I looked at Theo, wondering how I could say what I wanted to say. It wasn’t my business. I’d already decided that I had to leave. And yet ...
“Why do I feel like I’m doing something wrong?” Theo asked, frowning down into my eyes.
“Because it is wrong,” I said, relief easing the tension in my shoulders.
“She’s perfectly competent. He’ll be fine with her,” he pointed out. “Her references—which my assistant verified—are excellent.”
I just looked at him.
He looked back at me.
Without a word, we both turned and went back to the suite. I felt a surge of rightness when I took Peter from a surprised Lauren. Theo explained to her that we had changed our minds, and that he would naturally pay her the full amount of the three-month contract in compensation for the sudden change of plans.
I nuzzled Peter, holding on to him when he pulled himself up to stand, his little chubby legs wobbling while he sang a song to himself and beat on the couch with the hairbrush he had managed to extract from my purse.
“Lunch here?” Theo asked, having finally gotten rid of Lauren.
“Yes, please,” I said, sitting back with a sigh of happiness. I knew full well it wasn’t a happiness that would last, but I decided to heed Swami Betelbaum’s advice and simply embrace the moment, for once letting the future worry about itself.
EIGHT
The packages started arriving while Peter and I were snuggled together on the couch, watching a documentary on the coral reef, which I felt was more suitable for his development than one of the mindless, perky children’s shows.
“So, you see, this is the result of our abuse of the planet,” I finished summarizing as the program showed horrible stretches of bleached, dead coral. “And this is why we need to listen to scientists, and not politicians. I know you don’t understand the difference now, but you will someday, and I hope you can draw upon this experience—who is that?”
I clutched Peter at the sound of a knock at the door, fear sending a jolt of adrenaline through me, making sweat prickle on my palms. Had Mikhail found me? I was here alone with Peter—there was no way I could explain the baby to him. He’d go ballistic, and quite possibly do something unthinkable.
Nausea swept me, sending me to my feet lest I throw up on the baby. I looked wildly around the suite. Where could I hide him? Where could I put him that he would be safe? His crib? He might fall out of it. And if Mikhail dragged me off, that would mean Peter would be by himself until Theo came home.
A sob caught in my throat at the horrible decision to be made. At the sound of the second knock, I dashed with Peter into Theo’s room, putting the baby into his crib with the toy he had clutched in his grasp.
“Stay there. Stay quiet. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” I whispered, kissing him on his dear little head before closing the bedroom door and trying to compose myself. My hand was on the door handle when I saw the small panel to the right of the door. A video camera! I touched a button and immediately a flickery screen lit up, showing one of the hotel staff standing outside the door, looking bored. Behind him was a cart that was loaded with items.
So relieved I could almost cry, I opened the door.
“Mrs. Papaioannou?” the clerk said, not waiting for me to answer before he wheeled in the luggage cart. “Your husband had some items delivered for you. I’ll set them here, shall I?”
“Oh, yes, thank you.” I wanted to correct him as to my identity, but decided that I’d live with being called Theo’s wife if it meant one fewer person knew I was there. I hurried over to my purse, extracting a few bills, then added another when I remembered the class of hotel. My funds were severely depleted, meaning I’d have to use my bank card soon, but I pushed that thought aside.
The clerk unloaded several large cardboard boxes, three plastic carrier bags, and what looked like a giant giraffe with a swinging torso.
“Thank you,” I said, giving the clerk a tip before thankfully closing the door. I fetched Peter and showed him the boxes. “It looks like your daddy found a little time to do some shopping in between the meetings. Should we wait for him to open them?”
Peter crawled over to the giraffe and began to no-no-no at it, patting it and chewing on it.
“Right. That’s a no. Let’s see what I have to do to get it set up.”
An exciting half hour followed, but at last the giraffe was up on its four legs, the carrier bags of baby clothes were unpacked and stacked neatly on one of the couches, and the diaper supplies had been moved into Theo’s bathroom.
Peter whooped with joy while the giraffe did its thing, swinging him back and forth with a soft, electric hum.
“You ride ’em, cowpoke—crapbeans!” Fear once again sent my adrenaline into overdrive at another knock, but this time I had the presence of mind to check the security camera before I went into a full-fledged panic, and saw the same clerk with yet another luggage cart full of things.
“Someone is intent on spoiling you,” I told Peter before opening the door.
“Your husband has more things for you,” the clerk announced, rolling past me without waiting for me to ask him in.
“So I see.” I dug out the last of my money, standing silently by the door as he unloaded what looked like a small pirate’s chest, a half-dozen carrier bags, and a giant box clearly containing a stroller that converted into a car seat. I handed the clerk the tip as he left, then said, eyeing the large box, “You have a perfectly fine stroller and car seat, but I guess your dad didn’t think it met his exacting needs. Right. Well, let’s see what he has for you now.”
The pirate’s chest turned out to be a toy box, which, given the number of toys I found in two of the carrier bags, made sense. Another bag contained several more items of clothing for Peter. I shook them all out, smiling over Theo’s choices. “Your dad has a pretty good eye, although I think jeans for the under-one set is pushing it a bit. Oh, look, shoes! Let’s see what’s in this bag...”
I stopped and stared as I lifted out of the bag a delicate lace bra in pale pink. “I don’t know how he thinks he’s going to get you into that, but I very much want to be there when he tries.”
Several pairs of silky underwear followed, as well as two more bras, a couple of bodysuits in champagne lace and black silk, and a very pretty navy blue polka-dot satin cami and sleep shorts set. “Mm-hmm,” I said, moving on to the next bag. This one contained several pairs of leggings in a variety of colors, a handful of blouses in varying shades of sheerness, and a soft cashmere sweater in apricot.
“Your father,” I said to Peter, who had been released from the giraffe, and was now happily wallowing around in a veritable toy store of baby things, “is going to be getting an earful from me. Don’t look at me that way; I know his intentions were good—although, really, some of that lingerie has wicked thoughts written all over it—but nonetheless, this is not going to do at all.”
The other bags contained plain black heels in three different sizes, and a pair of tennis shoes in the same. “This has really left me speechless—”
I paused at the knock before saying with a shake of my head, “He couldn’t have. There’s nothing left in the city.”
A look at the camera showed the clerk again, but this time he had a mound of luggage on the cart.
“Uh,” I said, opening the door. “Are you moving someone else in? Because I don’t know if there’s any room that isn’t being occupied by the toys, baby things, furniture, a stroller, toy chest, and the giraffe.”
“This lot is empty,” he said, jerking his head toward the luggage, and unceremoniously dumping it in front of Theo’s bedroom.
“Well, of course it is. Sorry, I’m out of cash. I’ll tell Theo to hit you up the next time he sees you,” I said after he unloaded.
The clerk shrugged, and wheeled out his now empty cart.
It took almost an hour to spread out the luggage set that Theo had bought, holding clothes up to Peter to make sure they fit him before I clipped of
f sales tags, and fold and put everything away. The clothes intended for me were a different matter.
I was still trying to decide what to do with them when the door clicked as the key card was inserted, and Theo entered.
“Ah, good, the things got here,” he said, smiling at the sight of Peter surrounded by toys. He was stacking a set of plastic bowls, talking softly to them while periodically chewing on a rim. “What do you think of them, old man? Did Papa get you nice toys?”
“Peter,” I said serenely, smiling when Theo sat down on the floor despite his fancy suit and showed the baby how a car could be zoomed around the blanket. “Remember that you are not responsible for your father’s expectations of pleasure in things he has chosen for you. You may like or dislike regardless of whether he thinks they are nice. It’s your choice.”
“Jealous because I didn’t get you anything?” Theo asked, tipping his head to the side in a way that made me want to grab his head and kiss the breath out of his mouth.
Until his words sank into my head. I glanced at the carrier bags of lingerie and clothing that sat on the couch. “You didn’t ... uh ...”
“I didn’t what?” he asked, his eyebrows going up.
A cold sweat made me feel sick, so sick I was sure I was going to vomit. Misha had found me. He’d found me, and this was his way of toying with me. I staggered to my feet and ran for my room.
“Kiera?”
I made it into the bathroom, panting and clutching the toilet, tears burning the back of my eyes, the fear making me shake uncontrollably. What had I done? How could I have endangered Theo and Peter like that?
“Kiera? God, sweetheart, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t think. Come here. Let me hold you. I’m a brute. I’m a horrible, thoughtless brute.” Theo pulled me into his arms, his body warm and solid and infinitely comforting. “I can’t apologize enough. I was just trying to tease you. I didn’t think about what it would do to you. I’ve ruined everything, didn’t I? You hate me now, and you won’t let me make love to you in all the ways that filled my head during the interminably long meetings, and I’ll die alone, with no one to tell me how disgustingly handsome I am, and why my belly should be outlawed. Kiera? Please, love, tell me you forgive my stupidity.”
The heat of his chest against mine allowed me to relax despite the initial flare of anger when I realized he’d been teasing me. I sagged into him, acknowledging that my response had been extreme, and he wasn’t responsible for that. I reached up with a still shaky hand and pulled his tie free, unbuttoning his shirt so I could have access to his neck. “Die alone, Theo? Really? Do you think all the herds of women who want your disgustingly handsome face and perfect body will let that happen?” I gently bit the tendon in his neck, making him moan and pull my hips tight against his.
“I’m counting on you to keep me safe from them,” he murmured into my neck, kissing a hot path to my jaw.
I slipped out of his arms, well aware that I was all too vulnerable to his charms. “I don’t think that’s wise while the Master of Toys is still awake,” I pointed out.
“Ah. Good point.” He made a wry face as we returned to the living room. “Now that I’ve made an ass of myself, will you tell me what you think of what I sent? I guessed on your size—you’re about my sister’s height, but aren’t as bulky as she is—but I wasn’t sure of your shoe size. And ... er ... bra size.”
He sat down on the floor again, looking at me oddly when I held out my hand for him.
“Up,” I told him, finding a little kernel of bossiness that I didn’t know existed in me.
He rose, one eyebrow up in question.
“The carpet has all sorts of packing residue on it from the toys and giraffe. Your suit is way too nice to get dirty crawling around in all that with Peter. If you boys want to play, you have to put on your grubby clothes.”
“I don’t have grubby clothes,” he said with dignity, bending down to kiss Peter on the head and saying in a faux whisper, “I get the idea she means it, old man. We’d better do as she says, eh?”
“Yes, and this one needs a change,” I said, lifting up Peter.
“Sorry,” Theo said, raising his hands while walking backward to his room. “There is nothing I would love to do more than get elbow deep in baby shit, but unfortunately, I can’t right now. Not with my nice suit on.”
“Oh, that’s cheating,” I yelled after him, then took Peter in to be changed, cleaned, and stuffed into one of the new outfits, giggling as I did so.
The argument started later, after we’d eaten (in the room again, although Theo offered to take us to a restaurant where he’d heard families were welcome), and Peter had a bath, and was happily snuggled in bed with a stuffed kiwi bird that was almost as big as he was.
“Would you like to model some of this?” Theo said, pulling out one of the teddies, draping it across his chest.
“No.”
“Not your color? How about this one?” He pulled the satin cami. “I thought this would go well with your hair.”
“I’m sure it does, but I don’t want to try it on either. I don’t want it, Theo.”
“No?” He wrinkled his forehead, sighing. “Well, I admit that I picked it out because I wanted to see you in it, but it’s your choice. You can pick out something you prefer instead.”
“I’m not going to, because I don’t need anything. I have clothes. Thank you for thinking of me, but I don’t need any of it.”
His wrinkles deepened into a frown. “Why don’t you want them? I realize they may not be exactly to your taste, but you don’t have very much, and I thought you’d enjoy a few new things.”
“You thought wrong,” I said, standing, watching him closely.
His frown grew. “You have only one pair of shoes.”
“So?”
“They’re nice, but they aren’t very dressy. I thought you’d like a pair of something a little fancier for when we go out.”
I took a deep breath, feeling like I was standing on the edge of a razor. “I don’t like heels.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s impossible to run in them.”
He sat still for a moment, his eyes troubled. “Do you think you will ever have the need to run from me?”
“No,” I said without thinking. I don’t know how Theo had done it in such a short time, but I trusted him where I didn’t trust anyone else. “But I may have to run when you aren’t around.”
“Ah. We’re back to that discussion.” He patted the couch. “I had hoped we could delay it until I told you about the idea I had midway through the most boring meeting regarding the development of a tiny piece of land to the north, but I see that isn’t likely.”
“Theo, I’m not going to take the clothes you bought for me. Thank you for thinking of me, but I have money. Not on me, but I have some money that I got when my parents died, and my brother sold their house. I’m not insolvent, even if I look like a bag lady.”
To my surprise, a smile curled the corners of his mouth. “It’s Harry all over again.”
“Pardon?”
He was silent for a moment, then reached beneath the couch cushion and pulled out a long velvet box. “I don’t suppose I could tempt you with this?”
I looked when he opened the case. A beautiful tennis bracelet lay within, glittering with green-blue stones. It looked like it cost as much as my new car that Mikhail had forced me to sell. “That’s lovely. What sort of stones are they?”
“Teal sapphires.”
“They’re very pretty, but no, thank you.”
He was silent for a moment. “Would it make any difference to know I bought them for you at the jeweler across the street, and they aren’t a leftover from another woman?”
I shook my head.
“I had an idea it wouldn’t. Well, at least I have one thing I can relate to with Iakovos.”
I let my confusion show.
“He has to get down on bended knee and beg his wife to take any jewelr
y he wants her to have.” He thought for a moment. “For that matter, she won’t let him give her anything else either. She keeps telling him she’s not after him for his money. You wouldn’t believe the prenup argument they had.”
“She sounds like a sensible woman,” I said, warming slightly to this unknown sister-in-law.
He grinned. “She’ll love you, if only because you give me endless hell about things.”
“I don’t mean to give you hell, Theo,” I said, feeling a little pang of guilt. “I just don’t want to take things from you. Not material things.”
“Ah. Well, that brings up a subject that I wanted to discuss with you. If I promise not to slip this bracelet on your wrist even though it almost matches your stormy eyes, would you sit next to me and let me put my hand on your thigh?”
“Why my thigh?” I asked, but sat down beside him, my body humming at his nearness. I told my libido to get a grip on itself, but it ignored me, making several plans of what it wanted me to do to Theo.
“Because if I touch you anywhere else, we won’t have this very important conversation.”
“Very important?” I was distracted momentarily by the warmth of his hand through my leggings. “Did you talk to your lawyer about the warrant?”
“Yes, but I’ll save that for later. While I was signing the custody papers, which includes a name change for Peter, since Nastya didn’t see fit to give him my surname, it struck me that an answer to both our problems was staring me right in the eye.”
“You want to adopt me?” I asked in horror.
He laughed. “In a way, yes. I want you to marry me.”
I stared at him in outright disbelief. “You what?”
“Don’t look so horrified, my startled little gazelle, and hear me out.”
“I will not. You’re downright crazy!” I said, trying to take my thigh back from where he was caressing it.
“In many ways, yes, but not about this. No, Kiera, listen to me.” The laughter went out of his eyes when he slid his arm around me, pulling me tight to him. “You said that you thought your ex had a friend in the police, yes?”
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