Buch lesen: «Baby Before Business»

Chapter One

“You sent for me?”

Madelyn Gentry entered Ty Bryant’s executive office, and when he looked up from the paper he was reading she just barely suppressed a gasp. He was gorgeous. Thick black hair perfectly matched his onyx eyes and accented his character-filled, strong-boned face. His impeccable black suit, white shirt and silver tie spoke of elegance and sophistication—the kind of elegance and sophistication she didn’t expect to find in a scrooge or ogre, as his employees referred to him.

“Are you the PR woman my brother hired?”

“Yes, I’m Madelyn Gentry,” she said, ignoring the slight in the way he said “woman” as she extended her hand to shake his, but Ty Bryant acted as if he didn’t see the gesture and tossed the paper he’d been reviewing across his desk.

“What’s this?”

Madelyn picked up the sheet and glanced at it. “It’s the details of your PR event,” she said, smiling as she sat on one of his two guest chairs.

But Ty’s livid expression caused her smile to fade. He might be one of the most attractive men on the planet, but he could be pretty darned scary-looking. If nothing else, he was intimidating.

Still, that didn’t surprise her. His employees had complained about him all three days he had been away from the office for his cousin’s funeral. Plus, Ty’s brother Seth had filled Madelyn in on Ty’s background. She knew the Bryant brothers had lost their parents when Ty was twenty and Ty had taken responsibility for his fifteen-and eighteen-year-old siblings. He had struggled to support them with the family’s ailing construction company and, against the odds, had transformed the local contractor into a supersuccessful development business.

It was a no-brainer to realize Ty’s difficult life had made him somewhat harsh. But, justifiably grouchy or not, the guy had to clean up his act. That was why his much nicer brother Seth had hired her.

“You need to get out into the community—”

“Cancel it.”

Madelyn took a silent breath, remembering how Ty’s employees had called him Tyrant Ty, the boss from hell. As far as Madelyn was concerned, if his employees couldn’t even be kind to him while he was away for a funeral, there was no telling what they would say to the Wall Street Journal reporter scheduled to arrive in three weeks. Madelyn couldn’t let a member of the media anywhere near the unhappy residents of Porter, Arkansas, until Ty’s employees at least stopped name-calling.

“I can’t. It’s all arranged. Besides, you—”

“I said cancel it. I will give the Wall Street Journal an interview because Seth thinks it’s necessary to get our company name in a newspaper with national circulation so we’re recognized when we begin bidding on federal projects. But I won’t participate in a sap fest.”

Madelyn gasped. “This isn’t a sap fest! You’re presenting playground equipment to a day care! You need this event to soften your reputation in the community.”

That made him laugh. “Ms. Gentry, I spent fifteen years getting this reputation, there’s no way in hell I want it softened.”

So, he was an ogre by choice. Great. There was no way she could repair his image. The best she could hope for was that his employees would feel better about him after he gave the gym sets to the day care, and pray the afterglow from his donation lingered at least until the reporter came to Porter.

“I understand that, but…”

“And I’m not giving away thirty thousand dollars.”

“You’re not giving away thirty thousand dollars. You’re donating equipment to the day care that babysits most of your employees’ children. Think of it as thirty thousand dollars of goodwill.”

“Baloney. Swings and gym sets and volleyballs—”

“Will win over parents,” she interrupted, finding the perfect opening to get her point across, but Ty didn’t let her finish.

“And that’s another thing,” he said, rising and tossing a second piece of paper at her. “Who wrote this speech? It’s the most disgusting piece of drivel I’ve ever read. Giving some kid a swing does not turn him into a leader.”

“It’s not the swing. It’s the sense of community…”

“Elitist liberal crap,” Ty said, walking to the wall of window behind his desk and looking out at the rural Arkansas town that housed his company. Tall and broad-shouldered, he stood ramrod straight. His dark hair gleamed in the late-afternoon sun. Madelyn couldn’t help noticing again that the man was hot, but it was too bad all those good looks were wasted on a grouch.

“The last thing kids need is to be mollycoddled. What they really should learn is to earn what they get and to pull their own weight. If you think otherwise, you’re certainly not the person to be doing Bryant Development’s public relations. You’re fired.”

Madelyn blinked, stunned. “What?”

He faced her. His dark eyes were cold and serious. “You…are…fired,” he said, enunciating each word as if he were speaking to a slow-witted child. “Pack your things and go.”

Madelyn’s mouth fell open in complete shock. Suddenly grouch, ogre, scrooge and troll seemed too kind to describe Ty Bryant. Even tyrannical dictator didn’t hit the mark. He was the coldest man she had ever met. He was, quite simply, a public relations nightmare and she realized nobody was going to clean up this guy’s image—not even somebody who desperately needed to.

She was at the end of the money she’d saved while working for a high-powered PR firm in Atlanta. Her father had recovered from the heart attack that had brought her home the year before, but she still didn’t feel right about leaving. She and her sister and their two brothers had all moved to other parts of the country to find work, and her parents were alone. Arlene sold medical supplies in the northwest and couldn’t live in Arkansas. Jeff and Marty both worked for big corporations that didn’t have offices anywhere near Porter. Madelyn was the logical choice to return to their hometown.

She’d tried drumming up consulting jobs, but in little Porter she didn’t get much work. She wrote a few press releases for local politicians and helped some people enhance their résumés, but that had been about it.

Seth Bryant had dangled two enticing possibilities when he offered her this assignment. First, working for Bryant Development would give her exposure enough to get new clients—maybe not in Porter but close enough that she could still live in Porter. And second, Seth planned to talk Ty into creating a permanent PR department. If she succeeded in cleaning up Ty’s image, she would be the logical choice to head it.

But after meeting Ty Bryant she had to be realistic. He wasn’t the kind of guy positive PR could change overnight—or even in the three weeks she had before the reporter arrived—and there was a bigger chance she would fail than succeed. Then there would be no job at Bryant Development. Plus, if word leaked that she’d failed, she wouldn’t attract new individual assignments. She might even lose the résumé business she had. Either way, she would be returning to Atlanta.

“Excuse me?” Joni O’Brien, Ty’s secretary, poked her head into Ty’s office doorway, and Madelyn and Ty’s attention turned to the petite brunette.

Clearly annoyed, Ty said, “Joni, I’m meeting with someone. You know better than to disturb me.”

“Well, okay. Then I won’t tell you that I’m leaving to take my kids to the dentist or that the attorney for your cousin Scotty’s estate is here to see you.”

“Why is Scotty’s attorney here?” Ty asked, obviously surprised by the visit.

“I think I’d better let him answer that.” Joni turned toward the reception area and said, “Mr. Hauser, why don’t you go ahead in?”

“Joni! I can’t see him…” Ty began, going from annoyed to furious in under five seconds, but when Pete Hauser, one of only two attorneys who had offices in Porter, stepped into the doorway, Ty stopped talking.

Madelyn’s face scrunched in confusion. Pete held two diaper bags and a car seat. His secretary, Renee Brown, stood beside him, holding a little girl Madelyn guessed was about six months old. Wearing a pretty pink dress, white ruffle tights and black buckle shoes, the baby was adorable.

“Sorry about this,” Pete said as he and Renee entered Ty’s office. “But as you can see, we’re really not in a position to wait.”

Ty Bryant cast a quick glance at Madelyn Gentry. Medium height and thin, with no-nonsense straight red hair that fell to her shoulders, she didn’t look like the perky Pollyanna his brother had described. Though she was only twenty-five, in her green skirt and simple beige top she looked professional and businesslike. But that didn’t change the fact that her job was fluff. Unnecessary fluff. More akin to Gossip Grid and Night Life magazines than actual work. Though Ty really didn’t know why Pete and his assistant Renee had brought Scotty’s daughter to his office, he didn’t want anything personal witnessed by a recently fired woman with contacts at all the newspapers on the eastern half of the United States.

After nodding an acknowledgment to Pete, Ty faced Madelyn. “Ms. Gentry, I think our discussion is over, but you look like you want to argue. You’re not going to change my mind, but if you still wish to duke it out, you can wait in my secretary’s office until I’m finished with Mr. Hauser.”

Ty watched Madelyn glance from the baby to Pete and then back to him again. Her bright green eyes displayed confusion. She licked her full, perfect lips as she assessed the situation, but she didn’t say a word. She simply rose and left the room.

Ty walked to his office door and closed it. “What’s up?” he asked, striding back to his desk.

Pete dropped the two heavy-looking diaper bags onto a convenient chair. “We found Scotty’s will today, Ty, and he names you as Sabrina’s guardian.”

Ty shook his head. “Sorry. Can’t do it.”

“I don’t think you heard me,” Pete said. “Scotty’s will names you as guardian. It’s my responsibility to give you the baby, that’s it.”

“Oh, come on, Pete, you can’t just barge into my office and drop off a child!”

“Yes, I can. As administrator of an estate I do what the will says and the will says you get the baby.”

Ty gaped at him. “You’re kidding!”

“No.” Pete paused, then added, “I assumed Scotty and Misty had spoken with you about this.”

“They hadn’t.” Ty glanced at the little girl in Renee’s arms. With her curly blond hair, pink dress and tiny black shoes, Sabrina looked like an angel, but Ty knew better. Kids were work, but Sabrina was a baby. There were years of trouble in this kid’s future. He wouldn’t start with high school as he had with Seth or even college as he had with Cooper. He would start with bottles and diapers and sandboxes and preschool, and build up to cars and proms.

No way he was doing this.

“Here, take her,” Renee suggested with a smile, offering the baby to Ty.

Eyes wide with horror, Ty stepped back.

“Oh, come on,” Renee cajoled. “She’s a sweetie. You’ll be fine,” she insisted, forcing Sabrina into Ty’s arms.

He had no choice but to catch the baby as Renee let go. He awkwardly juggled Sabrina into the crook of his elbow, then peered down at her as she raised her gaze to meet his. For ten seconds, she looked at him as he studied her. Then, without a sniff of warning, her lips puckered, her eyes filled with tears and she issued a blistering wail that would have singed off his hair if she had been closer.

“What about Misty’s parents?” Ty asked, shifting her over his shoulder and patting her back in a clumsy attempt to quiet her while he stalled Pete long enough to find a way out of this.

“Scotty and Misty’s wills both give you custody, but even if they didn’t Misty’s dad is in remission from cancer,” Pete shouted because Ty’s back-patting wasn’t calming Sabrina down. If anything, her crying seemed to get louder. “Given the state of his health, Misty’s parents didn’t think they were capable of dealing with a baby. They were relieved this afternoon when we read the wills and saw you got custody.”

That information poured over Ty like cement, freezing him in place and numbing his brain. Because Scotty’s parents had been killed in the same accident that took Ty’s parents, and both Misty and Scotty were only children, Misty’s parents were Ty’s only hope. There wasn’t going to be a way out of this. Sabrina screamed all the louder.

Pete pointed to the first of two diaper bags he had deposited on the chair in front of Ty’s desk and yelled, “Bottles are in there.”

Ty cast a baffled look at the brightly printed container and shouted, “Bottles?”

Renee removed the diaper bag hanging on her shoulder and set it beside the other two. “And this one is full of disposable diapers,” she said, also loud enough to be heard over Sabrina’s crying.

“Shhh, shhh, shhh,” Ty crooned, panic churning in his stomach. He could not raise a baby! Hell, he couldn’t even get her to stop crying! “This isn’t going to work, Pete!”

Pete grimaced and raised his voice another notch because Sabrina had somehow gotten louder. “Ty, I’m sorry, but that’s not my problem. You’re named guardian. I gave you the baby. That’s the end of my responsibility. What you do now is between you and her grandparents or you and child services.”

Child services!

Before Ty had a chance to take that thought any further, his office door burst open and Madelyn Gentry stormed in. She sighed heavily and marched over to Ty. “Really, you guys. What’s going on?” she asked as she took the baby fromTy’s arms. Without waiting for an answer, she strode to the diaper bags and began rummaging around. “Even through the closed door I could hear this poor child screaming. Were you beating her in here?”

Not at all happy to have a PR guru in the room to witness this disaster, Ty watched Madelyn retrieve a bottle. He knew very well that once she told the story of a lawyer bringing Ty a baby, everyone would assume Sabrina was his illegitimate child. He normally didn’t care about rumors, but he also wasn’t so stupid as to let one start three weeks before a reporter from the Wall Street Journal arrived. Particularly since he could so easily stop it.

“My cousin and his wife died. I got custody of their baby.”

“Just like this?” As Sabrina continued screaming, Madelyn arranged her across her arm to feed her and faced Pete. “Without a word of warning, you’re dumping this poor baby in his lap?”

“I’m perfectly capable of hiring a nanny,” Ty shouted, doing the further damage control of nipping any potential tale of his incompetence in the bud, but his voice echoed around him because Sabrina had stopped crying. Madelyn was leaning against his desk, feeding a bottle to the little girl, who gulped greedily as if she were starving.

Pete laughed and turned to Ty. “You’ll be fine,” he said, shaking Ty’s hand as if to finalize the deal. “Nice seeing you!” he said, as he and Renee hurried out of Ty’s office.

Ty glanced at the fired public relations gal. Even though he didn’t want to be wowed by her ability to get the baby to quiet down, he had to admit he was. But he was more impressed that she’d come in to help after he’d fired her. Of course, she could have been looking for leverage to get her job back. Ty almost slapped his forehead at his stupidity. Of course, she only came in to get her job back.

He took the suckling baby from Madelyn’s arms, careful not to knock the bottle from the infant’s mouth. “I believe I just fired you.”

Madelyn glanced at the baby and then back at him. Her pretty green eyes were full of confusion, but also concern. “You’re going to care for this child by yourself?”

“Like I said. I’m perfectly capable of hiring a nanny.”

Madelyn studied him for a few seconds and the curiosity left her expression. Her demeanor became professional and she pushed away from his desk. “Yes, you are. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Of course I’ll be fine!” Ty snapped. The fact that she felt entitled to an opinion really rubbed Ty the wrong way. This was why he kept his private life private. He didn’t like answering to anybody.

Before Ty could say anything further, Madelyn Gentry began striding to the door. Almost simultaneously, Sabrina peered up at him and stiffened in his arms. Ty felt the storm brewing even before the baby spit the bottle out of her mouth and screamed.

He panicked. He might be able to hire a nanny eventually, but he didn’t have one now and the only help within a hundred yards was walking out the door.

“Wait!”

Madelyn laughed. “No. You don’t want me here. Call a relative or a girlfriend.”

“Shhh-shhh-shhh,” Ty whispered, patting Sabrina’s back as he inexpertly cuddled her to him. Apparently unimpressed that he let her slobber on his thousand-dollar suit, Sabrina cried all the louder. “With Scotty gone, my brothers are the only blood relatives I have aside from this baby.” Sadness rippled through him at the realization that his only cousin was now gone, but he didn’t let that show on his face or in his voice as he continued. “And you heard my secretary say she was leaving for the day. She’s not even going home. She’s taking her kids to the dentist. I couldn’t find her if I wanted to.”

Madelyn stopped walking and faced him. “No girlfriend?”

He wanted to tell her that was none of her business, but with Sabrina screaming on his shoulder, he only shook his head.

Madelyn sighed, then strode over to Ty. “I should have known no woman would have you.” She took the sobbing baby and bottle from Ty.

“I’m single by choice.”

“Whatever.”

Madelyn arranged Sabrina across her arm, slid the bottle into her mouth again, and resumed her position of leaning against Ty’s desk. “Poor baby,” she murmured, soothing the child, but irritating the hell out of Ty.

“Poor baby? This kid will have her own personal nanny, whose full-time job will be to cater to her every wish and whim.”

“Maybe. But you don’t have a nanny now and Sabrina is stuck with you tonight.”

Ty scowled. Damn it! She was right. A competent nanny couldn’t be brought in on a moment’s notice, not without investigating his or her background. Which meant he was going to be alone with this baby tonight. And he didn’t have a clue of how to keep Sabrina from crying, let alone how to care for her.

But Madelyn Gentry really seemed to know what she was doing.

“So what makes you such an expert about kids?”

“I have three brothers and sisters and eight nieces and nephews,” Madelyn said, aware that her ex-boss was up to something because his voice had shifted from rude to curious. “I’ve fed a bottle or two in my day.”

“Yeah, well, I raised two brothers, but Cooper was eighteen and Seth was fifteen when I took over. Until just now, I’d never even held a baby.” He paused and glanced at Madelyn. Sounding uncharacteristically vulnerable, he said, “I don’t think they like me.”

Madelyn couldn’t argue that. She knew firsthand that most adults didn’t like him. Why should a baby be any different? Still, she didn’t trust the sudden spurt of honesty. His vulnerable act could very well be a trick to get her sympathy. She cautiously said, “I take it you haven’t had much contact with this child before.”

“No. And even if Seth wasn’t out of town for the weekend, he wouldn’t be any better with her than I am. He’s only cooed at her when Scotty brought her to visit.”

“Great.”

Ty drew a quick breath. “Do you think it’s going to be hard to find a nanny?”

Oh, so that was it. He was making himself look vulnerable because he needed assistance finding a nanny. Well, sorry. He was out of luck.

“I don’t know. I lived in Atlanta for two of the past three years. Any contacts I made there are too far away.” Madelyn snuggled the baby closer and Sabrina’s sucking slowed, an indication that she was drifting off to sleep. “So I’m afraid I’m not much help.”

“Actually, you look like lots of help.”

Their eyes met and Madelyn read Ty Bryant’s intentions as clearly as if he had spoken the words. He didn’t want assistance finding a nanny. He wanted her to be the nanny!

Though careful not to jar the baby, she bounced away from his desk. “Oh, no. No. No. No. I am not a nanny.”

“You might not be a nanny, but you’re certainly better with a baby than I am. And Seth’s already investigated you. Nobody gets the kind of authorization you got to interview staff and look at our five-year plan unless Seth has human resources run background checks. So you’re cleared.”

“No.”

“I’m not asking you to take the job permanently,” Ty angrily retorted as if she were the one being unreasonable. “I only need you for a few days, maybe a week. Just until I have time to properly interview and investigate a few candidates.”

“It will take more than a week to interview and investigate candidates!” Madelyn gaped at him. “Do you know what you’re asking?”

“Yes.”

“No, you don’t!” Madelyn emphatically disagreed as she leaned against the desk again to finish feeding Sabrina. “Babies get up in the middle of the night! I’d have to stay at your house!”

“I’d pay you well….”

“It’s not a question of money!”

“Okay, then. How about this? I won’t simply rehire you to do the PR job, I’ll do absolutely everything you want me to do to prepare for the Wall Street Journal interview.”

That stopped her. And she knew he’d done it on purpose. A sharp negotiator, he’d let her get out all of her objections before he went in for the kill and offered the only things she wanted. The job and his cooperation. “Are you kidding me?”

“No. Do this favor for me and I will do whatever you feel needs doing to make myself look nicer to the reporter,” he said, back to sounding like the in-control executive who had fired her, and Madelyn’s business instincts shot to red alert. Sure, he made it appear that they were on even terms, but this was the kind of guy who always kept the upper hand. There was a catch here somewhere.

So handsome he could have posed for GQ, Ty Bryant strolled closer and didn’t stop until he was mere inches in front of Madelyn and Sabrina. “Can I take her?”

Madelyn nodded and eased the nearly sleeping baby into his arms. He nestled the little girl against his chest as she sleepily suckled her bottle, but he didn’t move away from Madelyn.

Holding her gaze with his hypnotic brown eyes, he said, “I have something you want. A job. You have something I want. The ability to care for a baby. I’m offering you a simple deal. Take it or leave it.”

Feeling mesmerized by his magnetic gaze, Madelyn blinked, but it didn’t help. His nearness had caused her heart rate to triple. Her breathing had become feathery and light. She desperately wanted to swallow, but couldn’t because she knew he would see and take it as a sign of weakness.

Forcing herself to think his proposition through, she tried to come up with a downside and knew there wasn’t one. He might believe he could bully her out of his agreement once he had her commitment, but that wasn’t true. His inability to care for Sabrina gave Madelyn a weapon that she wouldn’t hesitate to use. Until he hired a nanny, any time he refused to do anything she asked, she would simply leave him alone with the child that he clearly couldn’t care for. Then he would either adhere to the terms of their deal, or be miserable. Of course, once he hired a nanny that leverage would be gone, but by then her advance work for the Wall Street Journal reporter would be done.

She still didn’t trust him.

“Even give away thirty thousand dollars worth of playground equipment and deliver a sappy speech?”

He grimaced but said, “If you honest to God think I need to do that, I will do it.”

For all practical intents and purposes, she had a deal. But she couldn’t force her mouth to form the words of acceptance. She’d seen his real temperament and demeanor when he fired her. She also remembered all the complaints his employees had made about him. There was a lot of damage to be repaired here. Though confident in her own abilities, she recognized that unless she could figure out a very solid way to get Ty Bryant to look, sound and behave like a totally different guy before the Wall Street Journal reporter arrived, she was going to fail. Because, the truth was, he could do every darned thing she said and still come across as an ogre.

Or, more realistically, Madelyn thought, he would come across as a powerful, distanced executive so wealthy and clueless about the real world he was heartless.

And if an employee got that opinion into the Wall Street Journal article, it would be all over.

The bottle slipped out of Sabrina’s mouth, a sign that she was asleep and Ty set it on the desk, passing within a millimeter of Madelyn’s shoulder as he did so.

Madelyn suppressed a shiver, as the room grew unbearably hot. What the hell was happening to her?

“Excuse me, Mr. Bryant?”

At the sound of Neil Ringler’s voice, Madelyn and Ty looked at the mailroom employee, who was at Ty’s door.