One silent second ticked by, then two, then three. The brothers exchanged glances, then nodded at each other.
“You’ll do,” Michael said, a grin breaking out across his face, “as a MacAllister.” He stepped forward and extended his right hand. “Welcome to the family…brother.”
Andrew eyed Michael warily, looked at his hand, his face, his hand again, then finally grasped Michael’s hand with his own.
“You’ve got a strange way of accepting someone into the fold,” Andrew said, unable to curb his own smile.
“That was partly a payback for the manner that you chose to make your existence known,” Ryan said. “You could have picked a better way than crashing a family gathering. But we’re also just checking you out. Hey, do you want me to arrest this jerk for popping you?”
Andrew shook hands with Ryan, then Forrest.
“No,” Andrew said, still smiling. “Don’t haul him in, Ryan. We’ll just leave it that I owe him one and let him worry about it.”
The three hooted with laughter, then sobered in the next moment.
“Our father, your father,” Forrest said, “wants to see you. He’s starting to get stressed out, wondering if you’re going to come back to Ventura, and he’s supposed to stay level, not get uptight about anything. We want to know—now—what you intend to do.”
“I’ve had a great deal to think about,” Andrew said. “I’m sorry if I caused your—our father to become upset. I haven’t had much experience in being part of a family and…Anyway, I’d made up my mind to go back to Ventura, get to know Robert better, even though I had no idea how the rest of the family felt about me, the fact that I exist.”
He rubbed his still-aching jaw.
“Now I know,” he said, smiling. “Anyone else waiting to take a shot at me?”
“Nope,” Michael said, then flexed his right hand. “You’ve got a MacAllister jaw, that’s for damn sure. I nearly busted my hand.”
“It would appear,” Ryan said, “that you’ve left some unfinished business with our cousin, Kara. We haven’t seen much of her sunny smile since you left town. We really miss Kara’s smile. Just thought I’d mention it.”
“Yeah, well,” Michael said, “you’re going to deck him if he doesn’t set things to rights with Kara, Ryan.” He peered at his hand. “I’m now officially among the walking wounded here.”
“You’re such a wimp, Michael,” Ryan said, shaking his head. “So? Ready to go, Andrew?”
“I have to make arrangements here. I’ve got a lot of projects in the works. I should be able to be in Ventura tomorrow evening.”
“Fair enough,” Forrest said. “We’ll tell our father to expect to see you the following day. That way, he won’t insist on staying up longer than he should tomorrow night. Okay?”
“Sounds good,” Andrew said, nodding.
“And Kara?” Ryan said. “What do we tell her?”
“You’re a real nag, do you know that?” Michael said. “I don’t know how Deedee puts up with you. Jeez.”
“She loves me, idiot,” Ryan said, glaring at Michael. “And besides that, I happen to be a wonderful guy, so put a cork in it.” He looked at Andrew again. “Well?”
“Don’t say anything to Kara about my returning to Ventura,” Andrew said quietly. “I’ll handle that situation myself.”
“Got it. Let’s hit the long road,” Michael said. “There’s a hundred miles between my lovely wife, my soft bed and an ice pack for my hand. We’re outta here, gentlemen and Forrest. Say, you up for a game of touch football sometime, Andrew?”
“Sure,” Andrew said, nodding.
“Good,” Michael said. “You’re on my team.”
“Hey, wait just a minute here,” Forrest said. “You can’t just snag him for your team.”
“I certainly can,” Michael said. “It’s based on seniority privilege. Andrew and I are the oldest MacAllisters. Eat your heart out, Forrest. See you soon, Andrew.”
“Yes,” Andrew said. “Soon.”
As the three men left the office, Andrew sat on the edge of the desk and replayed the entire scene in his mind. A slow grin crept across his face, and he once again massaged his jaw.
“I’ll do,” he said, nodding in approval, “as a MacAllister. And I’m even on a team to play touch football.”
In the next moment he frowned.
Kara had been unhappy since he’d left Ventura? Wasn’t smiling her sunny smile? What did that mean? She missed him? Wished he was there, close to her, holding her, kissing her, making love with her? Talking, sharing, caring?
Realizing she was in love with him and rejoicing in that momentous fact?
“Don’t go crazy, Malone,” he said with a snort of self-disgust. “It isn’t going to happen. Not now, not later, not ever.”
The next evening, after indulging in a long leisurely bubble bath, Kara dried herself with a fluffy pink towel, then hummed as she smoothed rich, lilac-scented lotion over her entire body.
She wrapped the towel around herself like a sarong that fell to midthigh, then tucked the end between her breasts to keep it in place. She smiled as she realized she was humming a lullaby, then turned to look at her reflection in the mirror above the sink.
“Hello, Mommy,” she said, still smiling. “How are things up on cloud nine, Dr. MacAllister, mother of a beautiful baby boy?”
She hugged herself in pure joy as she relived the telephone conversation of a few hours ago that was going to change her life forever.
She’d been alone in her office, catching up on patients’ charts after Lucy had gone home for the night. Her pager had buzzed, and as she saw the number on the tiny screen, her heart immediately began to beat in a wild tempo. With a visibly shaking hand she’d lifted the receiver and pressed the numbers.
“Answer, answer,” she’d whispered, as she heard the ringing on the other end.
“Hello?”
“Mindy? It’s Kara.”
“Oh, Kara, I’m glad you got back to me so quickly,” Mindy said. “I’m still down at the courthouse. The judge’s secretary pulled me aside and said that the judge was planning on working late and getting some cases taken care of. She knew your file was in the stack on his desk. I’ve been pacing around here like I was in a maternity waiting room.” She laughed. “Which, in actuality, I was.”
“What do you mean?”
“Kara, Kara, Kara, you’ve been approved to adopt your baby! I have the documents in my briefcase even as we speak. Congratulations, Mother. You have a son.”
“I…oh…I…” Kara said, then burst into tears.
“I love it,” Mindy said. “You’re so typical it’s wonderful. Have a good happy cry, then start making a list of what you need to buy for your kid. I know you’ve been too superstitious to set up a nursery. I’ve got to dash. My family is waiting dinner for me. I’m sincerely happy for you, Kara. You’re going to be a fantastic mother. He’s a lucky little boy. Bye.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Kara had said, sniffling. “Oh, and goodbye.”
Kara walked slowly out of the bathroom, then stopped and looked heavenward.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’ll be the very best mother I can possibly be.”
A knock on her apartment door caused her to gasp in surprise.
She wasn’t expecting anyone, she thought. She’d spent ages on the telephone sharing her happy news with her parents and as many of the MacAllisters she could reach. They’d all been thrilled for her. Andrea had said that the first order of business was to plan a baby shower for Kara-the-New-Mama, but none of them had said anything about coming over to celebrate with her tonight.
The knock was repeated and Kara hurried across the living room, acutely aware of her skimpy attire. She looked through the peephole on the door and her eyes widened.
“Andrew?” she said, her breath catching. “Oh, dear heaven, it’s Andrew.”
She slipped off the chain, unlocked the door and opened it enough to peer ar
ound the edge.
“Andrew?” she said, feeling like a parrot echoing herself.
“Hi,” he said, shoving his hands into his trouser pockets. “I know I should have called first, but…I wanted, needed, to see you.”
“Oh.” Kara glanced down at her towel-clad body and mentally shrugged. Andrew had seen her in less than this, had visually and physically traced every inch of her body. It was a tad late for modesty around this man. This man, who she loved so much and who would never return that love in kind. “Come in.”
Kara stepped back and opened the door wider so that Andrew could enter the apartment. He walked past her and she closed and locked the door.
“I…” Andrew started, turning to look at her. He stopped speaking as he slid his gaze over her from head to toe. “Ho-boy, I definitely should have telephoned before barging in here. You…you are so beautiful, Kara, and I know what’s beneath that towel and…” He shook his head. “Whew.”
“Well, so be it,” Kara said, smiling. “It’s…wonderful to see you, Andrew.” I love you, Andrew. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” he said. “I really did.”
“Does your being back here in Ventura mean that you’ve decided to become a part of the MacAllister family?” Kara said.
Andrew nodded. “Yes. I made that decision even though I didn’t know how anyone beyond you, Margaret and Robert felt about it. I didn’t intend to push myself on the others if they chose not to accept me. Then Michael, Ryan and Forrest paid me a little visit last night.” He rubbed his jaw with one hand. “They welcomed me into the family.”
“Did one of them punch you?” Kara said, none too quietly.
“Hey, don’t get excited,” he said, raising both hands in a gesture of peace. “It’s okay, it really is. It was a…a guy thing, you know what I mean?”
“Men are so weird,” Kara said, rolling her eyes heavenward.
“Mmm.” Andrew dragged one hand over the back of his neck. “You’re killing me here, Kara. Either go put some clothes on or…”
“Or what?” Kara said, smiling sweetly.
Oh, what was she doing? she thought frantically. She should march into the bedroom and get dressed. Her affair with Andrew had to end, because it was going nowhere but down a direct path to heartbreak.
But she wanted Andrew, wanted to make exquisite love with him. This was such a special night in her life. She had just become an honest-to-goodness mother.
It was foolish, she knew that, but she wanted to share this momentous event with the man she loved, the man she wished would have the role of father to her new baby son.
“Are you saying that this towel I’m wearing is…disturbing you, Andrew?” she said.
“That’s putting it a tad mildly,” he said, chuckling and shaking his head.
“Well, then, it just has to go,” Kara said.
She flipped the end of the towel from between her breasts, and the fluffy material fell to the floor, leaving her standing naked before Andrew.
He opened his mouth to speak, realized there was no air in his lungs and drew a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
“Well…” He cleared his throat. “Hell.”
Andrew closed the distance between him and Kara, wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her against his aroused body, his mouth melting over hers.
Kara raised her arms to encircle his neck, and her lashes drifted down as she savored his kiss.
The kiss was hungry, urgent, speaking of too many long lonely nights of aching for each other, missing each other, wanting each other.
Without breaking the kiss, Andrew lowered Kara to the plush carpeting on the floor, lying half on and half off her as his tongue delved into the sweet darkness of her mouth to find her tongue.
Kara shifted her hands to push gently against his shoulders, and he raised his head to meet her gaze, his breathing labored.
“You have too many clothes on, Mr. Malone,” she said close to his lips.
“You’ve got that straight,” he said. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
“I can’t move,” she said, smiling. “You dissolved my bones. Hurry, Andrew. I want you so much.”
Andrew shed his clothes, took steps to protect Kara, then returned to capture her mouth once more. They were on fire. Within moments they were unable to wait any longer.
Andrew moved over Kara, entered her and began a thundering rhythm that she matched, raising her hips to draw him closer.
They were flung up and away, seconds apart, each calling for the other in reverent whispers. Each declaring their love for the other in silent messages from passion-laden hearts and minds.
Andrew collapsed against Kara, his energy spent. He rolled onto his back, taking her with him as he wrapped his arms around her. She stretched out on top of him and raised her head to meet his gaze.
“Was that tacky?” he said, smiling at her. “I mean, I could have carried you to the bed, you know. But when you dropped that towel…”
“I’m wicked,” she said, matching his smile. “Naughty me.”
“Fantastic you,” he said. “Damn, you feel good on top of me. We fit together so perfectly.”
“I noticed that. Am I smushing you?”
“Never, Dr. MacAllister.”
Mommy MacAllister, Kara thought. The time had come to share her glorious news with Andrew.
“Let’s go into the bedroom,” she said. “I have something I want to tell you.”
“Okay,” Andrew said. “If I can find the strength to move, that is.”
When they entered Kara’s bedroom, she swept back the blankets on the bed.
“How’s that little guy in the nursery doing?” Andrew said, settling onto the bed and patting the space next to him.
Kara’s head snapped up and she stared at Andrew for a long moment, having the irrational thought that he was reading her mind. She shook her head slightly, then joined him on the bed, snuggling close to him, their heads resting on the same pillow. They shifted so they could see each other.
“The baby?” she said “He’s fine, doing really well. He’s gained some more weight and it appears that he’s fully withdrawn from the drugs that were in his system.”
“Good. That’s good.” Andrew paused. “I remember standing outside the nursery window on New Year’s Eve, which seems like an eternity ago, watching what I thought was a mother who had come from a party to feed her baby. I didn’t know it was you, because your face was in shadow. I was deeply moved by that scene, more than I can say. It filled me with a foreign warmth, because it was such a lovely picture and…I’m rambling.”
“Andrew, I—”
“Then you came out of the nursery,” he went on, “and I realized that I had it all wrong. You weren’t a mother who had wanted to spend the beginning of the New Year with her child. You were just helping out by feeding the baby while you waited for word of your uncle’s condition. But I still can’t forget how I felt from what I first saw. It was a very beautiful picture.”
Tears misted Kara’s eyes, and her heart nearly burst with love as she listened to Andrew’s words.
“That picture,” she said softly, blinking away her tears, “was real. It was exactly what you perceived it to be, Andrew.”
He frowned in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I received word earlier this evening,” she said, her eyes beginning to sparkle with joy. “The judge approved my petition to adopt the…Oh, Andrew, that darling baby, that special little miracle you gave the baseball outfit to is…is my son.”
“What?”
“I’m going to adopt him,” Kara rushed on. “I’m his mother now. I’m so happy, so grateful, so…I can’t even describe how I’m feeling.”
“Wait a minute here.” Andrew slid his arm from beneath Kara and sat up, turning his head to look back down at her. “You’re adopting the baby in the nursery? The one I held, fed, gave the baseball uniform to?”
“Yes,” she said, sittin
g up next to him. “The judge approved my petition to adopt him just hours ago. Isn’t that wonderful? I’m a mother, Andrew. Can you believe this?”
“No,” he said, moving off the bed. “No, I can’t believe it.” He spun around to look at Kara. “You’re intentionally creating a situation where that boy will grow up without a father because you want to be a mother?”
“What are you saying?” Kara said, the color draining from her face. “What are you so angry about?”
“Hey, I understand that there are women out there raising kids on their own due to divorce or death or whatever,” Andrew said, his voice rising. “But to purposely deprive that child of a father because you know full well you never intend to marry?
“That’s selfish, Kara. It’s selfish and wrong, and no, I can’t believe you’d do such a thing to that boy.” He dragged one hand through his hair. “I grew up without a father. I know what it’s like. What you’re doing isn’t fair to that baby, Kara.”
“Not fair?” Kara said, the volume of her voice matching Andrew’s as she grabbed the sheet to cover her breasts. “I’m going to love him with all my heart, be the best mother I can possibly be and—”
“When you have time.” Andrew planted his hands flat on the bed and leaned forward to speak close to Kara’s face. “You have a very demanding career, in case you’ve forgotten due to the glowing maternal mode you’re in. What do you plan to do—fit the kid in around the edges of your schedule, hand him over to an expensive nanny to raise?”
“How dare you—”
“No,” Andrew interrupted. “How dare you do this to that baby? He deserves a mother and a father. Even the most dedicated single mother in the world—and I know this is true, because Sally Malone was one…can’t be both. It just doesn’t work. The kid comes up short time after time. I lived it, Kara. I know what I’m talking about.”
“Your mother was all alone when she raised you,” Kara yelled. “I’m part of a huge supportive family, remember? My son will have plenty of father figures in his life, who will be there for him when he needs a man’s touch and wisdom and advice.
The Baby Bet: His Secret Son (The Baby Bet #5) Page 19