"What if it's Cleo?" she asked weakly as Axell's teeth nibbled at her ear and his hand slid beneath her nightie again. It wasn't an unreasonable question. Cleo had said she had a probation hearing coming up. She just couldn't think straight enough to recall the importance of such a call.
"She and Stephen can entertain each other," Axell answered without rancor, sliding his mouth back to hers.
That would have shut her up, but the wavering cry of an infant stopped them both before their mouths connected.
Maya could feel Axell shudder as he stroked her where she'd opened for him. Just a minute more...
The phone rang insistently. Alexa increased her wails. And a sleepy voice calling "Maya" from the back bedrooms finally broke the spell.
Maya flushed as she looked up and read the regret behind the heat in Axell's eyes.
He glanced down to where his tanned hand cupped her pale breast. "Damn," he muttered. "Damn, damn, and double damn."
"Point taken," she said wryly, squirming backward, hoping to escape his reach.
Refusing to let her go, Axell leaned over and grabbed the phone. "What do you want?" he yelled into the receiver.
"My, my, the lion isn't sleeping tonight," Selene's voice purred from the other end of the line. "Did the fish slip away from you again?"
Axell grimaced in defeat as Maya did just that—slipped backward over the table and out of his hands, straightening her nightshirt in the process.
"You got a telescope?" he asked in irritation.
"No, but I've seen our girl in action. You can catch her later. Right now, we've got a problem. Put her on."
Maya had already fled the kitchen to quiet Alexa and reassure whichever of the kids the noise had disturbed. Axell could still feel the heat of her bare skin on his hands. The ache in his groin pounded with the need for release.
He'd forgotten the kids, the bar, Pfeiffer, and everything else in his degenerate need to plow his maddening wife until she screamed surrender. He was a sick man.
Wiping the sweat off his brow, Axell spoke abruptly. "If it's about Pfeiffer, I've already heard. There isn't a damned thing we can do at this hour. Go back to your party, Selene."
"My source says it's murder, Holm. How far is your mayor friend willing to go to get his damned road?" The phone slammed in his ear.
Axell stared blankly at the receiver until the warning signal shrilled, then hung it up. Ralph Arnold, a murderer? No man could be that desperate for a road, could he? Murders around here tended to be drug related, but that didn't make sense either. Old Man Pfeiffer wasn't exactly the sort to deal in drugs.
Glancing at the knee-deep clutter surrounding him, Axell took a deep breath and ordered the pounding in his pants to cool. Remembering Maya's willingness, he couldn't summon much eagerness for the clean-up. Maybe once she got the kids quieted...
Cursing Selene, phones, and his rotten timing, he stalked upstairs to the part of the house Maya had claimed for her own.
She wouldn't buy a damned thing for herself, but he noticed she had no such compunction about buying for the kids. A six-foot Big Bird greeted him as he turned the corner, buttoning his shirt. Brilliantly colored art prints from the Madeline books and others of knights and dragons adorned simple frames in between the bedrooms. He'd stumbled over enough stacks of books in previous ventures into this territory to know to tread warily. He couldn't imagine how he'd once thought these rooms empty and without life. They scarcely seemed big enough to contain all the energy bouncing around in them.
Not knowing whether to be irritated or happy at the discovery, Axell sought the sound of Maya's voice. No one had ever driven him over the brink of sexual frustration as she had. His loss of control frightened him, heightening his irascibility. She'd damned well taunted him into that scene—in the kitchen, for pity's sake! The kids could have walked in at any time.
He flushed at the thought of literally being caught with his pants down. The only other time in his life he'd ever been so incautious was to believe Angela when she'd told him she had used protection. He'd almost made the same mistake again. Although, if he was being rational about this, he'd have to figure Maya wasn't in any hurry to get pregnant. She didn't need to. They were already married.
His head hurt with all the conflicting issues rampaging around inside. Discovering Maya in her room, rocking a whimpering infant and reassuring Matty in a low voice, Axell leaned against the doorjamb and just let it all go for a moment. He couldn't do anything about old man Pfeiffer or Mayor Arnold or the Mid-East crisis at this hour. His concern now was getting Maya into his bed so he could release some of this tension. Then he'd worry about getting to the bottom of their problems.
"I think Alexa has a fever," Maya whispered over Matty's head.
That shot his ship down fast enough.
* * *
After a night of walking the floor with a crying baby, Axell wasn't in a humor for cock-and-bull stories.
"Even I know that's ridiculous," he shouted the next afternoon at Headley's latest gossip. He never shouted. Resting his head in his hands, he propped his elbows on his desk and wondered when his life had taken this bent direction. He didn't have to wonder. He knew.
"It's either the mayor or that New York developer he's connected with," Headley replied with assurance, appropriating a seat on the couch without being asked. "I've done my homework. Ralph's invested heavily in that real estate corporation owned by the Yankees. This is their first big project. They've got some condos near town in the blueprint stage, and they've acquired land for townhouse apartments. They need the cash flow from that shopping center."
"Shit." Axell sat back and stared out his window. He really didn't want the mayor's job. He'd just thrown out the threat to smack Ralph into line. But apartments and condos weren't the kind of lifestyle he wanted for Wadeville. The bastard.
He took a deep breath to clear the cobwebs. "That doesn't make Ralph a murderer. That's preposterous. Pfeiffer has a hundred and one relatives waiting with bated breath for his demise. Any one of them could have been desperate enough to hurry him on."
"They've not determined the cause of death yet," Headley reminded him. "That noxious brood of Pfeiffer's are the gun-and-knife toting sort. The sheriff would damned well know the cause if they were involved."
Axell pinched the bridge of his nose. "Speculation will get us nowhere. I've got lawyers reading over the terms of Maya's lease, but we have to start considering alternatives. No place else is as convenient to the houses out there, and land prices are too exorbitant to consider buying anything. She'll be turning my house into a home school if I don't do something soon."
Maybe the best thing was for her to give up the school. Men desperate enough to murder over land wouldn't let the little complication of a lease stop them. Besides, he liked coming home at night to the sound of Maya's laughter and the kids giggles. He was even beginning to enjoy the purple monstrosities growing in his dining room. He liked even better the idea of slipping home when the kids weren't—
"That little girl of yours sure has you wrapped around her little finger, doesn't she?" Headley broke into his reverie. "You know, there used to be a kid from Texas named Alyssum who came into the grill in your father's time. Married a local girl. You think it's some relation?"
Axell glowered at the old man. "Maya's parents are dead." He returned to staring at the building next door—the one Maya and her former lover occupied, though on separate floors and for different reasons. It still drove him nuts thinking about it.
Headley was right. Maya had him wrapped around her little finger and it had very little to do with Constance's welfare or protective instincts or any of the other crap he'd been rationalizing.
He'd do a damned lot for his daughter, admittedly. She hadn't asked to be brought into this world. He accepted the responsibility for that. But he didn't think it was for Constance's sake that he worried about Maya and her school. He'd already provided a permanent solution for Constance by marrying her tea
cher.
No, the hell of it was, now he was worrying about the damned teacher.
Instead of solving several problems with his marriage, he'd multiplied them into hordes the likes of which Genghis Khan had never known—because of a wisp of a female with big blue-green eyes and hair the color of sunset.
Reaching for the phone, he started to call to see if Alexa was any better.
Instead, he dropped his hand and got up. He'd go next door and see for himself.
He ignored Headley's laughter as he strode out.
Chapter 25
Give pizza chants.
Maya barely looked up as the shop chimes rang and Axell entered. She was furious and embarrassed with herself, and not entirely happy with him. This morning he'd grabbed a cup of coffee, kissed the kids on the head, and escaped before they could exchange two words. She didn't like being given a taste of her own medicine. Axell was Virgo, dammit, not Pisces. He wasn't supposed to slip away like that.
His cautious approach warned he was treading as warily as she. He glanced down at Alexa sleeping in her cradle. "How is she?" he whispered.
Damn, he set every one of her nerve endings on fire just by his presence. Maya glanced up from the shoe she was painting and studied him from beneath her lashes. Axell never looked uncertain. He always looked self-confident and in charge. But today... Did she detect just a hint of tension in the way he loosened his tie? He'd apparently left his coat in his office. Even that was a sign of something. She just didn't know what.
"The doctor says I should expect fevers with colds and allergies. If I'd been able to breast feed, she'd have had more immunity. I'm not supposed to worry unless the fever lingers or gets worse."
"We're not supposed to worry," he corrected, not looking up from the cradle. "We're in this together."
"We" was a hard concept for Maya to wrap her mind around. She'd never really been part of a "we" and wasn't entirely sure how it worked. Axell was trying to teach her, and she appreciated his efforts, she really did, but she'd had the supports pulled out from under her once too many times in the past. She'd taught herself to be smarter than Charlie Brown with his football.
She painted the dragon's breath a brighter orange and didn't reply.
Axell leaned his hip against the counter beside her, and Maya could smell his shaving lotion. Last night, she'd gone to bed with that scent on her hands. Tonight, she could easily go to bed with the scent of the whole man on her. The quivering in her lower abdomen warned that was a path she shouldn't take with Axell standing this close. She didn't like being dominated by macho men, she reminded herself. His size alone could diminish her. His superior attitude would wipe her up off the floor.
"I thought maybe I should take you out to dinner tonight."
Out of the corner of her eye, Maya could see Axell confidently crossing his arms as he leaned against the counter. For whatever reason, the combination of his tentative statement and confident pose struck her funny bone.
"You thought maybe a bed would be more comfortable than a kitchen table," she translated for him, biting back a giggle.
That shut him up briefly. Then he grunted. "It's a damned good thing that table weighs a ton or I would have slammed it against the wall."
Maya grinned in relief. So, maybe they'd both come a little unglued. "I vote we reserve the table for special, nonkid occasions," she replied noncommittally.
"Dinner?" he persisted, not letting her off the hook.
A cautious step on the stairs prevented Maya's immediate reply. She'd heard the shower earlier. Stephen never got up this early. Nervously, she glanced at Axell. He was watching whoever descended with that narrow, Norse god look, as if he'd shoot thunderbolts at any person who dared invade his cloud.
His expression turned from anger to wariness. A few months ago, Maya would have sworn Axell had no expressions, but she recognized the signs now. She glanced over her shoulder.
"Cleo!" she shouted with joy.
Axell caught the paint pot as Maya leaped from her seat and ran to embrace her sister. He should never have allowed Maya to leave a key out for an unknown factor like her sister. Although he could see the resemblance between them in the redhead coloring and delicate bone structure, the similarities ended there.
Maya's sister exhibited a tough, sharp edge that would cut a man in two if applied deliberately. She wore her dark red hair in a clipped, rough cut that emphasized the harshness of her cheekbones and the thinness of her lips. Partially tinted glasses hid her eyes, preventing any comparison with Maya's open, honest turquoise. Even as Maya enveloped her in a hug, Axell could sense Cleo's cold gaze on him. This was not a woman he'd like to meet in a dark alley.
"Come meet Axell," Maya said eagerly, urging her sister forward. "Axell, this is my sister Cleo." She didn't give either of them a chance to respond but leapt to the next question. "Why didn't you call? I wanted to come and get you. How did you get here?"
"I've got friends." Cleo dismissed the question curtly.
"You didn't have trouble finding the key where I told you it would be? And I fixed everything just like you had it before."
"It's fine, I found it just fine." She glanced down at Alexa. "This your kid?"
"Isn't she beautiful? Would you like to hold her?" Without waiting for an answer, Maya lifted Alexa from the cradle and offered her to Cleo.
Axell wanted to grab his daughter and shield her from this hard-eyed woman. He had to start remembering that Maya had more in common with this ex-convict than she did with him. Alexa didn't belong to him in any form. Stephen had refused to sign any release papers allowing Axell to adopt her. He bunched his fists at his sides and watched as Maya's sister inspected Alexa but refused to hold her.
"Where's Matty?" Cleo demanded, pulling back from her niece's ruffled pink blanket.
Axell thought he ought to leave the sisters to their reunion, but his stubborn protective instincts wouldn't surrender to logic or politeness. He wouldn't see Maya hurt.
"At the school," Maya replied happily, apparently not aware of her sister's icy distance. "I think kids benefit from year-round school, and he loves it, so I enrolled him in summer sessions." At Cleo's silence, Maya continued defensively, "It's my school. It doesn't cost anything."
Cleo nodded, and eyed Axell with suspicion. "Who's the turd who tried to climb in my bed last night?"
"Stephen! Oh my gosh, I forgot Stephen!" Anxiously, Maya handed Alexa to Axell. "What did you do, Cleo? It's my fault. I didn't know you were—"
Cleo cut her off. "He's in Matty's bed." She continued staring at Axell. "I want my son back."
Axell shifted Alexa to a more comfortable position. The more tense the situation became, the more he relaxed. It was an old defensive technique he'd learned long ago for defusing situations in the bar.
"That's up to Social Services," he replied blandly.
Cleo turned her glare on Maya. "He's got your daughter and my son. What's he doing, holding them hostage?"
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 cl
attering 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."
Dixie Rebel (The Carolina Magnolia Series, Book 1) Page 21
