Millionaire in Command
by Catherine Mann
He read through the birth certificate…with his name in the “father” box.

If the little girl was his, he would move forward and take responsibility. Landises didn’t shirk their responsibilities. But for the child’s safety as well, he needed to investigate this claim and this woman further.

“I can’t just take home a child because you say –”

She laughed, her breath gusting a straggled strand of blonde hair. “No, you completely misunderstand. I don’t want you to take her. I want to be her mother. I want to adopt her, if at all possible.”

He should be relieved…but something was still off. His instincts from battling overseas bellowed loud and clear that there were more landmines ahead. “Then why are you here?”

“I’m here to keep her out of the foster care system,” she said, her words tumbling together as she blurted, “I’m here to ask you to marry me.”

The Bride Hunter by Ann Major
“I can’t be with you. You lied. And I’m through with liars. You have to understand that. We’ll get a divorce. Go our separate ways.”

“It’s not that simple. Other people are involved.”

“You can’t make me come back to you, Connor.”

“Oh, yes I can, sweetheart…Money buys a lot of what passes for justice in this country. I’ve got money – lots of it. You don’t. I can afford topnotch legal talent. You can’t.”

“I hate you. I’ll hate you forever.”

“But you’re a survivor, so that won’t stop you from coming home with me and living with me as my wife now that you see how it’s to your advantage, now will it?” He pushed back his stetson. “Because if you do that, sweetheart – and only if you do that – I’ll keep all your dirty little secrets.”

Available in May 2010 from Mills & Boon® Desire™

Millionaire in Command by Catherine Mann

&

The Bride Hunter by Ann Major

Mini-series – Irresistible

Tall, Dark…Westmoreland! by Brenda Jackson

&

The Moretti Seduction by Katherine Garbera

The Prodigal Prince’s Seduction by Olivia Gates

&

The Heir’s Scandalous Affair by Jennifer Lewis

Millionaire In Command

by

Catherine Mann
The Bride Hunter

by

Ann Major

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Millionaire In Command

by

Catherine Mann

Dear Reader,

I’m thrilled to bring you the next in my THE LANDIS BROTHERS series, Millionaire in Command.

Writing about a military man is a special treat for me since I’m married to my very own air force hero. We have certainly commemorated many homecomings over the years. Although I have to say my husband has never experienced quite the shock that’s in store for Kyle Landis when he returns from overseas to find a baby girl waiting for him. While Kyle quickly takes command of the situation to claim his daughter, he has his work cut out for him when it comes to conquering the heart of Phoebe Slater.

Thanks again for checking out the latest Landis brother. Happy reading!

Cheers,

Catherine Mann

www.CatherineMann.com

RITA® Award winner Catherine Mann resides on a sunny Florida beach with her military flyboy husband and their four children. Although after nine moves in twenty years, she hasn’t given away her winter gear! With over a million books in print in fifteen countries, she has also celebrated five RITA® Award finals, three Maggie Award of Excellence finals and a Booksellers’ Best win. A former theatre school director and university teacher, she graduated with a master’s degree in theatre from UNC-Greensboro and a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the College of Charleston. Catherine enjoys hearing from readers and chatting on her message board – thanks to the wonders of the wireless internet that allows her to cyber-network with her lap-top by the water! To learn more about her work, visit her website, www.CatherineMann.com, or reach her by snail mail at PO Box 6065, Navarre, FL 32566, USA.

All my love to my flyboy husband, Rob.

Even after many years and four children,

you still make my heart flutter!

One

Phoebe Slater brought a baby to the millionaire military hero’s seaside welcome-home gala.

Undoubtedly most of the guests plucking canapés and champagne from silver trays at this high-profile affair could afford nannies. Of course the Hilton Head Island wealthy could also afford tailored tuxedos and sequined high-end dresses as they mingled the evening away in the country club gardens by the shore. Her basic little black dress had been bought at a consignment store to wear to the few mandatory cocktail parties related to her position as a history professor at the University of South Carolina.

Of course she usually didn’t accessorize with baby drool dotting her shoulder.

Phoebe jostled the fractious five-month-old infant on her hip, smoothing down the pink smocked dress. “Hang on, sweetie. Just a few more minutes and I can feed you before bedtime.”

As waves crashed in the distance, a live band played oldies rock, enticing guests to the dance floor with a Billy Joel classic. Even South Carolina’s governor was dancing under the silver silk canopy with his wife. Darn near gawking, Phoebe stumbled on the edge of the flagstone walkway.

Definitely this was a party for the movers and shakers in the political world—as well as on the polished wood dance floor planked over the sandy lawn. She untangled her low heel from between two decorative rocks. She wasn’t here to socialize tonight. She’d come to find little Nina’s father.

If only she had a better idea of what he looked like.

Her longtime friend and old sorority sister—Nina’s biological mother—had told Phoebe that Kyle Landis was the baby’s daddy a couple of months ago when she’d asked for “just a little help” with Nina while she went on an audition for a dinner-theater production in Florida. Bianca had been so excited to get her prebaby body back, insisting this was her chance to provide a better life for her daughter.

Who could have known Bianca wouldn’t return?

Phoebe hugged Nina closer, all the more determined to make sure this precious baby had a stable life. Which meant finding Kyle Landis, a man she’d never met in the flesh. She’d hoped to ID him by his Air Force uniform, but the place was packed with tall, dark-haired guys decked out in formal military gear. Medals gleamed in the moonlight.

Cupping the back of Nina’s bonnet-covered head as the little one finally dozed off, Phoebe scanned the sea of faces, their profiles shadowy with only the illumination of moon, stars and pewter tiki torches. She only had an older photo to go by, a picture tucked deep in the bottom of the flowered diaper bag slung over her clean shoulder. No way was she going to disturb Nina by looking, not now that the baby was nearly out for the count.

He used to appear in the newspapers frequently when his late father had been a senator. Then his mother and brother had stepped into the political spotlight, too. But the family kept Kyle out of the media’s scrutiny as much as possible for safety’s sake because of his tours of duty in war zones.

The crush of people grew thicker, faces tougher to see. As much as she hated to draw attention to herself, she was going to have to ask for help finding—

“Can I get you something?”

The deep voice rumbled from behind her as if in answer to her very thoughts, jolting her with a clear shot of sexy bass on the salty ocean breeze. Lordy, the waiter must rack up tips with that bedroom voice of his. She glanced over her shoulder to ask for a napkin—she’d forgotten the burp rag again, damn it. Her smile froze.

Captain Kyle Landis—in the flesh, all right.

His dark brown hair was trimmed military short, mellow blue eyes creased at the corners from a deep tan she knew he’d earned in a Middle Eastern desert. A broad forehead and strong jawline gave him a masculine appeal just shy of harsh.

She should have realized the guy would be even better looking in person. He was a lucky son of a gun from an established old Southern family—handsome and rich, with a smoky voice to boot. He’d even reportedly survived a crash unscathed. His muscled chest in a blue uniform jacket sported at least double the medals of most here, perhaps only outdone by his stepfather, a general.

What were the odds of Kyle finding her tonight, instead of the other way around? But then, as the guest of honor, maybe he felt obligated to make sure everyone else was having a good time.

“Can I get you something?” he repeated, a cut-crystal whiskey glass cradled in his hand.

An older woman angled past, whipping a full, ruffled train against Phoebe’s leg. The scent of strong perfume made Nina sneeze. She readjusted the baby, wishing they were at home in her bentwood rocker rather than here with this man. “I actually don’t need help anymore, since I was looking for you.”

A dimple dug into his cheek with his one-sided smile. “I’m sorry, if we’ve met before, I’m not remembering.”

That dimple would have been charming if she hadn’t already heard from Bianca to be wary of his prep-school-polished sense of humor. She might be out of her financial league here, but she was a smart, determined woman.

Phoebe forged ahead, needing to say something before he turned her over to a bouncer. “I’m not here for myself.”

He glanced behind her quickly, then focused his full, deep-blue-eyed attention on her face again. “Which one of my pals are you with? We don’t get many chances to meet the wives.”

“I’m not married.” But she had been. She shoved away even the thought of Roger before the inevitable stab of pain could steal her focus.

Kyle’s gaze flicked briefly to Nina, then away. So much for him recognizing his child on sight.

To be fair, he didn’t even know about Nina’s existence. Bianca had insisted early in the pregnancy that, while she wasn’t sure if she wanted to keep the baby, she would inform the baby’s father. Then later said she’d chickened out, then couldn’t find him and certainly didn’t want to send this kind of news to him overseas through his family.

As if Bianca would’ve even gotten past personal assistants to talk to anyone in his famous family. It had been a major challenge to gate-crash this shindig, but no security could outdo her determination.

That drive—along with channeling some acting tips she’d picked up from Bianca—and Phoebe had convinced them all she was the caterer’s assistant’s wife. Easy enough to do, since she was more the friend-next-door than the flashy-leading-lady.

Nothing could stop her, not now that Kyle had come home. Somebody had to tell him about his new “little” responsibility and since Bianca was MIA, that left it up to her.

Might as well get this over with. “Is there somewhere we can step aside to talk?”

“I’m sorry, but my mother would haul me back in by my ear if I tried to duck out of my own welcome-home party.” He angled closer, the fresh scent of his aftershave teasing her nose. “Maybe later, though?”

Undeniable interest flared in his cobalt-blue eyes, his full attention fixed on her.

Holy crap. Could he actually be hitting on her? She’d prepared herself for any possible reaction from him—except that.

She jolted back a step, holding up one hand. “Wait, that’s not what I meant.”

And even if he were interested enough to actually contact her, what if it took him a week to call? She didn’t have another week to waste waiting for him to phone her back.

Nina didn’t have a week.

Phoebe patted between the baby’s shoulders, praying she would stay asleep. The last thing she needed was a colicky nuclear meltdown. “I have to speak with you for five minutes out of earshot of everyone else. I promise I won’t keep you long and you can get back to your welcome-home party. Perhaps you could just escort me to the door? Then you’ll know I’m truly on my way out of your hair.”

“Fair enough.” He set his drink on the bar behind him. “Do you need some help with the kid?”

Instinctively, she backedfartheraway until herbutt bumped a column plant-holder, jostling the fern on top.

Laughing, he held out both hands. “Hey, no need to freak out. I won’t drop her. I’ve never been much of a kid person, but I’m getting practice lately with my nephew.”

Nina had a cousin. How wild to think about, and imagine them playing together happily. Nina needed a life full of people who loved her. And the sooner Phoebe cleared this up, the sooner Nina would be settled. “We’re fine, but thanks for asking. Just lead the way and we’ll follow.”

“Let me know if you change your mind.”

He turned his broad shoulders sideways to slide past a pair of tuxedo-clad teens sneaking refills from the champagne fountain. Kyle plucked the glasses from their hands on his way by and passed them to a man from the catering staff.

He led Phoebe around a corner and stopped in a small, empty alcove with a spindly iron bench and two more large potted ferns on Grecian-pillar stands. The party noise muffled down a notch, although the laughter of a nearby couple made her itchy for a room with a door to close. The nook just past an ivy-covered trellis wasn’t totally private, but it would have to do.

Stepping away from his towering presence for a bit of breathing room, she eased the diaper bag down onto the iron bench and rolled the kink out of her shoulder. “Do you remember someone named Bianca Thompson?”

His eyes went from friendly to reserved. “Yes, why do you ask?”

Nearby laughter swelled as two trophy-wife types ducked into the alcove, one with a silver cigarette case in her hands and the other weaving tipsily behind her. “Oh,” the woman said, tucking her cigarette case surreptitiously behind her back, “excuse me.”

Kyle’s easy smile came back. “No problem, ladies. I think there’s another bench just past the palmetto tree wrapped in lights.”

“Thank you, Captain.” The woman flashed a smile back, “advertising” with a length of too-tanned leg through the gown’s excessive slit.

Phoebe watched them disappear faster than the after-waft of their cologne. She turned back to Kyle. “You don’t deny knowing Bianca?”

“This is getting strange here.” He scratched the back of his neck. “You need to cut to the chase…What was your name again?”

“Phoebe—” She paused as a uniformed waiter tucked into the alcove, stopped short and then spun back around to leave, apparently looking for a place to ditch work undetected for a few seconds.

Good luck with that, buddy, because apparently there wasn’t a quiet place to be found at this crammed-to-the-gills gala.

She hefted Nina’s limp—and growing heavier by the second—body higher onto her shoulder. Her sweet weight and baby-shampoo-fresh scent tugged at her heart with a reminder of just how important this meeting was to both of their futures. “Phoebe. My name is Phoebe Slater. Bianca and I were sorority sisters, but we’ve stayed in touch over the years.”

Although not as much as she would have liked during the past two months. She still could hardly believe Bianca would just drop off her baby daughter and not look back.

“Nice to meet you, Phoebe,” he said, one eyebrow arching up with the implication his patience had about run dry.

Time was up. There wasn’t ever going to be the perfect setting for this kind of revelation. She resisted the urge to clutch the baby tighter and bolt. This wasn’t her child, but she loved her as dearly as if they shared the same blood. In fact, this would be her only chance at motherhood—however brief. When her husband she’d loved more than life had died, all hopes of being a mother had died with him.

No blue eyes would distract her from protecting Nina, no social brush-offs would dislodge her from her mission. She would do anything, anything to secure Nina’s future.

Phoebe braced her shoulders and her resolve to push forward with her plan, even if it meant making a deal with a blue-eyed devil. “Meet Nina, your daughter.”

Damn.

Another gold digger.

Party noise droning behind him like the buzz of aircraft engines, Kyle rocked back on his heels, his polished uniform shoes squeaking. He’d worked in intel during his Air Force career, but it didn’t take an investigative mind to determine something was way off with this woman.

The second he’d seen Phoebe Slater sidle past security, he had been gut-slammed by her appeal. He still couldn’t pull his eyes off her beacon-pale blond hair, clasped back simply, and her wide mouth that didn’t need lipstick or collagen to make it kiss-me sexy.

The kid had given him a moment’s pause, but his attention had shifted fast enough back to the totally hot female. He’d initially sized her up as a down-to-earth sort with unadorned appeal, a simple but intriguing woman. Not so simple after all, apparently.

Perhaps she wasn’t a gold digger. Maybe she was just a deluded psycho.

He tucked his fisted hands firmly behind him, glad now he’d chosen a locale that was only semiprivate, rather than totally secluded. “Ma’am, I’m certain we’ve never met before tonight, and I’m even more certain we’ve never slept together.” He would have definitely remembered her. “As cute as your kid is, she’s not mine.”

Phoebe Slater visibly bristled, her chocolate-brown eyes darkening. “She’s not my daughter. I’m just caring for her while her mother—Bianca Thompson—is away at an audition in Southern Florida. Bianca and I went to school together before she started pursuing her acting career, and I became a history professor. But that’s all beside the point.” Her throat moved in a long swallow. “I’m here because Nina needs her father. She’s five months old now.”

The hairs on the back of his neck prickled.

He had slept with Bianca Thompson, but he’d used protection—he always did. They hadn’t known each other well. It had been more of an impulsive hookup on both their parts, over a year ago, before he’d left for a year-long deployment to Afghanistan.

Just about the right timing.

His gaze snapped to the kid blinking groggily at him with light blue eyes just like his mother, brothers. Damn. Plenty of people had blue eyes, and plenty of people knew what his family looked like. And those same people would know about the Landis family’s hefty investment portfolio. His youngest brother had even had a false paternity suit filed against him by someone he’d actually cared about.

Kyle bit back a curse. He needed to stop this conversation now, until he could regroup with some more information on this woman. Preferably in a place where he didn’t have to worry about everyone from the press to the governor of South Carolina overhearing.

“Ma’am—”

“Slater. I am Phoebe Slater.” She rubbed soothing little circles between the baby’s shoulders, swaying back and forth like a pro.

Impressive. He knew from his brother and sister-in-law how tough it was to keep a little rug rat quiet at this age.

“Okay, Ms. Slater, let’s schedule a time for this conversation when we’re not trying to speak over a band and we’re certain not to be interrupted—”

“And this is Nina.” She angled sideways so the baby’s chubby-cheeked face was fully in view.

Cute kid. But that was irrelevant. “I don’t think this is the—”

“Her mother is Bianca Thompson.

She’d said that already, but hearing it again made him really look at the baby. She didn’t have Bianca’s red hair. The baby had dark brown hair. Like him. “Where is Bianca? Why am I talking to you instead of her?”

His suspicions mounted as he tried to put the pieces together before this blew up in a very public setting. His mother had gone to a lot of trouble putting together this shindig commemorating his homecoming. It meant a lot to her, since this also marked the end of his military commitment. In two weeks, he would start his new career as the head of the Landis Foundation’s international interests.

He didn’t want his family upset needlessly by a scene. Family was everything.

His eyes flicked uneasily back to the baby, looking too darn cute in her pink dress.

“I was only supposed to watch Nina until Bianca settled in at her new place in Southern Florida. Then weeks turned into months. When she stopped calling, I got worried and notified the police to file a missing person’s report. Which then brought child services into the picture, and if I don’t figure out something soon—” Phoebe’s chin quivered briefly before steadying again “—they’re going to put Nina into the foster care system.”

He wasn’t sure what she was up to anymore, but truth be told, even a conversation with a crazy woman was more engaging than the small talk he’d made tonight with people who were mostly here for the free food and a chance to rub elbows with politicians. Phoebe Slater was anything but boring.

“So you want me to take in this child, with no proof of who you are or who this kid is.”

“Just hear me out.” Her eyes turned a deeper shade of brown, panic glinting.

His instincts went on alert. If this woman was a crook—or a psycho—the kid could be in danger. That changed things entirely. “You know, maybe I should hold the baby after all, while we check into things.”

“You’re doubting me now, aren’t you? Smart man.”

She secured the sleeping baby and leaned to dig through the voluminous diaper bag on the bench. Good Lord, he could have stuffed all his military gear in that sack.

His eyes dropped to her hips, to the sweet curve of her bottom as she rifled past diapers and a bottle. Was she really a college professor? He’d certainly never had any profs that looked like her.

What a waste to have all that appeal packaged in a woman he couldn’t go anywhere near. She straightened and turned back to face him, drawing his eyes upward.

“Okay, Captain Landis, I thought you would want proof. And well you should.” She pulled out a file of papers. “I’ve got her birth certificate, photos and a notarized letter from Bianca stating I’m a babysitter for Nina, authorizing me to get medical attention for her. I even included a copy of my driver’s license.”

He took the file from her and flipped it open, angling so his shoulders blocked any passersby from possibly seeing the contents. He scanned the first page, with pictures of Bianca Thompson holding a baby with wide blue eyes.

The hair on the back of his neck prickled again. He turned to the next page and read through the birth certificate…

With his name in the “father” box.

He exhaled hard. True or not, he still needed a second to process seeing his name in that context. Not that he had anything against kids—he liked his nephew well enough. He’d just planned to leave perpetuating the Landis name to his brothers.

Thumbing to the last page, he found a copy of Phoebe Slater’s driver’s license. The picture was unflattering, to say the least, with eyes deer-in-the-headlight wide and no smile, but without question it was her.

All of which proved nothing, in and of itself. Why the hell hadn’t Bianca notified him? She had plenty of contact numbers. He may have been out of the country, but his family had all been firmly here on U.S. soil.

The more he thought about this, the less it made sense. If the little girl was his, he would move forward and take responsibility. Landises didn’t shirk their responsibilities. But, for the child’s safety as well, he needed to investigate this claim and this woman further.

He closed the file and tucked it under his arm. “I’m going to need some time to look over this. I can’t just take home a child because you say—”

She laughed, her breath gusting a straggled strand of blond hair. She scraped it away and behind her ear. “No, you completely misunderstand. I don’t want you to take her. I got the message loud and clear from Bianca that you’re not interested in settling down. And truly, I love this little girl.” She rested her cheek on top of the baby’s head with unmistakable maternal affection. “I want to be her mother. I want to adopt her, if at all possible.”

He should be relieved…but something was still off. His instincts from battling overseas bellowed loud and clear that there were more land mines ahead. “Then why are you here?”

“I’m here to keep Nina out of the foster care system, ” she said, her words tumbling together as she blurted, “I’m here to ask you to marry me.”

Two

Phoebe bit her lip, cringing inside over having blurted the “proposal” rather than easing him into the idea the way she’d mentally rehearsed.

Too late to call back the words now. The band segued into a Motown ballad, the crooner’s tune filling the silence while she waited for Kyle’s reaction. Not for the first time, she cursed Bianca for disappearing, while praying that her old friend hadn’t landed in some kind of trouble. Or worse.

Meanwhile, she had to make use of whatever allies she could find, and please, please she hoped Kyle would fall into that category. She searched his face for some clue of his feelings, but he guarded his emotions well.

Finally, he raised a hand shoulder-high.

She tensed, wondering, waiting and definitely keeping her trap shut for now. She was a thinker, a plotter, damn it. Bianca was the impulsive one.

Kyle spanned a broad palm along Nina’s back protectively, his gold college ring glinting in the flickering candlelight. “Let me hold the kid for a minute.”

Relief gusted from her so fully that she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding her breath. She’d hardly dared hope it would be this easy for him to connect with his daughter—

Then the glow from the pewter tiki torches revealed the glimmer of alarm in his eyes, quickly covered as he flashed a pacifying smile.

Damn.

He thought she was off her rocker to the point he feared for Nina. As if she would do anything to harm this child. Although she’d surely screwed up in pushing so hard and fast for his help.

“I’m not crazy, and I’m the last person who would ever hurt Nina.” She cradled the sleeping girl closer until he relaxed his hands, if not his stance. “I didn’t mean to spring that last part on you so bluntly, but you were ready to leave and I don’t have time to be subtle.”

“Is there a subtle way to ask a total stranger to marry you?”

Phoebe ignored his sarcasm. “Child services is going to take her since I can’t find her mother. I just need to buy a little time until I can settle things for Nina.”

She didn’t know what else to do. Nina had no one except her…And this man. Her father.

“I still think you’re half-cracked, but I’m listening.” He folded his arms over his chest.

Was he settling in or blocking her exit? Either way, she needed to talk fast.

“Okay, so maybe the marriage idea seems extreme, but I’m desperate here.” Backing off the proposal seemed prudent since she had a serious aversion to ending up in a straitjacket. “My primary concern is keeping Nina secure. She’s already had too much upheaval, with Bianca dropping out of her life so abruptly.”

“This is a lot to digest,” he said, his voice neutral, his eyes still watching her guardedly.

His military aura swelled unmistakably. He might not be thinking of himself as Nina’s father, but he clearly would stand between the baby girl and any perceived threat all the same.

Her frayed nerves snapped. “If you can think of another alternative to keeping her out of the foster care system, I’m more than happy to climb on board.”

He cocked a thick, dark brow. “Excuse me for being slow on the uptake, but I didn’t know until ninety seconds ago that I even had a child.”

“If you’d stayed in touch with Bianca after you deployed, you may have—” She bit her tongue to keep from saying anything else, when she longed to shout out her frustration as she saw her last hope for help slipping away.

His eyebrows slammed down and together. “You can’t actually be blaming me because Bianca kept this a secret. If what you say is even true. I had my hands full fighting a war.”

Her anger defused and sympathy slid into the void. “I’m sorry. You’re right. This is a lot to take in and I don’t mean to be combative.”

His jaw flexed as he paused to gather his composure. “Arguing won’t get us anywhere.”

“I completely agree.”

Still, he kept his post in front of the arbor trellis, sprawling ivy cascading down the sides like spiky tentacles ready to snag her in place. “Regardless of what came before, we need to decide on a plan of action from this point forward, which I absolutely refuse to talk about in a place where anyone could overhear. There are no less than seven people from the press attending this shindig my mother put together to welcome me back.”

He had a point there. While press coverage could be helpful in finding Bianca, it could also bring the wrath of child services down on her head. She had to strike a delicate balance here.

At least Kyle was still talking to her. Maybe he would have an idea, and if not, then she could bring up the marriage idea again with more finesse. It was outrageous, sure, but not that totally out there. She reassured herself for probably the thousandth time that this wasn’t a totally crazy idea. Although she could imagine her long-dead parents wincing over her whole plan.

She’d thought this through. People got hitched in Vegas every day for far more flimsy reasons. Wedding vows meant next to nothing to most people these days.

And they would certainly mean nothing to her ever again.

She started toward him. Their cubby of space went darker as another person strode under the ivy-covered arch, snapping Phoebe back into the present. She needed to be on guard for those press people he’d mentioned. Backlit, the shadowy figure was still obviously a woman.

“Kyle, dear, there you are.” An older blond woman stepped into the glow of the flickering light. She rested a hand on his arm, manicured nails tipped white.

His mother.

Even if Ginger Landis Renshaw weren’t famous for her political prowess as a former senator and then secretary of state, Phoebe would have noticed the family resemblance. Their hair color was different but their faces, their smiles, were the same.

Somewhere in her early fifties and carrying it well, Ginger smoothed a hand over her simple red Chanel evening gown, almost managing to disguise her curiosity. “Our guests are beginning to ask where you’ve run off to.”

“Mom, we need to find an empty room and talk. Immediately.” He stepped aside, clearing the view for the woman’s gaze to fall squarely on Phoebe.

Ginger’s blue eyes darkened from curiosity to concern. “Kyle? What’s going on?”

“Not now, Mom,” he said quietly, his voice urgent. “We need to move this to a room, preferably one with a closed door.”

She straightened with a take-charge efficiency that had won respect around the world during her secretary-of-state days. That political sway continued now in her tenure as ambassador to a small but politically powerful South-American country. “Of course. This way.”

She tucked out of their garden nook and sliced a path straight into the country club. A quick flick of her hand had the manager rushing ahead to unlock his office. Phoebe followed, unable to squelch her awe at this woman who made things happen so effortlessly.

Damn it. Forget awe. She would stand down anyone for Nina if need be. But she hoped she would find an ally in a political powerhouse.

The door clicked closed behind them, sealing them inside an office with looming dark furniture and heavy tapestry upholstery. The scent of furniture polish and fresh-cut flowers coated the air thickly.

Ginger turned toward her son but looked at Phoebe and gestured toward a wingback chair. “Have a seat, dear. Even little babies can grow quite heavy when you’ve been holding them for too long.”

Phoebe blinked back her surprise and sat. Disobeying this woman wouldn’t dawn on her, and her feet were throbbing. All the same, she wouldn’t relax her guard for even a second. Winning his mother’s support was just as important as gaining Kyle’s trust.

Ginger pinned her son with a questioning stare.

He scratched the back of his neck. “Mom, it appears I may have left a child behind when I went to Afghanistan.”

Kyle knew one thing in this crazy, mixed-up night. Give a Landis a crisis and they start things cranking at Mach speed.

He had no more than announced the possibility of this child being his and his mom had spun into action. She’d called for her trusted assistant and gathered the rest of the family. So much for keeping things secret.

With four Landis brothers, two of whom were married, that made for quite a group packed into the country club office. His brother Sebastian sat at the sprawling wood desk, putting his legal eagle-eye and degree to work reviewing the documents. The rest of the family seemed transfixed around the wingback chair where Phoebe fed the little scrap of a kid a bottle. Kyle paced. He damn near wore a hole in the Persian rug as he moved restlessly behind his brother. Sebastian was a year younger than Kyle, but his quiet soberness had always made him seem older. They needed his calm efficiency right now.

Sebastian closed the file and glanced up somberly. “Is she your daughter?”

Kyle stopped in his tracks and dropped to sit on the edge of the desk, his foot twitching. “It’s a distinct possibility.” A possibility that still sucker-punched him harder than the missile that had taken down his aircraft in Afghanistan. He pinched the bridge of his nose briefly before his hand fell away. “If she’s really Bianca Thompson’s daughter, the timing of our, uh, week together lines up.”

“A week, huh?” A rare hint of humor lit his normally serious brother’s eyes.

Kyle wasn’t in the mood to laugh. “We hooked up when I was in between rotations overseas. Neither of us was interested in anything long-term.”

“You never are.” Sebastian looked away and back at the papers.

Yeah, he wasn’t known for serious relationships, but at least he understood himself, rather than sending out mixed signals. “Which makes it all the more ironic that Phoebe would toss out a marriage proposal to me.”

“I think it makes her seem like a more logical type.” Sebastian kept his voice low enough that the cluster of people a few feet away wouldn’t hear. “If she knows your reputation, then she has no reason to worry about you growing attached to her or the baby.”

“She said she only tossed it out there in desperation. That she didn’t really mean it, and could I come up with something else.” Still it rattled around in his head. “You got any suggestions?”

Sebastian scrubbed a hand over his face, a near mirror image of Kyle’s. “I think the first order of business is finding out if she’s really yours. I’ve never been one who could see Great-aunt Whoever’s chin on some infant, but I have to confess, she looks just like a Landis.”

The uncertainty was already chewing him up inside. “Any idea how long it takes for the results of a paternity test?”

“Gotta admit, I’ve never needed one.” His eyes slid over to his wife with obvious affection. Their son had been born a few months ago, a surprise pregnancy after the crushing loss of the baby daughter they’d adopted, only to have the birth mother change her mind. “Jonah should know, though.”

Their youngest brother had always been a hellraiser, so much so that after a while it became tough to distinguish between truth and reputation. Kyle had always understood his younger brother better than the rest of the family, although the military had helped him rein in his wilder impulses.

And yet still, somehow, he may have screwed up. “The sooner we can clear this up, the better.”

“What do you know about her?” Sebastian nodded toward Phoebe, who was lifting the baby up to burp, a hand towel from the bathroom draped over her shoulder.

“Nothing at all.” Kyle flipped open the manila file folder again and thumbed through the papers. “I’d never met her, but those photos of her with Bianca look real.”

“The private investigator I keep on retainer will be able to verify her story by morning. The fact that she lives and works in state makes things easier all the way around.” Sebastian tapped the documents spilling out across the desk. “Everything seems authentic and in order though. We’ll see soon.”

Not soon enough. “So, we’re stuck for now.” Kyle lowered his voice, even though no one across the room seemed to be paying any attention to them. “Either she’s on the up-and-up helping out a friend, in which case she needs help, so the baby stays. Or she’s a nutcase, in which case for the baby’s safety, she has to stay.”

“Be careful, my brother.” Sebastian leaned closer. “There’s a lot of money at stake here.”

Sebastian’s wife glanced over her shoulder. “Men are so cynical.”

Damn, he could have sworn they were keeping their voices down. Could Phoebe have overheard them too? Not that they’d really said anything that mattered. She should expect they would have her investigated.

The wife of their oldest brother, Matthew, stepped aside, opening the circle as she caressed the slight curve of her stomach. “They’re right to be concerned,” Ashley said. “I’ve seen some sad cases of how heartless people can be when it comes to the needs of a child.”

Their youngest brother, Jonah, snorted, lounging on the other wingback chair, one leg draped over the armrest. “Who are you condemning here? The baby’s mother or Phoebe?”

Ginger rested a hand on the back of Phoebe’s chair and shot her sons a censuring stare that hadn’t lost its impact over the years. “I’m sorry you had to hear that. My boys should be more diplomatic.”

Kyle watched his mother win over Phoebe with a few well-chosen words. There was no doubting who wore the diplomatic mantle in their family.

“I’m not offended,” Phoebe said. “In fact, I’m relieved that you’re all being practical about this. That bodes well for Nina, and I have nothing to hide.”

Jonah twitched back an overlong lock of hair from his brow. “Lady, I have to confess, this all sounds a little hinky to me. You wouldn’t be the first person to want a piece of the Landis lucrative pie.”

“I’m not here for money.” She patted Nina’s back steadily until the baby burped, then lowered her to the crook of her arm. “I only need time. I want to keep her out of foster care until we can find her mother, and if we can’t, then it’s my hope I can adopt her.”

Jonah tugged his dangling tux tie free…not that it had even been tied before they stepped back here for the family confab with Phoebe. “Then let the legal system sort it out. If you’re best for her, that’s where she’ll land.”

Ginger waved her rebellious youngest son up from the chair and motioned for pregnant Ashley to sit.

Ashley smiled her appreciation as she sat with a heavy sigh. “It’s not that cut-and-dried. I was lucky.”

Phoebe smoothed her hand over the baby’s head with obvious affection, but her face creased with concern. “Yours is a success story, then?”

“My foster sisters and I found a wonderful home with ‘Aunt’ Libby and were better off. Claire’s biological mother wanted to keep her, but was too young and didn’t have the money. Starr’s parents were criminals who refused to relinquish custody. My parents gave me up.” Quiet Ashley grew more fervent as she spoke. “Not all of the girls who were placed with Aunt Libby came straight there from their biological parents, though. Most foster parents are wellmeaning, big-hearted people, but there are some…” She shook her head in obvious disgust.

The defender in Kyle, the military part of him that had spent the past six years of his life protecting, made him want to pluck the kid up and keep her safe from the world.

How much stronger would those feelings become if it turned out the baby was his?

Phoebe rested her cheek on Nina’s head. “I don’t want to run any risk of Nina landing in an unloving home for even a day.”

“Exactly,” Ashley agreed. “Some people don’t have choices. There are options here for little Nina.”

His mother nodded. “I’ve already spoken with my assistant and she’s scheduled a paternity test.”

“On a weekend?”

Apparently Phoebe didn’t grasp his mother’s ability to move mountains.

Ginger toyed with one of her diamond stud earrings. “We’ll have an answer before child services opens on Monday morning.”

Time to test how far she was willing to go with this. He put his hands behind his back, military bearing tough to shake even with his separation papers in the works. “Since you all seem so certain Nina is mine, we might as well start moving her things into my wing of the house.”

“Excuse me?” Phoebe’s eyes went wide with alarm. “Um, Nina and I are already settled in our hotel, but thank you.”

Kyle braced a hand across the door. “If there’s even a chance that’s my daughter, I’m not letting you just walk out of here with her.”

Phoebe looked around nervously, then bolstered, her arms locked around Nina. “I’m not leaving her behind.”

“I don’t expect you to.” Nobody was going anywhere until he had answers. “You’ll both be staying with me at the family compound.”

Three

She didn’t have a choice but to go with him, and she knew it. Sitting in the back of Kyle’s Mercedes sedan beside Nina in her car seat, Phoebe just wished she’d foreseen this twist in the plans.

His broad shoulders, encased in the uniform jacket, spread in front of her in the driver’s seat. He guided the luxury car through the security gate into the Landis family beach compound. As the gates swung closed behind them, she shifted closer to Nina, the infant asleep and drooling in her rearfacing car seat. Morning was going to come early after this late night and she needed any edge she could scavenge to soothe her already frazzled nerves.

By appealing to Kyle for help, she’d also made herself vulnerable. One call from him to child services could steal her few days’ window to secure Nina’s future. She hadn’t felt so powerless since she’d watched helplessly while her husband had drowned.

Her gaze skimmed nervously ahead to the beachside Hilton Head mansion owned by the Landis family. Kyle had told her that his lawyer-brother and wife had a home a few miles away, and the oldest brother, a senator, and his wife had an antebellum mansion in downtown Charleston. Kyle had kept his gear in the third-floor quarters of the mansion since he’d deployed so often.

She’d rubbed elbows with plenty of affluent families at the college fund-raisers, but she’d never visited anywhere nearly this opulent. In spite of insisting she didn’t need money, a hotel over the weekend would have taken a chunk out of her account. She had to keep her savings intact for any legal fees she might need in adopting Nina. Staying here was the fiscally smart thing to do.

She’d seen photos from a Good Housekeeping spread when she’d looked up the Landis family on Google for more details, and she’d read about their diversified fortune that increased under the savvy care of each generation. But no picture could have prepared her for the breathtaking view. On prime oceanfront property, they’d built a sprawling white three-story house with Victorian peaks overlooking the Atlantic. A lengthy set of stairs stretched upward to the second-story wraparound porch that housed the main entrance.

Latticework shielded most of the first floor, which appeared to be a large entertainment area. Just as in Charleston, many homes so close to the water were built up as a safeguard against tidal floods from hurricanes.

The attached garage had so many doors she stopped counting. His sedan rolled to a stop beside the house, providing a view of the dense green bushes behind them and the Atlantic shore in front of them. An organic-shaped pool was situated between the house and beach, the chlorinated waters of the hot tub at the base churning a glistening swirl in the moonlight.

He put the car in Park and reached for the door. “I’ll get your things from the trunk while you unload the munchkin.”

Kyle stepped out before she could even answer. Apparently he’d inherited his mother’s take-charge attitude. Phoebe walked around to the other side of the Mercedes, security lights activating like sunrise coming early, and unhooked the carrier from the carseat base so as not to wake Nina.

He lifted her small suitcase and duffel with a porta-crib out of the trunk. “You sure do travel light compared to most women I’ve met.”

“I had only planned to stay overnight.” She’d pretty much counted on getting his support and then heading home in the morning, a naïve fantasy now that she saw how complicated things were becoming as reality played out. “I have a job to get back to in Columbia.”

He gestured toward the sprawling staircase. “Then you can leave Nina here.”

She hesitated at the bottom step, suddenly claus-trophobic about entering his house. Sheesh, it wasn’t like he could lock them away in the attic. “I won’t abandon her.”

“And neither will I,” he said with unmistakable determination, which made her glad for Nina.

If she could trust him.

She looked away from his persuasive blue eyes and back up the length of stairs. This would be temporary, until he left on his next assignment, then she could resume her life. “It seems we’re at an impasse.”

“What about your job?” His intoxicating bass drifted after her shoulder as he followed her up the outside wooden steps.

“I’m teaching all my classes online this semester anyway.” She’d adjusted her schedule to be with Nina, seeing this as her once-in-a-lifetime chance to take care of a baby. Little had she known when Bianca dropped off her daughter…“I can work from here until we have things settled.”

Until he left.

She would have her life back on track shortly. His job, along with his track record for short relationships, would have him out of her life soon. And she really didn’t have any other options if she wanted to keep Nina.

She pointed to the cluster of live oaks and palmettos framing a two-story carriage house. “Who lives there?”

“My youngest brother, Jonah. He’s finishing up his graduate studies in architecture. He stays here between internship trips to Europe.”

White with slate-blue shutters, the carriage house was larger than most family homes, certainly bigger than her little apartment in downtown Columbia.

“It’s lovely.”

She understood he came from money, but seeing Kyle’s lifestyle laid out so grandly only emphasized their different roots. Phoebe gripped the increasingly heavy car seat with both hands as she reached the top of the stairs. The tall double doors opened before Kyle could even reach forward.

His lawyer brother, Sebastian, filled the entrance, their appearances close enough to be mistaken for twins. Except the lawyer didn’t have Kyle’s laugh lines. “You finally made it.”

Kyle deposited her bags on the polished wood floor. “I drove slower because of the kid. Where’s Mom?”

“Still at the club with the general closing out the party so it’s not as obvious we’re gone.” Sebastian eyed Phoebe and Nina briefly then looked back at his brother. “We need to talk.”

Kyle ushered her into the cavernous foyer. “As soon as I get them settled.”

A woman, the wife of the lawyer brother, stood waiting in the archway leading to a mammoth living room with a wall of windows overlooking the ocean. “I can show her around.” The woman—Marianna, she’d been called back at the country club—swept a loose dark curl from her face. “You’ll want to put the baby to bed. I’ll take you to your rooms.”

Phoebe glanced into the hall where Kyle had deposited her bag. “Did the porta-crib make it inside?”

“Don’t worry,” Marianna reassured her. “Everything’s taken care of.”

Still, Phoebe hesitated. What did the brothers need to speak about that she couldn’t hear? Suspicion nipped her ragged nerves, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it, especially in her exhausted state. Maybe she could ferret some information of her own from this woman while Kyle was out of the room.

She smiled back at Marianna. “Thank you, I appreciate your help.”

Marianna extended her hand for the diaper bag. “Let me. Those things weigh a ton. Come on and I’ll show you to the nursery.”

“There’s a nursery here?”

“My husband and I live a few miles away, but Grandma Ginger keeps everything we need here if our little guy needs to nap. Ginger’s second husband, Hank Renshaw, also has grandchildren from his daughters. Between us all, we make good use of that room. You’ll find everything you could possibly need in there.”

Still, Phoebe hesitated. Giving Nina a room here, even a temporary one, seemed such a huge step. One she should have been happy about.

Marianna hitched the pink-flowered diaper bag over her shoulder. “There’s a nursery monitor so you can hear the least little peep if she needs you.”

Even swaying with exhaustion, Phoebe hesitated. “I don’t think I could leave her to wake up alone in a strange place.”

Marianna’s face softened with understanding. “There’s also a daybed in the nursery if you would rather sleep in there with her.”

“Show me the way.”

Marianna started the winding walk through pale-yellow halls until Phoebe wondered if she would be able to find her way back out of the Landis world again. Beach landscapes mingled with framed family candids that added a surprise touch of hominess to the designer decor. A grandfather clock ticked, their footsteps muffled by the light patterned Oriental rugs.

Phoebe couldn’t take the silence any longer. Besides, she would never learn anything from the woman this way. “Aren’t you going to ask me if I’m lying? Everyone else doubts me.”

Marianna glanced back with a reassuring smile, her thick dark hair swishing like the clock’s pendulum. “I believe you’re telling us the truth about Nina being Kyle’s daughter.”

“How can you be so certain?”

Marianna gestured to a portrait on the hall wall, a painting of an infant boy. Undisguised love shone in her eyes. “That’s my son, Sebastian Edward Landis Junior. And very obviously Nina’s cousin.” She tapped four other framed images of babies along the way, all with striking blue eyes. “These are of Matthew, Kyle, Sebastian and Jonah when they were little. There’s no mistaking the Landis look.”

She totally agreed. The deep blue eyes, the signature one-sided smile…they all had it, as did Nina. “If you see the likeness, why can’t they?”

“Because I’m evaluating with maternal eyes, and so are you.” Marianna stopped in front of a closed door, her hand resting on the brass handle. “We see them in a way nobody else ever will.”

Marianna’s words stabbed her with an inescapable reality. “I’m not her mother.”

“You’re willing to do anything for Nina. In my eyes, that makes you her mother.” Marianna looked at her with an understanding. “The family will want a paternity test for legal reasons, of course. They’re that way about details, but truly it will protect Nina’s interests as much as their own.”

“Those results take a while, don’t they?” Would they know soon enough to satisfy a family court judge?

“Nothing takes long when you’re a Landis. They’re an impatient bunch and have the money on hand to see that their wishes are met speedily. Don’t worry. You’ll get your answer quickly.”

Marianna swept open the door to reveal an airy nursery, decorated in neutral sea-foam-green, a white crib on one wall with a coordinated white daybed tucked under a window. A fat, delicious-looking rocker and ottoman took up a corner underneath a mural of fairy-tale characters. “Here we are.”

“Thank you for showing me the way.” Phoebe stepped inside with mixed feelings, wishing she could have given Nina all this and more.

Marianna kept her hand on the open door. “I’m sure Kyle will check in when he’s done talking with Sebastian, but I really need to head home now so the sitter can leave. I don’t like being away from little Edward too long. Good luck.”

“Hopefully I won’t need it.”

With a smile and a quick squeeze of her arm, Marianna seemed to sense her worry. “It will be fine. You’ll both be fine. You’ll see.”

She closed the door behind her. The click reminded Phoebe of her plans to learn more from the woman. She hadn’t found out much more than confirmation of what she’d already known in her heart. Nina was a Landis.

Long after Marianna left and Nina was tucked in her crib, Phoebe sat on the daybed, hugging her knees and staring out at the ocean, unable to sleep. Too many questions, uncertainties, fears churned in her mind like the curling waves, rolling and retreating only to crash right back over her again. One thing shone through as clearly as the moonlight slashing away at the murky depths.

The Landises had power.

The kind of money and impatience that could buy an overnight paternity test could surely oust anyone who didn’t belong in their elite world. With no blood claim to Nina, and Bianca gone, Phoebe could easily find herself at odds with Kyle all too soon.

After having been helpless while she’d watched her husband leave her, she couldn’t tamp down the reflexive fear of having someone she loved taken from her again.

Parked behind the desk in the family study, Kyle scrubbed a hand along his bristly face that had long ago gone past a five-o’clock shadow. Early morning rays from the sun were just beginning to poke through the horizon and past floor-to-ceiling windows. Answers were piercing through just as surely.

Sebastian slept on the butter-yellow leather sofa in front of built-in library shelves of warm oak, but Kyle kept watch for the updates that had been coming in from the private investigator over his Black-Berry throughout the night, while doing some checking on his own. Money and the Internet provided a wealth of fast information.

So far, everything about Phoebe Slater’s story checked out. She did, in fact, work at the University of South Carolina. She’d been a history professor on campus for three years, but for the fall semester had abruptly shifted to teaching only online classes—right about the time Nina would have entered her life full-time.

Bianca Thompson had indeed gone to school with Phoebe, and Bianca had given birth to a daughter named Nina.

He cradled his BlackBerry in his hand, staring at the latest report. The one that had surprised him.

Phoebe was a widow.

The circumstances of how her husband had died were simply listed as accidental drowning. That explained the haunted look that never left her eyes, even when she smiled, which was only when she looked at the kid.

This was getting complicated.

He shoved restlessly to his feet, pacing, farther and farther away from the desk until he found himself making his way through the halls, toward the nursery where Marianna had said both Nina and Phoebe were staying. The door was cracked slightly open. The baby slept on in the crib his mother had set up for her grandchildren. They’d expected Matthew and Ashley’s baby, due this winter, to be the next addition.

Who could have foreseen this?

He stepped deeper into the room—and stopped short.

Phoebe sat curled up in a corner of the daybed, asleep with her cheek resting against the windowsill. The sheet and coverlet twisted around her, attesting to a restless night. She still wore her little black number from the party, but she’d kicked off her strappy heels. The delicate arches of her bare feet called to him to stroke up her legs, explore the softness of her skin.

Her white-blond hair streaked over her face, the silver clasp discarded on the bedside table. Given they both wore the same clothes from the night before, they could have been a couple ending a long, satisfying night together.

Except she wasn’t here for him. He started to back out and his uniform shoe squeaked.

Phoebe jolted awake. She shoved her silky blond hair away from her eyes, blinking fast, adding to her sultry morning-after appeal. “What? Nina?”

Kyle held a finger to his mouth. “The kid’s still sleeping,” he said softly, striding closer. “No need to get up yet, unless you want to go to shower and change.” He really didn’t need an image of her showering seared in his brain. “I can, uh, keep an eye on her.”

He had his BlackBerry. He could still work from here.

She tugged a strap back up her arm. “I only meant to close my eyes for a second after I put on her pj’s, and then I was going to unpack and put on something else. I must have fallen asleep.”

“You have reason to be tired after yesterday, traveling with a baby on your own, then sleeping sitting up.”

She shifted free of the tangled covers. “I didn’t want her to wake up in a strange place and be scared.”

An image of the little tyke’s face scrunched up and crying sucker-punched him. Damn. And he didn’t even know if she was his yet. “I really, uh, don’t mind staying here with the kid while you sleep or shower.”

“Her name is Nina.”

“I know.”

“You keep calling her ‘the kid’ or ‘rug rat’ or other generic things.” Phoebe swung her slim legs from the bed, her simple black dress rucking up to her knees. “She’s a person—Nina Elizabeth Thompson.”

“I know what her name is.” He dragged his eyes away from the enticing curve of Phoebe’s legs and back to her equally intriguing face. “I saw her birth certificate. She’s Nina.”

Nina. A person. His eyes went to the crib where the little girl—Nina—slept on her back in fuzzy pink, footed pj’s, sucking on one tiny fist in her sleep. A plastic panda teething toy lay beside her head.

For the first time in a crazy-ass night, he stood still long enough to think beyond the weekend. What if Nina turned out to be his? What if—as Sebastian had warned him—the courts still opted to put her in a foster home for even a short period of time? No. Freaking. Way. He had to stack the odds in his favor, in Nina’s favor, just in case this little girl belonged to him.

Damn. He was actually considering Phoebe’s proposal.

His hand fell to rest on the crib railing. He glanced over his shoulder at Phoebe. “You’ve given this paper marriage thing some thought.”

“I haven’t thought of much but that.” She stood, her eyes wary. “Does this mean you’re thinking about it, too?”

“I won’t turn my back on my responsibility.” He gripped the railing tighter. “We still have to wait for the paternity test. If she’s not mine, marrying me won’t help you. Bianca could have lied to you.”

“She didn’t.” Phoebe crossed to stand beside him and rested a hand on top of his. She squeezed his fingers lightly. “Nina is yours. I know it.”

Her touch sent a jolt through him, just a simple touch, for Pete’s sake. But her soft skin and light vanilla scent along with the pooling gratitude in her eyes had him downright itchy. He needed distance. Fast.

He stared at her hand pointedly and scrounged up some sarcasm. “I don’t want you to do something stupid like fall in love.”

She jerked her hand away and shook it as if it burned. “With you?”

“Who else have you asked to marry you?”

She laughed, then laughed again until her giggles tripped on a snort. The baby stirred and Phoebe went silent in a flash. He gripped her elbow and guided her back out into the hall, the doorway to the nursery still open.

She sagged against a wall alongside framed portraits of generations of baby Landises. “Don’t worry.” She gasped through a final laugh. “There’s not a chance in hell I’ll fall in love with you, but thanks for helping to lighten the mood for me.”

What he’d meant as sarcastically funny suddenly didn’t seem quite so humorous. “You’re quite a buster there.”

“I feel certain your, uh, man parts and ego will survive any potential busting.”

“You seem mighty confident,” he pressed, not even sure why, since she appeared so damned confident in her ability to keep her distance. “We’ve barely met. What have I done to make you dislike me so much? Not to sound egotistical, but I happen to have a lot of money. I’ve been told I have a pretty decent sense of humor, and I haven’t noticed my face scaring off small children or animals.”

“Other than the money part, the same could be said of me,” she pointed out logically. “So since you already have plenty of money and don’t need more from a wife, should I worry about you falling in love with me?”

Damn. She was good.

He couldn’t stop a begrudging smile of respect at how she’d taken him down a notch. “Touché.”

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“It’s nothing personal. You’re a beautiful, smart woman.” A hot, sharp woman, a distinction that was even more pulse throbbing.

“Of course. Just as it wasn’t personal when I laughed at you.”

“Point well taken. I’m years away from being ready to settle down.” He had his hands full launching his new life and career outside the military. “What about you?”

“I was married before.”

He knew that already, of course, but letting on would make it clear he was already having her investigated. “Nasty divorce, huh?”

Her face went devoid of emotion, completely. He’d seen the look before on shell-shocked soldiers, numbing themselves for fear even the smallest emotion would shatter them to bits.

“He died,” she said simply. “There’s no room in my heart to love anyone else, not when he still fills every corner.”

He exhaled hard. He knew that kind of love existed. He’d seen it with his parents, and again when his widowed mom remarried. He’d also seen how torn up his dad was over having to divide himself between career ambition and family. “Wow, that’s hefty stuff there. I’m really sorry. How did he die?”

And why did he need to know more about it?

She looked down, staying silent.

Damn it, he needed to know everything about her. He had a short time to make an important choice, a majorly life-altering choice. He was used to making snap decisions in war, but he did so with as much intel as possible at his disposal. This shouldn’t be any different. It wasn’t personal.

“Phoebe, if we’re going to get married, I should know. It will seem strange if someone thinks to ask and I don’t have the right answer. For Nina’s sake, we would need to make it look real.”

“He drowned.” A flash of undiluted grief bolted through her brown eyes like a lethal lightning strike. Then her face went blank again. She pushed away from the wall, away from him. “I should get back to Nina.”

She spun on her heel, giving Kyle her back. She couldn’t have been any clearer. Discussion over. Stand down. But he had his answer. That flash of grief in her eyes, followed by her abrupt shutdown left him with no doubts about where she stood on the subject of her ex-husband.

She was completely committed to another man.

That should have made the possibility of a paper marriage easier to contemplate, but damn, what a tangled mess. The door clicked closed behind her, and he reminded himself to take things one step at a time. First, he had to give a blood sample later today and wait for the paternity test results.

Although his instincts now shouted loud and clear that Phoebe Slater was telling the truth.

Four

“Marry me.”

Kyle’s demand—not request—bounced around inside Phoebe’s head hot on the heels of the preliminary paternity results. Overwhelmed, she sagged in the front seat of his Mercedes, Nina asleep in the back after the exhausting day at the doctor’s.

Butter-soft leather cradled her in luxury but offered little comfort for the stress knotting her neck. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“Now’s not the time to lose courage.” He turned on the engine and adjusted the climate control for the muggy fall afternoon, all efficiency with a calm she envied. “I’ve talked it over with Sebastian and you were right about this being the fastest, most efficient way to secure Nina’s future.”

She stared through the windshield at the busy hospital complex parking lot. Her eyes were mag-netically drawn to mothers with their children.

Mothers and fathers, too. “How long?”

“We’ll get married on Monday—tomorrow.” His jaw flexed with the first signs of stress.

A closer look revealed the pale hint under his tan.

She fisted her hands to keep from touching him, comforting him. She understood well how overwhelming this could all be, becoming a parent out of the blue. “No, I mean, how long would we keep up this charade? Who will we tell?”

“My family already knows what’s going on. But beyond them, we would need to keep up appearances for Nina’s sake.”

“Appearances?” Holy crap, she’d meant fake marriage. Not pretend-to-be-real fake marriage.

“We’ll need to live together, at least for a while.” A slight grin eased the deep lines around his mouth. “But since I live at the Landis compound, we’ll be surrounded by family to protect you from your lecherous husband.”

She tucked her tongue in the side of her mouth to keep from laughing, but she couldn’t keep from smiling…until she thought about the next hurdle she should have considered before moving forward with this half-baked plan of hers. “What will your family think?”

More importantly, how would they react to her and Nina in their lives full-time? Her smile faded.

“You’ll be welcomed as a Landis. And my mother will adore you simply because you love her…uh…granddaughter.”

“That’s a relief, at least.” Nina would never be alone and abandoned again. “I wouldn’t want things to be awkward when I bring Nina to visit.”

“Visit?” He cocked a dark eyebrow and put the car in Reverse. “You’ll need to stay at the house for at least a couple of months. At that point we could maintain two residences and claim work conflicts.”

“Months?” She pressed a hand to her forehead.

He nodded curtly. “Long enough to get official custody worked out. Or until Bianca returns.” His fist tightened on the gearshift. “If we don’t hear from her, we can start divorce proceedings after a year.”

“And about Nina?”

“I’ll want visitation for me and for my family.”

“Of course.” She went weak with relief as he backed the car out of the parking spot. It must have been hard for him to concede full custody. Even though he hadn’t known his daughter long, Phoebe had been around the Landises enough to recognize they took the notion of family loyalty to a whole new level.

Thank heavens, he wasn’t going to fight her over custody. Tears burned behind her eyes and she blinked fast to hold them back, along with the urge to throw her arms around him in gratitude.

He was far too foreboding at the moment for a hug, his normal grin and lightheartedness nowhere in sight. Maybe he needed some reassurance, too. “I want to sign a prenup that makes it clear I have no claim to any Landis assets. Can your brother draw one up right away?”

“Except I will provide for Nina.”

“Whatever you think is fair. I’m just so relieved you’re not going to take her away.”

“It’s obvious from everything I’ve seen and learned about you that you’ve got her best interests at heart.” He put the car in first gear, focusing his attention in front, his jaw flexing again, faster. “I’m in no position to be a full-time father with the travel load that comes with my job.”

“Of course, that’s totally understandable.” Although she would have given up any job for Nina, had in fact made major concessions in her own work world. But she wasn’t going to argue with him.

She did, however, want to ask him how he felt about all of this. Wasn’t he frustrated over marrying a woman he barely knew? How did he feel about having a daughter, for crying out loud?

His resolute face shut her out as he steered onto the road. He was doing what needed to be done, fulfilling obligations. She should have been relieved over his emotional detachment.

Instead, she just felt hollow inside. “I need it to be indisputably clear I’m only interested in Nina’s well-being.”

“Okay, then. I’ll let Sebastian know so he can draw up the papers.”

So cold and businesslike. Nothing in the arrangement resembled her emotional engagement to Roger. He’d proposed at the beach, no ring, no money, no complicated legal dealings to wade through. Just simple declarations of how much they loved each other and wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

Yet, tomorrow she would be married to the man next to her. She’d gotten her way. Nina would be as safe as she could possibly arrange.

So why did a year suddenly sound like forever?

“By the power vested in me by the State of South Carolina, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

The jowly justice of the peace’s proclamation resonated hollowly in Phoebe’s ears, as if she was watching some kind of drama, far removed from her place beside Kyle. He wore a uniform again, a less formal version this time, but still with a jacket and tie for their courthouse wedding.

Everything had felt surreal since they’d rushed through the paternity test over the weekend, verifying what she’d known in her heart for certain since laying eyes on Kyle Landis. He was Nina’s biological father.

Once Kyle had heard the paternity test results confirming she was his, he hadn’t hesitated. Things had taken off at warp speed from there as he arranged for a Monday-afternoon wedding and an appointment with a family court judge shortly thereafter. The building complex made for one-stop shopping. This military man sure knew how to take command and move mountains.

Her fingers clutched around the bouquet of mango calla lilies with yellow roses. One of his sentimental sisters-in-law had thrust it into her hands—Ashley, the pregnant one married to the oldest politician brother. The other wife, Marianna, jostled her son on her hip, while Ginger stood beside her general husband and proudly held her new granddaughter, Nina.

Phoebe was a part of this family now, even if in name only.

The justice of the peace closed his folder containing the vows, a South Carolina flag and American flag behind him. “You may kiss the bride.”

Phoebe looked up sharply at Kyle, any feeling of being a distant observer gone in a snap. Surely nobody expected them to go through with that part of the ceremony. Except the magistrate.

Kyle’s face creased in a one-sided smile and he dipped his head toward her. She barely had time to register his oldest brother smothering a laugh before Kyle’s mouth touched hers. Firm and gentle all at once, he kissed her. Her eyes closed, her ears roared and she lost track of everyone around her.

It had been so long since she’d felt a man’s lips against hers. Too long. All her buried sensuality smoked back to life, steaming through her at just a simple, closed-lips caress. She wanted to open for more, more of this, more of him. Dots sparked in front of her eyes and she realized she’d forgotten to breathe.

He eased away slowly, thank goodness, so she had time to regain her balance. She clutched her bouquet, the floral scent teasing her with romanticism, and she opened her eyes. Kyle stared back at her for just an instant and then offered his elbow along with his typical lighthearted grin. She couldn’t help smiling in return. Maybe, just maybe they could wade through this tangled mess.

As they turned toward the gathered family, Ginger held Nina out for them to hold. Kyle hesitated. Only for a second but long enough to bring her back to reality.

Phoebe thrust her bouquet of roses and lilies toward him and took the baby from Ginger. “Come here, sweetie. You were so good, so quiet.”

She smoothed Nina’s floral pinafore, adjusting the bonnet and booties until it seemed the momentary awkwardness had passed. But she hadn’t forgotten. In spite of his speed in stepping up to the plate—honorable though that was—she could see he hadn’t connected with Nina in any real way.

Not exactly the dream wedding day she’d fantasized about as a child, although she did feel like she was playing dress-up. She wore a knee-length gown borrowed from her new sister-in-law. The woman had graciously offered for Phoebe to keep the simple drape of pale yellow—with a Versace label. Marianna had insisted it didn’t fit her anymore since she’d given birth to her son.

Nina grasped the strand of pearls resting on Phoebe’s collarbone, Roger’s gift to her the day they’d exchanged vows. Their wedding had been a simple affair, as well, but she hadn’t minded. There’d been so little money in those days. He’d sold one of his first-edition books to pay for the necklace.

A fresh ache stabbed through her over the thought of never having Roger’s baby. Nina was her one chance at motherhood, for however long that lasted.

A camera flash went off from a corner of the room, taken by a photographer hired by the Landises and soon to be released to the press. She blinked against the continuous barrage of flashes. At least the pictures had been staged by them, along with a story stating simply that Kyle had married his daughter’s guardian.

She’d never seen such choreographed control before.

Kyle angled down conspiratorially. “Welcome to living with a family full of politicians. Watch what you say, and don’t ever, ever chew with your mouth open. Well, unless you want it plastered on some Internet blog before you’ve swallowed your food.”

Nina reached to pat his face, more of a thumping actually with her drool-covered palm, then she giggled and stuffed her plastic panda teething toy into her mouth. He was so charming with adults, why did he freeze with Nina? Or was it all children?

Regardless, he would be jetting off again soon to his base for some mission and she would be alone again with Nina. She just had to make it through a few days, not much time to ache for another kiss.

Ginger gave her a one-armed hug that seemed genuine and not just for the photo op. “Welcome to the family, dear.”

“Thank you.” Phoebe paused, lowering her voice. “But you know this is only temporary.”

Her new mother-in-law gave her shoulder a final squeeze. “You’re a Landis and you’re an important part of my granddaughter’s life. We’ll worry about tomorrow when it gets here.”

Panic constricted her breathing and the diamond-studded band on her finger seemed suddenly too tight. She should be happy. Everything was going just as Kyle had said it would, with his family accepting her even knowing the full circumstances.

Once the photographer had been ushered out, Marianna stepped alongside her with a supportive smile. “You look exhausted. Let’s finish up the paperwork so you can get out of those heels.”

If she could just go back to her apartment for even a little while and regroup. “You’re so thoughtful to have loaned me your clothes, but I can’t keep borrowing from you forever. I’ll need to go back to Columbia. Nina and I are out of—”

Ginger waved a manicured hand. “No worries, dear. I’ve already taken care of everything. There are clothes waiting for you at the house. You can choose whatever you like. Marianna arranged for a complete nursery to be set up closer to your room and ordered clothes for the baby.” She ticked through the list with a thoroughness that likely made governmental issues run more smoothly but felt a little steamrollerlike at the moment. She clapped her hands together. “Now if you’ll pardon me, I need to pop in upstairs to speak with a judge friend of mine about something that came across my desk last week.”

Ginger strode out of the office and into the hall with a fast, efficient click of her high heels.

Phoebe sagged with an exhale and turned to Marianna. “She set up all of that to happen while we were here?”

Marianna leaned closer, jostling her baby son more securely on her hip. “Money, influence and a personal assistant make things move much faster.” Like with that overnight paternity test. “She means well and is usually right. You might as well go with the flow for now. If you have a stand you want to make, you’ll be better equipped to do so well-rested and with a full stomach.”

“You’re encouraging me to leave?” She hadn’t expected to find such total support within the Landis camp for whatever decision she made.

“I’m simply telling you that if you intend to fight, you would be wise to choose your timing well. The Landises are all charming—and stubborn. Of course, you’re a Landis now.”

“Temporarily.”

Marianna didn’t answer.

Realization seeped in with the full weight of what she’d done. The sense of claustrophobia she’d felt on her first night at the family compound squeezed tighter. The Landises had accepted Nina because of her blood tie. However, it was also a double-edged sword.

They didn’t know Nina. So they didn’t love her, not really, not yet. But they wouldn’t let her go.

Kyle tossed the bouquet on the clerk’s desk and picked up the pen.

The final paperwork sealing this marriage waited in front of him by the blob of yellow-and-orange flowers. Today should have taken care of all problems by securing Nina’s future. His kid. His child. He still hadn’t sorted through all that in his head, beyond moving ahead and taking care of his responsibilities. However, instead of smoothing out his life, this ceremony had introduced a new problem—not totally unexpected—but certainly surprising in the magnitude.

He wanted his wife. One kiss had made that more than clear.

His grip tightened around the pen, darkening the stroke of his scrawl. It was all he could do not to send everyone away so he could seal a deeper, fuller imprint on Phoebe’s mouth and in her memory. The scent of her lingered on his shirt from the brief brush of her breasts against him and left him aching to explore. He’d found her attractive from the first time he’d seen her at the welcome-home bash. He’d even wanted to ask her out on a date.

Then they’d started talking, he’d met Nina and here they were.

At least Phoebe looked as stunned as he felt by the kiss. Thank God, he’d scrounged up enough control to keep his hands to himself so he wouldn’t give the photographer an unexpected headliner. He glanced up from the paper over to Phoebe standing with Marianna. The yellow silky dress hugged the subtle curve of Phoebe’s breasts, gliding over her slim hips in a way that made him wonder what she wore underneath.

Kyle checked over his shoulder fast to make sure the photographer hadn’t slipped back in.

He’d been lucky to stay out of the spotlight this long, but now that he was out of the military, he was fair game for the media hounds. Although he had to admit Phoebe certainly made for a beautiful subject for the photographer with her cool, blond good looks.

Phoebe shuffled Nina over to Marianna and glided toward him, drawing his eyes to her legs. He flipped the pen between his fingers. Maybe this marriage could have some unexpected benefits. Who could fault him for sleeping with his own wife?

Her heart might well be buried along with her dead husband, but if that kiss was anything to judge by, her sensuality was alive and well.

Phoebe held out her hand. “May I have the pen, please?”

“Yeah, right.” He passed it over and she leaned by him, a whiff of her floral shampoo drifting from her loose blond hair. An image flashed through his mind of the silky straight strands splayed across a pillow while he peeled her clothes away.

He tugged at his suddenly too tight tie.

Phoebe nudged aside the bouquet to rest her wrist on the table as she signed her name. She tucked her tongue in her cheek. He could still taste the hint of coffee from her lips.

Coffee, for crying out loud. Who would have thought the simple brew would taste so sexy? His heart rate spiked.

She finished her signature with a curly flourish at odds with her no-nonsense air.

Regardless, it was official. They were married. His eyes narrowed. And he fully intended to consummate this union as soon as he could romance his new wife into his bed.

Kyle slid the papers across the table toward his mother’s assistant and focused his full attention on his wife. “Have you eaten anything today?”

The family would understand if he and Phoebe opted out of any scheduled big gatherings for some time to get to know each other. He seemed to recall a quiet little café near the courthouse. He’d eaten there before with his mother’s judge friend, later took the judge’s daughter there for a date.

Hmm…perhaps not a good idea to take the new wife to an old date site. Moving on to plan B.

Phoebe pushed her hair behind her ears with a sigh. “It’s been a busy day.”

Was she thinking about her first wedding? Understandable, but he needed to divert her thoughts of the man who still had such a prominent place in her mind.

“I would offer to take you out, but I imagine you’re exhausted. The rug rat looks like she needs to stretch her legs. What do you say I pick up some takeout along the way and we spend the afternoon on the beach at home? There’s plenty of space away from the rest of the family so that it will be just the three of us, relaxing by the shore, getting to know each other.”

“That’s really thoughtful of you.” Wariness lit her dark eyes. “I would like that, very much.”

“Then let’s get moving. Once we’re past the press no doubt waiting outside, we’ll be home free.”

Smiling reassuringly at her, he palmed her back. This time he prepared to steel himself for the jolt of awareness sparked by the feel of her under his palm. He ushered her out of the office, into the long corridor toward the elevator. He vaguely registered the footsteps of his family following and talking with each other. Cameras started clicking again from a small pack of reporters clustered behind a security guard blocking them from pressing closer.

His oldest brother, Matthew, broke away and started speaking with one of the reporters, diverting their attention by offering up a couple of sound bites. Apparently an interview with a U.S. senator trumped snagging more photos of a surprise wedding.

Kyle smiled. Thanks, bro.

He focused his attention forward, intent on getting Phoebe and Nina home. Anticipation ramped inside him. For the first time since Phoebe Slater had blasted into his world, he had control of his life.

Nina’s future would be secure.

And for however long this marriage lasted, he and Phoebe could have one hell of a totally legal affair. No worries about emotional entanglements for either of them.

He stopped in front of the private side elevator designated for employees and special guests. He jabbed the button just as the door slid open to reveal one person already inside.

Damn.

A leggy redhead in her twenties blinked in wideeyed surprise. Then smiled with recognition.

The timing couldn’t have been worse to run into one of his exes. The judge’s daughter. The one he’d dated briefly in the past.

Leslie? No. Lucy took the bouquet from him. “Okay, Kyle Landis, you’re officially forgiven.” She lifted the flowers to her nose and inhaled deeply, thrusting her breasts out none too subtly. “These are just gorgeous, you charmer. Calla lilies and roses, no less. I didn’t know you were so romantic.”

Phoebe bristled visibly beside him, stepping away from his palm at her waist. He needed to implement damage control before some reporter with a telephoto lens and great hearing put together a new headline.

He rushed Phoebe and Nina into the elevator with Lucy and pushed the Close button. “Uh, Lucy, I’d like for you to meet—”

Lucy laughed, talking right over him. “I was just going to leave you an ‘eat dirt and die, you scumbag’ message, but since you’ve apologized so nicely with flowers,” she lifted the bouquet to her nose briefly, “I’ll forgive you for breaking my heart.”

Five

Stuck in the elevator with Kyle, most of his family and a towering redhead holding Phoebe’s bouquet, she mentally thumped herself for being so gullible. Bianca had warned her of Kyle’s ladies’-man past, damn it.

Phoebe resisted the urge to back into a corner. Pride starched her spine. Pride, and a need to carry this off for Nina’s sake.

He braced his shoulders, his uniform stretching over his chest. “Phoebe, this is a friend of the family, Lucy Cooper. Lucy, this is my wife, Phoebe.” He gestured to his daughter and said simply, “And this is Nina.”

The bubbly redhead turned…well, as red as her hair. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times, and Phoebe actually felt sorry for the woman.

Lucy’s eyes dropped down to the flowers in her hand. Her mouth went tight. “I guess these must be yours. My mistake.” She thrust the bouquet toward Phoebe. “Congratulations. And good luck.”

There was no missing the sarcasm coating her words more thickly than her cloying cologne soaked the enclosed space in the elevator. Phoebe couldn’t bring herself to be angry at the woman for spoiling the day. She’d found out firsthand today how quickly a single kiss from Kyle Landis could persuade a woman to ignore warning signs.

The elevator doors swooshed open again blessedly soon and Lucy didn’t even offer a good-bye before making tracks out into the back hall, toward a glowing exit sign.

Jonah inched forward, scratched his head. “At least she didn’t ask about the kid.”

Sebastian coughed into his hand. Or laughed. But Phoebe wasn’t feeling the love. She couldn’t avoid Kyle—they were married, after all.

However she could damn well resist his charming smile. “Kyle, I’ve changed my mind about dinner. I don’t think I’m in much of a beach mood anymore.”

Seven hours later, Phoebe dropped back onto her bed in the guest suite with an exhausted—exasperated—huff. At least she’d made it through the large family dinner, even if she hadn’t been able to bring herself to eat much. Tempting thoughts of how they could have spent the evening tormented her. Images of lazing the hours away together on the beach, getting to know each other. After the Lucy debacle, he hadn’t bothered bringing up cozy meals together.

She rolled onto her stomach and picked at the white piping around the dusky-rose-colored pillow sham.

Just a family friend.

How clichéd.

It was obvious Lucy had expected more out of Kyle, from the way she’d gushed all over the flowers. Phoebe’s flowers, now discarded on the other pillow. She plucked a rosebud from the bouquet, releasing a fresh whiff of the fragrant perfume.

Stroking the bloom along her mouth, she glanced through the open side door to the connected sitting area Ginger had converted into a permanent nursery just for Nina. All that trouble and money, as if she and Nina would be staying here, made her nervous.

At least the local judge had been able to connect with a Columbia judge and they’d worked out an agreement granting temporary custody to Kyle and Phoebe Landis. Even thinking of her new last name made her shiver. She’d been Phoebe Slater since she’d married Roger. She’d kept his name even after he’d died. Before that, she’d been Phoebe Campbell. Phoebe Campbell wouldn’t have been able to make things move so quickly, either, and right now she couldn’t bring herself to resent the Landises for their privileged ways when it kept Nina secure.

The rest of the day had been a blur after leaving the courthouse. Ginger had had a meal ready back at the house, and neither Kyle nor Phoebe had asked to be alone.

It shouldn’t matter that Kyle was a flirt with a vast dating history. She didn’t intend to stay married to him. She only cared because of Nina, damn it, and didn’t want a constant parade of countless women marching in and out of Kyle’s life. Phoebe swung her feet off the edge of the bed and padded across the hardwood floor to Nina’s new nursery, so much nicer than the little dressing-room nook back at Phoebe’s apartment and more personal than the luxurious green nursery down the hall for visiting Landis and Renshaw grandkids.

Nina wasn’t a visitor anymore.

Did she miss her tiny space back in the apartment? Phoebe had poured her heart into creating the little garden haven, complete with painted puckish fairies that reminded her of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

This space was tastefully decorated in pinks and browns to coordinate with the already rose-colored walls. Little ballet-shoe accents rounded out the decor. Without a doubt, the Landises had more to offer Nina financially. But what about love?

Her fingers tensed along the cherrywood crib railing. Losing her husband had taught Phoebe too well how priceless and precious—and fragile—love could be. All this money wouldn’t mean anything to Nina if she wasn’t wrapped in affection, as well.

Ginger Landis Renshaw might be a loving grandmother, but she’d given no indication she intended to be anything other than a grandparent. And Kyle? Phoebe had definite questions and concerns about his ability to take care of Nina, if he even wanted to beyond some sense of appearances. She took her responsibility to Nina seriously.

The room darkened and she glanced up to find Kyle standing in the opening as if conjured from her thoughts. He’d changed from his suit into well-fitting jeans and a white button-down shirt with a South Carolina palmetto tree stitched on the pocket. His rolled-up sleeves exposed tanned forearms sprinkled with dark hair. Masculine arms. Even out of uniform, he made her mouth dry right up with want.

She tore her gaze away from him and gestured around the transformed sitting area. “This is lovely. The little ballet shoes are precious. Your mother and Marianna went to a lot of trouble to create this space just for Nina, when there’s already a nursery here in the house.”

“Marianna’s an interior decorator. In fact, she decorated the whole house.”

“She obviously knows her way around little-girl fashions.” She trailed a finger along the tiny pinksatin slippers hanging from the wall over a mirror. “Did you need something?”

“I noticed you didn’t eat much at supper. I’ve brought you food.”

She thought of earlier, when they’d planned a picnic on the beach and considered a polite no thanks, but she was hungry. She simply needed to keep her guard in place. “Thank you. That’s very thoughtful.”

“I promised you a meal and I keep my promises.” He nodded his head for her to follow him. “Let’s step out onto the porch off of your room. The food is set up there so you can hear Nina if she needs you, but we won’t wake her by talking.”

He turned without waiting for her to answer, a man used to people following his orders, damn his broad shoulders and perfect butt. Need crackled to life inside her again with a reminder of just how much he’d moved her with one quick kiss. And she had gone so long without more than just kisses.

Stay strong. She needed to keep things simple between the two of them. Complications could spell big trouble down the line when it came time to say their farewells.

He swung the double French doors wide, out onto the veranda. “Prepare to feast.”

Phoebe blinked in surprise, stopping short of the wrought iron table set with linen, silver, roses and the warm glow of a candle protected from the ocean wind by a hurricane globe. A wooden rail surrounded the balcony, the waves rolling hypnotically only a staircase away. Her dress from the wedding swirled around her legs in sensual swipes.

“This is so much more than I expected.” She peeked under a polished cover and found a steak and lobster dinner, the scent of warm melted butter steaming lightly upward. “Much more.”

The table was set so beautifully she’d expected some dainty, tiny offerings, and while the food was still decoratively presented, she was surprised at the hearty portions.

Kyle held out her chair. “I thought you might be hungry.”

She edged past him to take her seat, her shoulder brushing him briefly before she settled into the chair. His forearms skimmed her side as he tucked her under the table, the crisp tanginess of his cologne drifting on the breeze and more enticing than any finely cooked fare.

She had to fight off the sudden urge to tip her head back against his shoulder, to revisit the taste of his mouth on hers…

“I am hungry.” Ravenously so, suddenly.

Well, if she couldn’t feed her senses the way her body craved, at least she could enjoy this meal. She draped a linen napkin across her lap, eyeing the cup of creamy crab soup.

Kyle motioned toward two wine bottles in silver ice buckets. “Would you prefer chardonnay or merlot?” He smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning to get you soused and press for my marital ‘rights.’ The cook just wasn’t sure which kind of wine we would prefer with a surf-and-turf meal.”

Marital rights.

The words brought to mind an image of the two of them tangled in Kyle’s sheets, taking the attraction to a heated conclusion. Blinking back the thought, she spooned up a taste of the creamy soup instead—and held back her moan of appreciation. Then again, maybe she’d just needed an excuse to release the tension inside her at the thought of a physical relationship with the man seated across from her.

Her senses sang to life begging for more of this, of everything. “I really should keep my head clear to listen for Nina.”

And to be sure she didn’t get soused and claim her marital rights.

“One glass then?”

She couldn’t resist everything. “Chardonnay, then, please.”

He filled her wineglass halfway, then poured the merlot into his. He held her eyes with his while she tasted. Damn. There was a difference in the good stuff. How much of this would it take to ruin her for cheap wine for the rest of her life?

He set his glass back on the table. “I’m sorry about the mix-up with Lucy at the courthouse.”

Phoebe tucked her tongue against her cheek while she considered what to say. She was upset, but probably not for the reason he thought. And she couldn’t change anything. Better to take the high road. “You have nothing to apologize for. It’s not like you were seeing some other woman while we were engaged for all of twenty-four hours.”

She tried a smile, hoping the conversation would veer away from the woman.

“You’re being very reasonable.” He watched her through narrowed eyes.

“Did you expect me to throw a jealous fit? I seem to recall you already warned me against falling in love with you.” She leaned forward on her elbows. “I’m a very good listener.”

He threw his head back and laughed, that sexy sound of pure Kyle winding around her with the wind. “Just so you know, the wedding ring on your finger put an end to my friendship with Lucy.”

“I noticed how fast she ran out of the elevator.”

“I meant that as long as you’re wearing my ring, I won’t be seeing anyone else.”

Now, that surprised her…If she could even believe him. “Bianca warned me you were a charmer.”

His face hardened for the first time since she’d met him. “You think I’m BS-ing you? I may have a lot of flaws, but I do not lie.”

“You really expect me to believe you’re going to be celibate for the entire marriage? For a whole year?” She wondered how long he really expected that to last? Did he have plans to walk away that she didn’t know about?

“Aren’t you? What makes you think I have less self-control than you do?”

She opened her mouth—and closed it again. She didn’t have an answer to that. And truth be told, as much as she cautioned herself against being gullible, she believed him on this one. Phoebe nudged aside her soup and stabbed the steak.

He swirled his merlot in his glass, watching her. “Celibacy doesn’t make for much of a wedding night.”

“I don’t know about that.” Although just the mention filled her mind with what the night could have held. Had he chosen his words with that intent? “Nina is safe for now. That means the world to me.”

He finished off his merlot. “What about when Bianca shows up again?”

The bite of steak palled in her mouth. She swallowed thickly. “I only want the best thing for Nina. That would be to have her parents’ love and want to take care of her.”

“Even if that means giving her up?”

Her fork clattered against her plate. “Are you threatening to take her away?”

His one-sided smile returned with a dry twist. “Hardly. You’re a terrific mother. But me? Ask anyone and they’ll tell you I’m a crappy candidate for fatherhood.”

Curiosity nipped.

“You say you’re always honest, so tell me. What do you have against children?”

“Why would you say that?” he asked evasively. “Marianna and Sebastian have never voiced any complaints about me with kids.”

“You pick Nina up, you carry her, even play with her, but you’re always holding something of yourself back. I know it’s early yet, but it seems like you distance yourself from her.”

Kyle attacked the rest of his steak. “That’s just your imagination.”

She reached across the table and touched his wrist, stilling his hand. “I’ve heard too much about acting from Bianca over the years not to have picked up something. You’re good, but you can’t fool me.”

He stared at her fingers for two crashes of the waves before setting aside his fork. “Little Edward isn’t my brother’s first child. They had a baby girl before Edward, but lost her before her first birthday.”

She gasped. “How awful.” Her heart ached for the lovely woman who’d been so kind to her. “I can’t imagine how devastated I would be if something happened to Nina.”

“Sophie didn’t die.” But his face still creased with pain. “They’d tried for years to get pregnant, then decided to adopt. Four months after Sophie was placed with them, the birth mother changed her mind. They went through hell.”

She’d assumed the extra portraits of children that didn’t look like Landises were the grandchildren of Ginger’s second husband. Now she realized one of the little-girl images must have been that adopted daughter. So that’s why Marianna had noticed she loved Nina as much as any biological mother could. “I’m so sorry for what they went through.”

“The birth mother sends them periodic updates and Sophie looks happy.”

As she studied his pained expression, she realized it wasn’t totally about hurting for his brother. He’d loved the little girl, too, and grieved when she was taken away. She stayed silent so he could just talk.

“My brother and his wife may be happy now, but after all they went through…” He shook his head slowly. “They even divorced at one point. My brother is a steady sort, good marriage material. Me? Not so much, even on a good day.”

His line of logic wasn’t going where she’d expected. She struggled to follow. “You’re afraid of letting your family down?”

“I would do what I have to, but I saw from my sister-in-law, from my mother, too, how much more is needed to make a marriage and family work. I’m not cut out for that.”

She almost blurted out her disbelief at his assumption, told him that he was copping out, but held the words back at the last second. He said he didn’t lie to people, and maybe strictly that was true. But she suspected he was lying to himself. Men weren’t always great at admitting their fears, especially if one fear involved turning his heart over to a child. “You’re really content to live your life alone?”

“I have a big family around me, and a satisfying career. I have a good life.”

“You seem to be forgetting one thing.”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me.” At least his smile returned. He held her gaze over the candlelight, the flame flickering inside the hurricane globe and casting flecks in his beautiful blue eyes.

She touched his wrist again, lingering, feeling his pulse throb against her thumb. “You can’t escape the fact that you’re already a father.”

His eyes locked on hers. Intense. Inscrutable. Her fingers stroked along his wrist when she’d meant to let him go.

“And you’re a wife.”

He stood slightly, leaned across the small table and she knew what was coming but couldn’t find words to stop him from—

Kissing her.

His mouth fit over hers, more familiar this time, but the tingle showering along her nerves was still surprising in its intensity. She’d hoped her reaction at the courthouse had been an anomaly, some kind of mixed-up reaction to memories from her first marriage, but damn, she fit her mouth against his and wanted. More.

She parted her lips and he growled his approval until she could taste the rich bouquet of his merlot. His hands stayed on the table, her fingers around his wrist. He only touched her with his mouth, his tongue. The spicy soap scent of him stirred around her in the breeze, reminding her of the moment when she’d first met him and his voice stroked her senses as, temptingly, his mouth moved on hers.

She should pull away, prove she was strong and resolute the way she’d planned this afternoon. Phoebe lifted her hands to push against his shoulders.

But he pulled away first.

Her head swam and she couldn’t even blame it on the drink, because he had honored her request to stick with one glass. Her only consolation came from watching his chest rise and fall as rapidly as her own. She needed to get her head together. She refused to let him win her over easily as he must have done with women in the past, like Bianca and Lucy.

Phoebe drained half her water goblet while he reclaimed his seat. She had to think. Focus on what was important.

She had to keep her head clear and her wits about her at all times. She hoped this dinner would be over soon so she could start figuring out how to deal with her desire. “Um, when do you report back to your base?”

“I’ve already finished up all the paperwork.” He watched her, his chest still pumping. “It’ll be official next week.”

“So you’re on vacation.” And when would that vacation end? She wasn’t even sure where his base was. She was married to a stranger, a totally hot stranger who turned her inside out with his kisses. The mere thought rattled her, leaving her feeling disloyal to her ex. “Rest is a good idea after such a long deployment.”

“I’m not on vacation.” He straightened in his chair, his eyes narrowing. “I’ve turned in my papers now that I’ve fulfilled my commitment to the air force. We were going to announce it after the party. But then you showed up with Nina, and we’ve been distracted since then.”

A roar started in her ears, her pulse louder than the waves rushing in with inevitability. “What exactly does this mean?”

“As of today, I’m no longer in the military. I’m taking over a branch of the Landis Foundation.” He spread his hands wide. “As of now, I’m totally at your disposal.”

An hour later, Phoebe stood in Nina’s new nursery, toying with the decorative silk slippers tacked to the wall. Control slipped away as fast as the tears down her cheeks.

What had she gotten herself into?

Swiping the back of her wrist under her eyes, she looked into Nina’s crib at the sweet baby she loved so much. Phoebe adjusted the light blanket, smoothed back a dark curl…saw Kyle’s one-sided smile as the infant grinned in her sleep.

Life was marching relentlessly on without her first husband. Her emotions had spiraled so far out of control she didn’t know how she would ever retrieve them. Now Kyle and all the myriad temptations he presented would be with her twenty-four/seven as she settled into a family life she’d never had and that Kyle clearly didn’t want.

She touched along her kissed-tender lips and searched back over their few conversations prior. What had she misunderstood to make her believe he was still in the air force, due to zip off into the wild blue yonder sometime soon? Maybe she’d just heard and believed what she’d wanted to where Kyle was concerned, desperate for a way to secure Nina’s future. She hadn’t looked beyond that to understand all the ways she could be hurting both their hearts to put them through this sham of a marriage.

Now it was too late to go back. She could only steel herself, forge ahead.

And try not to think about how much she wanted him to kiss her again.

Six

A week later, Kyle stood outside the nursery door, double-checking the monitor to make sure the thing was actually working. He pulled it away from his ear, looked at the buttons, clicked a couple back and forth. Yeah, he could hear the white-noise music playing low in the background.

Good God, the baby gear was more complicated than some of the intelligence equipment he’d worked with in the air force. In another week he would start with Landis International. For now, he was already unofficially working from home, but soon the traveling would start.

He hadn’t lied about being at Phoebe’s disposal. He just hadn’t mentioned there was a deadline to that since his new job would take him on the road even more than his old one. That didn’t leave him much time to win Phoebe over, into his bed.

Kyle started down the hall, eager to move forward with his next plan for persuading her they should enjoy all the benefits a wedding license brought. For the past week, he’d wined and dined Phoebe at the most romantic places he could think of, a challenge to do when considering the kid-friendly aspect. The opera had been a no go, but then he didn’t really like opera. He’d even persuaded Phoebe to fly upstate on the family jet for an outdoor history fair at Halloween. He’d thought Phoebe would enjoy the historical aspect, and Nina sure looked damn cute in her little princess costume. He had to admit the kid was easier to take along than he’d expected.

Of course, he didn’t really know what to expect from a child her age. He should probably get one of those parenting books or surf the Internet for kid-care articles because, his choice or not, he was a father now, which meant doing his best. He was also a husband, something he intended to focus his full attention on for the rest of the evening on their first adults-only date.

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