At the Tycoon's Command

by Shawna Delacourt

  He slumped down on the sofa next to Kim. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. She saw the weariness on his face, and something else that she could only interpret as a deep concern. It was yet another facet of the character of what she now knew was a very complex man. She started to reach out to smooth the worry lines on his forehead but withdrew her hand without making the desired physical contact.

  She continued to watch him. His breathing became slower and deeper until he had dozed off. She reached out again, this time lightly running her fingertips across his brow.

  He jerked to attention and quickly looked around as if trying to get his bearings. He fixed his gaze on Kim. “What happened?” He leaned back and emitted a sigh of resignation. “Did I fall asleep?”

  “I think so, but it’s understandable.” She paused, hoping he would continue with his explanation of why Chloe was there. When he didn’t say anything she prompted him for more information.

  “You were telling me how all of this happened.”

  He gestured toward the sleeping child. “Yeah…all of this.”

  Jared rose and slowly approached the other end of the sofa. He stood over Chloe and watched her for a moment before turning to Kim. He took a brief glance at the sleeping child. “She is cute…when she’s not crying.”

  He sat next to Kim, turning sideways until he faced her. He stroked his fingertips across the back of her hand. “In case you couldn’t guess—” he allowed a self-effacing chuckle “—I don’t have any experience with kids.”

  She joined in with his laugh, the moment surprisingly light and open considering how strained things had been when she saw him on Saturday. “Yes, I did get that impression.”

  The soft touch of his fingertips turned to a covering of her hand with his, then a lacing of their fingers together. He gently tugged at her hand, drawing her closer until their faces were almost touching. “I’m sorry about having to get you out in the middle of the night, but I sure appreciate your help.” He brushed his lips against hers and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Thank you.”

  Jared folded her into his embrace and captured her mouth with a passion-filled kiss that spoke of much more than polite gratitude for her assistance. He twined his fingers in her hair. Once again the sensuality of this very sexy and dynamic man spoke to her most inner and primal level. His actions weren’t aggressive or forceful in a negative manner, and she did not feel threatened or frightened in any way, at least not physically threatened. She did, however, have to admit that he frightened her emotionally. He filled her with confusion over what to do and how to react. She knew she loved him, but his behavior the morning after they’d made love was so odd that she didn’t know how to respond. Was he playing games with her?

  Her longing for his attentions was matched by her fear of letting go and allowing him to know her true feelings. He was the wrong man for her. All her life, she had been told that the Stevens family could not be trusted. She knew the town gossip about his womanizing ways. He represented everything she had been taught to stay away from. It was an impossible situation. She had to put a stop to what was happening and make sure he knew that what had already happened was not to be repeated. She could not allow any more of his subtle and not-so-subtle advances to…

  He pulled her body tighter against his, and despite her staunch intentions she melted in his embrace. Her arms seemed to have a will of their own as they encircled his neck. He nibbled at the corners of her lips, then captured her mouth with a new intensity that took her breath away. Memories of their passionate lovemaking filled her with an aching desire for more.

  A moment later a surge of panic swept through Kim, telling her how close she had been to succumbing once again to his all too tempting seduction, that she wanted what was happening as much as he did. She pulled back from him, breaking off the kiss, but he continued to hold her in his embrace.

  “Jared, stop.” She fought to bring her ragged breathing under control. “This is very wrong.”

  “Wrong?” His labored breathing matched hers. He traced her kiss-swollen lips with the tip of his finger, sending another wave of desire through her body. “Why would you think this is wrong? It wasn’t wrong the other night and it isn’t wrong now.”

  The disappointment in his eyes reached out to her as strongly as the magnetic pull of his sexual energy. She didn’t know how to answer his question. It was wrong because they shouldn’t be doing it. It was wrong because she loved him and he didn’t return that love. It was wrong because he had dismissed her from his bed after they had made love.

  Was this the way he treated all his women? Did he consider every woman who crossed his path fair game for his bedroom antics? Or was the man who had been terrified of the crying child yet continued to show such deep concern about her care, more akin to the real Jared Stevens? She knew the charming, outgoing Jared Stevens, but was that the real Jared? Everything about him bewildered her and left her feeling very confused.

  She forced her attention to the sleeping child as she eased her way out of the warmth of his arms. She tried to divert his attention to more immediate and important matters. “You never told me how Chloe got here.” She scooted a few inches down the sofa to put a little space between them.

  Jared kept hold of Kim’s hand, refusing to relinquish the warmth he found so appealing and comforting. He knew this was not the time for him to pursue another physical encounter with her, but there was something about her that sent his common sense out of the room. He was left to wrestle with the desire coursing through his body every time he thought about her, every time he pulled up the vivid memory of the night they made love.

  He stretched his long legs out in front of him and leaned his head back as he laced his fingers with hers. He furrowed his brow in concentration for a moment before relating the information about the little girl.

  “Chloe…she was a total surprise to me. What I gather from Terry’s hurried comments is that he got a girl pregnant and about eighteen months ago she had the baby. I have no idea who the mother is or what contact Terry had with her between then and now. This evening she dumped Chloe on Terry saying she couldn’t care for her, so the little girl was now his responsibility. Terry showed up here with Chloe about midnight. He admitted he was the father but said he wasn’t cut out to raise any children. Typical of Terry, he decided it wasn’t his problem, either. He handed me the child, dropped the duffel bag on the floor and announced he was going on vacation.”

  Jared allowed a sigh of resignation that held an equal amount of weariness. “The last I saw of Terry was his taillights disappearing down the driveway. Three hours later I called you. Now you know as much about this as I do.”

  “What do you plan to do? You don’t have any idea who the mother is or how to contact her?”

  “Not a clue. If Terry hadn’t admitted paternity, I wouldn’t have believed it. It’s the only time in his life he didn’t immediately come looking for money so he could buy his way out of a scrape. How and why he managed to keep this a secret until now is beyond me. I can only surmise that he knew I’d never let him have the money to buy his way out of this rather than accept his responsibility.”

  It had been a telling statement, hearing Jared talking about Terry, knowing Jared would insist he accept responsibility for his actions. It was certainly not the type of sentiment she would have expected from the irresponsible playboy everyone thought Jared was.

  “What do you plan to do with Chloe? Are you going to start a search for her mother?”

  “I’ll put Grant Collins on it in the morning. Meanwhile, she’ll stay here until I’m satisfied that she has someplace safe to go.”

  “Don’t you think you should call the authorities? After all, she’s an abandoned child.”

  “No! I’m not calling the police or child welfare.”

  “But how are you going to take care of her? Look what happened tonight. I really think you should call the police.”

  Jared abruptly let go of her hand
and leaped to his feet. “No! No police. I’m not going to have her shuffled around more than she already has been.” He headed toward the door.

  She jumped up and started after him. “Wait a minute. It’s not that easy. You can’t just keep her here. There are laws—”

  “No!” He turned and glared at her. “No police, and that’s final.”

  “It’s not final. This is an abandoned child. You have to notify the authorities. If you don’t, you might be accused of kidnapping or something like that.”

  “Chloe was not abandoned.” Jared’s words were emphatic and his expression determined. “She was left with me, a responsible adult who also happens to be a relative. After all, her father is my brother…half brother actually, but that still makes me her uncle.”

  “But—”

  “There is no but and there will be no police or child welfare services.” He softened his tone as he walked across the room toward Kim. “Look, she’ll be okay. I’ll contact Grant first thing in the morning—” he glanced at his watch “—make that later this morning, and I’ll have him start an inquiry about the identity and location of the mother. He’ll probably put a private detective on it.”

  He took her hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze that said everything would be all right. This was an entirely different Jared Stevens than her preconceived notions and personal experience had presented to her. This was a caring and concerned man trying to do the right thing for a child rather than thinking only about himself and his comfort. It was a very appealing new facet to what she already knew was a sexy and desirable man.

  “In the meantime, I’ll access Terry’s financial records and see if he’s been paying money to anyone on a regular basis.” A sarcastic chuckle escaped his throat. “Other than his bookie, of course. Or it might have been a lump sum payment eighteen months ago, or even earlier than that, perhaps when this woman informed him she was pregnant with his child. He might have paid her off then, assuming she would get an abortion and the problem would be over.”

  He tugged on Kim’s hand as he edged his way toward the door. “Come to the kitchen with me. It’s daylight out. There’s no point in you going home now. Let’s have some breakfast.”

  Kim glanced at the sleeping child. “We can’t leave Chloe here. If she wakes up, she’ll be all alone and she won’t know where she is. She’ll be scared.”

  “She’s sound asleep. Besides, she spent most of the night awake and crying. She’s probably exhausted and won’t wake up for a while. We can bring our breakfast in here if you’re worried.”

  She hesitated for a moment. “Well, I guess it will be okay. You’re right, she’s most likely exhausted.”

  “We won’t be gone that long.”

  He gently tugged on her hand until she started walking. He continued to hold her hand as they went to the kitchen. What he really wanted was for her to be in his arms, but he would have to settle for the warmth created by their clasped hands for the time being. She had told him their being together was wrong, but he didn’t know why she thought so. It all felt very right to him. He had never made love with a woman who felt more right.

  It wasn’t about a notch on his bedpost or another conquest. It was about something very different, something he still didn’t want to identify, even though he had tentatively put a name to it…love. It was a puzzlement, and every time he thought about it he ended up with an uneasy sensation that kept poking at him, and as much as he hated to admit it, he knew why—the idea scared him. He had never been in love before. He wasn’t even sure what it meant.

  As soon as Jared turned on the kitchen light, Lurch barked from the utility room. Kim opened the door. Lurch charged into the room, tried to stop and ended up sliding across the floor. He threw himself into the situation by jumping up on Jared and happily greeting him with a sloppy kiss as Jared scratched behind his ears.

  “Good morning, Lurch. This is a little early for you. Do you want your breakfast now, too?” Lurch gave an enthusiastic bark, then turned his attention to Kim. He lumbered over to her but didn’t jump up on her.

  Kim bent down and stroked the Saint Bernard’s large head, then glanced at Jared. “Let me guess. Would I mind feeding the dog while you make coffee? Is that close?”

  The devilishly sexy smile she had seen often enough to know its effect on her lit up his face. “I think you’ve finally caught on to how it works.”

  She shook her head as she tried unsuccessfully to suppress a grin. She had decided to accept her dog chores as not intentionally being anything demeaning or inconsequential he had dumped on her. He obviously was very close to Lurch and thought the dog’s needs were important. Besides, she had grown very fond of the large, cumbersome Saint Bernard since that morning he had knocked her to the floor. “Come on, Lurch. Let’s get your breakfast.”

  She set out the dog’s food. When she returned to the kitchen Jared thrust a mug of hot coffee in her hands, then opened the refrigerator door and stared at the contents. He stifled a yawn as he reached for the orange juice. “You didn’t make it back for breakfast Saturday morning, so let’s try again.”

  Lurch let out a bark as the sound of someone entering the house reached their ears. A moment later Fred Kemper appeared at the kitchen door, having taken his usual way into the main house from the apartment above the garage where he lived. The look of surprise on his face said it all—seeing Kim and Jared fixing breakfast at that hour of the morning was the last thing he expected to encounter.

  “You folks are sure up mighty early this mornin’.”

  Jared stole a furtive glance at Kim, which only increased her discomfort over Fred’s choice of words and their implications. Did he really think she had spent the night with Jared? Was it that common for Fred to find a woman in the house so early?

  “Good morning, Fred.” Jared’s voice was upbeat. He didn’t show any signs of awkwardness over the situation. “We’ve had an interesting emergency. Kim was nice enough to come over a couple of hours ago when I called and begged her for help.”

  A warm feeling settled inside her. Without missing a beat Jared had dispelled any erroneous thoughts Fred might have had about her presence at that hour of the morning and had done it without any embarrassment to her. It was the same type of protective feeling she had gotten when he had put a stop to Terry’s verbal abuse. But it was not at all the same feeling she had gotten from him when she woke up in his bed on Saturday morning.

  “Oh? What kind of emergency you talkin’ about? You should of given me a shout instead of gettin’ Kim out in the middle of the night.”

  “I normally would have—” Lurch bumped against Jared, nearly knocking him off balance as the dog charged out of the kitchen.

  Jared watched as the large Saint Bernard disappeared down the hall, then returned his attention to Fred. “As I was saying, I normally would have called you, but I think this one was a little out of your realm of expertise. We now have a houseguest who will be staying with us for an indefinite period of time.”

  “Oh? Someone from out of town?”

  Jared furrowed his brow in concentration. “I really don’t know, but I imagine she probably is.”

  Fred cocked his head, a questioning look on his face, but when Jared didn’t elaborate he chose to pour himself a cup of coffee rather than pursuing the conversation.

  Kim started toward the door carrying her mug of coffee. “I think I’ll check on Chloe. I’m worried about her rolling off the sofa.”

  “Wait.” Jared started after her. “I’ll go with you.”

  Kim heard Fred’s voice as she headed toward the den. “Since no one seems willin’ to tell me what’s goin’ on, I’ll just be fixin’ us some breakfast.”

  Kim and Jared came to an abrupt halt as soon as they entered the den. Lurch stood next to the sofa with his body against the edge. Chloe was still sleeping. She had apparently rolled over, and Lurch had prevented her from falling off by using his body as a barrier. The dog looked at them as if aski
ng for their help.

  Kim rushed over and gently moved the little girl to the middle of the sofa. As soon as physical contact was removed from the dog, Lurch sat down and sniffed at the child.

  Jared affectionately stroked the dog’s head and gave him a hug. “Good boy, Lurch. This is Chloe, and she’s going to be staying with us for a while. Do you suppose you could help look out for her?”

  To Kim’s amazement the Saint Bernard gave up a quiet bark as if he understood Jared’s words.

  She turned her attention to Jared. “You really need to get a crib for her or some type of a bed with sides on it so there won’t be any danger of her falling out of bed while she sleeps. I’m sure you can rent one for a day or so. And there’s more than just a bed. With a toddler in the house you’ll need to childproof so many things. At eighteen months she’s walking everywhere and is more than capable of getting into anything within her reach. You need to make sure that cupboard doors can’t be opened or drawers pulled out. Things sitting around on coffee tables or end tables need to be put up higher. Anything she can put in her mouth and choke on has to be moved out of her reach. And the swimming pool…you’ll need to be very careful with the doors. If she can get onto the deck, then she can easily fall into the swimming pool or the hot tub.”

  Kim glanced around the attractively decorated den. “Having a toddler in the house is going to wreck havoc with your interior decor, especially that gorgeous living room and dining room.”

  Jared stood next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. He watched the little girl for a couple of moments as she slept. “Does this mean that you’ve decided I’m right about her staying here until we can sort this thing out?”

  His words caught her by surprise. “No—I mean…well, maybe it wouldn’t hurt for a day or so—at least until your attorney has an opportunity to check on the identity of her mother.”

  “Good. I’m glad that’s settled.” His arm felt good around her shoulder. There was something comfortable about the two of them standing there watching the sleeping child. It filled her with a sense of contentment, a warm sensation that left her wondering what it would be like to have this man as a permanent part of her life, to have a family of her own.