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  Then she opened her mouth and spit up, hitting him full in the chest with a white, foul-smelling liquid that rivaled the scent coming from her diaper.

  Amber bit her lip, and he knew damn well it was to hide her laugh. “Would you like some help?” she asked sweetly.

  He had no intention of backing off now, even if his eyes were watering. “I can do this.”

  Obviously pleased with herself, Taylor cooed and smiled wetly.

  Dax held his breath and hugged her close. He’d throw his shirt away later. “Let’s go, Squirt.”

  T WO MINUTESinto it, Dax was no longer so certain he could handle this fatherhood thing at all. He had ten nieces and nephews, and somehow he’d managed to avoid changing any of them.

  Taylor lay flat on her changing table, naked and shiny clean from the sponge bath he’d given her. But for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out how to get her to hold still long enough to get the diaper on her. She seemed to have twenty arms and legs, and all of them were doing the bicycle thing at the moment.

  Amber appeared in the doorway, an unreadable expression on her face.

  Dax wanted to think that the flash of emotion he saw was guilt, regret, sorrow, pick one of the above, but he couldn’t be sure.

  “Need some help?” she asked.

  Yes. “I’ve got it.” He managed to slide the diaper under Taylor’s bare tush, only to have her wriggle to her side and kick it free.

  “She’s a slippery thing,” Amber said. “Tenacious, too.”

  Pride filled him, and before he could remember how furious he still was, he grinned. “Yeah.” Once again he tried to corral her on her back. Taylor grunted and fought him, smiling as she did.

  God, she was his. His.

  All his life he’d been a goof-off, the class clown. And all his life he’d been treated that way. He had to face the fact he’d done his best to live up to that reputation. With older sisters constantly babying him, and women frequently offering themselves, he’d never really thought of himself as particularly…well, family worthy.

  Even his job, as serious and important as it was, was really just an extended form of play. He caught bad guys who started fires.

  The truth was, he’d never grown up.

  The realization wasn’t something to be proud of, and suddenly he didn’t like his image. He wanted more.

  Taylor blew him a bubble.

  Putty in her hands, he had to smile, thinking that maybe, just maybe, he’d just been given more.

  Oh, he was still hurt at Amber’s deception. Angry, too, and a whole bunch of other things he couldn’t name at the moment. But he found he could deal with that separately. He wanted this child with all his heart, and he had no intention of letting anything between him and Amber stand in the way of that.

  Behind him, he heard Amber shift as she came forward. He could feel her, could feel that unnamed thing that shimmered between them. Glancing at her, he found her watching him as well.

  And for a long moment all that was between them disappeared. He remembered the day they’d spent locked in each other’s arms. The heat, the passion, the fear, the need. It had been incredible, and he had to admit, he wouldn’t have changed a thing that happened.

  Except for maybe Amber’s disappearance afterward.

  Then he remembered, he was standing there, holding his daughter-his daughter!-and that Amber had kept her from him.

  And just like that, the moment was gone.

  With a strange sense of regret, Dax turned back to the baby and Amber left him alone, without a clue as to what she was thinking.

  Nothing new.

  Taylor blew him a bubble, and Dax had to let out a laugh. “I don’t think she’s nearly as charmed with me as you are, sweetheart.”

  Taylor just drooled.

  T AYLOR SLEPT peacefully, oblivious to the tension around her, her little butt sticking straight up in the air, her fist stuffed in her mouth.

  Dax watched her, actually feeling his heart contract. Just looking at her hurt.

  It hurt to look at her mother too, he discovered, as he came down the stairs and met Amber’s deep, dark, impenetrable gaze.

  “Let’s get this over with,” she said calmly, only her eyes giving away her nerves. “What do you want?”

  “Want?” He laughed incredulously. “That’s an interesting question.”

  “Do you have an answer?”

  “How about you marry me?”

  Her composure slipped on that one, but she regained it quickly enough. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Yes or no, Amber.”

  “It’s simply not possible.”

  “Sure it is. You just say, ‘I do.”’

  She stared at him, and incredibly, he found himself wishing she’d come to him months ago. He would have been so thrilled to see her. He would have drawn her close for a hug and probably never let her go.

  But marriage? His stomach cramped at the thought. Yet how else to resolve this? He hated the thought of Taylor feeling illegitimate. Hated the thought of being separated from her after he’d just discovered her. “If we were married, then neither of us would have to be away from Taylor. Seems logical to me.”

  She gave a short, amazed laugh. “Logical.”

  “More than the alternative anyway. I just found out I have a daughter, Amber. I can’t turn my back on her. Or, for some reason, you.”

  “I’m not an obligation.”

  “No,” he said softly, thinking of the life-altering experience they’d shared. “You’re not.”

  “Dax…”

  Again, that thing shimmered between them. Heat. Passion. Need. But it annoyed him, and if he was truthful, it also scared him. “Look, it’s simple. Yes or no.”

  “You’re serious,” she breathed, then she shook her head. “No.” Her shoulders straightened. “I won’t marry for anything less than…” She looked down at her hands, which were tightly clenched. She opened them, let them fall to her sides. “I am not going to marry a stranger.”

  “We stopped being strangers the day of the quake, when we spent hours in each other’s arms, terrified, waiting to die.”

  “I don’t usually act like that. I never act like that.”

  Dax thought it was a shame, but she didn’t relent and he let out a sound of frustration. “Look, we’re parents. Together. We can’t be strangers, even if we wanted to be.”

  “The answer is still no.”

  “Fine. You don’t want to get married.” He wouldn’t admit his disappointment because he couldn’t believe he felt it in the first place. But neither could he ignore the feeling that, despite her calm control, she was frightened of him.

  Much as he wanted to hold onto his anger and resentment, it was hard in the face of that.

  “I intend to be a father. A good one. I want my daughter. Just as you do. We’re adults. We can share.”

  She nearly sagged with what could only be described as profound relief. “You want to share her?”

  For some reason that made him mad all over again. Dammit, he wasn’t the one who should have to prove his trustworthiness! “Hell, yes, I want to share.”

  “You’re not going to fight for custody?”

  “Do I need to?”

  His tightly spoken words stabbed through Amber. He stood there looking so certain, so fierce. She hadn’t expected this, hadn’t expected him to actually want Taylor as much as she did.

  But she’d been in business a long time, and what she hadn’t learned there, she’d learned from her father. Bottom line, she knew how to win a deal. Start out asking for the moon. Take all if you can. Settle for less only if you have to. “I want Taylor with me.”

  “Sure.” He nodded agreeably. Even sent her a smile that could steal the breath from a nun. “Half the time.”

  Her stomach twisted. “But-”

  “Stop,” he said firmly, in that voice of rough velvet. Closing the distance between them, he touched her arms, slid his big, warm hands over her skin. Im