“For the love of God, why?”
Because my friend needs me. Because I need some breathing room between me and the Amazing Reappearing Biological Daddy. Because the family I idolized when I was a kid has been broken, and I want to help fix it.
Of all the reasons for this trip, there was only one Darcy would even think of sharing with her mother. “Ian was driving up anyway, and Nonny hasn’t seen Cady since right after she was born, so it seemed like good timing.”
“Assuming there’s ever a good time to be bored silly.”
Darcy often wondered what on earth her parents had seen in each other. Sylvie was a mercurial, nightlife-loving actress, while Paul had been a quiet, small-town homebody. Sylvie was all about the next excitement. Paul had been all about the moment. Sylvie loved Darcy in a bemused sort of way, as if she were never quite sure where this child had come from and what she was supposed to do with her. Paul had been a hands-on, deeply invested father.
But Paul was dead. Sylvie was not only alive, but provided a major chunk of Darcy’s hard-earned income. So on many levels it behooved Darcy to keep her mother placated.
“You know how it goes. Sometimes you have to make these sacrifices for the sake of family.”
“I suppose. It was so much easier when your father was alive and I could let him deal with those issues.”
Darcy had been called many things in her life, but she was pretty sure she had never before been an issue.
“Fine, then. Go do what you must. When will you be— Oh. Hold on a second.”
There came the rustling sort of crackle that made Darcy suspect the phone had been relegated to the side of the bed, followed by a lazy “Good morning, Matteo,” and something that sounded way too much like a long and welcoming kiss. Oh, goody. There was nothing as delightful as trying to conduct a conversation with Sylvie when her latest boy toy was in the room. All it took was one studly thing to make an appearance and Sylvie Drummond—sometimes known as the most driven woman on two continents—turned into a rather embarrassing pile of goo.
“Mom? Hello?”
“Oh. Darcy.” The throaty quality to Sylvie’s voice made Darcy want to shove her fingers in her ears and sing la la la, not paying attention. “I thought you had hung up.”
Yep. Testosterone walked in, five hundred brain cells marched out.
“Sorry. I need to confirm some dates with you. Before you get too busy,” she couldn’t help but add.
“Of course. Fire away.”
Darcy rattled off the requests, knowing full well from the faraway mmm-hmms on the other end that her mother’s focus was elsewhere. Sure enough, as soon as she paused, Sylvie pounced.
“You know, dear, why don’t you email all that to me? I’ll go over it later.”
Later, as in sometime when Matteo wasn’t around.
It had been this way for almost as long as Darcy could remember. It seemed like mere weeks between the time Paul died and the parade of new friends/uncles/possible new daddies had begun. As an adult, Darcy could look back and see that, yes, Sylvie had gone quite a while without adult companionship, and, yes, it was rather pathetic that she became so dependent on them so quickly. Most of the time Darcy rolled her eyes and gave thanks that she was no longer young enough to have to tag along when Sylvie decided to follow her latest love. Seeing the world was fine and dandy, but Darcy had inherited her father’s love of home. She was quite happy to spend her days in her snug little house, just her and Cady. And, usually, Ian. Who had turned out to deliver the kind of kiss that left her wishing it had gone on just a little longer—
Oh, no. Inheriting Sylvie’s hair and eyes was one thing. Inheriting her man-induced dizziness was quite another.
“Okay. I’ll email you. Better run, Cady’s waking up,” she lied. “Say hi to Matteo for me. I’ll talk to you next week.”
She ended the call quickly in case any rogue Sylvie genes were being activated by the contact, distant though it might be.
“At least that’s behind me,” she said to the robins perched in the crab apple tree next to the porch. They didn’t seem remotely impressed with her amazing strength and fortitude.
Though maybe that was because they were mind readers who knew that while a part of her was busy shaking her head over Sylvie, another part was reliving that quick kiss with Ian and wondering about the justice of a world where a grandmother was seeing more action than her daughter ever had.
* * *
SOMEWHERE IN THE TALK of Darcy coming along on this trip, Ian had forgotten one major point: the actual car ride.
He gripped the steering wheel and tore his focus from the traffic in front of him to do one of the status checks that had become routine after three-plus hours on the road. Cady: snoozing in her car seat. Lulu: probably asleep in her crate, if the blessed lack of yipping was any indication. And Darcy: swaying in the passenger seat, singing softly to whatever was coming out of the laptop perched on her knee. In denim shorts and headphones she looked more like a college student than a hardworking mother.
For the first time he wondered if talking her into coming along might have been a mistake. Being so close to her in the car was stirring up a crap-load of feelings, most of them pertaining to that stupid kiss. How was he supposed to prepare himself for a seriously awkward family reunion when his eyes kept drifting away from the road and over to where her shorts exposed a whole lot of leg? Long, slightly tan, totally toned leg.
And the humidity had seized control of her hair, making it extra wavy. Each curl was like an individual finger beckoning him closer.
And when she really got into the music, she did some motion with her shoulders that made her breasts jiggle beneath her T-shirt. All in all, being in the Mustang with her was way too dangerous, given that they were on a busy highway and he wasn’t supposed to be noticing her.
If he could think of something to get her talking at least the seat-dancing would stop. If only his brain cells weren’t being hijacked by his—
Thank God, right at that moment she hit a key with a flourish, punched the air and let loose with a little “yeah, yeah, yeeeeah,” before letting out a sigh of what he assumed was satisfaction.
“Ha! Take that you brain-stealing piece of busywork!”
“What were you doing this time? Something for your mom?”
“Nope. One of my other clients.”
“Ah. Another website?”
“Honestly.” This time her sigh held nothing but exasperation. Lucky for him, he could tell it was totally fake. “Author assistants do more than build sites, you know.”
“I know, I know. You set up contests, format ebooks and...other stuff.” He could go into more detail, but he didn’t want her to know how closely he’d paid attention to her work talk.
Come to think of it, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know how much he’d picked up about it, either. It smacked too closely of being...well...too close.
“Very good. You get an A for listening.” She closed the lid on the laptop. “But this time I was planning a social media campaign. Not horribly complicated, but it’s a royal pain. I’ve earned a break. So.” She peered out the window. “Where are we? Belleville?”
“Not quite. We just passed the Trenton exit. About halfway there.”
“Good.” She twisted slightly to look behind her. He glanced her way. Mistake. Between her movements and the grip of the seat belt, her neckline was pulled sideways. He tore his gaze away, but there was no erasing the image of peachy skin and white lace that was now branded into his brain.
Yep. This trip was a serious blunder. Time to remind himself of the real reason she was sitting beside him.
“I think Xander believed the lines we fed him yesterday. About us being—”
“Right.” She sounded surprisingly flustered for someone who had spent the first hour of the drive soothing a wailing child and a howling dog without breaking a sweat. “I have to say, you did a great job. Of pretending, I mean. If the business world ever loses its
appeal, have me introduce you to some of my mother’s cohorts. They might be able to make use of you.”
“Given some of the stories you’ve shared, I’m gonna say thanks but no thanks.” Especially because he hadn’t been acting so much as indulging his own needs at that moment—not that he would ever tell her that part. “But at some point we’re gonna have to come clean with him.”
“Yes. We should.”
Huh. She didn’t seem to have any ideas. Not what he expected from Darce.
“It’s your call,” he said slowly. “You’re the one who has the most at stake here. But I’m thinking, once we get back, we should probably be up front with him.”
“Right. I can tell him I was caught off guard by the jail thing, and you picked up on that and wanted to help.”
She was saying the right things, but they weren’t ringing true. But maybe she wasn’t sure how Xander would react. After all, she’d really known him only a few weeks.
“I can explain it to him. He might take it easier from me.” And if not, then Ian would rather any anger be directed at him than Darcy.
“You don’t need to—”
“Yeah, I do. It was my idea, remember? All you did was play along.” And he would forever be glad she had. Even not knowing everything that was happening, it had felt damned right to hold her close, to stand between her and someone who had caused her to look at him with that fearful appeal in her eyes. He might not be able to do a lot for Darce and Cady now—he didn’t have the legal knowledge to give her the advice she needed—but he had given her that.
“Still, I think if I explained things from my point of view, he’ll understand.”
“He probably will. But let me break it to him first, give him a chance to process it. You can go into the details later.”
“I don’t—”
“Darce. Trust me on this one, okay? It’s a guy thing.” Mostly his own thing, but let her think it was Xander’s ego on the line, not his. That would simplify life for all of them. “He’s going to be pissed, and he’s going to want to be sure that it was all for show.”
“And why should he have any say in that? He’s Cady’s father, yes, but that’s as far as it goes. He has no say as to what I do with my life, as long as Cady is safe and happy.”
“He just found out he has a daughter. Yesterday, when you first saw him, your instinct was to give her to me and trust me to take care of her. I took her inside. I fed her. I changed her frickin’ diaper.” And then I went back outside and kissed you, and everything changed, but I’m not going to dwell on that. “Cady is his daughter, but right now I’m the closest thing to a dad that she has. That’s going to eat at him. He’s going to want to know how deeply I’m tied to you two.”
Another reason why they had to end this farce sooner rather than later. The longer it went on, the more Xander would believe in it.
Ian’s own beliefs were totally irrelevant.
“I suppose you’re right.” The laughter had fled from her voice.
“I wasn’t blowing smoke last night when I said he’s basically a decent guy.”
“Except for wanting to take Lulu away from you.”
Crap, was that it? “Darce. He’s not going to try to take Cady away from you. Even if he wanted to, he just met her and he just got out of jail. He has enough to deal with already. Cady is probably the brightest spot in his life right now, but I guarantee you this, he’s smart enough to know he’s not in any position to try to be more than a very part-time dad for a long time.”
“I know. But...everything is happening so fast, and...”
He waited for one breath, then two. “And?”
“I...” She shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just me being—”
Three short beeps interrupted her words and had her diving for her phone. Damn it. Of all the lousy timing.
She pulled the phone from her bag, checked the display and frowned. It hit him that she’d been doing that a lot on this trip.
“Someone text-stalking you, Darce?”
“What? Oh.” Her laugh sounded strained. “No, I...well...I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I might have a bit of a problem. With, um, Nonny.”
“Is she okay?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means,” she said bleakly, “that I left a message for her last night, but she still hasn’t called me back.”
CHAPTER FIVE
THANK GOD FOR rest areas.
Darcy stepped stiffly out of the car and allowed herself one blissful moment to stretch every possible bit of her body before she had to dive back into Mommy mode. She reached overhead, clasped her hands, lifted her face to the sun and pulled everything she could pull.
“Dang, that feels good,” she said out loud.
She hated being confined. It hadn’t helped that the farther they went, the more she’d started to worry. About Nonny’s silence. And how Ian was going to readjust to his family. And what Xander’s reappearance would do to her family.
The worrying, however, had been almost a relief compared to the other thoughts that had flooded her imagination—thoughts of what would happen if Ian were to stop asking her about things she was already obsessing over. If, instead, he were to lift his hand from the wheel and settle it on her knee and remind her that Cady wasn’t the only one who could benefit from some distraction once in a while.
Between the fretting and the lusting, she had a pretty good idea how it would feel to be a jack-in-the-box, all coiled tight and ready to spring. If she were to take off right this minute, how many laps could she do around the crowded parking lot before Cady started crying?
The thought turned out to be purely hypothetical, for right then her little bundle of joy let loose with an impatient wail. Lulu joined in, setting the entire backseat in chaos.
Darcy glanced across the hood of the car to catch Ian’s eye. “Pay you a hundred bucks to deal with them.”
“You think I’m that easy?”
“Fine.” She huffed out an exaggerated breath and grabbed the handle, giving thanks yet again that Ian had opted for the four-door model. If she’d had to maneuver around a two-door when she was this stiff, she probably would sprain something.
Stifling a groan, she bent and reached for her squirming, wailing daughter. “Shh, Cady Bug. Shh. I know you want to get out of there. Give Mommy a minute.”
A sharp bark from Lulu cut through the indignant cries. Darcy looked up to check on the dog and saw that Ian, also bent over on the opposite side of the car, seemed to be focused on her. Or rather, on the spot where her shirt hung free at the neck, giving him a prime view of Cleavage Central.
“Oh, these stupid straps.” Pretending to fiddle with the buckle, she reached forward so her arm was closer to her body, pressing the shirt against her skin. Movement at the edge of her vision told her that Ian had backed away and was now staring intently at the latch on the crate’s door. She slipped the buckle and pulled her sweaty child free while chattering nonsense to sidetrack anyone who needed it.
“There you go, sweet cheeks.” So he’d been given a free show and he’d taken advantage of it. Okay. There was nothing there he hadn’t seen during the endless months of nursing.
“Are you ready for a diaper change? I bet you are.” It didn’t mean anything. They’d been in an awkward position and he was a man, and God knows, even a monk probably would stop and look if a woman’s shirt gaped open. Biology might not be destiny but it sure held the upper hand at times.
She slung the diaper bag over her shoulder, closed the car door with a quick hip check, jiggled Cady and finally looked for Ian. Luck was on her side. He was bent over and away from her, clipping the leash on Lulu’s collar. Not only did it mean she didn’t have to face him right away, but she also had a prime view of his—
“Crap!”
At that his head jerked around. “What?”
“Nothing. Nothing. The diaper bag started to slip.” Smile. Carefre
e. Don’t think about his butt. “We’ll meet you back here in a few.”
“Sounds good.”
Was he as eager not to look at her as she was not to look at him?
She popped Cady on her shoulder and aimed for the building.
“Darce?”
So close, so damn close to escaping...
“Listen, if you want to get her changed and bring her back to me so you can have a few minutes alone, feel free.”
Oh.
She made herself turn around.
“Sure. That would simplify things.”
He grinned. “Hey, that’s what friends are for, right?”
Yep. Friends. That’s what they were.
“Friends are good, right, Cady?” She glanced back to be sure they were out of earshot. “Friends are wonderful. We all need friends. Looking down someone’s shirt when she’s bending over, that doesn’t mean anything. Neither does noticing that someone has a really great butt.”
Cady twisted, her palm smacking Darcy in the face.
“Ow! You know, you could just tell me I’m being an idiot. There’s no need to get physical.”
Physical.
She dealt with the diaper in record time and returned to the parking lot. Ian held tight to Lulu’s leash while she barked and ran in happy circles.
“Here you go.” She handed the baby over gladly. “There’s a line, so I might be a while.”
“Not a problem. Take your time.”
Damn. Not only did he have a killer butt and arms that were all muscle and sinew thanks to his hours working at the forge, he knew the ultimate way to a mother’s heart: giving her the ability to go to the bathroom alone.
“I hope I see your mom while I’m there.”
“Why’s that?”
“I need to thank her for raising you so well.”
His eyebrows lifted. “It’s not possible that I’m a great guy on my own? There had to be a woman behind it?”
She hitched her purse higher on her shoulder. “I can’t believe you have to ask that. See you in a few. Be awesome, Cady.”
She strolled back to the building, reveling in the moments of freedom that lay ahead. Well, as much as a girl could revel while simultaneously trying not to fret. Or drool. Or remember how right it had felt to snuggle against a welcoming body, even if it was only make-believe.
A Family Come True Page 6