Corporate Daddy

Before he could turn away again, Emily lifted Amanda Sue’s arm and wagged it in Logan’s direction. “Say, ‘’Bye-bye, Daddy. ’Bye-bye.”’

“’Bye-bye, Daa!” Amanda shouted, pleased to show off.

Logan beamed. “’Bye-bye, Amanda Sue.”

Emily brought the baby’s hand to her own mouth, kissed it and blew across it in Logan’s direction. “Blow Daddy a kiss,” she said, and Amanda Sue immediately smacked her hand over her own mouth, removed it, then pursed her mouth in a kiss and blew at Logan.

Logan laughed delightedly, so she did it again, showing her teeth in a gurgle of laughter. “’Bye-bye, Daa!”

“’Bye-bye, Amanda Sue,” he said again, waving at her. Everyone was smiling when he pushed through the glass door into the hall, and it was precisely then that Amanda Sue actually realized her father was leaving. Her face registered shock, then dismay, and she screamed as if she’d just taken a bullet. Logan whipped around and shoved back inside, clearly worried. “What?”

“Daa!” she screamed, reaching for him. “Daa!”

Logan looked as if he’d been poleaxed, but then his entire being softened, and he hurried toward her, holding out his arms. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. Daddy won’t be gone long.” Amanda Sue went to him with a false sob of delight. Emily rolled her eyes. Logan was eating it up, however. “Don’t you want to stay with Emily? She’ll take good care of you till Daddy gets back.” He rubbed her cheek with the back of one finger. “You play with Emily. I’ll be right back, I promise.”

Emily reached for Amanda Sue, and the baby came right to her.

Logan stroked her cheek again. “I’ll be quick as I can, princess.” He looked at Emily with eyes so devastatingly blue in their happy brightness that they took her breath away. “I guess I did better than I thought, huh?” He all but tiptoed to the door, despite the fact that Amanda Sue was watching him calmly now. He hurried away smiling.

Emily chuckled and hoisted Amanda Sue a little higher in her arms. “You little tyrant,” she said laughingly. “I wonder how old you’ll be before he figures out you’ve been playing him like a lute?” Amanda Sue dug a finger into the scarf knotted beneath the Peter Pan collar of Emily’s white cotton blouse and babbled about chins or something similar. “Well, that’s all right,” Emily went on thoughtfully. “Daddies ought to be vulnerable to their daughters, especially this one. God knows he’s broken enough hearts of other fathers’ daughters. Who’d have thought that when he finally met his match she’d be little more than two feet tall?”

Amanda Sue chuckled as if she understood every word, and then she abruptly kicked, stiffened, and tried to slide down to the floor. Emily laughed, catching her more tightly against her. “Oh, no, you don’t. We’re going to get you changed and ready to meet everyone. We’re going to find you a nanny today. Yes, we are. A nanny for Amanda Sue.”

It never occurred to her as she carried the child toward her father’s office that it might not be as simple as it sounded.

Three

The woman clutched her handbag beneath one arm and patted the steel-gray helmet of her hair even though not a strand had moved out of place. It wouldn’t dare, Logan decided, for fear of being plucked and banished. She looked down her lengthy nose at Amanda Sue, who sat in her father’s lap, his tie once again clamped firmly between her teeth despite all his efforts to prevent it. She looked like a pink-and-white puppy with a favorite sock in its mouth. Logan had seriously tried to interest her in something else, but she was nothing if not determined, this child of his, and she looked so downright happy and adorable that he didn’t have the heart to make her cry again. Some of the other candidates had laughed, but this woman’s disapproval was palpable.

“I’ve dealt with many an unruly child,” the woman said smugly, “and my methods have proven successful in nearly every case. Believe me, I know how to bring a child to heel quickly.”

It had been a long, disappointing morning, and Logan was feeling the strain. Despite his own mental canine comparisons, he rolled his eyes and snapped, “Dogs are brought to heel. I hope you aren’t saying you’ll treat my daughter like a dog.”

The woman narrowed her eyes to black slits. “Please do not put words in my mouth. I’m merely stating that a willful child requires a strong, firm hand.”

Logan pinched his nose, trying to hold on to his temper. His daughter, meanwhile, was continuing to ruin a perfectly good silk tie by gnawing and slobbering on it. Emily had suggested that she was cutting teeth. But he was more concerned about the granite-jawed prison matron sitting across from him. “You do understand that my daughter has been through a terrible loss and trauma, don’t you?” he asked.

The woman inclined her head. “All the more reason to provide a strictly scheduled routine. The structure will give her security and teach her self-control.”

“She’s sixteen months old,” he pointed out. “How much self-control can she have at this age?”

“More than you might realize,” the woman said complacently. “Turn her over to me, and we’ll soon have a different child.”

Logan wanted to smack her. How dare she imply that there was something wrong with Amanda Sue! True, she was strong-willed and much too intelligent for his own good, not to mention adventurous enough to scare the pants off him at times, but she was a Fortune. Of course she was strong-willed and intelligent and adventurous, even quick-tempered. She was also beautiful and charming and perfect just as she was. He wouldn’t have her changed, but he couldn’t help wondering what this hyena in a middle-aged woman’s guise might know that he didn’t.

“Just exactly how might you accomplish this transformation?” he asked.

The woman readjusted her seat on the chair and lifted her chin. “I know the so-called experts counsel against breaking a child’s spirit,” she began, “but frankly my experience shows otherwise.”

Now he really wanted to smack her. He set his back teeth. “Is that so?”

She seemed unaware of his censure. “I believe the old ways are the best ways,” she said sagely. “My mother believed children were to be seen and not heard. She made very sure that my brother and I were well-behaved, well-groomed and well-thought-of. If we broke the rules, we were harshly dealt with, let me tell you, but privately. Publicly, she made sure we were a credit to our parents.”

“Uh-huh. And what about your own children? Are they a credit to their parents?”

“Oh, I have no children of my own,” she said dismissively. “I decided long ago to dedicate myself to the children of others, and one thing I realized early on is that modern parents are too emotionally attached to their children to see what it is they really need.”

He couldn’t quite believe he’d heard her right. Emily appeared at his elbow, saying brightly, “Okay, I think that’s enough. Don’t you, Mr. Fortune?”

“Quite enough,” he agreed, sending her a loaded message she couldn’t help interpreting correctly. She moved around the desk to the woman’s side and literally seized her by the arm, pulling her to her feet.

“Thank you for coming,” she said briskly, propelling the woman toward the door. “We’ll be in touch with your agency.”

Amanda Sue made roaring sounds around a mouthful of his tie and smacked her hands aggressively on the top of his desk, as if bidding the woman good riddance. Logan smiled. Even she had sense enough to know that woman didn’t belong anywhere near a child. He wouldn’t entrust an animal to that woman. Unfortunately, he hadn’t found anyone else to whom he could comfortably give over care of his daughter, either.

A couple of the candidates were mere children themselves, just teenagers, really. Two others were in the U.S. only temporarily, one with only weeks left on her visa, and the last thing Logan wanted to do was let Amanda Sue get emotionally attached to someone guaranteed to leave her soon. One woman, while a citizen, didn’t speak English well enough to properly interview. Given the circumstances, he felt Amanda Sue would be too confused to respond well. Another woman had seemed mildly impaired mentally. She was very pleasant, and he liked her a great deal, but he felt uncomfortable leaving her alone with Amanda Sue for days at a time when he was traveling. This last one was the topper on the cake, however, a real brute in support hose.

Emily steered the woman out of his office and her own, then returned, closing the door behind her. “Charles Dickens wrote books about idiots like her,” she said, dropping down onto the corner of his desk. Amanda Sue started crawling up onto the desk to get to her.

Logan let her go. What could it hurt with him and Emily sitting right there? Emily seemed to agree. She reached out and took Amanda Sue’s hands in hers, helping her stand from a crouch, then drawing her forward carefully. “Maybe I should call another agency,” she said, fingering a curl on top of the baby’s head.

“Do that,” he agreed, smoothing a grossly wet, rumpled tie. “This one sure didn’t send over any winners.”

“Still want to schedule the interviews here?” Emily asked, and he sighed. Interviewing nannies wasn’t exactly conducive to business, but he didn’t want any strangers knowing where he lived. The kidnapping of his cousin’s infant son Bryan had taught them all the folly of not taking every precaution. He nodded.

“Yeah. I don’t want anyone I don’t completely trust in my house.”

“I understand,” Emily said. “So tomorrow we start over. Now what?”

He looked around him, wondering if he could keep Amanda Sue here and actually get anything done, but he knew the answer to that. “Why don’t you take her on home,” he said finally. “I’ll try to get through early here so you can get home at a decent hour. Uh, unless I can persuade you to spend the night?”

She sent him a look that said, Please don’t ask. He ignored it.

“I could really use a good night’s sleep myself,” he went on, “and I have so much work to do. And you wouldn’t have to cook or anything. I’ll pick up something.”

“I don’t know. I really prefer—”

“I understand,” he said, “but I’m desperate here. I haven’t even checked my voice mail today.”

“All right,” she said, capitulating reluctantly, “but just tonight.”

He nodded, deeply relieved. “Surely we’ll find someone tomorrow.”

If the smile she gave him wasn’t quite as hopeful as it might have been, he chose not to think about it. He was covered for a few precious hours, and that was enough for the moment. Tomorrow would come soon enough, too soon probably, but he’d cross that bridge when he came to it. Meanwhile, he had a lot of work to do and a little time to do it in. But at least he wouldn’t have to worry about his daughter while he was doing it, and that, he was discovering, was more important than anything else.

What a day it had been, Emily mused, wrestling Amanda Sue into her sweater. She had worked closely with Logan Fortune for two years now, but never like this. It was as if they were a couple, rather than simply a good business team, and such illusions were terribly dangerous given the way she felt about him. She’d held the attraction at bay for such a long time, but she wasn’t superhuman.

She had known from the beginning of her employment with him that any personal involvement would be sheer folly. Logan was a real player in the field of romance, and Emily was anything but. Dalliance with the likes of him could only lead her to a broken heart, but here she was about to spend the night at his house. Still, what else could she do? He and Amanda Sue both were obviously exhausted, and how could she not allow him the benefit of her experience when he was trying so very hard? One night, she told herself, and tomorrow would be a better day for everyone.