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She looked at him. He was grinning happily. It was evident he did feel like a lucky man today. Cari had to laugh inside. She might think Randy a perfect match for herself, but it was pretty obvious he had other plans. C.J. looked just right to him. Poor guy.
But then, how was Randy any more of an object of pity than she was herself? She sighed, feeling ordinary, and turned to the kitchenette to make coffee for the guests.
They were sitting around the table sipping coffee and munching on delicious donuts when C.J. dropped her bombshell.
“Hey, I talked to your mama this morning, Max.”
His head rose sharply and he stared at her in horror. “You did what?”
“I called her. Don’t worry, I paid attention to the time difference. She sure is nice. I just love her.” She darted a particularly smug look Cari’s way. “We had a great talk and we put our heads together and figured out a few ideas for presents you could get her before you go back to Venice. So I’m takin’ you shopping, you lucky boy. I know all the best department stores in Dallas and I’m going to introduce you to them, too. We’ll have a great time.”
“What?” Max sounded like a drowning man.
“Oh, come on, you old meanie,” C.J. said, slapping him playfully on the shoulder. “You want to make your mama happy, don’t you?”
He looked to Cari for help, but she shrugged. “I’m going to be taking care of Jamie all day,” she said serenely. “He needs a bath and then I’m going to take him out in his stroller.”
“You’ll probably need some help,” Max said hopefully.
“Who, me? I don’t think so.” She favored him with a devilish grin. “You’d better go with C.J. and Randy. They’ve obviously got their hearts set on making you come out to play.”
“I’m only going,” Max told her a few minutes later as he finished dressing and prepared to meet the other two in the lobby, “so that I can get a chance to work on C.J. about selling the ranch. I’ve got a new angle I’m going to try on her.”
“Why not just marry the woman and be done with it?” she teased. “I thought this was just a business deal.”
He turned to look at her. “The more time I spend with her the more I realize business like that is a perilous game,” he told her. “But you’re right. I may have to marry her. I’m just going to do everything I can think of to avoid that fate.” He looked back at her seriously as he started out the door. “But bottom line, I’ve got to get control of that ranch.”
Her smile evaporated as the door closed. She hadn’t discerned one little bit of give in C.J.’s position, but maybe Max could find something. She certainly hoped so—for his sake.
Cari called the Copper Penny later in the morning to let them know she was going to take a few days off. She felt guilty leaving them in the lurch, but this was an emergency, and she had some time off she could use. Tito drove her home to pack up some clothes, and on the way back, they stopped at a baby store. Max had given her a credit card and told her to get what she thought they needed. It was a virtual baby wonderland and she ordered an outlandish amount of baby equipment to be delivered to the hotel.
That put her in a great mood. Shopping trips often seemed to have that effect—and something told her she was having a lot more fun than Max was right now.
Taking care of Jamie was a breeze. He was such a sweetheart, so responsive and free with his baby smiles and gurgles, that being with him was a joy. And dressing him in his cute new outfits was fun, too. She was glad he was a boy and about a month older than Michelle had been, so the comparisons and memories, though they did come up and did bring a wave of sadness, didn’t sting the way they might have.
The situation that worried her most right now was the status of this baby. What was going to happen if the DNA result was negative? If Sheila appeared and had a good explanation for where she’d been, she supposed Jamie would go back to his mother and the rest of them would go on with their lives. But what if Sheila was on drugs or something else that made her impossible as a mother to this little angel? That would present its own problems. But there was no point thinking about that. Sheila claimed this was Gino’s baby and there was, so far, no reason to doubt her.
So what if Sheila didn’t return and the test did come back with the result Max was looking for? What would happen then? It was perfectly obvious. Max would pack Jamie up and take off for Venice. She would lose again. Another heartbreak.
No, now she was letting her emotions run rampant. She wasn’t that attached to this child and she wouldn’t let herself be. She was a caretaker, nothing more.
And she wasn’t going to fall in love—with either one of them.
It was midafternoon and Max wasn’t back yet. Jamie was napping peacefully. Cari decided to take a shower. A few minutes later she was luxuriating in the multiple-spray waterfall of the fancy bathroom when she thought she heard something. She turned off the water, listening intently.
There it was. Jamie was crying. Wouldn’t you know her timing wouldn’t work out? Sighing, she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel and that was when she heard Max at the bathroom door.
“Cari, the baby’s crying. Why is he crying?”
“Well, pick him up and see what he needs,” she called back, toweling fast. She hurried to blot her hair and put on her robe. As she emerged from the bathroom, she could hear Jamie down the hall.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” she called, pulling the robe more tightly around her as she rushed down the hallway. In the nursery, Max was standing at the side of the crib looking down at Jamie. Cari pushed right past him and picked the baby up, cooing and rocking him as he slowly quieted down. Glancing up, she saw from the look on Max’s face that he was not happy.
“Why was he crying?” he demanded.
This entire scene was putting a knot in her stomach. “Relax,” she said shortly. “Babies do cry.”
His frown was ferocious. “But if it was bad when the nanny let him cry …”
A scene flashed in her mind. It had been very late and she’d been frantically trying to heat a bottle and get it back to Michelle before Brian completely exploded.
“Can’t you shut her up?” Brian had yelled from the bedroom. “I’ve gotta get some sleep. I’ve got to work in the morning, you know.”
“Just a minute.”
“Cari, if you don’t shut that baby up I’m leaving. I can’t live like this.”
“Brian, just give me a minute …”
A crash came from the bedroom where Brian had thrown the lamp against the wall.
Cari blinked away the memory. She looked up into Max’s face.
“You left him alone,” he said accusingly. “Why did you leave him alone?”
Cari took a deep breath and gathered all her resources. “Max, listen to me carefully. He was asleep when I went to take a shower. He was only alone for a couple of minutes.” She gazed at him earnestly. Surely he was mature enough to understand.
But maybe not. Maybe he was going to be like Brian. Her heart sank. If so, what would she do? She wouldn’t dare leave the baby here with him, and yet how could she stay?
“Max, this is not a major issue. Babies do cry. You don’t leave them alone to cry for hours, but now and then it’s going to happen.”
Fascinated, she watched him visibly begin to relax. He looked down at the baby and ran a hand through his hair, then looked up at her again. “I’m sorry,” he said gruffly. “You’re right, of course. It’s just, I came in and heard him crying and didn’t know where you’d gone.”
A surge of relief that developed quickly into affection rolled through her. She wanted to touch him. She wanted to reach out and run her hand down the side of his face. Instead she challenged him.
“Here’s a question for you. Why does the crying bother you so much?”
He stopped as though that was a new one he hadn’t thought about before. “I guess it’s because I’m afraid something is wrong and I won’t know what to do about it,” he admitted at last.
She smiled, feeling such relief. He wasn’t like Brian. That was becoming clear.
“Good answer,” she murmured. “So it’s not just that the noise drives you crazy?”
“Well, I can’t say I love the noise,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s driving me crazy, exactly.”
“Good.”
She hugged him. It was spontaneous and it was one-handed and it was quick. In fact, it was over before he realized it was happening. And then she was gone again and leading the way out into the living room with Jamie in her arms.
“What all have you got there?” she cried, surveying the piles of packages in exclusive department store bags and boxes.
“You wouldn’t believe it,” he said, coming out behind her. “What I’ve got is presents. Presents for my mother. Presents for the servants at my mother’s house in Venice. Presents for all the people who work for me.” He shook his head, looking at her in bewilderment. “Why the hell do women love presents so much?”
She shrugged and grinned at him. “You’re the one buying them.”
He snarled just a little. “C.J. made me.”
“Of course.” She laughed.
He looked at her sideways. “I wanted to buy you a present. But C.J. wasn’t as enthused about that.”
“No kidding.” Cari laughed again. She shook her head of wet curls. “You don’t have to buy me any presents,” she told him. “Just being here, taking care of Jamie, is enough.”
He smiled as though he enjoyed her laughter. “The whole time, I wanted to be back here with you,” he said softly.
She rolled her eyes. “Right.” She turned away, bouncing Jamie in her arms.
“No, really. You don’t believe that?”
Looking back at him, she flushed. She could see his honesty in his eyes. Yes, she believed it. But still, she didn’t trust it. She sighed, remembering the morning kiss. If she didn’t take care, they would be right back there again. She could see it in his eyes.
“Max, we have to talk.”
“About not getting involved?” he asked gruffly.
She looked at him, marveling. What—did he read her mind?
“Exactly.” She shook her head. “Especially if you’re going to be marrying C.J. for heaven’s sake.”
“Marrying C.J.” Slumping down onto the couch, he groaned, his head in his hands. “It’s not going to be as easy as it seemed from a distance.”
“You don’t seem to like her very much.”
“You can tell, can you?” He looked up, adorably cha-grinned, with his beautiful black hair falling over his eyes. “It’s not really fair to say I don’t like her. She’s okay. For someone.” He chuckled suddenly. “Randy, for instance.”
She agreed, smiling. “He does seem to have a major crush there.”
“Oh, yeah. He can’t take his eyes off her.”
She threw a hand up in the air. “Then let him marry her.”
“Good idea. One flaw. That doesn’t get me the ranch.”
She dropped down beside him on the couch, sitting with her feet up on the coffee table and Jamie propped by her legs. The baby laughed at them both and they played with him for a moment. Then she turned to Max.
“Are you seriously considering marrying her just for her ranch?” It did seem a bit of a stretch.
“Yes, I am.”
That was like a knife through her heart, though she knew it shouldn’t matter to her at all.
“Why?”
He looked at her, his eyes clear and determined. “For my mother’s sake.”
He’d said something along these lines before but she had a hard time buying it. “Your mother tells you whom to marry?”
“No.” He shook his head. “You don’t understand.”
She shrugged. “You got that right.”
“Okay. I will try to explain.”
“Please do.”
He sat very still for a moment. She waited, her heart beating just a bit faster, anticipating what he might tell her. She knew it would involve heartbreak. When reasons seemed irrational, heartbreak was usually lurking somewhere in the mix.
“My brother, Gino, the one who died recently, he was just the best.”
Max moved restlessly and Cari could see that this wasn’t going to be easy for him to get through. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. She resisted the impulse to reach out and run her fingers through his thick, lustrous hair.
“Gino did everything right. He was a skiing champion and a world-class swimmer. He danced like Fred Astaire and sang like Caruso. He was smart and good at business. He turned a small pair of cafés he took over when my uncle died into a major chain with restaurants all over Europe. He was handsome and loving, the sort of man whose smile was always his first reaction.” His voice cracked, but he went on. “He was flawless.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She gazed at Max with a compassion that threatened to overwhelm her.
“It’s so tragic that you lost him.”
“Yes.” Clearing his throat, he looked up at her, his eyes dark and troubled. “But for my mother, it was more than tragedy. It was the end of her life.”
Cari shook her head, confused. “But she still has you.”
He nodded, but there was something that looked like anguish in his face. “Yes. Of course. But you see, it was Gino that she …” His voice trailed off and he looked away. For a moment he couldn’t say the words. “Gino was the oldest, and he and my mother had a special bond. Gino was her helper when she went through some very bad things. I was too young to understand at the time, too young to be of much help. Gino was her right arm. When my father left her, she always said she couldn’t have survived without Gino.”
Cari frowned. She didn’t really understand this. He was implying that his mother loved his brother more than anyone or anything—even Max himself. And yet she couldn’t detect a bit of bitterness in him. He seemed to accept it in a way she’d never seen before. She didn’t get it.
“Are you telling me you didn’t resent her attitude?”
He looked up, shocked. “Resent it? Not at all. I felt the same way about him that she did. He was my best friend. He was my idol, my mentor, my guiding star. I would have given my life to save his.”
Cari was struck by a sense of admiration. She wasn’t used to a man who could put others before himself quite this way.
Brian had lived on bitterness. He always thought everyone he dealt with was out to cheat him and he tried to cheat them first, just to protect himself from their schemes. It had been hard to try to get him to see that others weren’t really against him, because every attempt she made to do that just cast her in the role of his enemy, and he would accuse her of doing it, too.
Poor Brian. Now, at this distance, she could pity him. At the time, understanding had been harder to come by.
“My brother died trying out an experimental small plane. He was considering investing in the company that made it. It was a tremendous blow to us all, but to my mother, it was the end of her world. I had to have her closest servants watch her night and day to make sure she didn’t take her own life. My heart was already broken by the death of my brother, but every time I saw the tragedy in her face, my heart would break again. I resolved that I would do anything—anything I could think of, to bring back her smile.”
“And you think getting the ranch will do that?”
