Читать книгу His Seductive Proposal: A Touch of Persuasion / Terms of Engagement / An Outrageous Proposal - Джанис Мейнард, Maureen Child - Страница 15

Olivia and Kieran left for New York at first light. Though Olivia had worried about abandoning Cammie, it was clear the child was having the time of her life. Victor Wolff doted on her. Jacob promised her a tour of his clinic and a lollipop, and Gareth and Gracie had sent up a note inviting Cammie to swim again.

And then there was Annalise. She and Cammie had bonded like long lost sisters. If anything, Cammie was the more sensible of the two. Annalise had planned out a twenty-four-hour agenda of fun that would be impossible to fulfill, but she delighted in making Cammie laugh at her antics.

Kieran and Olivia said their goodbyes and departed via helicopter to a small airstrip near Charlottesville. There, the Wolff family jet sat waiting, its brilliant white fuselage gleaming in the sunlight. Though Olivia was well accustomed to luxury and pampering, the level of wealth enjoyed by Kieran and his clan far surpassed anything she had experienced.

Fortunately she had packed liberally in preparation for her trip to Wolff Mountain. Knowing nothing of Kieran’s family or what to expect socially, she had gladly paid for extra bags so her wardrobe and Cammie’s would cover all eventualities. Which meant that she had plenty of choices for this impromptu New York trip.

Inside the plane, a handsome male attendant offered Olivia her pick of beverages along with a midmorning snack, in case her breakfast had been inadequate. She declined the fruit parfait with murmured thanks. Her earlier meal had been more than generous. Victor Wolff’s current chef had once served in the White House, and with three full-time cooks to assist him, the menu offerings were varied and delicious.

Kieran grabbed a bag of cashews and went forward to chat with the pilot. As Olivia fastened her seat belt in preparation for takeoff, she had time to appreciate her plush seat. It was more of an armchair, really. She stretched her legs and felt a little frisson of excitement wend its way through her veins.

Rarely did she take time all to herself for something as frivolous as a vacation. Tending to a rambunctious child, even when she and Cammie traveled with Lolita and Javier, generally meant little downtime.

Closing her eyes with a smile of contentment, she let her mind drift. It was a shock when she felt a warm hand settle on her shoulder. When she looked up, Kieran grinned at her, his expression more lighthearted than she had seen him at any time since their university days.

He sat down in the seat adjacent to hers and clicked his belt. “Are you a good flier, or one of the white-knuckled types?”

“I love it,” she said simply. “How about you?”

“It gets me from A to B quickly, and for someone in my line of work, that’s the main thing. But I also love the freedom and the sense of adventure. I’ve never lost that. Don’t guess I ever will.”

Olivia’s heart sank. This Kieran, chomping at the bit to take off, was the man who circumnavigated the globe. She could see in his body language the expectation, the energy.

The day dimmed suddenly and her anticipation of the trip palled. It was painful to see the evidence of what she had only surmised. Her lover, the father of her child, was a road warrior, an adventurer. He would never be content to live inside Olivia’s mythical white picket fence.

Soon, the noise of takeoff overrode the possibility of conversation. Olivia closed her eyes again and pretended to sleep. Her emotions were too close to the surface. She could fall in love with him again so easily. Not with the nostalgic reminiscence of a young woman’s rosy fantasy, but in a solid, real way. How could she not? He was caring and honorable. With Cammie, he showed a gentle side that ripped at Olivia’s heart.

Kieran loved his daughter, even knowing as little of her as he did. He was committed to being her dad. Only Olivia’s fears and reservations stood in the way. That and her determination to protect herself from the pain of losing him again. The devastation six years ago still rippled inside her, waiting to be resurrected. Terrifying in its power.

As Kieran spoke to the attendant, Olivia studied his profile. Classic nose, sculpted chin. Straight teeth that flashed white in a tanned face when he smiled. His body was fit and healthy; his long limbs and broad shoulders were a pleasing package of masculine perfection.

Her mouth dried and her thighs tightened as she remembered last night’s lovemaking. When they were together, he made her feel like the most important, most desirable woman in the world. His frank hunger and sensual demands called to the essence of her femininity.

Though she was well capable of taking care of herself, she enjoyed his protectiveness, his innate gentlemanly core of behavior. In a crisis, Kieran Wolff would be a rock.

At one time, being his wife had been her dream. Now she knew that even if he put his name on a piece of paper, the dream would end in pain and frustration. Olivia knew herself. She needed a lover who would be there on the ordinary days and not just in the midst of an emergency.

Kieran could handle the crises. No doubt about that. But Olivia was pretty sure that he would just as soon not have to deal with the mundane aspects of family life.

Taking out the trash, paying bills, mowing the grass. Ordinary husbands and fathers did those things.

Too bad Kieran Wolff was not ordinary. And too bad that ordinary was what Olivia had always wanted.

To Olivia’s surprise, she actually slept. Kieran woke her in time to peek out the nearest window and see the Statue of Liberty as they flew past. Soon, the landing gear deployed, the pilot set them down with a tiny bump and it was time to go.

A limousine awaited them on the tarmac.

In no time at all, Kieran and Olivia were speeding toward the city amidst a maze of taxicabs. He took her hand, surprising her. As he lifted it to his lips for a kiss, he smiled lazily. “We’re going to drop you downtown. Do you mind entertaining yourself for a couple of hours while I get this meeting out of the way?”

“Of course not, but I…”

“What?”

She bit her lip. “I owe you an apology. I thought this business trip was only an excuse to get me alone.”

They were sitting so close, she could inhale the aftershave he had used that morning. In a severely tailored charcoal-gray suit with a pale blue shirt and matching tie, he looked nothing like the man she had come to know. If he had reminded her of Indiana Jones before, now he looked more like a character from Wall Street. She wasn’t sure she liked the transformation.

He tugged her closer, one strong arm encircling her waist as he claimed her mouth with an aggressive kiss. When she was breathless, her heart pounding, he released her and sat back. “Sucking up to the fat cats is a necessary evil for the work I do.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m meeting this morning with the heirs of a wealthy socialite. The dead mother wanted to fund a variety of charitable works around the world. But her charming children thought the ten million she left each of them was an insult, so they went to court. Fortunately the judge couldn’t be bought and he upheld the will. Unfortunately for me, the kids sit on the foundation board, so I have to deal with their greedy, petulant demands to get what I need for my next project.”

“The one in September?”

He nodded. “We’re going to design and build an orphanage in the Sudan. A variety of church agencies will do the staffing and oversee operations.”

“Isn’t it dangerous there?”

He shrugged. “Have you looked around the Big Apple? You can get killed crossing the street.”

Before Olivia could respond, the car pulled up in front of a row of small, and obviously expensive, designer shops. She wrinkled her nose. “I’d really rather go to Macy’s, the original on 34th Street. You know… from the movie. Is that too far out of our way?”

“No. But I thought given your Hollywood roots you’d enjoy the upscale shopping.”

She shrugged. “I’m really more of a Macy’s kind of gal.”

“Whatever you say.” The ride to midtown didn’t take long. When Kieran hopped out to open Olivia’s door and escort her to the sidewalk, he tucked a stray hair behind her ear, his gaze filled with something she wanted to believe was more than affection. “Here’s my card with all my numbers. Have fun,” he said softly, brushing a kiss across her lips.

Her arms wanted to cling, to beg him to stay. She forced herself to back up. “Go to your meeting. I’ll be fine.”

He winced when a cacophony of horns protested the illegally parked limo. “I’ll call you when we’re done.”

Kieran tolerated the meeting with less than his customary patience. The “awful offspring,” as he had nicknamed them in his mind, were no more difficult than usual, but today he was in no frame of mind to placate them. All he could think about was getting Olivia back to a hotel room and spending twenty-four hours in bed.

It was a great fantasy, but, of course, the gentlemanly thing to do would be to show her a good time out on the town first. Even that would be fun with Olivia.

And then there was the issue of Cammie. Once he made his case for claiming his rights as a father, would the mood be ruined? He wasn’t sure where Olivia stood at the moment. Sometimes it seemed as if she was ready for him to tell Cammie the truth. But on other occasions, she bowed up, determined that Kieran was not father material.

To further strain his mood, the meeting ran long. At twelve-thirty, he finally stood and excused himself. The major business had been completed. All that was left was the minutiae that didn’t require his presence.

He called downstairs, and the limo was waiting when he strode out into the sunshine. Unfortunately the lunch hour rush had traffic backed up in all directions. When they finally reached Macy’s, after sending Olivia a text that they were on the way, Kieran’s head was pounding from hunger and tension.

Olivia jumped in quickly, all smiles. A lot of women would be bitching about his late arrival. Instead, she seemed happy to see him. Kieran reacted to her greeting automatically, but inside, he dealt with a stunning realization. He had become addicted to her smile. In fact, he couldn’t imagine going a day without seeing that look on her face.

The knowledge shook him. Since the death of his mother and his father’s involuntary emotional abandonment, Kieran had never really allowed himself to need anyone. He prided himself on being self-sufficient, a lone Wolff.

He took Olivia’s hand in his, clearing his throat to speak. “I know several great restaurants where we can have lunch. Do you have a preference?”

She patted the large shopping bag at her feet. “When your meeting ran late, I picked up several things at the gourmet shop around the corner. I thought we could have a picnic in Central Park. What do you think?”

Suddenly the irritations of the past several hours rolled away. “Sounds perfect.” He gave the driver a few directions, and soon they were hopping out in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As they crossed Fifth Avenue and entered the park, he took Olivia’s heavy bag. “Good Lord. What all did you buy?”

She laughed, shoving her hair out of her face as the wind whipped it carelessly. Her beautiful creamy skin glowed in the sunlight, revealing not a flaw or an imperfection. He suspected that Olivia, growing up as she had in the shadow of her outrageous mother, had no clue that she was equally stunning. It would be his job and his pleasure to convince her.

With no blanket to stretch on the grass, they instead sat on a bench overlooking the lake, in a patch of shade that lent dappled shadows to their alfresco feast. Olivia wore a white sundress scattered with yellow-and-orange sunflowers. When she took off her small sweater, Kieran’s food stuck in his throat.

Her body was like a centerfold’s, curvaceous, even voluptuous. With her sienna hair and chocolate eyes, she reminded him of a young Sophia Loren. The dress was not particularly immodest, but the crisscrossed vee of the neckline was hard-pressed to contain her full breasts. He imagined licking his way from her collarbone down each rich slope, and his body hardened painfully, visualizing what it would be like to peel back the cloth and reveal pert nipples.

Nestled against the cleavage was a yellow diamond pendant that he remembered from their university days. Her parents had given it to her for her twenty-first birthday. Olivia had been loath to wear the expensive bauble on a daily basis, but he had lobbied for enjoying the gift and not worrying about losing it.

He tore his gaze from her charms and guzzled his Perrier, wishing fervently that they had dined in a more private locale. All around them life ebbed and flowed… the dog walkers, the teenage lovers, the nannies pushing expensive strollers. Seeing the babies made him frown.

How would he have reacted if Olivia had let him know she was pregnant? Back then, he’d been full of piss and vinegar, chomping at the bit to make a name for himself in the world, especially a world that had nothing to do with the Wolff empire. Parenthood wasn’t even on his radar.

As soon as Victor recovered from the heart attack that had brought Kieran home from Oxford, Kieran had hit the road, determined to explore the globe despite his father’s concerns about safety. Where Kieran went, no one knew or cared who he was. He waded through rice paddies, canoed down rivers of sludge in mosquito-infested jungles, hiked soaring peaks where the air was so thin a man gasped to breathe.

And every mile took him farther and farther away from the mountain that had been his prison, albeit a luxurious one. He’d kept in touch via the occasional email and phone call, learning that Gareth and Jacob were acting out their own rebellions. As far as the civilized world knew, Kieran Wolff had ceased to exist.

Gradually his nomadic existence with no purpose began to pall. His first project had come about almost by accident. He’d been in Bangladesh during a monsoon, and the resultant water damage had left a huge cleanup effort. Kieran had pitched in to rebuild bridges that connected remote villages to the help they so desperately needed.

After that, he’d found his architectural skills in demand from place to place. He used to joke that he was a cross between Johnny Appleseed and Frank Lloyd Wright. His work gave him a sense of peace and fulfillment, something he’d never been able to find at home.

But what if he had known about Cammie?

The question buzzed in his brain like an annoying gadfly.

Olivia brushed bread crumbs off her skirt and stretched out her legs, crossing them at the ankles. Her toenails were painted a deep coral that matched her dress. Kieran wanted desperately to kiss each delicately arched, perfect foot.

God knows he’d never been a fetishist, but somehow, Olivia was turning everything he thought he knew about himself on its ear. She made him ache and sweat and laugh all in the space of a single conversation. How had he ever made the decision to leave her six years ago?

The answer was easy. For once in his life, he’d done the mature thing. When Olivia talked back then, he had listened. Hearing about how much she hated the unsettled childhood she had experienced and how badly she wanted to settle down and be normal made him realize he had to give her up before either of them got in too deep.

The Wolffs were not a normal family.

But his altruistic decision had, in the end, caused Olivia even more pain. She believed he didn’t want her. Surely she couldn’t doubt that now. He needed the summer to prove to her that he had wanted her back then and he wanted her still.

Cammie’s existence changed everything. Kieran and Olivia were involved. Only time would tell how deeply.

He sighed inwardly, wondering if such a thing as salvation existed. He was more than happy to pay atonement, but Olivia had to accept his offering. “What now?” he asked abruptly. “A Broadway matinee? A harbor tour? More shopping?”

Olivia half turned to face him, her face shadowed with worry. “We can’t ignore the elephant in the room. You brought me here to hash out our situation. We might as well deal with that, and maybe then I’ll be able to enjoy the rest of the day.”

He shrugged, stretching his arms along the back of the bench and staring out across the water. “You know my position. I want you to stay for the entire summer, and I want to tell Cammie that I’m her dad.”

Olivia nibbled her bottom lip, hands twisting in her lap. “I have work to finish, Kieran. I need to get back to my studio.”

“Tell me about that,” he said, wanting to know everything concerning her life, what made her tick. He’d been impressed with her talent for whimsical watercolors when they first met, and he’d recognized an ambition and drive for perfection that mirrored his own.

“I illustrate children’s stories for two publishers here in New York. It’s a flexible job, which means I can be there for Cammie when she needs me. One of my last books was nominated for an award.”

“You’ve done well, then.”

She nodded. “I never wanted to live off my parents. I like my independence and the security of knowing I’m providing for my daughter.”

“So why can’t you work on the mountain?”

“It’s not as easy as that, Kieran. I have paints and papers and supplies. And besides…”

“Yes?” He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like this one.

“I haven’t changed my mind about what your leaving would do to Cammie. She sees you as a buddy now, but it would be so much worse if you were her father. I haven’t told you this, because I didn’t want to cause you pain, but she has always begged me for a daddy, ever since she was old enough to know that she was supposed to have two parents and not just me. If we told her the truth, she would jump to the conclusion that you were going to come back to California and live with us.”

The image of his baby daughter begging for a daddy haunted him. Regret sat like a boulder on his chest. “So that’s your final word?”

She stared at him, solemn, wary. “Are you going to take me to court?”

He stood up and turned away from her, afraid of what she might see on his face. “Oh, hell. Of course not.” Impotence and rage tore at him, but what made it worse was that he had no target for his anger.

Olivia joined him, wrapping an arm around his waist and laying her head on his shoulder. “Don’t be mad… please. I’m trying to do what’s best. Maybe not for you or for me, but for Cammie.”

He tugged her close with his left arm, still staring at boaters on the lake that sparkled like diamonds in the sun. “I’m not mad,” he said gruffly.

“Let me go home tomorrow,” she said. “I’ll finish my project. Cammie and I have some fun summer activities planned. Then in August we’ll come back for another visit before you have to leave for the Sudan.”

He thought of all the long, lonely weeks that stretched between now and then. “Will you promise to think about letting me tell her who I really am?”

Her body stiffened in his embrace and finally relaxed. “I’ll think about it,” she said softly.

“That’s all I ask.” He wanted more… so much more. But for now he would bide his time.