Marriage Make-Up & an Heir to Bind Them

by Penny Jordan

  Oh, hell. Theo stared into innocent eyes that could have belonged to his little brother, Demitri, at that age. “I know, buddy,” he said, even though he didn’t know a damned thing except that Adara had done this surrogate parenting at a far younger age than he was, so he had to man up and make this work.

  Adara had had Jaya’s instincts, though. Somehow she’d hung on to them through the war ground that was their childhood and look what she’d made: Androu was a happy little cub who’d eaten fistfuls of his first birthday cake a few months ago.

  “Papa,” Androu said, making his request in that polite yet firm way his father had.

  “Not here, either, sport.” Theo eyed the driver who was circumspectly keeping his eyes forward. Discreet, he’d said in his text to Jaya. Emergency. I need discreet transport and accommodation. He’d told her where and when to pick him up and she’d come through for him. Surely that meant she’d bring back his niece.

  Androu picked at the seam on Theo’s jeans, absorbed, allowing Theo to train his X-ray vision on the terminal doors, willing them to open.

  What in hell was taking so long? A tiny thing like Evie couldn’t have much liquid in her, especially when she’d cried most of it out. Thank goodness he’d had the sense to call Jaya. Putting a little girl on a potty was not something he would think to do, let alone know how to make happen. He was completely unprepared for this situation, like he’d been dropped on a deserted island with two little gremlins.

  And Jaya.

  God, she looked more incredible than ever. He still dreamed of that mouth, wide and full and feminine. Her body was better than ever. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was holding onto a few more pounds, filling out her slender figure to voluptuous perfection. Her breast would probably overflow his hand when—

  If.

  Hell, never.

  It couldn’t happen. Best to cut those thoughts short now.

  Seriously, what was she doing?

  He couldn’t go after her, no matter how much he was tempted. He wasn’t a movie star, but the Makricosta siblings had been featured in upscale magazines recently, promoting the cruise ship currently being taken over by pirates. Was it targeted? Were high seas criminals after a hefty ransom by kidnapping some of the richest people in the world? The inaugural cruise had drawn a very elite crowd.

  One thing at a time, he ordered himself. Gideon would protect Adara at all costs and he, Theo, had removed the only distraction Gideon might have had. Once the tots were safely stationed, he’d check in with Gideon and the authorities Gideon had raced off to advise.

  A sharp pain in his thigh had him jerking his knee from the source, jostling the boy who’d bent to taste denim with his newly cut teeth. Startled by his near fall, the corners of Androu’s mouth went down and his eyes filled again.

  “Wait. It’s fine. Go ahead and use me as a chew toy. You just startled me.”

  Outside, the terminal doors slid open and Jaya appeared with Evie still on her hip. She clutched an overstuffed bag in her free hand and wore a harried look.

  Theo moved faster than the driver, pushing open the door as she reached the car.

  “Seriously? Shopping?” He took the bag and steadied her under an elbow as she crawled in, catching a full inhale of her exotic sandalwood and almond scent. It hit him like a drug that weakened his muscles and teased him with euphoria.

  Unless he was very careful, coming to her would turn into another mistake. He couldn’t let it happen. He released her to pull the door shut behind her.

  “Funny,” Jaya said tartly, then, “Thank you, Oscar. Directly to the hotel now, please. The underground entrance.” She pressed a button to close the privacy window and steadied Evie beside her on the seat as the car began to glide forward.

  Theo picked up Androu and settled him on his thigh, catching a look on Jaya’s face that might have been stunned hurt, but she looked away. Better that she was hurt and hated him. It would be easier for both of them.

  Turning a gentle smile to Evie, she said, “You’ve been very patient. Would you like your drink now?” She brought a bottle of water out of the bag and opened it, helping Evie to sip.

  Androu put out a hand and made a noise of imperative.

  “I bought one for him, too. Do you know if they have any allergies?”

  “I don’t think so.” Not Androu anyway. Adara was always prattling on about every little thing Androu ate, touched or said. Theo only listened with half an ear, but he would remember if she was worried about something like that.

  There were bananas in the bag with yoghurt cups and a bag of vanilla cookies. Food. Right.

  “Good call,” he told her as he spilled water all over himself trying to keep the greedy Androu from drowning. The kid didn’t have the first clue about the physics of tipping a water bottle and ended up coughing it all down his chin. “I think he uses a special cup for this.”

  “Really? Perhaps you should have stolen it when you kidnapped him.” She brought out a banana and broke off pieces, making everyone sticky but quiet and happy.

  “This is Androu, my nephew, Adara and Gideon’s boy.”

  “Oh, of course.” Everything in Jaya changed, softening as her gaze hooked onto Androu’s little face with as much fixation as her first stare, but with a touch of wistfulness now. “I’d heard gossip about a miscarriage when I was in Bali. I’m happy for them. He’s beautiful.”

  Her tone was sincere, moved almost. Or maybe he was reading into it. His emotions had been stripped to their rawest form the last time he’d been with her. Today wasn’t much better. He hadn’t planned ever to see her again and when he had indulged in imagining he might, he’d pulled himself together.

  “It’s been an eventful couple of years,” he couched, trying to gloss over all the inner tearing down and rebuilding he’d been forced to do without betraying how brutal it had been. “Look, Jaya. I came to you because I figured I could trust you. We’ve kept some family business out of the papers for my mother’s sake and even though she’s gone now, we prefer not to air our dirty laundry, but...” He shrugged. “Are you aware that Nic Marcussen is my older brother?”

  “No, I didn’t even know your mother had died. I’m so sor—Wait. Marcussen Media? That Nic Marcussen?”

  “Yes.”

  “Married to Rowan Davidson, the actress? Who adopted a baby from—” She looked at Evie who tilted her almond-shaped eyes up curiously.

  “Where’s Mama?”

  “She’s coming to get you soon,” Jaya reassured her, handing Evie another piece of banana. “Isn’t she?” she prompted Theo.

  “I sincerely hope so, but from what I saw from the air, they have to evade pirates first.”

  “Where? On the Med? You can’t be serious!”

  “I know what I saw and the authorities have been notified, but there’s every chance we’ll be looking at ransom negotiations. The last thing we need is a media circus, especially around the babies. Hell, they’re kidnap targets. You were the closest person I could think of who could provide me a place to stay that was off the radar.”

  Completely practical, exactly as it was supposed to be, he assured himself.

  “You knew where I was working?” Her clipped challenge held dual notes of hurt and ire, suggesting that if he had known, he should have called.

  He bit back a sigh. “I was contacted as a reference,” he lied, adding politely, “Congratulations.”

  “Oh, um, thanks,” she dismissed with a self-conscious shrug. “It’s a boutique hotel, very well respected even before the upgrades. They’re looking to bring in a higher clientele and hired me because of my experience with Makricosta’s. I guess I’m indebted to you...again.” Her voice trailed off. The way she bit her lips together suggested she would rather be run over by this limo than face him after referencing their night together.
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br />   He pretended they’d left it at the point where she’d thanked him, as if the rest hadn’t happened. “As I said then, the hoteliers here got lucky.”

  Her eyelashes flinched in a way that seemed to say, Did you really just say that?

  He had. It was unkind, but he wasn’t about to acknowledge how lucky he’d been that night. If his insensitivity toward her made his gut knot with sick self-hatred, so be it. He was here for only one reason.

  Jaya visibly pulled herself together. “I’ve arranged the Presidential Suite. It’s yours as long as you need it. I’ll talk to the staff, keep housekeeping out of there, tell them you’re antisocial.” Her tight smile said, It’s not even a lie, and the churning rolled in his stomach again. “My new boss isn’t nearly as hands-on as you were. You’ll be long gone before he asks who was in there.”

  Hands-on?

  Her cool delivery let him know that two could play this game.

  Androu curled his banana-coated fingers into Theo’s shirtfront and tried to wriggle down to his feet, forcing Theo to break their stare.

  “I need more than a safe place to hide,” Theo said, tentative in his struggle with Androu, afraid of hurting his tiny body, but not wanting him hurting himself by trying to walk around in a moving vehicle. Androu grew frustrated and started arching with temper. “I don’t know what to do with babies. I need your help.”

  “Like a nanny? I can call an agen—”

  He shook his head, impatient that she was being obtuse. “I can’t trust strangers. That chauffeur hearing my name is bad enough. I need complete discretion, at least until I know the situation on the ship. Twenty-four hours, maybe forty-eight, then we can reassess.”

  “We? You’re suggesting me? No.” She shook her head. “Definitely not. I can’t.” Her eyes grew big, panicked maybe, but she shielded them with a downward sweep of her lashes. “I really can’t. It’s impossible. No. Sorry.”

  Because of their history. Because he’d just been a bastard about it. Damn it. There was a reason he didn’t make promises to women: he couldn’t keep them, not the emotional kind. He didn’t have it in him to fulfill and make happy. Not in a romantic way. In other ways...

  He thought fast. “Look at what you gain. This is the son of the Makricosta chain of hotels and resorts. Do you recognize how much favor will be bestowed on the person who keeps him from harm? How do you feel about working cruise lines? Gideon has another ship launching next fall. You’re climbing ladders so I assume your career is still very important to you. You’ll be able to write your own ticket, Jaya. Anything you can’t do, Adara will pay for you to learn. Hell, name your price and I’ll pay it to know that I’ve got someone I can trust for the next few days.”

  “To babysit.” Her mouth stayed in a flat, grim line of disgust.

  “They’re the toughest guests to please. Free dinner goes nowhere with them.”

  “Am I supposed to be laughing? Because I don’t find this funny.”

  “Look, I know it sounds sexist. That’s not why I’m asking. You’re good with kids. Or does it bother you that I’d offer you money to help me?”

  “Your being here bothers me, Theo,” she snapped, turning her face away. “This is...” Her brow flinched into anguish.

  Her anxiety was a kick in the chest, especially as he sensed that her refusal wasn’t coming entirely from being scorned. There was a fear component. Something more emotional. It occurred to him there might be a man in her life making her hold back.

  His insides shrunk to knotted pieces of rawhide. He couldn’t bring himself to ask if that was the problem. He didn’t want to know.

  “It’s a big favor, I realize that,” he managed.

  She choked out a laugh. “Is that what this is? A favor? A professional courtesy?”

  “It’s an appeal to your better nature. Think of the children.”

  “Are you serious right now?” She pursed her mouth in a furious white line.

  “Jaya, I can’t afford mistakes. Letting a stranger look after these kids would be wrong. I need you. Tell me what it will cost. I’ll pay it.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  JAYA’S EMOTIONS ROSE and fell on his words along with her temper. Think of the children. Really. Really?

  As for mistakes, he obviously thought they’d made one. The truth was the complete opposite.

  Her eyes kept gravitating to Androu. The resemblance was startling. Her family was supposed to be the one with the cookie-cutter genetics that stamped out cousins who could ride each other’s passports. To see so much of Theo in his nephew threw her for a loop and she was already in a tailspin at seeing the man himself.

  One glimpse of the sky pilot with his broody expression behind mirrored aviators and she’d turned into a lovestruck schoolgirl again. Never mind that she’d spent the past year and a half taking on responsibilities she’d never dreamed herself capable of shouldering. Men had been completely off her radar, given her being needed so much at home. She’d shut down thoughts of a future with Theo when he had neglected to return her few calls. She hadn’t felt sexy and romantic anyway. She’d been tired and grief-stricken and determined to continue her career for the sake of her pride.

  Finally, in the past few months, things had begun to settle into a routine. She’d felt good, if wistful, at the way things had turned out. She was empowered and in control: the independent, worldly, modern woman she’d always longed to be.

  And yet she’d leaped to respond to Theo’s text and had grown breathless watching his athletic frame tether his helicopter. Her eyes kept stealing glances at his leather bomber jacket and black jeans that were old enough to be scuffed gray in all the right places, accenting the muscles of his thighs. He was tough and aloof and as quietly commanding as always, framing his demands with that polite, I need. I need a file, I need lunch at one, I need you, Jaya. I need you to care for my babies.

  Her heart lurched.

  “I need to think,” she mumbled, even though this situation was beyond comprehension. Her mind was going a mile a minute, trying to figure out what to do. Where was Saranya when she needed her cousin’s sensible advice? Why did life have to keep throwing such hard curves in front of her?

  No time for a pity party, she reminded herself as Oscar turned into the underground parking garage and stopped next to the elevators.

  They’d arrived at Theo’s discreet accommodation. She hadn’t known what to think of that text, but she hadn’t been able to ignore it. You didn’t slam doors in this business no matter how badly you wanted to. He was right about her interest in her professional development. She had plans and one affair eighteen months ago wouldn’t derail them—no matter how life-altering the consequences had turned out to be.

  Besides, she had told herself when the text had popped up, he was probably making the request on behalf of a favored guest. When she’d climbed into the limo, she’d told herself not to expect Theo at the private airstrip. She’d braced herself for a mistress.

  Talk about special guests who needed personal attention!

  As they rode up the elevator, she sent him yet another glance of exasperation. They each carried a child. He had the bag of minimal groceries in his hand and was looking at her. His narrowed brown eyes sent a prickle of heat into her center.

  No. They weren’t starting that again. She’d learned her lesson, thanks. Looking away was like ripping off a bandage, but she mentally scoffed, Think of the children.

  Although, when it came to advancing your career through favors for influential guests, he was right that they didn’t come bigger than this. Managing this gorgeous hotel on the Mediterranean coast was fun and fulfilling, but if she pulled off keeping both the Marcussen Media and Makricosta Resort heirs off the paparazzi radar, she’d have it made in the shade. Paris, London, New York... She could name her price.

  As they ent
ered her hotel’s best suite, she automatically searched for flaws that needed correction, but the eclectic mix of 1960s reproduction furniture, pop art, and ultra-modern amenities awaited judgment with quiet perfection. Where many of France’s oldest hotels were rabbit warrens of tiny rooms with even tinier beds, this one had been upgraded into chic suites of fewer rooms that catered to a very affluent clientele. An open space in the middle of the sitting room would be perfect for the babies to play. Since a curved breakfast bar was the only partition to divide the kitchenette from the adjoining dining area, they’d be in sight while their meals were made.

  She couldn’t have planned it better, she decided, glancing at the impossible-to-scale glass fencing around the pool deck. There were even child safety locks on the glass doors that led to the pool’s edge.

  If only she didn’t have the sense she was approaching one of those crossroads she and Theo had talked about that night in Bali.

  Don’t think about it, she warned herself. He obviously didn’t reminisce about what they’d shared. The memories twinkling through her like fairy dust needed to be blown off, swept up and dumped in the bin.

  “This kid stinks,” Theo said, pulling her back to the present and brutal reality.

  “I’ll order some diapers and show you how to change him,” she said, refusing to be moved by the kicked puppy look he sent her.

  He tried to put Androu down, but the tyke clung on, demanding to be held.

  “Seriously kid, you stink.”

  “He’s scared,” Jaya provided. “Almost as scared as you.”

  His head went back and a mask of aloof dismissal fell over his features.

  Oh, had that penetrated his thick shell? Rather than bask in satisfaction, she suffered a twinge of conscience. Deliberately insulting people wasn’t her thing. She’d been on the end of too many bullying tactics herself.

  And Theo’s discomfort with having care of these two babies wasn’t funny. It broke her heart. He really wasn’t keen on children.