by Leroux, Lucy
Matthias straightened, preening silently.
Peyton narrowed her eyes at Liam. “You’re being evasive. Ethan’s not going to be a problem. You’re worried about Trick, and I don’t understand why.”
Liam’s face tightened.
“I know when you’re hiding something, Tyler. Spill it,” she ordered.
He set down his glass with a loud clink. “All right, fine. I am worried about Patrick.”
“Why?”
He scowled. “Haven’t you noticed how different he’s been lately?”
“No,” she said. “Other than being ridiculously happy now that he’s married.”
Liam dismissed that with a flick of his fingers. “He’s always been happy-go-lucky, with the exception of that time he didn’t know where Tahlia was, but now they’re together, he’s…different.”
“You’re not blaming her?” Peyton didn’t understand. Tahlia was the sweetest, kindest woman she’d ever met, with the possible exception of Maggie. Peyton was lucky to call her a friend.
“No. It’s just that since they got together, he’s so…so…”
“He’s what?”
“Religious. Like church on Sundays rain or shine—and not because Thalia is making him go either.” Liam scratched his head. “It’s all him. I think she’d rather sleep in on Sundays. He even goes on Wednesdays sometimes, too. It’s weird. I wasn’t even sure we had all been baptized until Trick checked on it so the archbishop would perform the service at his wedding.”
Peyton frowned, checking Matthias’ reaction, but the other man simply shook his head. “I don’t know the man well enough to comment.”
“Well, I do,” she protested. “Patrick may have found God, but he’s still Trick. He loves you, and he’s just as loving and open-minded as he ever was. He would never attend a church that tried to change that about him.”
Liam wasn’t convinced. “That’s easy to say, but I honestly don’t know how he’ll handle this sort of relationship.”
He reached for the champagne bottle again. “But let’s worry about that later. We should hammer out a few other details, like a traveling agreement. Sooner or later, I’m going to need to check on our hotels. Trick and Maggie are covering everything adequately now, but Thalia is six months pregnant. Trick is going to want to stay home with her the closer she gets to her due date. And he won’t be able to travel at all once the baby is born.”
“I’m happy to point the Ormen Lange in the direction of whatever continent you need to visit,” Matthias offered.
“That’ll help, but sailing around on this island isn’t going to cut it. We’re going to need to fly sometimes.”
Matthias expression soured.
“You’re not afraid to fly, are you?” Peyton asked.
“No, but I find planes…pedestrian.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Liam smirked. “The Ormen Lange is amazing, but it’s too slow. I’d like to make a rule that we don’t spend more than a few days apart unless we absolutely have to—a week at the most.”
Peyton decided to pour herself a glass of champagne. “I like this rule.”
“It’s a fine rule,” Matthias conceded, patting the fabric of his chair as if he were telling it goodbye. “Very well, I agree. But, sometimes, we may need to take a break from each other, too. I propose that Peyton keeps her stateroom next door, and you get one across the hall. By default, we’ll stay in mine, since it’s the biggest, but none of us should be afraid to speak up and tell the others we need some time alone when we need it.”
“I don’t like that rule,” Liam growled.
“But it’s smart,” Peyton interjected. “Thank you for suggesting it,” she told Matthias.
“A natural peacemaker,” he observed.
“She learned running interference for her drunk of a father.”
“Liam,” Peyton warned. “Do not harsh my buzz by bringing up my dad.”
Matthias sniffed. “Why don’t we add that one to the rules?”
“Agreed,” Liam muttered, watching her out of the corner of his eye. “And we need to discuss something else. Birth control. We haven’t been using anything. And since we haven’t, I’d like to skip the condom route. I never had anyone bare before, and I don’t want to go back—not with you.”
He took her hand. “I can assure you that I’m completely clean. Like I said before, it’s been a while for me. I got a complete workup after Matthias.”
“Thanks for that.” Matthias laughed.
“I know where you’ve been,” Liam sniped. “And I’m fine. You’re obviously clean, too. Otherwise, you wouldn’t run the risk of me killing you for touching Peyton, but pregnancy is still a concern.”
Peyton’s lips parted. “It’s, uh, taken care of.”
“It is?”
“I’m taking some shots.”
“Oh.” Liam settled against the bench.
“You almost look disappointed,” Matthias said, voicing the obvious.
“I’m not,” he said unconvincingly. “It’s too soon for family planning.”
“It sure is.” Peyton giggled nervously.
“That’s fine. For now.” Liam leaned forward. The look that followed sent her temperature shooting up several degrees.
“But I want you to know this. Now that I’m in…I’m all in. Eventually, I will put a baby in you.”
Chapter 28
As much as Peyton cherished Liam’s declaration and his determined stance on their future, in the coming days, she wished he’d kept his mouth shut.
For years, she’d dreamed about marrying Liam and having a family with him. At thirteen, she’d gone so far as to name their three imaginary children—Olivia, Ella, and little Liam Junior. However, ever since Liam mentioned babies, Matthias had subtly withdrawn.
He acted as if nothing were wrong, joining in enthusiastically when she requested they resume their sex life, but, in the morning, he was gone, spending most of the day in his office.
Liam didn’t seem overly concerned. Apparently, Matthias spent a lot of time working during their earlier affair. He hadn’t minded because it gave Liam the excuse to resume his own work. He set up camp in one of the Ormen Lange’s many utilitarian conference rooms so he could work remotely.
Left to her own devices, Peyton bought a new computer at their next port. She resumed tinkering on some of the personal coding projects she’d put on hold when she’d gone to work in Silicon Valley.
On impulse, Peyton also signed up to take part in a bug hunt—one of several programs that gave coders behind the scenes access to various websites and programs. The objective was to let white-hat hackers find bugs and vulnerabilities in the software. The programs grew bigger every year. Some coders did it for the prestige and satisfaction of solving a problem that others didn’t know existed, but for many—including her—the interest was a touch more mercenary. She was in it for the bug bounties, which was cash awarded for successfully finding a substantial flaw in the code.
Liam or Matthias would have been happy to give her money. In fact, Matthias had set up a bank account for her, but she hadn’t touched it. Accepting their gifts was one thing. Most were clothes or items of jewelry they wanted her to wear. It gave them pleasure, so she went along with it. But she didn’t like the idea of being completely dependent on them. Plus, she enjoyed coding. Tracking down bugs was satisfying.
Peyton also threw herself into another project—cracking Priya. Peyton was determined to make friends with her. She wanted to make nice with the other staff as well, but Priya was her white whale. When the elegant Indian woman began to agree to have lunch on a semi-regular basis, Peyton was thrilled. She was even more excited when Priya began to confide in her. However, Priya’s first major slip about her boss threw Peyton for a loop.
“He’s a what?”
“Matthias is a widower.”
The delicious puttanesca pasta they were eating was forgotten.
“I had no idea,” Peyton said. She wasn’t sure how ol
d he was—mid-thirties at the most. He didn’t seem old enough to be widowed.
“He must have been married very young,” Peyton said after a long pause.
There were no signs of Matthias’ marriage on the Ormen Lange. In her time on the boat, she hadn’t seen any portraits or pictures of him with a woman. In fact, he’d didn’t display any photographs of himself at all. The only portraits were oils or photographs of older relatives.
“It’s not a secret, at least not among the staff. It was before my time—before he decided to live on the yacht year-round. It was a terrible accident. She was expecting at the time.”
Peyton gasped “His wife was pregnant when she died?”
Priya began to look uncomfortable. She pushed away the glass of white wine Peyton had talked her into drinking.
“Yes. It was incredibly sad. Mr. Raske is very protective of his privacy when it comes to the public, but since you’re here now on what appears to be a long-term basis, with Mr. Tyler, no less…Mr. Raske was very attached to him at one point. Well, to be honest, I thought you knew.”
“He hasn’t mentioned it, but don’t concern yourself. The one thing I’ve learned about Matthias is he likes to live in the moment.”
While Matthias answered almost any question he was asked, he didn’t volunteer much about himself. When a past adventure was mentioned, or a place he visited was discussed, it was usually Liam who brought up the subject. Matthias didn’t appear to enjoy trips down memory lane.
She could only imagine how he felt about losing his wife. His pregnant wife. Christ. No wonder he’d reacted so badly when Liam brought up babies. Matthias and his wife had been on the verge of starting a family when he’d tragically lost her. He must have been devastated.
Priya’s face was tight with guilt, so Peyton took pity on her and decided to change the subject. “Can I ask you something. Is it weird, having Liam and me…err…around? At the same time?”
Priya smiled. “The staff knows better than to question our employer’s choices. All I will say is we are enjoying your stay. Mr. Tyler’s as well. Most of our employer’s guests aren’t appreciative of our efforts. Most never bother to learn our names.”
That was something Peyton had learned from the Tylers. “Liam always made it a point to learn the name of everyone who worked for him, even when he was an insufferable know-it-all teenager. He has a memory like a steel trap. I haven’t nailed everyone’s name as well as he has.”
“You could have fooled me. From what I’ve seen, you haven’t stepped wrong in that respect at all in the last week.” Priya hesitated. “I hope you won’t mention I was the source of your new knowledge, even though I don’t believe there’s a reason to hide it. As I said, it’s an open secret on the boat, but it might be somewhat uncomfortable for me if Matthias believes I was gossiping about him.”
“He’ll never know it was you. I swear.”
Peyton was dying to ask her more details about Matthias ill-fated marriage, but Priya was done for the day. She excused herself before Peyton could work up the courage.
Peyton spent the rest of the afternoon on the deck with her computer, coding in between breaks to reapply sunscreen. However, she was too distracted to get much work done. The mystery wife consumed her thoughts.
Matthias showed no signs of mourning, so his marriage must have ended ages ago. Ended in tragedy. Peyton winced, picturing a beautiful blonde Nordic goddess, the female counterpart to Thor-lite.
She was going to have to talk to Liam. Peyton needed to make sure he dropped the subject of babies. Matthias was obviously sensitive about the subject—and rightly so. It would also be a good idea to shut down that kind of talk for her sake.
Yes, she wanted children. Liam had laid out her most secret desires with his declaration. But things were more complicated now. Matthias was now a part of her dreams of the future, and she would be damned if she were going to let their third’s bluntness threaten their potential.
But Liam was a force of nature. Keeping a man like him in check would be like trying to stop a tsunami.
Well, there’s no time like the present. Determined to stay ahead of any problems, Peyton set aside her work to hunt Liam down. It was easy. He was in the northern port-side conference room, his makeshift office.
His eyes lit up when he saw her. He pushed away his laptop—a first in her experience—and beckoned her with his finger.
Flushing, Peyton hesitated. It was almost as if a bright spotlight had been thrown on her. “I came here to talk, not have sex.”
Liam threw her a wicked grin. “Why can’t we do both?”
Rooted to the spot, her body flashed hot and cold, amazed she wasn’t running to tackle him. This had been her fantasy for years. Every time she had walked into his office at the Caislean, she had wanted him to throw her on the desk and ravish her. Damn his timing.
She found her voice a beat too late. “Because…I’m not sure it’s a great idea to leave Matthias out of our sex so soon.”
Liam cocked his head. “As long as we make time for him, too, he’s not going to have a problem with it. He said as much during our ground-rules talk. Besides, he’s smart enough to know you and I are going to need some one-on-one time. We have years of repressed desire to work out. And yes, I know that’s my fault. But he’s not stupid. Why else did he wait until I was on board to take your virginity?”
Peyton risked getting closer to him. She leaned against the edge of the wide oval table he’d commandeered. “You have to stop gloating about that. I don’t need you strutting around like a plundering Viking.”
“Am I not allowed to be happy you waited for me?” Liam batted his disgustingly thick lashes at her.
“No. Because I very nearly didn’t. It certainly wasn’t my intention. You’re just lucky that men suck. I can’t count the number of times a guy stood me up on the second or third date.”
Liam grunted something unintelligible.
She frowned. “What?”
He swore, slumping in his chair. “I said they didn’t all stand you up. I may have been…redirecting their attention elsewhere.”
Peyton rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised?”
She should have been angry, but, frankly, she was past that. Those half-hearted efforts to date had been sad attempts to forget the man in front of her. Now he and Matthias were hers. If she could just keep them both on track, that was.
“Well, just imagine if you’d let one of those guys keep that date. I might never have been kidnapped and sold at a virgin auction.”
His eyes darkened, his hands fisting in front of him. “Don’t say that. Those monsters would have taken you anyway. A lot of terrible things could have happened to you. Your virginity was the only thing protecting you.” Liam straightened, making a visible effort to control his temper. “But that’s all in the past. You’re safe now, and both Matthias and I are going to make sure you stay that way.”
It was almost a declaration of war. “Simmer down, gladiator. I’m under no immediate threat. Except maybe from you.”
His head drew back. “Me?”
“I learned something. Suffice to say, you have to stop talking babies in front of Matthias.”
He frowned. “Why?”
She rubbed her fingers together, trying to find the right words. “Did you know Matthias had been married before?”
Liam stroked his chin. “Yeah, he mentioned it when we first met. Why?”
“And did you know his wife was pregnant at the end?”
His eyes widened, face clouding. “I didn’t know that. All I know is what he told me. He didn’t mention anything about a child.”
“Well, the baby was lost when she died. Apparently, it’s an open secret on the Ormen Lange. But that’s why your talk of children is premature. We were being insensitive. It’s not your fault—we didn’t know.”
“Um, Peyton, what are you talking about?”
“That you can’t charge through and dictate how things are going t
o be. Not about this.”
Why didn’t he understand?
“But, Peyton, you’re wrong. Matthias didn’t lose his wife. He divorced her.”
* * *
“What did you say?” Needing the support, Peyton sat on the conference table.
“Lise, Matthias’ ex-wife—the woman isn’t dead,” Liam repeated. “She lives in Paris.”
“Oh.” Peyton didn’t think Priya would have lied to her. “Well, that’s what the staff believes. And they think he lost both wife and child in some sort of tragic accident.”
Liam pursed his lips. “It sounds more like a patented Matthias misinformation campaign.”
“You mean he intentionally lies about his marriage?”
“I don’t know. Like I said, I hadn’t heard this widower rumor before. But it wouldn’t be the first time Matthias let someone believe something about him that wasn’t true. And this detail about a pregnancy is rather specific, isn’t it? It could be the truth. We should ask him. I wouldn’t want to poke an open wound.”
Peyton groaned, wondering how their secretive billionaire partner would react to such invasive questions. “You’re sure his ex is alive?”
“And kicking,” Liam drawled. “I took the liberty of checking her out after he brought her up the first time. After the divorce, she settled in France, in a huge apartment just off the Champs-Elysees. She is a renown hostess, spending her king’s ransom of a divorce settlement on parties, art, and haute couture.”
“Maybe she’s treating her loss with some tried-and-true retail therapy,” Peyton suggested. “A lot of couples have a tough time making it work after losing a child.”
“Well, should we be so unlucky, we won’t let something like that happen to us.”
Peyton raised an eyebrow. “The three of us, Liam. We have to be in this together with Matthias.”
“Babe, I wasn’t excluding him. It’s simply hard for me to talk in a way that makes that clear.”
“It is clear,” a third voice said.