A Little Moonlighting

She gasped in horror as she turned into the airport parking lot. It would take almost three years, from the moment she began her project, to the point where she could possibly have a baby in her arms. She was going to be a hundred years old before she got there!

It all seemed so hopeless. And as she stood waiting for the shuttle to take her to the international terminal, it did occur to her that there might be an indication of the root of her problem in the fact that she even thought about things like this in a business-like manner—projecting time frames and plotting out an attack the way she would plot out a business move. She’d been too long in the business world, hadn’t she?

She saw Carter waiting for her by the ticket counter and her heart leaped up as it always did when she saw him. She loved the way he stood, so casually sure of himself, so sure the world was his oyster. If only he were the marrying kind. If only he would somehow magically, suddenly, fall in love with her. That would take care of everything.

She sighed, then started forward, walking quickly to join him.

“Darn you, Carter,” she was saying under her breath. “Why don’t you love me?”

Chapter Two

One week later

Carter shifted his weight restlessly as he stood waiting for Amy outside the ICU unit of the Monte Vista Hospital. He hated the look of the place—the anonymous white walls, the stainless-steel appliances. He hated the mysterious sounds, the jarring smells. Even the pretty redhead giving him the eye from behind the nurses’ station didn’t make things any better. Every instinct he owned was screaming at him to run for it. As far as he was concerned, only bad things happened in hospitals. He’d had these feelings ever since, as a boy, he’d watched his mother die in one.

Ordinarily, he shunned them like the plague. But this visit had been unavoidable. The moment he’d heard the announcement paging Amy as they stepped into the terminal at the airport, disembarking the flight from Paris, a knot had pulled up hard in his stomach and it hadn’t yet let go.

They had raced to a phone and the message had been bad. Just hours before, Amy’s sister and her husband had been in a terrible car accident. They’d been hit by a drunk driver. Both were in critical condition. Carter would never forget the look on Amy’s face as she absorbed the news.

They had raced to the hospital and found that both injured parties were in surgery. Amy had turned to him, her face stricken and questioning—as though he could stop all this from happening somehow—and he’d wanted to do something big and grand to make it all go away for her, to protect her. But there was nothing he could do but stay with her, and that’s what he did.

Not that she seemed to notice most of the time. For the most part, she had sat huddled in a chair in the lobby, staring at the far wall. She’d looked up when he’d brought her a cup of water, looked up and smiled absently at him and thanked him. And then went back to staring at the wall. He watched her, feeling helpless and frustrated.

He could see her now through the glass partitioning off the ICU unit, bending over her sister as she lay in the bed, leaning close to kiss her gently, then turning toward the exit. Carter straightened. Maybe he could finally get her out of here.

She came out through the swinging doors and he winced as his gaze swept over her. Her eyes were huge and clouded with anguish. The dark smudges beneath them, the tension in her face, all told him things didn’t look particularly rosy right now.

“What do they say?” he asked, falling in beside her as she walked the corridor toward the elevator. “What’s the prognosis?”

She glanced at him as though surprised to find him there. “Oh. Carter.” She stopped and looked up at him. “Carter, what are you still doing here?”

“I wanted to…” He hesitated and shrugged, his eyes hooded. “To take care of you.”

“To take care of me.” A bittersweet smile played at her lips. “Oh, Carter, you should know me well enough by now. I can take care of myself.”

“Hmm.” His mouth twisted, but he wasn’t going to remind her of the basket case she’d been just a few hours before.

“Well, at least they are sure Meg and Tim will pull through. Their conditions have both stabilized. But they will have to be hospitalized for…” She swallowed hard and forced herself to continue. “For weeks, maybe months. Tim’s back was broken. And Meg—” Her face crumpled suddenly. “Both legs broken…” she managed to whisper, shaking her head, her fist to her mouth.

Carter stared at her, feeling helpless and angry with himself. He wanted to take her in his arms. He wanted to comfort her, to tell her everything was going to be all right. It shouldn’t be this hard. All he had to do was reach out…

He raised a hand awkwardly, ready to pat her shoulder. But she moved away without noticing and he let his hand drop. Something cold and painful filled his chest.

“No,” she was telling herself fiercely, closing her eyes and fighting back the tears. “I will not cry. I can’t cry.” Straightening her shoulders, she frowned at him. “I’m the one who has to take care of things. I will not cry,” she promised.

Carter shrugged, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and trying to look casual. “Go ahead and cry,” he said gruffly. “I’d say it’s a crying situation.”

“But I don’t have time for that,” she was saying briskly, wiping her eyes and heading for the elevator. “I’ve got to go to the children.”

He blinked, trailing behind her. “The children?”

She nodded, jabbing at the down button. “Meg’s children. Deedee and Scamp and Jillian, the baby.”

“Oh.”

He relaxed. Meg’s children. Of course. Arrangements would have to be made. He could help her with that. He knew people who would know of a good child-care agency. A few phone calls should do the trick. His spirits brightened and he looked forward to doing this for her. It would make him feel a little more useful.

The elevator arrived and they boarded side by side.

“Those poor babies,” Amy was saying. “They must be so scared. Thank God they weren’t in the car when the accident occurred.”

He looked at her, barely hearing her words. He’d always liked the way she looked and for some reason, she was especially fetching right now with her lipstick rubbed off and her eyes so huge. Another impulse to offer her something more in the way of physical comfort rose in him, but he fought it back. They’d made it through two years and he’d managed to keep from letting their relationship get personal. This was no time to let his defenses weaken.

Pendleton was the best associate he’d ever worked with, more a partner than an employee. Together they made magic in the business world. If he allowed his natural inclinations to lead him to a romance with her, all that would be ruined. Once emotional elements were allowed to enter into it, the balance would be destroyed and disaster would be lurking just around the corner.

No touching.

That was his golden rule. He’d had enough experience to know that romance never lasted and, when it was over, what had once been sweet quickly turned to bitter ashes.

They’d gone through a rough patch for a while. She’d definitely been attracted to him and she’d let him know it. He’d thought at first there would be no real problem, as she wasn’t really his type. But then he’d realized she wasn’t really any type at all. She was just darn good at business, and darn appealing to his male spirit. He’d needed the strength of Hercules to resist her, and there had been times he’d almost succumbed.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

That was another of his watch phrases. He’d come up through some hard times in his youth and he’d repeated that phrase whenever his situation seemed almost too much to bear. Now he told himself those words whenever the temptation to take Pendleton in his arms was almost overwhelming. He wasn’t sure if it really applied, but it always made him feel better.

Right now she was lifting her face to him and his breath stopped in his throat. The need to kiss those beautiful lips crashed though him like a summer storm. He stared down at her, only minimally aware that she was speaking.

“Meg was conscious for a while and I got to talk to her,” she said.

Carter blinked, catching hold of himself and looking quickly away so that he could breathe again.

“That sounds like a good sign,” he muttered, hoping she hadn’t noticed his minor lapse.

“Yes, I think so.” She sighed and he realized she looked close to the end of her rope.

“Why don’t we go eat?” he suggested. It had been hours since their last meal, and that had been airplane food.

“Eat?” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think I can eat.”

He gave her a halfhearted grin. “Well, you could watch me.”

She patted his arm. “No thanks. I’m going to have to get out to Meg’s house,” she said, turning away.

“Meg’s house?”

“The children,” she reminded him just a bit impatiently.

They left the elevator together and both turned automatically toward the parking lot.

“I promised Meg I would go out and take care of them right away.” She shook her head. “That was the only thing she could think about and she could hardly force out the words, but I knew what she meant. All she cares about is those kids.”

She sighed. “Poor little things. And now they are going to be saddled with an aunt they barely know instead of their mother and father.” She remembered how they had reacted to her just days before and bit her lip. How was she going to win them over?

“Where do they live?”

“Just outside of town, in the Las Palmas Valley. It’s probably ten minutes from here.”

Carter frowned. “Listen, you don’t have to do that. I can make a few calls, get someone to handle this. I know some very good sources. We can get expert care out there immediately.”

Amy stopped dead and turned to look up at him, realization dawning in her gaze. “Carter, I don’t think you understand. I’m the one who is going to ‘handle’ this. I’m going to take care of them for the duration. I’m the only one available to do it.”

His brows came together. Something told him he wasn’t going to like the plans she was making.

“That’s absurd. You’re not a baby-sitter.” His glance was scathing. “You’re a businesswoman. You don’t do diapers. And believe me, you don’t want to.”

“Oh, Carter. How do you know?”

“You’d be surprised,” he muttered, scanning the lot and spotting their cars, parked together in the next area.

He nodded in the direction they needed to go and began to lead her there. “Where are the children now?” he asked.

“I think a neighbor has them. I have to check on that.”

“Then let the neighbor take care of them,” he began, but she stopped short again and faced him.

“No, Carter. I will not let the neighbor take care of them. They are my family and my responsibility.”

“But we have the Northridge situation to look into in the morning,” he said, looking as though he just didn’t get why she would prefer the company of children to the fast-paced atmosphere they both thrived in. “You know that’s going to blow up on us if we don’t take care of the details right away.”

“You’re going to have to take care of it on your own,” she told him firmly. Then she hesitated, knowing it was time to make him face what she knew he didn’t want to. “Carter…” She put her hand on his arm and searched his eyes, wishing she could think of a way to soften the blow. “Carter, come to grips with this,” she said softly. “I won’t be in tomorrow. I won’t be in the day after.”

He laughed shortly. “But you will be in the day after that. Two good days of child-care duty and you’ll be begging for an emergency assignment.”

“No. I won’t.” She pushed her hair back behind her ear and looked at him sideways. “This has been coming for a long time. You know that. I’ve made it clear, I think. And now any decision has really been taken out of my hands. I have no choice. And neither do you.” She smiled tremulously. “You do realize what this means, don’t you?”

“No,” he said stubbornly, avoiding her gaze, looking restlessly into the parking lot. “What?”

“I’m not going to be working for you anymore, Carter. I warned you.”

His head swung around and he stared at her, stunned. She was making it sound as though it was final. He’d been prepared for a short break in her presence at work, but nothing permanent.

Oh, sure, she’d been threatening to quit, and even written up resignations to taunt him with, but he’d never taken her seriously. He had always been sure that she valued their collaboration as much as he did. Now he was beginning to realize she was talking about a complete abandonment of her responsibilities. That just couldn’t be. What was he going to do without her?

“What are you talking about?” he asked, his voice low, his gaze intense.

She took a shaky breath. “I promised my sister I would take care of her children.”

He nodded tersely. “Of course you did. And we’ll spare no expense in finding the best child care—”

“No.” She shook her head adamantly. “I’m not going to leave them with strangers. I’m going to move into Meg’s house and be with those children night and day until their mother and father are well enough to come home to them.”

“We’ll see how long you last,” he said, managing to look more confident than he felt.

Shaking her head, she gave an exasperated sigh and said, “Carter, read my lips. I quit!”

Their gazes held for a long moment. Then she turned on her heel and left him.

Carter watched her walk toward where the car was parked, and for a moment, he couldn’t move.

This was not possible. There had to be another way. Why he couldn’t think of something right now, he wasn’t sure. Maybe he was too jet-lagged. Maybe he was just too unprepared for such a thing as was happening. In any case, his mind was fuzzy and his stomach was growling and he didn’t have a clue how he was going to get her back in the office. He only knew he was going to do it. Because he had to.

Amy lay very still, staring at what she could see of the ceiling. There it was again. A scratching sound. She knew what it was, what it had to be. But that didn’t make it any less chilling to hear.

Scratch, scratch. Scuffle, scuffle. Fred was riffling through the closed closet. And she knew it was going to be her job to catch him.

The children had told her about Fred the day before.

“He’s gone!” Scamp had cried, his eyes huge and filled with horror. “I on’y left the door open fer a little to get him water and he go’d away!” He’d clutched her around the knees, tears threatening. “Aun’ Amy, don’ let that mean ole cat get him!”

Fred was a white mouse. A very pretty little mouse, from what she’d heard. But Fred was on the lam.

Amy shuddered. She didn’t have a lot of experience at catching little white mice. A nice trap would have been her preference. But this was a beloved pet, so traps were out. She was going to have to catch him carefully, so as not to hurt him. How the heck was she supposed to do that?

Sighing, she rolled onto her side and closed her eyes, firmly determined to get a little more sleep before another day broke over her like a giant ocean wave. That was what the day before had felt like—surfing on the big ones at Makaha Beach—something way beyond her experience and capabilities.

Taking care of children wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Oh, she’d known it wouldn’t be all that easy. But she hadn’t realized caring for them would leave her drained, both physically and emotionally, and wondering how most mothers did it.

But women did do it, and most did it very well. In bygone ages, they did it without modern plumbing and washing machines and fast-food restaurants. Could you imagine? Not even Sesame Street. What she had was a cakewalk compared to what most women had gone through over the ages.

But that only made her feel even worse. If she was having this much trouble when it was so much easier than it had ever been in history, what did that say about her?

Oh, grow up, she told herself impatiently, rejecting the impulse toward self-pity. After all, she’d only been doing this for a little more than twenty-four hours now.

She’d raced over and collected the children from where they were being kept that first night. Paul Hanford, the man Meg had been trying to get her interested in, was the neighbor taking care of them. She’d taken the steps up onto his front porch slowly, feeling a lot of trepidation, anxious that the children wouldn’t want to go with her, and that she would have a hard time getting them to accept her as their interim parent. After all, the last time they’d seen her they hadn’t actually been brimming with friendliness toward her.

But when the chips were down, they had surprised her.

“Aun’ Amy!” Scamp had cried, peering though his wispy bangs of white-blond hair when she’d appeared in the doorway of Paul’s house. “Deedee, it’s Aun’ Amy!”

And the two children had run to her, with Scamp actually throwing his arms around her knees with so much force he’d just about knocked her down.

“I guess blood really is thicker than water,” she’d murmured to herself as she went down on one knee to embrace them both.

A warm feeling of affection curled through her, along with a strong sense of empathy for two young ones who had to be scared and very confused about what had happened to their parents. She must look like a comfortingly familiar face under these circumstances. And luckily, she wasn’t dressed to kill—in a business sense—as she had been days before. They’d at least recognized her for who she was.

“Hey, I just talked to your mother,” she told them, brushing Scamp’s hair back off his forehead and noticing, suddenly, how much like her sister he looked.

Pictures in albums saved from the childhood she and Meg had shared portrayed a little girl whose face was a very close model for this young boy in front of her. That made her want to hug him again.

“Your mother sends you her love and she promises to be home just as soon as she can.”

“Does she have a boo-boo?” Scamp asked solemnly.

Amy nodded, blinking quickly to hold back the tears that threatened to come again. “She has a bunch of boo-boos. And so does your daddy. The doctor is going to fix them right up, though. So don’t you worry.”

Scamp thought about that for a moment. “I got a boo-boo on my arm,” he offered at last, showing her the scab. “Is that like Daddy’s?”

Amy hesitated, then smiled at him. “Sort of,” she allowed. “Just a little worse.”

Scamp nodded wisely, showing he understood. “Are you gonna take care of us, Aun’ Amy?” he asked her, his blue eyes hopeful.

“Of course,” she told them, smiling warmly. “I’ll stay with you until your mother comes home. I promise.”

Deedee sighed happily and cuddled in close, while Scamp pulled back, seeming to suddenly remember that he had his young male pride to consider.

“I’m really glad you’re going to be able to do this,” Paul told her, smiling down at the picture she made with the little dark-haired girl in her arms. “I’ve got a sales trip to Omaha tomorrow and I won’t be back for three or four days. Otherwise, I would have been glad to take over for Tim and Meg.”

“Oh, no,” Amy said quickly. “They’re my family. I’ll take care of them.” She hugged Deedee closer, then put her on her little feet. “Run get your things, kids. I’m going to take you home.”

She rose, waiting for the children to leave the room before saying quietly to Paul, “I really haven’t heard all the details yet. Where were they when the accident happened? And where were Meg and Tim going? Do you know?”

Paul nodded. He was a pleasant-looking man with slightly thinning blond hair and a nice smile. “They were going to lunch to celebrate Tim’s promotion. Did you know his law firm just made him a partner?”

“No,” she said softly, feeling again a sense of having been woefully inattentive to what was going on in her sister’s life. “How great for him.” She swallowed. “So the kids were at home?”

“Yes. Cheryl Park, an older lady from down the street, was sitting with them. But she had to get home, so I took over and brought them over here.”

“Thank you so much,” she said earnestly, holding out a hand to shake his. “I—we all appreciate it. You’ve been a big help.”

“Any time,” he said, holding her hand a little too long and beaming at her significantly. “As soon as I get back from Omaha, I’ll be able to help a lot more.”

Her smile wavered as she witnessed the intensity of his and she pulled her hand away.

“Yes,” she said quickly. “Well…” She turned, looking toward where the baby slept in a travel chair. “I guess I’d better get them home. It must be way past their bedtime by now.”

“Yes, of course.” He looked pleased with something and she wasn’t sure why.

Deedee and Scamp came running up, ready to go home. Amy helped Deedee into her sweater.

“’Bye, Pooky,” Scamp called back at the huge orange-colored cat sitting on a pillow in the far corner of the room. “See ya tomorrow.”

“’Bye, ’bye,” Deedee said, copying her brother and waving at the animal.

The cat blinked its golden eyes and lashed its tiger-striped tail and didn’t say a thing.

“I’ll come with you,” Paul offered. “I’ll help you carry the baby, help you get the other two to bed.” He gave Amy a comforting smile. “You’ll need help, all right. They are a handful.”

“Are they?” Suddenly her confidence began to show some wear around the edges. Was she going to be up to this job? She’d never taken care of children before, never even baby-sat as a teenager. She was always too busy entering competitions and running for class office to have time for things like that.

And she hadn’t visited with Meg and her crew often enough to get a feel for it. Whenever she was over, Meg was a whirlwind of activity, usually ordering Amy just to sit and talk to her, tell her everything about what it was like to live in the fast-paced business world.

“Oh, sure,” Paul said happily as he headed out on the porch, baby in tow. “They’re not bad kids, mind you, but they are very, very active. But don’t worry. You’ll get the hang of it right away.”

“Will I?” she had whispered to herself as she followed with the older children. “And what happens if I don’t?”

Snapping out of her reverie, Amy willed herself to drift off to sleep. She knew she’d need all her energy to face another day.

Chapter Three

You’ll get the hang of it, Amy told herself encouragingly as she watched the morning sun begin to form a light pattern on the bedroom wall. Just give it some time.

But there was no more time—the baby was stirring. She could hear the little murmurs that would soon grow into a full-throated cry. For just a moment she longed for her usual mornings, awakening to her clock radio, lingering over coffee and the newspaper, dressing in something sharp and business-like and arriving at the office in time to get a morning glance, along with a cynical comment or two, from a suave and debonair Carter.

Carter. She felt an ache of regret that twisted inside her. Instead of that grown-up, sophisticated way to start her day, she had to share a bedroom with a noisy white mouse. There had been a time when she’d dreamed of sharing such a room with Carter.

But the baby’s noises were getting more insistent. No time for nostalgia. Sighing, she threw back the covers and rolled out of bed. Time to start the day.

“Carter, we really have to get the final numbers on the Milan estimate. They’ve been calling all week and I put them off because you were in France, but they know you’re back and…”

Carter looked up from the papers he’d been staring at and frowned at Delia, his secretary. Middle-aged and motherly, she ran the office with a fine efficiency and attention to detail; she liked her boss a lot, but didn’t necessarily approve of everything he did.