Ha. If she couldn’t hear Maddie’s cries for herself, she’d think he’d set all this up. Grace glanced at her oven and half-cooked dinner, then at the lonely dining room table where she’d eaten a lot of meals by herself, especially in the past three years upon becoming a Professional Single Girl.
The timing was oh, so convenient. But even Kyle couldn’t magically make her oven stop working at precisely the moment he’d asked her to come over for dinner. Thus far she’d avoided having any meals with him and his family because that would be too hard. Too much of a reminder that a husband and children was what she wanted more than anything—and that there was nothing on the horizon to indicate she’d ever get either one.
But this was an emergency. Or at least that was what she was going to keep telling herself.
“I’ll be right there,” she promised, and dumped the roast in the trash. If she freshened up her makeup and put on a different dress, no one had to know.
She drove to Wade Ranch at four miles per hour over the speed limit.
Kyle opened the door before she knocked. “Hey, Grace. Thanks.”
His pure physical beauty swept out and slapped her. Mute, she stared at his face, memorizing it, which was silly when she already had a handy image of him, shirtless, emblazoned across her brain. She’d just seen him a few hours ago. Why did she have to have a reaction by simply standing near him?
“Where’s Maddie?” she asked brusquely to cover the catch in her throat.
“Right this way, Ms. Haines.”
Grace followed Kyle through the formal parlor and across the hardwood floor into the hall connecting to the back of the house. Why did it feel like the blind leading the blind? She didn’t have any special baby knowledge. Most kids in the system were older by the time their cases landed on her desk, which brought back her earlier reservations about the real reason he’d called her. It wouldn’t be the first time today that he’d manufactured a scenario to get a reaction from her.
In the family room, two babies sat in low seats, wide-eyed as they stared at the TV, both silent as the grave.
Grace pointed out the obvious. “Um. Maddie’s not crying.”
“I gave her Tylenol while you were on your way over here.” He shrugged. “Must have worked.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“She didn’t stop crying until a few minutes before you got here,” he replied defensively, which was only fair. She’d heard Maddie crying over the phone. It wasn’t as if he’d shoved Liam and Hadley out the door, and then faked an emergency to get her into his clutches.
She sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m being rude. It’s just... I was convinced this was all just an elaborate plot to get me to have dinner with you.”
Kyle blinked. “Why on earth would I do that?”
“Well, you know.” Discomfort prickled the back of her neck as he stared at her in pure confusion. “Because you faked all that stuff with Emma Jane earlier today. Seemed like it might be a trend.”
He cocked his head and gave her a small smile. “I called you because it was the best of both worlds. I needed help with Maddie and I wanted to see you, too. Is that so terrible?”
Not when he put it that way. Chagrined, she shook her head. “No. But it just seems like I’m a little extraneous at this point. I should probably go. Maddie’s fine.”
“Don’t be silly.” His smile faltered just a touch. “She might go off again at any moment and Maggie could decide to join in. What will I do then? Please stay. Besides, I promised you dinner. Let me do something nice for you for coming all this way.”
The panicky undercurrent had climbed back into his voice, bless his heart. She couldn’t help but smile in hopes of bolstering his confidence. “It wasn’t that far. But okay. I’ll stay.”
“Great. It’s settled then.” He held out his hand as if he wanted to shake on it but when she placed her hand in his, he yanked on it, pulling her toward the bouncy seats. “Come on, grab a baby and you can watch me cook.”
Laughing, she did as commanded, though he insisted on taking Maddie himself. She gathered up Maggie, bouncy seat and all, and followed him to the kitchen, mirroring his moves as he situated the seat near one of the two islands in the center of the room, presumably so the girls didn’t feel left out.
She kissed Maggie on the head, unable to resist her sweet face. This baby was special for lots of reasons, but mostly because of who her daddy was.
Wow. Where had that come from? She needed to reel it back, pronto.
“We’ll let them hang out for a little while,” Kyle said conversationally. “And then we’ll put them to bed. Hadley has them on a strict schedule.”