Baby Beneath the Christmas Tree

Baby Beneath the Christmas Tree

Susan Meier

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Gwen McKenzie is single, but she has a beautiful baby and has just landed a fantastic job. What she hadn’t counted on was her new boss also being gorgeous! Although he’s not mad about babies…

Christmas is a time for joy and love. The shops are packed, children are singing carols; we are all busy buying and wrapping presents, and arranging family feasts. In the midst of all this, take a little time for yourself and enjoy one of our short Chr­istmas treats by some of our favourite authors.

FOR as long as Gwendolyn McKenzie could remember the old timers in the tiny town of Towering Pines, West Virginia, had whispered that Teaberry Farms was enchanted. The rumor was that if you touched one of the Teaberry Christmas trees while wishing, your wish would come true.

Driving up the fir-lined mountain road that took her to the farm, Gwen glanced around in amazement, understanding why the legend had formed. Majestic evergreens punched into a vast indigo sky. Fat, fluffy white snowflakes pirouetted around the green pine branches, falling heavily, like frosting on sugar cookies, creating a magical world.

But when she reached the Teaberry mansion, Gwen’s mouth dropped open in dismay. Two rows of tall windows with thin black shutters dominated the huge redbrick home, but the shutters tilted drunkenly from age and neglect. The Teaberry family hadn’t even visited for at least a decade, so it didn’t surprise her that the house was in disrepair. But she’d thought Andrew Teaberry, her new boss, would have called ahead to have the place prepared to be used. If the house was this bad on the outside, she feared it would be worse on the inside.

Still, a wisp of smoke rose from the redbrick chimney, disappearing into the inky sky, proof that the caretaker must have started a fire in preparation for the owner’s return. At least she and her daughter wouldn’t spend their time shivering while they waited for Andrew to arrive.

She got out of her beat-up little red car, opened the back door and reached in to unbuckle the car seat of her three-month-old baby. When she’d gotten pregnant by a boyfriend who’d bolted the very second she’d told him, Gwen and her twin sister Gill had both worried that she might fall into the same trap their mom had. Ginger McKenzie had married the man who had gotten her pregnant. But when twins were born he’d panicked, saying one baby was difficult enough to handle, two was impossible. He left town, leaving Ginger to raise the girls alone, watching out the window, longing for him to come home.

Six months after her mom’s sudden death, finding herself in a position very close to Ginger’s, Gwen had quickly shaped up. She didn’t want to be one of those women who wasted her entire life pining after a man who didn’t want her. She’d stopped believing in miracles. She’d stopped believing wishes came true. She’d packed away her dreamy side. And she now only dealt in facts.

Which was why she was at this rundown old house, about to start a job as the assistant to a man she’d never met. She had to pay her own way, support a child and finish her degree. This job might be temporary, but it paid enough money that if she watched how she spent she could keep herself and Claire through her last semester of university.

“Hey, Claire-bear,” she said, lifting the little girl and rubbing noses. Bundled in her thick pink snowsuit, with the white fur of the hood framing her face, chubby, happy Claire really did look something like a stuffed pink bear.

Using the key sent to her by Andrew Teaberry, Gwen unlocked the front door and stepped inside. A huge curving mahogany staircase greeted her and Claire. But so did cobwebs. A layer of dust coated the banister and the stairs.

“Wow. We could be in big trouble, Claire-bear.”

Walking from room to room, she felt her dismay grow. Though the lights worked, the sinks had water and the kitchen appliances had been plugged into electrical outlets and hummed with life, the house was filthy. Her boss might have instructed the caretaker to get the utilities turned on and the furnace working, but he’d forgotten about cleaning.

Discovering a suite in the back that had probably at one time been the maid’s quarters, Gwen set Claire’s baby carrier on the dusty bare mattress of the single bed, but then lifted it up again. She’d arrived an hour early, hoping to make a good impression, but Andrew hadn’t yet arrived. If she hurried, she could race home for a vacuum cleaner, mop, broom, soap and dustcloths, and still have time to clean this suite enough that Claire could sleep here.

Two hours later, Andrew Teaberry pulled his shiny black SUV into the circular driveway in front of his family’s old homestead and his face fell in disgust. Pressed for time on this spur-of-the-moment trip, he’d thought ahead enough to hire an assistant and have the caretaker open the place, but he hadn’t considered that the Teaberry mansion might not be habitable.

“So this is the fabulous Teaberry Farms.” In the passenger’s seat of the SUV, Drew’s sixteen-year-old son Brody glanced around and snorted with derision. “Looks like a rat-hole to me.”

Drew nearly squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. As if it wasn’t bad enough that he had to move into this old monstrosity while he negotiated the purchase of a local manufacturing company, his ex-wife had decided to get remarried, forcing Drew to keep their son for the entire month of her honeymoon. So while he negotiated to buy the business of crusty old Jimmy Lane, a West Virginia entrepreneur who only wanted to sell his business to someone who lived in West Virginia, he was saddled with a sassy sixteen-year-old.

Inserting the key into the back door lock, he glanced behind him at Brody, who was so engrossed in whatever he was doing with his cell phone that he didn’t even watch where he walked. Wearing a black knit cap over his yellow hair, and a thick parka that seemed to swallow him whole, Brody was the complete opposite of his dark-haired, dark-eyed, always observant dad. The kid was going to step into traffic one day.

Brushing up against one of the pine trees beside the kitchen door as he pulled the key out of the door lock, Drew prayed that they both survived this month. He pushed open the door, stepped into a kitchen that looked like something out of a horror movie and froze.

“Mr. Teaberry!” The woman standing by the dusty kitchen counter winced. “I’d say welcome home, but I’m not sure that’s exactly appropriate, given the condition of the place.”

Drew blinked at yet another surprise this morning. Unless she was Max Peabody, the caretaker, this had to be his temporary administrative assistant, Gwen McKenzie. In their phone interview she’d told him she had one more semester of university to finish, so he’d pictured her as being a petite sprite, someone who’d look only a little older than his son. Instead he’d hired a classically beautiful woman with thick blond hair and catlike green eyes, who was built like every man’s fantasy come to life. A bright red sweater accented her ample bosom. Dark, low-riding jeans caressed her perfect bottom. Her shoulder-length hair swung when she moved.

He slid his laptop onto an available counter, glancing around at the nightmare of a kitchen. The oak cabinets were solid, but coated in dust, as were the kitchen table and the four chairs around it. But, like the cabinets, the furniture and the ceramic floor tiles looked to be in good shape. The house wasn’t really falling apart, just dirty.

“Good morning. Sorry we’re late. We couldn’t get on the road until hours after we’d planned.”

She batted her hand in dismissal. “Not a problem.”

Brody pushed into the kitchen behind his dad, not caring that he’d bumped into him. “Hey, babe, thought for sure you’d have muffins and coffee waiting.”

Drew blanched at his son’s disrespect. “Not only is Gwen not our cook, but we don’t call employees babe.”

“All right. Great. No babe.” Brody pulled his sunglasses down his nose and peered over the rim at Gwen. “Sorry about that, sweetie.”

“We don’t call employees sweetie, either!” Drew said, his temperature rising. If he didn’t know better, he’d think the kid was deliberately antagonizing him. “How about an apology?”

Brody glared at his dad. “Fine. I’m sorry. Why don’t you just write a list of rules so I know what I can and can’t say this next month? “

With that he stormed through the kitchen, all but knocking the swinging door off its hinges as he punched through it.

Though Drew knew he should go after him, he had no idea what to say to this new version of Brody. That was part of the problem. Sixteen years ago, when his ex had moved herself and their son to Colorado, two thousand miles away from Drew, he’d protested. But in the end she hadn’t budged, and his visits with Brody had become something like two-week vacations, spent on tropical islands or at ski resorts.

They’d always gotten along well. Until this trip. Now, Brody was suddenly obnoxious. Drew had absolutely no idea what the heck he was going to do with him for the entire month of December. One-on-one in a house so far out in the country that it didn’t get cable TV, they were going to be miserable. Especially since Drew wasn’t even sure when or why Brody had turned into such a mouthy kid or where to start with discipline.

He did, however, know exactly what to say to an embarrassed employee. He turned to Gwen. “I apologize for my son’s behavior.”

“Not a big deal,” she said with a laugh. “He’s what? Fifteen? Sixteen? He’s testing the water. All kids do it.”

A steamroller of relief rumbled through Drew. At least the relationship with his temporary administrative assistant would be normal. Then she smiled at him, her pretty green eyes shining, her full lips winging upward, and everything male inside of Drew responded. Her thick, shiny blond hair framed a heart-shaped face with bright eyes, a pert nose, and generous lips made for kissing.

Involuntarily, his gaze once again swept down the red sweater and tight jeans. He rarely went out, and when he did the women he dated were nothing like Gwen. They were tall, cool sophisticates. Models. Starlets. But there was no denying that this gorgeous blonde made him wonder what it would be like to kiss her—

He groaned inwardly. He wanted a normal working relationship with this woman! Plus, even if he was the kind to dabble in affairs, she was too young for him, and an employee. If those weren’t enough, he had responsibilities as Chairman of the Board of his grandfather’s conglomerate. The pressure of holding top position in a global company left him no time for anything but work. That was why he’d only spent vacations with Brody. Why Brody had had time to change without Drew even realizing. Why he had to figure out how he’d handle him for the four long weeks of December.

“I think I’ll grab Brody and get our bags.”

She winked. “Good idea.”

Her wink was cute. Not flirty, but happy. And for some reason or another that sent a sizzle through Drew when he’d already reminded himself he wasn’t allowed to be interested. Eager to get away from this confusing situation, he headed for the door that Brody had stormed through, and found himself in a hall and then a foyer, where Brody was bounding up the dusty steps.

He glanced around in renewed disgust. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling and created feathery loops on the walls. The house wasn’t even clean enough to sleep in, but they had to stay here. There wasn’t a hotel in tiny Towering Pines, and they were too far away from a city to drive back and forth. Plus, Jimmy Lane loved the idea that Drew was one of the original Teaberrys. He wanted to visit the Christmas tree farm. He wanted to see the mansion. Somehow or another Drew was going to have to make this place sparkle before his visit.

But as Brody stormed away Drew knew he’d have to deal with that later. “Hey! Aren’t you going to help me with the bags?”

“Don’t you have people for that?”

“Not here!” Drew yelled, as Brody continued up the steps. “Except for Ms. McKenzie, who’s my assistant and not yours, we’re on our own.”

“Oh, I get it. You can use Ms. McKenzie for personal things, but I can’t.”

Something in the way Brody said that stopped Drew cold. Not because he shouldn’t have an assistant, but because he was attracted to her. The entire time he’d been in the kitchen he’d kept losing his train of thought and stealing inappropriate looks at her.

Brody huffed out a sigh and started down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, Drew led him out the front door.

Stepping into the falling snow again, Drew headed toward his black SUV. The six inches that had blanketed West Virginia that morning gave the farm the look of a Currier and Ives painting. Even in disrepair, the big redbrick house had a solid, steady feel to it. Huge pines wrapped it in a warm embrace. Snow covered the fence and outbuildings, making everything sparkle.

Brody glanced around. “What a dump.”

A sting of guilt whipped through Drew as he popped the hatch of the car. “Just because it isn’t our cup of tea, that doesn’t mean the farm is a dump.”

“Whatever.” Brody reached in and dragged his duffle bag out of the rear compartment. It fell into the snow with a thud. Brody sighed heavily. “What good is it to be rich if you have to carry your own luggage?”

Anger surged through Drew. “Life isn’t only about comfort.”

Yanking his duffle from the snow, Brody looked up over the rim of his sunglasses at his dad. “Whatever.”

Drew knew he was in over his head with this kid, and he needed to fix this situation, fast.

CHAPTER TWO

GWEN heard Claire’s soft cries through the small monitor she had on the kitchen counter. Without a second thought she turned and ran back into the hall, through the sitting room of the maid’s quarters that she’d managed to clean before the Teaberrys arrived, and into the bedroom.

“Hey, Claire-bear. I’m here,” she whispered, lifting her baby out of the portable crib. She kissed her warm cheek, changed her into a fresh one-piece sleeper and returned to the kitchen, fighting a funny feeling of confusion in the pit of her stomach.

For some reason or another she’d expected Andrew Teaberry to be older. Like sixty. Not thirty-five or so. She also hadn’t expected fathomless dark eyes or gorgeous black hair. The hitch in her breath and the way her stomach had plummeted when she’d looked at him were also surprises.

Grabbing a bottle from the refrigerator, she told herself to stop thinking about how attractive her new employer was and get her baby fed and into her carrier before he returned from getting his bags. She wasn’t sure how or where they’d work in this dusty house, but she wasn’t assuming anything. From the way he’d instantly dealt with his son for calling her babe, it was clear he wasn’t a man who took well to mistakes or assumptions. So she wouldn’t make any.

She placed the bottle in the warmer she’d brought. As it heated, Claire began to cry. Gwen tried to comfort her, but her crying only grew louder.

“Come on, sweetie. I know you’re hungry, but it will only take a minute to warm your bottle.”

Just then the swinging door swung open and Drew burst inside. His horrified gaze fell to Claire, then swung back to Gwen. “Is that a baby?”

She laughed nervously. “Well, it’s not a Siamese cat.” She rocked her sobbing child, trying to get her to settle down. This was no way for him to meet her baby! “This is my daughter Claire.”

He gaped at her. “You brought your baby to work?”

This time the flip-flop of Gwen’s stomach had nothing to do with the attractiveness of her boss and everything to do with fear. “I told you about Claire in my interview.”

“You told me you had a child. You didn’t say you were bringing her with you.”

Drew’s loud voice caused Claire’s crying to rise in competition. Gwen desperately rocked her, but the baby filled the room with her wails.

Gwen had to shout to be heard. “I did say she was still a bit too young to go to daycare and I don’t have a sitter yet. I thought the conclusion was obvious.”

“I thought you said that to let me know you needed time to look for a sitter.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry, but I hired you because I need help. Serious help. You’re not going to have time to care for a baby and do your work.”

Gwen’s heart stopped. He was firing her? He couldn’t! She needed this job. “She’s only three months old! She sleeps a lot. I can handle it.”

He looked at the screaming baby, then bestowed a look upon Gwen that sent a shiver through her. “Really?”

Mustering her courage, she said, “Yes!”

“That’s not how it looks to me. I know how this baby thing goes. I had a crying baby. Brody screamed for three months straight. I failed that semester of university. My wife left me—”

Just then the swinging door bounced closed. Gwen hadn’t even realized it had been opened again. With Claire’s crying and their heated conversation she’d missed Brody walking through the room.

Drew’s face paled, then he squeezed his eyes shut. “Perfect.” Heading for the door, he yelled, “Brody!” Then he pushed out of the kitchen.

The light on the bottle warmer finally declared the milk was warm, and Gwen took her baby to a chair to feed her.

This was not going anything like she’d hoped it would. She fed Claire and then sat at the table, totally confused about what she should do. Technically, Drew hadn’t fired her. And she needed this job. She was not leaving without a fight.

Drew ran into the hallway just in time to see the foyer door close. He grabbed his jacket from the newel post on the stairs where he’d stashed it and headed outside.

Brody bounded toward the SUV around the side of the house.

“What are you going to do?” Drew shouted after his son. “Leave?” He dangled the keys. “You’ll need these. Unless you want to walk.”

“What do you care? Mom’s on her honeymoon. You’re trying to buy some old guy’s company. And I’m stuck here.”

“Look, Brody, if I had a choice we’d be skiing right now.”

Brody snorted.

“We would.” The heavy snow had reduced itself to flurries but it was cold. Bitter cold. And he had work to do. Not knowing what else to say, Drew glanced longingly at the kitchen door. Because the top half of the door was glass, he could see Gwen McKenzie at the table with her baby. He nearly groaned. Could this day get any more complicated?

“I’m sorry you heard what you heard, but truthfully I would have thought by now that you would have guessed your mom and I had a terrible marriage. We were only married for just under a year before we divorced.”

Refusing to look at him, Brody said, “And I’m the cause.”

“No!” He laughed miserably. “Lord, no. Your mom and I had lots of problems before you were born.”

“But I added to them—”

“No!” Drew said again, this time stronger.

“I heard what you said about me screaming all the time.”

“You were colicky. That happens. Babies do not destroy marriages. Adults do. Your mom and I never should have gotten married. But she got pregnant—”

Deliberately, she’d told him later. She’d taken out loans to attend her first semester at Harvard and had known four years’ worth of borrowing that kind of money would put her too far in debt when she graduated. Drew’s family was wealthy. He and Olivia had dated and liked each other. So she’d thought they’d be very happy raising a baby and attending university—all paid for by his parents. But his parents had been furious when Drew told them they had gotten married because she was pregnant, and they’d cut him off. The happy marriage that Olivia had envisioned had quickly become a nightmare.

Still, this wasn’t the time or the way to tell Brody all that. And he wasn’t even sure he should be the one to tell Brody.

It seemed this story would be much better coming from his mother.

“How about if we talk later? Right now, I have a mini-crisis in the kitchen.”

Brody sighed and raised his face to the snow. It looked to Drew as if the cool flakes were settling him down, so when he said, “Go,” Drew headed back to the kitchen.

With a deep calming breath of his own, he opened the kitchen door and stepped inside. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

Gwen McKenzie slowly raised her gaze to his, her green eyes wary.

He knew she needed this job. He didn’t have to glance at the now sleeping baby to remember that, but he did, and his heart stuttered in his chest. He’d told Brody he had been colicky, but that had been only half the problem. Neither Drew nor Olivia had had any experience caring for an infant, and they’d had nowhere to turn for help. He knew how loudly a baby could cry, how despondent a parent could feel … how one tiny life really could throw a monkey wrench into the best-laid plans. And his plans to buy Jimmy Lane’s company were precarious at best. Despite the efforts of most of his staff, he knew nothing about the owner of Lane Works except that he was reclusive and demanding. That didn’t give Drew much to go on by way of figuring out how to handle him. So his “plan” was more like a guess.

“I’m sorry, but you having a baby here doesn’t work for me.”

Instead of the tears he’d expected, Gwen McKenzie shook her head and said, “No kidding.”

He gaped at her. Had she just sassed him? Yes, she had. He’d already had a lifetime share of sassing this morning. So his voice shivered with barely controlled anger when he said, “Get your things and leave.”

She rose from the chair. “Fine, but I would think that a guy who can’t get along with his son would like having another parent around for some help and advice.”

An unexpected laugh escaped him. “You think you’re going to straighten out Brody?”

“Nope.” She headed for the door. “But I might have some ideas for how you could.”

He snorted in derision. “Right. You’ve been a parent now … what? All of two months?”

She turned and smiled. “Three. But I was sixteen only a few years ago. I think I might remember a bit more about what it was like than you do.”

Drew’s eyes narrowed and Gwen’s stomach shivered. She knew she should probably shut up, but he was in trouble with Brody and that seemed like her only angle to keep this job. Now that he’d shrugged out of the thick parka, she could not only see his expensive blue sweater, she could also see that the body he’d hidden beneath his jacket was incredible. Soft knit hugged his broad shoulders and flat tummy and stopped at trim hips encased in denim. He was handsome, rich, and he held her fate in his hands …

And she was taunting him? Was she crazy?

“Are you calling me old?”

She should be. She should think that a guy in his mid-thirties was way too old for her. She should think he was too grouchy for her. Instead, all she saw was a handsome, sexy guy who needed her help. And, strangely, even with as many problems as she had of her own, she actually thought she could provide it.

She lifted her chin. Caught his gaze. “No. I’m not calling you old.”

Their gazes clung. Time seemed to be suspended. She had a feeling she didn’t have to tell him she didn’t think he was old because she found him attractive. It was probably written all over her reddening face.

“But you do need me.”

He crossed his arms on his chest as his gaze rippled over her. Suddenly feeling like a downtrodden waif, brought to the castle for the king’s pleasure, Gwen cuddled Claire to her chest.