AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Without another word, he walked out—leaving her hormonesandher emotions in tatters.
Blast the man.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Three weeks later
‘RUBY,IT’STIMEto sleep now,’ Lacey said as she eased her daughter’s arms from around her neck.
‘But I’m too happy, Mummy.’ Ruby gave a huge yawn and settled back into her bed. ‘Tinkerbell was such a good bridesmaid. She didn’t even pee on your dress,’ she added with a tired giggle. ‘Isn’t that true, Mr Brandon?’ She sent Brandon, who stood behind Lacey, a sleepy grin.
They’d barely had a chance to talk since exchanging their vows five hours ago. Lacey in the designer concoction of lace and silk, with Brandon and her young daughter and the mischievous puppy—who Ruby had insisted on including in the ceremony—sandwiched between them as five hundred carefully selected guests had laughed and then applauded.
The lavish event seemed to have gone by in a blur of nerves and adrenaline, but Lacey’s first sight of Brandon—in the perfectly tailored wedding suit, his green eyes gleaming—had sent her senses into overdrive, and they hadn’t really touched the ground since.
She was exhausted now. And saying goodbye to her daughter was only making her more emotional. What had she done, marrying this man she barely knew? Every aspect of her life in Brandon’s world seemed overwhelming, except the one thing that drew them together... Ruby.
So why had she agreed to leave her little girl behind tonight?
‘Tinkerbell was a good bridesmaid,’ Brandon said, resting a heavy hand on Lacey’s shoulder, no doubt to present a loving front to their daughter. ‘But not as good as you were, Ruby. I was so proud of you today.’
It was of course exactly the right thing to say, making Ruby’s eyes brighten and her tired smile beam.
But then Ruby’s smile faltered and her eyes filled with a longing Lacey didn’t understand.
‘Are you my daddy now?’ she asked.
Brandon’s hand tensed on her shoulder as Lacey’s heart leapt into her throat at Ruby’s innocent question. Brandon had video-called Ruby and her a number of times in the past three weeks while he’d been in the US—but, once they’d spoken to their daughter about the wedding, he had chosen not to broach the subject of his true identity.
Lacey had decided not to push. It was Brandon’s decision when he told his daughter he was her father and she needed to respect that. But, even so, she could hear the thickening in his voice he couldn’t disguise as he spoke.
‘Yes, Ruby, I am your daddy,’ he said. ‘If you would like, you can call me Daddy instead of Mr Brandon.’
‘Can I really?’ Ruby asked, the innocent request made Lacey’s heart break a little.
‘Yes, I’d like you to,’ he replied. ‘Very much.’
A sleepy grin spread across Ruby’s features. ‘Latisha said it’s sad I don’t have a daddy,’ she said, mentioning one of her little friends whose family they had invited to the event. ‘But now I do.’
Guilt tightened Lacey’s throat. Ruby had never mentioned not having a father to her before.
Leaning past her, Brandon planted a kiss on Ruby’s forehead then pulled back, his expression for once unguarded, his eyes warm with affection. ‘Your daddy says it’s time to go to sleep.’
Ruby nodded. ‘Okay, Daddy,’ she said, clearly wanting to use the word as often as possible.
Lacey smiled, forcing the guilt back down as she tucked Ruby into the bed and kissed her too. ‘Daddy and I will video-call you from the island every day over the next week. And Milly will be here to look after you, okay, Rubes?’
Ruby nodded again and did another jaw-breaking yawn. ‘Milly says we can play with Tinkerbell tomorrow,’ she said, sounding excited about the prospect. ‘Night-night, Mummy and Daddy,’ she added, then promptly turned over and dropped into a deep sleep, no doubt full of dreams of mischievous puppies and new daddies.
Lacey’s heartbeat hammered in her throat as she stood, to find Brandon staring at her.
With his tie and jacket gone, the first few buttons of his white dress shirt undone and the shadow of new stubble covering his jaw, he looked rugged, relaxed and impossibly handsome. The fierce glow in his eyes didn’t look remotely relaxed, though.
There were so many things she wanted to say to him—starting with apologising again for robbing him of the first four years of his child’s life—but before she could unstick a single word he cut through the silence.
‘You have twenty minutes to get changed and say your goodbyes, then I’ll meet you at the heliport,’ he said, his tone forceful and oddly detached, even as his gaze raked over her with deliberate intent.
As the heated look burned through the layers of silk and lace, and her nerves began to jump and jive, Lacey could sense the barriers he had let down during the day for the sake of the press, their friends and their child being put firmly back in place. Again.
