He rubbed Poppy’s back. ‘It’s okay, baby. You don’t have to see her today if you don’t want to. You can wait for tomorrow.’
He hated that he had to prepare her for it anyway. Shannon might have been negligent, but she had rights. And, worse, she had leverage, because if Mav refused her anything, they both knew she could legally push for more.
Poppy leaned back and used one tiny hand to brush her damp hair off her cheek. ‘Do I have to?’
‘Well, yeah, baby. She’s your mom.’
‘I don’t want her to be my mom.’
Mav didn’t know what to say to that.
‘Why can’t Nina be my mom?’ Poppy continued, unhindered by his silence.
Mav didn’t look at Nina or laugh it off. He couldn’t. ‘Nina has to go back to her home. And her job.’
‘But she’d make a really good mom,’ Poppy insisted, latching on to the idea. In her little sing-song voice, she started listing all the reasons she thought Nina was a good fit. ‘She’s pretty, she can do French braids and she smells nice and she likes horses like we do. Sisi likes her. And she let me blow out her candles.’
Unable to resist, Mav glanced at Nina.
When their eyes met, she tried to laugh it off. ‘I’m qualified,’ she said seriously. ‘Idosmell good.’
Maverick opened one arm for her.
She didn’t hesitate. She came to them, slotted beneath his arm, and then wrapped both of hers around them. She didn’t stay there long, only long enough to squeeze them both and say, ‘I think any woman would be lucky to be your mom, Poppy.’
She stepped back, and because he still held Poppy, she gently took the keys from his hand. ‘I’ll drive.’
‘The barn,’ he said, knowing none of them would go back to the ranch house until Shannon had left. At least for tonight. Tomorrow, he’d start dealing with it. Start trying to move forward again.
Nina only nodded. She climbed into the driver’s seat and waited for Mav to get in the other side before starting the Jeep.
Markus looked at the woman sitting across the table from him, drinking wine she’d poured for herself like she owned the place.
Shannon Carlyle was a stunner, one of those rare women who’d won the genetic lottery – and had been told how beautiful she was by every person she’d met. She was an even six foot, a true blonde, and had come-get-me brown eyes that oozed sex and, when she wanted, vulnerability. She’d forged a solid career for herself for years but had fallen short of being a household name. At thirty-six, she was holding on by a single acrylic.
Markus, who had spent close to a decade studying people’s facial expressions, saw the exact moment she turned that practised vulnerability on and aimed it in his direction. ‘I suppose I deserved that.’
Because he had paid generously for her participation, and because he was solely regretting that he hadn’t seen through her interest before he’d signed her, at first he tried to be diplomatic. ‘It’s not my place.’
‘I just wanted to see her, you know. And Mav … He’s a good dad, but he’s so overprotective. He makes me feel unwelcome.’
The moment the criticism left Shannon’s mouth, Markus changed tack. He drew from his own acting past. ‘I wonder why,’ he said, sounding genuinely surprised.
He had been sitting opposite Poppy, so hadn’t missed the look of panic on the kid’s face when she’d recognized Shannon’s laugh. And he hadn’t missed the fact that Shannon had name-dropped Nina before she’d even thought to ask after her own child.
‘I think …’ She paused as if struggling with her emotions.
Markus had to hand it to her, she might make a go of acting yet.
‘I think his ego couldn’t handle it – when I broke up with him.’ She wiped beneath her eye as if checking for tear-streaked mascara. ‘He was heartbroken. He called me every day for weeks.’
‘Hmm.’ Markus tapped his lips as if thinking. ‘I wonder if your kid had anything to do with that,’ he said, this time too dryly for her to miss.
Those brown eyes froze over. The emotion disappeared immediately. ‘I didn’t want kids. He forced me to have her.’
‘Bullshit.’
‘He told me he wanted her. Hepressuredme.’
