He stared down at her, surprised, she supposed, that she would contradict him. “Unfortunately for you, my dear, you’ve forfeited your rights to the boy by keeping him from me. Therefore, he goes where I say from this moment forward. And he’s going to New York City, with or without you.”
“You’re mad. I haven’t forfeited a thing. I’m his mother, and any court would rule in my favor.” Did he truly think she hadn’t an inkling of a woman’s rights when it came to her child? The laws were not so much in favor of the husband or father of the child as they once had been. Woman was no longer merely man’s chattel.
“My lawyers will eat yours for breakfast.” His tone was dismissive, matter of fact. “No court will give custody of an infant to a woman who has deceived the father and intentionally withheld the boy from him. A woman who is living in a home filled with ladies of the night, no less. I have an endless well of funds and the best law men that money can buy.”
His words shook her, but she was determined not to let it show. She would fight him tooth and nail. “I won’t let you take my son from me,” she vowed. “I don’t care if you have all the blood money in the world and a legion of law men at the ready.”
“Then you had best pack your bags, madam,” he commanded icily, “for you’re America bound.”
“No.” She was not about to allow him to cow her, to make her bend to his wishes merely because he was a man and he was accustomed to getting his own way. “You cannot buy Theo, and you cannot buy me. Nor do you own us. We are staying right here in our home, and there isn’t a thing that you can do about it.”
“You don’t understand, do you? I can do whatever the hell I please.” He was angrier than she’d ever seen him and it almost frightened her. He gripped her shoulders now, his palms like hot brands even through the fabric of her dress and undergarments. “Damn you, Helen. Why did you keep him from me?”
Perhaps it had been wrong of her not to tell him about Theo, she acknowledged inwardly. He did have a right to know he had a son. But that certainly didn’t mean he had a right to try to take Theo away from her. “I understood that you had returned to America to wed your heiress. I didn’t wish to disrupt your life. What good would it have done?”
“There would have been no disruption. He’s my son and he belongs with me.”
Her mind whirled, trying to find ways of dissuading him from the road he was hell-bent upon charging down. “You aren’t thinking about this properly. When your anger cools, you’ll see that there is no need for anyone to ever be the wiser that Theo is yours. Your bride will not want a bastard beneath her roof.”
His jaw clenched again. “He’s not a bastard. He is my son. Take me to him now, Helen. I want to see him.”
“He is napping,” she protested, partly because the mother’s instinct in her feared that he would snatch Theo away and ride off with him and partly because she didn’t think her heart could bear the sight of him holding their son in his arms at last.
“Wake him. I’ve traveled an ocean to see him.”
There was an undercurrent of emotion in his voice, something more than mere anger. And it fractured her. She closed her eyes, steeling herself. “Please don’t try to take him from me, Levi. I couldn’t bear it.” Her voice broke on the last words as tears threatened to overtake her. She wasn’t too proud to beg, not for the sake of her son. Everything had changed from the moment she’d first looked upon his tiny, precious face. Theo was her world now.
“Wake him.” He was unrelenting as ever.
Had she expected him to crumble in the face of her tears? He was the same man he’d always been. Harsh. Immovable. “Very well.” They were at an impasse, but now that he was here, she would no longer deny him. “Follow me.”
She turned and hurried down the hall, Levi close behind. Maeve descended the steps ahead of her, Theo in her arms. “Oh my lady, I was just coming to get you, I was. The little lord woke with a hungry belly.”
Theo wailed into the silence. Helen hastened to take him from Maeve, patting his bum and cooing to him softly. “Thank you, Maeve,” she said.
Maeve eyed Levi, clearly not sure if he was a welcome visitor or an unwelcome one. Helen wasn’t sure either.
But Levi had eyes only for his son. His hard expression softened to one of awe. Helen fought the urge to cry anew at the sight. There was no denying the truth in the way he looked upon Theo. The little life they had created together was the one thing that could crack his seemingly impenetrable shell. Mayhap Levi Storm had a heart after all.
He closed the distance between them, reaching out to gently cup Theo’s cap-covered head. “He isn’t a lord. He is a commoner, like his father. He is a Storm, and he can wear that mantle with greater pride than any title in the land.”
Theo let out another shrill wail in response, his face crumpling. He turned toward her, seeking sustenance, rooting against her bosom. She flushed, meeting Levi’s gaze. “I must feed him.” Oh dear. Surely he didn’t mean to hover over her while she nursed Theo.
“Feed him then,” he said, relieving her for the moment. “You needn’t look at me as if I’m a complete ogre. I well understand that a babe has needs.”
At least she could retreat from him, attempt to gather her wits and her emotions both. “Maeve will prepare you some tea while you wait.”
This was a brief reprieve and she knew it. The battle between them had just begun. Helen turned and ascended the stairs before she embarrassed herself by bursting into tears before him.
Chapter 12
“Do you wish to hold him?”
Levi stared at the babe Helen held against her bosom as though she were protecting the child from the devil himself. And maybe she was. If ever Levi had felt weaker or more low in his entire life, incontestably it was now, looking upon his son. How could he ever be worthy of such a pure, innocent life? How could he, who had never known a father, now be one?
Levi hesitated, uncertain of what to do next. He wanted to hold his son, of course he did. He never wanted to let him go. He would raise him with love, in a happy home where he never need fear where his next meal would be coming from or whether or not he’d have a roof above him. The emotion bursting in his chest was almost too much to comprehend. He was simultaneously elated and terrified of the tiny being before him.
The tiny being had a name, he’d discovered. Theo.
“Go on, Levi.” Helen’s voice was gentle yet urging. She held the baby out, it seemed, with the greatest of reluctance. But she offered him nonetheless, a living, breathing olive branch between them.
He was not ready to forgive her for keeping Theo from him. But he reached out and took the beloved bundle from her, cradling his son against his chest in an awkward pose. “Hello there, son.” He met eyes the same startling blue as his own. Theo grinned up at him as if to return his greeting.
Helen hovered close, her beautiful face etched with worry. They were well and truly alone now, closed off in a formal parlor away from the prying eyes and ears of the home’s other residents, with nothing but their ghosts and their son between them. He glanced briefly back up at her, feeling equal parts fury and desire for her. It had been so long since he’d seen her, touched her, kissed her soft pink lips, and breathed in the fine scent of bergamot and rose. God in heaven, he’d missed her. He’d missed her every day since she’d walked away from him, and Jesse’s letter had given him the reason he needed to cast his pride aside and bring her back to him where she belonged.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t still furious with her, for he was. But everything had changed when he saw Theo for the first time. All of his righteous indignation had been vanquished by a towheaded baby with Helen’s nose and cherubic cheeks. Had she truly expected to keep their child a secret forever? Had she meant for him to never know his own flesh and blood? She had much to answer for, but there remained something he must do above all else. Jesse had told him to make it right, and so he would.
“He will have my name, Helen,” he said fir
mly.
“He has my family name, which is a good and proud name,” she protested.
“It will be changed.” In this, he would not waiver. His son would be a bastard no more. “As will yours.”
Her eyes widened. “That isn’t possible. Perhaps for Theo, but not for me.”
His mind whirred ahead, undeterred by her lack of enthusiasm. Levi didn’t have a habit of leaving anything to chance. Not any longer. “Of course it is. I’ll make it known that we were wed in secret before Theo’s birth. I can make certain that no one will ever be the wiser.” Theo babbled happily then, stealing Levi’s attention again. It would seem that he had his son’s approval at least. “I’ll not have it be said that my son is a bastard.”
He had been a bastard. An unwanted child with no name, no home, and no father he’d ever known. He’d been a burden to his ma, who had loved him in spite of the grief he must have caused her as an extra mouth to fret over feeding. It would be different for his son. He was bound and determined to make it so. He owed that to Theo and to himself.
“Have you gone utterly mad? You cannot be married to two women at once, Levi, no matter how much money you possess.” Helen was in high dudgeon now, twin dots of scarlet anger on her high cheekbones, her hands planted firmly on her hips. She was every bit as stunning as ever, damn her, and he wanted her every bit as much as he ever had. More, even.
“I’m not married, Helen.”
Her expression turned to one of shock. “What of Miss VanHorn?”
“I didn’t wed her.”
“But you returned to America to do so.”
No, he had not, but he wasn’t prepared to discuss that with her just now. There wasn’t a need for it as nothing would change the straits in which they found themselves, two people hopelessly at odds with each other. “I didn’t wed her,” he repeated.
She searched his gaze. “You cannot mean to marry me.”
He did and he would. Once his course of action was planned, he never strayed from it. Not ever.
“You’re the mother of my son. We will wed as quickly and quietly as possible.”
“You are mad.”
“Not any more than I’ve ever been. This is what needs to be done, Helen.”
“What needs to be done according to you?” she scoffed. “I don’t need you and neither does Theo. We have been getting on fine in your absence and will continue to do so when you leave.”
“I’m not leaving,” he countered. “Not without you both. I’ll not have my son be known as a bastard. You needn’t be stubborn about this, Helen. Can you not see what is best for the child?”
“Of course I can, and it isn’t my being trapped into a loveless marriage with a tyrant. Give him back to me now,” she demanded. “Please.”
Theo had fallen asleep, his sweet face nestled trustingly against Levi’s waistcoat. He wasn’t about to relinquish his son so quickly, tyrant that he was. Hang it, but she knew how to goad him. “He’s sleeping. There’s no need to disturb him.”
“Please, Levi. Give me Theo and leave us alone.”
Helen stared at him, her worry evident. Did she fear that he would simply take Theo and ride into the sunset, never to be seen again? She loved the boy, that much was apparent. But she was thoroughly wrong-headed when it came to deciding what was in the boy’s best interest and what was obviously not. Because he was in Theo’s best interest, damn it, and he was in Helen’s best interest too, if she’d only take the time to consider it.
He ruthlessly tamped down a surge of sympathy that rose within him. She had kept their son from him, had denied him of the most basic right of even knowing of Theo’s existence. He must not forget that.
“I’ll decide what is best for my son from now on,” he told her curtly. “You’re both coming with me. You had best accustom yourself to the idea of marrying this tyrant, for if I have my way, it’ll be done as soon as I can obtain a license.”
There truly was no other way to extricate themselves from this tangled mess of scandal and lies. He would have Theo legitimate. It was of the utmost importance to him. As for Helen, she would have to accustom herself to the reality that it was what was best for her son as well. And Levi would have to acquaint himself with the idea that Helen would finally be his.
The thought gave him little comfort at the moment.
“I’m not marrying you, Levi.” His wife-to-be was not precisely ready to give in. “You may be a part of Theo’s life as his father, but you can’t force me to bend to your whims.”
Damn her, why did she insist on being so stubborn? He clenched his jaw, willing his rising temper to abate. “I’m not forcing you. I’m informing you that you will marry me as soon as possible as it’s what must be done for our son.”
“I’m not certain that it is. And forgive me if your informing me seems rather a lot like forcing me. I confess I cannot see the difference.” Her supple lips flattened into a thin, grim line. He wanted to kiss her anyway, kiss her senseless, kiss her until the protest was gone from her and they both forgot all the reasons why they were at odds. He would have were he not cradling their sleeping baby.
“Marry me and give our son what is rightfully his, my name and my fortune one day at his disposal. As my wife, you’ll have the best of everything. I’ll see to it that you have all the funds you need for whatever you like. Build homes for East End doxies and orphans. Pursue your causes to your heart’s content. Buy all the baubles and fripperies you’d like.”
She shook her head in denial. “Your money doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“Perhaps not to you, but this is not about you or I. No one will ever turn down our son. He will have the finest education, all the opportunities I was denied. One day, he’ll run my business should he wish it, and the world will be in his palm.” He paused, allowing her mind to digest the gravity of her decision. “We cannot afford to be selfish in this, Helen. You are accustomed to wealth and privilege as the daughter of an earl. Bastard children aren’t so blessed. No one knows that better than I do.”
Her resolve was weakening at last, he could read it in her eyes. He was right and she knew it. Theo had to be put before the both of them, before their separate wants and hopes. He had changed their lives forever.
“You must accept this, Helen. He will be an outcast. Your family will never be able to acknowledge him without courting scandal. There’s only one way for you to protect him from that.”
“If I wed you, it will be a marriage of convenience only.” She hesitated. “I will not share your bed.”
His blood went cold. She didn’t want him. The confirmation shouldn’t cut him straight down to the bone, but somehow it did. Her words that day rushed back to him. You never belonged here and you never will. You disgust me. Those words had kept him from her in London on his way back to New York City. As time went on and the distance and silence between them stretched, he’d been forced to admit that she’d finally realized what he’d known all along. Helen was a lady to her core, her blood bluer than the sky. Too good for the likes of him. He knew what he was and who he was. It would never matter how much money he amassed or how great the company he built became. He would always be the bastard son of a whore.
“It will be as you wish. I wouldn’t want to sully you with my common touch, my lady.” The last he said with a mocking air, unable to help himself.
But she wasn’t finished with her demands. “I want to keep my funds to dispense with as I like, and I want to retain ownership and control of this home.”
He nodded. He had no need for any of her possessions. “It’s yours and more. I’ll see to it that you’re kept in the greatest comfort.”
She wrung her hands now, obviously distraught. “We will live here in England, Theo and I. You may visit as you please.”
There he drew the line. “Theo will travel with me. I’ll not be separated from my son ever again. You may accompany us or choose to remain here. I don’t give a damn either way.”
“I won’t
be without Theo.”
“Then you will travel where we go.” On this, he was firm. She could have her house and her funds and her empty bed, but by God, she couldn’t have their son.
He could plainly see that she was not pleased but neither did she have room to make further mandates. When she had decided to keep Theo a secret from him, she had chosen the path of enmity upon which they now found themselves.
She closed her eyes for a moment. “Very well.”
“What are you agreeing to, my lady?” he pressed.
“I will marry you.” Her eyes opened, brilliant and glistening with tears. “You’ve gotten what you wanted. Now may I have him?”
Good Christ. Did she really despise him so much that the fate of wedding him brought her to tears? With great reluctance, he passed the still sweetly sleeping babe to her. She pressed a kiss to Theo’s forehead and held him close, as though she’d just rescued him from the seething maws of a dragon.
He was disgusted. Disgusted with himself, with Helen. Angry too, and he clung to that anger, let it seep down deep into his soul before he made a fool of himself again over her. He wanted her so much he ached with it. He couldn’t have her. It would seem they were both doomed to a life of misery.
* * *
“It would seem I’m getting married,” Helen announced baldly later that afternoon.
The faces of her three dear sisters mirrored their shock. Bo looked intrigued, Tia puzzled, Cleo bemused. The equally lovely face of her honorary sister, Bella, reflected contrition mixed with guilt. Helen had asked all four to assemble at Cleo’s townhouse after Levi’s departure that morning to discuss a matter of supreme urgency.
And they had loyally come together for her, awaiting her late arrival in the sun-streaked drawing room. Late because the horse of Helen’s hired hack had gone lame. Late because she and Theo had suffered a miserable ride thereafter, trundling into another rickety hack in the chill torrent of an early spring downpour. She was soaked. Theo was soaked. She had the remnants of horse offal on her left shoe, and she’d never been more tired or more miserable.
Heart’s Temptation Series Books 4-6 Page 19
