Wanted: One Mommy (3 page)

Patrice gave her son a maternal look that would have quelled even the most unruly son. “Excuse me. How long have I lived in Texas?”

Sensing fireworks about to erupt, Caroline held up a silencing palm and interjected. “You don’t have to hold your wedding in the city.” Where—Jack was right—holiday traffic and congestion could be a nightmare to navigate. “You could have it at a private ranch, for instance. Under a tent.”

“Sounds lovely!” Patrice brightened. “And I really like using Cinco de Mayo as a theme.”

“It would make for a lively reception,” Dutch said.

Patrice clapped her hands together. “Then it’s settled.”

Jack wrapped several stacks of corn tortillas in foil, and put them in the oven to heat. He shook his head but said nothing more, merely went to work chopping up a stack of fresh green poblano peppers and sweet yellow onions.

“We also need to talk florists.”

“I’ll leave that up to you,” Patrice said. “Although I’ll be in on the selection of flowers. I’m very particular about scent.”

Caroline could imagine.

Maddie sashayed up to the table, Bounder by her side. “I want to talk about cake!” she said.

Caroline couldn’t help but grin.

Patrice wrapped her arm about her granddaughter’s shoulders. “I’m sure Caroline brought pictures of some.”

“I certainly did. These bakers I think are particularly excellent.” Caroline brought out the brochures with the color photographs.

“I like that one.” Maddie pointed to a cake topped with the traditional bride and groom, then looked up at Jack,
serious, intent. “Daddy, when are you going to get married? So I can have a mommy, like all my friends.”

T
HE SILENCE FELL
in the room so suddenly, Caroline could have heard a pin drop.

Jack looked…uncomfortable, to say the least. He slid the sliced veggies into a sizzling skillet. “Maddie, we talked about this.”

Curious, Caroline wondered what exactly had been said. Nothing, it appeared, to Maddie’s satisfaction, judging by the pout now on the little girl’s face.

“Savannah’s daddy married Alexis, and she got a mommy, and she’s going to have a little brother or sister, too! Kayla, Ava and Tommy’s daddy got married, and they got a new baby! Mia and Sophie’s daddy got married, and they got two brothers, Tucker and Tristan. So when is it going to be
my
turn?” Maddie demanded, upset, propping her little hands on her hips.

He seemed temporarily at a loss. Which was not, Caroline figured, a usual state of affairs for the sexy CEO.

Maddie glared at Jack, waiting.

Patrice lifted an elegant blond brow. “Good question,” Jack’s mother murmured, unsurprised by the outburst. Which meant, Caroline noted, the question had been asked before. Many times. Just not in front of Caroline.

Jack came around the counter to kneel in front of his daughter. “I told you, honey. I was married once, and it didn’t work out very well.”

Maddie sighed loudly. Her eyes took on a truculent sheen. “You got a divorce and Mommy left.”

Jack nodded, confirming this was so, then explained, “Mommy had been married before. And she realized she still loved Cody and wanted to be married to him. So be
cause I wanted her to be happy, I gave her the divorce she wanted and Mommy went to live with Cody again.”

“In Costa Rica, which is very, very far away,” Maddie repeated, as if this had been told to her many times before. “And she couldn’t take me with her because it was better for me to stay here with you and Gram.”

Jack nodded. “Right.” He patted his daughter comfortingly on the shoulder.

Maddie’s lower lip shot out even farther. She stamped her foot. “But how come I can’t go see her just for a visit?”

Why not? Caroline wondered, too.

Jack looked at his mother for help on that one. Patrice interjected with maternal sweetness. “You will, darling, one day. When you’re older and can travel that far away. In the meantime, you’re here with us, and we all love you very much.”

“I know.” Maddie sighed glumly, only partially mollified. “I love you, too.”

Appearing to think the crisis had been averted, Jack rose and went back to his chef duties.

Maddie climbed onto a stool at the counter. She rested her elbows on the counter and cradled her chin in her palms. “I know you and Mommy can’t get married again, Daddy—because Mommy is married to Cody now. But I still want a mommy now.”

“The only way I can give you an actual mommy is to get married.” Jack lifted a meat platter out of the warming oven and set it on the counter. The familiar, homey scent of mesquite-smoked brisket filled the room.

“Then get married!” Maddie advised, as though it were just that simple. Her opinion stated, she slid off the stool and took Bounder out in the sunlit backyard to play.

“M
ADDIE MIGHT HAVE
a point,” Patrice said, a moment later.

Feeling as if she were in the middle of a family drama she should not be witnessing, Caroline started to rise. “Perhaps I should step outside, too,” she offered cordially.

“Nonsense!” Patrice patted Caroline’s forearm and wordlessly directed her to resume her seat. “You’re going to be around a lot the next few weeks. And this isn’t going to be a secret.”

Still feeling like this was far too intimate a situation for her to be witnessing, Caroline reluctantly sat down.

Jack began to carve the hearty slab of beef into long thin strips. “What isn’t going to be a secret?”

Patrice glanced through the bay window to make sure Maddie was out of earshot. “The fact that although Dutch and I will still make our home here with you and Maddie, the two of us will also be doing a fair amount of traveling. It’s possible we may even be gone weeks or months at a time.”

The plan sounded reasonable to Caroline, given the fact the couple was well-off, in their early sixties and Dutch was newly retired.

“Does Maddie know this?” Jack asked calmly.

Caroline began to see the problem.

For the first time, regret showed on Patrice’s elegant face. “I thought we would talk to her together.”

Worry clouded Jack’s eyes.

He wasn’t only protective of his mother, Caroline noted, but all the “women” in his family.

“I’d rather not talk to Maddie at all.” Jack piled shredded cheese, vegetables and mounds of tender sliced brisket onto serving platters. He paused to give his mother a long, guilt-inducing glance. “I’d rather you stay here and keep your traveling to a minimum, at least in the beginning.”

Caroline could see why Jack was concerned, given how much of a change this would be for his daughter.

“I know, dear.” Patrice rounded the counter. She poured big glasses of iced tea for the grown-ups and a glass of milk for her granddaughter. She turned to her son, and told Jack kindly but sternly, “I appreciate the way you let me become part of your household after your divorce, but it’s time we moved on from that. It’s time I went back to living a full life. Time you did, too.”

“Meaning?” Jack said, not bothering to disguise his derision.

“I agree with your daughter, Jack. Maddie needs a mother and you need a wife.” Patrice paused, making sure she had his full attention. “You need to start dating again—with a view toward marriage.”

“S
ORRY YOU HAD TO
hear all that this evening,” Jack told Caroline several hours later, when Dutch had gone into the study to return a few business calls and Patrice had gone upstairs with Maddie to supervise the bath and bedtime routine.

Caroline wasn’t. It had given her a clear view into what was going on with Jack’s family. “It’s not a problem.” She packed up both her business bags, slung one over her shoulder and carried the other in her hands. “I understand weddings can be stressful. For everyone.”

Jack accompanied her to the foyer, held the door for her, then followed her out to her car.

“I’ll do what I can to limit the stress for all of you.” Caroline dropped both bags into the trunk of her BMW, then shut the lid.

“The only way to do that,” Jack muttered unhappily, “is by talking my mom out of this emotionally overwrought, ill-thought-out mistake.”

Caroline had just spent the evening with Dutch and Patrice. And while they didn’t seem to be wildly
romantically
in love, there was a deep bond between the two, forged by what exactly Caroline didn’t know and didn’t care. All she knew for certain was that these two sixty-somethings were determined to be together and build a life together as soon as possible. Caroline applauded that kind of determination. And she was in the business of making dreams come true.

There was only one thing standing in their way.

And that big lug of a Texas powerhouse was standing right beside her.

“You know what the problem with you is?” Caroline said before she could stop herself.

One corner of impossibly sensual lower lip curved upward. “No,” Jack responded drily, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He leaned closer, aligning their faces so they were nose to nose. “But I have the feeling you’re about to tell me.”

The comedic undertone in his low voice only furthered the flame of her temper. Caroline aimed a finger at the center of his chest, in the place where his heart was supposed to be. “You don’t have a romantic bone in your body.”

He scoffed, rolled his eyes and prodded teasingly, “And you have deduced that because…?”

“For starters?” Caroline stepped closer. This situation had gotten far too personal. And thanks to the unhappy memories Jack’s actions were bringing up, her emotions were out of control. So out of control, she found herself blurting out, “You are the kind of all-thought, no-heart guy who can no more appreciate a night like tonight than he can the validity of someone else’s dreams!”

He looked around, unimpressed. “What’s so special about tonight?”

“Aside from the fact that your mother was planning her ideal nuptials?”

“Aside from that.”

Deciding to help him see the romantic side of life, even if it annoyed the heck out of him, Caroline drawled, “Well, for starters, there’s a black-velvet sky overhead, sprinkled with stars and a gorgeous half-moon.” That alone was enough to bring to mind couples in clinches and hot, passionate kisses.

Ignoring his bemused expression, Caroline pressed on. “Not to mention a warm, humid breeze…” that felt so good, gently caressing their bodies “…and the scent of flowers and fresh-cut grass in the air….” That all added to the wildly reckless feeling of spring.

Caroline turned away from Jack and continued her romantic survey with a wistfulness borne deep inside her. “This neighborhood that you call home is so beautiful, with all the well-kept residences and the peaceful, almost pastoral street.” It was everything she had ever wanted and never had.

She whirled back to face him, almost angry now. She stomped closer, waving her arms for emphasis. “But do you see any of that?” Nearer still. “Do you
realize
how lucky you are to live here and have family who have always been there for you and clearly love you so much? No. You don’t. You probably look at them, at an incredibly beautiful night like tonight and—”

Caroline never had a chance to finish.

Before the breath left her lungs, Jack swept her into his arms and delivered the kiss to end all kisses. She was so shocked initially she didn’t know what to do. And that millisecond of total stillness on her part was all the advantage
he needed. The pressure of his mouth parted her lips. His tongue swept inside, and all coherent thought fled. Longing welled up within her, unlike anything she had ever dreamed she could feel. A shiver of need swept through her, followed by an even more magnificent ripple of pure pleasure. Even while her mind protested, the rest of her—heart, body and soul—surrendered to the sweet surprise of his kiss. And the knowledge that maybe, just maybe, she had really misread this man, in thinking that he had no heart…. Because surely it was impossible to kiss with this much ardor, unless you felt…

She leaned closer, emboldened by the ferocity of her own response, wanting, needing, to know and experience more….

And just that suddenly, he released her.

Looking down at her with a distinctly male satisfaction, he surveyed her lazily from head to toe, and taunted softly, “Still think I haven’t got a romantic bone in my body?”

Jack had the satisfaction of seeing Caroline’s jaw open in surprise, a telling moment before it snapped shut. “Sex and romance are not the same thing,” Caroline snapped. “And that kiss was pure sex.”

And then some, Jack thought, feeling the hardness at the front of his jeans. He was pretty sure from the bright flush of color in her face that she was still tingling from head to toe, too. He edged closer. He might not be much good at love, but there were a few things in which he excelled. “Sex can be good.”

“Not between us,” Caroline reminded him sternly. “I am now working for your mother and Dutch Ambrose.”

He refused to bow to her polite but aloof regard. “I’m the one paying the bill.”

“Which makes it even worse,” she complained, even as red-hot sparks arced between them. “Technically,
you’re
the client.” She angled her thumb at her chest. “And I never mix business and pleasure.”

Jack grinned. The way she had kissed him back just now said otherwise. “What do you mix with pleasure?” he countered, already thinking of hot kisses and soft skin.

“Nothing.” Caroline folded her arms beneath her breasts. She glared at him. “I’m celibate.”

“Could have fooled me with that kiss.”

She leaned closer, curious. “I take that to mean you do fool around?”

The challenging glitter in her eyes prompted his defense. “Not indiscriminately,” Jack replied, inhaling the soft, womanly scent of her. “Although, for the record, I have dated since my divorce. Mainly because I knew at some point Maddie was going to want and need a mommy, the way she is now.”

“So you took one for the team,” Caroline said drily.

That had been about it. He hadn’t been doing it for himself. Jack shrugged, admitting, “There were plenty of women who were interested in my success and wealth. But no one who could deal with how complicated my life has become in recent years.” So that had been that.

Now she was interested. She tilted her head. “Complicated in what way?”

How about every way? Jack thought. “Well, my mom lives with me. And if the marriage goes through, soon Dutch will, too. That alone was a turnoff to many.”

Caroline’s brow furrowed. “I can’t see why if they’d met Patrice and/or Dutch.”

That, Jack thought, had been the family-inclusive attitude he’d been looking for, and never found. He went on to the next item on the list. “Another bummer was the fact that I can’t seem to make long-range or sometimes even short-range plans. Because when I do, something always seems to come up.”

Caroline wasn’t upset about that, either. “Life happens. I have that problem, too.”

They exchanged smiles.

Jack persisted with his wish list. “Anyone I get involved with has to adore Maddie, and be loved by her in return.”

Caroline grinned, enthusiastic. “I can’t see that as a problem.”

Jack went on to the ultimate deal breaker. “And any potential love interest for me must like dogs and accept that Bounder is as much a part of our family as the rest of us. And Bounder can be a handful at times, let me tell you. It seems like she’s always inadvertently getting into trouble of some sort.”

Caroline rocked back on her heels and angled her chin at him. “That’s typical for golden retrievers her age, isn’t it? Most don’t mature until they are three years old.”

Glad to find Caroline so knowledgeable, Jack nodded. “The vet says that we’ve got another year to go before Bounder gets her natural inquisitiveness under control. Although she is pretty well behaved most of the time now.”

“See?” Caroline lifted her hands, palms up. “Life is looking up.”

Jack’s natural wariness kicked in. “Is it? Maddie still wants a mommy. Now.”

Caroline studied him beneath the fringe of her lashes. “And what do you want?” she asked softly.

Jack shrugged. That was easy. “The kind of close and loving marriage my parents had, and the ability to work as a team, no matter how difficult life gets.”

S
O
J
ACK WAS A ROMANTIC
at heart, after all, Caroline thought. He just wouldn’t acknowledge it. Which made her wonder…“I guess you didn’t have that kind of closeness with your ex-wife.”

Jack gestured. “We were a great team, while we were together. The problem was…” Jack hesitated.

For a moment Caroline thought he wasn’t going to finish.

“As much as she tried, in the end Vanessa couldn’t love me as much as she thought she should.”

His voice was calm, matter-of-fact, but Caroline sensed a wealth of pain behind those words. She reached out to touch his hand. “I’m sorry,” she said, just as quietly, looking deep into his eyes. “I know what it is to be betrayed by someone close to you. It’s incredibly demoralizing.” It left you reluctant to try love again.

Jack leaned against her BMW. He searched her face. “What happened to you?”

Deciding it might be cathartic to talk about this with Jack, Caroline took the perch next to him. “I was working for an exclusive hotel as an event planner. I was up for a big promotion and I really wanted it.” She closed her eyes briefly, remembering that awful time in her life, then turned to look at Jack. “My fiancé concluded I wouldn’t have enough time for us if I got it, so he went behind my back and had drinks with my boss and told him that we were planning to start a family shortly after we married, and were even thinking of pushing up our wedding date. Needless to say,” Caroline concluded, bitterness welling up inside her, “that man-to-man talk cost me the increase in pay and responsibility. When I found out why I lost out on the professional advancement, I confronted my fiancé.”

Jack’s lips compressed. He looked as discontented as she felt. “Was your ex apologetic?”

Caroline blew out a gusty breath, shook her head. She traced the paisley pattern on her cotton skirt. “On the contrary. Roark didn’t see it as a betrayal. He felt justified in his actions, said he was only thinking of us, and our happiness.” Caroline threw up her hands in disgust. “That was it for me. I broke off our engagement and asked Roark to move out of the apartment. I quit my job and started my own wedding planning business. So in the end—”
she finished with a shrug “—it turned out to be a good thing.”

Aware she had just given Jack quite a chunk of her life story while she still knew very little about him, she asked in turn, “What about you?”
What happened to break your heart?

“I fell in love with a beautiful woman who seemed ideal for me in every way. We married and bought a home and had Maddie, and just when everything should have been perfect, Vanessa told me that although she hadn’t actually done anything about it, she had never gotten over Cody, her first husband.”

Caroline could barely fathom such disloyalty. The hands in her lap stilled. “You must have been devastated.”

Jack’s mouth took on a rueful curve. He turned his glance to the stars shimmering overhead. “Among other things,” he said quietly.

Caroline resisted the romance of the spring evening. “And you never had a clue Vanessa was on the rebound?”

Jack shook his head, his gaze trained on some distant point. “I thought Cody’s lack of drive and ambition had killed their marriage, that she was tired of living hand to mouth, of always wondering if they would have enough money to pay the rent.”

“Whereas you…” Caroline guessed.

“Worked all the time, at that point, and was rarely if ever off the job. But—” Jack drew in a deep breath, exhaled “—Vanessa was okay with that. In fact—” Jack gestured inanely “—she did everything she could to support and encourage me in that regard.”

Except love him, Caroline thought, her heart breaking for Jack. He deserved so much better. They all did. Unable
to help herself, she reached over and covered his hand with her own. “Did you love her?”

Jack turned his palm, so their fingers were intertwined. He admitted circumspectly, “I loved who I thought she was…my dream woman.”

Aware her heart was racing, Caroline removed her hand from his, sat back, still struggling to understand. “But she wasn’t.”

“Neither Cody nor Vanessa could meet each other’s needs that first time around. As a result, their marriage failed. Wanting a different result in her second marriage, Vanessa was determined to meet all of my needs, even if she had to do so disingenuously. And it worked. I was deliriously happy. She was the one who was miserable. She had everything she had ever wanted, financially, but her whole life felt like a lie. She thought having a baby might change that, give her life more meaning, but it didn’t.”

“So Vanessa asked you for a divorce.”

“Yes. Shortly after we separated, Vanessa got back together with Cody. This time they were wise enough to be able to make it work. The one thing that stood in their way was the baby she’d had with me. Cody didn’t like the reminder she’d been with another man. Nor did she. So, for all our sakes, she gave me full custody of Maddie.”

It sounded reasonable. And unbearably cruel, Caroline thought, splaying a hand over her chest. “And Vanessa’s never seen Maddie since?”

“No. Although, for the record, I’ve encouraged Vanessa to come and visit or stay in touch in some fashion because I think some contact would be better for Maddie than complete abandonment, but Vanessa thinks otherwise. She and Cody have gone on to have two children of their own, and Vanessa doesn’t want to mix her two families.”

“But you still expect Maddie and Vanessa to meet one day.”

Jack nodded. “I think curiosity will demand it at some point, which is why I continue to lay it out as an option. Although it won’t be until Maddie is old enough to understand and handle it.”

“I’m sorry,” Caroline said finally, her heart going out to him. “You and Maddie deserve so much better.”

“So do you,” Jack retorted.

Caroline rose gracefully to her feet, turned to face Jack, who was still leaning on her BMW. “I guess that’s just life, though. Everyone has bad things happen to them. It doesn’t mean we have to give up on our dreams. So if you’re interested in getting back out there on the dating scene…”

He held up a palm. “Uh, no.”

“Don’t trust you’ll get it right this time?”

“Do you?” Jack countered, standing, too.

Caroline wasn’t used to being put on the defensive by clients. Usually, all people who were getting married wanted to do was talk about themselves, their families, the celebration itself and their hopes for their future, which was fine by her. It meant she didn’t have to concentrate on herself, either. “I don’t really think about it much,” Caroline confessed. Not since she had concluded she had lost out on what could very well be her one chance to have the love of her life. Why? Because ultimately she and Roark hadn’t been compatible. And shared values were a key ingredient to any successful relationship.

“Which means you’re not actively looking for romance, either,” Jack teased with an audacious grin.

Caroline ignored the sudden jump in her pulse, and the fact it would be all too easy to fall in bed with Jack. “Or sex,” Caroline pointed out with an arch look that reminded him of the inappropriateness of their earlier embrace.

“Which is a shame,” Jack continued with a lusty look meant to provoke. “Since you’re an
awfully
good kisser.”

Wishing she had met Jack some other time, some other way, Caroline bantered back with utter practicality. “So are you. It doesn’t mean we should take that to mean anything other than what it does.”

He stepped closer. “Which is what exactly?”

His nearness sent another thrill soaring through her. “Pure and simple? We have chemistry. But again, that doesn’t mean we should indulge in it.”

Jack lifted a skeptical brow.

With a sigh, Caroline continued explaining. “I love extra-dark chocolate.”

“Good to know,” Jack replied, smiling.

“If I ate it as much as I’d like to eat it, I’d weigh a ton.”

His gaze drifted over her from head to toe, apparently finding nothing wanting. “So you limit yourself,” Jack guessed.

Tingling everywhere his eyes had touched, Caroline affirmed her self-imposed sacrifice. “To one treat a week.”

Jack’s eyes lit up. “I could live with one kiss a week.”

The warmth inside her built. Caroline wrinkled her nose. “I couldn’t.”

The playful moment turned heated again and Caroline could have sworn Jack was thinking about kissing her again. She was not surprised. She was suddenly fantasizing about the same thing.

“Why not?” he quipped.

Blushing fiercely, she tipped her head up. “Because indulging in one kiss a week with you would lead to wanting more than one kiss.”

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “Also good to know,” Jack interrupted with a mischievous grin.

She placed her hand on his chest “And I’m not interested in starting anything with a person I’m not suited to be with long-term.”

Jack studied her. “What makes you think we’re not compatible?”

Caroline stepped back. He’d given her no choice. She had to be extremely direct. “I’m in the business of making dreams come true.” Their eyes met and held for another breath-stealing moment. “And unless you’ve changed your mind about Patrice marrying Dutch, you’re now in the business of thwarting them.”

“I’
VE NOTICED
,” Patrice Gaines said the next morning when Caroline showed up promptly at eight-thirty, still reeling from the ill-advised kiss she had shared with Jack Gaines the previous evening, “that you don’t wear perfume.”

Telling herself it was definitely going to be possible to stay away from the ruggedly handsome businessman while planning his mother’s wedding, Caroline smiled self-consciously. She forced herself to concentrate on the conversation at hand. “That must seem like heresy to a woman like you, who built her fortune on perfume.”

Patrice gently acknowledged this was so. “May I ask why you don’t wear any?”

A little embarrassed by the oversight, given the company she was keeping, Caroline shrugged. “I guess I’ve never found a fragrance that really suits me. They always seem too heavy, or too young, or too musky…too something.”

Patrice smiled. “Whereas I don’t feel fully dressed unless I have a fragrance on.”