As the youngest of five, Martha had learned to pick her battles. There were some, she knew, that were better left to fight another day. A battle with Theo when he had four allies who should, by rights, have been on her side, was not one to tackle head-on.
And so she simply shut her mouth and lifted her chin, turned on her heel and stalked away. She had too much to do to engage in silly useless wrangling. The kids had nothing to do with her baby and her future—and Theo would, given time, simply leave. She was sure of it.
All she had to do was wait him out.
But it was annoying, all the same, to focus her attention on the vignettes she could reach from the floor just to avoid a confrontation with Theo. It was also annoying to have him clambering around on the scaffolding with Dustin and Jeremy, helping them set up the projector, taking their direction about where to move it and how to set it—even if, amazingly enough, they were directly quoting her.
“It’s got to be level,” Dustin insisted. “I won’t get the right perspective if it’s not.”
“An’ you gotta keep it the same distance always,” Jeremy added. “Or the scale will be off.”
Martha was quietly astonished at how much attention they’d paid. She was also furious with all of them.
“Don’t be mad,” Clare murmured, having sidled up to stand and observe as Martha painted with quiet fury. “They mean well.”
“Humph.” It was all Martha would allow herself to say.
“He cares,” Clare went on, obviously meaning Theo, though how she would know was anybody’s guess. “And he’s really cute.”
“Hmmmmph.” Martha didn’t pause, just kept slapping on the paint.
Clare turned her head to watch Theo moving lightly over the planks with the same grace he’d always displayed onboard his boat. “Well, I think he’s a keeper,” she said frankly.
Yeah, Martha thought grimly. A lot you know.
It was close to six when they finished. For once the kids weren’t clamoring to be out the door. They actually stuck around longer. Dustin was busy talking with Theo about something to do with boats and Stephen and Jeremy were listening intently. They were all working, though, sketching or painting. Theo had been pressed into service just steadying the projector.
“It’s time to wrap up,” Martha said for the fifth time. “You’ve gotten a lot done today. I’m impressed. But don’t overdo. Save some enthusiasm for tomorrow. Come on. Finish up.”
There were groans and mutters, but the kids finally finished and climbed down. “We’re going for pizza,” Jeremy told her. “You guys wanta come?”
Her and Theo, he meant. Which was also annoying because while she got along with the kids quite well, they had never invited her along after work before.
Not that she wanted to be their pal, Martha reflected. But it would have been nice to be asked.
“He might,” she said, tipping her head toward where Theo was still talking to Dustin. “Ask him.” And please God he’ll say yes. “I’m tired. I’m going home and put my feet up. But thank you anyway,” she added.
“Sure.” Jeremy jogged over to the others. She could see him talking to Theo, who looked her way, then shook his head no and said something that made the boys all grin and nod.
Martha didn’t think she wanted to know what was said because Jeremy said, “Right on!” And he high-fived Theo. “See you tomorrow then.”
And they all took off. It was just her and Theo. And Ted. Thank God for Ted.
“Ready to go?” Theo said.
“Not with you. I’m going home.”
“I’ll take you.”
“No.”
“I could follow you, I guess.”
Oh, hell. He would, too.
Martha glared at him. “Suit yourself.”
She clipped Ted’s leash on him, wrapped herself in her jacket, scarf, hat and mittens, then trundled down the stairs. At the bottom she picked up the shovel. Theo opened the door for her, then took the shovel out of her hands before she could get out the door.
“I need that!” she protested.
“You walked?”
“I always walk. I don’t have a car.” The snow swirled around them, the wind carrying her words halfway to Bozeman by the time she got them out of her mouth.
“Well, tonight I’ll drive you.”
“I don’t need—”
“Humor me, Martha, because, damn it, if you don’t I’ll pick you up and throw you in the bloody car.” He said the words almost pleasantly, but beneath the pleasantry she heard steel edged with shards of glass.
She glared at him. He smiled at her, patience and forbearance personified.
“Sic ’im, Ted,” she said only half joking.
But Theo shook his head. “He won’t.”
His tone was so confident that Martha blinked. “Why not?”
A grin touched the corners of his mouth. “Ted and I have an understanding.”
Martha eyed him narrowly. “What’s that mean? You were afraid of him earlier.”
“I was not afraid of him! I needed to get to know him. Now I do,” he told her loftily. Then the grin flashed again. He winked as he pulled a bag of dog treats out of his jacket. Ted made a noise that sounded somewhere between an exclamation of delight and a purr.
“The devil wears dog bones,” Martha muttered.
Theo laughed. “Come on. Let’s go.”
He tossed Ted the traitor a dog treat, then began pushing the shovel through the heavily falling snow straight to a parked car, bent and opened to door. “Mine,” he said. “For the moment. Get in.”
In a bound Ted already was in. He looked hopefully at Theo’s jacket.
Another battle she wasn’t going to win tonight. And Martha knew it. So she got in, silently cursing her awkwardness while Theo waited patiently, shut the door after her, then went around and got in.
“Where to?”
Reluctantly she told him and he drove slowly through the snow, flakes shooting like stars in the headlights. There were few cars out. The city spread below them down the hill, dotted lights against a blanket of white with the mountains in the distance beyond. She thought it was beautiful. She doubted if Theo did.
“There. The house on the corner on the right.”
It was a gingerbready Victorian, once an elegant single-family dwelling, now a triplex in which she had the second-floor apartment. It was small but comfortable with two tiny bedrooms, a living room and kitchen. The front overlooked the city and the flat to the south. Out the back bedroom window she could see the gallus frames strung still with brightly lit strands of Christmas lights on Big Butte.
Not quite the gorgeous view they’d shared in Santorini, which was just as well. The fewer reminders, the better.
Theo looked around and she expected him to turn up his nose. But he said, “Nice. Warm. Homey.”
It was, but she didn’t want him appreciating it.
“What do you want for dinner, then?” Theo asked, following her in, looking around, sighing appreciatively.
“I’m having leftovers,” Martha told him dampeningly. “Some soup. A little tuna fish. There’s not enough for two. Sorry.”
She wasn’t.
Theo, being Theo, ignored her. “Let’s see what we’ve got.” And he shrugged off his jacket, strode into the kitchen and began opening cupboards.
She glowered at him, but her back ached and her feet hurt and finally she simply shrugged. “Fine,” she muttered. “Go for it.”
She unwound her scarf, dropped her jacket, hat and mittens on the radiator cover, went straight over to the armchair and sank down into it. She should have come home earlier. Now she didn’t even have enough strength to lift her feet onto the hassock. Instead she shut her eyes.
Seconds—minutes?—later she jerked them open again as she felt her feet lifted and deposited gently on the hassock.
“Don’t freak,” Theo said. His tone was soft, slightly gruff, almost tender.
Martha shut her eyes aga
in. And shut her heart against it. Don’t be kind, she begged him silently. Not now. It would be too hard to resist now.
“I’m not freaking,” Martha muttered almost angrily.
“Yeah, I can tell.” He bent his head and brushed a kiss over her hair, then turned and strode back into the kitchen before she could lash out at him.
Oh, damn you, Theo! Damn you!
She blinked back sudden hot tears, hating him for making her remember—and want—what she couldn’t have.
What was equally bad, though, was that he had been right about Ted. The canine defense corps hadn’t barked or growled or coughed to warn her of Theo’s approach. Her dog—her stalwart companion, her knight in a dog suit—had nothing.
He’d just sat there and let Theo touch her!
Now she clenched her fists together to keep them from reaching up to touch the hair he had kissed, and cursed as she watched man and his buddy the dog in the kitchen. While Ted paid close attention, Theo defrosted meat in her microwave, opened cans and prowled for spices.
He had never cooked in Santorini.
“Too domestic,” he’d told her blithely. “Don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea.”
Of course not. But now he was bloody Betty Crocker. He was also, damn it, gorgeous, sexy and too tempting for her own good.
Martha tried not to watch him. She picked up the book on baby development she’d borrowed from the library, determined to read it. But for once she wasn’t completely intrigued by what was happening to the child inside her body. The lean dark-haired man in the kitchen was far more interesting.
“Time to eat,” Theo said at last.
It was simple, basic fare. Spaghetti with marinara sauce, meat and mushrooms, accompanied by a tossed salad.
All ingredients she had provided, Martha reminded herself. Not that she would have had the energy to make the meal. Still, she dug in. If she was going to do battle with Theo after the meal—and that was the time she’d picked to take her stand, to send him on his way once and for all—she needed all the sustenance she could get.
She ate steadily and silently. But if she preferred silence while she ate, Theo was downright loquacious. He talked about the boat he’d bought in Newport after he’d left her. It was a great boat. Fast. Sleek. “You’d like it,” he told her.
She didn’t reply.
He told her about a race he competed in—some North Sea challenge in which his team had taken first. “A good team,” he said. “Everybody pulled together. Like your kids.”
She let that pass, too.
Then he talked about New Zealand, told her about his house there. He’d never mentioned having a house in New Zealand all the time they were in Santorini. Because he hadn’t been sharing the important parts of himself with her, Martha reminded herself. Remember that.
“You’d like New Zealand,” he said confidently. “It’s got mountains like this. And ocean,” he added almost wistfully.
Fine. Go back to it, she thought. “I like it here,” she said firmly.
Theo’s lips pressed into a thin line, but he didn’t argue with her or try to convince her. He talked instead about the mountains in Chile. Apparently he’d been there, too. Where hadn’t he been? But while she told herself she didn’t care, she listened, intrigued in spite of herself.
“More?” Theo offered when she’d cleaned her plate.
“No, thank you,” she said. “It was…very good.” She could say that honestly and mean it. Let him know she appreciated it. Let him know she meant what she said.
She started to get up to carry the dishes to the sink. But Theo got up first and whipped them out of her hands. “I’ll do them. Stay there,” he commanded.
“You cooked. I will wash up.” She had a little energy after the meal. She was ready to do battle.
Theo shrugged. “Okay. Go ahead. I’ll take Ted for a walk.”
The dishes tilted in her hands. She caught them before they fell on the floor, then stared at him, astonished.
“He needs to go out, doesn’t he?”
“Well, yes, but I—”
“You’re not going out in this, Martha.”
“I suppose you’ll wrestle me to the ground to make sure I don’t,” she said grumpily.
Theo’s grin flashed. “There’s an idea.”
“No, there’s not.”
He just laughed and grabbed his jacket. Martha expected Ted to balk at going out with him. He was her dog, after all. She was the one who took him out every evening. But he had his eye on Theo’s jacket and was making throaty purring noises.
“What do you have in your jacket?”
Theo’s smile was guileless. “That’s between Ted and me. C’mon, bud. We’ve got places to go, people to see.”
They went out and Theo shut the door behind them. Alone in her apartment, Martha tried desperately to get a grip. As soon as he came back she would meet him at the door, take Ted’s leash from him and bid him good-night. She would tell him thanks for his concern. She would even say that he was certainly welcome to stay in touch with their son when he was born.
“You can take him sailing sometime,” she said aloud, testing out how it would sound, wondering if she had the courage to say it. Or would it be encouraging him when that wasn’t what either of them would want?
She tried it half a dozen different ways while she cleared the table and washed the dishes. And then she heard footsteps on the stairs and hurriedly dried her hands and went to meet them at the door.
They came in, a coat of snow glinting off Ted’s black fur and Theo’s deep crimson jacket and black hair. They were gorgeous, both of them. And she was so taken with looking at them that the door closed behind them before she even realized she hadn’t taken the leash out of his hand. Now she reached for it.
“Thank you,” she said, proper and polite. “Did you have fun?”
Theo grinned. “Not bad. It had its moments. But we’re bonding, aren’t we, Teddy ol’ boy?”
Teddy?
“His name is Ted,” Martha said stiffly. “And you don’t need to bond with him.”
“Of course I do.” Theo shook his head, scattering snowflakes, then started to unzip his jacket.
“No,” Martha said abruptly. “Don’t.”
“Why not? Do we need to go out again?” Theo suddenly looked panic-stricken. “You’re not having the baby?”
“Of course I’m not having the baby. I’m simply saving you the trouble of taking it off since you’ll just have to put it back on again when you leave.”
“I’m not leaving,” Theo said as if that settled the matter. He shrugged out of his jacket, then hung it on a chair.
Martha picked it back up and thrust it at him. “Excuse me?” she said archly. “What do you mean, you’re not leaving? You most certainly are!”
Theo shook his head, sat down on the hassock and began to take off his boots. “Nope. Sorry. I’m staying right here.”
“You can’t! You weren’t invited!” She was outraged, furious, flapping his jacket at him like a red flag at a bull.
But Theo just looked up and gave her a hard-edged grin. “Funny how that doesn’t work, sweetheart. I remember back on Santorini saying that exact same thing to you once, too!”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“YOU CAN’T!” Martha stared at him, horrified.
Theo shrugged. “You moved in on me.”
“That was different!”
He was enjoying her indignation, admiring the fire in her eyes. “You needed a place to stay and you weren’t taking no for an answer. Neither am I.”
“But I don’t want you here!”
“Likewise. But as I recall, you moved in, anyway. And it turned out rather well. Maybe this will, too. We can even have more mind-blowing sex if you want,” he offered magnanimously.
Two spots of bright color lit her cheeks. “We won’t be having any sex at all!”
“Apparently not,” he said with more equanimity than he felt. “Up to you. As i
t was last time,” he reminded her. Then he stood up and met her gaze head-on. “But you’re not getting rid of me, Martha. You’re going to marry me. I didn’t come all this way to turn around just because you’re as stubborn as a mule.”
“Me, stubborn! You’re the one pushing things. You’re the one who came where you aren’t wanted. You’re the one who won’t take no for an answer! And I am not marrying you!”
Theo didn’t counter that. He let her snarl and spit. “You’re worrying Ted,” he pointed out when she stomped around the room furiously. The dog was sitting by his foot, quivering.
Martha whirled on him. “He wouldn’t worry if you weren’t here!”
“It isn’t me that worries him,” Theo said mildly. “It’s you—not taking care of yourself. Not taking care of him. Ted has very well-developed instincts of self-preservation.”
“I take very good care of Ted!” Martha said hotly.
“And would you have taken him out tonight?”
“Of course.”
“Then you probably would have wiped out on the ice down the block just like I did.”
She stopped dead. “You fell?”
Ah, a tiny bit of concern. Theo shrugged. He’d landed on his butt. No harm done. “Yeah. No big deal, but it could have been for you. And Ted couldn’t have gone for help or brought you back to the apartment.”
“I would have managed.” She dismissed his concern out-ofhand. “Besides,” she informed him. “I know where the sidewalk gets ice on it.”
“That X-ray vision you have is real impressive. Amazing how you can see through ten inches of snow.”
“Don’t be smart.”
“Why don’t you try being smart? What are you fighting me for, Martha? I’m not trying to hurt you. I want what’s best for you, damn it!”
She wrapped her arms across her chest, as if protecting herself from him. “You want to marry me.”
“What’s wrong with that? You’re having my child! I’m not walking away from my child.”
Her jaw tightened and her gaze shuttered as if she’d locked the door and pulled the blinds. “I won’t marry except for love, Theo. I told you that.”
The Santorini Bride Page 15