Life was marching relentlessly on without her first husband. Her emotions had spiraled so far out of control she didn't know how she would ever retrieve them. Now Kyle and all the myriad temptations he presented would be with her twenty-four/seven as she settled into a family life she'd never had and that Kyle clearly didn't want.
She touched along her kissed-tender lips and searched back over their few conversations prior. What had she misunderstood to make her believe he was still in the air force, due to zip off into the wild blue yonder sometime soon? Maybe she'd just heard and believed what she'd wanted to where Kyle was concerned, desperate for a way to secure Nina's future. She hadn't looked beyond that to understand all the ways she could be hurting both their hearts to put them through this sham of a marriage.
Now it was too late to go back. She could only steel herself, forge ahead.
And try not to think about how much she wanted him to kiss her again.
Six
A week later, Kyle stood outside the nursery door, double-checking the monitor to make sure the thing was actually working. He pulled it away from his ear, looked at the buttons, clicked a couple back and forth. Yeah, he could hear the white-noise music playing low in the background.Good God, the baby gear was more complicated than some of the intelligence equipment he'd worked with in the air force. In another week he would start with Landis International. For now, he was already unofficially working from home, but soon the traveling would start.
He hadn't lied about being at Phoebe's disposal. He just hadn't mentioned there was a deadline to that since his new job would take him on the road even more than his old one. That didn't leave him much time to win Phoebe over, into his bed.
Kyle started down the hall, eager to move forward with his next plan for persuading her they should enjoy all the benefits a wedding license brought. For the past week, he'd wined and dined Phoebe at the most romantic places he could think of, a challenge to do when considering the kid-friendly aspect. The opera had been a no go, but then he didn't really like opera. He'd even persuaded Phoebe to fly upstate on the family jet for an outdoor history fair at Halloween. He'd thought Phoebe would enjoy the historical aspect, and Nina sure looked damn cute in her little princess costume. He had to admit the kid was easier to take along than he'd expected.
Of course, he didn't really know what to expect from a child her age. He should probably get one of those parenting books or surf the Internet for kid-care articles because, his choice or not, he was a father now, which meant doing his best. He was also a husband, something he intended to focus his full attention on for the rest of the evening on their first adults-only date.
This time he would be careful not to lose control of the conversation the way he had during their wedding-day dinner on the porch. He believed they could enjoy a fun and sexy relationship. Anything more would only complicate things for both of them, not to mention Nina.
He jogged down the stairs and around the corner to the home office where Phoebe was camped out in front of the computer. A couple days ago they'd made a day trip up to Columbia for her things, including her computer for work teaching her online classes. She'd unpacked her academic gear into the honey-brown wood shelves flanking a scenic window with brocade drapes. Phoebe had added her computer to the overlarge partner's desk and parked a baby swing in the corner.
He took a minute to study her, enjoying the way her straight blond hair shimmered with every move of her head, however slight. She looked every bit as enticing in jeans and a formfitting green cotton shirt as she had in the little black number she'd worn the night they met.
While she stared at the screen, Phoebe plucked at the hair band she'd slid around her wrist-as he'd learned was her habit. He'd also learned how much he enjoyed discovering new things to entice her out of her somber reserve.
Her earthy practicality appealed to him, chasing away any initial doubt anyone might have had about her being after Landis money. She liked to walk on the beach without her shoes and bring Nina to the public park. While nannies pushed designer-clad tots in fancy strollers, Phoebe let Nina roll around on a blanket in the grass to, as she said, see the world up close.
He even liked the way her history professor side would come out at odd moments with a sudden tutorial on a historic building they drove past or a surprise lesson on the French Huguenot influence in Charleston. Jonah had snickered the first time she'd launched into one of her diatribes, but by the end, even he'd been wound up in her stories.
He couldn't remember wanting anyone this much before. "Hey, professor. How's paper-grading going?"
She glanced up, her smile quicker lately. "I've just about finished the backlog of work."
He set the nursery monitor on the corner of the desk, anticipation ramping. "Ready to take a break?"
"I'm at a stopping point. What do you need?"
He needed to persuade her they belonged in bed together. "Let's go for a drive along the shore."
Her face lit with enthusiasm, then she looked at the monitor. "Nina might need me."
"It's only a drive, nothing elaborate or far away. Just some grown-up time away from work. I've already spoken to Jonah and he's on his way over from the carriage house." Ginger and her husband were in D.C. for business. "He can call us or the housekeeper if he has any questions. Nina's asleep and seems out for the count." He held up the monitor, bobbling it back and forth in front of her. "I looked and listened."
"I didn't hear you." She eyed her receiver-the set had come with an extra-for the nursery monitor as if it had betrayed her.
"I was very quiet. I didn't want to wake her up." He rotated her chair toward him. "You deserve a break. Come on."
She tucked her tongue in the corner of her cheek as she always did when mulling something over, an increasingly sexy habit that left him aching to get her alone out of the house.
Phoebe gripped the arm rests with a resolute smack. "Okay, you've convinced me. Let me just save my work." She clicked along the keyboard then rolled the chair away from the desk, rising to her feet.
Stopping mere inches away from him.
Her vanilla-sweet scent tempted him to skim his knuckles down her cheek. Just one stroke. Except he didn't want to pull his hand away. She stared up at him, her pupils widening, pushing at the brown until the colors blended.
A clearing throat sounded from across the room.
Damn.
Phoebe blushed.
Kyle dropped his hand to squeeze her shoulder and turned to find Jonah lounging in the open doorway. Long hair brushed his shoulders, their rebel brother marching to his own tune, as always. "I'm ready to report for diaper duty, bro."
Kyle passed over the nursery monitor. "Thanks. I owe you."
Phoebe snagged a pencil. "I'll have all her instructions written down in just a min-"
Jonah whipped a piece of paper from his back pocket. "Already taken care of. Kyle left me a very detailed list." He glanced at his older brother. "You know I'm not ten anymore, right? Now go, both of you."
"On our way out." Kyle wrapped an arm around Phoebe's shoulders and shuttled her out of the office into the hall.
"You actually know Nina's routine." She glanced up at him, surprisingly not pulling away.
Progress.
"Isn't that why you brought her here?" He steered her down the long corridor, enjoying the familiar feel of her against his side. "To give Nina a father?"
Her smile faded and she tensed under his arm. "Has your private detective uncovered anything new about Bianca?"
"A few facts, none of them particularly helpful or I would have told you right away." He wished he had all the military intelligence equipment at his disposal now, but he could only keep tossing more money at private detectives.
What a mess for the kid. If Bianca had just gone off to party, then she didn't care about her child. And if she were dead … Either way, Nina needed them.