Baby Bodyguard, Book #3

• Secrets
• Enemies to Lovers
• Workplace Romance

Sami Fontaine wants a baby more than anything, a baby that will give her the “perfect” family. But that family doesn’t include a husband. Not after watching her mother lose the love of her life. One problem… Where to find a man willing to father a child and then disappear from her life permanently? The solution is simple: advertise...

When gorgeous Noah Hawke turns up on her doorstep, wolf-dog in tow, Sami knows she'd found the perfect man. Only Noah isn't reporting for baby-making duties. He’s been hired to watch over Sami, after her mother finds a series of threatening letters. And the perfect solution to protect her is to wed and bed her—not necessarily in that order!

Baby Bodyguard is a passionate, slow burn contemporary romance, guaranteed to make you a believer in happily-ever-after.

Note to Readers: Baby Bodyguard is Book #3 of 6 in The Baby, Oh Baby! Series, a contemporary romance series by USA Today bestselling author and eleven-time RITA© (Romance Writers of America) finalist, Day Leclaire. This story features a hot, take-charge alpha hero and the perfect woman for him, and a sizzling romance between soul mates.

“Wait a minute! I understand now.” Sami exploded from the chair, pacing in front of him. She ticked off on her fingers. “You’re a man. You’re single. You’re thirty-five. And you’re suggesting this might turn into a long-term commitment. Babe wants you to marry me, doesn’t she?”

“What the hell are you—”

She cut him off with a sweep of her hand. “Don’t bother denying it. My mother has been trying to marry me off for the past decade.” As though aware she’d given away too much information, she added, “For the past decade since I was under twenty, that is. Well under.”

“I am not interested in marriage.”

Sami dismissed his comment with an indelicate snort. “It doesn’t matter what either of us is interested in. It’s Babe. She’s trying her hand at matchmaking. Again.”

Noah stood and grasped Sami’s shoulders, planting her back into the chair she’d vacated. “No,” he stated in his most forcible tone. “She is not.”

“Ha! You don’t know, Babe.”

“Yes, I do know Babe.” To his relief, that managed to shut her up. “Now pay attention, sweetheart. For your information, I’m not here to marry you. I’m here in response to your ad. That’s it. I’m a birthday present, not a potential husband. Are we clear on that point?”

“Then why do you want to stay longer than three months?” she asked, suspicion clear in her voice.

“I didn’t know how long you’d need me. Satisfaction guaranteed, remember?”

“Oh.” She took a minute to ponder that. “You’re sure Babe isn’t trying to marry us off?”

“Positive.” At least, he hoped not. That angle hadn’t occurred to him before. Now that Sami mentioned it, he’d be on his guard.

“I’m holding you to that promise,” she warned.

A second possibility occurred, a far more probable one. Sami was a nutcase. Now that he thought about it, it seemed like more than a possibility and closer to a fact of nature. It would also explain why someone had decided to blackmail her. He could only guess what sort of trouble she’d stirred up to prompt such a threat. Time to move the interview along. The sooner he took on this job, the sooner it would end.

“Once you hire me, you can hold me to whatever promises you want. I don’t mind.”

She studied him for a moment, before nodding in satisfaction. “Okay, fine. Next issue. If I decide to accept your application, you’ll need to have a physical exam.”
What the hell for? He restrained himself from asking quite that bluntly. If her stubborn chin was any indication, she’d balk if he pushed too hard. He attempted to soft-pedal his demand. “Mind telling me why I need a physical?”

“I’d think that was obvious.”

Aw, hell. “Maybe we should agree right now not to assume what should be obvious to the other. I’ve found it’s usually best to spell things out so there aren’t any misunderstandings.”

“That sounds reasonable.”

She’d recovered her equilibrium, though she still struck him as being about as far from an employer as anyone could possibly get. Good thing he’d arrived when he had or she’d have hired the first person shrewd enough to realize she was a few nuts short of a full can and bulldoze over any and all objections.

“I need you to have an exam to make sure there aren’t any physical defects that would prevent you from fulfilling your part of our agreement. In this day and age it’s only sensible to be cautious.”

He fought down a sense of outrage. “Are you afraid I’m going to give you some sort of disease?”

She stilled, a rarity for her, he’d bet. Even her bracelets fell silent. She studied him intently, as though attempting to gauge his emotional state. “Did my mother already have you examined?” she asked cautiously.

“No! Why would she do that?”

She folded her arms across her chest. “In that case, I’m afraid I’ll have to insist. I’ll also have to insist on complete references and a résumé. Then there’s the contract.”

“Contract?”

“You realize you’ll have to relinquish all responsibility and control once our—” Her hand flitted through the air again, her bracelets repeating their enthusiastic jangling. “—our association ends? When you leave here, I’ll expect you to stay out of my life forever.”

“Don’t you consider that a bit extreme?”

“Not even a little,” she retorted defensively. “Look, I could have gone to a clinic, you know.”

She’d mentioned that before. This time he decided to follow up on it. “A clinic? Don’t you mean a referral service or agency?”

“No, I mean a clinic. If I’d been smart, I’d have had the procedure done there. That way I’d never have known the donor and he’d never have known me. It would have been handled anonymously and I wouldn’t have to worry about any future contacts between us.”

“A donor.” Maybe he was the slow one. Maybe he’d knocked a few nuts out of his can. “You did say a donor, correct?”

A frown lined her brow and she gazed at him in concern. “Why do you keep repeating everything? Are you… Are you all right?”

She put enough emphasis on her final two words to royally tick him off. She was the crazy one, not him. And if she didn’t know it, he’d be only too pleased to explain it to her. “Do you remember when I asked that we spell everything out and not assume we knew what the other person meant?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, I need you to start doing that.” He stopped her before she could escape from her chair. “Before you go flitting around the room again, I want you to explain something to me.”

She released an exasperated sigh. “What do you need explained?”

“I’m going to ask you a question and you’re to be as clear and concise in your response as possible. Got that?”

“Clear and concise. Got it.”

“Okay. Now. What donor are you talking about and what clinic?”

“A sperm donor at a fertility clinic.” She stared in bewilderment. “What do you think we’ve been talking about all this time?”