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“That wasn’t your job to decide, pet,” he told her in a dark voice. “I’m the Dom. I protect you. You share your concerns and problems, I do what I can to help alleviate them. No matter how small or big. And this was damn big. You and the boys come first.”
“I was going to tell you as soon as you got back. I really wasn’t trying to keep things from you. Believe me, I couldn’t wait until you returned. But I didn’t want to leave a message and the reception was so bad when we talked, it seemed a better idea to wait.”
He nodded. “I’m more upset that I wasn’t here. Tell me.”
“Aaron’s mother is here,” she whispered. “She turned up here a couple of days after you left. With her lawyer. She said my mother told her that I hadn’t aborted the boys.”
“That bitch.”
She nodded. That was an apt description for both women.
“I don’t know what my mother was doing talking to her. Why she would even go back to Alabaster. But after talking to Mom, Winifred sent a priva
te investigator here to spy on me. When she learned that I was living here . . .” she took in a shuddering breath. “She threatened that unless I gave the boys to her she was going to get a court order to have them taken from me.”
“Did she say on what grounds?”
“She thinks they’re in danger because they live next to a BDSM club.” She needed to tread carefully, not wanting to hurt him.
“And because you’re living with the owner of that BDSM club?”
She winced, she should have known he would read between the lines.
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
His jaw was tight, his eyes dark, but he pulled her up into his lap and rubbed his hand up and down her back gently. “No reason for you to be sorry, sprite. Do you believe the boys are in any danger living here with me?”
She sat up straight and cupped his face between her hands. “Of course, I don’t. You are wonderful with Jamie and Caleb. You take care of them, play with them, look out for them. There is no one I trust more with them.”
“Do you think I would let anyone take them from us?”
No. He wouldn’t. But he sounded so confident as though he knew something she didn’t. She frowned. “You knew all this, didn’t you? Jake told you?”
“He thought I already knew. He told me everything, including Molly and Hannah’s campaign to make her life a living hell.” He grinned.
“They’ve done their best.” She smiled. “Apparently Winifred’s room at the B&B hasn’t had hot water since she got here. And wherever she goes out to eat, the food is either cold or so salty or spicy she can’t eat it.”
He grinned. “Remind me never to cross Molly.”
“Same.” Her smile died. “What will we do, though? She has a lot of money, she could just bribe a judge for that court order and take the boys from me.”
He placed a finger over her lips. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” Always. With everything.
“Good girl.”
His answer warmed her.
“Winifred Hartfield isn’t going to be a problem.”
“What? How can you know that? I don’t even know why she’s doing this. First, she wanted me to abort them and now she wants them. It makes no sense.”
“They’re worth money to her.”
“What?”
“Mrs. Hartfield is in financial difficulty. Apparently, she’s run through all her inheritance from her husband. Mostly through illegal gambling.”
