Читать книгу The Tycoon's Tots - Stella Bagwell - Страница 13

When Chloe entered Fred’s a half hour later, Wyatt Sanders was already seated at a window booth which overlooked the encroaching woods at the back of the building.

As she and the twins approached the booth, he stood and said, “I see you made it. Thank you for coming.”

He was smiling again, and that bothered Chloe. Mainly because it seemed so genuine and she wasn’t quite ready to believe in this man’s sincerity. “My shopping took a little longer than I anticipated. I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

The smile deepened and Chloe felt an urgent need to draw a deeper breath.

“I have nothing else to do,” he said, then looked down at the twins. “Where are the babies going to sit?”

Chloe glanced over her shoulder to a spot where the high chairs were usually stored. She was thankful there were two empty ones. “If you’ll be kind enough to get a couple of those high chairs, we’ll put them at the end of the table.”

Wyatt fetched the chairs and Chloe quickly strapped each baby inside. Both children seemed to know they were in store for a treat. They each squealed with excitement and pounded the trays across their laps with chubby hands.

Chloe had just taken a seat across from Wyatt when a waitress arrived. Chloe quickly ordered a hot fudge sundae for herself and a bowl of vanilla ice cream for the twins. Wyatt simply wanted coffee.

After the woman had left, Wyatt said, “I really do appreciate your meeting me like this. I know it’s not something you particularly wanted to do.”

No. Meeting Wyatt Sanders for any reason wasn’t on her list of want-to-dos. But had she really had a choice in the matter?

“Whatever you might think, I’m not insensitive to the fact that the twins are your niece and nephew.”

His dark brows rose with faint surprise. “Well, whatever you might think, the fact that I’m their uncle means a lot to me.”

Her eyes connected with his and she felt a jolt rock her all the way down to her toes. “Your being here proves that to me,” she said, then deliberately turned her attention to the twins, who were still making a loud but happy ruckus.

Wyatt was trying hard not to stare at the soft profile of her face, when she turned back to him and asked, “Have you ever been to this part of the state before?”

“No. I’ve done a lot of traveling in the past few years, some of it overseas, but I must admit I’ve never been here before.”

The waitress appeared with their orders. After she’d placed them on the table and left, Wyatt went on, “Until I was notified of her death, I really had no idea my sister was in New Mexico. The last time I spoke to her, she told me she was in Vail, Colorado, and that she was planning on taking an extended vacation to Europe. That was over a year ago. Since then I tried contacting her at several of her old addresses, but I never heard a word.”

Like judging good horseflesh, Chloe could usually tell when a person was lying outright. In this case, she believed Wyatt was being entirely truthful.

Picking up a plastic spoon, she offered Anna a bite of the ice cream. Once the little girl had downed it, she did the same for Adam.

“Didn’t that worry you?” she asked Wyatt. “Not hearing from Belinda at all?”

Shrugging, Wyatt sipped his coffee, then said, “I wasn’t particularly uneasy about it. You should understand that my sister was…well, you might say she was a free spirit of sorts.”

“You didn’t see her often?”

He lowered his coffee cup onto the tabletop. “Not after she divorced. She moved away from Houston and traveled from place to place. I think that helped her get over the break from her husband. At least that’s what she implied.”

Chloe couldn’t help but be intrigued by this man and the woman who had turned her father’s head. “But Vail and Europe? How could she live like that? I know my father was sending her money. But not that sort of money!”

It didn’t take Wyatt but a moment to see what a chore it was to feed two babies at once. He motioned his head toward the bowl of ice cream.

“You’re never going to get to take a bite of your sundae. Why don’t you let me feed Adam?”

Him feed a baby? She shot him a skeptical look. “Do you know how to feed a baby?”

His tanned face took on a ruddy tinge. “Well, I haven’t ever actually fed one, but it doesn’t look that complicated. Just stick the spoon up to his mouth and let him do the rest.”

It was on the tip of Chloe’s tongue to turn down his offer. But for some reason, the idea struck her that it might do him good to see what caring for a baby, even in this small way, would be like.

Deliberately, she tucked more napkins around the neck of Adam’s T-shirt and overall bib, then handed Wyatt another spoon. “Okay, you’re welcome to give it a try,” she told him.

Eager, but tentative, Wyatt scooped up a spoonful of ice cream and stuck it up to Adam’s lips. At first the boy was so intrigued by the idea of being fed by a stranger, he merely stared, mouth closed, at Wyatt.

“What’s the matter with him? He was eating fine for you.”

Chloe kept a smug smile to herself. “He doesn’t know you. Would you let a stranger poke something into your mouth?”

Wyatt frowned as he watched little Anna open her lips and smack the ice cream from Chloe’s spoon.

“Okay, young man,” he said to the cherub-faced little boy. “I’m your Uncle Wyatt. I’m not a stranger. It’s perfectly safe to eat what I give you.”

Adam cocked his head to one side, looked at his sister and Chloe, then burst out with a string of coos and giggles.

Wyatt lowered the spoon. “He thinks I’m funny.”

Chloe chuckled softly. “He thinks you’re different.”

He glanced across the table at her. She was feeding herself now, digging the thick fudge off the bottom of the plastic bowl. Even though she ate daintily, he could see she was relishing every bite. It was a refreshing sight for Wyatt. Most of the women he knew considered picking at a plate of lettuce and bean sprouts to be eating a meal.

“Are the twins not used to being around men?” he asked.

“My brothers-in-law, Harlan and Roy, see the twins most everyday,” she assured him, then motioned her head toward the spoon of melting ice cream in his hand. “Offer it to him again. He’s had time to think about you now.”

“All right, little buddy,” he said to Adam. “Here it is. Don’t just look at it. Eat it.”

Adam complied this time and Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief. He was a grown man and he’d been assuring this woman the twins would be better off in his care. It wouldn’t look good if he couldn’t even manage to feed the baby a spoonful of ice cream.

“You were wondering about Belinda’s finances,” he began, as Adam continued to eat the ice cream from the spoon. “Well, at one time my sister had enough money to go to Europe or wherever she wanted.”

“You say she had the money at one time. When was that?” she asked as she continued to feed Anna.

Chloe’s question caused his features to tighten, but then Adam smacked his lips, and Wyatt looked at the baby and smiled.

“My father was an executive for a big petroleum firm in Houston. When he died, my sister and I inherited money and stocks. Enough to leave us both quite secure. I never worried or wondered if Belinda was squandering her part. When we talked, she always assured me her finances were doing fine. That she was doing fine. But now…” He let out a rueful sigh. “I don’t know what happened. If she left any of the money or stock certificates somewhere in a bank, I can’t find it.”

“From what Roy—you remember I told you the sheriff is my brother-in-law?” Wyatt nodded and Chloe went on, “Well, Roy said it appeared to him that Belinda was barely scraping by. The last few places she’d lived in were… rattraps.”

Wyatt shook his head. “I don’t disbelieve your brother-in-law. I’m not going to dispute what he apparently saw firsthand. I just find it…incredible to think Belinda was broke. I realize she liked to travel and entertain. And she was never stingy when it came to her friends, but she wasn’t stupid. I can’t imagine her wasting all that money. It was her security.”

When Chloe had first agreed to meet with Wyatt, she hadn’t necessarily expected to be discussing Belinda. She’d figured the only thing this man wanted to say to her was that he wanted the twins and meant to get them at any cost. But now, as she looked across the table and watched him awkwardly spooning ice cream into Adam’s mouth, she could see a sadness in his eyes that told her he was a man alone. And that touched her more than anything he could have said.

“I wish there was something I could tell you,” she said to him. “But you see, our father…well, we didn’t know anything about Belinda. What little we do know about her is what she told the authorities. She said she met Daddy at the racetrack here at Ruidoso Downs.”

His lips twisted with wry fondness. “That sounds true enough. Belinda liked to play the horses.”

“So did Daddy.” She absently dipped into her sundae as memories of Tomas welled up inside her. He’d been a big burly man full of humor and a zest for life. She hadn’t known any other man who had loved horses as much as her father. Nor would she ever find a man who would love her as much as he had. The ache of missing him was still like a knife blade in her heart.

Glancing up at Wyatt, she asked, “Do you have a mother?”

Adam appeared to be full of ice cream. Wyatt put the spoon down and gently wiped the boy’s mouth with the corner of a napkin.

“My mother left when I was very young.”

“Left? You mean she passed away?”

His handsome mouth twisted as though her question had left acid on his tongue. “No. I mean she left. Literally. Walked out and never came back.”

Even though Chloe had no reason to be embarrassed, she was. Splotches of red heat filled her cheeks.

“I shouldn’t have asked. But since the twins’ grandparents are gone on my side I was curious.” She dipped her spoon into the melting sundae. “I guess not having grandparents isn’t the end of the world.” But having a mother desert you would be, Chloe thought sadly.

He sighed. “I suppose there might be ways of tracing my mother, but that could take years. And what would be the point? She didn’t want me or Belinda. She certainly wouldn’t be interested in grandchildren.”

Dear God, were there really women in this world like that? Of course she’d heard stories on the news, but still it was so difficult for her to imagine any woman turning away from her own children.

“So it’s been just you and Belinda? You don’t have any other family?”

He shook his head. “My father was an only child. We never knew any of our mother’s family.”

She kept her eyes on the tabletop. “You’re…uh, not married?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Chloe glanced up to see a faint frown marring his forehead. “What’s the matter? You’re divorced?”

“No. I’ve never been married.” He picked up his coffee cup. “I was just wondering why you asked.”

Chloe shifted on the padded bench and wondered why her heart was behaving as if she’d just run a mile. “Because I…wondered if perhaps you had a wife back home who wanted the babies.”