Mountain Man's Accidental Baby Daughter (A Mountain Man's Baby Romance)

by Lia Lee

  He'll protect me, she thought with wonder. He'll protect me and our children.

  In that moment, she could feel something inside her open and thaw that had been frozen before. She didn't have a name for it, but it flowed around her, through her, and circled her and Luciano, making her smile.

  ***

  They had had a light dinner at a small bistro, and after they had both eaten, Pearl felt Luciano's gaze on her.

  "What is it? Did I get some of that spinach on my teeth?"

  "Not at all. Only...I have a question for you."

  "What is that?"

  "Let me keep you."

  She stared at him, wondering at the strangeness of his words.

  "That's not a question,” she pointed out finally, and he shook his head.

  "It's not, is it? Forgive me, I'm not very good at this. You have an apartment in Florida that's just about empty and no job down there. I'm not sure you should have a job at all right now when you're trying to nourish children inside you. Leave Florida. Come stay in Manhattan. I have a place that can be just yours for the duration of your pregnancy if not longer. Let me give that to you. Please."

  "You want to keep me like a mistress," she said, her tone half-accusing, and to her surprise, Luciano grinned.

  "Believe me," he said, his voice weighted with sensuous promise. "If you wanted to be my mistress, I would certainly say yes. I would love the idea of you waiting for me, open to receive me whenever I called..."

  Pearl couldn't help a subtle shiver from racing down her spine. Would she like that life, living for Luciano's whim, greeting him with an impassioned kiss every time he came in the door? There was a small part of her that liked that very much indeed, and perhaps the larger part did as well, but right now, she couldn't afford to indulge it.

  "Be serious," she said, and he nodded, professional again.

  "I have every intention of taking care of these children," he said bluntly. "This means taking care of you as well."

  "Just while the kids are inside me?"

  He grinned at her turn of phrase, but he also shook his head. "I'm not such a monster as to think that children are walking adults by the time they are born. Children need their mothers, and yes, a more long term arrangement should be made. We will need to talk about that at some point, but that's not what I'm talking about today. Today, I'm talking about the pregnancy on its own.

  "Let me keep you. Let me keep you close. You can't tell me that it wouldn't be safer for you. A pregnancy like this one, it's easy for things to go wrong. Having someone around...that would make it better, wouldn't it?"

  Pearl couldn't disagree with him. Dr. Arora had said she was healthy and that everything was going the way it should be going, but that didn't change the fact that the human body did not frequently deal with carrying four children at once. Even having twins could push her into a high risk pregnancy, let alone having quadruplets. Even the phrase alone made her a little nervous.

  "And what about after?" she asked, unable to keep some of the strain from her voice. "When the kids are here, do we...do we split up? What?"

  A guarded look came over Luciano's face, and she wondered what was going on behind those dark eyes.

  "After...perhaps we will leave that to itself. There is quite some time to go yet, and it is important to make sure that you are healthy now."

  "Yes, I understand." Pearl took a deep, calming breath. She knew her days of making impulsive decisions were behind her, especially now that she was going to have children to think about.

  "Do you agree?"

  "Yes, I do," she responded, and she wondered what in the world was going to become of her.

  ***

  Luciano left Pearl eating dinner at the restaurant he had taken her to, and he stepped into the lobby to make some calls. If he were going to be the politest possible about it, he would have stepped out onto the street, but at the moment, he couldn't bear to let Pearl out of his sight. It had been like that ever since Dr. Arora had given them the cautions about Pearl's pregnancy. Pearl seemed to take them in stride, confident about her body and her ability to manage. Luciano didn't doubt her, but there was a deep and pervasive fear that had set in for him. He didn't want her out of reach, and he knew he would have to get it under control sooner rather than later.

  Getting his Manhattan penthouse set up for long-term habitation was easy enough. They would probably be ready to move in the next day. Getting the apartment settled relaxed him, but that rest only lasted for a few minutes. He tensed whenever he thought about what would come next, when the babies arrived.

  They were already so real to him, four children born of himself and his mermaid. He had never understood love at first sight before, but now he knew it had more to do with the spirit than with anything like touch or scent or vision. He already loved their children fiercely and without reserve.

  He was fairly certain he loved their mother too, and that was a bigger problem.

  Luciano was man enough to know that his pride was hurt when they had talked about marriage. The disgust and contempt in her eyes was shocking, but she was a free spirit who went her own way. He hadn't expected her to be a mistress, but the entire idea seemed to repulse her.

  He wondered if it was possible for him to change her mind by the time the babies were born, but he knew better than to gamble on the human heart. All he could do was try to win her over, and in that regard at least, he had some experience.

  He realized he was gazing at her across the restaurant, taking in her profile, marking every curl of her short blonde hair. God, but she was beautiful now. How much more beautiful would she be when she was further along? When she was feeding their children from her small and lovely breasts?

  Luciano shook his head. If he wasn't careful, he would simply dissolve into a lovesick fool, unable to convince her or seduce her into seeing his way, but he was already wondering if it was too late.

  Chapter Eleven

  A week later, Pearl was startled by how easy it was to settle into life at Luciano's Manhattan penthouse. The penthouse rested on the sixtieth floor of an elegant building, sealed from the noise and dirt of the city, and she could have practically anything she wanted sent up to her. There were restaurants on some of the floors below, Luciano had staff who would send for anything that wasn't food, and if she was feeling poorly, Dr. Arora was on call.

  "I think it's strange," she said to Luciano finally. He raised an eyebrow at that.

  "To...have everything you want?" he asked, and she grinned.

  "I'm not so much of a martyr to think that everything has to be hard, but this is too easy, isn't it? Don't you ever get tired of having everything brought to you at the push of a button or a call?"

  Luciano hesitated. He was staying at the penthouse too, of course, but he spent hours working as well, maintaining the fortune and his family's place in the world. Otherwise, they spent more time together than Pearl had anticipated. They were together more often than not, and at first in awkward fits and bursts, and then far more naturally and smoothly, they were learning how they fit together.

  "I...usually don't spend this much time at home," he agreed cautiously, and Pearl laughed.

  "Ha, knew it. I read the Internet. You're a playboy pure and simple, and I've been keeping you at home like an anchor."

  He frowned. “‘Anchor’ makes it sound like I would rather be sailing around the city. Believe me, Pearl, you're not making me do anything I don't want to do."

  Pearl raised an eyebrow at his words, and she climbed out of her chair to come sit next to him. That was another thing that had happened. She wondered if it was her pregnancy hormones responding to the man who had fathered her children, or if it was just the native attraction between them, but she wanted to be close to Luciano, to touch him. Through some kind of mutual understanding, they hadn't given in to the occasionally unbearable urge to kiss again, but being close...that seemed to be something they both needed.

  "So...are you telling me tha
t the great Luciano, playboy of Europe, North America, South America and certain parts of Asia, would really rather have been staying at home this entire time? Are you a secret homebody? Would you rather be playing Scrabble?"

  Luciano laughed at her, catching her hand in his. She shivered a little as he traced her palm with his thumb. It was strange how he could bring such an enormous response out of her with just that.

  "No, not exactly. A few months ago, the idea of staying at home for a full week would have startled the hell out of me. I like to be going, and seeing and being seen. It's all part of the life, really. Now, though...I want something else."

  Pearl swallowed. God, it was hard to joke when he looked at her with eyes like that. They were so dark she thought she could drown in them, and then what would she do?

  "And what you want is to play Scrabble?"

  He grinned.

  "What I want is to be with you," he corrected. "If you wanted to go out, we would go out. I had assumed that in your delicate condition..."

  Pearl smacked him gently on the arm, grinning. "Don't ever assume about something like that. I'm pregnant, not frail or fragile. Even Dr. Arora said I can do a lot of things this early. I don't want to waste the time, especially if my later stages are going to be tough. Let's go out tonight then. If you don't mind being seen with a pregnant mermaid, of course."

  Luciano laughed, but he gave her a considering look. "What would be best? I'm not going to lie, there was a lot of drinking and dancing when I usually went out..."

  "Well, drinking's out, though I guess you can if you want, and I don't mind dancing, but..." She bit her lower lip, suddenly shy, and Luciano tilted his head at her.

  "What aren't you saying?" he asked, and his voice was so gentle and caring that she could have cried.

  "I miss the water," she said finally. "I just... I miss being in the water so much. I haven't been since I found out about being pregnant, and I left the water park, and got a waitressing job, and... It's just been too long."

  The words came out starker than she had thought they would, but there was a truth there she couldn't really hide.

  Luciano squeezed her hand, more comforting than anything else, and there was a deep gleam of compassion and understanding in his eyes.

  "Just because you are pregnant does not mean you need to give up the water."

  "I don't know anything about the beaches here," she said helplessly. "In Florida, in the islands, I know where to go. Here, it's a mystery. Everything is so contained."

  "Hm. Does it need to be a beach?"

  She shook her head. "Beaches are nice, but it's the open air and the open water. Sometimes I dream about it, and when I wake up and find myself so high in the air..."

  She shook her head, because the penthouse was perfect. She didn't want to criticize it, but Luciano understood.

  "Let me make a few calls," he said.

  ***

  "I feel like I really should have asked more questions," Pearl said behind her blindfold, and Luciano laughed.

  "Well, that'll teach you to make agreements before reading the fine print.” He held on to her hand gently, leading her along. She could feel his attention on her every step, ready to swoop in and grab her if she so much as stumbled. She had put on the blindfold in the car, and he had led her up a ramp and then into an elevator. They’d ascended for what felt like forever, and then he had led her through a door. There was a fresh breeze that told her she was outside, and she could hear the sound of...lapping water?"

  "Luciano, what is this?"

  "Let me take off your blindfold," he said softly.

  She waited impatiently as he drew it away, and then she gasped, looking around.

  They were high above the city on a broad rooftop, and instead of being a plain concrete courtyard or even a garden, it was a deep pool. The pool was irregularly shaped with flat rocks lining the edges, and there were tendrils of steam rising from the water against the chill of the evening. The entire affair was lit with soft yellow lights from the water, giving the place an otherworldly glow.

  It looked, Pearl thought, like a place where mermaids would sing and play.

  "It's so beautiful," she said, hushed. "What is this place?"

  "It's a development property I picked up a few years ago. It was meant to be a luxury hotel, but it never quite made it. I suppose it makes sense. New York is only so clement a short amount of the time. Nothing like the Caribbean...”

  Pearl couldn't take her eyes off of the water. The small, rippling waves from some underwater agitation device threw the light back in lovely ways, and she knew how very good it would be to slide in, to be fully immersed again.

  “You look stunned,” Luciano teased, and she tore her eyes away from the water to smile at him.

  “I am, a little,” she said. “I had never thought that a place like this could exist. Not in the city. Not crowded with dozens of people who are far richer than me.”

  Luciano shrugged playfully. “Very few of them are going to be richer than me. That ensures some privileges at least.” For a moment, he looked down, oddly shy. “Do you...want to try it? It's up to you, but I thought...”

  “Of course I do,” she said, and he smiled. There was a real beauty in watching him smile, she thought. It was as if the sun had come out after a long and stormy night. Luciano turned to reach for a bag she hadn't noticed, drawing out a dark new swimsuit.

  “I thought you might...”

  Luciano's mouth opened around the next words, but he never got a chance to say them. Pearl simply grinned, continuing to strip until all of her clothes were left in a careless pile on the rail next to her.

  “I'm going to be honest, I've never felt much need to be modest around water.”

  Luciano's eyes dropped to her body, and for a moment, despite her bravado, she wanted to cover herself nervously. Her body had changed so much, even just after four months. She was being remade to support a child, no four children, and it was different enough from her lean swimmer's build that she blushed a little.

  “It's different, but you are so very beautiful.” Without seeming to notice he was doing it, Luciano reached for her, his fingertips grazing the curve of her shoulder, the aching roundness of her breast, before she stepped back.

  “Not until you are naked yourself,” she insisted, and with a grin, he stripped as well.

  His body was as she remembered it, powerful and lithe. He stood without shame with her, the water casting bright shivers of light over his body. His hands were on his hips, almost as if he were offering himself to her.

  “Do I need to catch you again?” he asked. “I hope to God that pregnancy has slowed you down at least a little bit...”

  “No,” she said, though she had to admit that night had been on her mind more often than she might have preferred. “Just...come into the water. Swim with me.”

  Pearl sighed as she stepped into the water. It was beautifully warm, just a few degrees above body temperature, and the heat leached away a stress she hadn't known she was carrying. There was so much that was uncertain, so very much that was out of her control, but the water had not abandoned her. In the water, she trusted herself, and she pushed away from the side of the pool with a lazy kick.

  “Where did you learn to swim?” she called over her shoulder. “You were good when you were saving that girl. Maybe a little less good when you were chasing me.”

  Luciano's laugh was low and delighted.

  “I learned to swim in the Mediterranean,” he said, coming to tread water close to her. “My cousins threw me in, and I learned very quickly how not to drown at least. After that, my uncle taught me to swim as an apology for his sons. I suppose I should have been terrified, but I always loved it so very much.”

  “The water is safe,” Pearl admitted. “If it wants to hurt you, it will, but...most of the time, if you respect it, it won't.”

  Pearl took a deep breath, ducking deep under the water and turning so she could look up. The lights abov
e, even from a few feet down, looked utterly distant. Her hands drifted to her belly again. She wondered which of her children would be swimmers. Would the water call to them as it had called to her? Would they hate it, be afraid of drowning?

  She popped back up to the surface, nearly right underneath Luciano. He laughed when she appeared, wrapping her in his arms for a quick hug before letting her go again.

  “Was this what you had in mind?” he asked, and she splashed him with a grin.

  “You know very well that you have delighted me beyond all measure. Are you fishing for compliments now?”

  “I like to hear good things about myself. But mostly I want to see if I was right.”

  “You were,” she said immediately, “This is delightful. If I could live here, I would.”

  “I suppose this would be the best place for a mermaid in Manhattan. If she couldn't be in the Caribbean.”

  There was something a little rueful in his voice that made Pearl stop her lazy laps for a moment. Instead, she swam up to him, hooking her arm around his and drawing him to one of the flat rocks nearby. There was a softly glowing lamp right above it that allowed her to see his expression more clearly.

  “What's wrong?” she murmured, and his look was positively brooding.

  “Did this trap you?” he asked softly. “Your life now is very different than what it would have been if we had never met.”

  “I was never going to get rid of a baby that I had conceived, I decided on that very early on,” she said, but then in a flash of insight, she realized what he was actually asking. Feeling almost daring, Pearl reached for his face, laying her hand alongside his cheek. She turned him until he was facing her, and she made sure she was looking directly into his eyes.

  “I don't regret meeting you,” she said softly.

  Nakedness didn't matter. Being unclothed in front of each other was nothing compared to the way they felt now. There was nothing between them, as if their souls were suddenly free to mingle in a way that allowed no barriers at all. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Pearl wondered if she would ever look on herself as being a thing entirely independent again. For better or worse, it felt as if Luciano was a part of her.