I do or not. If you really want to lead, you have to understand the people who work for you, how tired they get so you can balance their workloads.”
“So you weren’t avoiding training me?”
“No. What I was really doing was throwing you into the fire. If anything I expected you to accuse me of trying to get you to quit.”
Her eyes narrowed. That had crossed her mind. “Were you trying to get me to quit?”
“I don’t think there’s any trying about it. If you’re not cut out for the job, the work will force you out on its own.”
“If I hadn’t found this bargaining chip it might have.”
He said nothing and Ashley laughed. “I’ve got you and it’s really fun.” She tilted her head, thinking, then added, “The only thing I can’t figure out is why you need to hide a baby.”
“Because my dad’s election is in two weeks and Ruthie’s mother abandoned her. I don’t want my mistake to hurt my dad’s campaign.”
“Not buying it. Even if your baby’s illegitimate, single parent babies aren’t really big news anymore. Your having a baby wouldn’t hurt your dad’s election.”
Rick said nothing and Ashley sighed. “Okay. Here’s the deal. I don’t want you gone. I need you to teach me. But I can’t have you hiding at Seven Hills if you kidnapped that baby or something. You have to come clean with me.”
When Rick again didn’t answer, Ashley shook her head in disgust. “I guess this means you’re leaving.”
“I’m not leaving. Your dad hired me to do a job and I intend to do it.”
“Then I’m back to asking Rayne Fegan to look for the truth.”
“Can’t you just let this alone?”
“No, for all I know you’ve got Britney Spears’s baby in my guest house. I cannot let this alone. If you won’t leave, or tell me the truth, I’ll have no choice but to call Rayne.”
He drew in a ragged breath. “Ruthie’s mother is Senator Paul Martin’s daughter.”
“Oh!” Ashley said, picturing the gorgeous young woman who loved to get her face in the paper, flaunting her lifestyle to embarrass her popular, well-loved, conservative dad. “You and Jen Martin were…” She stopped and stared at Rick.
His face hardened. “Can’t see her with somebody like me?”
Quite the contrary. Ashley could easily see what Jen Martin saw in Rick. He was sexy. No. He wasn’t just sexy. He dripped sex appeal. Piercing blue eyes. Rippling muscles from real work, not hours at a gym. An attitude that all but screamed trouble. Yeah. She knew exactly what Jen saw in Rick. She just couldn’t quite see what Rick had seen in Jen.
“You tell Rayne I have a baby and it will take her about ten minutes to discover that Senator Martin’s daughter not only had a baby that she kept secret, but she also abandoned her. Then it won’t be me or Jen who suffers, it will be my daughter whose face will be splattered on front pages all over the country by people trying to unseat Senator Martin.”
Knowing he was right, and that this situation was more complicated than just a bargaining chip in their fight for a job, Ashley paced away from him. But before she could say anything, a cry issued from upstairs.
She turned in time to see Rick pivot and vault up the steps, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He took the stairs two at a time and disappeared around a corner, crooning, “It’s okay, Ruthie, Daddy’s here.”
The affection in his voice was like a shot to Ashley’s heart. A man couldn’t fake the kind of emotion she’d heard in that one short sentence. Curious beyond words, she tiptoed up to the second floor but stopped short of the door. Peeking around the door frame, she saw Rick cradling a small bundle in pink pajamas.
The little girl sobbed pitifully, not comforted by being cradled. Rick shifted her to his shoulder, putting her tiny face in Ashley’s view. Pretty blue eyes, just like Rick’s, blinked back at Ashley, then the baby quit crying.
At the same time Rick turned. When he saw Ashley, he sighed. “It’s you.”
“I’m not leaving until we straighten this out.”
He shook his head. “That’s not it. I thought she had stopped crying because I’d comforted her. Now, I know she only quit because a woman came into the room.”
Ashley smiled. “She likes me?”
“Don’t get too carried away. She’s very curious about women. Probably because she had one in her life and doesn’t now.”
Studying the baby who was about the prettiest thing Ashley had ever seen with her black hair and big blue eyes, Ashley was again struck by the emotion for the baby she heard in Rick’s voice. She knew most fathers put their children first, but it seemed odd to see Rick Capriotti do it. He’d already admitted he was protecting her from being used as a pawn by people trying to destroy her grandfather’s career. Now, he was worried about her missing her mom. His behavior was so different from what Ashley expected, she couldn’t even address it. She wouldn’t know how.
“Can I hold her?”
Rick reluctantly said, “Sure.”
Ashley took the little girl and her mouth automatically tipped into a smile. “Well, hello,” she said, holding the baby an arm’s length away so she could look at her. Then she peered over the baby’s shoulder to Rick. “What’s her name?”
“Ruthie.”
“That’s right. Ruthie.” She smiled at the baby. “Hello, Ruthie.”
Ruthie gurgled.
Rick laughed. “She usually yelps at me.”
The note of pleasure in his voice caused Ashley’s heart to do another flip-flop. His obvious love of the little girl and his honest wish to win her love was incredibly attractive. Luckily Ashley hadn’t been one of his high school groupies or right now she’d probably be swooning.
“You’re her source. Yelping is how she tells you she needs something. Besides, you know the old saying. You always yelp at the one you love the best.”
Ruthie giggled.
Ashley grinned at the baby, then peeked at Rick. “Do you think she understood that?”
Rick bent to pick up a bear and two dolls that were on the floor in front of the small white crib. “I think babies are a hell of a lot smarter than we give them credit for being.”
“She looks like you.”
“Thank God,” Rick said, then he grimaced. “Jen didn’t exactly leave me with a lasting good impression of her. I’d prefer not to see her face every time I look at Ruthie. More than that, though, I don’t want Ruthie to see the mother who abandoned her every time she looks in the mirror.”
Again his stark honesty hit Ashley right in the heart. He’d been hurt and couldn’t hide it, but more than that he understood that his daughter would suffer when she realized her mother hadn’t wanted her and that hurt him, too.
That almost brought her to tears and she had to admit something she’d never thought she would. Rick Capriotti had changed. Really changed. Worse, when she added his new personality to his good looks, he suddenly became very attractive to her. With his black hair drying in ringlets, the day’s growth of dark whiskers shadowing his chin and his shirt pulled out of his jeans, he looked sexily disheveled. Like a man who needed to be kissed, then fed dinner.
Ashley brought that thought to a swift halt. Being attracted to Rick Capriotti was a normal gut-level reaction, but the deal about kissing him and making him dinner was just insane.
She settled the baby on her shoulder. “Okay. I’ll keep your secret.” She paced the