Maverick braced, preparing for Poppy’s dread and anxiety, preparing for Nina’s uncertainty. Only, they weren’t there.
Markus sat alone at the table, drinking a glass of wine he’d topped to the brim. He smiled tightly. ‘Shannon? What on earth are you doing at the ranch house?’
‘Oh, Markus! It’s so great to finally meet you! I’ve been following your work for ages.’ Her eyes ran over him. ‘You look so fabulous!’ Going to him, she air-kissed both his cheeks. ‘I bet you didn’t know I used to live here,’ she said, laughing. ‘Poppy’s my baby.’
‘You’re a mother?’ The force of Markus’s surprise could have flattened a Coke can at ten feet.
Shannon either didn’t pick up on it or didn’t care. ‘I know. It took me a year to bounce back from pregnancy,’ she sighed. She held out both arms, displaying a killer body.
And a few nips and tucks, Maverick thought.
He noticed that she had yet to ask where Poppy was but didn’t comment on it.
‘A little birdy told me that Nina Keller is a guest at the ranch,’ she said, lowering her voice dramatically. ‘I was hoping I could network—’
‘Oh. Thinking about going into acting?’ Markus asked blandly.
Maverick didn’t smile at Markus’s tone. If Shannon had heard that Nina was at the ranch, then others had, too. And that was a problem for him.
Still, Shannon had made her first mistake because Markus would not forgive someone who’d use his photoshoot to get to Nina.
Even Shannon seemed to pick up on it. ‘Oh, no!’ She waved one hand. ‘But you know how these things happen,’ she said. ‘The more people you know, the better …’
‘Hmm.’ Markus sat back in his chair.
Perhaps sensing that she should have played her card a little more subtly, Shannon swept her gaze around the kitchen. ‘Where’s Poppy?’
‘Oh, she’s at the barn. Something about mucking stalls …’ Markus shrugged.
The relief swept through Mav like water over a fresh burn. Markus didn’t have to say anything for him to know that Nina had stepped in and taken Poppy down to the barn. That’s who she was. But because he hadn’t heard a car start up yet, and assumed they’d left on foot, he turned back for the door.
‘Where are you going?’ Shannon pouted.
‘To get my girls.’ He nodded once. ‘I assume you know your way back to the resort.’
He left feeling lighter, like he could take on the next day with Shannon hanging around if he had Nina to distract him and Markus to run interference.
Maverick climbed into the Jeep and started towards the resort, but when he got a few hundred yards down the road and saw Nina carrying Poppy, his daughter’s face buried against her neck, a punch of love hit him, and it was so big, so intense, that it stole his breath.
He hadn’t meant for it to happen. Hell, he’d even tried to prevent it. But only a dead man could have resisted her. Nina had a warrior’s heart and a contrastingly gentle spirit. And he wouldn’t do her the disservice by saying that her looks had no bearing; he had eyes, and the woman was sexy as hell.
Still, he wouldn’t do anything about it because she had told him her ground rules already and it wouldn’t have been fair to pressure her with his feelings.
Nina heard the Jeep approaching and turned. Her entire body relaxed in relief when she saw that it was him and that he was alone. Still, as he pulled up, she looked at him as if waiting for him to reprimand her.
Mav had to bite his tongue to stop himself from pouring out his heart right then. In fact, if she hadn’t had Poppy as a shield, he might have done it anyway, the consequences be damned.
‘Need a ride, ladies?’
Poppy unstuck her face from Nina’s neck at the sound of his voice, and the sadness and dread in her puffy, tear-filled eyes just about killed him. It was his fault. He didn’t know how to hide his anger and bitterness and, yes, fear, when Shannon showed up, and Poppy picked up on his emotions. She barely knew Shannon, and certainly not enough to always react so devastatingly.
He’d have to work on that. For himself, because he had to let it go eventually. Because hewantedto let it go. But for Poppy too, because her life would be a lot easier if she didn’t have to live with Mav’s bitterness and anger.
Nina offered him a small smile.
Maverick put the car in park and got out. He gently took Poppy from Nina, and when her little arms and legs tightened around him, he had to actively refrain from texting Markus and telling him that the shoot was over.
Even if he wanted it to be, he couldn’t have done it. To Markus, or to Sierra, who had managed to negotiate one hell of a deal for use of the resort. And he couldn’t have done it even if he’d been prepared to disappoint them. They’d signed the contract already.
