Laughing, she righted herself and scooped the little boy up before he could crash into her legs or topple down the stairs.
Mallory brought him up to eye level. “Hello to you too, handsome.”
Small, sticky hands planted themselves on either side of her face and Maddox brought his nose right up against hers, making them both go a little cross-eyed. “Mlorry.”
Smiling, she corrected him. “Mallory.” Sounding out each syllable slowly.
“Mmllorry.”
Chuckling, she poked his belly and repeated, “Mallory.”
“Lor-wee.”
A deep male laugh snapped her gaze to the open doorway. Jacob stood beside Rylan. She knew the men weren’t related by blood in spite of sharing the same last name but it shocked her again how much the two men looked alike.
When she had first seen the photographs the PI had given them, she had asked more than once if he was sure the men were unrelated. Even now, with the copies of birth certificates the PI had shown her, she still could not quite believe there wasn’t a DNA connection between them.
“Lor-wee.” Maddox patted her cheeks, bringing her gaze back to him. “Cookie?”
“Mallory,” she sounded out each syllable once more.
Nodding, Maddox said, “Lor-wee. Cookie?”
She frowned. “I don’t have any cookies.”
His lower lip dropped and for a second she thought he was going to cry but then he turned his head, spotted Mazey, and wriggled to get down, yelling, “Cookie, cookie, cookie.”
Laughing, she bent and held him until his feet were steady on the ground. “Careful. Don’t fall,” she warned as he toddled off toward the house and his usual supplier of cookies.
“We’re just about to have some lunch; do you want to join us?” Jacob asked.
“Oh, no. I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“You’re not.”
“I just brought you some information on hiring a nanny and a list of agencies I found that might be able to accommodate your requirements. One from LA in particular seems to cater to unusual requests and they have a lot of recommendations from celebrities and movie industry people. You will still want to check out those testimonials but from everything that I found, they look like your best option.” She clamped her mouth shut to stop the verbal diarrhea and thrust the bundle of papers in her hand toward him.
“You looked up agencies?”
“Yes. And I put together a list of what qualifications you should look for when it comes to candidates for Maddox’s care that are tailored for his age and development.”
“Wow. Okay.” Jacob took the papers and briefly glanced at them. “Come in. We can go over them while we eat. Then when Maddox goes down for his nap, we can contact the agencies you think are best.”
“Oh. No. You should decide which to approach. Although I would contact a couple so you spread the net further for your search.” She pressed her lips together, rolling them between her teeth. She hadn’t meant to take over. All she had wanted was to give him some help, make his life—and Maddox’s—a little easier than it had been up to now.
“Mallory.” He reached out and cupped her elbow with his hand, pulling her closer. “I’d really appreciate your help, do appreciate the help you’ve already given me, and I’d feel a lot better about all the work you’ve put in if you let me feed you lunch.”
“Ah, well, I—”
“Yes. Come in and join us. We were just setting everything up in the dining room,” Mazey added. “There’s plenty of food. Too much really.”
“I shouldn’t—”
“You should,” Jacob insisted as he urged her into the house using the grip on her arm. “I insist.”
“Lor-wee…” Maddox wrapped his arms around her legs, stopping them in their tracks.
“Hey, Madman, how about you let go so Mallory doesn’t fall over?” Jacob said while leaning down to pry his son’s arms from around her.
