Daddy's Little Darlings

“Every baby is a girl.”

“Are you sure they’re all mine?” Alex asked, incredulous his wife had accomplished such a feat.

“They’re all tagged Banning, sir.”

“You didn’t accidentally wrap up too many?”

“No, they’re all Daphne’s.”

Alex looked at his progeny. One tiny bundle squirmed in her blanket wrappings, starting a chain reaction. Suddenly, all three pairs of eyes were open and staring around. Alex closed his eyes. A whole new, unexplored world laid out its vastness before him. Lace and ruffles. Diaries and separate phone lines. Boyfriends… Oh, Lord. Three girls.

And if they were anything like their mother, they’d have their daddy wrapped about their pretty pink fingers inside of five minutes.

Daddy’s Little Darlings

Tina Leonard

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tina Leonard is a bestselling author of more than forty projects, including a popular thirteen-book miniseries for Harlequin American Romance. Her books have made the Waldenbooks, Ingram and Nielsen BookScan bestseller lists. Tina feels she has been blessed with a fertile imagination and quick typing skills, excellent editors and a family who loves her career. Born on a military base, she lived in many states before eventually marrying the boy who did her crayon printing for her in the first grade. Tina believes happy endings are a wonderful part of a good life. You can visit her at www.tinaleonard.com.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Epilogue

Prologue

“Good morning, gentle men! Keep that stiff upper lip, Alexander Number One,” Daphne Way Banning sang out as she hurried past the six somber portraits of the Banning Boors. Hanging in the great hall of the Green Forks Ranch, the portraits lent austerity and a sense of family continuity to the Banning mansion. Privately, Daphne thought that the portraits needed more than a good dusting. They watched her with grim lines where their mouths should be and eyes that seemed disapproving and cold.

Wait until they hear my news, Daphne thought excitedly, it’ll really send those stiff lips to their noses. “Where’s Alex, Sinclair?”

“In with his father, Miss Daphne.” The elderly valet looked her way. “I don’t think Alexander is feeling very well this morning.”

“Oh, dear.” Daphne hurried along. She had some news that might please the ailing Alexander. The pa tri arch of the family, he had let it be known since the moment Daphne and Alex had gotten back from the honeymoon that he expected to see grandbabies. Soon. They had been very careful not to oblige him too quickly, not out of a sense of meanness but simply from needing time to get to know each other as husband and wife. Oh, she’d been in love with Alex Banning forever, long before he’d known she was alive on the neighboring ranch. He had been slower to give his heart. She’d been surprised when he proposed after a three-month-long whirl wind court ship, packed with trips to Europe and yacht outings and heady romance. Daphne had said, “Yes! Yes!” when he asked for her hand. A dream come true…

She wondered how Alex would feel about her news. They had been so careful not to get pregnant, but temptation had proved too great one en chanted Saturday night. Wild kisses sometime after midnight turned into a burning urge to get home and finish what they had started. Running upstairs and getting into bed, they’d spent hours passionately loving each other. The box of condoms lay undisturbed in the bedside table drawer.

Too late to worry about that. Daphne walked to the bedroom, which had become a sickroom, and listened for voices to make certain Alexander was awake. She didn’t want to disturb him if he was resting.

“Promise me, son.”

She heard her husband sigh. “Dad, I don’t have to promise. Everything will turn out fine.”

“I don’t have much longer to live. I want to know before I die that you under stand you must produce a son!”

“Fine, Dad. But if you don’t mind, we’re going to wait a while before we work on it.”

“It’s been three months! What are you waiting for?”

Daphne stood still, but she heard Alex’s foot steps on the opposite side of the room. They were rapid and impatient, as if he’d gotten up from the bedside to stare out the window.

“We barely know each other, Dad. I know this dynasty thing is big on your mind, but right now, Daphne and I aren’t thinking about producing heirs.”

Wrong, husband. We are now—in about six months, Daphne thought unhappily. She touched her stomach protectively.

“Son, let me tell you a story.”

“Hope fully one I haven’t heard before?”

Daphne started to smile.

“Sit down!” Alexander thundered.

The smile froze and then slid off her face. She heard her husband sigh again as he sat down.

“For six generations, there’s been one male child born into each Banning marriage. Who knows why? I’ve often wondered if it was a curse left over from the days when our fore fathers were bravely beating pagan enemies off the English shores. One child, and no more,” Alexander rasped.

“One’s enough. We didn’t need an heir and a spare.”

“Take it seriously, Alex. What if there hadn’t been an heir each time?”

There was quiet in the room for a moment. “Tell me, Dad.”

“Females would be running the ranch! Wives who married into the family! It would slip out of Banning hands, and may I add those hands have capably handled the reins ever since our fore bears came over from England!”

“Don’t get excited, Dad. It isn’t good for your blood pressure. And Green Forks isn’t a kingdom.”

Daphne heard Alex sigh once more.

“In England, we’d by damn be aristocracy! It’s important that we retain our illustrious heritage! Two governors, a couple of corporate CEOs, a successful wildcatter and a world-renowned chef. Great ness must carry on!”

Coughing erupted in the sickroom, and Daphne started to hurry forward in alarm. Alex’s next words stopped her cold.

“It’s a mistake to have children when you’re not sure if the marriage is going to work out.”

Her jaw dropped. She backed up, her hand tight against her heart.

“Son, I know you didn’t want an arranged marriage. I know you feel like I pushed you into marrying that girl.” Alexander took a deep, racking breath. “But think of what it was like every time I drove past their pitiful, broken-down ranch. Always another son popping out of Mrs. Way. A girl, of course, the time she had triplets, but still sons in the mix. Damn if I didn’t start wondering if it was secret water Cos Way was pumping up out of an under ground well just to spite me. Hates me, he does, and I hated him. I swear he kept that woman pregnant just to show me what a real man could achieve. Six sons, every one of them strap ping and healthy and tall as live oaks.” He took a deep breath. “No, I know you didn’t like me arranging the marriage, but I had to do it. You under stand, don’t you?”

Daphne’s heart froze in her chest. She waited forever for her husband’s reply.

“I do, Dad. Go to sleep now. Everything is going to be all right.”

Tears welled in Daphne’s eyes as cold shock spread through her. Everything was not going to be all right. She backed up quietly and hurried down stairs, wiping at the tears running down her face. When he said he liked my jeans, I should have known he meant genes, she thought wildly, running past the Banning Boors, still watching her coldly and aristocratically. She felt like turning the portraits to the wall, but it wouldn’t help. Nothing could help her.

Her husband had been forced to marry her.

Chapter One

Five months later

“We have located her, sir.”

The valet’s stiff voice held a ring of achievement, of a job done well. Alex Banning held in a sigh of relief. His heart sped up at the thought of finally seeing his wife again. “Good. Bring her, and our baby, to the mansion.”

“She’s very weak, but she is resisting us, sir.”

“Of course she is,” Alex said matter-of-factly. “Have you ever known Daphne Way to ever do the conventional thing? To go along quietly because someone asks her to?”

Sinclair chuckled. “No, sir.”

“Well, then! Do what you have to. Negotiate. But bring her here. And the baby,” he added as an after thought.

“Yes, sir.” The car phone was disconnected.

Alone in his mansion, his nerves on edge, Alex waited for the woman who had borne his child to be brought, probably kicking and screaming, to him. Months ago Daphne had run from their marriage. He’d nearly gone mad when she left, with only a short note telling him she wasn’t coming back. Though he’d gone several times to her parents’ house, they had said little except that she didn’t want to see him. His heart broke. His greatest fear was realized. They had married too quickly without allowing her time to get used to living in the Banning mansion. Without time to really get to know her husband. And when she had, she hadn’t wanted him.

Through a friend, he discovered she was pregnant. Realizing that Daphne had no intention of contacting him, he had sought her at the school where she taught.

She had responded by showing him the door. Then she quit her job and moved from her parents’ home. Her new phone number was unlisted.

The worst blow had been the delivery of divorce papers. A hundred knives had gone through him when he read them.

He’d re treated. He kept his eye on her through various means, none of them obvious enough to alert her to his knowledge of the baby growing inside her. Knowing Daphne, she’d leave the country, and then he’d have to go through serious maneuvers to keep in touch with her.

He’d kept quiet until the birth, though it nearly killed him. The thought that the woman he loved was bearing his child without him by her side was enough to drive him to complete insanity. There had been a complication, but he didn’t know what. Nurses went to the small apartment once a day, Sinclair reported, and Daphne went to the hospital much earlier than the due date Alex had circled on his calendar. It had been what he thought would be several months into her pregnancy, but since he had no idea when she’d gotten pregnant, he had no idea how far along the baby had been. Dear heaven, let it be healthy. Let Daphne be fine. He called the hospital, but they would give no information on her condition or the child’s.

Alex had been left with nothing to do but worry himself ill.

Today, Daphne had finally left the hospital. He had dispatched Sinclair at once.

Daphne Way was going to live in the enormous mansion in Green Forks, Texas, with him, whether she liked it or not. This place was big enough for the both of them and one tiny baby.

“I HAD NELLY take Miss Daphne—Mrs. Banning—upstairs,” Sinclair informed Alex when he arrived thirty minutes later.

Alex hovered in the marbled hallway, as nervous as if he’d been in the delivery room himself. Which he should have been, but there was nothing he could do about that now. “Is she all right?”

“Miss Daphne is weak, but not weak enough to forgo giving me a tongue-lashing. She doesn’t want to see you, sir.”

“I know. Where is my son?”

Sinclair looked at him oddly. “In the library.”

Alex grimaced. “I would have been down sooner, but I got caught on an overseas phone call.”

“Of course, sir. I will show you to your, er, child.”

Alex followed Sinclair into the library-turned-nursery, his hands trembling. He was a father! In time, another oil painting could be hung in the great hall along side the other portraits of Banning men of great accomplishments. His own son.

He stopped in his tracks at the sight of three little blankets spread across the floor with a tiny baby securely wrapped on each. There was a flurry of activity as servants pulled baby things from boxes and bags.

“What is going on?” Alex demanded. “What are those?” He pointed to the baby bundles. “Why are they lying on the floor?”

“We weren’t prepared for three.” Sinclair shrugged. “We only bought one crib and one set of baby accoutrements.”

A sinking sensation hit Alex. Perhaps an error had been made and the Banning mansion had been mistaken for an orphanage. “Those are not all mine, are they?”

“I’m afraid so. Trust Miss Daphne to do the ever-flam-boyant thing.”

“Oh, my God.” Alex couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Are you sure?”

“They’re all tagged Banning, sir.”

“You didn’t accidentally grab up too many?”

“No, sir. They are all Daphne’s babies.”

Daphne Way was a hell of a woman, but he didn’t think she’d been capable of that.

“In poker it’s called a three of a kind, sir. Very advantageous. Congratulations.”

Alex ignored the felicitations and moved forward to eye the sleeping bundles. “Have you called for extra everything?”

“Yes.”

“Daphne didn’t require extra hospitalization?” He whirled to glance at Sinclair.

“No, but as I said, she is weak. In spite of your questionable methods, sir, I believe this is the best place for her.”

“Yes.” Alex blinked at the first bit of criticism Sinclair had ever leveled at him. He looked at his progeny. One tiny bundle squirmed in its blanket wrap pings, starting a chain reaction. Suddenly, all three pairs of eyes were open and staring around. “What are their names?”

Sinclair stepped close to examine the baby on the left. “That one, I believe, Miss Daphne called Yoda.”

“Yoda! She named my son after a fictitious intergalactic creature?” His roar set Yoda to crying and the help to a stand still. After an astonished second, a nanny came forward to pick up the child and comfort it with a malevolent glance at Alex.

“I don’t know her proper given name, sir. That’s all I heard Miss Daphne call the child.”

“Well.” That would have to be fixed, though Alex could see how the triangular-shaped head and big dark eyes might have earned the baby the nickname. Suddenly, his brain processed what his ears had heard. “Her proper given name?”

“Yes, sir. Miss Daphne has done you the honor of giving you three daughters.”

“I—” There were only Banning male portraits hanging in the great hall. “Every single one?”

“Every baby is a girl.”

He closed his eyes. A whole new, unexplored world laid out its vastness before him. Lace and ruffles. Diaries and separate phone lines. Three girls. He’d better buy stock in the phone company.

Boy friends.

Oh, Lord. “And this one?” he demanded, pointing to the next baby on a blanket.

“That one is Miss Magoo.”

“Miss Magoo!”

“Mr. Magoo if it had been a boy, of course. You see the resemblance.”

Alex stared at the lashless baby. She grinned hugely at him, unaffected by her surroundings. With the big bald head, he supposed the baby did resemble Mr. Magoo. With luck, she’d grow hair eventually.

In trepidation, he looked at the smallest baby. It was by far the most unattractive creature he had ever seen. To Alex’s mind, this wizened child had a face only its mother could love. “What did this homely child’s unnatural mother name her?”

“I believe Miss Daphne affectionately called her Alex Junior. Alexis, in the feminine sense, I should think.”

“This is the one she chose to bear my name?” Astounded, he stared at the tiny baby, who appeared to glare back at him. Daphne’s eyes, Daphne’s mouth and no doubt Daphne’s temper. “She’s scrawnier than the others. And, though I hate to say it, she’s…ugly.”

“Sir, please. The child hears you.”

“Well, her mother will soon hear me, as well. Something’s got to be done about these names.” He reached down, gently picking up Alex Junior. “This one doesn’t look like me at all. Why do you suppose she named this one Alex Junior?”

“She said that one was forced out of the um, chute, sir. Miss Daphne commented that being forced to do some thing against its will was in keeping with your situation.” Sinclair coughed delicately, but Alex knew he was trying not to laugh. “She was the first child born. I believe it is customary that first born males bear their father’s name. Miss Daphne believes gender shouldn’t affect any situation adversely.”

It damn well did. Alex stared at the baby doubt fully, receiving the full force of haunting Daphne eyes watching him. He sighed, almost frightened by the morning’s events. If Daphne did anything by convention it would be a first, and Sinclair knew it. He handed the baby to the valet with a shrug. “I’m going to see Daphne now.”

“I would take an heirloom from the vault, sir.”

Alex paused, thunder struck. “An heirloom?”

Sinclair kept his head turned stiffly forward. “It is generally looked upon favorably by the mother to receive a token from the father of her child, signifying his appreciation for her propagating his lineage.”

Alex’s brows raised. “Are you suggesting a tiara?” Did three babies require more of an appropriate gesture than one baby?

“Your mother’s pearls should do nicely, though I do believe Miss Daphne isn’t in a relenting mood.”

“I’ll stop by the vault on my way to her room.” Alex’s chest tightened as he left the nursery. If he owned a diamond mine in South Africa and signed it over in her name, Daphne would likely not care.

He wondered if she had ever loved him—the way he’d loved her.

Still loved her.

Chapter Two

Alex walked into the large bedroom he and Daphne had once shared. His heart thudded un com fort ably as he looked for the woman who’d sent him divorce papers. Receiving them had nearly killed him. He’d wanted to shred them and throw them into a fire place, but he’d filed them away in a cabinet. He couldn’t put her off forever. If she insisted on the divorce, he guessed he’d have to give it to her. It would be a hell of a one-year anniversary gift, one he didn’t want.

“Daphne? Are you in here?” he asked softly, glancing around the room.

She popped her head out from inside a closet. His heart stopped instantly, and his mouth dried out. Daphne was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Not pop-culture beautiful, no. Classically beautiful, with beautiful, large green eyes. Bronze hair waved down over her shoulders.

“Alex.” She came from the closet and seemed to find it hard to look at him.

“I—I brought you this,” he said stiffly, holding out the velvet pouch that contained his mother’s pearls.

She shook her head. “I don’t want anything from you.”

He bit the inside of his jaw, wondering how to proceed. What should he say to this woman who’d just borne his children? “You look beautiful,” he said honestly.

“Thank you.”

Her voice was gentle and quiet—and somehow un convinced. Alex scratched his neck and cleared his throat. “I saw the babies.”

“Oh?” She briefly met his gaze before finding a place on the floor to stare at.

“I’m a bit over whelmed to find myself a father of three all at once.” He smiled to show her he was taking it well, but she kept her vision trained to the ground. “How are you? Being a mother of three…I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through,” he said helplessly.

“I’m fine.” Shrugging, she went back to sorting baby things. “Managing.”

“Is there any way I can help?” He really, really wanted to help her in any way she needed.

“Not pulling commando tactics on me would be nice. Just because you have half the world’s money doesn’t give you the right to drag me and the babies away from our home.” She stared at him belligerently.

He spread his hands in front of him, struggling to understand the hidden meaning behind her words. The tiny apartment she’d leased didn’t seem to be much of a home to him. Their home was here, at Green Forks, if he could only convince her of that. “You belong here, Daphne, no matter what our relationship is.”

“Even divorced? You would want me here?”

Swallowing tightly, he said, “Of course. Those are my children. You are my wife.”

Her eyes were wide. “Even if I’m not your wife?”

He couldn’t bear to think about it. As long as he could put it off, he wasn’t signing those papers. Daphne had married him for better or worse, and by heaven, he had to convince her that being his wife fell under the heading of better. “Let’s not talk about that right now.”

“We have to, Alex! We have to talk. You may not like to, but we probably should have done more talking before we got married.” She sank into a chair. “I’m so tired. Can we argue some other time?”

Instantly alarmed, he said, “I’ll call Nelly.”

“What for? I want to rest, not have to talk to one more person.”

Sudden tapping in the hall electrified her nerves. It sounded like a cane. It sounded like—

“Daphne. You’re back.” Aided by Sinclair, Alexander walked into the room.

She bristled at the tone in his voice, which seemed to imply that she’d returned of her own free will. She was amazed by the recovery he’d made. He looked like his old self again. “For the moment,” she said with a lift of her chin.

“Hmph.” He leaned on his cane. “Like your mama, birthing triplets. Where’s the boy?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but apparently that’s one way I’m not like my mother.” She glanced at Alex purposefully.

“They’re beautiful girls,” Alex said. “Didn’t you think, Dad?”

“Hmph. Ugly names. Yoda. Miss Magoo. I do think you could give them proper names, Daphne.” He turned to stump out of the bedroom before turning his grizzled head to glance over his shoulder. “It’s not your fault, of course. It’s my boy who seems to be chock-full of feminine chromosomes.”

Daphne sucked in her breath and quickly glanced at Alex to see how he took his father’s criticism. To her surprise, he laughed out loud.

“See you at dinner, Dad,” he called.

“Didn’t he hurt your feelings?” Daphne still cringed from the visit.

“Absolutely not. Dad may be fixated on boys, but the minute he found out you were pregnant, he made a recovery even the doctors couldn’t believe. You gave him three grandchildren, Daphne,” he said huskily, “and he’ll consider them an honor.”

“What a good liar you are.” Daphne moved away. “He’s made no bones about the fact that only boys will do for him.”

“True. But he’ll have to get over his hierarchical delusions.” He stood, preparing to leave the room. Daphne did look tired, and he wanted her to rest. “There could be other children, anyway, Daphne, not that it’s some thing either one of us want to think about right now.”

“No. There can’t be.” She folded her arms, suddenly chilled.

“I mean, once we’ve talked about this divorce thing,” he said hastily. The last thing he wanted her to think was that he was patronizing her. “I don’t want a divorce. I want to have a hand in raising my children. It’s best if we stay married.”

Her insides felt like cement. “I can’t have any more children.” Guiltily, she looked at Alex.

His mouth fell open. “What?”

Sadly, she shook her head. “The doctor says I can’t.”

“Why not? Your mother had eight.”

It was impossible not to see the fear and disappointment in her husband’s eyes. Daphne knew she might as well lay all her cards on the table. Alex had a right to know. “I’m not sure what happened. It all went so fast! There were nurses and doctors and babies crying and tubes—” She shivered, stepping away from Alex when he held his arms out to her. “All I know is that, the next morning, when the doctor came in to see me, he said that I had a rare disorder where the uterus prolapses. He felt it would be dangerous to my health to have more children.”