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Although the Coltons wielded considerable influence in Mustang Valley, they hadn’t been able to force the issue of the DNA test due to a large, rush job project that had come down to the lab from the state. The lab promised to work as fast as they could, but by the last estimate, an answer was still at least a week away.
“We can help you, Nova.” Marlowe’s voice was gentle, but shot through with the implacable steel Nova had come to associate with the woman.
Nova smiled at that but kept up her steady refusal. “Besides. With the way your family has been coupling up lately, you’d think you all would be way more focused on minimizing outside distractions.”
Marlowe did laugh at that, color high on her cheeks. “Bowie and I can find any number of ways to distract ourselves. I don’t need to give that gorgeous man one more excuse.”
The conversation was funny and easy and Nova was already considering how she was going to work up to her next question—about getting her stylist business going locally—when Marlowe dropped one more distraction.
“So you and Nikolas. Is anything happening there?”
“Oh. Well, we... I mean, um, we—”
Marlowe interrupted her, leaning as far forward as the infant on her lap would allow. “So something is happening. I knew it! Ainsley told me to stay out of it, but I knew I was right.”
“No, really Marlowe, nothing is happening.”
Those dark eyes that knew how to command a boardroom bored full force into her. “Nothing at all?”
“I thought Ainsley was the attorney?”
“It’s in the genes.” Marlowe waved a breezy hand. “Spill. You like him—that much is obvious. And he likes you, too.”
“You think so?” Nova heard the unmistakable notes of hope in her voice and quickly tried to put the kibosh on it. “Because he’s just helping me. Really, we’re friends.”
“Friends.” Marlowe actually sighed. “I think I used that excuse for a while with Bowie.” She smiled down at her son, a beatific smile on her face. “And you can see how that turned out.”
“Yes, I can. And there’s one small difference. On top of how you both feel about each other, that baby is Bowie’s son.”
Nova hadn’t realized just how much that fact weighed on her until the truth spilled out.
“Oh, honey.” The teasing vanished entirely from Marlowe’s voice, replaced with a feminine understanding that went to the heart of the matter. “Do you honestly think that matters?”
“I didn’t think so. And most of the time I don’t think so,” Nova said. Her child was not either less than or some sort of burden to be borne. “It’s just that every time I question if there could be something between us, I can’t help but feel that it’s a lot for Nikolas to take on. Here he was, a little over a week ago, a carefree bachelor. And then I came along and sort of dropped into his life.”
“Life does sort of work that way. The things we can’t plan for, and all.”
“I know. But is it fair to add on having designs on the man? I’ve got a large set of responsibilities on my own. And it’s just—” Nova exhaled heavily, frustrated by the wishy-washy answer that simply was not her. “It’s a lot for a guy to take in, is all.”
“Don’t you think Nikolas is capable of making that decision for himself?”
“Of course he is. I just don’t see why he’d want to.”
“Nova Colton!” Marlowe’s voice shot across the room. It was the first time she’d actually heard anyone formally address her as a Colton and Nova’s head snapped up at Marlowe’s bark. “How dare you say that.”
“I—” Nova tried to hold off the tears but no matter how hard she tried to stare upward and swallow hard around the lump in her throat, the tears were faster. She’d have blamed it on hormones but there were no amount of hormones that could make up for the shot of warmth that bloomed in her chest. “No one’s ever called me that.”
“My mother was a champ at calling me by my full name when she was upset and challenging me on my bs.” Marlowe’s voice was gentle. “I thought I’d give it a try.”
“Reed’s in for quite a ride in another ten years.”
“You bet he is.”
Nova laughed through her tears. “You’re a bit of a nut, you know that?”
“Yeah. But don’t tell anyone. I sort of like my reputation as the scary head of Colton Oil.”
“I won’t.”
