For the Sake of Their Son (The Alpha Brotherhood #5)(21)
Author: Catherine Mann

“Of course.”

“Good.” He tapped on the window for the chauffeur to go. “Just in case you were wondering, I’m calling this the Beauty and the Beast plan.”

They were honest-to-goodness going to a library. She sagged back, stunned and charmed all at once.

God, she thought she’d seen all his moves over the years—moves he’d used on other women. He’d always been more…boisterous. More obvious.

This was different. Subtle. Damn good.

“So I’m to be Belle to your beast.”

“A Southern belle, yes, and you’ve called me a beast in the past. Besides, you know how much I enjoy books and history. I thought you might find some interesting photo opportunities along the way.”

“You really are okay with a pedestrian stroll through a library.” The Elliot she’d known all her life had always been on the go, scaling the tallest tree, racing down the steepest hill, looking for the edgiest challenge. But he did enjoy unwinding with a good book, too. She forgot about that side of him sometimes.

“I’m not a Cro-Magnon…even though I’m playing the beast. I do read. I even use a napkin at dinnertime.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, his old playful nature more evident.

She wished she could have just slugged him on the shoulder as if they were thirteen again. Things had been simpler then on some levels—and yet not easy at all on others.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t have been surprised.”

“Let’s stop making assumptions about each other from now on about a lot of things. We’ve been friends for years, but even friends change, grow, even a man like me can mature when he’s ready. Thanks to you and Eli, I’m ready now.”

She wanted to believe him, to believe in him. She wanted to shake off a past where the people she cared about always let her down. Hundreds of times over the past eleven months she’d guessed at what his reaction would be if she told him about the baby.

She’d known he would come through for her. The part that kept haunting her, that kept her from trying… She could never figure out how she would know if he’d come through out of duty or something more.

The thought that she could yearn for more between the two of them scared her even now. She was much better off taking this one day at a time.

“Okay, Elliot—” she spread her arms wide “—I’m all-in…for our day at the monastery.”

As she settled in for her date, she couldn’t help wondering which was tougher: resisting the fairy-tale man who seemed content to ignore the past year or facing the reality of her lifelong friend who had every reason to be truly angry with her.

Regardless, at some point the past would catch up with both of them. They could only play games for so long before they had to deal with their shared parenthood.

* * *

Wearing a baseball cap with the brim tugged low, Elliot soaked in the sight of Lucy Ann’s appreciation of the frescoes and ancient tomes as she filled a memory card with photos of the monastery turned library. He should have thought to do this for her sooner. The place was relatively deserted, a large facility with plenty of places for tourists to spread out. A school tour had passed earlier, but the echoes of giggles had faded thirty minutes ago. No one recognized him, and the bodyguards hung back unobtrusively. For all intents and purposes, he and Lucy Ann were just a regular family on vacation.

Why had he never thought to bring her to places like this before? He’d convinced himself he was taking care of her by offering her a job and a life following him around the world. But somehow he’d missed out on giving her so much more. He’d let her down when they were teenagers and he’d gotten arrested, leaving her alone to deal with her family. Now to find out he’d been selfish as an adult too. That didn’t sit well with him.

So he had more to fix. He and Lucy Ann were bound by their child for life, but he didn’t intend to take that part for granted. He would work his tail off to be more for her this time.

He set the brake on the stroller by a looming marble angel. “You’re quiet. Anything I can get for you?”

She glanced away from her camera, looking back over her shoulder at him. “Everything’s perfect. Thank you. I’m enjoying the peace. And the frescoes as well as the ornately bound books. This was a wonderful idea for how to spend the afternoon.”

Yet all day long she’d kept that camera between them, snapping photos. For work? For pleasure?

Or to keep from looking at him?

Tired of the awkward silence, he pushed on, “If you’re having fun, then why aren’t you smiling?”

She lowered the camera slowly, pivoting to face him. Her eyes were wary. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Lucy Ann, it’s me here. Elliot. Can we pretend it’s fifteen years ago and just be honest with each other?”

She nibbled her bottom lip for a moment before blurting out, “I appreciate what you’re doing, that you’re trying, but I keep waiting for the explosion.”

He scratched over his closely shorn hair, which brought memories of sprinting away from a burning car. “I thought we cleared that up in the limo. I’m not going to wreck tomorrow.”

“And I’m not talking about that now.” She tucked the camera away slowly, pausing as an older couple meandered past looking at a brochure map of the museum. Once they cleared the small chapel area, she turned back to him and said softly, “I’m talking about an explosion of anger. You have to be mad at me for not telling you about Eli sooner. I accept that it was wrong of me not to try harder. I just keep wondering when the argument will happen.”

God, was she really expecting him to go ballistic on her? He would never, never be like his father. He used his racing as an outlet for those aggressive feelings. He did what he needed to do to stay in control. Always.

Maybe he wasn’t as focused as he claimed to be, because if he’d been thinking straight he would have realized that Lucy Ann would misunderstand. She’d spent her life on shaky ground growing up, her mother hooking up with a different boyfriend or husband every week. Beyond that, she’d always stepped in for others, a quiet warrior in her own right.

“You always did take the blame for things.”

“What does that have to do with today?”

He gestured for her to sit on a pew, then joined her. “When we were kids, you took the blame for things I did—like breaking the aquarium and letting the snake loose in the school.”