Maureen Child - Seductive Revenge

If he felt a twinge of something that could have been guilt, he denied it. He wasn’t planning to use Belle and Caroline. But it was hardly his fault if being with his daughter and Belle helped solve a major problem.

He wandered toward the table and stepped up in time to listen in as Caro began a step-by-step description of the performance they’d just seen. Words rushing, fingers flying, his little girl was quivering with excitement, and Wes loved every second of it. Seeing his daughter with her blond hair in pigtails, big aqua eyes wide with happiness, made him smile. She was so small that her butterfly wings really did look as if they could lift her into the sky, but it was her tiny pink ballet shoes that for some reason struck his heart like an arrow.

She’d gotten to him, he realized. In little more than a week, Caroline had become so important to him, he couldn’t imagine a life without his daughter. He’d never expected, or wanted, to be a parent, and now he couldn’t imagine why. He wanted to tell Caroline he was her father. But he wasn’t going to do that then disappear back to Texas and only be involved in her life in the most peripheral way.

He wanted more. Wanted to be there every damn day to watch her grow up. To be a part of her world. But Belle and Caro were a package deal—so he had to somehow convince Belle that the three of them belonged together.

He glanced at Belle, standing behind the refreshment counter, helping Caro take the paper off her cupcake. He smiled to himself. The two of them were so beautiful it was hard not to look. The buzz of conversations, the ripples of laughter seemed to drift away. He was so caught up in watching them, he didn’t even notice Chance walking up alongside him.

“You’re making plans, aren’t you?” he asked.

“What?” Caught, Wes looked at him.

“It’s all right,” Chance said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “See, there’s a look in your eye when you look at my sister that tells me I should back off. Let you two figure this out. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Glad to hear it,” Wes said wryly, though he hadn’t been the least bit worried about Chance Graystone or his brothers.

“Don’t make me sorry.” The man wandered over to Caro, scooped the girl up in his arms and gave her a spin that had giggles erupting and floating in the air like soap bubbles.

Wes watched and continued to plan. That little girl was his. Her mother was his, too. She just didn’t know it yet.

But she would, soon.

* * *

By the time they got back to Belle’s house, Caro was wired on sugar and excitement and getting her ready for bed was a challenge Wes was happy to leave to Belle. While they were upstairs, he went out to his car to get the surprise he’d had sent in from Texas. He’d called his company three days ago to order it, and tonight was the perfect time to give it to Caroline.

The now familiar house was quiet when he went back inside and headed up the stairs to his daughter’s bedroom. But as he approached the open door, he heard Belle and the little girl talking. Shadows thrown from the night-lights plugged in at intervals along the hall crouched in corners. The old house sighed in the cold wind whipping under the eaves. Moving quietly, he stopped in the doorway and blatantly eavesdropped.

“Is Wes gonna kiss me good-night?”

“He’ll be here in a minute, sweetie.”

“He’s nice,” Caro said, and though he couldn’t see her, he imagined her small hands moving with every word, and his heart swelled.

“Yes, he is nice,” Belle said, and Wes couldn’t help but wonder if it had cost her to agree with her daughter.

“He’s funny, too, and pretty and I think he should stay here now.”

“Here?” Belle asked. “In Swan Hollow?”

“Here with us, Mommy,” Caro answered and Wes went perfectly still, waiting to hear the rest. “He likes me and he should be here so we can play some more.”

“Wes lives in Texas, honey,” Belle said gently. “He’s just visiting us.”

“He’s gonna leave?” There was a catch in Caro’s throat that Wes felt as well.

“Not right away,” Belle reassured her daughter, “but yes, he’ll have to go home soon.”

“But he can be home here, Mommy.”

“It’s not that easy, baby.”

“Why?”

“Because…” She paused, clearly searching for an explanation that would make sense to a little girl. “…because his house is in Texas.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s where he lives.”

“But why?”

He muffled a snort. He really shouldn’t be enjoying so much how Belle squirmed, Wes thought. Still, he couldn’t help the deep pang of regret he felt at making his little girl unhappy. It only strengthened his resolve to stay in her life permanently.

“Can we go to Texas?” Caro asked, trying a new tack.

Another long pause, and Wes imagined that Belle was wishing he would hurry and show up to dig her out of the conversation.

“No, we really can’t.”

“Why?”

He heard Isabelle sigh.

“What about your uncles? They all live here. Wouldn’t you miss them?”

“Yes. But they could come, too!”

Wes felt a surge of pride. It seemed his daughter was as hardheaded as he was.

“Baby girl,” Belle said, “how about we just enjoy Wes while he’s here, okay?”

“But I don’t want him to leave.”

Wes’s heart filled and he had to gulp in a breath to steady himself.

“I know, sweetie,” Belle said softly. “Neither do I.”

And he smiled. There it was. She didn’t want him to leave any more than Caro did. So maybe it wouldn’t be hard to convince Belle to come back to Texas with him. To try being together—not just for the sake of their daughter.

And on that happy thought, he stepped into Caroline’s room. It was a little girl’s dream, he imagined. Everything from a canopy bed to a play table and chairs and bookcases filled with stories to be read over and over again. There were stuffed animals, a child’s learning computer and, in the corner, a dollhouse as tall as Caro herself.

“Wes!” Caroline scooted out of bed, ran to him and threw her arms around his legs.

There went that twist to his heart again. While he hugged his daughter, his gaze caught Belle’s, and he knew she was wondering how much of their conversation he’d overheard.

“Did you bring a present?” Caro squealed, her fingers moving as fast her voice. “For me?”

“It’s a present for the best dancer in the whole show,” he said, tapping his finger against his mouth. “Now who was that?”

“Me!” Caroline shouted. “It was me. Wasn’t it me?” she asked, now sounding a little less confident.

“You bet it was you,” Wes told her and handed her the red ribbon–wrapped white box.

“Mommy, look!” Caro staggered toward her mother, balancing the box awkwardly but refusing to put it down.

“I see,” Belle said, laughing. “Why don’t you put the box down so you can open it?”

“I will!” Caro set it on the floor, plopped down beside it and yanked at the ribbon until it fell away. Then she lifted the lid, pushed back the white tissue and said, “Ooh…”

One small word drawn out into a sigh of pleasure so rich and deep. Wes had to grin. She liked it.

“Mommy, look!” Caroline pulled the doll out of the box and inspected every inch of her. “She’s like me, Mommy. Her hair and her eyes and, Mommy, she gots hearing aids like me!”

“You like her?” Wes asked unnecessarily.

“I love her,” Caro said and handed the doll to her mother so she could run at Wes again. This time, he scooped her up and held her so she could throw her small arms around his neck and hang on. He’d never felt anything as wonderful as a freely given hug from his child. Her warm, soft weight in his arms, the scent of her shampoo, her grip on his neck and her whisper of “Thank you, Wes” made his heart fill to bursting.