Baby, Oh Baby! (26 page)

"He was hired by your firm." Annie clutched Madeline to her chest, her heart pounding furiously. "Why should I believe you?"

A nerve ticked in his jaw. "No reason. No reason at all." He punched some numbers into the phone. "Listen in on this conversation, if you want. Maybe that'll convince you."

Annie hesitated, then carried Madeline to the living room. She set the child down, sank into a chair and picked up the extension just as a man's voice answered.

"Tom, it's me," Jake said brusquely. "I want to know what the hell's going on with Bill Hawk."

Annie heard a man clear his throat on the other end of the line. "I was going to tell you about that," said a voice that sounded as if it belonged to an older man. "Look, Jake, I can't talk. I should be on my way to the airport now."

"When were you going to tell me?" Jake demanded. "When I had some information to pass on to you. After I got back from Geneva."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Helping you. You need to know what kind of woman you're dealing with here. And from what I hear, you've got a good shot at sole custody."

"I don't want sole custody. I don't think that's in Madeline's best interests."

"Oh, come on. You think it's in her best interests to be passed back and forth like a football? This Hollister woman is a mental case. Did you know she thinks she can tell fortunes? And she thinks her dead grandfather talks to her through billboards! Hell, she even thinks her llamas give her advice."

Annie bit back a sharp retort. She'd learn more, she told herself, if Tom didn't know she was listening in.

Jake spoke up on her behalf. "They're alpacas, and that's a bunch of bull. I want you to call Hawk off. I don't know where you found him, but he's a sleazebag. He's making up a pack of lies, spreading rumors, offering bribes—he's ruining her."

"I didn't tell him to do anything like that."

"Well, it's what he's doing." Jake's voice was as tight and dangerous as a bear trap. "Listen, Tom—This is my life, my child, my personal business, and I want you to stay out of it. Annie is the mother of my child, and I won't let you treat her this way."

Tom heaved a sigh through the phone lines. "Okay. I'll tell Hawk he's off the job."

"Do it now."

"All right, all right. I'll make the call before I leave."

Jake hung up the phone so abruptly that he was in the living room before Annie had even replaced the receiver in its cradle.

"Well?" Jake demanded. "Do you believe me now?" Annie gazed at him uncertainly. "You could have staged all that."

"Staged a spontaneous phone call?"

Annie lifted her shoulders. "For all I know, you could have made arrangements to have this conversation if I got wind of what you were up to. You're clever enough to have thought of it."

Jake's jaw tightened. "Well, I'm glad you think I'm as farsighted as I am devious."

"Ink! Ink! Ink!" Madeline stretched out her arms to Jake.

He turned to the baby, his expression softening until it completely changed his appearance. "Hey, there, sweetheart." His voice was warm, his eyes even warmer as he bent and picked up the child.

Their child.

Annie heaved out a long sigh. Dadblast it. Believing the worst of Jake was somehow easier than accepting that he was telling the truth.

And he was. She knew it, knew it deep in her gut.

He turned his eyes on her, his gaze straightforward and clear. "Believe it or not, Annie, I want what's best for Madeline."

Annie nodded, a lump in her throat. She gazed down on the kitchen floor:

"So where are you going?" Jake asked.

Annie looked up, surprised.

Jake jerked his head toward the foyer. "The suitcases."

"Oh." Annie looked away again, unable to meet his gaze. "Well, I guess I'm not going anywhere now."

"You were running away." It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact. "You were going to take Madeline and leave."

Annie didn't respond. Jake waited for two beats. She could feel the heat of his glare, feel it bore right through her skin. "Well, this is a hell of a situation."

Annie silently nodded her agreement.

"You don't trust me. I can't trust you."

Annie ventured a glance up, and the intensity in Jake's gaze nearly nailed her to the wall.

"There's only one thing left to do," he said tersely.

"What's that?"

"We've got to get married."

Chapter Fourteen

"Married!" Annie gaped at him, her eyes as round as blue marbles.

Jake gave a decisive nod. "That's right."

"You're out of your mind."

"I probably am, but listen to me anyway." Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. The old advice flitted through Jake's mind as he sank down on the sofa beside Annie and settled Madeline on his lap.

The child twisted around and toyed with a button on his shirt, her four teeth gleaming in a grin. He inhaled the soft, baby-powder scent of her hair, and his heart filled with a desperate, aching love.

She was so guileless, so genuine, so honestly right here in the moment. A button was a fascinating toy, the sight of a human face a reason to smile. She was the purest, most undiluted life form he'd ever encountered.

She was a miracle—the child he had thought he would never have. It was a miracle that she existed, a miracle that he'd found her, a miracle that such a sweet, beautiful creature would light up with joy when he walked into a room.

He knew he didn't deserve her, but oh, dear Lord, he didn't want to lose her! And if Annie. moved away and launched a battle for custody, he would. Maybe not for summer visits and alternate holidays, but for all the everyday little things, the things that made a life. Her first sentence, her first taste of ice cream, her first visit to a zoo. Knowing how to make her laugh or how to comfort her when she cried. Teaching her to ride a bike. Watching her board a school bus her first day of kindergarten.

Most of all, he'd miss just being there, being a key part of her life—especially now, when she was forming her earliest thoughts and memories. This was when her personality was being shaped, when she was developing the traits she'd carry into adulthood, when she was learning how to deal with frustration and fear and all the other emotions that were part of being human. This was when she was forming her strongest attachments, the ones that would sustain her for a lifetime.

More than anything, Jake wanted to be one of those attachments. Nothing was more important, and he'd do anything—anything at all—to make it happen. Including marrying Annie.

He glanced over at her. Her eyes were huge and her lips were parted, parted in a way that reminded him of how they'd opened under his during that kiss. He abruptly looked away, annoyed at the thought. He didn't want to marry her, for Pete's sake. He had no choice. It was the only way he could make sure she didn't take the child and bolt the state.

Annie was eccentric and full of surprises, but there was one area of her life where she was entirely predictable. When it came to Madeline, Jake knew she'd always put the child's best interests first. If he could convince Annie that Madeline needed him, that the father-daughter bond between them was so strong that Madeline would be harmed if it were ..disrupted, his worries would be over.

In order to form that kind, of bond with his daughter, though, he needed time and access. Marrying Annie was the perfect solution.

He bounced Madeline on his knee and angled another glance at Annie. "It wouldn't be a real marriage, of course. It would just be a temporary. arrangement. And it would be the perfect solution for everyone."

"Perfect ... how?"

"Well, I want a chance to get to know my daughter, and you want assurance that I'm not going to do anything underhanded to get sole custody. I can't do anything too nefarious if I'm married to you, can I?"

"I-I guess not," Annie grudgingly conceded. "But..

Jake held up a hand. "Please—hear me out on this. The person who would benefit the most is Madeline. If you and I are married, even for a little while, it'll make her life a lot easier in the long run. It'll be much simpler for her to explain parents who are divorced than to explain sperm banks and artificial insemination. And whether you like it or not, this is a conservative community, and a lot of folks around here have some old-fashioned ideas. Madeline is likely to face a lot of teasing and even some discrimination for having parents who never married."

Annie's eyes were still as round as Moon Pies, but she appeared to be listening.

Jake shifted the baby on his lap. "It'll be easier on us, too. Think of all the years of teacher conferences and PTA meetings, all the situations where our relationship will need to be explained. It'll simplify everything if we're each other's ex."

There was another, more immediate advantage, too. Jake thought grimly. Tom wouldn't dare try to prove Annie was an unfit mother if she were Jake's wife.

Annie's lips parted again as she stared at him. She had such beautiful lips, Jake thought distractedly—full and ripe and pouty, the kind of lips a man could just lose himself in. The memory of how they'd tasted poured over him. Disconcerted, he turned his gaze to the baby.

"It wouldn't be a real marriage, of course," Jake continued. "We wouldn't—wouldn't ..... Confound it, why was it so hard to say it out loud? Probably because he'd thought about it so often, he thought with a rush of guilt. He cleared his throat, but the words still came out sounding strangled. "We wouldn't sleep together."

Annie's mouth opened further. Was it his imagination, or did her eyes hold a shadow of disappointment?

Christ, he was really losing it, thinking a thing like that. He had no reason to think she was interested in him romantically—no reason at all, except for that kiss.

She had kissed him back. She'd even admitted it.

A burst of irritation shot through him. He didn't want to marry her, damn it. She was forcing him into it. And yet here he was, in the untenable position of having to talk her into it.

He pushed down his aggravation and struggled to keep his voice even. "There's another thing to consider here, too. I want my name on Madeline's birth certificate. I also want her to take my last name, and it would simplify things if you had it, too."

"This is crazy." Annie's eyes were wide and dazed. She pushed back her hair from her forehead, only to have it fall forward .again. "The craziest part is that it actually seems to make sense."

"So you'll do it?"

Annie's head swam like a school of goldfish in an overcrowded bowl. As insane as it sounded, Jake was right: a short-term marriage would make life easier for everyone in the long run. She'd already encountered several occasions where explaining or not explaining her relationship to Jake had been downright awkward. She could only imagine what Madeline would face as she grew up—a childhood of taunts and schoolyard whispers, a lifetime of clumsy explanations. Her heart ached at the thought.

The name issue was a consideration, too. Annie didn't want to deprive Madeline of her father's last name, but at the same time, she hated the idea of having a different last name than her daughter. Marrying Jake would solve all of those problems.

"Will you do it?" Jake repeated.

There were lots of good, solid, logical reasons for deciding to accept Jake's proposition, Annie told herself. The fact that just the sight of him made her heart race a mile a minute had nothing to do with any of them. In fact, her physical reaction to him was a reason to be cautious.

"How long would we have to stay married?" she asked.

Jake lifted his shoulders. "A year ought to do it." "A year?" Annie shook her head. "Oh, no. That's way too long."

"Well, then, how about nine months?"

"That's not much better. What about three?"

"Six," Jake countered.

"Five," Annie replied.

"Five months, two weeks and three days."

"Five months, and not a day more," Annie stated firmly.

Jake's grin was rakish and unexpected. "Sold."

Annie couldn't help but grin back. Their eyes locked, and a jolt of attraction, unbidden and unwanted, surged between them. Annie was relieved when Madeline grabbed Jake's tie in a hangman's hold, and he had to turn his attention to disengaging the baby's grip.

"So it's settled," he said, setting Madeline on the floor. "We'll get married right away, and stay married for five months. At the end of that time, we'll divorce."

Annie felt as if she were having an out-of-body experience. "How soon is `right away'?"

Jake stood and straightened. "Well, what are you doing tomorrow?"

Good grief. How could he be so casual about it? They were talking about getting married, not going out for a pizza.

But then, this wouldn't be a real marriage, she reminded herself. It was strictly a matter of convenience, a way of simplifying Madeline's life.

Ignoring her pounding heart, she tried to match Jake's air of nonchalance. "Tomorrow? Well, I'd planned on mopping the floor, playing several rounds of patty-cake and preparing a fabulous meal of stewed peaches. I'll take another look at my schedule, though, and see if I can find time to squeeze in a wedding."

"Do you, Jake, take this woman, Annie, to be your lawfully wedded wife..

Annie looked around the oak-paneled judge's chambers at the Tulsa County Courthouse the next afternoon. This was a far cry from the setting she'd always envisioned for her next wedding—her real wedding, as she'd always privately thought of it. Her first wedding had been her mother's production—a garden party extravaganza so elaborate that Annie wouldn't have been surprised if singing midgets had popped out of the wedding cake.

She'd mentally pictured a beautiful church lined with stained glass windows, not a dark, stuffy office. She'd imagined flickering candles, not a spastic fluorescent light, and in her mind's eye, the air had been scented" with flowers, not musty law books. She'd wanted a small, intimate ceremony, but she'd always thought there would be more than four guests, and she'd always thought they'd be seated, not huddled together in a cramped space between two bookshelves at the side of a judge's large desk.