Still, she couldn’t help noticing with a pang, “He trusts you. Do you spend a lot of time with him?”
“Whenever I’m in New York,” he shrugged. “Adara’s always inviting me to dinner and handing him off to me. I copy what Gideon does and we get along okay. Airplane rides, right, sport?”
Androu grinned, put out his arms and tipped forward into space, trusting he’d be caught with a firm hand under his chest. He made a raspberry noise with his mouth as Theo did a slow circle and dive with him.
Jaya took it like a punch in the stomach. Turning away from the heart-wrenching sight of Theo playing with the boy, she carried Evie to the sofa and started an animated movie on the television for her.
“Think you can handle them while I make a few calls?”
“You’ll stay then,” he said as though it was a done deal, but she read the underlying tension in his intense stare.
She wavered, still annoyed that he was only here because he wanted a favor, not because he wanted to see her, but a little voice inside her said, Quit pretending you have a choice. All the safe, secure blocks and fences and supports she’d put under and around herself trembled in warning of a bigger shake-up, but it had been destined to happen sometime. Today was as good an opportunity as any.
It was so hard to be near him, though. He still got to her, so handsome despite being stubbled and rumpled and smelling faintly of leather and fuel and sweat. Maybe because he looked so nonplussed and human. Like he genuinely needed her. Again.
He wasn’t interested in her, she reminded herself, hurt even though she shouldn’t be. He’d warned her not to expect more than their one night. She hadn’t. It wasn’t like she’d been in love with him. Not deeply, anyway. Just tentatively.
No, it was the fact he hadn’t called when she’d had a serious reason to reach out to him. He shouldn’t have dismissed her like some ditzy woman who didn’t understand the rules. When he had texted her today with his cryptic message, she had responded. She expected that same consideration from him. He should have called her back.
He should know that he had his own baby who liked airplane rides.
* * *
Theo spoke to Gideon while Jaya chattered in French, ordering supplies to be delivered to their suite. When she began speaking Punjabi, she lost him, which irritated him further than he already was.
Forcing himself to pay attention to his own call, he heard Gideon say, “It’s a stunt. The son of an African prince. He’s chasing down his runaway wife, although the guns are real and so are the consequences. We’re stationary while the French and Spanish navies draw straws on whose jurisdiction we’re in. Of course the FBI wants a say because we have so many Americans on board. Meanwhile, our pirate is threatening to draw all of North Africa into the fight if we don’t turn over his wife, but if she’s stowing away, we haven’t found her. The ladies are having kittens that I sent the babies off the ship. Are they all right?”
“Safe,” Theo replied, eyeing Jaya as she toed off her shoes and shrunk by a couple of inches. Something in her expression seemed disturbingly vulnerable as she spoke with a lilt of persuasion into her phone. Her tone riled up oddly protective instincts in him when, on the surface, she looked more self-assured than ever.
Again he wondered if there was a man in her life, then cut off his speculation. The thought of her with a lover made him nauseous.
“Can you keep them out of sight?” Gideon continued. “Nic’s planning a broadcast from his cabin—man can’t stand to be scooped—but we want to leave the impression they’re still here, otherwise...”
“Understood. We’re off the grid.”
“Excellent. We’re a day from shore once we can move again and may have to wait for a slip in Marseilles. I’ll be in touch with an arrival time.”
Theo ended the call, mind eased that his siblings and spouses weren’t in immediate danger. Now he just had to—
A knock sounded and Jaya lowered her phone to motion at Theo. “That will be the bellman with the things I asked him to bring up. Take Androu to the bedroom while he brings everything in.”
Evie was rapt with her princess movie, dark head below the sofa back. He stepped out of the main room and continued to watch her as he listened to Jaya direct a pair of young men to leave everything inside the door. She continued her call as they left.
After hanging up a moment later, she walked him through his first diaper change, then briskly began moving objects to higher ground and double checking that doors were locked, particularly the one to the pool deck.
“We could swim with them later. They’d like that,” she murmured, sounding distracted, her nervous tension palpable. Maybe because he was hovering, but he couldn’t help himself. He told himself it was the new experience of child-minding. Androu still clung with determined little fists and tight legs which was a disturbing feeling that reinforced to him how inadequate he was with the task of reassurance. All Theo could do was hold him and follow Jaya around.