by Leanne Banks
Her full acceptance of him touched him in a way he’d never experienced before. Although he was convinced love wasn’t in the cards for him, he had protective feelings for Gail. He wanted to take away the lost expression on her face. He loved making her laugh.
“Enough about you,” he said in a teasing tone. He knew she hated talking about herself. He tugged her on top of him. “You are insatiable for my stories, and I’m determined to keep you satisfied.”
Her lips curved into a smile. “That’s nice to know. Tell me more about Marco and Angelica.”
“Marco was living with another family and working in their restaurant when he fell in love with Angelica. Angelica was supposed to marry a man named Vincent, and the family taking care of Marco assumed he would one day marry their daughter Lucia. When Marco and Angelica eloped, the family was very angry, and Lucia was so furious she put a curse on my grandmother and grandfather.”
Gail gasped. “No!”
He smiled at her indignation. “Yes. When we talk about it, and we usually don’t, we call it the Valentine’s Day curse.”
She frowned. “Why Valentine’s Day?”
“Because throughout the years, some tragic things have happened on Valentine’s Day. Angelica miscarried her first baby on Valentine’s Day, then several years later, on the same day, one of her and Marco’s infant twins was abducted.”
She shook her head. “How terrible. When you said Marco and Angelica went through some rough times, you weren’t exaggerating.” She paused, lifting her finger to touch his chin. “Do you believe in the Valentine’s Day curse?”
“Logically, no,” he said.
“I hear a but in your voice.”
He remembered his breakup with Molly’s mother on Valentine’s Day. With Gail naked on top of him, the warmest, most sensual covering, that breakup seemed very far away. “Logically, no,” he repeated.
“Hmm,” she said, clearly not satisfied. “Maybe I’ll get more out of you another time.”
“You can try,” he invited, fascinated by her. One moment she was the supreme nurturer. The next she was the ultimate temptress. And from the look in her eyes, she was his.
She lowered her mouth to his chest, kissing her way down to his belly. Sweeping her hair across his thighs, she pressed her cheek against him intimately, then turned her head and took him into her mouth.
The sight of her mouth pleasuring him was so erotic he almost couldn’t bear it, but he couldn’t make himself look away. She stirred his body, his mind and, heaven help him, if he wasn’t careful, she would get into his heart.
The following afternoon, Nicholas sneaked a kiss from Gail in the kitchen while she fed Molly. “I missed you,” he said.
Her heart dipped. “I was here all day long.”
“That was the problem. You weren’t with me.”
She smiled, so pleased by his words she could barely stand still. “I was with your daughter.”
He gave an expression of mock disgust. “If you weren’t going to be with me, then I guess it’s okay that you were with her.”
Gail chuckled and shook her head. “You’re spoiled.”
“I keep trying to get you to spoil me.”
“Don’t you think you’ve succeeded?”
“Occasionally,” he admitted, tugging her toward him. “I’m a Barone. I like to succeed all the time.”
She rolled her eyes, her heart still hammering in her chest. “If I showed up at your office, I would only distract you.”
“I know. I had this great idea to add to the list. You on my desk—”
“Da-da-da-da-da-da,” Molly said, banging a spoon on her high chair.
“I think somebody else wants some attention,” Gail said.
Nicholas moved toward his daughter and kissed her forehead. “Bella bambina, how was your day?”
Molly gave a wide grin and reached out to touch his face. Gail noticed that Nicholas didn’t back away for fear of getting messy, and she loved him a little more for it. She watched the two of them for a few minutes, then Nicholas cleaned Molly’s face and hands.
“I’ll give Molly her bath tonight,” he said as he picked her up. “By the way, I got a call from a member of the Boston Historical Society today. I’d forgotten that I’d offered my home for the January board meeting. It’s in a few days, so I just wanted to give you fair warning. Another member will plan the meeting. That was the only way I would agree to it.”
Gail nodded as she wiped off the high-chair tray. “How long does it last?”
He shrugged. “Only two or three hours, but Corinne will probably be in and out a couple of days before.”
Gail stopped midmovement. “Corinne?” she echoed, her heart sinking.
He glanced at her. “Yeah.”
A dozen possibilities flew through Gail’s mind; the first and second stung sharply. He wanted to see Corinne again. He was growing bored with her. She frowned. Then why had he said he missed her?
Nicholas moved closer to her, staring at her while the baby touched his face. “You stopped smiling.”
Why was she so obvious? She sighed. “It’s nothing.”
“You’re lying to me,” he said, his voice dark with disappointment.
Even now she hated the idea of disappointing him. “I just—” She broke off, trying to find a way to protect her pride. “I was just surprised to hear you mention Corinne.”
Realization crossed his face. “There’s nothing going on between Corinne and me now. This was planned months ago. She’s a member of the Historical Society, too, and she roped me into agreeing to use my house if she did the planning.” He brushed her mouth with his. “It’s nothing. I’ll prove it to you later tonight.”
By the middle of the night Nicholas had indeed proved his desire for Gail as he had on many previous nights. He had told her another story and managed to pry out of her that she hadn’t attended her high-school prom because her mother had been sick.
Perhaps she should be reassured. She could see that he felt more for her than physical need. But now in the darkness when she was all alone, the doubts crept in like a cold draft under the door. He came to her bed nearly every night, and he acted as if he couldn’t get enough of her, but she couldn’t erase the fact that he also always left well before dawn.
He never stayed until morning.
Nine
The doorbell rang and since Gail knew Ana was busy, she scooped up Molly and walked into the foyer. Molly rubbed her soggy-cracker face against Gail’s sweater just as Gail opened the door to the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. Her straight blond hair skimmed the shoulders of a cashmere camel coat. Her blue eyes were enhanced with just the right touch of cosmetics. No blemishes marred her ivory complexion, and her lips glimmered with a silky pink sheen. All Gail could do was stare, because this woman could have written the book on how to look like a goddess.
“I’m Corinne Gladstone. I’m here to do some last-minute plans for the Historical Society meeting. You must be the nanny,” she said, extending her hand, then eyeing Gail’s stained sweater and apparently thinking better of it, withdrawing. “And you must be Nicholas’s adorable daughter, Molly,” she said, smiling at the baby.
Molly ducked her head.
“I’m so glad to finally see Molly. I haven’t been able to see Nicholas as much lately because he’s so devoted to his daughter. I imagine this Historical Society meeting will get things back on track. Would you mind getting the housekeeper for me?” She paused. “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name.”
“Gail Fenton,” Gail said, fighting the sensation that Nicholas’s home had been invaded. Or perhaps fighting the fear that Nicholas would lose his fascination with her now that Corinne was back in sight. “I’ll get Ana.
“Oh, would you like to hold the baby?” Gail offered, holding Molly out to the woman’s perfectly manicured hands.
Corinne looked aghast at the cracker-and juice-covered child. “I’m not sure…” she began.
M
olly stiffened and let out a wail of protest.
Corinne’s eyebrows shot up and she immediately stepped back. “Oh, my. She is a little handful, isn’t she. Nicholas was wise to hire a nanny. Well, I won’t keep you, Jane,” she said in a dismissing tone. “If you’ll just get Ana for me, please.”
“Gail,” she said, correcting Corinne. “Not Jane. Gail.”
“Oh, Gail,” Corinne said with a sheepish smile. “I wasn’t thinking. Sorry. I should tuck your name up here,” she said, tapping her forehead. “Future reference. I’m very fond of Nicholas. You and I may end up seeing a lot of each other.”
Plastering a smile on her face, Gail gritted her teeth so hard she wondered if she was going to break one. She nodded and sought out Ana, then took Molly upstairs. Corinne obviously thought Gail was no threat to her plan to snag Nicholas, or she wouldn’t have dropped such huge hints.
Glancing into the mirror, Gail caught sight of her makeup-free face, cracker-smeared sweater and the baby on her hip. She was definitely not in goddess mode, she thought. Even if she tried her hardest, she could never achieve Corinne’s beauty.
Did that also mean that Nicholas would never look at her as anything other than temporary? The silent answer echoed inside her, making her heart hurt. How had she fallen so hard for Nicholas so quickly? she wondered. And soon she would have to pretend it didn’t bother her if he stopped wanting her. She would have to pretend it didn’t matter if Corinne was successful in luring him back to her. A tight knot of distress formed in her stomach. Molly leaned toward her and pressed a messy kiss on her face.
Gail’s heart softened. “Nice to know you don’t care if I’m not goddess material, sweetie.”
Gail kept her doubts to herself over the next two days, despite Corinne’s frequent unexpected visits. She did her best to hide her fears from Nicholas, too.
When the night of the meeting finally arrived, she stayed upstairs. She entertained Molly in the nursery until it was bedtime. When Molly finally drifted off to sleep, Gail watched television in her room, but couldn’t later have recalled a single show. After she heard the meeting break up and the members depart, she sighed with relief. Minutes passed, but Nicholas didn’t come upstairs.
A disturbing image filled her mind. Nicholas downstairs with Corinne, getting reacquainted. Gail couldn’t stand it. Pulling on her tennis shoes and sweats, the nursery monitor in tow, she found Ana and asked her to keep an ear out for Molly. Ana agreed, and Gail slid out the back door.
Nicholas had a roaring headache.
He’d never realized before how ingratiating Corinne could be. Although the woman was stunning to look at, her laughter affected him like the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. He wondered how he’d ever missed how superficial she seemed. Or perhaps he hadn’t cared. Why did he now? The answer immediately hit him. Gail. It was Gail’s fault. Nicholas had spent years dating debutantes and models, but Gail was the first real woman he’d held in his arms.
Eager to see her, he went upstairs to her room and knocked on the door. No answer, so he opened it. She wasn’t there.
Frowning, he checked on Molly and found the baby sleeping peacefully. Then he went downstairs to Ana’s room.
“She asked me to watch the baby while she went out for a while. It was after your meeting and I’m watching TV, so it’s no problem,” his housekeeper said. “She gave me the baby monitor.”
Feeling an inexplicable shaft of uneasiness, Nicholas nodded. “Did she say where she was going?”
Ana shook her head. “But she gave me her cellphone number. She was wearing gym clothes and tennis shoes.”
“Okay. Thanks, Ana. I’d appreciate if you’d listen for Molly a little longer while I take care of something.”
“Of course, sir.”
One mystery solved, he thought, stripping off his tie as he went to his room. Gym clothes meant Gail had gone to the gym. He wondered if she’d called one of her friends to meet her there. Such as Jonathan. The notion twisted his stomach.
Gail had been quiet the past couple of days. He hadn’t failed to notice. But when he’d tried to pry the reason out of her, she’d successfully diverted his attention with an erotic suggestion.
Quickly he changed his clothes and jogged to the gym, just a few short blocks away. He checked the raquetball courts and scrutinized the players at a volleyball game as it ended. Peeking in all the rooms, he finally came upon a lone figure shooting baskets on a half court.
Her curly red ponytail bounced as she ran and jumped, shooting, rebounding. Her sweatshirt lay abandoned on the side of the court, and she wore a cropped shirt and sweatpants that rode low on her hips. The no-nonsense outfit shouldn’t have been sexy, but he remembered touching that smooth abdomen, kissing her there. She moved like a woman possessed, so focused she looked as if she was practicing for a pro game.
The ball bounced off the rim and Nicholas impulsively ran forward to catch it.
Gail turned, her eyes widening in surprise.
“Are you trying to give one of the Celtics a run for their money?” he asked, dropping the ball and dribbling.
She gave a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Safe to say I’m not in their league.”
“You say that a lot,” he commented, continuing to dribble the ball. “You’re not in their league. Not in my league.”
She shrugged, moving toward him. “It’s true,” she said, and snatched the ball from him. “At least in some ways.”
Nicholas watched her sink a hook shot. “Not the important ways,” he said, feeling an odd rush of sensual excitement and competition. Her strength turned him on. He moved toward her and blocked her next shot, grabbing the ball and making his own basket.
She quickly retrieved it and cast him a reassessing gaze. “I didn’t know you played basketball.”
“You thought I was better in the boardroom than on the court?”
She shrugged and smiled. “Well, you’re not playing for the Celtics, either,” she said, then scooted around him and sank another shot.
He grabbed the ball and met her gaze. “Your face glows like that when we make love.”
Her eyes widened and she stopped, finally unable to look away from him.
“Why did you leave without telling me?” he asked.
She glanced away. “You were busy with Corinne.”
“The least you could have done was save me from her.”
“I’ve seen Corinne. I didn’t think you’d be suffering,” she said dryly.
“She doesn’t laugh like you.”
That got her attention. Gail returned her gaze to him. “What difference does that make?”
“Big difference. Do you know that making you laugh is almost as much fun as making you climax?”
She blinked, speechless for a moment, then swallowed hard. “I’ll never be like her, even if I try.”
He frowned. “I don’t want you to be.”
“I don’t think you understand. I’ll never be as pretty. I’ll never be as polished or sophisticated.”
“I don’t think you understand. Corinne could never be you, even if she tried.”
Gail gave a short chuckle of amusement. “I don’t think Corinne wants anything I have.”
“What about me?” he asked.
Gail looked as if he’d knocked the breath out of her. “I don’t really have you.”
“You have me wanting to be with you tonight,” he said, moving closer to her.
He watched a flood of emotions come and go in her eyes before she closed them tight. He put his arms around her and drew her against him. “Why did you leave?”
She lowered her gaze. “So you wouldn’t hear me making loud meow sounds,” she whispered.
He chuckled. “I can’t believe she inspires that kind of response from you. She’s harmless.”
“She told me she planned to get the relationship between you and her back on track and that I would probably be seeing more of her,” Gail said with a dark scowl.
/> Surprised at Corinne’s plans, Nicholas shook his head. “She’s dreaming, believe me. I have no—” He stopped. He could feel himself growing impatient. He’d come to think of his time with Gail as his island away from the madness. He resented any intrusion. “Why are we talking about Corinne when we should be together back at the house?”
“You don’t like the basketball court?” she asked, seductive mischief glinting in her eyes.
“The place doesn’t matter that much to me. I just thought we’d be more comfortable in my bed.”
She did a double take. “Your bed. You always come to my bedroom.”
“Do you have a problem with coming to my bed?” he asked, giving in to a primitive need for possession, but refusing to examine it.
Her eyes darkened with emotion. “Let me get my sweatshirt.”
Hours later, after Nicholas had thoroughly made love to her, Gail lay in his bed and soaked in every sensation, from the large, firm mattress and the Egyptian-cotton sheets to the overriding feeling of his body close to hers and the steady rise and fall of his chest as he slept.
Her mind made noisy thoughts in the quiet darkness, and she allowed herself to think behind doors she’d kept closed. What if she was to lie here next to him every night? What if he was her partner? What if he was her husband?
Her heart jumped at the thought and she stared at his face in repose, half fearing her forbidden thought would wake him. What if it was her right to greet him every day and kiss him? To make love to him every night and smooth his brow when he was bothered about Barone business? What if she was truly his woman? And he was truly her man?
The images that played in her mind were so sweet she felt an urge to cry. Was this what she had wanted her entire life, but been afraid to wish for?
