“Kitty! Come back.” A child’s voice cut into his thoughts.
A little girl barreled down the front steps, a determined expression on her face. A flash of black streaked past him and over the road. The kid followed as fast as her short legs could carry her.
At the edge of his vision, a silver Lexus turned into the street. He frowned. The driver was on her cell phone.
The little girl hurried past. Fear shot through him as he realized she hadn’t spotted the car; her attention was fixed on the elusive cat.
In a move that would have made a goaltender proud, Jake turned and scooped her off her feet as she was about to step off the curb. “Whoa, Short Stuff.”
The driver sped by.
The curly-haired imp kicked him. “Let me go. Kitty’s getting away.”
As he set her down, keeping a watchful eye in case she darted onto the road, he noticed the English accent. His pulse gave an odd little skip as he recognized her dark eyes and the shape of her nose. This must be Maggie’s daughter.
Despite her frown, there was a precocious glint in the girl’s eye. “Mummy doesn’t let me talk to strangers.”
“I’ll bet she doesn’t allow you onto the street by yourself, either.” He bit back a smile at her pout. “You nearly got run over because you weren’t looking where you were going.”
Maggie came rushing out of the house. The bodice of her flowery cotton-and-lace dress clung to her curves, while the skirt floated around her long legs. Unlike the prim outfits she’d been wearing, the soft fabric enhanced her shapely figure. The roses on the material matched the heightened color in her cheeks.
His mouth went dry at the blue flower-shaped buttons running down the front, from the scooped neckline to the hem of her skirt. Undo them and the dress would likely fall open. Jake swallowed hard, forcing aside the image of creamy skin that flashed in his head.
“Emily Marie Goodman, I told you to stay in the house.” Maggie’s glossy braid bounced as she hurried toward them. “If it wasn’t for Mr. Badoletti, you could have been hurt.”
“But Kitty went over the road. I had to save her.” She batted her eyes at her mother.
The “innocent” expression didn’t work. “Rules are rules. We have them to keep you safe. Say thank you to Mr. Badoletti and go back inside.”
The little girl looked as if she might argue, but thought better of it. “Thank you, Mister...” She paused, glaring at him suspiciously. “Are you Mr. Bad Boy?”
Unsure how to respond to her sudden antagonism, he smiled. “You can call me Jake.”
“Are you the one who was mean to Mummy?”
His smile faded. How the heck was he supposed to answer that? It was like that old no-win question: Are you still beating your wife? Why would Emily think he’d been mean to her mother anyway?
“Um, no. Not...” He faltered, recalling the incident at Mimi’s office.
Maggie fixed her daughter with a stern look. “Emily!”
“Thank you, Mr. Bad Boy.” The imp’s tone was grudging. She trotted up the path and went into the house. He and Maggie winced in unison as the screen door slammed.
As she turned back, Jake noticed the same wariness in her expression as he’d seen after his argument with Nick. The same hint of fear in her dark brown eyes. The same rigid tension in her body. What was she worried about?
“Cute kid.” He smiled, trying to put her at ease.
His smile had as little effect on Maggie as it had on her daughter. She watched him cautiously, her gaze assessing, as if she didn’t trust his reaction.
“I’m so sorry. Emily usually does as she’s told. The arrangements I’d made for her fell through this morning. Medical emergency.” Her words quickened and her voice rose in pitch. “I thought it would be okay to bring her with me.”
“No problem,” Jake interjected before she wound herself up any further. “Shi...stuff happens. Any kid would be distracted by a cat.”
“Thank you for catching her. I promise she won’t be any further bother.”
“It’s okay. Really.”
She studied him carefully. After a couple of moments, she nodded sharply. “We should get started. Shall we go inside?”
As Maggie opened the door, the fickle Kitty reappeared, slipping past her and brushing her skirt against the shapely legs he’d been trying not to stare at.
“After you.” He gestured for her to precede him.
In the front hall, Emily sat pouting on the bottom step of the double-back staircase.
“I promise to behave. I won’t touch anything.” She shot a belligerent look at him. “Please may I go back up to the princess room?”