CHAPTER ONE
‘MADELEINE, WHAT’S WRONG?’
Finn took in the scowling face of the woman on his doorstep and tried to reconcile it with the girl he had first met more than two decades ago and hadn’t seen in more than two years. And then she let loose an impressive string of expletives and Finn’s eyes widened.
This definitely wasn’t the girl he remembered from his teenage years, loafing around her house with her brother.
He covered the ears of the baby he was snuggling on his shoulder, but the tirade came to an end and he breathed a sigh of relief, removed the emergency ear muffs and stepped aside so that Madeleine could follow him into the hallway of the townhouse, and then on into his apartment.
‘Are you okay?’ Finn asked, wondering why Madeleine Everleigh had turned up on his doorstep fuming mad.
When his best friend Jake had talked him into letting his sister stay and help with the babies for a few weeks, he had thought that he was doing her a favour.
‘An idiot in a white van beeped at me,’ Madeleine said, following him into the apartment. ‘It’s nothing.’
No doubt she had to put up with this crap all the time. He’d known Madeleine for ever, and it had not exactly been possible to ignore that she was a woman with lush curves and a beautiful face, however hard he tried.
‘It’s not nothing; you shouldn’t have to put up with that. I’m sorry it happened,’ Finn said, shaking his head and wishing he could take back the last few minutes. ‘Come through. I’ll put the kettle on.’
The baby on his shoulder gave out a little squeak and Finn shushed him and bounced on the spot, only slightly frantically, hoping for just five more minutes before his son woke. He’d only been asleep for half an hour—if his routine went out then his sister’s routine went out and then the rest of the day and probably the night would be complete and utter chaos. They’d all spent the three months since his ex-wife had moved abroad trying to build a routine, but losing his nanny when they’d only just settled into one again had thrown a spanner in the works and, without help, everything was at risk of descending into madness.
‘Look, I appreciate it and everything but...’ She cast a look at Hart that reminded Finn of how he had looked at babies before he’d found himself the single parent of two of his own. She was not exactly ideal nanny material, but he had promised his best friend that he’d give his sister somewhere to stay and a regular wage while she was between jobs. Jake hardly ever asked for favours and after twenty years of friendship it was really the least that Finn could do.
‘This is Hart, by the way,’ he said, giving the baby a gentle pat on the bum. ‘Bella’s asleep too, but this one is allergic to his crib.’
He laughed at the horrified expression on her face.
‘Only metaphorically,’ he reassured her. ‘I’ve tried everything but a lot of the time he’ll only sleep on me. Which is why I need the help.’
‘Yeah, I don’t know if Jake mentioned but I really don’t have any experience with babies. I mean, his were all older than this when he adopted them.’
Finn smiled, and hoped it didn’t look too forced. ‘Yeah, he did mention it and it’s fine, honestly. I just need an extra pair of hands for a few weeks until I can find a permanent
nanny—I don’t want to rush into hiring someone so it’s great that you could help out at such short notice.’
Her face tightened, and Finn could have kicked himself for causing that reaction.
‘Well, one of the great things about being fired,’ Madeleine said, ‘is that you can be super flexible. Really, I can recommend it...’
He reached his free hand towards her, then let it fall, realising he didn’t know what he had been planning on doing with it. There was something about being around Madeleine that was making him feel like a kid again, and he couldn’t say that he liked it. Everything that he had said in the last five minutes had been utterly the wrong thing and he didn’t seem to be able to get off the back foot. And he’d invited her to stay, in his home, for at least a few weeks. He must be completely mad. ‘I’m sorry, Madeleine. Jake told me that they made cutbacks at the website...’
‘Yep.’ She folded her arms across her body, and her expression went from irritated to full on angry. ‘I don’t know why I’m surprised. I escaped the last round, but everyone knows that there’s no such thing as job security in journalism any more. I knew it was coming but it was still a shock.’
‘Of course it was. It’s a lot to take in. But is it too much of a cliché if I say that their loss is my gain? You’re doing me a massive favour,’ Finn said, smiling, hoping to ease her bad mood, ‘and I truly appreciate it.’
She did smile at that, and he saw her shoulders relax a fraction. That was good; he wanted her to be comfortable here. He was hardly doing Jake a favour if his sister was so on edge the whole time that she was here that she couldn’t even get through the door without worrying about him ogling her.
‘You’re the one giving me a place to stay. I think you’re the one doing the favour really.’
He didn’t remember her being so prickly when they were kids. Of course she wasn’t, back then. Nobody made it into adulthood without a major dose of reality to knock the idealism out of them. Or maybe that was just his divorce talking.
‘Wait until the twins are both up at three in the morning. We’ll talk then about who’s helping out who,’ he said with a wry smile. ‘Anyway, can I take your bag? Let’s go through to the kitchen—I’m desperate for caffeine—then I’ll show you your room. Do you want tea or coffee?’ he asked as he gestured for Madeleine to take a seat at the kitchen island, but she stayed standing.
‘You sit,’ she said. ‘You’ve got the baby.’
He smiled. ‘I’ve barely managed a sip of water all day so I’m not going to argue with you. See, this is working out perfectly already.’ He watched as she grabbed cups from the top of the coffee machine, slotted in a pod and made a couple of espressos. He took one from her gratefully and she finally took a seat beside him.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, as she drank half the coffee in one go, then let out a long sigh as she relaxed back on her stool. ‘I turned up in a bad mood and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.’
Finn smiled, grateful for the change in atmosphere. ‘You’ve been through a lot. It’s understandable.’
Madeleine quirked her eyebrows in a gesture that spoke of untold cynicism. ‘None of it’s your fault, though,’ she said. ‘You’ve already been better too good to me.’
Finn frowned. ‘Don’t say things like that. You deserve good things happening to you, Madeleine. I don’t like that someone’s made you think otherwise.’
He held her gaze for a moment too long, feeling the atmosphere between them grow heavy, and then Hart turned his head and nuzzled into Finn’s shoulder, and he knew that they were on borrowed time.
‘Could you take him while I make up a bottle?’ he asked, and laughed at Madeleine’s wide-eyed reaction. He chuckled softly as he transferred the baby into her arms. ‘It’s fine,’ he said. ‘Just bounce him a bit if he starts to cry. He’s going to wake up hungry and that’s not the best time to be showing you how to make up a bottle. We’ll go through it all after.’
‘Um, okay, I guess?’ Madeleine said, bouncing the baby awkwardly in her arms. Finn laughed. ‘Don’t look so terrified, Madeleine. Jake said you didn’t have much experience, but he didn’t mention a mortal fear of children.’
‘I’m not afraid!’ Madeleine said with a flash of defiance that hit him straight in the gut. God, he liked that. But this was definitely not an appropriate thought to have about his best friend’s sister. Or about his kids’ babysitter for that matter. Temporary or not. He concentrated on the formula machine, pressing buttons and moving bottles on autopilot, until he had two bottles made up. If Hart was hungry, no doubt he would be hearing from Bella soon enough too.
With Madeleine taking care of Hart for a second, he allowed himself a moment to lean against the worktop and feel—really feel—how tired he was. If anything was going to distract him from his completely inappropriate thoughts about Madeleine, it would be that. Most of the time he managed to keep the fatigue at bay. But since his last nanny had left a week ago, he’d barely managed a minute’s break.