It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why his thoughts were so fractured, why his legendary control was so off-balance.
Alison Carter. Just picturing her in his mind was distraction enough, let alone remembering the night they’d shared in Hawaii. That night before his world imploded. He raised a hand to rub wearily at his forehead. So much had happened in the past few weeks, and he’d had so little power over any of it. His life had changed, and even though he was holding on to whatever he could, with a grip that was becoming more tenacious every second, he felt as if he was losing self-control. He couldn’t afford to fall apart, not with everyone depending on him—and sometimes the weight of keeping everything together bore down on him more heavily than it should.
But Ali? She was a beacon in the darkness. A reminder that life did go on. And for some reason just being around her calmed him. Well, he admitted with a rueful smile, maybe calm wasn’t quite the word he was looking for, not when his body reacted the way it did at the simple thought of her. Normally, he’d have worried about the strength of his response to her, the way she could push all other thoughts out of his head. Even the most passionate of his relationships in the past had never made him feel the way Ali had in just one night. Feelings that intense, especially on such a short acquaintance, should have seen him stepping back. But he couldn’t step back from Ali, not when just being around her was enough to make the weight of his grief and his responsibility fade. Surely there was no harm in indulging in that pleasure for just a little while longer.
He looked forward to seeing her again the next day, to treating her to lunch and getting to know her a little better outside of her efficient capacity as a baby planner.
His eyes focused on the harbor now, giving him an idea for what they could do for their lunch date. He spun his chair around and punched the speaker to talk to his P.A. in the office outside his.
“Maeve? Can you get me a list of restaurants on Waiheke that have helipads?” he asked.
“Restaurants. Waiheke. Helipads. I’ll get back to you shortly, Mr. Marshall,” his scarily efficient P.A. replied in a smooth tone.
His mother’s age, Maeve was one of those miracles of efficiency who made his job and quite frankly his life much simpler—even if she was old-school enough to insist on calling him Mr. Marshall and not Ronin, as he’d asked. As good as her word, Maeve was in his office ten minutes later with a printed list of restaurant names, website links, phone numbers and addresses, together with GPS coordinates. A perfectionist himself, Ronin appreciated her attention to detail.
“Is that what you wanted?” she asked as he scanned the list, his eyes alighting on the name he was looking for.
“Perfect,” he said, looking up. “Thanks.”
“Did you want me to make a booking for you?” Maeve began to turn to leave his office.
“No, I’ll handle this myself.”
Her step faltered on the carpeted floor. “Yourself?”
He looked up, meeting her surprised expression. “I do know how to make my own restaurant bookings,” he said drily.
“You might know how, but you never do it. This isn’t work-related—it’s personal. You’ve met someone, haven’t you?” she asked, her eyes alight now with curiosity.
Maeve had worked for him for five years, and they were a well-oiled machine. He’d never known her to ask an intimate question before. In fact, aside from the facts that she was unmarried and shared a rambling old Kauri villa in Epsom with her mother, he knew very little about her personal life, either. He raised an eyebrow at her and her expression sharpened.
“Don’t bother giving me that look,” she said sternly. “Everyone around here knows you eat, sleep and dream work in your downtime. If you even have downtime. I think it’s good that you have something other than work to look forward to in your life. Especially now. Life...” She hesitated a second or two, as if trying to decide whether or not she should continue before taking a deep breath and forging on. “Life is too precious to waste a moment or to let it pass you by. Everyone needs balance. It’s past time you found yours.”
“You think I’m unbalanced?” he asked, deliberately misconstruing her comments.
She made a sound of irritation that made him feel like nothing more than a difficult child. “Don’t twist my words, Mr. Marshall. You know exactly what I mean.”
Chastened, he gave her a half smile. “Yes, it is personal, and I’ll handle the booking myself. Thank you for the information, Maeve, I appreciate it. Oh, and could you book the helicopter for me for three hours tomorrow afternoon from one o’clock?”
“Consider it done,” she said, her smile making her look ten years younger. “And I meant what I said about not wasting a moment. If she’s special, you make sure you don’t let her pass you by.”
“What makes you so sure a woman is involved?” he asked, testing her knowledge and insight into him just that little bit further.
“Oh, please. If it wasn’t a woman, those estimates would be back on my desk by now, even with all you’ve been through these past two weeks,” she replied archly. “It’s a woman, all right.”
Ronin watched in wonder as Maeve left his office, closing his door behind her. He weighed her words carefully. She was right, as she always was, he conceded.
Ali truly was a distraction from his work—a distraction that he never would have tolerated before. But somehow he couldn’t bring himself to mind too much. With all he was handling, it might seem like now was the worst possible time for any diversions, but instead Ali was exactly what he needed—someone to pull him away from it all, to restore him for the challenges that still lay ahead. For once, he wouldn’t focus on the big picture. He wouldn’t make contingency plans, or find an exit strategy. He’d just take this unexpected source of pleasure that had fallen into his life right when he needed it most, and enjoy it while it lasted.
He ran his finger down the list of restaurants and stopped on one, then lifted the handset of his phone to make the lunch booking.
* * *
When Ali arrived at Ronin’s house, her car loaded with supplies for the nursery, he was waiting on the front porch for her.
“Looks like my bank account is getting a hammering,” he commented as he helped her carry several bags and boxes from the car.
“Looking after a little one isn’t cheap, and you did say you wanted the best of everything,” she pointed out.
“I would never settle for anything less.”
Upstairs, she exclaimed in delight as they entered the nursery. “Oh, the carpet square arrived. What do you think?”
“Am I supposed to think anything of it? It’s carpet.”
“That’s such a male response.” Ali chuckled as she slipped out of her shoes and let her stocking feet sink into the thick gray-and-white-patterned square she’d ordered for the room several days before. “Take your shoes off and feel it,” she urged.
Throwing her a quizzical glance, Ronin did as she requested.
“Doesn’t it feel divine?” she asked him.
“It feels like carpet.” When she cast him a disparaging look, he shrugged. “I can’t help it. I’m an engineer, not a decorator. That was more my sister’s forte than mine. She did most of the house for me.”
She’d done a lovely job of it, too, Ali thought. Even though the property could easily grace the pages of a home decorating magazine, it still had a homelike feel about it. As if you could just curl up on a couch in the living room and read a book without worrying about leaving marks on the furniture or flattening the cushions.
“She certainly had a knack for it,” Ali commented. “Right, well, I need to unpack these things and put them away, and then I’ll be ready for that lunch you promised.”
“I hope you’ll enjoy it. I’ve got something special planned,” he said enigmatically as he le
ft her to her own devices.
What did he mean by that? she wondered as she stacked packets of newborn diapers on the shelving in the cupboard. It was lunch, for heaven’s sake. How complicated could that be? The only way she’d find out would be to finish her morning’s tasks, she told herself, dragging her thoughts back to where they belonged. It was time to apply herself to the work in which she took so much pride.
Ali extracted a selection of babywear, which she’d hand-washed, from one of the carry bags she’d brought upstairs, and placed the clothing carefully into the chest of drawers against the wall. Once done, she looked around her. Her gaze alighted on the sheep mobile hanging above the crib, and she smiled. Aside from a few bits and bobs, there was only one thing still missing from the room, she thought as she tidied up the packaging and prepared to put it in the trash—that special baby smell and the infant who’d bring it. He’d be there all too soon, and then her work would be done. The thought was both reassuring and a little saddening at the same time.
It was the hardest part of her job, reaching the end of a contract. Knowing a new family was on the precipice of a shared journey that she’d never experience for herself. It was a feeling she’d become used to but that never made it hurt any less.
She picked up the pacifiers and airtight containers she’d bought for storing them in and took them downstairs to be sterilized. As she neared the bottom of the stairs she heard a door down the corridor to her left close.
“You’re all finished?” Ronin asked as he strolled down the hall toward her.
“I just need to sterilize these and then I’m all yours.”
“I like the sound of that,” he answered. “And I hope you’ll like the sound of what I’ve got planned for you.”
“I’m intrigued,” Ali admitted with a grin. “Any hints?”
“Be patient and you’ll find out,” Ronin answered with an enigmatic smile.
He took her through to the kitchen, where she extracted the sterilizing equipment from the bottom of a cupboard.
“Here,” Ali said, gesturing to the items she’d collated on the benchtop. “I’ll instruct, you do.”
“Me? Won’t the nannies be doing all that?” he asked, taking the pacifiers from her and staring at them as if they were something to be dissected and studied.
“Absolutely. But you should still know what to do, even if you have the nannies here around the clock. I think you should still be hands-on.”
“My sister trusted me enough to put her son in my care, so I guess I owe it to her.”
Together they went through the steps outlined on the packaging. They were just finishing up when Ali heard a beating rotor noise, which got louder and louder and then tapered away, like a helicopter being shut down.
“There’s that clue you wanted,” Ronin commented. “Hungry?”
“You’re taking me to lunch in a helicopter?”
“Ever been in one before?”
Ali shook her head. She’d always wanted to ride in one, but the tour flights offered in the city were so expensive.
“Then you’re in for a treat.”
Ali got her things together quickly and followed Ronin out the big sliding glass doors that led out through the kitchen and family room. Sure enough, about fifty meters from the house sat a gleaming black helicopter with the words REM Consulting emblazoned in gold on its tail.
“This is yours?” she asked incredulously.
“Well, it’s my company’s, to be more precise. While we contract overseas a great deal, about forty percent of our work is here in New Zealand. Sometimes we need to get to places that commercial flights and hired cars can’t get to quickly or easily.”
Ali tried not to look overawed as Ronin introduced her to the pilot and then handed her up into the cabin, but she had a feeling she failed miserably. There, he showed her how to buckle her seat belt and adjust her headset before he climbed in next to her. Her stomach gave a delighted flip as the pilot completed preflight checks and the machine lifted into the sky. She’d already thought the view from Ronin’s house toward the harbor was without par, but this bird’s-eye view was truly amazing.
The rain from earlier in the morning had cleared and the sun shone on the rippled surface of the sea as they flew toward Waiheke Island. In far too short a time, they descended outside what looked like a vineyard with a restaurant. Ronin showed her into the restaurant building, where a cheery fire burned in a fireplace in one wall. This early in autumn it wasn’t strictly necessary, but it lent a delightful ambience to the dining room.
She couldn’t remember ever having anyone pay her quite as much attention as Ronin did. She and Richard had known each other so long and had been so comfortable together they’d lost touch with the little things that made a marriage sparkle like new again. It scared her that she was enjoying herself so much and that Ronin could make her feel so special and, with each lingering glance, wanted. She’d have to be made of stone not to respond.
“See anything you like?” he asked as they perused their menus.
Oh, she saw something she liked, all right. And it had nothing to do with the menu in her hand. It was something more like forbidden fruit. A delight, once tasted, that remained forever on your tongue, inciting a craving that was almost too hard to resist. Almost.
Ali dragged her gaze away from the man seated across the table and scanned the menu again.
“It’s too hard to choose,” she said on a huff of air. “There’s so much on here that I love. Why don’t you select something for me? I promise you, you can’t go wrong.”
“Whatever the lady wants,” he replied, lifting his gaze to mesh with hers briefly.
Ali felt her whole body bloom under his attention, her senses coming to life like a neglected garden after a drenching rain. His unrelenting interest in her was both thrilling and terrifying in equal proportion. She wanted to take a step back, to create a sense of safety and space between them—a distance between right now and that night in Hawaii. But could she hold out against his allure? More importantly, did she really want to?
Six
Ronin savored the rising tide of desire that ebbed and flowed through his veins as he watched Ali enjoy the food he’d chosen for her. He’d always considered it chauvinistic to order for a woman, but when Ali had surrendered the choice to him, he’d felt a sense of honor that she’d entrusted him with the job.
Her tongue swept her upper lip as she finished the last of the ripe camembert from the cheeseboard and crackers he’d selected as their dessert. He remembered, all too well, how that tongue had felt on his body, and he wanted to experience it again.
Softly, softly, he reminded himself. There was a wounded fragility about her that he’d discerned beneath the capable businesswoman who’d taken over the nursery at the house. He had a feeling it wouldn’t take much to frighten her away, and that was very definitely the last thing he wanted to do.
“Good?” he asked, as she took a sip of the Pinot Gris he’d chosen to go with their meal and sighed.
“Perfect. Everything is perfect.”
“I aim to please,” he said lowly, letting her see in his eyes that he meant to please her in all things.
To his delight a flush of color highlighted her cheeks and she dropped her gaze, her dark lashes sweeping down to hide the expression in her eyes. But he could see the sudden flutter of her pulse at the base of the pale column of her throat. He ached to kiss her there again. Soon, he promised himself. Soon.
The other day she’d mentioned a time when she’d been at a crossroads in her life. The engineer in him wanted to pick what she’d said apart, to understand exactly what had happened to give her that air of fragility he saw when her guard was down. It was only after you pulled something apart and put it back together that you could fully understand a problem and begin to solve it.
But, while fixing problems was something he was very good at, he sensed she’d throw her barriers back up again if he attempted to pick her pain and her troubles apart. No, he had to go slowly, to let her come to him in her own time. Still, he considered as her eyes lifted to his again and he saw the warmth in them reflecting back at him, there was no harm in stepping up the pace just a little.
After lunch the helicopter returned to fly them back to the house. Before they did, Ronin asked his pilot to take them on a low-flying scenic journey of the inner harbor and its islands. Ali’s excitement and pleasure in the flight was palpable, and he found himself smiling in response as she exclaimed over yet another feature she recognized beneath them.
At the house, after they’d disembarked from the chopper and gone back inside, she turned to give him a beatific smile.
“That was, without doubt, the best lunch of my life,” she gushed. “It was amazing, Ronin.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I did, too.”
“I really don’t know how to thank you properly.”
He took a step closer to her, his hands reaching for her waist. “I do,” he said firmly, and pulled her toward him.
Her lips were soft and lush as he claimed them, and he was hard-pressed to control the urge to take them fiercely, to plunder their sweetness. He’d meant to let her come to him of her own volition, and he’d taken a risk doing this, but a surge of exaltation washed through him as her lips parted against his and her tongue slid between his lips.
Her kiss was so giving, its effect so instantaneous, that a tremor of need shuddered through him. A groan escaped his mouth as her form molded to his, as she fitted herself against him, her softness absorbing all of him that was hard and aching. Fire lit in his groin, sending fingers of heat to scorch through his body and igniting a powerful passion. One that clouded rational behavior and grew stronger and more demanding every second they touched.
Ali’s hands rose to his head, her fingers threading through his short hair and holding him close as their tongues met and retreated, only to meet again. He was starving for her, all of her. The pulse in his body made him harden even more as desire overcame thought and reason, making its demands clear. He pressed his hips against hers, groaning again as his erection nudged her pelvis.
The Child They Didn't Expect Page 6