Stella Bagwell - The Tycoon's Tots

Chloe kept a smug smile to herself. “He doesn’t know you. Would you let a stranger poke something into your mouth?”

Wyatt frowned as he watched little Anna open her lips and smack the ice cream from Chloe’s spoon.

“Okay, young man,” he said to the cherub-faced little boy. “I’m your Uncle Wyatt. I’m not a stranger. It’s perfectly safe to eat what I give you.”

Adam cocked his head to one side, looked at his sister and Chloe, then burst out with a string of coos and giggles.

Wyatt lowered the spoon. “He thinks I’m funny.”

Chloe chuckled softly. “He thinks you’re different.”

He glanced across the table at her. She was feeding herself now, digging the thick fudge off the bottom of the plastic bowl. Even though she ate daintily, he could see she was relishing every bite. It was a refreshing sight for Wyatt. Most of the women he knew considered picking at a plate of lettuce and bean sprouts to be eating a meal.

“Are the twins not used to being around men?” he asked.

“My brothers-in-law, Harlan and Roy, see the twins most everyday,” she assured him, then motioned her head toward the spoon of melting ice cream in his hand. “Offer it to him again. He’s had time to think about you now.”

“All right, little buddy,” he said to Adam. “Here it is. Don’t just look at it. Eat it.”

Adam complied this time and Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief. He was a grown man and he’d been assuring this woman the twins would be better off in his care. It wouldn’t look good if he couldn’t even manage to feed the baby a spoonful of ice cream.

“You were wondering about Belinda’s finances,” he began, as Adam continued to eat the ice cream from the spoon. “Well, at one time my sister had enough money to go to Europe or wherever she wanted.”

“You say she had the money at one time. When was that?” she asked as she continued to feed Anna.

Chloe’s question caused his features to tighten, but then Adam smacked his lips, and Wyatt looked at the baby and smiled.

“My father was an executive for a big petroleum firm in Houston. When he died, my sister and I inherited money and stocks. Enough to leave us both quite secure. I never worried or wondered if Belinda was squandering her part. When we talked, she always assured me her finances were doing fine. That she was doing fine. But now…” He let out a rueful sigh. “I don’t know what happened. If she left any of the money or stock certificates somewhere in a bank, I can’t find it.”

“From what Roy—you remember I told you the sheriff is my brother-in-law?” Wyatt nodded and Chloe went on, “Well, Roy said it appeared to him that Belinda was barely scraping by. The last few places she’d lived in were… rattraps.”

Wyatt shook his head. “I don’t disbelieve your brother-in-law. I’m not going to dispute what he apparently saw firsthand. I just find it…incredible to think Belinda was broke. I realize she liked to travel and entertain. And she was never stingy when it came to her friends, but she wasn’t stupid. I can’t imagine her wasting all that money. It was her security.”

When Chloe had first agreed to meet with Wyatt, she hadn’t necessarily expected to be discussing Belinda. She’d figured the only thing this man wanted to say to her was that he wanted the twins and meant to get them at any cost. But now, as she looked across the table and watched him awkwardly spooning ice cream into Adam’s mouth, she could see a sadness in his eyes that told her he was a man alone. And that touched her more than anything he could have said.

“I wish there was something I could tell you,” she said to him. “But you see, our father…well, we didn’t know anything about Belinda. What little we do know about her is what she told the authorities. She said she met Daddy at the racetrack here at Ruidoso Downs.”

His lips twisted with wry fondness. “That sounds true enough. Belinda liked to play the horses.”

“So did Daddy.” She absently dipped into her sundae as memories of Tomas welled up inside her. He’d been a big burly man full of humor and a zest for life. She hadn’t known any other man who had loved horses as much as her father. Nor would she ever find a man who would love her as much as he had. The ache of missing him was still like a knife blade in her heart.

Glancing up at Wyatt, she asked, “Do you have a mother?”

Adam appeared to be full of ice cream. Wyatt put the spoon down and gently wiped the boy’s mouth with the corner of a napkin.

“My mother left when I was very young.”

“Left? You mean she passed away?”

His handsome mouth twisted as though her question had left acid on his tongue. “No. I mean she left. Literally. Walked out and never came back.”

Even though Chloe had no reason to be embarrassed, she was. Splotches of red heat filled her cheeks.

“I shouldn’t have asked. But since the twins’ grandparents are gone on my side I was curious.” She dipped her spoon into the melting sundae. “I guess not having grandparents isn’t the end of the world.” But having a mother desert you would be, Chloe thought sadly.

He sighed. “I suppose there might be ways of tracing my mother, but that could take years. And what would be the point? She didn’t want me or Belinda. She certainly wouldn’t be interested in grandchildren.”

Dear God, were there really women in this world like that? Of course she’d heard stories on the news, but still it was so difficult for her to imagine any woman turning away from her own children.

“So it’s been just you and Belinda? You don’t have any other family?”

He shook his head. “My father was an only child. We never knew any of our mother’s family.”

She kept her eyes on the tabletop. “You’re…uh, not married?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Chloe glanced up to see a faint frown marring his forehead. “What’s the matter? You’re divorced?”

“No. I’ve never been married.” He picked up his coffee cup. “I was just wondering why you asked.”

Chloe shifted on the padded bench and wondered why her heart was behaving as if she’d just run a mile. “Because I…wondered if perhaps you had a wife back home who wanted the babies.”

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