by Day Leclaire
"Oh." Her tone turned disgruntled. "I was afraid you had something a tad more scandalous in mind."
"Afraid or hopeful?"
Her mouth twitched. "Maybe a bit of both."
"For your information, I'm not upset about my hair. It'll grow out." With luck, by next Christmas. "As for that something scandalous… Once Nick's in bed, we'll have all night to scandal away."
She nodded. "Thank goodness for that. You had me worried for a minute there."
"That I wouldn't have my wicked way with you?"
"Nope.” She peeked at him from the corner of her eyes. “That I'd gotten stuck with the dud of the Salvatore clan."
He was delighted to see her sense of humor returning. "I'll see what I can do to restore my reputation,” he assured, duly chastened. He shoved open the door to the master bedroom. "Well? How about it? Are you interested in a bath? I'll put Nick to bed while you go paddle around the tub. There's a sack of books around here somewhere if you want to read. I think we can even rummage up some candles and bubble bath."
The longing expressed in her blue eyes was almost painful to observe. "A bubble bath?"
Aw, hell. "Don't tell me you haven't had one of those, either?"
"The cabin back home doesn't have a tub. Just a shower. But I have had a bubble bath. My daddy rigged one for me and my sister in our cistern. The bubbles didn't last long. But while they did..." A wide, blissful smile spread across her face. "It was heaven."
"That tears it. Bubbles it is." He dropped a quick kiss on her lips. "We'll have our discussion afterward."
"Discussion?" A frown darkened her expression. “What discussion?"
"The one you've been avoiding all day."
Her mouth tugged downward. "There's always a catch, isn't there?"
"In this case, a very small one," he consoled.
It didn't take Alessandro long to get Lauren installed in the tub. Next, he prepared Nick for bed. Last of all he turned his attention to the project their fireplace disaster had interrupted earlier, hoping he'd have time to complete it before Lauren was done soaking. His luck held, though not by more than a couple of minutes. He'd just put the finishing touches on it when a piercing shriek came from the direction of the bathroom.
It was almost an instant replay of his rescue of Nick. He came out of his chair with a bellow and hit his feet running. Racing flat-out through the master bedroom, he slammed open the bathroom door and nearly took a header as his feet went skidding through a three-inch river of water.
"What the hell is going on here?" Alessandro demanded. Foam rolled across the tile like a sea of snow, forming drifts to his waist.
From the center of the highest mound in the middle of the floor, a bubble-capped head appeared. "Help! I can't get your tub to turn off. I just dumped a bit of bubble bath in the water and look at what hap—" Lauren's feel slid from under her and she disappeared beneath the onslaught of suds. "Alessandro?"
"Push the damn off button!"
"I couldn't find an off button," she wailed. "I don't even know how I turned it on. You forgot to give me directions."
More bubbles foamed outward in a cascading wave, stranding a flailing mermaid at his feet, her only claim to modesty a few strategically placed tufts of froth. He plucked her off the floor before she could be washed away and waded through the water to the huge sunken tub. Reaching through the roiling foam, he pushed the pressure plate that served as an off button. The hum of the motor died and the bubbles stopped multiplying.
Alessandro's arms tightened around Lauren. Finally. He finally had her where he wanted her. “Time for that discussion I've been promising you," he warned.
Huge blue eyes peeked out through a tantalizing mask of suds. "Maybe I should put some clothes on first."
"Don't bother. They aren't necessary for what I have in mind."
And then he kissed her, deciding that maybe a bit of scandal was what they both needed tonight. Her lips softened, parting beneath his. He wanted her. With every day that passed that want grew to something stronger and more powerful than anything he'd ever experienced before. Bubbles clung to him, dampening his shirt and jeans, not that he cared. But Lauren shivered with cold.
Reluctantly, he released her and wrapped her in a thick bath sheet, draping another over her head. Then he raided the linen closet and dumped a pile of towels on the floor to absorb the water and soapsuds. A more thorough cleanup could wait until morning. Satisfied that the tile wouldn't be damaged, he scooped Lauren into his arms again and carried her into the living room.
She stared at him in bewilderment for a moment before she finally noticed what he'd brought her to see. "Oh, Alessandro," she whispered. "What have you done?"
"What I should have done long ago," he said, letting her go.
Clutching the towel to her chest, she crossed to the Christmas tree and touched the dozens of paper snow-flakes that hung from every bough. Each had been dipped in wax and sprinkled with glitter. And each had his name written on the back in a bold, dark print. "They're beautiful.” She spun around and flew into his arms. "Thank you, thank you. You couldn't have done anything to make me happier.”
He wrapped her up tight. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart. Though I hope I can come up with one or two more things to please you." But not yet. First they'd have a discussion. "I’ve been wanting to talk to you all day and you've been going out of your way to avoid me.”
"Have I?" Her voice was muffled against his shirt.
"Quite a trick considering we're both living under the same roof." He tugged the towel off her head and combed his fingers through the damp strands. "You're running scared, aren't you? It's the only reason I can come up with to explain how you've been acting."
Her chin poked out an inch. “I don't know what you're talking about."
"Liar. I'm talking about that kiss in the kitchen yesterday. I'm talking about what happens between us every time we get too close." He deliberately ran his hand down her arm, eliciting a helpless shiver. "You forced me to confront some painful truths yesterday. Are you going to make me do the same with you?"
"Please. Alessandro. Not now. Can't this wait until the test results are in? Or at least until after Christmas?"
He shook his head. "No. I want the discussion before then. I want to have it while everything is still uncertain, so we're dealing with just the two of us and none of our other concerns. Not Nick. Not whether or not I'm his father, though you've convinced me I am. Not even our past.”
"What do you want from me?"
"I want to know how you feel. I want to know if there's a chance for us."
She gave him a direct look. "You mean romantically?"
"Yes."
Lauren turned and paced toward the Christmas tree. Stooping, she stared broodingly at the figurines she'd placed there. When he’d seen the first one, he'd thought perhaps it was part of a crèche scene. In the past day, two more figurines had joined the first, all portraying the same woman in different poses, so his initial guess had been wrong. Alessandro studied them as he waited for Lauren's response. In the original, the woman sat curled up, chin in hand, quiet and peaceful. It was the one he'd initially thought a Madonna figure. In the second she exploded with life, arms flung wide, hair flaring around her, the pose one of ultimate happiness. But in the third she sat quietly again, in repose and notably pregnant.
Meg.
So that's what this was about. Alessandro closed his eyes, struggling to decide how best to handle what had to be said. "Would she have been upset that we'd developed feelings for each other?" he finally asked.
Lauren didn't feign confusion. "No. Believe it or not, she'd have been pleased."
"Does it bother you that I apparently loved Meg at one time? Or is it fear that keeps you from coming to me?"
She stilled, refusing to look at him. "Fear?"
"Are you afraid that I'll leave you the way I left Meg? Are you afraid that my feelings for you might be as fleeting as you think they were for her?"
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Lauren rose in a flash, pirouetting to confront him, her towel flaring around her thighs. She didn't back down beneath his steady regard. "Yes. That's precisely what I think."
"Was that what your sister told you I'd do? Was she bitter when I didn't return?"
"She wasn't like that!"
"Then tell me how it went down. Tell me what she was like since I can't remember."
The words ripped loose, months of pent-up anguish. "She was as glorious at the end, as she was at the beginning. A joyful human being. And I watched her fade before my eyes, inch by agonizing inch. Even those last two months when there was so little left I could lift her in my arms as easily as I could lift Nicky, her spirit persevered. It was a great, sweet, loving spirit." Lauren's breath came in harsh sobs. "She believed the best in people and never gave up hope."
"Dammit all! What are you trying to tell me?"
"I promised her. I promised her I'd bring Nicky to you. Okay? And I've kept that promise."
"Is that why you came?" he demanded in disbelief. "Because of Meg?"
"Yes! It was the last thing in this world she asked me to do. Don't you get it? I'd never have tracked you down, otherwise."
"And now that you have? What?" He glared. "You're planning to leave?"
"You still don't understand. My sister never lost faith in you. I did. I'm the one who gave up, who believed you were never coming back. She asked me to phone and I refused. What was the point? I said. You'd gotten what you wanted and slunk off with a happy smile, a cocky walk and nary a look behind. But she made me promise I’d find you. That I'd ask what happened, before condemning you. She told me over and over that you'd never desert... Desert—" Her throat closed over and she covered her mouth with her hand.
"She was right and you were wrong, is that what you're saying?"
Lauren silently nodded, tears sliding down her cheeks.
"So I forgot the great love of my life, a love that meant everything to her. I allowed her to die unmourned. And you, the only one to mourn her, lost faith. We both let her down, is that it?"
Lauren turned away, crouching like a wounded animal beneath the tree, her face buried in her arms.
He stooped beside her and held her, allowing his touch to say all that he found so difficult to utter. “After you first arrived, you said something that stuck with me."
"I've done nothing but talk since I've arrived and only one thing took?"
A laugh broke free, in some small way managing to ease the pain that scarred them. "I remember a lot of the things you've said. This particular one is appropriate to our current conversation."
"Oh." She sounded somewhat mollified. "In that case, go ahead. What words of wisdom did I slap on you?"
"I was suspicious of your motives in bringing Nick to me." He smiled into her damp hair. "You have to understand, this was back in the days when I doubted he was mine.”
"Fair enough."
"And you said I wasn't the only one with the right to be suspicious or even cynical. That you had every bit as much right, considering that you had arrived expecting to be recognized. But that you respected me enough to withhold judgment until all the facts were in."
"But I didn't do that."
"Sure you did. Maybe not with your sister. But once you were here, you never once accused me of... What did you say? Taking what I wanted and slinking off with a happy smile, a cocky walk and nary a look behind. You were confused, bewildered, hurt. But never baleful or bitter."
"That doesn't change the fact that I was wrong, Alessandro, and I'm sorry. More sorry than you'll ever know."
"That makes two of us, sweetheart. Now we have to move past regrets and consider our future. I'm willing to start over, if you are." He spooned her again his chest. "There's only one way I can reassure you that our future will be joined together."
"And how's that?"
"Time,” he said simply. "You have to give time to build our relationship. Time for the fear to dissipate and for trust to replace it. Time for what we feel for each other to grow and solidify into something that will bind us together for the rest of our lives."
"And if we don't have that time?"
It wasn't what he'd expected her to say. "We have all the time you need. You set the pace."
"Like tonight?"
"If you want to wait, we will." They were probably the hardest words he'd ever uttered.
She didn't say anything for a while. Then slowly, she shifted in his embrace and with a touch so gentle he didn't notice it at first, her hands moved on him. Buttons gave way, one by one, and she pushed his shirt from his shoulders. Snaps and a zip loosened the fit of his jeans before those, too, were stripped away. When the last of his clothing had been removed, she opened her towel. It dropped to the floor behind her and she followed it down, reclining beneath the Christmas tree.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Very sure."
Alessandro came to her, kissing a path from the sweetness of her mouth, to the peach-toned peaks of her breasts, to the soft indentation of her belly. She was utterly beautiful, a creature of silver and light, a woman made to be cherished. He tried to tell her how he felt with each lingering touch, explain without words the emotions he'd always kept locked away. Each stroke of his hand became the most beautiful poetry ever written. Each hungry kiss a story of forever-lasting love. And she encouraged him, called to him with her siren's voice, singing a song that reverberated with familiarity. He'd known women before. He'd known completion before.
But not like this. Never like this.
He cupped the back of her knees, caressing upward along the taut skin of her thighs. Her buttocks slipped into his palms, filling them. For such a little thing, there were parts of her that were deliriously full and lush. This was one. She encouraged his efforts with a husky moan, lifting herself toward him, and he slipped into the juncture between her thighs, fitting himself to her. Her legs wrapped around his hips, locking him tight against the true core of her passion.
With a soft cry of pleasure, she reached for him, framing his face, her touch quieting the pain that had haunted him for months. In that timeless moment, she was open to him and he saw clear to her soul. There was pain and sorrow, regrets and shattered dreams. But there was also hope. And there was a love so deep and profound, it couldn't be mistaken for anything else.
The need to possess grew stronger and he sculpted her body, drawing delicate images across her skin until she vibrated with hunger. She was all lean tension, her muscles clenching with the slow escalation of her passion. He brushed his hands across the sensitive skin of her belly and then lower. She shivered in his arms, calling again in her siren's voice.
He drove home, joining them. "Do you still doubt we were meant for each other?" he demanded. "See how perfectly we fit together? This is our future. No matter how hard we fight it, it won't be denied."
“Are you sure, Alessandro?” She repeated his own words back to him.
"I believe it with a heart I didn't think I possessed and a soul you brought to life."
Her eyes burned with the depths of her love. "I want a future with you."
"You have one. You'll always have one."
The need for words vanished and desire took over. And then something more than desire. With their joining came a connection. A completion. A unity that mated them for all time. It was Christmas. A time for miracles. In their love, they found one. Alessandro's last coherent thought was that there were unicorns and Santa Claus and impossible dreams abroad in his world.
They'd been born again in the soft blue eyes of a woman who'd claimed to lack faith while bringing to life the miracle she'd promised.
CHAPTER NINE
Christmas morning...
She came to him again, all silk and sweetness and heady feminine perfume. This time, something fell different about their relationship, out of kilter. Alessandro scowled. He'd hurt her. He hadn't meant to. But he'd managed it, anyway, and he was furious with himself for handling
their parting so awkwardly. With the exception of Rocco, any one of his other brothers would have known the right words to use. Charm came naturally to them.
They stood beneath the same ancient oak where they'd celebrated spring's arrival by making love. Over the past few days, the massive branches had exploded in a flurry of newborn leaves. Twilight was fast approaching and shadows crept from the surrounding woods. She wouldn't look at him, but stared instead at the purple crocuses clinging to the base of the tree. No doubt she was trying to hide her tears.
"You know I don't want to leave," he began.
"I have to go, Alessandro,” Lauren whispered into his dream.
“But you don't have any choice.” Meg's hair concealed her expression, falling across her cheek in a pale blond swathe. "I understand that."
"Are you sure you won't come with me?" It was at least the tenth time he'd asked.
She shook her head. “I can't go any more than you can stay."
"I have a present for you. And for Nicky, too. I'll put it beneath the tree before I go. Luc promised to pass on my message. I just hope he gets it straight. He isn't very good at memorizing, is he? He kept saying it was because I'd called so late, but I think that's an excuse." She took a deep breath before continuing. "And the twins will see that I get safely to the airport. They should be here in a few more hours."
"It's Lauren, isn't it?"
“I’m just not willing to leave right now,” she maintained with a familiar hint of stubbornness.
"I understand." And he did. Families stuck together, bound by responsibility and duty, but most of all by love. "We won't be apart for long," he consoled. "Only for a couple of weeks. A month at most. If I could hand these meetings off to anyone else, I would."
“I haven't told you everything I should have. And...and I have loose ends to tie up at home. I got myself in a bit of a fix before I left. It's time to go back and straighten out the whole mess. To do what's right. You'll watch over Nicky, won't you? You'll love him with all your heart just like I do."
