CHASING TROUBLE

Loving the way her silhouette played under the moonlight, Nicholas looked her up and down. “Seema can put him to bed tomorrow night and you can stay with the grown-ups.”Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

She didn’t rise to the bait, lifting Charlie from the highchair. “I like to put him to bed myself.”

“You like to do everything yourself.”

“Only when it comes to this little one.” She leaned Charlie towards Frank so he could kiss his grandson goodnight then placed a polite kiss of her own to his cheek.

Nicholas watched her subtly brace herself before she carried their son to him. He took full advantage of her nearness, slipping an arm loosely around her back to keep her close. “Goodnight, son,” he said to his son as he smacked kisses over his face.

When Caroline attempted to step away from him he trailed his fingers to her hips and slipped a finger into the pocket of her snug linen trousers. “Don’t I get a goodnight kiss, Care?”

Her features tightened as her face made the tiniest of jerks before she found her composure and turned her flashing eyes on him. “Of course.”

He heard the breath she took before she lowered her face, their son in her arms making her movements careful. As her plump lips made light contact with his cheek he turned his face and their lips brushed. The moment of contact was fleeting but enough for him to taste the heat from her mouth. Heady warmth unfurled in him and coiled through his bloodstream. Face bathed with color, blinking rapidly, holding their son like a shield, she stepped away from him. When her eyes met his again there was a dazed accusation in them.

“Goodnight, Care,” he murmured, holding the stare. “Sleep well.”

She took another step back then inclined her head and turned. Moments later, she disappeared inside. It took a few more moments for Nicholas to pull himself together. Shifting in his seat, he topped up his and his father’s wine glasses.

“Your son is going to be a real character,” Frank said with a chuckle.

Nicholas smiled in response and took a large drink of his wine. His blood still pumped unexpectedly hard from the effects of the fleeting kiss.

“At some point, I began to think that I would never have a grandchild, especially with the way you lived,” His father’s gaze became serious. “You need to marry her, Nicholas.”

Nicholas’ good mood ended with those five words. “That isn’t necessary.”

“It is. You won’t think that if she stops you seeing him.”

“Caroline wouldn’t do that,” he refuted automatically.

“You don’t know that for sure. She didn’t tell me about him, and don’t tell me she didn’t know how to. I was right here and she had the means to contact me if she’d wanted, and I know you have more money than she does, but she still has the means and money to fight you if she decides to stop you seeing him.”

“She loves him too much to do anything but what’s best for him.” Nicholas replied, but his father’s cynical words had set off a pounding in his head. Hadn’t similar thoughts already occurred to him?

“Her opinion on what’s best might mean keeping him from you. What is best for him-and you-is having parents who are married.”

Nicholas bit back his temper. “I thought about fighting at first, but I decided that I don’t want us to be at war with each other. I’m not going to put Charlie through that. We’ll formalize a custody arrangement when he’s old enough to be parted from her for periods of time.”

“And when will that be?” his father challenged. “I’m not asking you to be at war with each other, Nicholas, but do you see the way she is with him? She watches him like a hawk. It will be years before she allows you to have him without her.”

The ring of truth in his father’s words reminded him of how the color had drained from her face when he’d asked if Charlie could come to stay with him. The color had only returned when he’d clarified he meant for her to come too. He remembered, too, her earlier reaction to him employing a nanny.

By her own admission, Caroline liked to do everything for their son. She did not like her judgment on his welfare to be challenged.

But marriage? He wasn’t ready for that, so was he?

“You will have to hope she’s amenable to a formal arrangement,” his father added into the silence.

“She will be.” But Nicholas’ words sounded unconvincing to himself.

“I know you hate the idea of marriage but it’s important. Caroline is a good woman and I’m sure she’ll be a good wife to you and a good mother to your son. And if for some reason, it doesn’t work out between the both of you, remember, it doesn’t have to last forever.”

Nicholas’ flickered his eyes to his father. His marriage to his mother had been tragically cut short by her death from ovarian cancer decades ago. For a moment, he couldn’t believe what his father was suggesting. His marriage to his mother had been a happy one, and he knew his father well enough to know that he didn’t like the idea of divorce. His father had enjoyed many lady friends since his wife’s death but had never remarried or lived with another woman.

By the time his father retired to bed, the doubts Frank’s words had sown had solidified his own fears into weights in his guts.

________

Too uptight to sleep, Caroline, baby monitor in hand, opened the glass door in her room and stepped out onto the balcony.

Putting the monitor on the wrought-iron table, she stepped to the balustrade and breathed deeply as she gazed out. Maybe if she inhaled hard enough the faint tang might clear her mouth of the taste of Nicholas that no amount of minty toothpaste could eradicate. A throb of heat pulsed in her abdomen. Their lips had connected for barely a second but that second had been long enough for their breath to meld together and for any hope of control to be shattered.

She wriggled her shoulders to fight the shiver lacing her spine as she replayed the sensual tone of his voice when he’d bidden her goodnight, and forced her attention on her surroundings rather than the melting mess she was in danger of turning into. Look at the stars! See how they shone so brightly.