if she gets really hungry.”
Bethany glanced curiously around, putting two and two together. “You’re here on your own with—”
“Maree,” he supplied. “Yes, it’s just me and my loud friend.”
Loud was right. Bethany could hardly hear herself think over the baby’s racket. She certainly couldn’t conduct an interview under these conditions, even if Nicholas agreed to cooperate. For all their sakes, and especially for the sake of the little girl whose cries threatened to melt Bethany’s remaining reserves, there was only one thing to do.
“Would you like some help?”
He looked so thankful as he nodded and held out the tiny spoon, that her heart was further caught in a viselike squeeze. She could see how tired he was. His bronzed skin had a pale undercast as if sleep was a distant memory, and there were violet smudges beneath both his eyes which were a compelling pewter color.
When she accepted the spoon he smiled and the fatigue cleared briefly, like a glimpse of the sun coming out on a cloudy day. The temptation to bask in the warmth of his smile was almost irresistible, and she felt her own mouth tilt upward in response. “If you can convince her to eat, I’ll be forever in your debt.”
She knew she wouldn’t hold him to the promise, however tempting it was to turn the situation to her own advantage. Whatever cooperation she gained, he would have to give freely if she was to live with herself afterward. So she shook her head. “I’ll do whatever I can to help. No obligation.”
The intensity of his gaze on her was a further distraction as she dipped the spoon into the depleted bowl of pureed spinach and offered the handle of the spoon to the baby. As Bethany had hoped, Maree was so surprised by the gesture that she froze in midhowl, turning her tear-streaked face to Nicholas in confusion.
Then, hesitantly, she reached for the spoon and grasped it between chubby thumb and forefinger. Most of the spinach slid off the spoon onto the tray, and Maree watched it fall with an expression of fascination. “Ah, ah, ah,” she said, then tipped the spoon so the rest of the contents joined the little pile.
Bethany pushed the bowl toward the baby. “That’s it, you do it. You’re a big girl, aren’t you?”
She guided the hand gripping the spoon toward the food, managing to scoop some up, then helped Maree steer it toward her mouth. Nicholas’s gasp of astonishment was audible between them as some of the food made it into the baby’s mouth. Then with a chuckle she upended the spoon and added the rest to the pile on the tray.
“Well I’ll be darned,” Nicholas said in awe. “Was that what she was trying to tell me, that she wanted to feed herself?”
Bethany helped Maree to load the spoon again. “Uh-huh.” She glanced at him. “She’s what—nine or ten months old?”
Her sideways look caught his nod of agreement. “Ten months.”
Bethany smiled. “At that age very few babies will let you feed them. They want to do it all themselves. The best solution is to give them a few soft bites of food at a time and stay out of it. They’ve finally worked out what their fingers are for, and they can’t wait to use them at every opportunity.”
He smiled back, and the tiredness lifted from his face, which positively glowed with the light of this new information. It came to her that Nicholas was a man who enjoyed learning things and wasn’t too proud to let a woman teach him, provided he was sure she knew what she was talking about. The insight startled her for an instant as she became aware of a temporary bond stretching between them, forged by their concern for this adorable baby. Bethany would give a lot not to have to break that bond by revealing the real reason for her visit.
Knowing it was foolish, she couldn’t bring herself to do it, at least not for the moment. She told herself it was for the baby’s sake, but it wasn’t the whole truth. She enjoyed the way Nicholas was looking at her, as if she was some kind of miracle worker. After her recent experience with her fiancé, Alexander Kouros, who had dumped her as soon as he discovered she couldn’t have his children, it felt good to have a man look at her as if she was special and wonderful. It would change as soon as Nicholas knew why she was here, but for now it felt uncommonly good.
“You have a knack for this,” he told her, his rich baritone voice admiring. “It never occurred to me that her howls were a declaration of independence.”
“It wouldn’t unless you know what to expect,” she assured him. Working at the children’s shelter, as well as helping to bring up her foster brothers and sisters, she’d had more than the usual amount of practice for her age. It made the knowledge that she could never use her experience to mother her own child all the more painful.
As she felt her eyes start to swim, she blinked furiously. She had promised herself she wasn’t going to let this beat her. “There’s something else we can try. Do you have any ripe bananas?”
He looked startled but moved toward the refrigerator where a well-filled fruit bowl was perched as if it had been shoved there out of harm’s way. “Will this do?”
Bethany accepted the golden fruit, feeing it yield to her exploratory squeeze. “Perfect.” She peeled half the fruit, broke off two small chunks and placed them in Maree’s plastic bowl. “Here you go, kitten. Try these for size.”
With another gurgling “ah, ah, ah” sound, the baby pincered one of the chunks and dropped it onto the pile of cold spinach. Bethany’s flickering glance caught Nicholas’s pained wince, but he wisely said nothing. Moments later Maree rescued the banana and poked it into her mouth, gnawing on it contentedly.
Bethany levered herself up from her kneeling position beside the high chair. “The best thing we can do is leave her to eat the banana by herself. Or not as she chooses.”
“She won’t choke or anything?”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to leave the room. Just get on with a few chores and keep your eye on her progress, but let her make most of the running. As soon as she starts playing with the food, lift her down and wait until the next mealtime. It helps not to let her graze between meals. That way she’ll be hungry for what’s on the menu next time around.”
“You are truly amazing. Are you sure you’re real and not some kind of fairy godmother?” he asked, an appreciative light dancing in his pewter gaze. It made the years peel away so she got a momentary glimpse of the boy he must have been—handsome, devilish and irresistibly attractive. All the qualities were still there, but packaged in a body that was so undeniably male that she felt a surge of involuntary response.
What would it be like to be on the receiving end of a personal compliment from this man, she found herself wondering. She had a feeling he wouldn’t bestow them idly, but neither would he withhold them if he thought they were genuinely deserved. The thought brought a flush of color to her cheeks, and she turned to watch Maree so he wouldn’t see his effect on her.
Her reaction was as inappropriate as it was unexpected, and she tried to tell herself it was probably no more than a rebound thing. She had been hurt by Alexander. In his gratitude, Nicholas was being charming to her. He was also the most attractive man she’d met in a long time. It wasn’t hard to see why the combination should so disturb her.
If she let it. She decided to keep the conversation on neutral ground. “All babies go through this stage. They’re learning how to use their bodies and control their world, which starts with trying to control their parents. I’m sure Maree’s crying has dragged her mother out in the middle of the night plenty of times lately. It’s a kind of test to see if the baby can make her mother respond.”
There was a long silence punctuated only by the sound of the baby playing with the banana. “I’m afraid Maree hasn’t had that luxury. Her mother and father were killed seven months ago. I’m the only relative she has left.”
Her gaze flew from the gurgling child to the man standing behind the high chair. He looked as if he was carved from stone but his eyes held