Jake walked over to stand beside her. “I think I’ll go with you, then you can show me around.”
“There’s really no need.” Her long golden brown ponytail swayed back and forth as she shook her head. “I’ll only be a few minutes and there’s no sense in you walking all that way just to turn around and walk back.”
Had that been a hint of panic he’d detected in her soft voice? Why didn’t she want him going with her?
“I don’t mind at all,” he said, placing his hand to the small of her back to usher her along. There was no way she’d leave him behind now. “Afraid of a little exercise?”
Jake could tell she wanted to protest at his wisecrack, but clamping her lips together, she quickly stepped away from his touch and preceded him out of the stall. Neither spoke as they walked side by side up the path to the back entrance of the mansion and he couldn’t help but wonder what she was trying to keep from him. And he had no doubt there was something. He hadn’t been an attorney for the past twelve years without learning to recognize when someone was trying to conceal a secret.
When they entered the kitchen, Jake stopped short at the sight of Clara Buchanan with a crying baby in her arms. Never in a million years would he have thought the emergency calling Heather away from work would be a baby. But his astonishment was compounded tenfold when Heather hurried over to them and took the child from the housekeeper. The baby instantly calmed down and it was obvious that Heather was the child’s mother.
“I think she might be running a little bit of a fever,” Clara said, touching the baby’s round little cheek.
Heather nodded. “I thought she felt warm when I got her up this morning.” She tenderly pressed her lips to her daughter’s forehead. “I think she might be trying to cut her first tooth.”
“That’s what the pediatrician said when I called her.” The housekeeper smiled fondly at the tiny girl. “But I wanted to let you know and see what you thought about taking Mandy in to her office.”
“It might not be a bad idea to have a doctor check her over,” Jake said from behind her.
He knew even less about babies than he did about horses. But he and his twin brother, Luke, had raised their ten-year-old sister after their mother was killed in a car accident and remembered that when a child had an elevated temperature it was always better to err on the side of caution.
“Just to be on the safe side, I think I will take her to see Dr. Evans.”
“I’ll get the diaper bag,” Clara said, disappearing down the hall toward her apartment.
As she and Jake stood in uncomfortable silence while she waited for Clara to return, Heather felt as if her nerves had been stretched to the breaking point. Was Jake aware that he was standing barely four feet away from his own daughter? Had he noticed that Mandy had his blue eyes and dark hair?
Ever since she’d learned that he was taking over Hickory Hills, she’d wondered how she was going to break the news to him about the baby. But she hadn’t anticipated him meeting their daughter before she had a chance to tell him about her.
He hadn’t said anything. Maybe he hadn’t noticed how much Mandy looked like him. If that was the case, she’d be able to explain everything in a much less rushed fashion. She hoped.
“Needless to say, I won’t be giving you that tour of the farm this afternoon or holding the meeting you wanted with your employees,” she finally said as she cradled the baby close.
He nodded. “That’s understandable. We can reschedule for tomorrow morning or even the day after if she’s still not feeling well.”
When the housekeeper came back into the room, he reached out and took the diaper bag from her. “I’ll help Heather and the baby get to the car.”
“Call me when you get back to let me know what you find out from the doctor about our little angel,” Clara called after them as they left the house.
“Would you mind letting Tony know that he’s in charge until I get back?” Heather asked as they walked the short distance to the carriage house.
Jake shook his head as he watched her open the back door of the older-model sedan parked in front. “No problem. I’ll take care of it. Is there anything else?”
“Not that I can think of.”
When Heather turned to put the baby in the car seat, the little girl looked at him over her mother’s shoulder for the first time and he felt as if he’d been flattened by a steam roller. He couldn’t have gotten his vocal cords to work if his life depended on it and simply stood back as Heather got into the car and drove away.
As he watched the vehicle disappear around the corner of the mansion and head down the drive toward the main road, his heart pounded against his ribs and he found it extremely hard to draw air into his lungs. The baby had dark hair and big blue eyes. Eyes the color of cobalt. The same color of cobalt that met his gaze when he looked into the mirror each morning to shave.
Chapter Two
That evening, when Heather answered the insistent knocking on her cottage door, she wasn’t the least bit surprised to find Jake standing on the other side. In fact, she’d been expecting him. She’d known that once he saw Mandy it was just a matter of time before he put it all together.
“We need to talk.” Instead of waiting for her to invite him in, he took hold of her elbow and propelled her back into the living room, kicking the door shut behind him. “I want answers and I’m not leaving here until I get them, Heather.”
“It never crossed my mind that you would,” she said calmly. She wasn’t going to allow him to upset or stress her out in any way.
“That baby belongs to me, doesn’t she?” he demanded, cutting right to be heart of the matter.
“That baby has a name—Amanda Grace. I call her Mandy. She’s almost seven months old.” Heather walked across the room to pull the nursery door closed to keep their raised voices from disturbing her daughter. “And if by belong, you mean are you her biological father? The answer is yes.”
“What happened? I used protection.”
Was he actually questioning that he was the father of her child?
“I’m well aware of that. It obviously had a defect.” She raised an eyebrow. “Surely you’re aware that nothing is one hundred percent effective except abstention. And if we’d gone that route—”
“We wouldn’t be having this conversation,” he finished for her.