My Special Angel

by Marcia Evanick

  Owen glanced down at the last couple of photos and now understood the secrets filling her eyes. For two years his Nadia had ceased to exist. No wonder he had a hard time relating these pictures to the woman he loved. They were two entirely different people. She had sacrificed twenty-four months of her life for the love of her family. “Was it worth it?”

  She glanced at the glamorous, if not sometimes gaudy, woman staring up at her from the photos and softly smiled. Her past was lying out in front of the man she loved, and he hadn’t run in terror or disgust.

  “I’d do it again if I had to.” She glanced around the kitchen. “Some good did come out of it. I didn’t have to wait on tables all day, so I worked on my children’s songs. By the time the trial ended, I had enough to contact a record company that had shown interest in my idea for a children’s album.”

  “What happened to Tony and Maria?”

  “After he was sentenced, she gave him a choice: either accept her father’s offer of a job in a foreign country when he was released from prison or she wouldn’t be there when they unlocked the gates. It seems Maria had got tired of seeing her husband’s picture plastered all over the newspaper with me on his arm, and she said the boys needed a father.” Nadia stacked the pictures into one neat pile. “Last I heard, Tony will be moving to Brazil in a couple of years.”

  Owen drummed his fingers on the table. “Do you ever hear from any of them?”

  “Nope. Maria’s father knows where I live, though. Two days after I moved here, IRS arrived with a note of thanks from him. He was eternally grateful that I never spilled the beans about Tony having a wife and all during the trial.”

  “You lied on the stand?” His fingers stilled.

  “Of course not. This is America. I could go to jail for lying in court. No one even asked me if Tony had a wife. They kept questioning me about his business, and I told them the truth. I knew nothing.”

  Owen stood up. “So now I know all your secrets.” He slowly advanced toward her.

  “I would appreciate it if you don’t go spilling the beans to my family about how I saved enough to bring them all over.”

  “How do they think you made that much money?”

  “This is America, Owen. They still believe that anything is possible.”

  “Really?” He backed her against the counter and placed a hand on either side of her. His pleasant expression vanished. “If you ever pull another stunt like that again, I will personally take you over my knee and spank you so that you won’t be able to sit for a week.”

  Nadia’s eyes opened wider, and she pressed her back into the Formica countertop. “What are you yelling for?”

  “Because I’m furious with you.” He smacked his sore hand against the counter and grimaced as pain shot up his arm. “Don’t you have any idea what could have happened to you?” he demanded.

  “I...”

  “Surely you aren’t that naive not to know what kind of danger you were exposed to.” He crowded her against the counter and shouted, “Don’t they have thugs in Russia?” He didn’t know if he wanted to choke her or kiss her senseless. He raised his hand and tenderly brushed her cheek. “You could have been killed.”

  She watched in wonder as his gaze caressed her face. “I wasn’t.” She reached up and traced the frown pulling at the corner of his mouth. “When things got a little risky, Tony hired a bodyguard for me.”

  Owen pushed away from the counter and thrust his fingers through his hair. “Lord, Nadia, didn’t you see the danger?”

  “Every day.” Her gaze followed him as he paced in front of her. “I also saw the danger of having my family stay in an unstabilized country. I saw the killing and the fighting every day on CNN, and I prayed I wouldn’t see anyone I knew lying dead in the streets from sniper fire or another senseless round of mortars.”

  Owen froze and really looked at Nadia. The fear she had been feeling still had the power to shake her voice. What would he have done if it had been his family over there? Would he have had the courage to risk his own life to bring them to safety? He liked to think he would have, but Nadia had proved she did possess such courage. He opened his arms and said, “I didn’t think it was possible, but I think I love you more.”

  She flew into his arms murmuring some melodic Russian words.

  He laughed and hugged her tighter. “That sounds familiar—what does it mean?” He remembered she had whispered those same words deep into the night.

  “It’s Russian for ‘I love you.’” She smiled radiantly and reached for his mouth.

  Owen swept her up into his arms and headed for the stairs. “Your five minutes are up.”

  She ran her hand down his chest and over the front of his jeans. She chuckled when he nearly lost his balance on the first step. “That’s not all that’s up.”

  He shifted her weight and continued up the steps, grinning. “Have you no shame, woman!”

  Nadia threw back her head and laughed with pure joy. “No, Owen, the shame is gone along with the secrets. With you I have only love and honor.”

  He slowly lowered her to her feet beside the bed. He reached over and turned on the light. His gaze bore into hers. This was the Nadia who first came to America. Her eyes glistened with hopes and dreams for the future. There wasn’t even the faintest shadow of the secrets she had carried so bravely. “Lord, how I love you.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her with the promise of fulfilling every one of her dreams.

  * * *

  Nadia smiled against his warm chest. In his sleep his breathing was slow and even. She reached down to pull up the sheet as a cool evening breeze stirred the curtains. After a moment she gave up and wrote it off as a lost cause. The sheet was helplessly tangled beneath Owen’s legs, and she hadn’t the heart to wake him. She slowly reached over the side of the bed and pulled up the quilt that had been pushed to the floor during their lovemaking.

  She gently tucked the quilt around their naked bodies and snuggled back into his arms. Even in sleep his arms cradled her so tenderly. She laid her head back down onto his chest and closed her eyes and welcomed sleep.

  A moment later her eyes flew open, but she didn’t move a muscle. She didn’t even breathe. There it was! She hadn’t imagined it. A soft melody teased the corner of her mind and grew with each passing moment. It was a song full of hopes, dreams, and love. It was a song about a wise old owl named Owen who refused to give up. Nadia closed her eyes and allowed the music to wash over her, to surround her with its simple joy. How fitting it was that she was composing the last song for the album as she lay in Owen’s loving arms.

  Epilogue

  “Nadia, if we don’t hurry, we are going to miss the plane,” said Owen. He traded Sebastian his three-year-old son, Jeremiah, for the two suitcases the butler had just carried down the stairs.

  “I’m coming!” shouted Nadia from the kitchen, where she was giving Milly and her mother last-minute instructions on eighteen-month-old Zachary’s schedule. “Now, remember, he doesn’t like green vegetables, only yellow ones.” She double-checked to make sure their itinerary was taped to the front of the refrigerator, complete with hotels, phone numbers, and emergency numbers. “Make sure he drinks his milk, and don’t let him eat the soap in the bathtub again.”

  “You are only going for ten days, Nadia,” pleaded her mother. “I think I can handle my own grandchild for ten days.” She scooped the grinning Zachary from his high chair and whispered loving words to the child in Russian.

  “Nadia!” cried Owen from the foyer. “Did you remember to pack your vitamin pills?”

  She reached on top of the refrigerator, grabbed the huge blue bottle of prenatal vitamin pills, and dropped them into her purse. “Yes, dear.” She gave her slightly rounded tummy a gentle pat and followed her mother, Milly, and her son out of the kitchen. “Did you remember the tickets?”

  Owen checked his pocket. “Yes.” He spotted his wife as she took Zachary from his grandmother’s arms. “The driver is waiting ou
tside, love.”

  Nadia gave her son a kiss and a big hug. “Let him wait a moment longer.” She gave him another noisy kiss before handing him over to Owen. She reached for little Jeremiah sitting on Sebastian’s shoulder. “Come here, lovely, and give your mommy another kiss.” Jeremiah came willingly. “Now, you promise to be a good boy for Aunt Verna, and Grandmom and Papa, and for Sebastian and Milly, and for Uncle Stevo and Aunt Yelena...”

  “Sweetheart, if you name all your family staying here to take care of two little boys, we will surely miss the plane, and how will that look? Your first European tour, and you’ll miss your debut.” He took Jeremiah from his wife’s arms and handed him to Milosh.

  Nadia gazed at the angelic faces of her sons and felt the tears start to burn in the back of her eyes. “Maybe we should wait until...”

  Owen pulled her out of the door as Sebastian hurried in front of them with the luggage. “You promised the record company and your little fans an eight-city tour two years ago.”

  “That was before I knew I was pregnant with Zachary.” She glanced over her shoulder and waved to everyone crowding out the front door to wish them farewell.

  “If we don’t go now, it will be another two years.” He glanced at her stomach and grinned. “Winslow will need his mommy home with him for the first couple of months.”

  “I’m not naming our baby Winslow.” She protectively laid her hand against the slight bulge as Owen helped her into the backseat. “Who’s to say it isn’t a girl, anyhow?”

  Owen waved to his sons and their twelve babysitters as the limo pulled away from the house. He glanced at his wife and grinned. “Sofia swiped your teacup the other day and read the leaves.” He reached over and kissed her motherly concern away. Their sons were in great hands, and he was finally going to have Nadia all to himself. Just him and a couple of thousand adoring little fans. “She said she saw blue again.” He glanced at the smoked privacy glass separating them from the driver and grinned. Pulling her into his arms, he whispered, “Lots and lots of blue.” His mouth slanted down onto hers, and neither one of them paid any attention to the miles that rolled away as they headed for the airport.

  The End

  . . .

  More Marcia Evanick Titles

  Now Available as EBooks:

  Originally published by Loveswept

  Playing for Keeps

  My Special Angel

  In Daddy’s Arms

  Gretchen and the Big Bad Wolf

  Out of a Dream

  Over the Rainbow

  Satin Sheets and Strawberries

  Guardian Spirit

  Midnight Kiss

  Perfect Morning

  Sizzle

  Indescribably Delicious

  www.MarciaEvanick.com

  . . .

  An excerpt from

  Playing for Keeps

  . . .

  Tennie climbed the stairs feeling drained, even if it was only a little after midnight. The anxiety of finding out her grandmother was ill coupled with having to work with Reece until the mystery was solved had hit her hard. Maybe she should invent some emergency back at her office and let Reece take the heat for running her off. Only problem was that she had never run from anything in her fife and she wasn’t about to start now. When she left the security of her family five years ago to start her own business, she hadn’t been running away from something, she had been running to something. A new beginning. She was either going to make it on her own, or not. She had made it. Working with Reece for the next couple of days, she wasn’t sure she was going to make it.

  The man inspired intense emotions better left unexplored and cloaked with indifferent or politeness. She was never indifferent to Reece and polite would be stretching the truth by yards. How was she going to keep these unwanted feelings hidden if she had to spend hours every day in his company?

  She reached the second floor landing, kicked off her high heels, and rubbed her aching toes. Who had she been trying to impress with the fancy hairstyle, sophisticated dress, and three-inch killer heels? Reece that was who! The person who had seemed most impressed was one of the local cops who’d maneuvered her into a corner after dinner and tried putting the make on her. She had allowed herself to be monopolized so she could pump him for information about the case. She had been ninety percent sure the playboy cop was an actor planted by her family when Reece’s thunderous glare from across the room caught her eye. Who did he think he was? Reece might be her unwanted partner, but he wasn’t going to be her keeper. She had returned his glare with a sweet smile and continued to grill the cop.

  Tennie inserted the key and opened the door to her room. Moonlight poured through the balcony doors and bathed the room in a soft glow. She closed the door behind her; with a deep sigh she tossed the torturous shoes into the farthest corner. Her suitcase still lay open with half its contents flung over the bed, the chair, and the small counter in the bathroom. It was amazing that the other five brand-new outfits that she had recently purchased had found their way onto hangers, if not into the closet. Neatness was not one of the top priorities in her life.

  Weary, she tossed her small clutch purse onto the pile of shimmering undies scattered across the bed and, without bothering to turn on any lights, yanked the hem of her dress to mid-thigh. Her fingers made short work of the two garter snaps and bracing her foot on the bed she started to roll the silky nylons down her leg.

  “Have you ever given any thought to declaring those legs as lethal weapons?”

  Tennie’s startled gaze shot to her purse where a can of Mace rested secure and unreachable within its depths. As her heart started to beat again she realized it had been Reece’s voice she heard. Refusing to be intimidated or embarrassed she slowly turned her head in the direction from which his voice had materialized. Her fingers continued to roll the nylons down over her calf and off her foot. “My tae kwon do instructor told me it wasn’t necessary”—she smiled sweetly—“yet.”

  Reece chuckled and flipped the switch next to his hand, flooding the room with light. He leaned against the jamb of the interconnecting door and continued to gaze hungrily at her legs. “I wasn’t referring to kicking someone to death.”

  Tennie slowly lowered her leg and smoothed the dress back down. The other stocking could wait until later. She didn’t like the direction the conversation was heading. “Do you always stand around in the dark sulking?” She flipped on the bedside light.

  “I wasn’t sulking.” He walked into the room and glanced around.

  “Then what were you doing standing in the dark, spying on me?” She cocked her head and studied him from the new angle. He was so handsome, and his thick black hair cried out for a woman’s touch. He towered over her five-feet-six-inch height by a good six inches. Ridiculously thick black lashes framed a pair of deep brown intelligent eyes that always seemed to be asking questions. What they were asking now she couldn’t begin to fathom.

  “I wasn’t spying on you. I was waiting to see if they were coming back.”

  She glanced around the room perplexed. “Who was coming back?”

  “The guys who did this.” Reece flung his arm out to encompass the whole room. A huge canvas purse was dumped upside down on the middle of the bed, spilling its contents across the quilt and onto the floor. Tubes of lipstick, candy bars, a can of diet cola, wads of tissues, a couple of paperbacks, and a wilted corsage were just a few of the items scattered about. “You better go through everything and see what’s missing.”

  Tennie glanced around the room in amazement. Reece thought someone had ransacked the room. Whoever heard of anyone pulling a heist in the middle of the Montgomerys’ family reunion? “Reece, I wasn’t robbed.”

  He glanced questioningly at Tennie, then back at the room. Understanding finally dawned. He stared incredulously at Tennie. “Tell me you’re joking.”

  “I’m joking.” Tennie pushed a pair of jeans off the chair and sat down. “May I ask what you were doing in my room?”


  “I wasn’t in your room; I was in mine.” He touched the pile of clothes near the edge of the bed, realized they were Tennie’s silken undies, and snatched his hands back as if they were on fire. He quickly paced to the other end of the room and looked out the balcony doors. “I returned to my room about fifteen minutes ago.”

  Tennie glanced at his sturdy boots, tight-fitting jeans, and his sweatshirt that hadn’t had the time or washings to lose its shape yet. He looked all warm and yummy. “Where did you go?”

  He glanced back over his shoulder. “For a walk.” He wasn’t about to tell her he left the warmth of the lodge to wander around some pine forest in the middle of the night so that he could get a grip on his emotions. He had wanted to smack the lovesick-puppy-dog look off the face of that young police officer who had cornered Tennie. When he noticed Tennie wasn’t minding all the attention, he had stormed up to his room, changed, and headed for cool air and sanity. Whatever Tennie did was her own business.

  “Find any clues?”

  “Not a one.” Tennie had the same view from her windows as his room. Miles and miles of mountains, trees, and darkness. He ignored the panoramic view of nature and concentrated on Tennie’s reflection in the glass.

  “Really, Reece.” Tennie crossed her legs and lightly swung the nylon-covered limb back and forth. “If you’re going to work with me, you are going to have to help discover some clues.”

  Reece’s back stiffened as he slowly turned and faced her. “And what precisely did you find out tonight?”

  There was such a sarcastic slur to his question that Tennie couldn’t resist teasing him. “I discovered that French-cut undies weren’t meant for this climate.” She wondered how many cases of frostbite of the derriere the local hospital treated each year.