"What's with all the food?" Brian asked when he came home the next day after having been in Corpus Christi with a prospective client. "I came in through the kitchen and it looks like you had a cooking marathon. Or raided a bakery."

Faith was seated cross-legged on the floor in the den with both babies. Will sat in her lap tugging on her hair as she tried to play patty-cake with him and Lily lay on a pallet on her stomach playing with one of those interactive toys that made all sorts of sounds. He'd almost grown used to the noise level of the kids being awake.

Faith looked up at him, laughing, and it struck him as it had the day before how pretty she was. In a wholesome sort of way. But on Faith wholesome looked good. Damn good. Brian wasn't sure he approved of this new Faith. He needed plain, not pretty.

"There's more in the refrigerator. We need to decide what you want to eat right away and what to freeze. But I didn't cook any of it." She straightened her mouth and her dimples peeked out. "The casserole ladies have discovered you."

Yeah, way too pretty. "What's a casserole lady?"

"You know, whenever a man is widowed or a new single man comes to town, they bake for him. A friend of mine calls them casserole ladies."

"All that stuff is from women? Single women?" The countertop was covered with food. Cakes, cookies, pies. He'd thought Faith had lost it.

"Every blessed thing. It was Mother's day out that did it. Now they all know you're single and have an absolutely adorable son." She laughed again when Will made a raspberry sound. "That's right, sweetheart." She ruffled his hair. "You are one adorable baby."

"I don't get it. Most of those women are married." Brian sat beside her, then stretched out on his side and propped himself up on his elbow to get comfortable.

Faith put Will down and he promptly crawled over to the toy Lily had been playing with and started banging it on the floor. Faith propped Lily up against a pillow, and gave her a toy, which she threw down immediately.

"Most of the women who use the Mother's day out program are married, but not all of them. And the ones who are married have single sisters, cousins and friends. So you'd better brace yourself." She paused and added, "But you probably don't mind, do you?"

He shrugged and said, "Depends on what they look like. Were any of them hot?"

He looked at her from beneath his lashes as he handed Lily the toy she'd tossed away.

Faith's jaw literally dropped. "Brian! I can't believe you said that. That's so shallow."

He laughed. "You should have seen your face."

"Men are so predictable."

"It's one of our charms."

Lily flung the toy he'd just given her, squealing as she did so. He picked it up and handed it back to her.

"Now you've done it," Faith warned. "She'll have you doing that up a thousand times. She never tires of that game."

She threw it away once again and had him smiling. She was a beautiful baby, very fair, with big blue eyes. "Wonder why she didn't get your brown eyes?" he said aloud.

"She has her father's eyes."

Lily toppled over and started to cry. He helped her sit up again and was rewarded with a smile. It depressed him sometimes that Lily seemed to like him more than Will did. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Oh, it's a good thing. He's attractive, even if he is a jerk."

"Do you miss him?"

She'd been watching Will make faces at himself in the mirror but at that she looked at Brian. "No. At first I did but it didn't take me long to realize that a man who would desert his pregnant girlfriend and unborn child like he did wasn't worth it."

"True." But somehow he didn't think she'd gotten over the guy as easily as she'd like him to believe. "Have you had a date since Lily was born?"

Faith laughed. "I'm a single mother. Who has time to date?"

Brian didn't answer, just raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not hung up on him, if that's what you're thinking."

"I didn't say you were." Even if he did suspect that to be the case.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

Brian shrugged. "It's none of my business. I didn't mean for you to get bent out of shape. It was just a question."

"I'm not bent out of shape. But now you answer a question for me. Have you had a date since you took custody of Will?" She picked up Lily and cuddled her.

"No." Will crawled over to him and sat, looking at him solemnly before he started chanting syllables. Sometimes he strung them together, but he didn't make a lot of sense yet. He'd been saying mama, though, since the day Brian picked him up from Kara Long.

"Why not?"

"I just haven't had time for women." Which wasn't quite true. He could have made time if he'd wanted. Maybe he should now that his life had settled down a bit.

Faith looked at him as if to say she'd made her point, then got up with Lily in her arms. "It's time for the babies' dinner. Why don't you bring Will into the kitchen and we'll feed them?"

He let the change of subject pass and followed her with Will on his hip.

Faith put Lily in her high chair and Brian did the same with Will. He was actually starting to feel more doing the daily stuff that having a baby involved. It still astounded him that he had a son, but not nearly as much as it had at first.

Faith went to the refrigerator and started pulling out baby food. "Since Lily was born I've been struggling to support us, so I haven't had a lot of time for men. And frankly, they hardly seem worth the trouble after my last experience. I'm not hung up on Lily's father. I just have no use for men right now."

"Not all men are like him." What a waste that she thought men were too much trouble.

Faith snorted. "Right. It doesn't matter anyway. Even if someone asked me out, who would stay with Lily?"

He ought to be glad she hadn't started dating. He didn't want her to fall for some guy and get serious about him and quit her job, did he? On the other hand, if Faith was dating

someone--anyone--then maybe he'd quit fantasizing about what it would be like to kiss her. Because the past few days he'd found himself fantasizing about that far more often than he should.

It would be a monumental mistake. If flirting with the nanny was a no-no, then kissing her was definitely out. He was the one who needed a date.

"You could ask Roxy," he said, referring to one of Jay and Gail's daughters. "She's almost thirteen and if I was here with Will I'm sure they'd let her take care of Lily. She helps out with Jason all the time, so I know she's good with babies. Both their girls are."

"You're very annoying sometimes." Faith handed him a bowl of finger food to give to Will, then sat down to feed Lily.

"You're just annoyed because I have a point."

"Fine, if someone asks me out I'll think about it. Satisfied?"

Not really. He was afraid nothing was really going to satisfy him until he kissed Faith. And that was so not going to happen.

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