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“How?”

Anthony tilted his head, his eyes doing that thing they did, causing her to look away. “You made it sound like your mother hadn’t told you anything about me.”

“Yeah. That’s my mom,” Harley said matter-of-factly.

“Then you wouldn’t be aware that about two months ago, my wife passed away.”

Her whole body ran cold. Even though she didn’t want to, she lifted her eyes to lock them with Anthony’s. “You were married?”

Fresh pain flitted across his face but lingered in his eyes. “She was… my whole world.”

Harley couldn’t breathe. She had no one that would fit that description. The only one who’d possibly opened that door had to have been Mason. She shook off that thought as fast as it had appeared. She wouldn’t compare these two men. That wouldn’t be fair to either of them. “What happened?”

He grimaced. It was small, but she’d noticed anyway. This was the first time he’d shown anything less than complete control. His face crumpled but for only a moment. “We were at a charity function.” His eyes darted to Harley and then away. “We got into an argument. She wanted to go home early because our daughter had a fever. I insisted we had to stay. You can probably predict how the night ended.”

Harley blinked back emotion. She couldn’t imagine what he’d gone through. And a kid? All at once, she froze again. “You have a daughter?”

“She’s about nine months now.”

“Nine months,” Harley whispered.

“I don’t think it’s necessary for me to go over every detail as to why I’m on board. At this point, I’m struggling just to keep my head above water. I don’t like the idea of my daughter being with a nanny all day, and my parents aren’t exactly the type to fill the role of doting grandparents. It was my mother who suggested I consider an arrangement such as this one.”

Harley’s face flushed again, and she looked away. “I’m sorry you got stuck with me.”

His brows furrowed, and he ducked his head to get a better look at her face. “Why would you say that?”

She shook her head. “It’s just that… I’m sure I’m not the sort of woman you thought you’d get. I failed out of college. I’m a disgrace to my family’s name. I—”

“I’m going to lay it out for you straight. I didn’t expect everything to fall into place just like that. Clearly, I come with my own sort of baggage. I’m positive you need some time to think about becoming a mother.”

Her throat closed up. He was right. She’d never seen herself as being the motherly type. Her relationship with her own mother was such that Harley would have been just fine skipping that part of her own future.

“Harriet—”

“Call me Harley,” she mumbled. It was an automatic response, and when she noticed the confusion in his eyes, she released a strained laugh. “I’ve always hated Harriet, so I combined my first and middle name. Harley is so much better suited for me than Harriet Leigh.”

A smile tugged at Anthony’s lips. “Harley, it is.” He was quiet for a moment, then he shifted in his seat again. “As I was saying, I’m not going to expect you to agree to any of this right away. Heaven knows I had to take a few weeks to grasp what this arrangement would mean.”

“And what would this arrangement mean to you exactly?” she whispered.

Once again, they found themselves in silence. Her stomach knotted up, twisting and curling as if anticipating the one thing she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear. What did he want? Love? Companionship? A partner?

Her heart fluttered at the implications. He’d married the love of his life. If she were to want love in the future, could she put aside the feelings of not quite measuring up to what he’d had?

And then the kid.

“That is something I don’t have an answer for. I’d like to know where you are in all of this.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Harley said, trying to be firm but kind at the same time.

He chuckled, the sound a balm on an otherwise heavy conversation. “Ideally, I’d like to get to a point where we can get closer. I think it would be better for Allison if she were to have two parents who cared about one another.”

“Allison.” She tried out the name, but even to her, it sounded so foreign. “That’s your daughter.”

“Yes.”

“And you want… a mother for her. A wife for you…”