Helen Lacey - Claiming His Brother's Baby

There was pain in her words and he gave himself a mental jab. “He did love you,” Tanner said and immediately wished he hadn’t.

Her eyes lost their luster, as if she was thinking, remembering. “Not enough to come home.” She stood and pushed the chair back. “I shouldn’t have said that. Doug’s gone. Wishing for him to be different is unfair.”

“Cassie, I didn’t mean to—”

“I need to run a few errands myself this afternoon,” she said through a deep breath. “I shouldn’t be too long.”

Tanner stood and looked at her half-eaten lunch. “I’ll finish in the garden while you’re gone if you like. And head off when you get back.”

“Fine,” she said and within seconds had wheeled the stroller from the room.

* * *

“What’s he like?”

Cassie raised her gaze toward her best friend Lauren and rocked Oliver in her arms.

He’s a gorgeous, sexy cowboy who makes my pulse race.

“He seems nice.”

Lauren’s brows shot up. “ Seems nice?”

She shrugged again. “What do you want me to say? I hardly know Tanner.”

“Apart from what Doug told you?”

True. Only, everything Doug had said about his brother didn’t seem to match the man she’d come to know over the past twenty-four hours.

“Okay, maybe he’s not the brooding loner Doug made him out to be. Although I’m not going to make too many judgments after one day.”

Lauren nodded. “But he wants to be a part of Oliver’s life?”

“That’s what he said.”

“And he’s selling the house?”

Cassie drew in a breath. “That’s also what he said. There’s a large mortgage.”

“I’m sorry,” Lauren said after a long pause. “I know it isn’t what you’d hoped.”

“I knew it might come to this,” she said, hurting all over at the thought of losing her home, but determined to put on a brave face. “And it’s only a house. I’ll make a home for Oliver somewhere else.”

“You can stay with us,” Lauren offered. “You’ll always be welcome.”

Cassie blinked back the heat in her eyes. “Thanks, but I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” Lauren said, clearly concerned. “You look pale and tired.”

“It’s just a headache,” she said and managed a smile.

She did have a headache. And a scratchy throat and a quickly growing lethargy. But she didn’t admit she was feeling increasingly unwell as the day progressed. Lauren’s fiancé was a doctor and her friend would have had her under the stethoscope in a heartbeat if Cassie said she was feeling ill.

“If you’re sure,” Lauren said, still looking concerned. “Just be careful. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Cassie tapped her own chest. “I’m impervious to hurt,” she said with a wry grin. “Tough as nails, you know that.”

But she knew her friend didn’t believe it.

By the time Cassie bundled Oliver into the car and pulled into the driveway it was well past four o’clock. She noticed immediately how the once out-of-control bougainvillea vine was now three piles of tightly bound cuttings and what remained of the hedge had also been carefully clipped back. Plus, the lawn was mowed and the scent of fresh cut grass lingered in the air.

Tanner had been busy. In a matter of hours the front yard was transformed into a neat and tidy copy of what it had once been—before Doug’s death, before the bills had piled up and she’d taken leave from her job and had to watch every penny she spent.

Inside, Cassie headed straight for the kitchen and made up formula for Oliver.

She could hear the shower running and once the baby was fed she carried him to the nursery, laid him on the changing table and stripped off his clothes.

“Hey there.”

She stilled and turned. Tanner stood in the doorway—hair damp, wearing washed-out jeans and a black collared T-shirt that looked way too good on his broad-shouldered frame. “Hi.”

“Did you have a good afternoon?”

Cassie nodded, trying to ignore the throb at her temple. “I went to see my friend Lauren.”

“Ah, the orange thief?” he said with a grin.

Cassie laughed softly. “Yes. Were your ears burning?”

He grinned. “Talking about me, eh?”

“Maybe a little,” she replied. “I’m going to give Oliver a bath now.”

“Sure.”

She took the baby into her arms. “Thanks for doing the yard.”

“No problem.”

Cassie felt the warmth of his stare through to her bones and tried to disregard the heat coiling up her legs. He really did have the sexy thing down pat. She willed some good sense into her limbs and headed from the room, conscious of how he moved aside to let her pass. She lingered in the nursery with Oliver after his bath and by the time she’d dressed him in a navy romper suit and settled him down to sleep it was dusk outside.

When Cassie returned to the kitchen she found Tanner talking to Mouse, and the dog was staring up at him, listening intently. Again, she was struck by the image of the man Doug had told her he was, and the contrasting man he seemed in reality. Not closed off and moody. Not a brooding, unfriendly loner.

Not anything like the man Doug had described.

He looked up. “Is Oliver settled?”

“For the moment,” she replied. “He’ll sleep for a couple of hours. His usual routine gives me enough time to have a shower and eat something.”

Tanner checked his watch. “Then I should probably go.”

Something niggled at her. She couldn’t define it. Maybe she didn’t want to. She drew in a long breath and frowned.

“Are you okay?” he asked, watching her.

Cassie nodded. “I’ve had one of those daylong headaches.”

He laughed and then must have realized how insensitive it sounded. “Sorry, I was thinking that maybe since I’ve been here for twenty-four hours there was a connection.”

She smiled. “No. Although...”

His brows came up. “Although?”

She shrugged. “Well...you’re not...”

“I’m not...?”

Heat crept up her neck and she searched for the words. “It’s only that you’re not exactly who I thought...” She shrugged again and took a deep breath. “I guess I thought you wouldn’t be so...easy to get along with.”

Tanner rested against the counter and folded his arms. “Compared to what?”

She hesitated as her gaze shifted to the floor. “To the person I thought you were.”

“Who you thought I was,” he said quietly. “Or who Doug said I was.”

Her shoulders came up for a second and then dropped. “I suppose. He said you were quiet and...”

“And what?” Tanner asked when her words trailed. “Indifferent and unfriendly?”

She looked up. “Words to the effect.”

“And what do you think?”

Cassie stepped back. “I think you’re confident and sensible. I think you don’t waste time trying to charm or manipulate people.” She paused and took a breath. “I think you know exactly who you are. And what you want.”

His brown eyes darkened. “And do you?” he asked softly. “Do you know what you want, Cassie?”

At that moment she wanted to run. Everything about him reached her on some base, heady level. She was hot all over and she knew why. Tanner McCord made her remember she was a woman. And it scared her to death.

“Ah...what about dinner,” she said quickly and took a sharp breath. She pointed to the telephone. “I have the number of a great pizza place on speed dial. I mean, unless you want to leave right away.”

He pushed himself off the counter. “Dinner would be good.”

Cassie nodded and left the room. After checking on Oliver she took only minutes to collect fresh clothes and lock herself in the bathroom. She showered and dressed in cargo pants and a sensible blue shirt buttoned up to her throat.