She wasn’t going to be happy about it, but damned if he could bring himself to care. The truth was, it didn’t really matter how Marian took the news. The very fact that he hadn’t given her a single thought in two weeks told him all he needed to know. Whether the idea to marry into the Cornice family had started as a good one or not, it clearly was a bad idea at the moment.
“I’ve got news on your Cassiopeia.”
“Huh? What?” He glanced up from his desk to find Anna standing in the open doorway of his office. Pushing thoughts of his soon to be ex-almost-fiancée out of his mind, he repeated, “What?”
“Casey? You remember. The girl with blue eyes? The woman you wanted me to locate for you? The one I’ve been trying to find for two weeks?” Anna lifted one eyebrow and planted a fist on her hip. “Well, I found her. She’s been hiding at your house.”
“Funny.”
“I thought so.”
Jackson leaned back in his desk chair. “Sorry. Never occurred to me that you’d still be looking for her.”
“Your wish, my command,” she said with a shrug.
“That’s how the employer/employee thing works.”
“Not usually,” he muttered.
“I heard that.”
“Not surprising,” he said with a grin.
She walked into the office, a woman completely sure of her position and not the least bit intimidated by the boss she sometimes treated like one of her own children. “So,” she said, putting both hands on the edge of his desk and leaning in. “This nice woman calls, introduces herself as Casey Davis and asks me to let you know that she won’t be home for dinner.”
“Why not?” He straightened up, frowning.
“The funny thing is, I hear a baby crying in the background while Casey and I are chatting.” Anna’s eyes narrowed on him. “Care to elaborate?”
“Where’s she going to be?” Jackson ignored her dig for information, as he was on a quest for his own.
Anna straightened up. “She said she had an appointment with a potential client.”
“Client?” But she ran a silly little one-woman operation out of her house—his house. Why would she need to meet anyone about that? Couldn’t she just do the meeting on the phone? And who was she meeting?
“That’s what she said,” Anna told him. “Then, she said that she would be dropping Mia off here with you about four.”
He stood and immediately started looking around his office, trying to spot potential danger zones. His gaze went from uncovered electrical outlets, to long cords, to the trash can, to…impossible. This was not a baby-proofed place.
“Who’s Mia?” Anna’s voice broke into his thoughts.
“My daughter,” he said and heard the awe in his voice as he said the words. He’d had that baby girl in his house for one week and already his priorities had shifted. Seeing Mia’s smile first thing in the morning was a bigger jolt to his system than his usual cup of coffee. Holding her before she fell asleep turned his heart into mush and seeing her tears was enough to bring him to his knees.
He was a man desperately in love with his child.
And completely at a loss over her mother.
“Your daughter?” Anna grinned hugely, sprang around the desk and wrapped Jackson up in a hard hug. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why haven’t I met her?”
“Yes, I just found out myself, and you will this afternoon at four,” he said, answering all of her questions.
“This is great, Jackson,” Anna said. Then her eyes clouded and her smile slowly faded. “Can’t wait to meet the mysterious Cassiopeia and the no doubt beautiful Mia. But, what are you going to do about Marian?”
Scowling, he said, “Get her on the phone for me, will you? Guess it’s time I made a date for Marian and I to have a chat.”
As Casey steered the big black boat of an SUV down the road, headed for King Airfield, she had to admit it had been an amazing week.
She and Mia had, in a few short days, settled comfortably into Jackson’s gorgeous mansion on the hill. It would have been difficult not to. Before she and Mia moved in, Jackson had hired a cook, a full-time housekeeper and then later offered to add a nanny to the staff. But Casey drew the line there. She didn’t want strangers raising her child and Jackson had seemed pleased with her reaction.
The house itself was gigantic and though it took Casey a couple of days to learn her way around, she had to admit that there was a warmth to the place she hadn’t expected. The rooms were big, but decorated in a comfortable style. Overstuffed furniture begged to be curled up in. Window seats beckoned and shelves filled with books called to her.
And as far as her bedroom went, she’d never even dreamed of having such a lush, romantic room—not that she spent much time in it. Despite her better judgment, she hadn’t been able to stay away from Jackson.
The man was completely her opposite in every way and yet, there was such a near-overwhelming magnetic attraction to him, she’d given up trying to fight it. Every night, after tucking Mia in, Casey and Jackson moved to his bedroom and there, they spent hours locked in each other’s arms. In bed, their differences didn’t seem to matter so much.
Which was just a little disturbing.
Casey felt herself falling for the man and even though she knew it was a gargantuan mistake, she couldn’t seem to stop herself. Yes, he was bossy and arrogant. But he was also tender and sweet. He could make her insane by pushing all of her buttons and then at night, he pushed different buttons and made her crazy in a much nicer way.
But there was no future in this. She was clearly setting herself up for a huge fall come the end of six months. Jackson had no intention of falling for her and Casey knew it. Right now, she was convenient, that was all. “It’s my own darn fault, too. I never should have let this start up. Idiot.”
Her hands fisted on the steering wheel as she looked out over what seemed like a mile of gleaming black hood. Glancing in the rearview mirror at the mirror fastened in front of the baby seat, Casey could see her daughter’s smiling face.
“You like your daddy, don’t you?” she asked and Mia waved her bedraggled teddy bear in response.
Casey wasn’t blind. She could see the rapport building between Jackson and his daughter. In fact, he was a much more involved father than she’d thought he would be. Which made her worry a little. The closer he got to Mia, the harder it would be for him to let her go at the end of six months. And what if he decided he didn’t want to let Mia go? What then?