Wanted: One Mommy Read online

  “We’ll cut straight to the chase,” Patrice said regally, after quickly and expertly making introductions. “I understand you’ve refused to plan my wedding to Dutch—and I want to know why!”

  Jack regarded Caroline with a poker face—except for his silver-gray eyes. They were pleading for her not to give him away.

  It would serve you right, she thought, if I did.

  “Please help us,” Dutch Ambrose said.

  Maddie stopped petting her dog, long enough to look up. “Can Bounder be in the wedding, too?” Her big blue-gray eyes danced with delight at the idea.

  Caroline imagined the little tomboy walking down the aisle with a basket of flowers in her hands, the big beribboned dog beside her, and felt a seismic shift inside her—the increasingly loud ticking of her biological clock. The familiar longing for a little girl of her own, and the deeper, more elemental need to have someone, something, in her life—beside the business she had spent the past two years building—to love.

  Aware this little girl was everything she had ever imagined in a daughter of her own, and more, Caroline told herself to be reasonable—not romantic. And the reality was she was still running a business and needed to concentrate on that, rather than her deep-seated, private longings.

  Feeling calmer, she lifted a hand and pasted on the brisk businesslike smile that had soothed many a frantic bridal party.

  “We’re getting ahead of ourselves here.” Boy, are we getting ahead of ourselves. Imagining what it would be like to have a child just as adorable as Maddie, as my own….

  Jack cleared his throat and broke in. “I tried explaining to Mom that it just wasn’t going to work out. You and I—” he looked at Caroline with a meaning only she could read “—we’re just not on the same page.”

  “So avoid her!” Patrice fumed, disapproving. She turned to her son and said impatiently, “I never said I wanted you involved in the planning of my wedding, anyway. You’re the one who insisted on paying for it!”

  “And it would be my pleasure,” Jack reiterated with what seemed to be sincerity, Caroline noted. It was his turn to look distressed. “I just don’t understand why the nuptials have to be this month.”

  This month? Caroline thought, a little shocked. April was already half over!

  “When you get to be our age, you’ll understand time is not something to be wasted,” Dutch cut in with a wink and a grin.

  Patrice smiled back at Dutch. She grasped his hand, looking up at him. “Especially with the two of us,” Patrice said quietly, with a meaningful expression. She squeezed Dutch’s hand once again.

  Abruptly, silence fell.

  Caroline, who was usually pretty attuned to these things, felt something did seem to be odd about this match. And that was as off-putting for her as it apparently was for Jack.

  And for them to be trying to tie the knot in less than two weeks…Something was definitely strange about his. No wonder Jack was trying to stop it. He must feel something was just a little off, too.

  Telling herself that it was her job to arrange weddings, not lives, Caroline cleared her throat, as well. If Patrice and Dutch wanted to marry for reasons of compatibility and companionship, as she was one day wont to do, if at all, then that was their business and no one else’s.

  Especially since Caroline knew better than anyone that True Love simply was not fated to happen for everyone.

  Some people, like her, had one shot at big romance, if they were lucky, and if that failed…well, odds were it wouldn’t happen again.

  That didn’t mean a person couldn’t be happy and pursue other dreams, like owning their own business, or one day adopting a child who wouldn’t otherwise have a home, as her mother had, and she planned to do when the time was right.

  “A wedding in April is tough to arrange, even a year in advance.”

  “For anyone else, probably,” Patrice concurred, one successful businesswoman to another. “For you? Honey, we’ve heard you work miracles.”

  CAROLINE WASN’T SURE how it happened. One minute she was standing there explaining why she couldn’t take on the Gaines-Ambrose wedding, the next she was agreeing to have dinner with the family at Jack’s place the following evening. They would pay her for the consult, of course, to discuss other options for the family.

  To her relief, once that was set, they all left as unexpectedly as they had arrived.

  As soon as the coast was clear, Sela came back in to ask with her customary frankness, “Why did you agree to that?”

  There were pluses and minuses to having an assistant who was the same age her own mother would have been, who often viewed herself as the replacement to the mom Caroline had lost to illness when she was eighteen. The plus was that she had someone to act as a parent to her when she still needed one. The minus was that she sometimes found herself explaining things she would rather not have, to the veteran mother of five grown children, grandmother to eight, and full-time arbiter of love.

  Caroline sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Honestly? I don’t know.”

  Sela studied her over the rim of the folder in her arms. “It had something to do with Jack Gaines, didn’t it?”

  “Of course not!” Caroline successfully fought back a flush of embarrassment.

  To no avail—she still didn’t fool the woman who had seen her through the tumultuous aftermath of her failed engagement and the beginning of her business. “The little girl, then,” Sela persisted gently.

  That assertion, Caroline noted, was a little closer to the mark. “Maddie was everything I would ever want in a daughter.” And it wasn’t just her short cap of dark brown hair and expressive little face, or her big blue-gray eyes with the fringe of long lashes. It was the way the little girl carried herself—with big-girl confidence. The affection she showed her dog. The liveliness in her smile.

  Maddie was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy spring day. And she deserved better than a daddy who would try and derail his own mother’s wedding.

  Caroline didn’t doubt that Jack had misgivings. They might even be warranted. But his going behind a loved one’s back to try and achieve a different result than the one his loved one wanted reminded her of another man, and another time, and her own resulting heartache….

  She wouldn’t visit that kind of unhappiness on anyone.

  Particularly a little girl caught in the cross fire of the family brouhaha sure to come if Jack stayed on this particular path.

  So for that reason, and that reason most of all, she was going to do what she never did—get personally involved in a situation that was really none of her business, and see what she could do to dissuade him. And to do that, she was going to have to meet with him alone. Again.

  Chapter Two

  Jack was standing on a ladder, his head in the elevator shaft, when the walkie-talkie on his belt let loose with a static string of mostly unintelligible words. “Who’s here to see me?” he asked above the sound of power drills, reverberating from several floors above.

  “Caroline Mayer,” a cool voice said behind him.

  Jack ventured a look down at the elevator floor. From his perch on the ladder he saw those crystal-blue eyes staring up at him.

  Hoping she was there to make peace—not cancel on his mom and the rest of the family for that evening—Jack hooked the walkie-talkie back on his belt, set his tools on the metal shelf and climbed down the steps until they stood face-to-face. Desire caught fire inside him, throwing him off guard. “We have to stop meeting like this.”

  She propped her hands on her slender hips. “Ha-ha.”

  The pulse in her throat was throbbing much too quickly. He twisted his lips into a crooked line, then murmured offhandedly, “Glad you think I’m funny.”

  She made no effort to mask her pique. “What exactly were you doing?”

  Jack shrugged. “What does it look like I was doing? I was taking apart a security camera that isn’t functioning the way it should.”

  Temper flared i
n her cheeks, turning them a rosy coral. “Don’t you have people who do this sort of thing for you?”

  Yes, he had employees. Two hundred of them, in fact, most of who were at this very moment working on the computer and phone and satellite systems all over One Trinity River Place. Comprised of office space, retail stores, restaurants and luxury condominiums in the heart of downtown Fort Worth, the high-rise was a visible testament to his success and that of his four best friends. But, Jack noted, Caroline did not seem any more impressed with his achievement than she was with his efforts to protect his family.

  So be it.

  “That doesn’t mean I can’t work, too,” Jack shot back, keeping his eyes on hers. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a hands-on type of guy.”

  Who was always putting his foot in his mouth, especially around her, Jack thought, noting her telltale blush of awareness at his unintended pun.

  “Not that I…” He started to apologize, stopped at the ice in her eyes.

  “What?” She was daring him to go on. To take the opportunity and make some sort of pass. Which he knew she would promptly reject.

  Determined to come out the victor in this little battle of wills, Jack relaxed, shook his head. “Nothing.”

  Caroline scoffed and glanced away. As she did so, Jack noticed the pulse jumping in her throat. Was it his imagination, or was the heat of their two bodies, standing so improbably close together, making the elevator cage really warm?

  Jack drew a deep breath. Once again, he noticed her lack of perfume. And the sunny, subtle fragrance of her hair and skin.

  He wondered if that was by accident or design, and what kind of fragrance she would choose when she did wear perfume. What would she wear on a date? Or to make love…

  Not that he needed to know that. The two of them were already at an impasse and never likely to go down that road. Which was yet another reason to keep this unexpected tête-à-tête short, Jack thought.

  He put a suitable amount of disinterest in his manner—the kind he had used to push away women. After his wife had left, the word had gotten out what a mistrusting cynic he had become.

  “What did you need?” he asked curtly.

  She looked equally ambivalent. “To warn you.”

  Jack’s brow furrowed. He thought he had been the one calling the shots, since it was his family who had been trying to employ her services. “Oh?”

  “I thought about it overnight and I’ve decided to plan your mother’s wedding for her.”

  Jack bit down on an oath. He massaged the rigid muscles along the base of his neck. “Does she know?”

  Caroline looked at him, nonchalant. “Not yet.”

  He surveyed her with exaggerated politeness. “Why are you telling me?”

  Caroline’s expression became inscrutable once again. “Because I also wanted you to know I wouldn’t tell her what you asked me to do yesterday.”

  Jack wasn’t sure he wanted to be beholden to her. Or any woman, for that matter. He let the lift of his brows say it all. “Why not?”

  Her eyes clouded over. “I don’t want to hurt Patrice.”

  That, Jack had to admire. Still, once you had been fooled and abandoned the heartless way he had been, you couldn’t help but be on the alert for the next scam. “So this isn’t blackmail.”

  Caroline recoiled slightly in shock, uttered a mirthless laugh and said drily, “It hadn’t occurred to me.” Her blue eyes gleamed with sincerity. She waved her hand delicately. “But if you would prefer…”

  What Jack would prefer was to have never made the mistake of trying to enlist Caroline Mayer’s help in the first place. But since he couldn’t undo that action, he figured they had no choice but to be exceedingly clear with one another. “So you’re not going to help me try and put the brakes on my mother’s rash decision?”

  Caroline leaned closer. “Not only am I not going to help, I’m going to make sure your mother’s dreams—as they pertain to her wedding—do come true.”

  Dread spiraled through Jack as he thought of his mother having to endure any more unexpected emotional pain than she had already suffered in this lifetime. No one had been able to do anything about the first time. Now, it was different. Now, he could take action. “And if I continue to feel otherwise and try and derail things because it’s the only way I know how to protect my mother?”

  “I’ll find out,” Caroline Mayer promised resolutely. “And I’ll bust you the moment I do.”

  “WHOA. SOUNDS LIKE SHE put you on notice,” Grady McCabe told Jack. He and his friends and fellow businessmen had met for a pickup basketball game at the local gym later that evening.

  Travis Carson dribbled past, handling the ball as easily as any construction project that came his way. “Either that or the lady wants an excuse to stay close to you.”

  “Why would you think that?” Jack demanded in frustration, then stole the ball and dribbled to the basket, shot, watched with satisfaction as it slid in.

  “Probably…” Dan Kingsland caught the rebound and propelled the ball through the hoop, earning another two points for his “team” “…because it’s clear the woman got under your skin in what…two minutes of meeting her?”

  Less, Jack thought, recalling his initial visceral reaction to the woman. Dan, an architect, was pretty perceptive. There was just something about Caroline Mayer that had stopped Jack in his tracks, mesmerized, every testosterone-laced inch of him on red-hot alert. But that was probably easily explained, too, given the fact he hadn’t been near a woman since his divorce from Vanessa, and could happily live the rest of his life without ever losing hold of his senses and falling in love again.

  Jack argued with a frown, “It wasn’t that tempestuous.”

  “Might as well have been, given the way you’ve been talking about it,” Nate Hutchinson, the only bachelor in the group, said. As a successful financial advisor and all-around great guy, it was likely Nate wouldn’t be single for long.

  All the guys nodded their agreement. Nate caught the ball and passed it to Grady.

  Jack tried to steal it before Grady could shoot, but failed. Irritably, he raced back down to the other end of the court, continuing, “The point is now Ms. Mayer’s made me feel guilty about trying to stymie my mother’s plans.”

  “As well you should.” Grady guarded Jack with steely resolve.

  Dan intercepted the ball meant for Jack. “Your mom is a grown woman, perfectly capable of making her own decisions,” he said.

  Remorse washed over Jack yet again. Damned if he’d ignore his instincts—which told him something was definitely amiss in Dutch and his mom’s plans! Jack tipped the ball out of Dan’s hands before Dan could shoot.

  “Furthermore—” Nate scowled as Jack’s shot hit the backboard before dropping through the net “—it’s not at all like you to be so devious and underhanded. It’d be one thing if you knew for certain that Dutch Ambrose was out to get your mom’s money. But unless you uncover proof that something is in the wrong,” Nate continued as Travis captured the ball once again, “you really do need to back off and simply be happy for them.”

  “And maybe,” Grady finished with a provoking grin, “find something else—or someone else—to occupy your time.”

  CAROLINE PARKED IN FRONT of the white brick Georgian with the slate-gray roof and trim precisely at six o’clock. The two-story suburban home where Jack Gaines resided with his mother and daughter was situated on a half-acre lot in a well-established neighborhood, full of manicured lawns and towering live oak shade trees. The beds on either side of the elegant front portico, with the steeply pitched roof, sported a rainbow mix of fragrant spring flowers. The neatly trimmed bushes next to them were bursting with vibrant green leaves.

  Her heartbeat accelerated with the prospect of seeing Jack again and Caroline slung her laptop bag over her shoulder, wheeling her briefcase full of demo products up to the door.

  Patrice answered the door, her granddaughter, Maddie, and her dog, Bounder,
right beside her. “Hi, Ms. Mayer!”

  Caroline got down so she was on eye-level with the little tomboy, who today was clad in knee-length striped overalls, a child-size cowgirl hat, a navy T-shirt and round-toed brown construction boots. “Hi, Maddie. How are you today?”

  “I’m fine!” Maddie beamed, bobbing around, delighted by the attention. “Do you want to say hello to Bounder? She’s been waiting for you, too!”

  Hearing her name, the golden retriever pranced about and wagged her tail so hard she nearly fell over. “Hello, Bounder.” Caroline patted the dog’s fluffy blond head. “You’re a cutie.” Caroline looked back at Maddie with interest. It was clear the little girl adored the dog as much as the dog adored the little girl. Together, they made a sweet pair. “How did your doggie get her name?”

  “When she was a puppy, she bounded all over the place. So I called her Bounder, and my daddy and Gram said that sounded like a good name.”

  “It is a good name.”

  Bounder wagged even harder and licked Caroline’s hand.

  “She’s kissing you!” Maddie explained in excitement. “That means Bounder loves you!”

  “I can see that.” Caroline gave Bounder a final pat, smiled at Maddie and stood up.

  Caroline looked at Patrice, who had been watching the greetings and subsequent exchange with unbridled interest. “Where do you want to set up?” Caroline asked the bride-to-be, unable to help but think, from the pleased way Patrice was still looking at her, that she had just passed some kind of Gaines family initiation by getting along with child and dog.