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A vague memory of switching the phone off before entering her mom’s room surfaced. She’d been so preoccupied she’d forgotten to turn it back on.
She could hardly blame Nick for being irate.
Though normally he would never have noticed her absence. He never left the office early—that was one of the golden rules of Nick Valentine’s busy life. Everyone agreed on that. Jilly, Mrs. Busby, his chauffeur. Their schedules had all revolved around his very set hours.
Yet today that had changed…
“Was it something urgent you were calling about? Is everything okay?”
The tumble of questions was met with a short terse nod. Candace took in the way his hair stood up, as though he’d been running his fingers through the almost black strands.
“If everything’s okay, then why are you home?”
As the words left her mouth, it occurred to her that those were not the words of an employee. She sounded like a wife.
Flushing uncomfortably, she muttered, “Sorry, that’s none of my business.”
“It is your business all right. You’re the reason I came home. I canceled a meeting with a new supplier, because my sister wanted to see you.”
“She wanted to see me?” Candace frowned.
Why?
“Alison’s been concerned about you.”
“Oh.” So much had happened it seemed like a century since that awful confrontation that his sister had witnessed. “I’m sorry we were out.” Candace started up the stairs, Jennie firmly clasped in her arms.
Nick’s hand came down on her shoulder, halting her. “Where were you?”
With her standing two steps above him their eyes were level. Seeing the dark blue this close up was strangely intimate…and incredibly disconcerting. Candace sought a distraction. “Is your sister still here?”
“No, she left hours ago. I was about to file a missing persons report.”
She hitched Jennie up higher in her arms and smiled uncertainly. “You’re joking, right?”
The brooding scrutiny he subjected her to made her heart skip a beat. “Except I wasn’t sure that you were missing…I thought you might have taken Jennie into hiding.”
“Kidnapped her?” Astonishment caused her to blink. “I’d never do something so stupid.”
His mouth relaxed imperceptibly. But all he said was, “Good.”
“If I did something like that, I’d kiss goodbye to any sympathy I might get from the courts when I challenge your custody of Jennie.”
Nick glanced over her shoulder, and Candace became aware of Mrs. Busby hovering in the lobby.
“I’ll take the baby, shall I?” she asked.
Reluctantly, Candace surrendered Jennie to the housekeeper.
“Come into the sitting room.” Nick stood back, allowing her to pass into the stark room that Candace had decided she hated.
She halted in the middle of the cold space and wished, for once, that the immense flat-screen television was on so it could break the taut silence that vibrated between her and Nick. Candace could see the tension humming in his tall lean frame.
“I’d advise you to think long and hard before deciding to drag this through the courts,” he murmured. “You have everything to lose.”
Instantly, she started to panic. “What do you mean?”
He came closer, and the breathless fear changed into something else…something more dangerous, rooting her to the spot.
“It would be foolish to threaten me.” He spoke through his teeth. “I’m being as patient as I can. Don’t push me too far.”
“Or what?” Candace challenged boldly. “What will you do?”
“I might be tempted to pursue court proceedings myself and have you prohibited from coming within a hundred feet of Jennie.”
The impact of his words jolted her. Candace stared at him, stunned by his reaction. If he made good on his threat, her baby would disappear behind high walls and electronic gates. Then she’d be forced to go to court to challenge the legality of his custody of Jennie. That would take money. A great deal of money. Money that she didn’t have.
A vision of a future too bleak to contemplate faced her. She’d be standing on the outside—in a world that would become a desert if she was without her baby.
“You can’t do that.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“No…please.” Tears spilled out her eyes. “I couldn’t bear never to see Jennie again. Please, not that.”
“Oh, Christ, don’t cry!”
The rough brush of his mouth against hers came as a shock. Yet instead of shoving him away Candace found herself yielding…leaning into the warmth of his body as he kissed her again. And again.
