“What do you need from me?”
“Some representatives of the royal family tried to get her to sign some forms,” Benjamin said.
“Absolutely not,” Jackson said. “Let me take a look at them first.”
“I already said no. They’ve invited her to visit their island country, but again, they want her to sign papers. She says she doesn’t care about meeting them, but I think she does.”
Jackson scrubbed his face. “And you’re wondering what this means legally? Do you want to fire her?”
“Hell, no. Emma loves her,” Benjamin said.
“Okay. Well, there’s a remote possibility that she’s due an inheritance, but since she’s out-of-wedlock and an adult, it’s unlikely. Royals have ways of tying up their funds.”
“I’m sure Coco would appreciate the infusion to her bank account, but there are other concerns,” Benjamin said.
“Such as?” Jackson asked.
“Such as the royal reps said she would be contacted by the media when the news breaks,” Benjamin said.
Jackson winced. “That’s true. There’s a huge infatuation with anything royal. She could get pestered....”
“My men and I can handle a little pestering,” he said.
“This might be more than a little,” Jackson warned.
“I think she wants family,” Benjamin said. “She didn’t have any brothers or sisters growing up. Her father died when she was young and her mother died within the last few months.”
Benjamin felt his brother studying him.
“This is starting to sound personal. Do you have something going on with your baby’s nanny?”
“No,” Benjamin said immediately. “I’m just telling you what I’ve observed.”
“So, no hanky-panky. No kisses. No middle of the night sleepwalking into each other’s beds.”
“No.”
“Hmm,” Jackson said, drumming his fingers on the bar as he studied Benjamin. “I don’t know. What does she look like?”
His brother’s intent expression irritated Benjamin. “There’s nothing going on between Coco and me. Between Brooke and the baby, trust me, I’ve had enough trouble with women lately. Emma feels safe with Coco. The last thing I want to do is mess up that situation.”
“Well, if you have any more legal questions or if I can give you a hand with anything, let me know. Since you’re more likely to saw off a leg than ask for help, you must consider this more important.”
“Yeah,” Benjamin said and decided to change the subject. “Who’s in your fantasy football lineup?”
He and his brother talked football for a while, then Benjamin headed home. He noticed the porch light and floodlights were on and wondered if Sarah had left them lit. After a blazing-hot summer, Benjamin welcomed the cooler temperatures. He could almost see a hint of vapor when he exhaled.
Pulling open the front door, he stepped inside and cut the lights.
“Wait!”
He immediately identified Coco’s breathless voice and turned the lights back on. “What are you doing?” he asked as he saw her trotting toward the steps.
“I just needed some fresh air, so I walked around the house a few times. I’ve got a remote intercom in case Emma wakes up,” she said, pushing her hands into the pockets of her hoodie sweatshirt as she walked up the steps. Her nose was pink and her cheeks were flushed from the cold.
“How long have you been out there?” he asked.
“Not that long,” she said. “I’m okay. I just didn’t want to get locked out.”
He sensed a restlessness vibrating from her. She pushed back the hood of her sweatshirt and pulled her hair free. “You sure there’s nothing wrong?” he asked.
“No,” she said, but she didn’t meet his gaze. “I used to walk around my mom’s house that last month she was alive. Sometimes I just feel better after walking a little bit.”
“I can understand that. I get itchy if I stay still too long,” he said.
She finally looked at him. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. You want a cup of something to warm you up? It smells like Sarah may have left something warming in a crock.”
“Apple cider,” Coco said. “And it’s delicious.”
They went to the kitchen, and Coco pulled down the mugs and poured the cider. Benjamin took a sip too soon and it burned his tongue. “Ouch,” he muttered and waved a hand for her to join him at the small table in the kitchen nook.
Coco smiled and sat across from him. “It smells so good. It’s hard to wait.”
She looked so young and sweet she could have been a teenager.
She met his gaze. “You’re looking at me strangely. What are you thinking?”
“I’m remembering how I had to look at your driver’s license twice before I believed you were twenty-four,” he said.
Coco laughed. “I’ve always looked young for my age. My mother always told me there would come a time that I would appreciate that quality. Hated it in high school, though.”
Benjamin took another sip; this one didn’t scald his tongue, thankfully. “So, what made you want to do your little 5K around the house tonight? Have you been thinking about your new-to-you family?”
Coco’s smile fell and she sighed. “I don’t know what to do. I have a hard time believing they really want to meet me. It’s not as if they’ve been beating down the door or calling me.”
“There may some legal reasons that they’re waiting for you to contact them,” he suggested.
“Really?” she said, more than asked, in disbelief. “Well, all I know is if I had found out that I had a sister or brother, I would try to meet them.”
“Then why aren’t you?”
She shot him a dark look. “Because I don’t like to go where I’m not wanted.”
“You don’t really know that you’re not wanted,” he said and leaned toward her. “Listen, if you want to go to Chantaine and meet them, we can work something out.”
“I don’t know how,” she said, staring into her mug and cradling it with both hands. “Emma isn’t settled in yet. She needs more time to feel at home and to get into a routine.”
“That’s true, but she’ll get there,” he said, even though he sometimes wondered if his daughter would ever feel at ease in his house. He was damn determined to do what was necessary to make it happen, though. “I don’t want you to feel that you can’t go,” he said.
She bit her lip. “It’s not like I would have anything in common with them.”
He stared at her for a minute. She looked young, but he knew she’d carried a lot on her shoulders while her mother was sick. She’d taken charge with Emma and dealt with the baby’s nightmares with no complaint.
“What are you scared of?”
She took immediate offense. “I’m not scared.”
“Sure looks like it to me,” he said.
“Well, I’m not. But you have to admit that these people are definitely in a different league.”
He shrugged. “Still gotta