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‘No,’ she agreed, ‘but I don’t want to keep you hanging around, and I can’t say what time we’ll be locking up. We can’t leave until the last guest has left the building.’
‘We?’ A bolt of suspicion hit him like a freight train. It had never occurred to him that there might be someone else in the picture.
‘Mandy, the caretaker, and me,’ Kimmie explained, smiling faintly as if she’d guessed the track his thoughts were taking. ‘I won’t leave Mandy to clear up on her own, and I don’t want to rush anyone out of here. To be honest, I really shouldn’t be talking to you now.’
‘When, then?’ he bit out, finally noticing that a queue of people, all wanting to speak to the artist, had formed behind him. Timing was everything in business; Kimmie had created an uplifting exhibition in challenging times and she was obviously very much in demand. To maximise sales and guarantee future commissions, she had to strike while the iron was hot. ‘Text me when you’re done,’ he demanded as she stared at him and raised a brow.
‘I don’t have your number,’ she reminded him coolly.
‘You don’t...?’ Cursing his own stupidity silently, he pulled out his phone. ‘Here—take it now.’
Maybe his tone was a little terse, but she made no attempt to do as he asked. Instead she said, ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like to put a tag in my ear too?’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Kris, you can’t speak to me like that. You can’t walk back into my life after months apart as if nothing’s happened and claim me like just another of your properties. Your business trip is finally over and you’re at a loose end. I get that. But I came home determined to pick up my career, and that’s what I’ve done. At the moment things are going really well but, with a baby on the way, I have to maintain the momentum. I can’t drop everything just because it suits you.’
‘If not today, then tomorrow,’ he said, hardly believing he was prepared to wait, but he could hardly tear her away from such a successful event. Nor could he hang around like a spare part. ‘I’ll send my driver to pick you up.’
‘You’re too busy?’ she suggested bluntly.
‘No. It’s just...’
‘The way things are done in your world?’ she supplied when he fell short of an answer.
It was the way things were done in his world. So his world would have to change.
‘Give me a time, and I’ll pick you up myself.’
‘Don’t bother; I’m quite capable of meeting you anywhere you choose.’
‘I want to pick you up. Is that clear enough, you infuriating woman?’ he ground out.
‘You’re sure business won’t call you away again?’
The way she asked did more than hint at hurt and loss of trust, and it was a warning not to mess this up.
‘My business is here with you,’ he stated firmly.
She gave him a long, considering stare, while he wanted nothing more than to give her that loving hug she’d asked for all those months ago. Following his instinct and drawing her into his arms, he held her close. Inhaling deeply, he absorbed her light floral scent. In her artist’s dungarees splashed with paint, Kimmie looked every inch the creative genius, but underneath that façade he knew she was vulnerable and alone. She needed him as much as he needed her, and not just because she was expecting his child—a child who would eventually inherit the Kaimos Shipping line—but because they were better together than apart. Without her, he was nothing. Life was bland and colourless. He hadn’t realised just how much she meant to him until now.
Before he knew it, she’d pulled away.
‘Kimmie...’
Too late. She was already swallowed up in the crowd. Fuming at missed opportunities, he wasn’t in the best of moods when the caretaker, Mandy, appeared at his side.
‘Kimmie says she’d like to meet you here tomorrow, and then go to a nearby café to talk.’
‘She couldn’t tell me that herself?’
‘Mr Kaimos. This is Kimmie’s moment. Please don’t deny her what she’s worked so hard for. She’s done so much good here in such a short time—offering free art classes, painting the hall. We owe her, and I can’t stand by and let anyone take that away. Don’t be too proud to accept her suggestion. Meet her at eleven tomorrow morning, when she’s had the chance to absorb what’s happened here today.’
‘Eleven tomorrow,’ he called out as Mandy walked away. But this was the last time he’d go through an intermediary, and Kimmie needed to know that.
Hearing the tension in his voice, Mandy turned. ‘You’re both wounded. Give yourselves the chance to heal.’
This wasn’t over yet. It had only just begun.
CHAPTER TWELVE
NO. NO. NO. She couldn’t do this again. The way she had felt when she’d seen Kris again was too extreme, too big, too life-changing. It was as if everything had come into sharp focus, making the world a bigger, brighter place. Unfortunately, she already knew that such things were fantasies that could all come crashing down, and did she want to risk that again? Could she, with a baby to consider?
Having taken refuge in Mandy’s office, and having passed the buck to Mandy when it came to telling Kris that she would agree to meet him here at the community centre tomorrow morning at eleven, she was not only feeling pathetic for hiding away but wondering if she’d made the biggest mistake yet in agreeing to see him again. What was he going to do? Pat her on the back and write a cheque? She didn’t want his financial help in raising their child. She didn’t want his financial help full stop. What she should do now was go and find him and tell him they could meet at a lawyer’s office to discuss the details. She could just text him and cancel. She had his number...
Kimmie went as far as pulling out her phone before realising how ridiculous she was being. Having a child with Kris wasn’t something she wanted to run away from, even if she could. They were two rational human beings and they could have a civilised discussion like anyone else.
Sitting back in Mandy’s chair, she stuffed the phone back into her pocket and closed her eyes. That almost made things worse, because now she could feel her heart aching because she’d seen him again, while her body was behaving disgracefully. It was a need only Kris could fill and though to have him back was like a light switching on, when he left he’d take another piece of her heart, and what about their baby? How would she explain that sort of behaviour to their child? Oh, your father will see you again when he’s got time? There was nothing more important in all the world than this baby, and she would protect their child with her life, even from Kris if she had to.
Deny their child the other half
of its heritage? Could she really do that?
She must stand up to Kris to stop him taking over. And she could do it, because it was time, as Mandy had said, for Kimmie to believe in herself.
Returning to the hall, she tried to find him in the throng, but it was hopeless trying to see over people’s heads. Increasingly frustrated, she had to act normally for the sake of everyone who was here to support her, but it was hard to concentrate with pictures of Kris hanging on the walls. All she’d wanted was to throw herself into his arms and welcome him back so they could share the happiness of expecting a child together, but doubt remained as to how long he’d stay and while that stood between them she couldn’t—wouldn’t—expose herself and their child to future hurt.
‘He’s gone.’
‘I’m sorry?’ Kimmie stared blankly at Mandy.
‘He paid for the paintings and left.’
‘Which paintings?’ Kimmie shook her head in bewilderment.
‘He bought the nude of himself on that rumpled bed as well as the portrait. And he paid a lot of money for them,’ Mandy added with obvious delight. ‘I explained that I wasn’t sure of the price, but when he mentioned a figure I knew you wouldn’t want me to refuse. The portrait’s for his uncle, he said, while the nude was for private consumption only. Don’t worry,’ she added as Kimmie frowned. ‘He smiled as he said that, so I think he took it well.’
‘And now he’s gone?’ she said, not wanting to believe it as she looked around again.
‘Yes,’ Mandy confirmed. ‘And we’d better start circulating again. There are people waiting to speak to you, and others wanting to pay. I’m guessing this is going to be your second sell-out show.’
Mandy’s happy words of triumph echoed somewhere in Kimmie’s head, but all she was aware of, really, was that Kris had gone again. Why had he left? What did it signify? Was he pleased about the baby? Indifferent? Or was he already making plans to consult his lawyers?
