The Baby Inheritance

“I’m convinced,” she admitted. “He arranged for the crib and had a wide selection of baby food stocked in your pantry. He even provided a bright blue teddy bear that Rosie already loves.”

Reed smiled and even from across the room Lilah felt the punch of it. If anything, her sense of balance dissolved just a bit more.

“You want a drink?”

She thought about refusing, simply because she wasn’t ready to relax around him yet. But after the day she’d had... “Wine, if you have it. White.”

He nodded, got the wine from the refrigerator and poured her a glass. Carrying both drinks to the sofa, he sat down and handed the wine to her when she joined him, taking a seat on the opposite corner.

Lilah took a sip, let the wine settle her a bit. Being this close to Reed Hudson was a little unnerving. The anger she’d been living with for the past few weeks still simmered deep inside her, but looking at him now, she had to admit it wasn’t only anger she was feeling. She had another slow sip of wine and reminded herself just why she was there.

“Why are you so willing to raise Rosie?” she asked, her voice shattering the silence.

He studied the golden scotch in the heavy glass tumbler for a long moment before taking a swallow. “Because Spring asked me to.”

“Just like that.”

He looked at her, his green eyes as clear and sharp as emeralds under a spotlight. “Just like that. The baby—Rosie—” he corrected before she could “—is a Hudson. She’s family and I look out for my family.”

“Enough to change your whole life?”

A wry smile curved his mouth briefly. “Life’s always changing,” he mused. “With a family like mine, nothing ever stays the same.”

“Okay, but...” Waving one hand to encompass the elegant surroundings, Lilah said, “You’re not exactly living in a baby-friendly environment.”

“I know.” His gaze slipped around the open room, then he nodded at her. “That’s one of the reasons you’re here. You’ve got more experience with babies than I do. So you’ll know how to baby-proof this place temporarily.”

“Temporarily?” she asked.

“Obviously, I’ll need a house,” he said, taking another drink of his scotch. “Until now, the hotel’s worked well for me. Butler service, daily maids and twenty-four-hour room service.”

“It does sound good,” she admitted, but didn’t think she’d be able to live in such a cutoff, sterile environment for long.

“But a baby changes things,” he added, with a slight frown into his glass.

“Yeah, they really do.”

Abruptly, he pushed to his feet and reached out for her hand.

“What?” she asked.

One eyebrow winged up. “Don’t be so suspicious. Just come with me for a minute.”

She placed her hand in his and completely ignored the buzz of something electric that zapped through her. If he felt it, too, he was much better at not showing it than she was. Not a flicker of response shone in his eyes as he pulled her to her feet.

He tugged her behind him as he walked around the sofa, across the room and out onto the terrace, stepping into the encroaching shadows. Then he let her go and walked up to the stone railing, looking out over the view as lights began to wink into existence in the homes below, and a handful of stars began to glitter in the sky.

Lilah followed his gaze briefly, then half turned to watch him instead. His sharp green eyes were narrowed against the cold wind that ruffled his thick, wavy black hair. Somehow he seemed more...approachable. Which should probably worry her.

“I can’t stay here,” he said, his voice soft enough that she leaned in closer so she wouldn’t miss a word. “Rosie will need a yard. And a terrace that doesn’t include a couple-hundred-foot drop to the street.”

Lilah shivered and looked over the edge of the railing. She’d had the same hideous thought herself. A tiny Rosie crawling out to the terrace and somehow climbing up on furniture and pitching right over. Deliberately, she pushed that mental image away and told herself it was good that Reed had come to the decision to move on his own—without her having to mention it.

“So just like that, you’ll buy a house.”

“Just like that,” he assured her, turning to lean one hip against the stone balustrade. “I’ll find something this weekend.”

She laughed. How could she not? Lilah’s friends worked and saved for months, sometimes years to sock away enough money to maybe look for a house. Reed Hudson would simply pull out his magic checkbook. “Is everything so easy then?”

“Not easy,” he assured her, his green eyes meeting and holding hers. “But if there’s one thing I know—it’s that if you want something, you go get it.”

Three (#ulink_8b80fbf0-6b06-5c7a-98be-efb91b8d065b)

Oddly enough, Lilah could understand that statement. Okay, the spur-of-the-moment buying of a house was way out of her league, but the attitude was something she believed in. Going after what you wanted and not giving up until you had it.

Isn’t that how she’d run her own life?

How strange that she found herself agreeing with a man she’d expected to loathe on general principle. But as much as she was still furious on her friend’s behalf, she had to admit that Spring had left her daughter to Reed’s care. That said something, too, didn’t it?

Spring had loved her daughter more than anything. So Lilah had to assume that there was more to Reed Hudson than she’d seen so far. Rose would not have been entrusted to him if Spring hadn’t believed he could and would love that little girl.

Maybe, Lilah thought, instead of just holding her own anger close and nurturing it, she should give him a chance to show her she was wrong about him.

“How does Rosie fit into your plans?” she asked.

He looked at her for a long minute and Lilah just managed to keep from fidgeting beneath that steady stare. Her hormones were stirring to life, and that was so unexpected. She’d come here reluctantly, to turn over a baby she loved to a man she didn’t know or trust. Now her own body was lighting up in a way she’d never known before, and she didn’t like it. Being attracted to this man wasn’t something she wanted—but her body didn’t seem to care.

Under the gaze from hot green eyes, she shifted uncomfortably and silently told herself to get a grip.

“Rosie’s mine now.” Cool words uttered simply and they drove a knife through her heart.

Instantly, she told herself that she should be glad of it. That’s why she was here, after all. But she’d loved Rose from the moment of her birth. Lilah was Spring’s coach all through labor and delivery and she’d held Rosie herself when the little girl was moments old. She had been a part of the baby’s life from that day on, helping to care for her, worrying about her, loving her. And since Spring’s death more than a month ago, Lilah and Rosie had been a team. A unit. Now she had to give up the child she loved so much and it tore at her.

“I’ll take care of her,” he was saying. “Just as Spring wanted me to.”

“Good,” she muttered, and paused for a sip of wine. “That’s good.”

“Yes,” he said wryly. “I can hear just how pleased you are about it.”

Caught, she shrugged. “No point in pretending, is there?”

“None.” He nodded. “Truth is much easier and far less trouble.”

“Are you sure you’re a lawyer?”

One eyebrow winged up. “Don’t much like lawyers?”

“Does anyone?”