Axell thought it might be time to take his leave, but a shout from above aroused his curiosity.
“Maya! Maya, are you down there? That bitch stole my best flannel shirt!”
This could very well turn out better than a Three Stooges farce, Axell concluded with glee, as he wiped baby dribble from Alexa’s chin and waited for the next scene in the drama. He used to hate emotional scenes, but since Maya’s arrival in his life, he’d learned to observe them with a measure of appreciation for her talent in manipulating them.
He let Alexa wrap her chubby fist around his finger and returned Maya’s harried look with equanimity. Her sister was very definitely wearing a man’s checkered flannel shirt.
Cleo shrugged. “He’s sleeping in my shop. It is still my shop?” she demanded, narrowing her eyes at Axell.
“The lease papers are ready for your signature.” He was having second and third thoughts about signing them, but he’d promised Maya.
That seemed to satisfy Cleo for the moment. She turned her attention to the man clattering down the stairs, half-naked. “You want your damned shirt?” she yelled. “Come and get it!”
Lifting an eyebrow, Axell watched Maya for some signal as to what she wanted him to do now. He shook his head at her irrepressible grin and dumped Alexa in her arms. “Shall I hire a baby-sitter or a lunatic keeper for tonight?”
Maya brightened. “That’s ideal! Cleo, you can come over this evening and stay with the kids so Axell and I can go out for a while. Social Services can’t object to that.”
That wasn’t ideal in Axell’s book. He didn’t want a drug addict looking after his kids. Their kids. Whatever. He opened his mouth to protest, but the blasted musician leaped into the fray instead.
“I’ll not have this pervert looking after my daughter!” Stephen shouted. “She nearly took my balls off last night. Why didn’t you warn me she was coming so I could have bought a gun?”
Maya’s grin faltered, but Axell thought he really might get into this scene if he hung around long enough. Watching Stephen and Cleo duke it out could provide amusing entertainment. Some other time.
“I’ve got a friend on the police force we can hire for the evening,” he informed them dryly. “I’ll instruct him to shoot the first one who yells in front of the kids. I want to take Maya out around seven. Suit yourselves.”
Giving Maya a peck on the cheek, Axell strode out, confident Stephen and Cleo would kill each other before they intruded on his safe, sane world. He’d call the baby-sitter and arrange for her to watch the kids just in case either of the idiots took Maya seriously.
***
“California is too close,” Maya muttered as she paced Selene’s office at the school. “I’m considering Alaska. Whatever made me think having a family was a good thing?”
“You didn’t think,” Selene replied bluntly, hitting the computer key that sent the monthly invoices to the printer. “You just have this weird idea that because you breathe love and laughter, everyone does. Well, it’s not so, girlfriend. Grow up.”
“I’m not naive,” Maya responded sharply, then took a calming breath before continuing. “I know Cleo has problems. Part of her probation requires she get counseling. What I need is some fairy dust to send Stephen back to Never-Never Land.”
“He’s not half bad looking,” Selene mused, watching Maya’s pacing with a foxy grin. “Want me to adopt him?”
“Your own personal boy toy?” Maya inquired dryly. “He’s not quite that malleable. He’s moody, irritating, and bad-tempered. I don’t know what I ever saw in him.”
“He’s talented, sexy, and you hadn’t developed a taste for hot-blooded Vikings at the time,” Selene concluded.
Maya shrugged. “I always thought Vikings were cold.”
Selene laughed out loud. “That’s because you know nothing about men. Axell’s been hot after your bod since the day you met. The man’s practically slavering. You want to get rid of Stephen, just mention it to Axell. He’ll have him transported to Siberia before you can take it back.”
“Stephen’s my problem,” Maya replied sulkily. She didn’t know when her life had become everyone else’s business. She was feeling trapped again. The footloose life had some definite advantages she hadn’t appreciated when she had them.
But even the fleeting thought of losing Axell caused a full-scale panic attack.
“Pfeiffer’s death is a bigger problem,” Selene pointed out. “I’ve contacted his lawyers for confirmation that our lease is still valid, but they haven’t got back to me.”
Diverted, Maya pursued this new path. “How do the police know he didn’t die a natural death? I can’t believe anyone would kill that nice old man.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I was going to visit and ask him about my grandmother. Now I’ll never know.”
“You said he knew Cleo. Maybe he told her.” Selene gathered up the printed invoices and handed half to Maya. “Start folding and stuffing. Until we hear otherwise, this is your bread and butter.”
No topic would distract her for long from the knowledge that her “date” tonight with her husband could only have one outcome. Maya wriggled in nervous anticipation as she stuffed envelopes.
Religious ceremonies had little meaning to her, but after tonight... Axell would probably expect her to share his bed on a regular basis. She didn’t know if she was prepared for that kind of commitment. Between the kids, the school, and the shop, she barely had time for herself. How would she find time for a husband?
She had to. She’d promised. Maybe he’d be satisfied with one night a week.
Maybe she wouldn’t.
***
“You didn’t really mean it about the policeman, did you?” Maya asked anxiously as Axell came home after she’d finished feeding the kids. “I called Dorothy and she said you’d already called her. She can look after Constance and Alexa while Matty and Cleo get reacquainted.” She nodded toward the bedroom wing. “Cleo’s reading him a book.”
Axell set his briefcase down on the table and glanced around the miraculously spotless kitchen. “Why am I getting premonitions of disaster?”
Maya dried her hands and surreptitiously watched him. He looked calm and reasonable tonight. No slamming doors, no wild looks melting her like candle wax. He’d combed the wayward strand of hair back from his forehead and apparently shaved before coming home. She could smell his aftershave as he approached. Nervously, she eyed his impeccable blue suit.
“I didn’t know how to dress.” She backed away. “I thought we’d be going somewhere casual. It’s a weeknight...” That was a stupid thing to say. Did she imagine the flare of heat in his eyes?
“I’ll order pizza and you can wear nothing,” he answered calmly, in that bland tone she knew concealed the workings of his mind.
The suggestion shot a shiver of arousal down Maya’s spine.
“But I thought we ought to attempt something civilized like a date first. There’s a place in Charlotte with good jazz. Do you like jazz?”
That offer fished her thoughts out of the gutter. A date. She could handle a date. “I don’t know anything about jazz, but I’ll learn. What do I wear?”
“Black is traditional,” he said solemnly. At her look of horror, a twinkle developed in his eye. “Anything that makes you happy is fine.”
Apparently his ability to push her buttons incited sufficient confidence for him to reach out and brush a recalcitrant curl from her forehead.
Just his touch ignited smoldering fires. Maya backed off.
Smacking him would make her happy. Getting this over with would make her happy. Even the spontaneity of last night was vastly preferable to his pragmatic approach. If it weren’t for the kids, she’d be tempted to walk into his bedroom and tear her clothes off and have done with it.
“I’ll only be a minute.” Scooping up Muldoon for reassurance, Maya fled.
Taking a deep breath to calm his rocky nerves, Axell wandered into the family room. In these last weeks he’
d grown accustomed to finding Matty and Constance bent over some game together. It felt odd to see just Constance sitting in front of the TV. He hadn’t realized how much he’d miss Matty once Cleo took him. Would Maya be interested in giving him a son?
That was definitely not the direction to follow right now.
Constance threw him one of those suspicious looks he recognized as one of his own.
“Why can’t I go with you?” she demanded.
Well, at least she was talking to him. “Because sometimes married people like to do things alone.”
“You and Mama never did.”
He and Angela had few interests in common. Hell, he and Maya had few interests in common, but this time, he meant to develop some. He was capable of learning from his mistakes.
“We did sometimes, you just don’t remember,” he said quietly. “You get Maya all to yourself all the time. It’s my turn tonight, okay?”
She wrinkled her nose in disapproval and looked away. “Will the mean lady take Matty away?”
Maybe they shouldn’t go out tonight. Her whole world had been in a tumult for so long...
It wasn’t likely to get better soon. With a sigh, Axell stroked her hair as he’d seen Maya do. “Cleo is Matty’s mama, and Maya’s sister. She’s really sad right now, so maybe she says mean things. Try to be nice, will you?”
Constance shrugged, and he figured that was the best he could hope for.
Standing, Axell wondered for the millionth time if he’d done the right thing in marrying a woman like Maya, a woman a decade younger and a universe apart from his stodgy, conservative background. Maybe he should have tried harder with Constance on his own. Maybe he should have married someone like Katherine with the same background as his. Maybe he —
Maya appeared in the doorway wearing some kind of slinky blue-green dress he knew he’d never seen before. The hem hit just above her knees but the slit in the side shot clear up her thigh, revealing a silky, sparkly glimpse of stockinged leg so tempting his eyes nearly fell out. He could scarcely tear his gaze away to observe the rest of the...
One look at the peekaboo bodice and Maya’s bare shoulders rendered him incapable of walking across the room without crippling a vital part.
He thought maybe he’d take her to the nearest motel first.
Twenty-six
WANTED: Meaningful overnight relationship.
“Will this do?” Maya asked uncertainly.
She’d piled all those glorious curls into a tumbling mop atop her head, so she was all naked neck and shoulders, except for the thin strip of material at the top of the gown which drew the eye to the very nice cleavage displayed below. He’d gratefully pay any amount that showed on his credit card for this view. Or was this another of her thrift shop bargains?
“Depends on what you wanted to do,” Axell replied skeptically. “Bring me to my knees?” He glanced at Constance who watched with interest. He wouldn’t complete his thought. He couldn’t think with all his blood concentrated well south of his brain. He had thought himself immune to women. No man in his right libido could be immune to Maya.
The front doorbell rang. No one ever used the front door. Sidewalks weren’t a part of the landscape here. Maya blanched a shade whiter and Axell knew at once who their caller was.
He returned a few minutes later trailing the musician, who — with his gold earring and long ponytail — looked decidedly out of place in this family setting.
“Stephen! I though you worked at the club in the evenings.” She cupped her elbows in her palms and drifted nervously toward the doorway where Axell stood.
“Even God got a day off,” Stephen grumbled, searching the room until he discovered the baby-sitter returning a wide-eyed Alexa to her infant seat. “I figured I could take care of my daughter for one night.”
Like hell, he would. Axell draped his arm proprietarily around Maya’s shoulders. Her bare shoulders. His ability to concentrate on Stephen’s declaration and not the electricity shooting up his arm revealed the extent of his anger. “Have you ever changed a diaper? Mixed formula? Heated a bottle? Those are the essentials of infant care.”
Stephen looked angry and confused, and Maya apparently took pity on him. Axell hoped it was pity. Any minute now and he’d be growling and baring his teeth at the intruder. He damned well hoped she understood that because he didn’t.
“Dorothy is here. She can teach you what Alexa needs,” Maya said reassuringly. “Or you can just kick back and relax and watch some television.”
Cleo appeared in the hall doorway, holding Matty’s hand. “What’s he doing here?” she demanded, glaring at Stephen.
“Time to go!” Maya cried cheerfully, swinging toward the doorway into the kitchen. “We’re late. Kids, behave yourselves. We’ll be back to see you’re tucked in, so you’d better be in bed and sound asleep when we return.”
Axell smothered a grin as Maya executed another of her graceful exits. Behind her back, he raised a reproving eyebrow at the glowering combatants. “Dorothy is in charge,” he announced in a tone that brooked no interference.
Stephen looked relieved. Axell pinned a mutinous Cleo with a glare. “Remember those guys at Social Services? Do you suppose it’s a coincidence that their initials are ‘SS’?”
Cleo’s glare wavered uncertainly. Axell accepted that as surrender. He was exposing Constance to unhealthy influences, his conscience warned. But Dorothy was here, and Stephen and Cleo were adults — of a sort. And Constance had a sensible head on her shoulders. She could always leave the room if the hostilities escalated. She’d probably take Matty with her. She’d inherited a few of his instincts.
He caught up with Maya and practically shoved her out the door and into the garage.
Wrapping her arms around herself, Maya slipped into the BMW. “It’s awful late.” The grim set of Axell’s jaw rang all her warning bells. “Maybe we should put this off to another time. I’m starving.”
Axell reached into the back seat, grabbed a lap throw, and wrapped it around her shoulders, grazing her arm in the process. Heat immediately combusted where he’d touched her. Biting her lower lip, Maya stared out the windshield as he backed out of the garage at a speed that should have taken them through the trees at the rear of the yard.
“I should have hired a zoo keeper. How long do you think we dare leave them alone?”
“That depends on the amount of destruction you can tolerate.” With the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, Maya relaxed a little into its warmth. She should never have worn this dress. She’d been challenging him again.
Although, it had been fun watching Axell nearly crumple when she flashed her leg. Men didn’t generally look at her as if she were a sex symbol. She was too short, too red-haired, too weird looking. But her husband looked at her as if she were the only female on the planet. She really, really liked that feeling. It gave her warm butterflies in her middle.
“You know them better than I do. How much destruction can they wreak? I don’t want the kids involved in a war zone.”
She even liked the worried timbre of his voice in the velvet darkness of the expensive car. She liked so many things about him, it scared her to death.
“I haven’t seen Cleo in years. I barely know her anymore. But she’s always been more self-destructive than hurtful. Stephen, well, Stephen has tantrums. But they’re usually harmless,” she replied brightly. She didn’t know what she was saying. Was she trying to make him turn around and go back? She’d never have left the kids with Stephen and Cleo if she’d had any doubts about their welfare.
“We’ll get home early,” he said evenly.
Early. Did that mean they’d just eat and not stop anywhere on the way home? Or that they’d eat and go home and climb into Axell’s bed? She wished the damned man wasn’t so enigmatic. She’d never been this nervous in her lifetime.
“It’s too late to drive all the way into Charlotte,” she answered cautiously. As much as she would have liked an evening of
dinner and dancing, she knew when she had to be practical. The kids weren’t used to their absence. Stephen and Cleo would entertain them for a while, but they couldn’t be trusted for long. Dorothy was a good sitter, but she couldn’t control adults.
“I’m all for reducing driving time,” he said solemnly, staring straight ahead, but Maya thought she detected a teasing note to the comment.
“You want to tell me just what you have planned?” she demanded. He always had everything planned, even sex, she figured.
“Fine wine, dancing, and good music.” Glancing at the slit baring her thigh, he admitted in all honesty, “Followed by hot sex.”
The covetous glance, his seductive tone, and the promise of his words shot straight through Maya’s sex-deprived hormones. She’d never made love with a man half so handsome, half so downright masculine as her husband, and she wanted it right now.
Clearing her suddenly dry throat, she tugged at the gap in her skirt. “Feed me, and we can skip the first three.”
He almost drove the car straight into the ditch.
“Fast food.” He swung the car off the main road and roared down a secondary one.
“They have chicken in town,” she offered. Axell’s restaurant was the only other alternative in Wadeville, and that definitely wouldn’t be fast.
“I feel like a cheap jerk taking you for fast food chicken.”
Axell’s hold on the steering wheel was pretty tight, Maya noticed. She wondered if it was because of the kids or her and started to inquire, but as they approached the main street of town, he cursed and veered the car into a parking lot.
Holm’s Bar and Grill took up the entire end of one of Wadeville’s blocks, so that the rear of the restaurant could be seen from this side street. Startled, Maya glanced up to see what had caught Axell’s attention.
“I’m sorry.” He jumped from the car without explanation and stalked toward the kitchen.
All she saw was two men entering the rear door. The employees often stepped outside to have a smoke. She didn’t see anything unusual about that. The furious expression on Axell’s face in the light of the security lamp warned otherwise, not that anyone else would read that tightened jaw as easily as she did. A stranger would just think him more stern than usual.
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