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“We came to check up on Archer,” said Mia with her slight accent. “You don’t look like he got you pregnant, Kady. Maybe he should try with one of us instead.”
“Um, we decided to become a couple instead of doing the surrogate thing,” Kady informed her hotly. “But anyway, Archer told me that he sent you three away. What are you doing back again?”
“We came to see if he'd changed his mind yet,” she answered with a smirk. “And why do you have your feet all over the furniture? Don’t you know you will make the couch dirty?”
“Like that makes any difference to you, it’s really none of your concern.” Kady snapped. “I’d like you three to leave.”
r /> “Not until Archer asks us to, this isn’t your home, you can’t just order us out. Besides,” Mia replied snidely, “our business is with him.”
“What business is that?” Archer asked from behind the women.
“Oh, Archer, there you are!” Mia cooed, turning from sour to sweet in a heartbeat. “We just stopped by to see how things were going with you and your little surrogate.” Her words dripped with disdain. Kady couldn’t help the surge of immense dislike that tightened in her stomach like a lead weight. “Can you believe she thinks she is your girlfriend now?”
“She should believe that, since that’s exactly what she is,” Archer replied nonchalantly, as he stepped over and bent down to kiss Kady’s lips. “How is your ankle now, sweetheart?”
“I’ve been resting it all day, but it’s still pretty sore,” Kady replied.
“What about her ankle?” Mia wanted to know, her concern obviously false as she tried to pretend innocence.
“She tripped on the bottom step, not that it’s any concern of yours,” Archer said. “And next time she asks you to leave, you’d better do it. I don’t recall inviting you to come here again to begin with, whereas Kady has every right to decide whom she wants to let in while I am gone. Now, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you three to leave, and don’t pester Kady anymore. Understood?”
“But Archer?” Mia wailed, the sweet act dropping away like it had never even existed at his rejection. “Why would you want her for a girlfriend?”
“Firstly, because she doesn’t sound like a banshee on helium when she’s protesting,” he said meanly. “Secondly, because she has yet to protest to any great extent in the first place. And thirdly, because she’s the girl I wanted and you were not. Now march right back out that door.”
“Well fine, but don’t think that you’ll be able to come crawling to me later without seriously making it up to me,” Mia pouted. “Come on, girls.”
The three women all sniffed disdainfully as they headed out the door again.
Kady scowled as she watched them go. “What the heck was that about anyway?”
“I have no idea, believe me,” Archer replied. “That Mia chick is really crazy. I’m going to have to beef up the security around here, I can see.”
“Obviously,” Kady agreed, turning to face him with a mischievous grin while still resting her ankle on the couch cushions. “But I’m not going to let them spoil our evening.”
“Good, then,” said Archer with a matching smile as he drew Kady up into his arms. “I’ve been thinking about you all day. So last month wasn’t a success, but there’s nothing to stop us from continuing our efforts.”
“That’s true,” Kady grinned. “The more we try, the more likely we’ll be to succeed. Unless of course it takes too long, and—”
“Don’t say it,” Archer stopped her. “I don’t want to think about the idea of being away from you. Not for any length of time.”
“But we have to face the fact that you might, Archer,” Kady told him. “We have no idea what that judge is going to decide to do. And the more I’m with you, the harder it would be if I had to let you go.”
Archer sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I know that. But there’s nothing we can do to change the guy’s mind until we’re actually standing in front of him. You know that.”
Kady sighed. “But it’s so unfair. You didn’t even commit a crime.”
“I’m hoping he will take that into consideration,” Archer replied. “Now, come on, we may as well get ready for dinner, and save such concerns for another day.”
“All right,” Kady agreed with a frown. “I know you’re doing everything you can. I’m just going to have to have faith in you, whether the system is completely corrupt or not.”
“There’s the spirit,” he said with a smirk. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 16
Kady and Archer were on their way to a fancy restaurant in the heart of Manhattan. The place was so popular that people had to make their reservations two weeks in advance, so there was no way they were going to skip it over those three silly intruders. Kady did her best to shrug off the residual feeling of resentment that was welling up within her about the fact that they’d even come to the door at all, since she knew they had done so uninvited. Yet still, it rattled her that they’d actually thought they could.
Archer had not exactly told them they couldn’t return. He’d told them not to pester her, but he hadn’t specifically told them not to come on the property. She found herself wishing very much that he would have. Kady knew it was a silly thing to worry about, but she couldn’t get the thought out of her mind. Those women had dismissed her as if she really didn’t even belong there at all, and it still seemed that way to Kady at times as well. Like tonight, for instance.
