Twin Ties, Twin Joys: The Boss's Double Trouble Twins / Twins for a Christmas Bride / Baby Twins: Parents Needed

“So all those things you said when we knew each other in …” She had force herself to say the name of the city. “In Paris …”

“Ah. You remember Paris, do you?” He pretended to be surprised.

She frowned, looking away. “Of course, I remember Paris.”

“But you’d like to forget,” he said softly, then grimaced. “Why do I get the feeling that what happened in Paris is looming over us like … like this giant vulture ready to pick apart the bones of our relationship?”

“Relationship?” she responded tartly. “Do we have a relationship? I thought that was one of those things you vowed never to have.”

He sighed. “Tell you what, Darcy. I’ll make you a deal.”

Folding her arms, she looked at him sideways.

“What sort of deal?”

“Look. Facing reality, we’re probably going to be working together. It would be best if we could fix things so that’s possible. So why don’t we just put Paris behind us? That was then. This is now. We’ve both changed. Circumstances have certainly changed. A lot of water under the bridge.” He shrugged. “Let’s start over again. Completely new.”

He rose and stuck out his hand. “Hi. I’m Mitch Carver. And I’m very pleased to meet you, Darcy Connors. I’m sure we’ll work well together.”

She stared at him and found her hand enveloped in his once again, but she couldn’t join in the general good cheer he was trying to promote. Act as though Paris never happened? Sorry. There were two little impediments waiting for her at home that made all this impossible.

Still, his touch had power. She felt his energy, his inner strength, and especially, his raw, masculine appeal, just in the warmth of his hand. Her pulse began to race, as though something exciting was about to happen. Startled, she pulled her hand out of his.

“You are so arrogant,” she told him gently, wishing she could will away his attractive presence. “You think you can wipe out the past, just by deciding to.”

“Of course. Why not?”

She shook her head. “I think you still have a lot to learn,” she said, regarding him narrowly.

Okay, she finally had a plan. She would think things over tonight, develop a method of attack, and give it to him in the morning. It would probably be best to do that somewhere outside of work. After all, she had no idea how he was going to react, but she did have a feeling it was going to be messy.

“Tell you what,” she said, turning to go. “Meet me tomorrow morning at The Jumpin’ Bean. You remember where that is, don’t you? Seven-thirty. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

He frowned, rising to see her out, his gaze suddenly alert. “What is it?”

She shook her head. “Tomorrow,” she said. “Will you meet me?”

He shrugged. “Of course.”

She nodded. “Okay. See you tomorrow.”

And she left his office feeling a little better about the future. At least she had a plan.

“Look at that, boys,” Mimi Foster announced in her slow Texas drawl. “Your mama’s home!”

Darcy swept her two toddlers up in her arms, laughing as they babbled at her happily and Sparky, Mimi’s little white fluffy dog, danced around her, barking noisily.

“Oh hush, Sparky,” she said, and to her babies, “My little ducks, I’m so glad to see you.” She cooed, kissing one and then the other and holding both tightly. “Have you been good for Mimi today?”

“They’ve been perfect angels, both of them,” Mimi lied kindly. A tall, slender woman, she favored exotic caftans and chandelier earrings.

“Right. I’ll just bet they have.” Darcy sighed as she put them back down in the playpen. Looking around the tidy front room of the modest Spanish-style house she’d been sharing with Jimmy’s mother since she’d come back to Terra Dulce in the San Antonio area, she shook her head. “Oh, Mimi, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Darcy, darlin',” the older woman said, rising and giving her friend a hug. “You know the three of you are my family now. Without y’all I would just wither up and blow away.”

Mimi and her mother had been best friends, and though they lived in cities hundreds of miles apart, there had been plenty of visits and vacations spent together. For years her mother and Mimi had planned and plotted, trying to conjure up a romance between Darcy and Jimmy that just never quite panned out. Jimmy had always been more interested in cars than he had in girls. And Darcy … well, Darcy had seen Mitch.

The first time she’d noticed him, she must have been about eleven. He was probably fourteen and full of teenage swagger. He’d stopped by the Foster house to help Jimmy work on an old car Jimmy’s dad had in the driveway. Darcy’s family had been there on their usual summer visit and she’d watched from the window. She thought most boys were “icky” at that point in her life. But Mitch was different. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. From then on, Mitch was her standard for male excellence.

And now he was here and she was finally going to have to tell Mimi that he was the father of her children. She knew Mimi had hoped that Jimmy was their father at first. She’d let her know that wasn’t the case, but she hadn’t gone any further than that and Mimi hadn’t tried to pry it out of her. The rest of the world, especially those she worked with, assumed Jimmy had been the father, and she hadn’t done anything to counter that. When you came right down to it, she hadn’t told anyone the full truth. And now, she had to find a way to tell Mitch.

She spent the next hour playing with her children and thinking about Mitch. Tonight she would take a long bath and work up a good way to present the facts to him. She had to phrase it just right. She had to let him know that she expected him to be a factor in their lives.

A part of her wished she could just grab her kids and make a run for it, start over somewhere fresh without all these problems. But she knew running just brought up new problems. And then the old ones came along and found you anyway.

Besides, it didn’t seem likely she could get away in time, especially as, looking out the picture window, she saw Mitch coming up the front walk at this very moment. In seconds he would be knocking on the front door.

Sheer panic shot through her veins. Without thinking twice, she snatched up both babies, kicked the playpen behind the couch and whisked them into their bedroom before the doorbell rang. Her only hope was to move up naptime by an hour. Would these two little mop-heads cooperate?

“Mitch Carver! You darlin'!”

Mimi had answered the door and Darcy knew she was throwing her arms around the man who had been her son’s childhood friend. Darcy listened intently as she put her babies down in their beds, hoping against hope they might take a nice nap. Maybe this could be quick. Maybe Mitch would just pay his respects and be on his way. Maybe Mimi would forget to mention that Darcy was living here with her. Maybe.

“Mama,” Sammy was saying sleepily, giving her a toothless smile. “Mama, Mama, Mama.”

“Shush! Go to sleep, you little rascal,” she whispered to him, love pouring out of her heart as she looked down at him.

Sean was already drifting off, his little thumb sneaking up into his mouth. No matter what, her total agenda was protecting these two adorable children from harm. She would do whatever she had to do.

She looked around the room and sighed. It was small for two cribs, one dresser and an ancient changing table, not to mention a shelf system that was beginning to pull away from the wall. This was not exactly what she’d dreamed of for her little ones. Hopefully, if she got the raise she was expecting next month …

“I wanted you to know how sorry I am about Jimmy,” she could hear Mitch saying from the next room.

“His death was a tragedy,” Mimi responded sadly. “You were always such a good friend to him. He idolized you, you know. He missed you so when you went off and joined the Army.”

They chatted a bit more, but Darcy couldn’t make out the words. Darcy bit her lip. So far, so good. Maybe he would just leave now, without ever hearing that she was just a few steps away.

“I don’t know if you ever knew Darcy Connors,” she heard Mimi mentioning, loud and clear.

“Darcy Connors?” Mitch sounded surprised. “Sure, I know Darcy.”

Her shoulders sagged. Oh well. So much for that hope. Nothing was ever easy, was it? The boys were dozing. At least she was getting a little luck there. Very quietly, she crept out into the hall, ready to leap out and stop Mimi from bringing up the children if she possibly could.

“I was so happy when she got the assignment in France,” Mimi was saying. “She and Jimmy became quite close while they were working together over there.”

“I … yes, I guess I knew that,” Mitch replied a bit stiffly.

Mimi was chattering on. Darcy crossed her fingers, hoping she would forget to mention the twins.

“Yes, she came to live with me right after she got transferred from the Atlanta office. And now she and her two—”

Time to make her move.

“Hello there,” Darcy interrupted, bursting onto the scene with a bright smile before Mimi could get the rest of that sentence out. “I thought I recognized your voice,” she said, nodding to Mitch.

He was firmly ensconced on the couch, unfortunately. She wasn’t going to be able to shoo him out the door any time soon. Flopping down into a chair across from him, she kept on smiling.

He gave her a puzzled look and she knew he was wondering why she hadn’t told him she was living with Jimmy’s mom. It just didn’t come up, she tried to convey with a subtle shrug.

Mimi was laughing about the past. “All those long summer days with you and Jimmy playing in the canyon out back, and me driving you to Little League games and buying you hamburgers at Merle’s drive-in.”

“Merle’s Mammoth Mouthfuls.” Mitch grinned. “I remember it all. Some of the happiest days of my life were spent right here in your backyard.”

“You and Jimmy, what a pair.” She sighed. “I’m glad he had you in his life. And Darcy, too,” she added with a smile. “I hope you two get to know each other.”

Darcy and Mitch exchanged a quick, furtive glance. “I haven’t told Mimi yet,” she said quickly. “Told me what?” Mimi asked. Mitch was staring at her, his eyes wide, as though he couldn’t believe his ears, and she suddenly realized what he might think she was talking about.

“That we’re going to be working together,” she reassured him quickly. She turned to look at the older woman. “Yes, we’re going to be working together, Mitch and I. He’s come back and he’s working for ACW. Isn’t that nice?”

“Well, yes,” Mimi said. “I’m so glad, Mitch. I know your mama must be pleased as punch. I haven’t talked to her for years but she always seemed like a gracious lady.”

Mitch looked as though he was still reeling from his brief misapprehension. How he had thought she was going to bring up the Paris incident she couldn’t imagine. But it was pretty obvious he’d thought so, for just a moment there.

“Uh … yes, she is,” he managed to get out.

Mimi smiled at them both. “So where did you two meet? How do you know each other so well?”

“I wouldn’t say we know each other well,” Mitch said hastily.

“No, not at all,” Darcy echoed quickly.

“Well, what was it? You didn’t just meet today, did you?”

Darcy smiled nervously. “Oh, no. We’ve met before.”

She hesitated, glancing at Mitch and reading the wariness in his eyes. Don’t worry, she wanted to tell him. I’m not going to bring up Paris. In fact, she was going to go back a lot further than that.

“Remember that summer, the first time my mother was sick and you invited me to come and stay with you?” she said to Mimi.

“You were still in high school.”

“Yes. It was in August. You wanted to get my mind off my mother and all that. So I came to stay for a couple of weeks. You tried hard to get Jimmy to pay some attention to me, to take me out to where the teenagers gathered, but all he wanted to do was work on that souped-up car he loved so much.”

“Of course! I remember.” She smiled fondly. “I was so mad at him! He would barely give you the time of day. I guess it was a coming-of-age sort of thing with him.”

No. It was the fact that he loved cars better than people. But that wasn’t something she was going to point out to his mother.

“Anyway, you felt sorry for me, so one day you sent me off to the rodeo with a bunch of kids. Friends of Jimmy’s.”

“Did I?”

“Yes. I think that’s the first time I really met Mitch.” She glanced at him. He had the look of a man trying to remember details.

“I’d forgotten all about that,” he said. “Was that really you?”

Their gazes met and something flashed between them, but Darcy ignored it as best she could. “That was me. I was the one who got charged by the bull that got out of the pen.”

He grinned as the picture cleared for him.

“I remember that,” he said as though enjoying the memory.

“And you pulled me out of his path at the very last second,” she added. “My hero.” She tried for a mocking tone but somehow it came out sounding almost sincere.

“I do my best,” he said, managing to hit just the right note of irony, coming off modest and noble at the same time.

She shook her head, but she could have told him more. She could have told him that he really had become her hero that day. She could have recalled everything he was wearing, from the backward baseball cap to the tight muscle T-shirt and the ragged jeans. She might have recited everything he said to her, from, “Hey, watch it kid,” to, “So you turned sweet sixteen yesterday, huh? I hope Jimmy kissed you. No? Well then, I guess I’ll have to do it.”

Even now, the memory of that silly little kiss could curl her toes. But there was no way she would ever tell him that.

Oh, he remembered all right. She’d said something about it when they first met again in Paris and he’d acted like he didn’t remember then. But she could see it in his eyes—he remembered now. The scene played out like a holograph between them—the two of them waiting for the others behind the stadium, the sounds and smells of the rodeo, the August evening heat, the way he’d grinned and tilted her chin up with a curved finger, then bent slowly to touch his warm lips to hers, the way the world had melted around them.

And then the others had come charging around the corner and they’d pulled apart. Mitch was quickly talking and laughing with his friends. But Darcy was in a dream, and she stayed there all the way home.

“So I suppose you’ll both be working on the Heartland Project we’ve been reading so much about in the papers?”

Darcy’s mind snapped back to the present. She and Mitch would be working on finishing up the Bermuda Woods assignment, but she knew it was possible it could flow seamlessly into this new project. She hadn’t considered that before.

Mitch was looking at Mimi questioningly. “The Heartland Project? What’s that?”

“You haven’t heard of it? It’s going to be huge. A planned community out in the Sargosa Hills. The whole town is buzzing about it.”

Mitch raised an eyebrow as he looked at Darcy. She nodded. “We’re bidding on a portion of it. But I don’t think Mitch and I will be working on it, except in a peripheral way. I’m sure the old-timers have dibs on it. People like Ned Varner,” she added for emphasis, naming the senior vice president of the firm.

Mitch looked thoughtful and Darcy wondered what he was thinking. It would indeed be interesting if he decided he wanted to get in on the biggest project ACW had ever been involved in. If they did win the bid.

“Let me get you something to drink,” Mimi was saying, rising expectantly. “Some nice iced tea? Some lemonade?”

Realizing what Mimi had said, Darcy’s heart sank. If he accepted refreshment, he’d be here forever. But Mitch quickly revived her hope as he started rising from the couch.

“Oh, no. I’d really better get going. I just wanted to stop by and say ‘hi'. And to let you know I’m around if you need anything.”

Mimi reached out and warmly took his hand. “I hope you’ll come by and see us often.”

His smile to her was just as warm. “I will.”

Darcy sprang up. Inside, she was exalting. He was going! Great. All she needed was some time to get her thoughts together. Tomorrow he would know the truth.

“Yes, well, it’s been awfully nice seeing you.”

She pulled open the door and smiled, waiting for him to make his way out onto the porch, mentally urging him forward.

And for just a moment, it looked like she was going to get her wish. He started toward the door. As he came even with where she was standing, he looked at her sideways. She gave him a tiny shrug and he shook his head just enough for her to see. She wanted to reach out and plant the palm of her hand between his shoulder blades and push him out the door, but she resisted, gritting her teeth with the effort. He was almost gone.

And then Mimi spoiled it all.

“Well, wait a minute,” she said, frowning. “You can’t go yet. You haven’t even met the babies.”

CHAPTER FOUR

DARCY froze, holding her breath.

“Babies?” Mitch was saying, just the way she’d imagined he would. “What babies?” He looked thunderstruck.

“Darcy’s two little ones, of course,” Mimi said. “The twins. Didn’t you know?”

He turned back into the room. His gaze met hers.

“You’ve got babies?” He said it as though he was sure there had to be some sensible answer to this puzzle, hopefully one he could accept.

“Bring them out, Darcy,” Mimi was urging. “Let Mitch see them.”

She licked her dry lips. This was not the right way to do it. “Uh, they’re sleeping.”

“Already?” Mimi looked skeptical. “You just put them in there. How did you get them to sleep so fast?”

“Magic powers?” she quipped, still hanging on to her last shred of hope.

The sound of a crash came from the bedroom, and hope was gone.

“Noisy sleepers,” Mitch said dryly, his steel-colored eyes penetrating. “I’m guessing your powers aren’t quite what you thought they were.”

Darcy managed a tremulous smile, then turned on her heel and headed for the bedroom to see what had happened. Mimi and Mitch were close behind her. There was no way to stop this now. He was going to see the boys. And what was he going to see when he looked into their blue eyes, so like his own? Was he going to recognize parts of himself staring back at him? And if he did, what was he going to do about it? Apprehension shivered through her.

She opened the bedroom door to reveal a scene of minor chaos. Somehow, Sammy had gotten out of the crib and made his way to the changing table, which he had tried to climb, knocking down the baby powder, which landed on his head. There he sat on the floor, covered with powder and grinning broadly, very pleased with himself. Meanwhile Sean sat in his own crib, looking through the bars at his brother and laughing with a silly hiccuping sound. Sammy tried to clap his hands. He missed, but he did manage to send up a cloud of baby powder, making Sean laugh even harder.

“He climbed out!” Darcy cried, looking at the extra-high bars she’d paid extra for. “How did he do that?”

“Oh my,” Mimi said, shaking her head. “How could one little boy do so much damage in such a short time?”

It took a few moments and Mimi’s help to get things back in order. Darcy murmured a few stern words, then a few more soft reassurances to Sammy as she cleaned him up and then safely installed him back in bed. In the meantime she’d forgotten all about Mitch standing there, watching it all, until she turned and saw him leaning against the doorjamb.

Meeting his gaze, she tried to read what he was thinking from the look in his eyes, but his gaze was hard, hooded. She deliberately lifted her chin. She was proud of these little guys and she wanted to show that.

“Mitch, this is Sammy and this is Sean. My boys.” She made a flourish and waited to see what he would say.

Mitch was numb. This changed everything. Darcy had children. Twin boys. And they looked way too familiar for comfort.

His first thought was that these must be Jimmy’s children. After all, Darcy was living here with Jimmy’s mother. It seemed logical. But there was a problem with that theory. He couldn’t remember exactly what color eyes Jimmy had, but he was pretty sure they weren’t blue. Darcy had eyes that flashed almost ebony. And these little boys had the bluest eyes he’d ever seen—outside of his own baby pictures. In fact, these babies could have been stand-ins for him and his brother.

He turned and looked at Darcy. She looked at him. There was an air of defiance in her face. He felt like he couldn’t pull a breath in all the way.

“We need to talk,” he said softly.

She nodded.

“Why didn’t you want me to know?” he asked her bluntly as soon as they were far enough away from the house to speak freely.

Biting her lip she kept her head down. They were walking between two houses, heading for the open area of scrub pine that lined the canyon that ran just north of the neighborhood. Mimi had agreed to watch the babies for a while, to give them time to take a walk.

“I was going to tell you tomorrow, when we went for coffee,” she said, wishing it didn’t sound like an excuse.

He shook his head, rejecting her statement. “I don’t know, Darcy. You weren’t acting like someone who wanted to come clean.” There was a real flash of anger in his voice. “You don’t contact me for two years. You move to the place you know I’ve sworn I’ll never go to again. When I show up, you act cagey.” He turned to face her. His eyes were troubled and the muscles of his neck stood out like cords. “I don’t buy it. You didn’t want me to know.”

She stopped and stared up at him, mouth open with astonishment. “What are you talking about? You’re the one who stepped out into a crowd in Paris and never looked back. You might as well have stepped off the face of the earth. You certainly disappeared from my life without a second thought. I … I tried for months to find you.”

She paused to steady her voice. She wasn’t going to let emotions take over and the last thing in the world she wanted to do was cry.

“That had to be a very deliberate disappearing act to let you vanish so completely,” she pointed out.

“You knew where I was going.”

“Oh sure. Brazil.” She threw up her hands and started walking again, mostly so she wouldn’t have to look into his eyes. “It’s a big country. But I suppose I could have called up the Brazilian phone company and asked to be connected to that tall, handsome American who went by various names but might have entered the country as Mitch Carver.” She flashed a scathing look over her shoulder. “I’m sure they would have found you right away.”

He sighed, shoving his hands down into his pockets. “Okay, I guess I wasn’t the easiest person to find at the time,” he admitted gruffly, his long stride keeping pace with her quick steps. “But you knew the kind of work I do. You knew I was going to be melting into other cultures. I told you what my life was like.”

“You did. And that’s fine. I can understand that.”

She could understand it on a certain level. But she couldn’t forgive the fact that he hadn’t felt the need to contact her in any way. Had he forgotten her the moment he’d stepped on the plane? Had the time they spent together, time that had changed her life for good, been so meaningless to him? Was she just another woman in a string of affairs? Her heart cracked when she thought that way.

“I understand that you can’t be tied down,” she was saying. “I never really expected that of you. Not while I was sane, at any rate,” she added, letting a note of sarcasm creep into her tone. “And I don’t expect it now.”

He swore softly, shaking his head. “What I don’t get is, what made you so sure …?”

“That they’re yours?” She swung around to face him, her eyes glittering. “I can’t believe you could ask such a thing!”