End of story.”

Her momentary softness dissipated in a flash. “I’ve signed a one-year lease,” she said in a defiant tone. “So you can’t evict me. At least, not till the year is up.”

“I can,” he said. “And I intend to. The moment the property changes hands, your lease becomes null and void.”

She seemed to shrink back from him. Then she shook her head and her upper lip curled. Unmistakably, contemptuously curled. “You’re quite something, Jordan Caine.”

He hadn’t known that tawny brown eyes could look so cold. “It’s business,” he said curtly. “And there’s no room for sentiment in business.”

“Tom was wrong about you. He believed that despite your overbearing attitude, you were a good man at heart. I’m glad he’s not here to see that you have no heart at all.” She clenched her jaw as she prepared to humble herself. “Can you at least let me keep the house for the summer, to give me time to look for someplace else?”

“No can do. It’s May already and Barton’s going to advertise Number Five as an ideal house for a bed-and-breakfast business, so it will be to a buyer’s advantage to move in immediately, before the start of the tourist season.”

“You’d throw me out in the street—with this baby?” She took in a deep breath and when she went on, her voice had a distinct tremor in it. “I gave up my job in Seattle so that I could work at home and be a good mother to Matthew. I’m on a very tight budget now. I’d never have been able to swing it if I hadn’t been able to factor in the low rent.”

“That’s not my problem. Before you got yourself pregnant, you should have looked to the future. Where’s the baby’s father? Doesn’t he contribute to his upkeep?”

She gaped at him as if he’d sprouted an extra head.

He stabbed the envelope at her. “It’s your responsibility and his. Not mine. What happened anyway? Did he dump you, or did—”

“You think—” she swallowed hard “—that this is my baby?”

He raised a cynical eyebrow. “If he isn’t,” he retorted, “then whose is he?”

“He’s Janine’s, of course!” She sounded as if she was spelling out something incredibly simple to a dim-witted child.

“You’re lying.” He glared at her. “Janine died in the train wreck.” He felt an ache in his heart, the same ache he always felt when he thought about his sister. “She was eight months pregnant, but—”

“Janine had her baby two weeks before the accident!”

He stared at her, his mind reeling.

Hugging Matthew close, she went on in a tone of utter dismay, “Didn’t she call you at the time and let you know?”

He felt the hair at his nape prickle. “You’re saying…this is really Janine’s child?”

She nodded. “Yes, this is really her child.”

“Dear God.” He exhaled a shaky breath. “No, Janine didn’t call…our arrangement was that I would phone her. I knew I’d be out in the jungle most of the time so I told her I’d be incommunicado in August but I’d get back to the mining camp around her due date and give her a call. I was actually back earlier than I’d expected, but before I had a chance to call her, you phoned with the news about the train crash. I was shattered when you told me Janine and Tom had died—and when I asked about the baby, you said there were no survivors in that compartment of the train. I assumed Janine was still pregnant, of course. And at that point, you broke down so I didn’t press you for details.”

“I’d told you everything I knew. But…didn’t you get the message I left for you at the camp the following day?”

“No.” He frowned. “I didn’t get any message.”

“Jordan, the police turned up at my apartment, hours after they’d notified me about Tom and Janine. They told me the baby had been found in the wreckage, miraculously alive and unhurt. I phoned the camp a second time but you weren’t there so I left a message.” Tears welled up and she blinked them back. “I can’t believe you didn’t get it.”

He struggled to get his thoughts in order. “Why were Janine and Tom traveling by train with a new baby?”

“They were on their way home from L.A.—they’d gone down there for a friend’s wedding. Matthew was born there.”

“Was he premature?”

“No, he was a full-term baby—Janine had made a mistake with her dates. Anyway, Matthew decided during the wedding reception that he was ready to make his way into the world! After they got him out of hospital, Tom and Janine stayed on in their friends’ apartment for ten days. Then they bought a car seat to transport Matthew home.” Mallory’s voice trembled. “The police said it saved his little life.”

For a long moment, she and Jordan looked at each other in silence. Without taking her eyes from him, she wiped a tear away with a fingertip. And then another.

“So,” she whispered finally, “where do we go from here?”

“Janine’s baby. It’s…hard to take this in.”

She smiled wanly through her tears. “He looks like Janine, except for the fair hair.” As she spoke, she moved over to him. “Isn’t he adorable?”

Dazedly, he looked at the infant but as soon as Matthew saw him, the child emitted a scream of terror.

“Honey!” Mallory’s tone was startled. “What’s wrong?”

The baby wrenched himself around and grabbing her shirt, buried his face against her bosom. But even that didn’t altogether muffle his screams.

“Sweetie, what’s the matter?” asked Mallory urgently. “What is it?”

The child twisted his head around, eyes flooded with tears, but the mere sight of Jordan sent him off into a renewed session of frantic screaming.

“It would seem,” Jordan said in an ironic tone, “that my nephew doesn’t like me.”

“Hush, Matthew, hush, sweetheart.” Mallory held the baby against her shoulder and rubbed his back soothingly. To Jordan, she said, “It must be your beard.”

“He’s never seen a beard before?”

“He’s not used to men—bearded or clean-shaven. Through the week, Elsa has been looking after him—”

“Elsa?”

“Elsa Carradine. She lives a few doors along from here. She’s been baby-sitting Matthew during the week. Matthew’s used to being with her, and with her boarders—the three Barnley sisters.”

The baby’s screams had been replaced by convulsive sobs. Mallory went on hurriedly, “I’m going to take him through to the bedroom and settle him, then I’ll put him down for his nap. When I come back, we’ll talk.”

She added, as she left, “And I hope you’ll rethink your decision to sell the house, now that you know the reason for my present financial situation.”

Worn out after his crying bout, Matthew fell asleep as soon as Mallory tucked him into his crib.

Glad to have a quiet moment to herself, she crossed to the bedroom window and looked out. What a shock it had been to discover that Jordan owned the house—and that he was the one who had set the incredibly low rent. She could hardly believe he’d behaved so generously, considering how adamantly he’d opposed the marriage.

How the two of them had fought about it!

She sighed as she remembered the first time they’d spoken. He’d phoned her from somewhere in South America after Janine had told him she was pregnant and planning to marry. He’d called Tom every name under the sun. Unable to fly home immediately as he was under contract to finish a mining job, he’d demanded that Mallory talk the couple out of getting married. She had refused.

He’d been furious. He’d phoned her several times over the next few days, but she’d remained firm. Tom wanted to marry Janine and as far as she was concerned, that was the end of it. Her brother had always had a good head on his shoulders and she had the utmost faith in both him and his good judgment of people.

She hadn’t actually met Jordan Caine till the day of the wedding. She’d been dreading that first meeting, but to her surprise, his attitude had been nonconfrontational.

Only later had he revealed his true colours.

The reception had been held at a lakeside hotel outside Seattle, and after Tom and Janine had left for their honeymoon, Mallory had been feeling weepy. She’d stolen away from the party, and had walked down to the beach.

The evening was late but the summer air was still warm. She’d thought herself totally alone as she’d stood gazing out over the moonlit waters—until she’d heard Jordan Caine’s voice come harshly from behind her.

“I’ll never forgive you.”

She’d turned, her heart thumping wildly against her ribs. He was standing a few feet away, his tux jacket shoved back by hands fisted on his hips as he glared at her.

She blinked away the tears that had been blurring her gaze, and tried to gather herself together. But before she could respond, he went on,

“Your brother should be locked up! My sister’s only eighteen—for heaven’s sake, she’s just finished high school! He took advantage of her, got her pregnant, it’s an absolute disgrace—”

“They’re married now. Can’t you just accept that?”

“She’s just a baby herself! She could have had the child adopted—”

“Janine desperately wanted to keep her baby—”

“She’s immature! She’s hardly able to look after herself—”

“Tom will look after them both.” Mallory kept her voice steady despite a spurt of anger. “You need have no worries about Janine…or the baby.”

“Dammit, you’re every bit as stubborn and irresponsible as he is! If you’d backed me up, this wedding would never have taken place. My sister could have had the baby adopted and then gone on with her life—”

“She is getting on with her life. And it’s going to be a good life. Tom starts work in Seashore when they come back from their honeymoon, and they’ve rented a lovely house there, for next to nothing. They were lucky, I admit. If it hadn’t been available, they’d have had to settle for a basement suite…but still, they’d have been happy, because they’re in love—”

A seagull suddenly swooped by the bedroom window, snapping Mallory back to the present.

She could hear footsteps in the room above. Was Jordan packing his things? Getting ready to leave? She hoped so. But she also prayed that before he left, he’d reassure her that he wasn’t going to sell the house. At least, not yet.

He must see things differently, now that he knew the baby was Janine’s. No way would he want to be responsible for throwing his own sister’s child out on the street.

With her heart in her mouth, Mallory went out into the front hall and as she heard his steps approach the landing, she breathlessly waited for Matthew’s uncle to come down.

CHAPTER THREE

JORDAN gestured curtly towards the sitting room as he reached the foot of the stairs. “We’ll talk in there.”

Bossy, bossy! “Let’s go out to the backyard patio,” Mallory said. “It’s such a lovely day. My bedroom window’s open, I’ll be able to hear Matthew if he wakes up.”

He shrugged. “Fine.”

He followed her as she led the way along to the kitchen. When she opened the outside door, a startled robin flew off the redwood deck and in a flash of orange, disappeared around the side of the house.

Mallory crossed to the middle of the spacious deck, where a bench and chairs were arranged around a rectangular wooden table. Taking a seat, she watched as Jordan strode over to the edge of the deck and looked out over the lawn.

“It’s a big garden.” He jammed his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “Must take quite a bit of upkeep.”

“But it’s wonderful for children. A nice flat lawn—and lots of shrubs and nooks for playing hide-and-seek.”

“Looks as if it was professionally landscaped, but I remember it as being neglected. Everything overgrown.”

“It was, but Tom soon licked it into shape. Elsa gave him some tips but he had a green thumb and everything he touched seemed to flourish.”

Jordan still had his back to her and at mention of Tom his spine stiffened and she sensed a wall of hostility rise between them. He’d had a very low opinion of Tom and he obviously didn’t care to listen to her praise him.

Well, too bad. She wasn’t about to gloss over her brother’s talents and accomplishments just because Jordan Caine had been so blinkered he hadn’t appreciated the man his sister had married.

His expression was shuttered when he finally walked back across the deck.

She’d expected him to sit across from her but instead he came around and leaned his backside against the table beside her, so close that if she’d wanted to, she could have stroked his left thigh. A powerful, tanned, and brawny thigh. If she’d wanted to. Which, she decided as she determinedly raised her gaze, she most definitely did not!

He folded his arms across his chest and looked down at her. “Right,” he said, “let’s discuss our options.”

She refocused her thoughts and waited.

“The first,” he went on, “would be to put the kid up for adoption—”

“No.” She didn’t raise her voice. She just said “No,” very quietly, but in an icy tone that made it clear that this was not, nor ever would be, an option.

“Okay, no surprise there. Next option, you keep him. You’d have sole custody.”

She grasped the arms of her chair. “Naturally,” she said, “this would be the option I’d choose.”

“The only snag being, from your point of view, that you wouldn’t have this house.”

She’d hoped that the second option would include his letting her rent the house. Her spirits sank as she realized it did not. “That’s a limited option,” she said. “If I didn’t have the house, the best I could afford would be a dingy basement apartment—”

“The third option,” he plowed on, “would be for me to have custody. I’d keep the house, of course, and—”

“You?” Stunned, she stared at him. “But you don’t even like babies. You admitted that this morning. You said you didn’t like babies and you wanted nothing to do with—”

“I didn’t know, at that time, that we were talking about Janine’s baby.” His gray eyes had a steely glint. “We’re talking family here, Mallory. Family, blood ties—”

“But you said just now that the first option would be to have him adopted—”

“I threw that in for good measure. Like you, it wasn’t something I’d have considered.”

Frantically, she tried to keep her cool. “You’re not being consistent. You originally wanted Janine to have him adopted—in fact, you were hell-bent on it! Now you say that one option would be for you to keep him yourself—”

“Apples and oranges. Yes, I wanted Janine to have her baby adopted, but only because she was too young and immature to take on the responsibility of a child—and because she had her whole life ahead of her. This scenario is totally different. For me, money’s no problem—and,” he added drily, “at the grand old age of thirty-five, my life’s half over.”