He sniffed a laugh. “No kidding.”
“Yet, you don’t want a nanny.”
“I don’t want to be like my dad.”
“He never had time for you?”
He sighed, ran his fingers through his short dark hair. “These kids are just adjusting to losing their mom. I can’t leave them too.”
Gorgeous or not, grouchy or not, deep down inside Chance Montgomery was a nice guy. And he genuinely loved his kids. Surely she could put her own problems on hold long enough to help him. Especially when she needed to earn a little money as much as he needed assistance with his kids.
She cautiously said, “So you want suggestions about some things?”
He sighed. “When I ask? Yes.”
“Are you asking?”
His sigh turned into a growl. “The fact that you think I should be asking means I should be, so, yes, I’m asking.”
“I didn’t see a baby swing or a walker in your car—”
“A walker?” His brow furrowed and he looked at her as if she were crazy. “Like an old person’s walker?”
If he hadn’t been so serious, she might have laughed. But if he didn’t even know what a swing and a walker were, then chances were he hadn’t forgotten to pack them for this trip. He didn’t have them. Which heaped another layer of trouble onto his already troubled daddyhood.
Not wanting to insult him, she carefully said, “A walker is a seat with wheels that you put your babies in. It helps them learn to walk, but it also entertains them.”
“You mean they don’t have to spend every waking minute crawling on me?”
His hopeful tone broke her heart. “Nope.”
“And I suppose the swing is something every bit as useful?”
She winced then nodded. “I’m amazed your ex-wife didn’t give you those things when she gave you the kids.”
“Liliah wasn’t my wife. She isn’t going to be anybody’s wife. And as you can see, she took real well to mothering too.”
He turned and headed for the nursery and Tory squeezed her eyes shut in misery.
Just when it looked like they might have been starting to get along, she said something stupid.
This was never going to work.
CHAPTER TWO
REACHING IN TO lift Sam out of his crib, Chance stopped the anger rolling through him. He shouldn’t be surprised that Liliah hadn’t given him all the things the kids needed. But with a screaming baby on his shoulder and a woman who seemed to know what she was doing standing right behind him, this wasn’t the time to let his brain tumble to his anger with Liliah.
“So why do you think they woke up?”
Tory walked to Cindy’s crib. Chance’s sobbing little girl raised her arms, begging to be held. “Did they sleep on the drive here?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. So they probably just nodded off after you fed them because their tummies were full. They don’t need a nap.” She lifted Cindy out of her crib. “Hey, sweetie.”
Cindy’s sobbing subsided, and Chance watched as a look of wonder transformed Tory’s features. Her brown eyes lit with joy, and for the first time in weeks he felt himself begin to relax. Not only did she know what to do, but she truly seemed to love babies. Maybe a nanny wasn’t such a bad idea after all?
“So they want to play?”
She rubbed her cheek against Cindy’s. “Probably.”
But as soon as she said the word, she winced. “You know, with these two up, and us really not having a whole heck of a lot of toys or anything to entertain them, maybe we should take a drive into town and get some supplies.”
“Like that walker thing?”
“And a play yard and swings.”
New guilt welled up in him. He was such an idiot. Couldn’t he at least have thought of some of this stuff? Was he that dumb that he couldn’t draw some commonsense conclusions?
No. Actually, he wasn’t dumb as much as tired. So tired from being up most of the night every night for the past two weeks that he hadn’t been thinking straight.
“If we get them what they need and even a few toys, we’ll be able to tire them out, and they’ll actually sleep for longer stretches of time.” She smiled tentatively. “They’re old enough that we might even be able to train them to sleep through the night.”
He looked longingly at her. “Really?”
She laughed and the soft sound hit him right in the gut. He told himself that was only because he wanted to be able to laugh again too. But she was pretty. Maybe even prettier than the women he used to date because she didn’t seem to be wearing makeup. She didn’t need it.
“Yeah. So grab your wallet and I’ll get the diaper bag and we’ll make a quick run to the store.”
Thinking only of a full night’s sleep, Chance buckled the kids in their car seats and headed for the mall on the outskirts of town. When they arrived, he flicked the switch signaling a turn into the mall parking lot, but Tory tapped his forearm and pointed at the discount department store.
“Let’s go there. The quality is as good and you’ll spend less money.”
He did as she asked but as they got the kids out of the SUV, he sneaked a peek across the backseat at her. Usually, most of the women he met flirted outrageously with him and were impressed by his money. This one barely tolerated him and was now showing him how to save rather than spend?
Of course, she was an employee.
She wasn’t interested in him as a man, or potential date, just as a boss.
That gave him a tug of something he couldn’t quite identify. He suspected it was disappointment. But at this point he’d much rather have somebody good with the kids, than somebody to sleep with.
He almost laughed. Having two babies to care for certainly changed a man’s priorities.
Automatic doors welcomed them into the store. Tory instructed him to get a cart and put Sam in the baby seat. Then she got a cart and put Cindy in that baby seat. They strolled past the rows and rows of everything from clothes and underwear to home goods and gardening tools until they came to the baby section.
She stopped her cart. “The most important things today are two walkers, two baby swings, a stroller for twins and one really strong play yard.”
“Play yard?” She’d mentioned that before, but he didn’t know what it was.
“Back in the day, moms called them playpens. We’ve gotten more politically correct and call them play yards now. It’s a square thing like a box with mesh walls that you put the babies in so that they can play together but not crawl around and get into trouble.”
He said, “Ah,” and watched as she loaded a compact box into his cart. “I take it there’s going to be some assembly required.”
She winced. “Unfortunately. Maybe we can call Robert?” she said, referring to the groundskeeper.
He gaped at her. “I worked in construction for ten years before I started my own company, and even then I had to work with the crew sometimes.” For some unknown reason his chest puffed out with pride. “I think I can handle putting together a playpen.”
“Play yard,” she corrected, as she loaded another big box into his cart.
“Play yard.”
Unexpected