Baby Before Business (Silhouette Romance) by Susan Meier Read Free Book Online Page A

“Dad, it’s not like I’m staying here forever.”
    “Oh?” Maddy’s mom said, as Ron Gentry set the grocery bag containing the baby’s formula on the table and Penney slipped off her sweater, an indication she intended to stay. Madelyn almost told her not to get too cozy, but her mother said, “So, Mr. Bryant called a nanny service last night, then?”
    “No,” Madeline said. She’d been so embarrassed by him kissing her that she’d forgotten all about that.
    “Then how do you know you’re coming home soon?”
    “I’ll have him call today.”
    “Right,” her dad said, glancing around. “Where’s the baby?”
    “Sleeping.”
    Maddy’s mom glanced at her watch. “Goodness, Maddy, I hope she hasn’t been sleeping all morning after being awake all night!”
    “Actually, she has.”
    “Oh, honey, get her up right now or she’s going to have her days and nights mixed up and you’ll never get any sleep.”
    “Won’t be her worry if she actually gets Mr. Scrooge to use some of his moldy money to hire a nanny instead of tricking an employee into caring for his baby for nothing.”
    The way her dad said that caused a fission of alarm to skitter through Madelyn. Could Ty have tricked her out of getting him to call the nanny service the night before because he didn’t want to spend the money? It seemed so ridiculous that she refused to entertain it. But her dad’s comment did demonstrate how easily everything Ty did could be misinterpreted.
    “Anything else you need our help with?” her dad asked.
    Madelyn almost automatically said no, but she remembered that Ty hadn’t put together the high chair or baby swing, and she needed both of them. “Actually,” she said, directing her dad to follow her to the door, “There are some things we haven’t yet assembled.”
    “You mean the illustrious Mr. Bryant hasn’t assembled,” Ron said, following Maddy. When she cast him a curious look, he said, “You’re not exactly a pro with a screwdriver, so I knew you hadn’t volunteered.”
    Madelyn grimaced as she pushed open the swinging door and began walking down the hall to the foyer where the boxes still lay on the floor. “Come on, Dad. He’s a busy man and this baby was just sort of dropped in his lap yesterday. He didn’t have time to—”
    Seeing Ty sitting on the floor, among the boxes, with the high chair pieces neatly arranged for assembly, Madelyn stopped walking.
    “Mr. and Mrs. Gentry,” he greeted coolly, but politely, when he looked up from the parts he had sorted.
    “I was just bringing my dad in to put the high chair together.”
    “I can handle it,” Ty said and went back to work.
    Madelyn glanced at her dad and saw his look of puzzlement turn into a look of pleasure. Seeing Ty dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, with a screwdriver in his hand, looking like a common, ordinary guy, her dad seemed to have upped his impression of Porter’s most disliked citizen a million decimal places.
    “Are you sure you don’t want any help?” Ron said, using his guy-to-guy voice and Madelyn knew her conclusion was correct. Ty had scored big time. “I’m not busy today. I’d be glad to hang around a while.”
    “I’m fine,” Ty said, then he paused, glanced up at her dad and said, “But thanks.”
    Madelyn stared in amazement as a strange feeling billowed through her. The little bits of kindness she saw creep into Ty’s personality were so subtle she sometimes wondered if she imagined them, but she knew she hadn’t imagined that. Ty saying thanks to her dad caused her to remember how polite he had been to her dad the day before when she introduced them and also to realizethat Ty had let her make the explanation to her father. He hadn’t interrupted her or even hurried her. He’d stood by politely and let her state her case. He wasn’t rude. He wasn’t abrupt.
    And now that she thought about it, he was also pulling his weight with Sabrina. He might have seemed unhappy to be forced to