For the Sake of Their Son (The Alpha Brotherhood #5)(32)
Author: Catherine Mann

“Glad to hear you say that.” She padded barefoot across the room and sat on the massive tapestry ottoman between the sofa and chairs. “I can’t believe I slept in so late this morning.”

“Eli and I managed just fine. And if I ran into problems, I had plenty of backup.”

“I concede you chose well with the nanny.” She wasn’t used to taking help with Eli, but she could get addicted to this kind of assistance quickly. “Mrs. Clayworth’s amazing and a great help without being intrusive.”

“You’re not upset that I didn’t wake you?”

She swept her tangled hair back over her shoulders. “I can’t think any mother of an infant would be upset over an extra two hours of sleep.”

“Glad you’re happy, Sleeping Beauty.” His heated gaze slid over the satin clinging to her br**sts.

“Ah, your fairy-tale romancing theme.”

He arched an eyebrow. “You catch on fast. If you were to stay with me for the whole racing season, we could play Aladdin and his lamp.”

His talk of the future made her…uncomfortable. She was just getting used to the shift in their relationship, adding a sexual level on a day-to-day basis. So she ignored the part about staying longer and focused on the fairy tale. “You’ve been fantasizing about me as a belly dancer?”

“Now that you mention it…”

“Lucky for us both, I’m rested and ready.” She curled her toes into the hand-knotted silk Persian rug that would one day be littered with toys. “You’re going to be a wonderful father.”

As the words fell from her mouth she knew them to be true, not a doubt in her mind. And somehow she’d slid into talking about the future anyway.

“Well, I sure as hell learned a lot from my father about how not to be a dad.” His gaze fell away from her and back to their child. “And the things I didn’t learn, I intend to find out, even if that means taking a class or reading every parenting book on the shelves since I never had much of a role model.”

Clearly, he was worried about this. She leaned forward to touch his knee. “Does that mean I’m doomed to be a crummy mother?”

“Of course not.” He covered her hand with his. “Okay, I see your point. And thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“For what it’s worth, I do think you’ve had a very good role model.” She linked fingers with him. “The colonel. Your old headmaster has been there for you, the way my aunt has for me. Doing the best they could within a flawed system that sent them broken children to fix.”

“I don’t like to think of myself as broken.” His jaw clenched.

“It’s okay, you know―” she rubbed his knee “―to be sad or angry about the past.”

“It’s a lot easier to just speed around the track, even smash into walls, rather than rage at the world.” His throat moved with a long swallow.

“I’m not so sure I like that coping mechanism. I would be so sad if anything happened to you.” And wasn’t that the understatement of the year? She had to admit, though, she’d been worrying more about him lately, fearing the distractions she brought to his life, also fearing he might have beat the odds one time too many.

He squeezed her hand, his eyes as serious as she’d ever seen them. “I would quit racing. For you.”

“And I would never ask you to do that. Not for me.”

“So you would ask for Eli?”

She churned his question around in her mind, unable to come up with an answer that didn’t involve a lengthy discussion of the future.

“I think this is entirely too serious a conversation before I’ve had breakfast.”

Scooping up her son from Elliot’s arms, she made tracks for the kitchen, unable to deny the truth. Even though she stayed in the condo, she was running from him now every bit as much as she’d run eleven months ago.

Ten

Steering through the narrow streets of Monte Carlo, Elliot drove his new Mercedes S65 AMG along the cliff road leading to the Hughes mansion. His Maserati wouldn’t hold a baby seat, so he’d needed a sedan that combined space and safety with his love of finely tuned automobiles. He felt downright domesticated driving Lucy Ann and their son to a lunch with friends. She was meeting with Jayne Hughes and Jayne’s baby girl while he went over to the track.

Last time he’d traveled this winding road, he’d been driving Jayne and Conrad to the hospital—Conrad had been too much of a mess to climb behind the wheel of his SUV. Jayne had been in labor. She’d delivered their baby girl seventeen minutes after they’d arrived at the hospital.

How strange to think he knew more about his friend’s first kid coming into the world than he knew about the birth of his own son.

His fingers clenched around the steering wheel as they wound up a cliff-side road overlooking the sea. “Tell me about the day Eli was born.”

“Are you asking me because you’re angry or because you want to know?”

A good question. It wouldn’t help to say both probably came into play, so he opted for, “I will always regret that I wasn’t there when he came into this world, that I missed out on those first days of his life. But I understand that if we’re going to move forward here, I can’t let that eat at me. We both are going to have to give a little here. So the answer to your question is, I want to know because I’m curious about all things relating to Eli.”

She touched his knee lightly. “Thank you for being honest.”

“That’s the only way we’re going to get through this, don’t you think?”

He glanced over at her quickly, taking in the beautiful lines of her face with the sunlight streaming through the window.

Why had it taken him so long to notice?

“Okay…” She inhaled a shaky breath. “I had an appointment the week of my due date. I really expected to go longer since so many first-time moms go overdue. But the doctor was concerned about Eli’s heart rate. He did an ultrasound and saw the placenta was separating from the uterine wall— Am I getting too gross for you here?”

“Keep talking,” he commanded, hating that he hadn’t been there to make things easier, less frightening for her. If he hadn’t been so pigheaded, he would have been there to protect her. Assure her.

“The doctor scheduled me for an immediate cesarean section. I didn’t even get to go home for my toothbrush,” she joked in an attempt to lighten the mood.