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His fingers tensed on the steering wheel and he pulled up to his hotel and shut off the engine. He didn’t get out, his mind tripping over plans, over ways to get into his daughter’s life.
And into her mother’s.
Man, he thought, rubbing his face. Melanie Patterson didn’t look like a mother. He didn’t think it was possible for her to look better than she had that night after the wedding. But she did and her kiss was just as hot. He tried to imagine what it had been like for her, tried to imagine her belly swollen with his baby, and when he did, something sparked inside him. Longing?
Did he want in her life because of the baby?
He checked that thought off the list in an instant. He’d done nothing but think about her for months. For fifteen of them. Being unable to talk to her all that time was like salt in the wound. She’d moved to live with her parents, sure, and her number here was unlisted, but the time wasted gnawed at him. He sighed. It wouldn’t have changed much. Hell, he would have gone nuts if he’d known she was carrying his child, anyway, he thought. He’d have wanted to be there. With her, for her. He’d have done anything for that chance, and with his job, that just wasn’t possible. He couldn’t walk out when his commander called. When his teammates and his country needed him.
But dammit to hell, he hated that he’d missed it all.
Sighing with resignation, he left the car and headed up to his room. He didn’t notice the women offering smiles as he passed. Didn’t notice the way they tried to get his attention. All he saw was Melanie holding his daughter to her breast, stroking Juliana’s little spine. He’d wanted to take the baby in his arms, feel the responsibility. But he didn’t have to touch the baby to know it. It was already inside him.
Juliana was his daughter. His flesh and blood. And he was going to give her everything he’d never had. And that included her daddy’s name.
Melanie looked at Lisa. “I know you’re sorry. Forget about it.”
“Well, you should have tried harder to tell him,” Lisa said insistently. “It would have been easier if he’d known from the start.”
“Yeah? How so? Would he have been any less…determined?”
“My big brother’s a handful, huh?”
Melanie rolled her eyes. Her sorority sister was a romantic. Melanie wasn’t. She’d given that up after her fiancé broke their engagement. Once was hard enough, but to be dumped twice? Melanie had a stellar record, falling for men who seemed to find the right girl after they’d already proposed to her. It was humiliating and the reason she didn’t ask a guy for promises. They couldn’t keep them. Jack wasn’t any different. Well, maybe a little. He knew the meaning of honor, at least.
When she had been with him all those long months ago, women had flocked around him. She didn’t want to see that he’d ignored them and focused only on her, but still. He’d had a few lovers before her. Lisa had mentioned them once or twice. Heck, any man who looked like a brick wall of muscle in Navy whites would have females young and old dropping at his feet.
Okay, so she’d been one of them. She’d wanted Jack. She’d always want Jack. He was under her skin, in her blood, whatever, but he was there. Fifteen months of trying to pry him out of her mind hadn’t done much good. She still wanted him. Yet, in her bed was far different from in her life.
The phone rang and Melanie rose to get it. The familiar voice on the other end of the line made her smile. “Mom, how are you?”
“Oh, we’re fine. How’s my granddaughter?”
Melanie smiled at her daughter sitting in her high chair. “Eating cereal and making a mess on my kitchen floor.” Her mother laughed. “So what’s up? I just talked to you yesterday.”
“That was before Jack called.”
“What?”
“Yes, just a little while ago. He talked to your father.”
Melanie groaned and leaned against the wall. “And Daddy said what to him?”
“I don’t really know. I know he was happy when he came out of the den, because he was laughing. He was still on the phone with Jack and took it with him out into the garage. Apparently your father and Jack hit it off. Did you know Jack makes furniture?”
Oh, great. Her father made furniture, too. The man had every tool ever made for woodworking, and now that he was retired, he produced more than her parents or Melanie had room for, so he’d branched out into taking special orders. And now it seemed Jack and Dad had bonded. Swell.
“Furniture, huh? No, I didn’t know Jack made furniture.” She glared at Lisa as if it was her fault that her father and Jack had things in common. Melanie asked to speak with her father, but he was out. “Ask him to call me, please, Mom.”
“I don’t think he’ll tell you what they said—he wouldn’t tell me.”
Well, that was devious, Melanie thought. “Jack’s hoping to butter up you and Dad to get to me.” She paced, her fingers tight on the receiver.
“Oh, he didn’t do anything like that, sweetie. He just introduced himself and told us what we already knew. That he hadn’t known about Juliana till now.”
“What else?”
“He said that he would take care of you and his daughter.”
“Well, Jack Singer is going to learn that I don’t need his financial help.”
Her mother’s voice held a smile as she said, “I don’t think he was talking about money, sweetie.”
The words sent a trickle of fear down her spine. What was he up to? Melanie said goodbye and hung up, then sat back down and cupped her coffee mug. She’d sulk if she had the time, she thought, feeling a little betrayed by her parents.
“He called your father,” Lisa said, her eyes wide. Melanie nodded. “Oh, gutsy Jack. That must have been interesting.”
A little smiled twitched at Melanie’s lips. “I bet it was.”
Lisa pushed Juliana’s cereal loops within reach. “You know my brother is a great guy, don’t you?”
“I plead the Fifth.”
“Hey, he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Melanie sighed. “Except threaten me.”
“What?”
“He said he was in my life and I couldn’t stop him.”
“Well, that is a threat, though weak and understandable.” Lisa made faces at Juliana and the baby imitated her. “What are you going to do?”
Melanie shrugged. When it came to Jack Singer, she felt pretty helpless.
“You know, Brian’s asked me to join him on his next business trip. For a month. I think I will.”
Melanie arched a brow. “Jumping ship on me?”
“No, I’m trying really hard to preserve what I have. A wonderful friend and a loving brother. I don’t want to have to choose.”
“Who says you’ll have to?” It was Lisa’s turn to look doubtful. And darn it, Melanie could see her friend’s point. She didn’t want to put Lisa in the middle, either. “Okay, go. I can handle Jack.”
Her friend stood and grabbed her purse, hitching it onto her shoulder. Lisa kissed the baby and smiled at the mother. “Good luck.” She headed to the door.
“Why did you write and tell him?”
“Because as much as I love you, I love my brother best.” Her eyes hardened.
So like Jack’s, Melanie thought.
“What if that night was all we had, Lisa?” Melanie called when Lisa reached the door. She couldn’t afford to get her heart crushed again.
Lisa looked at Melanie, sympathy in her eyes. “You have to give the relationship a chance to find that out, don’t you, Mel?”
Before Melanie could argue that she had to risk an already bruised heart to do that, Lisa slipped out. Turning to her daughter, Melanie picked bits of cereal out of her hair and watched her bang her pudgy palms on the high-chair tray. There was no mistaking that Juliana was Jack’s baby. She had his eyes. Intelligent, probing blue eyes.
“Hey, Jules,” Melanie said, and the baby looked at her, smiled brightly and offered a fistful of squishy cereal loops. Smiling, Melanie leaned down for a pretend bite. “I love you, munchkin. God, I love you.”
Melanie blinked back tears and wondered what would become of them. She’d had it all figured out till Jack showed up. She liked things neat and in order, to know the outcome of events. Which was why she was a banker. Figures didn’t lie. Figures didn’t cheat on you while you were selecting china and bridesmaids. Numbers didn’t leave you with the pitying gazes of everyone you had to tell about the broken engagement. Twice.
She wondered what was wrong with her that men left so easily. She was nice. She had a good sense of humor. She wasn’t a supermodel, but she wasn’t ugly. What was it about her that sent men running to someone more interesting?
Jack’s face loomed in her mind as she gathered up her baby. She held Juliana closely and prayed Jack would just leave. She’d handled Craig’s betrayal with his old love. She handled Andy’s with his bimbo secretary.
But with Jack? If he got her hopes up and dumped her, well, she’d never recover. She was certain of that. And she’d have his daughter to look at every day to remind herself of her failure. No, it was better her way. No chance, no heartache. Right?
She looked at the baby. “Right?”
Juliana didn’t answer. It was just as well. There wasn’t one, she thought. There just wasn’t.
Juliana was fussing for her dinner, Melanie was trying to get a load of laundry collected and into the washer before she started the evening phase of her day. Her day off, too, she thought. A heavy knock shook the door and for a split second, Juliana stopped whining and looked with Melanie at the door.
“Probably a salesman again,” she said to her daughter, and crossed the living room. Propping the laundry basket on one hip, she opened the door.
“Jack.”
“Good, you didn’t forget me.”
Like that would ever happen, she thought. Just looking at him made her insides turn to mush. “Why are you here?” Her voice sounded steady, right?
“Lisa and Brian took off and I was alone and hungry.”
“Good that you have a houseful of food, because Lisa is a great cook.”
Jack’s gaze slipped over Melanie. She filled out those jeans better than any woman he’d known, but her face showed signs of fatigue.
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