Double trouble

by Boswell, Barbara

  She had to laugh at that. "Oh, you're the soul of amiability, I'm sure."

  This was, Kayla realized thoughtfully, the longest conversation they'd had without an exchange of angry words since their first night together. Did it mean anything other than the fact that they were good together in bed? There were lots of couples whose sexual relationship was dynamite but who were totally incompatible out of bed.

  Penny immediately came to mind. Why, every relationship Penny had had, including her marriage to the twins* father, had been like that. Penny had warned her stepdaughters to beware of good sex: "It's merely a temporary smoke screen, not a solution to your problems. In fact, it can become your major problem."

  Kayla could hear her stepmother's dire warnings as clearly as if she were in the room with them. She tried to put the troubling thoughts from her mind. She wanted to go to sleep, to forget everything for just a little while. Her eyelids closed heavily.

  A moment later Matt's hand moved over the curve of her hip, then slipped to the dark springy delta between her thighs. Kayla's eyes flew open. She was suddenly wide awake again. And though she'd been limp with satisfaction from their earlier loving, she felt a fierce stab of response tightening in her groin, felt the moistness gathering there...

  "Say you'll marry me," Matt said softly. Slowly, carefully, he turned her in his arms so she was facing him.

  Kayla's eyes met his. Though the light in the room was dim, she was so close she could see his every feature—the intensity shining in his dark blue eyes, the unswerving determination that tightened his mouth. She swallowed. Instinct told her that a certain levity was definitely required. "Are you using sex to get your way?" she asked in what she hoped was a casually playful tone.

  "I'll do whatever it takes, Kayla."

  "Women are always being accused of controlling men with sex. It's considered unfair and manipulative, and now you're trying to do it to me."

  Matt grinned rakishly, his blue eyes gleaming. "I already did it to you, sweetheart. But I'll be more than happy to do it again."

  ''If that's a double entendre, it's a dumb one," she began weakly.

  ''It's a promise, Kayla. Now tell me what I want to hear."

  "What you want to hear," she repeated, closing her eyes. "That would undoubtedly be that I'm not pregnant, after all. Or that you're not the father. Or that I'm planning to have an abortion. You choose the one that most applies—a, Z>, ore."

  "How about none of the above? Marry me, Kayla."

  She opened her eyes and looked into his. He had propped himself up on his elbow and was leaning over her, his expression intense.

  "Why are you doing this, Matt?" she whispered, genuinely confused. "Why haven't you denied that you're the father? Why haven't you accused me of trying to stick you with some other man's mistake? At the very least, why haven't you offered to pay for an abortion?"

  Matt laid his hand on her abdomen. "Jeez, Kayla, what kind of a man do you think I am? I was with you that night, remember? I know this baby is mine and we're going to get married and raise it, along with a few others." He smiled. "I like kids and I've always wanted them. I'm basically a family man, Kayla. I've stayed a bachelor for this long more by chance than by choice."

  Kayla was flummoxed. This was far too easy; it was simply too good to be true. She was well aware that most single women did not get marriage proposals when they announced that they were pregnant. She knew from studying statistical analyses for various issue-oriented campaigns that there were many, many single mothers out there without men offering to take responsibility for the children they'd fathered. How many women became pregnant—either by accident or even deliberately in an attempt to push a reluc-

  tant boyfriend into marriage—oniy to be deserted and left to face the uncertain future alone? Far too many!

  '*A man doesn't propose to a woman he accidentally got pregnant," Kay la felt obliged to point out to him. **That sort of thing only happ)ens in fairy tales—or romance novels."

  Matt shrugged. '*Well, I'm here and I'm proposing to you, and I've never seen myself as a Prince Charming or a romance-hero type. Say yes, Kayla."

  ''And if I do?" she asked warily.

  ''Then we get married and live happily ever after, of course."

  "Just like a fairy tale." Kayla frowned. She felt as if she were trapped in a fractured fairy tale. Men and women didn't resolve their problems so swiftly; most of the time they didn't resolve them at all. She knew that from observing Penny and her men and from her own dismal experience with Scott Ceres.

  She sat up abruptly. "My stepmother got pregnant by Don Felton, the man she married after my father. First, Don claimed that it couldn't be his child, then he offered her five thousand dollars to get rid of it."

  Matt swore softly. "What did she do?"

  "She took the money, used some of it to become a real estate agent and banked the rest. Don filed for divorce, relieved he wouldn't be stuck with a baby. She worked hard and eventually was quite successful. Owns her own agency now in southern California where she sells humongous mansions to the stars."

  "With that incident in your past, I can see why you were apprehensive about telling me about the baby." Matt was silent for a long moment. "It occurs to m.e that I don't know anything about you, other than the fact that you have a twin sister who's a lobbyist and—"

  "A career you consider odious," Kay la finished for him. "That's what I've been trying to tell you, Matt. We can't get married. We're strangers who—"

  *'Are going to get to know each other very well indeed. Except we'll do it after we're married rather than before, like one of those old-time arranged marriages. We'll make it work, Kayla. We can do it."

  ''You make me ahnost believe it can happen," Kayla said wryly. ''With that kind of ability to sell yourself, I predict a long political career for you."

  "I'll stay in politics as long as I can be an effective advocate for my constituents, but I'm not in it for lifetime job security. If I ever feel that I have to compromise my principles and beliefs, I'll resign from office."

  "I feel Hke I'm listening to a sound bite I've written." Kayla slipped away from him and got out of bed. Her flowered silk robe was lying over the back of a nearby chair and she quickly pulled it on.

  "A sound bite," Matt echoed flatly.

  "Yes, you know, one of those short, catchy recorded statements that are short enough and catchy enough to fit into a twenty-second spot on the network news."

  "I know exactly what a sound bite is and I also know that you're—"

  "Your delivery is very good, and you get extra marks for that ring of sincerity in your voice," she cut in coolly.

  "Nice try, baby, but it's not going to work."

  She glanced at him. "What isn't?"

  "I know you're trying to rile me with that cynical veneer. You sound like the political handler from hell. But I'm not buying the act, Kayla. I know how much you want me—you showed me everything I needed to know tonight in bed."

  "Oh, did I?"

  He nodded. "Right now the intensity of your feelings for me scares you, so you're putting on this hard-boiled con-

  sultant act to try to drive me away. But Tm not going anywhere, baby."

  A cold streak of rage shot through her. Kayla pulled at the lapels of her robe with trembling fingers. **A11 right then. You're welcome to stay right where you are. I, however, am leaving. Good night."

  She stalked out of the room. Swift as a pouncing cat, Matt caught her around the waist as she started down the small hallway. '*Hey, was it something I said?" Laughing, he picked her up and carried her back into the bedroom.

  Irate, Kayla did not join in the laughter. 'Tut me down!" she demanded. ''Was it something you said? Ohh! It was everything that you said, you snake. You're insufferable. Maybe I failed to drive you away, but you've succeeded in driving me away with your insulting, preposterous arrogance."

  Despite her struggles, he handled her easily, putting her back onto the bed with him.
He wrapped his long limbs around her and held her tight. *'Give up and relax, Kayla," he whispered against her ear. "You're not going anywhere. You're right where you belong, right where you want to be."

  "That is not true, you conceited, self-deluded—"

  "Some sleazeball paid your mother to have an abortion and then left her, so you expect all men to behave in the same selfish way? Well, I have a news flash for you, honey. They don't./don't."

  "It wasn't my mother, it was my stepmother!" Kayla said, tight-lipped and furious. She was aware that her struggles were futile against his greater strength, but she didn't give up. "You don't know anything about me so don't try to pretend you do.''

  "I want to know you, I want to understand you. Talk to me, tell me—"

  "No!"

  '*You might as well. I've figured out a few things already—that your parents are divorced and remarried." His tone was challenging, and Kayla reacted hotly.

  ''You don't have a clue! My parents were very happy together, they weren't divorced. My mother died of pneumonia when I was seven. My father married Penny, his secretary, a year and a half later. That marriage was a disaster. They could work together, but not live together. It lasted less than two years and then Penny contacted a lawyer about getting a divorce."

  She swallowed hard, her rage suddenly dissolving. "The divorce never happened, though. My father was killed."

  ''Killed?" Matt echoed, shocked. "How?" His grip instinctively loosened as he turned her to face him.

  "A car accident. It was late at night and he was alone and skidded off the road and into a tree. The police thought he'd probably fallen asleep at the wheel. Penny wasn't sure about that, though. She often wondered if he'd deliberately crashed just to get away from her without having to pay alimony."

  "She told you that?" Matt gasped. "That's a helluva thing to say to a kid!"

  He was temporarily distracted and Kayla knew she could get away from him. She could run down to Arlene's apartment. Her kindhearted neighbor would put her up for the night.

  "God, you poor kid." Matt sounded genuinely disturbed. "Orphaned! What happened to you and Kristina afterward? Who raised you?"

  He sounded genuinely interested, too. Kayla wasn't accustomed to that. In her line of work, all her clients were interested solely in themselves and their careers and what she could do for them. They never asked her personal questions; all that interested them about her life were her marketing and media skills.

  His concern was irresistible. Unconsciously, she moved a little closer to him, but she stared into space, avoiding his probing blue eyes. ''Kristina and I lived with Penny. She really didn't want us. She was only eighteen years older than us and she'd never had any desire to have kids. But there was nobody else who would take us."

  "Nobody?" Matt asked incredulously. "No grandparents or aunts or uncles?"

  "There was our mother's father and our dad's parents, but they said they were finished with raising children and couldn't take us. Dad's brother had three kids of his own and couldn't afford to take us. Kristina and I were grateful that Penny agreed to keep us. Otherwise, we would've been placed into foster care."

  "And your own flesh and blood would've allowed that to happen? They couldn't afford to take you, they didn't want you—that's outrageous! Disgraceful! I've never heard of anything so heartless and selfish as turning your back on children in your own family!"

  Kay la shrugged. "It wasn't so bad living with Penny. She was never mean to us or anything. Money was really, really tight for a long time, though. Penny couldn't afford to keep us, either, but she did it anyway. We went through two bad marriages with her—the one to Don Felton and then to another man, Anthony Abraxis. Neither lasted very long, not that Penny expected them to. Meanwhile, she kept working hard and by the time Kristina and I graduated from high school, she was doing very well. She insisted on paying our college tuition, and room and board, which she certainly didn't have to do. We're very grateful to her, we owe her, well, everything, really."

  "That may be so, but she sure gave you some screwed-up ideas about men," Matt said perceptively. "I guess it's going to be up to me to revise them."

  Kayla shook her head. "No, really, you don't owe me anything. Matt. If you insist on contributing to the baby's

  i

  support, I will certainly accept whatever you choose to give but-"

  *'I choose to support my child and live with it and be its father in every way, Kayla. That includes staying married to its mother and providing a stable home."

  A huge lump rose in her throat. ''But I don't want to be foisted onto someone who doesn't want me. Not again, not at the age of twenty-eight," she cried.

  ''I want you." Matt's fingers tangled in her long, thick hair. ''You can't possibly have any doubts on that score." He pulled her against the long, hard length of him, letting her feel the burgeoning throb of his very definite arousal. **ril prove it to you again. Right now, if you feel you're up to it."

  "That's just sex. We can't spend all our time in bed, you know."

  "Don't underestimate the power of sex, Kayla. It's a powerful bond and we'll use it to forge a strong, permanent relationship."

  "That sounds like singles-bar psychobabble. Next you'll ask my astrological sign and assure me that it's compatible with yours." She pushed at him with her hands and to her surprise, he let her go.

  "Just to set the record straight, I've never asked about anyone's sign. It's sort of a point of pride for me." He rolled onto his stomach and closed his eyes. "You're tired and we've done enough tonight. Go to sleep, Kayla. We'll talk more in the morning."

  She considered arguing. After all, she had a valid point to make—that a shotgun marriage between two people compatible only in bed augured nothing but trouble. But as a numbing fatigue seeped through her, the task of putting thought to words was simply too overwhelming. She was too tired even to take off her robe and put on a nightgown.

  "In the morning," she mumbled, already drifting off to sleep.

  * ♦ «

  Morning arrived with stunning sp)eed. Matt awakened her with a hearty, "Time to get up. I'd Hke to be on the road within half an hour. We'll stop to eat breakfast along the way."

  Kayla looked at him through half-slitted eyes. She didn't have the energy to open them all the way. **On the way to where?" she asked thickly. She felt stuporous and confused.

  "Home," Matt replied briskly. "You need to pack a bag. We'll stay for the weekend."

  It was still dark outside and the red numbers on her clock glowed an incredible 5:00 a.m.! And she was supposed to get up?

  "You can't be serious," Kayla decided. She rolled over and snuggled deeper into the covers. Since he wasn't making any sense, she felt no obhgation to listen any further.

  "Okay, I'll pack for you. You can catch a few extra z's while I do. Ah, here's your suitcase, in the closet."

  She heard him opening drawers and rummaging through them, then padding back and forth to her closet. Slowly, dazedly, she sat up and watched him tossing clothes—/ler clothes/—into her weekender case that lay open on the chair. "What are you doing?" she croaked.

  "Packing your things for the trip."

  Kayla was too exhausted, her mind too befuddled to comprehend more than one point at a time. Her tired brain never registered as far as "the trip," but she did pick up on the fact that he was packing for her.

  "A man can't pack for a woman," she murmured sleepily. "God only knows what he'd bring for her. All the wrong things, that's for certain."

  "Ah, sounds like another pearl of wisdom from the inestimable Penny. She seems to believe that a man can't do anything right." Matt tossed a black bra into the suitcase. "I used to know a soul mate of hers named Debra Wheeler."

  He grimaced, then dropped a sleeveless white T-shirt into the case. '*She too was of the all-men-are-either-idiots-or-evil-or-both school of thought."

  Kayla blinked. '*You just packed a black bra for me to wear with a white shirt. A sleevele
ss white shirt in March when we haven't had a day above fifty degrees yet."

  *'Should I pack you a sweater?" he asked solicitously.

  **ril do my own packing, thank you very much." She stumbled out of bed, threw out everything he'd put in the suitcase and started over. He had already carried her packed suitcase to the car, leaving her alone in the apartment for a while, when she was finally alert enough to recall, '*What trip? We never discussed any trips."

  *'We're going to Johnstown to meet my family," said Matt. ''Here, get dressed." He picked up some of the clothes that she'd discarded from the suitcase. A faded pink sweater she'd been meaning to get rid of for months and an old pair of aqua cotton shorts that was destined to become a dust rag. He tried to hand them to her.

  Kayla shuddered and backed away. "I wouldn't wear that getup to sit alone in the dark in my own bedroom, let alone out in public. Besides, it's cold outside."

  Matt heaved an exasperated sigh. "I guess I don't know anything about women's clothes. Pick out something yourself then."

  ' 'Don't worry, I intend to.''

  "And hurry up."

  Feeling pressured, she snatched a pair of teal-green cotton leggings and a matching oversize tunic-length cotton knit shirt from the closet and fairly threw them on. Matt was hustling her out the door, even as she was stepping into her shoes.

  It wasn't until they were both in Matt's car, pulling out of the parking lot when everything finally clicked. "Wait a minute, you tricked me!" Kayla exclaimed indignantly. "I had no intention of going anywhere with you."

  Matt switched on the radio and kept on driving.

  '*This isn't fair! You woke me up at dawn, I was practically comatose and you took advantage to railroad me into this trip. Sleep deprivation is used to brainwash people, you know. And pregnant women need extra rest. I didn't fully realize what I was doing and now—"

  Matt laughed. "I simply saved us both a lot of time, energy and arguing. You'd have ended up coming with me anyway."