How in the world was she supposed to resist this man?
Then his words sank in. “Borrow a cup of sugar?” she asked. “Don’t you have neighbors for that?”
“I do now,” he said with a grin that turned her knees the consistency of ice cream left out in the sun too long. He cocked his thumb toward the unit next to hers. “I moved in next door to you this morning.”
“What are you talking about? I didn’t know the place was up for sale.”
“It wasn’t. I made an offer they couldn’t refuse.”
“There hasn’t been enough time to close an escrow. It must have been some offer.”
He grinned. “I’m renting back from them until the paperwork clears. And it was a generous offer. My lawyer informed me that I’ve inherited a lot of money. I can do anything I want. Especially since I have motive and means.”
“Motive?”
“You won’t marry me, and I want to be around for the baby.”
When he shrugged one broad, masculine shoulder, Madison’s mouth went dry. Why did he have to do that? Why couldn’t he manage to be a little less masculine? It would be so much easier on her. But, no. He could be the world-renowned spokesman for macho. And as if that weren’t enough, there was that small tuft of chest hair that just barely curled over the top of his T-shirt. It made her want to slide her palms up under the material, run her hands over the bare muscular contours and…
This was crazy. This way he had of distracting her. Surely he wasn’t serious about living next door to her.
“You’re pulling my leg,” she said.
He made a cross over his heart, on that mouth-watering chest. “On my honor, I’m telling the truth.”
“Then you’re spying on me.”
“Spy is such a harsh word.”
“True nonetheless, since you didn’t bother to deny it.”
She flinched, then a delicious shiver skipped over her when he shrugged again. A distraction. Something to blunt the force of his incredible appeal was what she desperately needed. “Look, can we talk about this another time? I’ve got bags of groceries still in the car. I’ll assimilate my feelings, then—”
He walked past her through her living room. Over his shoulder he said, “I’ll get the bags out of the car. You shouldn’t be carrying them in your condition.”
“Wait a minute. I didn’t invite you in. I haven’t decided how I feel about your underhandedness,” she said, hurrying after him like a passenger who’d just missed the train by seconds.
He’d disappeared when she reached the kitchen. A moment later she heard her trunk slam shut. Then he reappeared with the remainder of her groceries, carrying them in one hand. It would have taken her three trips, on tired legs that wanted to be elevated. She had to admit she was glad he’d been there. But she would only admit it to herself. And only for a split second. It felt too good not to come home to an empty condo, and she didn’t want to get used to it. As soon as he realized she wasn’t someone he could care about, he would be gone. And she wouldn’t blame him.
“I didn’t hear what you said,” he commented, pulling milk, eggs and lettuce out of one bag.
“I said you’re an underhanded sneak. Why didn’t you tell me you were moving in next door?”
“I didn’t want to get your hopes up until I was sure the deal would go through.”
She unloaded her bag of potatoes into the bin in the pantry. “You are the most arrogant man. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that you were afraid I’d clobber you. This withholding of information?”
He narrowed his gaze on her. “Are you angry?” he asked, not responding to her accusation.
She stood by the island, absently taking grocery items out of the bags. “Angry, annoyed, aggravated, agitated.”
“All those negative A words can’t be good for the baby. Or are you just showing off your vocabulary?”
She smiled. She wasn’t sure how she felt, except that it was wonderful to see him. And she was annoyed that it was so wonderful. But he was looking more relaxed than she’d seen him in a long time. Probably because of the baby, she reminded herself. Was it possible he wanted this child? At least it took his mind off what he was going through with his parents. But that was the only reason he was here. She must never, ever make the mistake of believing it was about her, no matter how much she might want to.
“I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this,” she admitted. “When I figure it out, you’ll probably hear the explosion and smell the smoke, especially now that you’re so close,” she said wryly.
“If I hadn’t been here, unloading these groceries would have taken you twice as long,” he said, wadding up the last bag and throwing it in the trash.
“Counsel will so stipulate. A strong back does come in handy.” Her heart skipped a beat when he grinned.
“Okay, hide behind legal double-talk if you have to. But you and I both know the truth.”
“And what’s that?” she asked, praying he hadn’t a clue.
“Having me around will be a good thing. I can fetch, carry, cook a mean peanut butter sandwich and assemble anything that you might need assembled. I’m a pro bono handyman. Just pound on the wall and I can be here in a heartbeat.”
Madison glanced at the wall separating her unit from his. She prayed it was thicker than she thought. One flimsy wall between them. It wasn’t nearly enough.
More important, there was something she needed to make him believe. “This is the last time I’m going to bring this up, Luke. But I want to put it out there…. You said you want to have a say in all the decisions regarding our baby. I respect that, and I’m glad you want to be included. I would never keep this child from you.”
“If you say so, Maddie.”
So much for making him believe. Still, considering what he was dealing with regarding his family, she could hardly blame him. But she had bigger fish to fry. Like how she was going to resist him right next door when her libido got the better of her.
That told her instantly how she felt about his close living quarters. Scared with a capital S. Would that flimsy plaster-and-wood barrier be enough? It had to be. No way would he care about her.
But she had an awful feeling that if she let herself care for Luke, unbelievable pain and devastation would follow. She couldn’t let that happen.
She’d meant what she’d said about including him in the baby’s life. But hers was strictly off-limits to him.
Chapter Eight
The day after carrying Maddie’s groceries, Luke was loading some boxes from his old place into the back of his car. Manual labor had been good to take his mind off the chaos in his life, but he admitted it was losing some appeal.
Just then a familiar vehicle pulled up behind his. When he saw Joe, Alex and Rosie get out, he knew why. He also recognized they had their stubborn faces on. He recalled the bet he’d made with Maddie about convincing his siblings that he was no longer a member of the family, and knew that reinforcements had arrived and his uphill battle was about to commence.
The three of them walked toward him, and he braced himself, resting his back against the car as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Hey,” he said. “What are you guys doing here?”
Rosie’s dark eyes narrowed, and her curly dark hair blew in the breeze as she put her hands on her hips. “So many bones to pick with you, so little time,” she said, shaking her head. “For starters, we’re here to tell you what a blockhead you are.”
“Don’t sugarcoat it, Ro. Tell me how you really feel.” He looked at the others and made a show of counting heads. “Three. Someone’s missing? Where’s Nick?”
Alex cleared his throat. He had the brown eyes and wavy dark hair all the Marchettis shared but was more slender than Joe. “We tried to get Nick to back us up, but he refused to waste his breath again. He told us he tore up your letter of resignation and said to tell you from him that you’re a stubborn jackass. A moron. An idiot.”
“If you guys came to call me names—” he shrugged “—maybe we should go inside.”
“Yeah,” Joe said. “We wouldn’t want your neighbors to know what a dolt, a dunce—”
“Enough. I get the message.” Luke led the way up the sidewalk.
Joe was right behind him. His coloring was the same as the others, but his body type was a little different, more like a football player. “We want to know when you’re going to quit pouting and come back to work.”
“I will not admit to the pouting part. As far as coming back to work? I don’t know that I am,” Luke admitted, holding the door open for them.
“Ever?” Joe asked, astonishment in his voice. They entered the unfurnished living room that now had boxes scattered around. “You can’t mean that.”
“On the contrary. My lawyer has informed me that my father left me a sizable inheritance along with a profitable business.”
“But we’re family,” Rosie protested.
“Only half,” Luke clarified. “Mom’s half. Dad—Tom—built the business for you guys. Under the circumstances, I think it would be easier if I walk away.”
Alex stood beside Rosie and folded his arms over his chest. “Don’t you think you should talk to Dad and let him make the decision?”
“I think if I do it quietly, it will save everyone the time, trouble and awkwardness of easing me out.”
“What makes you think we want you out?” Alex demanded. “Have we indicated by word or deed that we feel any differently about you? You’re the same stubborn, opinionated, hardhead we know and love.”
Angrily Rosie tossed a long strand of hair over her shoulder. “Years of bonding don’t disappear just because you found out your biological father is someone else. Mom and Dad opened their arms and hearts to my husband, Steve, when he was just a mixed-up kid. They treated him like a son. But you are their son. They love you. We love you. You’re part of this family as much as any of us. Nothing can change that.”
“Something did. The fact that our mother had an affair and I’m the result,” Luke said angrily.
“I knew the folks had problems at one time,” Joe admitted. He looked down for a moment, then met his gaze. “Ma told me about it when I was having trouble making a commitment to Liz. All my friends seemed to be splitting up and there was a childhood memory I couldn’t put to rest. It was the only time I saw Ma cry.”
“What did she tell you?” Luke asked.
“That she was unfaithful. They split up. I was the only one who saw her cry when Dad left, and it stayed with me. For years I went on about how they’d had a perfect marriage, but refused to let myself fall in love. After Ma and I talked, I got past it. Thanks to her, Liz and I resolved our differences and couldn’t be happier now.”
“And you didn’t see fit to tell the rest of us?” Luke demanded.
“Ma gave me her permission, but I didn’t see the point of rehashing it, embarrassing her,” Joe explained.
“So she stopped short of telling you I was the result of her infidelity?” Luke said, his gut twisting with anger because he’d had the props knocked out from under him.
“She was protecting you, not herself. And if she had filled me in, it wouldn’t change the way I feel about you. The way we all feel about you,” he said, glancing at Alex and their sister who were nodding. “Or the way the folks feel about you.”
Luke studied their faces and could see nothing but sincerity in the familiar features. “It doesn’t bother you that they kept the truth from all of us?”
Rosie sighed. “I have two children. If I didn’t, it might be hard, maybe downright impossible to understand why they kept this to themselves. But I can see that they were giving you a safe, secure life. It’s what parents who love their children do. Ma told me no one was ever supposed to find out. They’d agreed to keep it secret for your sake.”
“And no one else thinks that’s wrong?” he asked, searching their faces for a sign that they agreed with him.
Rosie met his gaze. “How would you have felt as a child knowing this? For Pete’s sake, you’re a grown man now and having difficulty with it. I’d go so far as to say you’re behaving like a child. And I have to tell you, Luke, it’s pretty unattractive.”
In spite of his churning feelings, the corners of his mouth turned up. Leave it to Rosie to tell it like it was. Not unlike the pretty redhead he couldn’t seem to get out of his mind. Maddie. He couldn’t wait to see her again. In fact, now that he lived next door to her, the phrase “so near, yet so far” had new meaning for him.
“I haven’t made a final decision about work yet,” he said, changing the subject. “But I don’t want to keep you hanging. You’ve got a business to run.”
“We’ve got a business to run,” Joe said. “As the human resources director I can tell you to take all the time you need to think this through. Although I can save you time and effort. The right decision is to come back to work with us.”
“If you don’t care about us, think about your baby,” Rosie said.
“You guys know?” Luke asked, surprised.
Feigning exasperation, Alex shook his head. “I can’t understand how you could grow up in this family and act amazed when the meddling Marchettis behave true to form. Of course we know. We all know you and Maddie spent the night together after my wedding. We all know Abby saw her at the obstetrician making another appointment. It’s not a big leap to make the connection that she’s carrying your baby.”
Luke rubbed a hand across his face. “If we’re talking about true to character, you all probably knew before I did. Maddie kept me in the dark. I can’t say for sure that she was ever going to clue me in.”
“Of course she was,” Rosie said confidently. “She was just waiting for a good time to spring the news on you. In her shoes, considering what you were going through, all of us would have held off telling you about becoming a mother.”
Joe cleared his throat. “Don’t look now, Sis, but since I’m biologically incapable of being a mother, I would have nothing to hold off about.”
Rosie slugged him playfully, and Luke felt as if he was the one who took a punch. He hadn’t realized until seeing them—the playfulness, the support, the caring—how much he’d missed his brothers and sister. They were so much a part of his life and always had been. Could he trust that they were sincere about their feelings? That his different DNA strand made no difference in the way they felt about him?
As if she could read his thoughts, Rosie moved to Luke’s side and put her hand through the crook of his elbow, then rested her head against his shoulder for a moment.
“As I have been so rudely and insensitively reminded, none of you bozos can understand what raging hormones feel like,” she said. “But I can sympathize with Maddie. She was the one who had the unenviable task of telling you about your father. In her shoes I would have waited to spring the news about a baby. You need to stop taking it out on her that your father isn’t who you thought he was.”
“Rosie’s right, Luke,” Alex said. “Given the same circumstances, I probably would have done the same thing. You can’t hold it against her that Nick was the one who broke the news. Give her the benefit of the doubt. You know you would have if it wasn’t for all this other stuff.”
Luke had thought the same thing himself. But his world was rocked. He didn’t know who he was. How could he know what he would have done? Now that he knew the full significance of having vital information withheld, it was damn hard to brush off something as important as not telling him she was pregnant with his child.
He covered Rosie’s hand with his own. “You’re all going to jump down my throat, but none of you knows what it feels like to walk in my shoes.”
Joe folded his arms over his chest. “Maybe not. But I know you pretty well, Bro. And I’d bet that you want what the rest of us have.”
“Which is?”
Rosie looked up at him. “Someone special and a family,” she said simply.
Alex st
uck his fingertips in the pockets of his slacks. “I know you don’t want to hear that Ma is right about anything, but we all agree with her about this. You and Maddie are perfect for each other.”
Luke laughed. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
Rosie squeezed his arm and gave him a dazzling smile. “Atta boy. Words to warm a meddler’s heart. You have absolutely convinced me that you and Maddie are a match made in heaven.”
“You guys are a bunch of incurable, hopeless romantics. Ma has you all brainwashed,” Luke said, shaking his head.
“When you can find it in you to forgive her,” Joe said, “you’ll see that Ma’s right when it comes to matters of the heart. And she and Dad have done a damn fine job raising us, including you.”
Luke put a hand over his shirt pocket, making sure the letter his biological father had left him was still there and not misplaced in the move. He wasn’t convinced that he could ever forgive his mother for deceiving him about something as basic as who he was. But talking to his siblings had somehow lightened his heart. He’d missed them. He was grateful to them for stopping by to call him names. Nothing else could have convinced him more completely that they still felt the same about him.
Rosie gave his arm a quick hug, then let him go and looked around at the boxes. “So do you want to tell us what’s going on?”
“I’m moving into the condo next to Maddie’s.”
Joe gave him a look that said if he was any dumber, he couldn’t be trusted by himself. “Wouldn’t it be simpler to move in with the mother of your child? And here’s a wild idea—marry her?”
“I already tried that. She turned me down.”
Rosie clasped her hands together and grinned like a fool. “I knew it. Like I said, perfect for each other.”
The Last Marchetti Bachelor Page 10