Naked Exposure [Après-Ski 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic)
Page 18
“Yes, but—”
“Come to work this morning. It’ll take your mind off things. Padron won’t be back until this afternoon. I’ll take the afternoon off and be here with you when he gets back.”
She raised both brows, surprised by the offer. “You don’t need to do that.”
He grabbed her hair, wound it around his fist, and pulled her head back so he could kiss her. “Yeah, I do,” he replied cryptically before his lips closed over hers.
Darcy thought it would be impossible for her to concentrate on her work, but professionalism took over and she was pleased with the coverage she managed to get during the course of the morning. True to his word, Ross left the school in Fiona’s capable but furious hands, and quit for the day when Darcy did.
Back at Hadleigh’s, the waiting seemed interminable. Leo and Ross tried to tell her it would be okay, but how could they possibly know that?
“Padron will call me if there’s a problem,” Leo assured her. “No news is good news.”
“Yes, but Chloe will be scared. She won’t know anyone.”
“Relax, baby.” Ross rubbed her shoulders with large sweeps of his capable hands, but even that glorious feeling failed to distract her.
“I should have insisted on going along. Something has gone wrong, I just know it,” she said when what felt like two hours but was probably no more than ten minutes had passed with no news.
“I’ll call Padron,” Leo said, taking pity on her. “Nah, the call’s gone to voicemail, so they must be on their way back, or he would have picked up.”
Ross pulled her onto his lap and held her tight against him. “Just chill, babe. I know it’s hard but you need to trust us.”
“I do. It’s just that—”
She leapt from Ross’s lap when the side door opened and Jack the helicopter pilot stood there, a little girl in his arms. Her little girl. Darcy cried out, and ran to take her from Jack, tears of joy streaming down her face.
Chapter Seventeen
Darcy hadn’t left Chloe in the two days since she had had her back with her. The little girl seemed unaffected by all the drama of the past week. As far as she was concerned, she had been with her granny while her mummy went to work. It was a big adventure, and she wasn’t any the worse for it.
“I had ice cream every day with Grandma,” Chloe said dramatically.
“Hmm, did you now.” Already Darcy’s daughter appeared to be learning how to manipulate.
“Can we have a dog, Mommy?” she asked, tugging Ruben’s ears. The friendly husky had taken a liking to Chloe and allowed her to do just about anything she liked with him.
Darcy hugged her child, something she had done every five minutes, or so it seemed, since being reunited with her. “We’ll see, honey.”
Ross was proving to be amazing with her, and the two of them had become firm friends. It broke Darcy’s heart to see them together. He must be thinking about his little boy, but never mentioned him.
Chloe loved Ross. She rode on his shoulders, played games with him, and Ross had an endless supply of patience with her. A cot had been placed in Ross’s living room for Chloe, and it was only at night, when Darcy was sure she was sound asleep, that she climbed into bed with Ross, and they made quiet yet inventive love, careful not to make any noise that would wake the child.
But Darcy knew they couldn’t go on like this. There was a BDSM club just one floor down from them, for goodness sake. She couldn’t risk exposing Chloe to that. It was time to leave.
And it would agonize Darcy to walk away from the man who had taught her so much about herself. The man she loved with a burning passion, totally and absolutely.
“I don’t want you to go,” Ross said that night when she broached the subject. “But I understand why you feel you must.”
“I haven’t been invited to stay,” she surprised herself by saying.
Ross pulled her into his arms, pressing her against his chest so harshly it was painful. “I’m not a safe person to be around,” he said, his voice catching in his throat. “Otherwise, I—”
She pulled away from him, pinning him with an intent look. “Are you saying you’d like me to stay?”
“You know I would.”
Darcy’s heart leapt. “Do I?”
“If things were different,” he said, shaking his head. “I love you, and I love Chloe, but I come with a lot of baggage. I don’t want you exposed to all the crap that’s floating around inside my head.”
“Because of what happened to you son?”
“Yes.”
“But that wasn’t your fault.”
He shrugged. “Wasn’t it?”
“Oh, Ross, for an intelligent man, you’re sometimes downright obtuse. Children die cot deaths all the time. It’s tragic, but it happens.”
“So you say, but if anything happened to Chloe, I’d top myself.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to her.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No, I don’t, but I’m not going to live my life denying myself the things I want in case they turn out wrong. And it just so happens that I want you, Ross Lang, very much indeed. Do you know just how deep I had to dig to find the courage to walk into that dungeon? But I did it because I wanted to make you happy, and prove something to myself.”
“I do know, but—”
“I did it for you,” she repeated, “because you woke something in me I didn’t know existed. And I did it for myself, because I wanted to.” She shook her head against his chest. “I’ve had a crap time of it since Chloe’s daddy used me and then walked away, but I can get over that with your help, and start living again. You’re the one who puts so much stock by trust,” she added passionately, “and I trust you absolutely.” She stifled a snort. “I must do to have gone up on that trapeze.”
“I love you,” he said softly.
“I love you, Ross,” she said, tears swamping her eyes. “But if you don’t love me enough to take a chance on life again, then we might as well call it quits. There are no guarantees, we’ve both learned that much, but I’m willing to risk living again if you are.”
He was quiet for so long she thought he was trying to find a way to let her down gently. Then a wicked smile slowly spread across his face. “You’re right, I’m being a jerk. How can I even think about letting you go? Stay with me, babe. Marry me. I’ll adopt Chloe, and we’ll give her a few brothers and sisters.”
“Is that a proposal?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then I accept, but we can’t live here.”
“Actually, Leo had a word with me yesterday. There’s an old coach house above the storerooms. It’s now a guest wing with its own entrance, and he’s offered it to us. It’s separate from Hadleigh’s, so Chloe need never see the club—”
“But close enough for Tanya to babysit while I go to work in the mornings.” Darcy grinned. “She loves kids, is underemployed, and has already offered her services. I think she’s keen for a bit of feminine support around this place.”
Ross looked surprised. “You want to carry on working with me?”
Darcy waggled her brows. “You think I’d leave you alone with Fiona?”
“Leo’s keen for me to stay and keep running the school. I feel I have to do it. Things are still dicey with the families.”
“Well, of course we’ll stay. It’s a great place to raise kids.” Darcy offered him a sexy smile, and threw herself back into his arms. “Besides, we have a date in the dungeon.”
THE END
CHASEZARA@YAHOO.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zara Chase is a British author who spends a lot of her time travelling the world. Being a gypsy provides her with ample opportunities to scope out exotic locations for her stories. She likes to involve her heroines in her erotic novels in all sorts of dangerous situations—and not only with the hunky heroes whom they encounter along the way. Murder, blackmail, kidnapping, and fraud—to name just a few of life’s mor
e common crimes—make frequent appearances in her books, adding pace and excitement to her racy stories.
Zara is an animal lover who enjoys keeping fit and is on a one-woman mission to keep the wine industry ahead of the recession.
For all titles by Zara Chase, please visit
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