Bound by the Kincaid Baby / The Millionaire's Miracle: Bound by the Kincaid Baby / The Millionaire's Miracle

But he’d been nothing but distrustful and acerbic before tonight, and that made her wary. “Why the chameleon act?”

A dark eyebrow lifted. “I beg your pardon?”

“Why are you being nice?”

“You’ve stated your case. You’re not going to give up the bo—Rhett. That means we will be sharing a roof for the next fifty-plus weeks. No reason why we can’t do so amicably.”

“I stated my case the day we met. Nothing’s changed.”

“I thought you’d change your mind. Now I realize you won’t. We’ll make the best of our alliance.” He wiped his mouth and laid his napkin beside his plate. “Would you care for dessert?”

She blinked at the sudden switch in topic. An inkling of suspicion wiggled like an earthworm inside her. Leopards didn’t change their spots. Or so the cliché said. And clichés were clichés for a reason. They were usually true.

Mitch had to be up to something. The question was what?

But even more worrisome, Carly had actually enjoyed Mitch’s company tonight. She’d better watch herself, because he was still the same rat bastard who’d hurt her sister and had recently threatened Carly’s custody of Rhett.

Letting her guard down around Mitch Kincaid wouldn’t be a smart move.

Five

Wooing a woman he didn’t like but wanted to sleep with was a unique experience for Mitch.

Carly was too smart to fall for the usual bought-without-a-thought generic bouquet or jewelry trinket. Lucky for him, his personal assistant, Marie, knew where to find the right ammo.

Mitch rounded the house with Carlos, the Kincaid Manor groundskeeper, and two large potted plants on hand trucks. Carly looked up from Rhett on his new riding toy. She said something and the kid looked Mitch’s way, then abandoned his wheels to scamper over.

The huge grin on the boy’s face hit Mitch in the solar plexus with memories of other grins, other kids who’d been happy to see him back in the days when he used to rush home from KCL in time for dinner instead of working until the cleaning crew ran him out of his office. Kids who’d moved from Miami to Los Angeles and out of reach when their father had been traded to a west coast basketball team.

“What’s up, little man?” He released the hand truck and extended a hand for a high five, but Rhett bypassed it and twined himself around Mitch’s pant leg and stuck like a thorny vine.

Carly followed at a slower pace. Today’s tracksuit matched the blue sky above. She’d shed the jacket, and her white tank top hugged the curve of her breasts. Her hair had been released from its usual ponytail to drape her bare shoulders, and a breeze lifted the strands away from her face. How had he never noticed that she didn’t wear earrings? Her lobes weren’t even pierced, and he found the naked, virgin flesh unusually alluring. Did he even know another woman who didn’t have at least one hole in each ear?

Carly nodded to Carlos as she joined them. “What are those?”

“Bud-something. To attract hummingbirds.” Odd how tight his throat was this afternoon. He patted the head bumping his thigh.