SUSAN MEIER - Oh, Babies!

But beyond that, he wasn’t allowed to get involved with her. She was an employee. The complications that could result from the two of them becoming personal were too numerous to mention and too serious to be ignored. A wise man stayed the hell away from his employees. Period.

“Since Cody’s with Claire and Evan, there were only two babies for me to dress and feed,” Kristen said, bringing Grant back to the present as she set Annie’s spoon down and reached for Taylor’s. “Besides, the girls are sweet and well behaved.”

At that Grant involuntarily chuckled, but when Kristen gave him a puzzled frown he stopped laughing. “I’m sorry, I thought you were kidding.”

“Kidding?”

He shrugged. “Annie and Taylor are trouble with a capital T. Annie by herself is as lovable as a kitten. Alone, Taylor is a little lady. But put them together and they are holy terrors.”

“No, they aren’t,” Kristen objected, continuing to feed the kids.

Grant turned to Mrs. Romani. “Is she serious?”

Mrs. Romani tossed her hands as if exasperated to be brought into the discussion, but she said, “I haven’t ever seen the girls so quiet.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Grant said and walked over to the table in the breakfast nook. From the way Kristen seemed hesitant with the girls the night before, he wouldn’t have guessed her capable of taking care of the morning routine alone. He sat on the captain’s chair beside Kristen’s, leaning in to get a good view of what she was doing. Not only was she handling things much better than Grant would have guessed her able, but the girls had never been this well mannered. If there was a lesson to be learned here, he was willing to learn it.

“See?” Kristen said, spooning more oatmeal into Annie’s mouth. Like an angel, Annie obediently opened and closed her lips when required, while Taylor sat patiently, waiting for her turn.

Grant stared at them. “Amazing. How do you do that?”

“I don’t know,” Kristen said, but Grant noticed a blush stain her cheeks and he seriously wondered if she hadn’t done something this morning to get the girls to behave. If they were older he’d think she’d bribed them with a present.

Incredulous, Grant bent in closer. “Taylor, honey, don’t you want to put your bowl on your head and wear it like a hat?”

Taylor cocked her head and gave him a look as if to say she would never do something so naughty.

“Annie? No scream?”

Annie only giggled.

Mrs. Romani shook her head in bewilderment. “I’m telling you. She’s a miracle worker.”

“I am not,” Kristen objected, almost too vehemently.

Grant had his suspicions about how she’d gotten the children to be good, but he didn’t care if she had bribed them. As long as they were safe and happy, he wasn’t questioning anything.

“I think you’re a miracle worker,” Grant said, laying his arm across the back of her chair and finding himself in intimate proximity. Not only was he close enough to touch her, but those last three inches put him in the direct line of seeing her smooth, shiny hair up close. He also caught a whiff of her scent. A flowery bouquet hit him so unexpectedly, he didn’t stop himself from catching it.

The soft fragrance brought him spontaneous ecstasy and he automatically inhaled again. But he rationalized that he still didn’t have anything to worry about. So what if he’d inadvertently lingered over that scent a little longer than he should have? It didn’t mean anything. He had his perspective firmly grounded. He had no intention of getting involved with this woman. He simply had enjoyed her cologne. No big deal. In fact, he wouldn’t mind another whiff. As silently as possible, he sniffed the air, then narrowed his eyes in pleasure.

“Well, good morning, Grant,” Evan said, stepping into the room, carrying Cody.

Caught red-handed, Grant leaped out of the chair. “Evan!” he said, realizing too late that the move made him look even more guilty.

Evan gasped. “You shaved!”

Grant nonchalantly rubbed his clean chin. “I was tired of the beard.”

Big-eyed and incredulous, Evan grinned. “Really?”

“Really.” Grant mimicked, his eyes narrowing in warning.

Still grinning, Evan strolled a little farther into the kitchen. “Looks like you and Kristen are getting along very well…with the children.”

Though everyone else in the room appeared oblivious, Grant recognized that Evan had added enough of a pause in his statement to get in a pointed, inappropriate jab of teasing.

Mature, proper, Grant chose not to rise to the bait. He even knew how to nip his brother’s misconception in the bud. “Actually Kristen’s handled everything herself. I was just trying to figure out what she’d done to get the kids to behave so well this morning.”

“I could see that,” Evan agreed, the teasing still in his voice, and his eyes bright with the joy of tormenting his older brother. “The way you were leaning right in there, so close to Kristen…and the girls,” he said, again adding the second part of the statement after another significant pause. “I could see that you were trying to…figure out Kristen’s secrets.”

Grant glared at his brother. His first instinct was to call Evan a moron. Instead he picked up his coffee cup, gulped down the steamy liquid and strode toward the back door. For the love of God, the woman was young enough to be his…sister. Sister. Not daughter. He refused to say daughter. Refused. He wasn’t that old. Only thirty-six. And she had to be at least twenty-three. Maybe even twenty-four or twenty-five. To have been married and widowed, Kristen could even be a year or two older. She acted older. She looked older. Hell, she looked at least twenty-five….

He stopped himself. Was he arguing for or against her?

“And, really, Grant, you’re so much more attractive without the beard,” Evan said, still teasing. “Though I have to wonder why you didn’t shave for Chas’s wedding. That would have made more sense than waiting until after the ceremony and the pictures and everything. I wonder what could have happened since the wedding to change your mind.”

The more Evan needled him, the more obvious and idiotic Grant felt. If his brother had noticed the way he was carrying on, and deduced why Grant had shaved, then the only person Grant was fooling was himself. He needed to somehow regain his perspective, and he had to behave when he was forced to be around Kristen instead of letting unruly, hormone-driven instincts take over. No more confidence sharing. No more dressing to look better because she was around. And definitely no more sniffing the air.

He grabbed the doorknob. “I have meetings until noon, and I don’t think I can be back to help with lunch. Mrs. Romani, I want pot roast for supper.”

“Yes, sir,” Mrs. Romani said, saluting him as he stormed out of the door.

Kristen breathed a sigh of relief that he was gone, then rose and reached for Cody. “Hello, honey,” she cooed sweetly to the little boy.

He peered at her, his face puckered into a scowl, and before Kristen realized what was happening he began to cry.

“Oh, oh,” Evan said, taking Cody back again. “I think he’s making strange.”

“Making strange?” Kristen asked, alarmed that her own nephew wouldn’t like her, though she realized the poor kid couldn’t like someone he didn’t know.

“We spoil him,” Evan admitted with a grimace.

“There’s an understatement,” Mrs. Romani said, laughing as she began tidying up the kitchen.

Cody continued to cry and within seconds had both of his sisters wailing with him.

“There goes your run of good luck,” Mrs. Romani said wryly.

“As long as Grant didn’t see them, I don’t care,” Kristen said without thinking. She forgot Evan was as much of a consideration as Grant until the words were already out of her mouth. Stumbling to recover, she added, “Once I start playing with them, I’m sure they’ll be fine.”