Slipping to the floor, he played with Carolina, watching her crawl across the carpet with amazing speed. Then he heard noise in the back part of the house and realized that Ciara was running a load of clothes through the washer. Just knowing she was closer, made his heart skip a little. And Carolina noticed, too. Her head lifted and she rolled around, her sharp gaze shooting to the doorway. She squawked, as if calling out and then patiently waited for an answer.
Bryce's gaze shot to the door and he, too, waited for Ciara to appear.
She didn't.
But her voice came to them. "It's bedtime for her, Bryce," she called. "Why don't you put her down for the night."
"No problem."
He enjoyed the nightly ritual. But realizing that Ciara wouldn't even face him, or come near to say good-night to Carolina, struck him like an arrow. He looked at his daughter, her expectant expression, and the same question plowed through his mind. If Ciara could turn away from him so easily, would she do that to his little girl?
* * *
Changing diapers and cleaning up after a baby was no comparison to some of the things Ciara had done in her career. Sitting on a wicker loveseat and watching a baby play in the grass, watching her explore her world, was sheer pleasure. The sun was warm, the breeze gentle and for once Ciara didn't have to watch her back. The house was isolated enough and riddled with a state-of-the-art alarm system. She could relax, for the first time in too long.
"No, sweetie, not in your mouth," Ciara said, lurching forward to remove grass from Carolina's tight fist. She gave her a spoon and shovel to bang and slid off the loveseat to join her little charge. She looked so much like Bryce it was uncanny.
Yet while she and the baby were getting along famously, Ciara and Bryce were not. He was at the office, the seafood company, working and had been for the past two days. He'd come home tired, eaten and then slipped back into his office to work some more, offering no explanation.
Not that she needed one.
But Carolina was missing her daddy.
It showed in the way she latched onto him when he leaned close to give her a kiss good-night. Ciara didn't have a problem with him being a workaholic. At least he trusted her with his daughter, she thought, glancing at the sun.
Deciding it was too hot for Carolina to be outside, she gathered up the child and strolled back toward the house. The pool looked too inviting to ignore and she stepped down the first step and sat on the tiled rim. Gently she scooped water over the baby's toes, letting her get used to the temperature. Then she dipped Carolina's toes into the cool water. She kicked and splashed, then when she realized all that noise and water was coming from her, she kicked wildly some more.
Ciara smiled, seeing the world through the infant's eyes. Like a bright shiny penny, and not a dull-edged cluster of loneliness.
She didn't see Bryce standing in the doorway several feet behind her.
He was silent as he watched them.
Carolina was cooing with pure delight when normally she screamed the instant he'd tried to put her feet in the water. Heck, he'd come to think that his daughter would be terrified of the pool for the rest of her life.
"Good girl!" Ciara said. "Pretty soon, you'll be dazzling us all with your swimming. You just wait, Carolina. Oh no, no diving," she said, gripping his daughter tighter when she wanted to sail headfirst into the water. "I think actually mastering freestyle would help first."
Carolina made noise, and Ciara laughed, hugging his baby close.
Slowly Bryce backed away and moved through the house and out the front door. He climbed into his car and slowly drove away. He'd come home to check on them, a little voice inside him telling him he shouldn't trust Ciara so easily. But when he'd seen them together, that was enough. Ciara might deny him, but he knew she'd never deny his daughter.
And somehow, that thought left him feeling cheated.
* * *
Ciara laid the baby down for her afternoon nap, gently unwinding her hair from Carolina's pudgy little fist. Carolina instantly shoved the fist into her mouth and curled on her tummy. Ciara covered her with a sweet-smelling blanket, then leaned over, resting her chin on the rail of the crib and just watching Carolina for a moment. Okay, she admitted, she loved the little southern belle. She hadn't wanted to, but this baby needed her so much.
But there was Bryce and the complication of him was just too much of a strain. Her insides felt twisted, her body alert and hungry, and her heart, well, that was bruised and wanting to be soothed. Something she couldn't indulge in right now. Being burned by Mark's infidelity was enough to scare her off relationships. Trusting men, especially one ex-Secret Service agent who sent her body into complete chaos, was not a good thing. Her survival training wasn't helping her much. She tried blocking the emotion, not giving Bryce an inkling that he could break her with just his touch. And she didn't know how long she could keep comparing Bryce with Mark and keep him out of her heart. She'd tried to see this as an assignment, an undercover masquerade, but it hadn't been like that, not even from the start. It fit too well.