Nanny Makes Three(9)

“Why don’t you go back to bed and see if you can get a little more sleep?”

The instant she made the suggestion, Hadley wished the words back. She never told an employer what to do. Or she hadn’t made that mistake since her first nanny job. She’d felt comfortable enough with Noah to step across the line that separated boss and friend. For a couple months that hadn’t been a problem, but then she’d been pulled in too deep and had her heart broken.

“It’s time I headed to the barn,” Liam said, his voice muffled by the large hands he rubbed over his face. “There are a dozen things I didn’t get to yesterday.”

His cheeks and jaw were softened by a day’s growth of beard, enhancing his sexy, just-got-out-of-bed look. Despite the distraction of a squirming, protesting child in her arms, Hadley registered a significant spike in her hormone levels. She wanted to run her palms over his broad shoulders and feel for herself the ripple of ab muscles that flexed as he scrubbed his fingers through his hair before settling his hands on his hips.

Light-headed, she sat down in the newly purchased rocking chair. Liam’s effect on her didn’t come as a surprise. She’d had plenty of giddy moments around him as a teenager. Once, after she’d had a particularly fantastic run, he’d even looked straight at her and smiled.

Hadley tightened her attention on Maggie and wrestled her foolishness into submission. Even if Liam was still that cocky boy every girl wanted to be with, she was no longer a susceptible innocent prone to bouts of hero worship. More important, he’d hired her to care for this baby, a child who was probably his daughter.

“Do you think she’s okay?” Liam squatted down by the rocker. He gripped the arm of the chair to steady himself, his fingers brushing Hadley’s elbow and sending ripples of sensation up her arm.

“You mean because she’s been crying so much?” Hadley shot a glance at him and felt her resolve melting beneath the concern he showered on the baby. “I think she’s just fussy. We haven’t figured out exactly what she likes yet. It might take swaddling her tight or a certain sound that calms her. I used to take care of a baby boy who liked to fall asleep listening to the dishwasher.”

“I know we talked about this yesterday,” Liam began, his gaze capturing hers. “But can you make an exception for a few weeks and move in here?”

“I can’t.” The thought filled her with a mixture of excitement and panic. “I have a cat—”

“There’s always plenty of mice in the barn.”

Hadley’s lips twitched as she imagined Waldo’s horror at being cut off from the comforts of her bed and his favorite sunny spot where he watched the birds. “He’s not that sort of cat.”

“Oh.” Liam gazed down at Maggie, who’d calmed enough to accept a pacifier. “Then he can move in here with you.”

Hadley sensed this was quite a compromise for Liam, but she still wasn’t comfortable agreeing to stay in the house. “I think Maggie is going to be fine once she settles in a bit. She’s been through a lot in the last few days.”

“Look at her. She’s been crying for three hours and you calm her down within five minutes. I can’t go through another night like this one. You have to help me out. Ten days.”

“A week.” Hadley couldn’t believe it when she heard herself bargaining.

Triumph blazed in Liam’s eyes, igniting a broad smile. “Done.” He got to his feet, showing more energy now that he’d gotten his way.



After a quick shower and a cup of coffee, Liam felt a little more coherent as he entered his bookkeeper/office manager’s office. Ivy had been with Wade Ranch for nine years. She was a first cousin twice removed, and Grandfather had hired her as his assistant, and in a few short years her organizational skills had made her invaluable to the smooth running of the ranch.

“Tough night?” Ivy smirked at him over the rim of her coffee cup. She looked disgustingly chipper for seven in the morning. “Used to be a time when you could charm a female into doing your bidding.”

Liam poured himself a cup of her wickedly strong brew and slumped onto her couch. “I’m rusty.” Although he’d persuaded Hadley to move in for a week. Maybe it was just babies that were immune.

“Have you considered what you’re going to do if the baby isn’t Kyle’s?”

As Ivy voiced what had filtered through Liam’s mind several times during the last twenty-four hours, he knew he’d better contact a lawyer today. Technically, unless he claimed the child as his, he had no legal rights to her.