Nick would try to make things as easy for her as possible, but only because of the baby. He was not about to open himself up for possible heartache again.
Not if he could help it.
He returned to the stockroom and finished the inventory, then went to the house and took a shower. He put on clean shorts and a light cotton shirt. Normally he didn’t walk around in tank tops and ball caps, but there was no air-conditioning in the stockroom. So maybe it was just as well Carlee had been so enthused over her new job that he hadn’t been able to get it across to her just who he was. Hopefully she wouldn’t remember how sloppy he’d looked.
She was just finishing up the paperwork when he got to the office. Elaine was holding Scotty for her, bouncing him on her knees.
Carlee saw Nick and smiled. “You people are going to spoil my baby, I can see that.” She turned to Elaine. “Mr. Thurston gave him that bear he refuses to let go of and wouldn’t let me pay for it.”
Elaine’s brows lifted in surprise. “Mr. Thurston?” She laughed. “No, no, dear. This is Mr. Starke, the owner.”
Carlee’s hand froze. She’d been filling out the W-4 federal tax withholding form.
Mr. Starke.
Nick Starke.
The owner.
Alicia’s lover who had abandoned her in her time of need.
Scotty’s father who had wanted him aborted.
Hypocrite, liar and cheat.
These were the words that fired through her brain like bullets.
Her fingers began to shake, and she dropped the pen she was holding.
It fell to the floor, and Nick quickly crossed the room to pick it up for her, sharing Elaine’s laugh as he did so. “I tried to tell you who I was, but you were too focused on the job to hear anything else. I’m really glad to meet you and happy you’re going to be with us for a while.”
He turned to Elaine. “Have you assigned them to a cottage yet? Be sure she gets one by the lake with a new air conditioner. We’re in for some hot weather soon, and it will be nice for Scotty. He’s a cute one, isn’t he?”
Carlee wasn’t listening, unable to hear beyond the roar of rage that swept her from head to toe.
Nick didn’t notice. He was playing with Scotty again.
Carlee somehow managed to finish the paperwork, then gave it to Elaine, all without looking at Nick Starke. When listing her previous experience, instead of writing down Jupiter Groves, as a precaution she listed one in another part of the state that she knew had gone out of business. After all, Nick Starke might not show his true colors until she revealed the truth about Scotty. If that happened, she wanted to be able to say to hell with it, leave without warning and drop out of sight.
“Well, if you’re done,” he said when she handed the papers to Elaine, “I’ll go with you to your cottage and make sure it’s okay. You can follow in your car, and I’ll carry your things in.”
She tried and failed to smile or put any warmth at all in her voice as she responded, “That won’t be necessary, Mr. Starke. I can find the way. I’ve imposed enough on you for one day. And I apologize for not giving you a chance earlier to tell me who you were.”
He frowned slightly, puzzled by her sudden cool demeanor, and then decided she was just embarrassed and waved away her protest. “Nonsense. I’m glad to help. Besides, when I was on my way over here from the house, I saw the other workers leaving. Today is payday, and they always head for town.”
He took Scotty from Elaine, and Carlee bit her tongue to keep from protesting. He was just showing off as people did around babies, thinking it made them look so wonderful. And as she watched him, she ached to scream that he was cooing over the very baby he hadn’t wanted.
Yielding to sudden impulse, she asked, “Mr. Starke, how many children do you have?”
And was it her imagination, or did he wince ever so slightly as he turned his head before woodenly answering, “I don’t have any.”
She fell into step behind him as he carried Scotty outside into the warm Florida sun. “Well, maybe you will one day,” she said breezily, congratulating herself on recovering so quickly from the shock of discovering who he was. “I’ll bet you and your wife want to fill that big house with kids.”
“I’m not married.”
“Oh.” She managed to sound surprised. “A bachelor? You’ve never even been married?”
They reached her car, and he opened the door, then handed Scotty to her to buckle in the car seat. “I was once. I’m divorced.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, managing to sound sincere.
“It’s all right. It was a long time ago.”
Longer than twenty-two months? she burned to ask. Because that was when he had been romancing Alicia while claiming to be going through a divorce.
She decided it was necessary to be downright nosy. “So how long has it been?” Then, because he gave her a strange look, she went on to explain, “I only ask because I’m wondering about myself. I mean, I haven’t been divorced very long, and I was wondering, you know, how long before you really get over it.”
“For me it’s been five years, but I learned right away that life goes on, and you have no choice but to not look back.”
Carlee finished buckling Scotty in, glad that Nick had walked away to get in his own car, because right then she felt like slapping his face, dimpled grin and all.
Now she despised him all the more to know he had been divorced when he met Alicia. He had lied so he could tap-dance around any notion she might have had about getting married. He was nothing but a rich playboy, out to have a good time, use women till he tired of them—or got them pregnant—then move on to new conquests.
But despite her dislike of the man, Carlee could understand why Alicia had fallen for him so hard and so fast. He was not only attractive, he was smooth as French silk. He cleaned up good, too. When she met him in the gift shop, he’d been appealing in a rugged sort of way. Then later, in the office, when she was finally able to look at him through her red haze of fury, he was pure eye candy.
He led the way down a gravel road in an old Volkswagen that had been converted into a kind of beach buggy. Carlee sneered to think he probably kept a Porsche or two locked in his garage.
As she followed close behind him, she could relax a little; she didn’t have to worry that he might put up a fight about paying child support. He could easily afford it, plus she had seen the Chamber of Commerce plaques on the office walls, along with plaques for contributions to the community. There were also a few trophies for a Little League softball team that Starke Groves apparently sponsored. He would definitely not want to risk a scandal. And once paternity was established, he would quietly do his duty.
Scotty was making happy noises as he chewed on the teddy bear’s ear. Carlee wanted nothing more than to toss the toy out the window. But that would be immature and silly of her. Besides, she had to try to keep an open mind regarding Nick Starke. So she would hide her resentment of him and do what she had come to do.
Nick kept glancing in the rearview mirror. There was something puzzling about Carlee Denton. One moment she seemed friendly, but the next she was cold as ice. And then there were those personal questions. Normally all workers cared