Читать книгу Twin Ties, Twin Joys: The Boss's Double Trouble Twins / Twins for a Christmas Bride / Baby Twins: Parents Needed - Raye Morgan - Страница 9

DARCY opened her mouth. Her lips actually formed a word. But as she gazed up into his clear blue eyes, she just couldn’t go through with it. The right words weren’t there yet. They weren’t coming to her.

“So what do you think?” Mitch asked, looking at her in the deep, probing way he had, that way that gave her the false feeling he saw only her, cared about only her, and would treasure her forever. “Can you work with me?”

“I … I don’t know,” she said, her voice sounding scratchy from the effort to speak at all. It was that intimate look that made her so crazy. She realized that now. She had to avoid his gaze at all costs. “That all depends. There’s something …”

“We’ll give it a try,” he said when she faltered. “I’m sure we can do it. And it’s only for one year.”

One year! In one year, the twins would be talking. Talking? They would be writing novels! They would be learning to catch a ball. They would be giving wet baby kisses to the ones who loved them. Would that include Mitch?

“One year?” she repeated numbly.

He nodded. “That’s all I’ve committed to. One year. And then I’m going back overseas.”

“I see.”

Well, wasn’t that just typical? Full commitment wasn’t his thing, was it? Resentment rose in her again.

“I… I guess I’m just surprised to see you working back here at all,” she noted distractedly. “The last I heard you were smuggling arms into Nepal or something.”

Amusement flashed across his handsome face. “Who told you that?”

“Someone at Jimmy’s funeral, I think.”

He shrugged, his gaze suddenly hooded. “He didn’t get it quite right. It wasn’t Nepal, and it wasn’t arms.”

“What was it?”

He paused just long enough to make her think whatever he said was going to be something he probably made up.

“It was rock concert T-shirts, into a country which shall remain nameless,” he said at last. “I do still have my Fifth Amendment rights.”

She barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes. “That you do, but you’re the only person I’ve ever known who actually feels he needs to use them,” she said a bit caustically.

“Actually we were just importing the shirts.” He paused, and then added softly, “And then ‘exporting’ a few political refugees.”

“I see.” She knew he was involved in dangerous things overseas. He’d told her a few hair-raising tales that night in Paris. And she was pretty sure the story behind that new ugly scar across his chest was going to fit right into one of those scenarios. “I guess you were just born to be a businessman, weren’t you?” she added wryly.

He laughed softly. “Of a sort.”

She bit her lip. Now that was something to keep in mind: Don’t make the man laugh. He looks too good doing it.

“So is that why you’re back?” she asked quickly. “Are you on the lam?” Where had that phrase come from? She didn’t know, but she kind of liked it. It fit. “Is Interpol after you? I guess you got tired of being shot at and decided to come home for a rest, huh?”

He groaned, sagging down into a leather chair and stretching his long legs out before him. “You watch too much television.”

“Then why did you come back?”

He looked up at her and smiled sweetly. “My mother asked me to.”

She stared at him. Because his mother asked him to? That didn’t fit in with the always-a-rebel, devil-may-care, to-hell-with-convention image she had of him. And now here he sat in a suit and tie—looking like he was ready to take the business world by storm. It seemed his mother had a bigger influence on him than she’d thought.

Mitch’s parents had been another dilemma for her. Her impulse had been to tell them about the twins soon after she’d known she was pregnant. The fact that Mitch was so adamant about wanting nothing to do with them was what had made her hesitate in the beginning.

And the more she thought about it, the more she wondered if she really wanted them getting involved in how she raised her children. Without knowing how things really stood with their son, did she dare let that happen? If there had been a different attitude, she might have told them.

But at first, she kept thinking Mitch would show up in one way or another. Or at least, that she would find a contact point. And that once she’d settled things with him, he should be the one to tell his parents.

She actually tried to talk to his mother at the company memorial service held for Jimmy. The woman had been gracious in a distant way, but when Darcy had tried to ask where Mitch was, she turned frosty fast.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t talked to my oldest son for a long time,” she said. “You’ll have to find some other way to get in touch with him.”

After that, she realized that if she went directly to the Carvers and told them about her pregnancy, they would immediately assume she was after money. She had to admit, a little financial aid would have come in very handy at that time. But once she’d thought things through, she knew it was just too dangerous. Money bought influence and got lawyers involved. It was much safer to take care of things herself.

That meant, sadly, that the Carvers were deprived of their grandchildren, and the twins were cheated out of grandparents, but she couldn’t see a way around that at the time.

“So there’s actually something you respect,” she said slowly. “Your mother. That’s sort of touching.”

She’d meant it as a barb, but once the words were out of her mouth, she realized it was true.

“You’re damn right I respect my mother. Have you met her?”

“Yes. She’s a lovely woman.”

“That she is.”

She frowned, thinking back on the things he had told her almost two years before. “It was really your father you had the quarrel with, wasn’t it?”

His face hardened. “That’s something I’m not going to discuss.”

Yes, she remembered now. All the bad feeling in the family revolved around some sort of feud with his father. And it obviously still burned deeply in him.

“You know, Darcy,” he said, leaning back in his chair, “I didn’t find out about what happened to Jimmy until just a few weeks ago.” He frowned and muttered, “I really ought to go by and pay my respects to his mother. I always liked her.”

Darcy nodded. Mimi was great. In fact, it was Mimi, Jimmy’s mother, who had taken her in when she had the twins. She was living with her right now. Mimi had health problems and Darcy had two little babies who required looking after. They needed each other and they seemed to have the perfect fit, for now.

“You really have been out of touch, haven’t you?” she noted. “How did your mother manage to find you?”

“She hired a private investigator.”

So he hadn’t even contacted the mother he claimed to be so close to. She frowned. This lack of family feeling did not bode well for his having any interest in the boys. But she’d known that all along.

“So all those things you said when we knew each other in …” She had force herself to say the name of the city. “In Paris …”

“Ah. You remember Paris, do you?” He pretended to be surprised.

She frowned, looking away. “Of course, I remember Paris.”

“But you’d like to forget,” he said softly, then grimaced. “Why do I get the feeling that what happened in Paris is looming over us like … like this giant vulture ready to pick apart the bones of our relationship?”

“Relationship?” she responded tartly. “Do we have a relationship? I thought that was one of those things you vowed never to have.”

He sighed. “Tell you what, Darcy. I’ll make you a deal.”

Folding her arms, she looked at him sideways.

“What sort of deal?”

“Look. Facing reality, we’re probably going to be working together. It would be best if we could fix things so that’s possible. So why don’t we just put Paris behind us? That was then. This is now. We’ve both changed. Circumstances have certainly changed. A lot of water under the bridge.” He shrugged. “Let’s start over again. Completely new.”

He rose and stuck out his hand. “Hi. I’m Mitch Carver. And I’m very pleased to meet you, Darcy Connors. I’m sure we’ll work well together.”

She stared at him and found her hand enveloped in his once again, but she couldn’t join in the general good cheer he was trying to promote. Act as though Paris never happened? Sorry. There were two little impediments waiting for her at home that made all this impossible.

Still, his touch had power. She felt his energy, his inner strength, and especially, his raw, masculine appeal, just in the warmth of his hand. Her pulse began to race, as though something exciting was about to happen. Startled, she pulled her hand out of his.

“You are so arrogant,” she told him gently, wishing she could will away his attractive presence. “You think you can wipe out the past, just by deciding to.”

“Of course. Why not?”

She shook her head. “I think you still have a lot to learn,” she said, regarding him narrowly.

Okay, she finally had a plan. She would think things over tonight, develop a method of attack, and give it to him in the morning. It would probably be best to do that somewhere outside of work. After all, she had no idea how he was going to react, but she did have a feeling it was going to be messy.

“Tell you what,” she said, turning to go. “Meet me tomorrow morning at The Jumpin’ Bean. You remember where that is, don’t you? Seven-thirty. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

He frowned, rising to see her out, his gaze suddenly alert. “What is it?”

She shook her head. “Tomorrow,” she said. “Will you meet me?”

He shrugged. “Of course.”

She nodded. “Okay. See you tomorrow.”

And she left his office feeling a little better about the future. At least she had a plan.

“Look at that, boys,” Mimi Foster announced in her slow Texas drawl. “Your mama’s home!”

Darcy swept her two toddlers up in her arms, laughing as they babbled at her happily and Sparky, Mimi’s little white fluffy dog, danced around her, barking noisily.

“Oh hush, Sparky,” she said, and to her babies, “My little ducks, I’m so glad to see you.” She cooed, kissing one and then the other and holding both tightly. “Have you been good for Mimi today?”

“They’ve been perfect angels, both of them,” Mimi lied kindly. A tall, slender woman, she favored exotic caftans and chandelier earrings.

“Right. I’ll just bet they have.” Darcy sighed as she put them back down in the playpen. Looking around the tidy front room of the modest Spanish-style house she’d been sharing with Jimmy’s mother since she’d come back to Terra Dulce in the San Antonio area, she shook her head. “Oh, Mimi, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Darcy, darlin',” the older woman said, rising and giving her friend a hug. “You know the three of you are my family now. Without y’all I would just wither up and blow away.”

Mimi and her mother had been best friends, and though they lived in cities hundreds of miles apart, there had been plenty of visits and vacations spent together. For years her mother and Mimi had planned and plotted, trying to conjure up a romance between Darcy and Jimmy that just never quite panned out. Jimmy had always been more interested in cars than he had in girls. And Darcy … well, Darcy had seen Mitch.

The first time she’d noticed him, she must have been about eleven. He was probably fourteen and full of teenage swagger. He’d stopped by the Foster house to help Jimmy work on an old car Jimmy’s dad had in the driveway. Darcy’s family had been there on their usual summer visit and she’d watched from the window. She thought most boys were “icky” at that point in her life. But Mitch was different. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. From then on, Mitch was her standard for male excellence.

And now he was here and she was finally going to have to tell Mimi that he was the father of her children. She knew Mimi had hoped that Jimmy was their father at first. She’d let her know that wasn’t the case, but she hadn’t gone any further than that and Mimi hadn’t tried to pry it out of her. The rest of the world, especially those she worked with, assumed Jimmy had been the father, and she hadn’t done anything to counter that. When you came right down to it, she hadn’t told anyone the full truth. And now, she had to find a way to tell Mitch.

She spent the next hour playing with her children and thinking about Mitch. Tonight she would take a long bath and work up a good way to present the facts to him. She had to phrase it just right. She had to let him know that she expected him to be a factor in their lives.

A part of her wished she could just grab her kids and make a run for it, start over somewhere fresh without all these problems. But she knew running just brought up new problems. And then the old ones came along and found you anyway.

Besides, it didn’t seem likely she could get away in time, especially as, looking out the picture window, she saw Mitch coming up the front walk at this very moment. In seconds he would be knocking on the front door.

Sheer panic shot through her veins. Without thinking twice, she snatched up both babies, kicked the playpen behind the couch and whisked them into their bedroom before the doorbell rang. Her only hope was to move up naptime by an hour. Would these two little mop-heads cooperate?

“Mitch Carver! You darlin'!”

Mimi had answered the door and Darcy knew she was throwing her arms around the man who had been her son’s childhood friend. Darcy listened intently as she put her babies down in their beds, hoping against hope they might take a nice nap. Maybe this could be quick. Maybe Mitch would just pay his respects and be on his way. Maybe Mimi would forget to mention that Darcy was living here with her. Maybe.

“Mama,” Sammy was saying sleepily, giving her a toothless smile. “Mama, Mama, Mama.”

“Shush! Go to sleep, you little rascal,” she whispered to him, love pouring out of her heart as she looked down at him.

Sean was already drifting off, his little thumb sneaking up into his mouth. No matter what, her total agenda was protecting these two adorable children from harm. She would do whatever she had to do.

She looked around the room and sighed. It was small for two cribs, one dresser and an ancient changing table, not to mention a shelf system that was beginning to pull away from the wall. This was not exactly what she’d dreamed of for her little ones. Hopefully, if she got the raise she was expecting next month …

“I wanted you to know how sorry I am about Jimmy,” she could hear Mitch saying from the next room.

“His death was a tragedy,” Mimi responded sadly. “You were always such a good friend to him. He idolized you, you know. He missed you so when you went off and joined the Army.”

They chatted a bit more, but Darcy couldn’t make out the words. Darcy bit her lip. So far, so good. Maybe he would just leave now, without ever hearing that she was just a few steps away.

“I don’t know if you ever knew Darcy Connors,” she heard Mimi mentioning, loud and clear.

“Darcy Connors?” Mitch sounded surprised. “Sure, I know Darcy.”

Her shoulders sagged. Oh well. So much for that hope. Nothing was ever easy, was it? The boys were dozing. At least she was getting a little luck there. Very quietly, she crept out into the hall, ready to leap out and stop Mimi from bringing up the children if she possibly could.

“I was so happy when she got the assignment in France,” Mimi was saying. “She and Jimmy became quite close while they were working together over there.”

“I … yes, I guess I knew that,” Mitch replied a bit stiffly.

Mimi was chattering on. Darcy crossed her fingers, hoping she would forget to mention the twins.

“Yes, she came to live with me right after she got transferred from the Atlanta office. And now she and her two—”

Time to make her move.

“Hello there,” Darcy interrupted, bursting onto the scene with a bright smile before Mimi could get the rest of that sentence out. “I thought I recognized your voice,” she said, nodding to Mitch.

He was firmly ensconced on the couch, unfortunately. She wasn’t going to be able to shoo him out the door any time soon. Flopping down into a chair across from him, she kept on smiling.

He gave her a puzzled look and she knew he was wondering why she hadn’t told him she was living with Jimmy’s mom. It just didn’t come up, she tried to convey with a subtle shrug.

Mimi was laughing about the past. “All those long summer days with you and Jimmy playing in the canyon out back, and me driving you to Little League games and buying you hamburgers at Merle’s drive-in.”

“Merle’s Mammoth Mouthfuls.” Mitch grinned. “I remember it all. Some of the happiest days of my life were spent right here in your backyard.”

“You and Jimmy, what a pair.” She sighed. “I’m glad he had you in his life. And Darcy, too,” she added with a smile. “I hope you two get to know each other.”

Darcy and Mitch exchanged a quick, furtive glance. “I haven’t told Mimi yet,” she said quickly. “Told me what?” Mimi asked. Mitch was staring at her, his eyes wide, as though he couldn’t believe his ears, and she suddenly realized what he might think she was talking about.

“That we’re going to be working together,” she reassured him quickly. She turned to look at the older woman. “Yes, we’re going to be working together, Mitch and I. He’s come back and he’s working for ACW. Isn’t that nice?”

“Well, yes,” Mimi said. “I’m so glad, Mitch. I know your mama must be pleased as punch. I haven’t talked to her for years but she always seemed like a gracious lady.”

Mitch looked as though he was still reeling from his brief misapprehension. How he had thought she was going to bring up the Paris incident she couldn’t imagine. But it was pretty obvious he’d thought so, for just a moment there.

“Uh … yes, she is,” he managed to get out.

Mimi smiled at them both. “So where did you two meet? How do you know each other so well?”

“I wouldn’t say we know each other well,” Mitch said hastily.

“No, not at all,” Darcy echoed quickly.

“Well, what was it? You didn’t just meet today, did you?”

Darcy smiled nervously. “Oh, no. We’ve met before.”

She hesitated, glancing at Mitch and reading the wariness in his eyes. Don’t worry, she wanted to tell him. I’m not going to bring up Paris. In fact, she was going to go back a lot further than that.

“Remember that summer, the first time my mother was sick and you invited me to come and stay with you?” she said to Mimi.

“You were still in high school.”

“Yes. It was in August. You wanted to get my mind off my mother and all that. So I came to stay for a couple of weeks. You tried hard to get Jimmy to pay some attention to me, to take me out to where the teenagers gathered, but all he wanted to do was work on that souped-up car he loved so much.”

“Of course! I remember.” She smiled fondly. “I was so mad at him! He would barely give you the time of day. I guess it was a coming-of-age sort of thing with him.”

No. It was the fact that he loved cars better than people. But that wasn’t something she was going to point out to his mother.

“Anyway, you felt sorry for me, so one day you sent me off to the rodeo with a bunch of kids. Friends of Jimmy’s.”

“Did I?”

“Yes. I think that’s the first time I really met Mitch.” She glanced at him. He had the look of a man trying to remember details.

“I’d forgotten all about that,” he said. “Was that really you?”

Their gazes met and something flashed between them, but Darcy ignored it as best she could. “That was me. I was the one who got charged by the bull that got out of the pen.”

He grinned as the picture cleared for him.

“I remember that,” he said as though enjoying the memory.

“And you pulled me out of his path at the very last second,” she added. “My hero.” She tried for a mocking tone but somehow it came out sounding almost sincere.

“I do my best,” he said, managing to hit just the right note of irony, coming off modest and noble at the same time.

She shook her head, but she could have told him more. She could have told him that he really had become her hero that day. She could have recalled everything he was wearing, from the backward baseball cap to the tight muscle T-shirt and the ragged jeans. She might have recited everything he said to her, from, “Hey, watch it kid,” to, “So you turned sweet sixteen yesterday, huh? I hope Jimmy kissed you. No? Well then, I guess I’ll have to do it.”

Even now, the memory of that silly little kiss could curl her toes. But there was no way she would ever tell him that.

Oh, he remembered all right. She’d said something about it when they first met again in Paris and he’d acted like he didn’t remember then. But she could see it in his eyes—he remembered now. The scene played out like a holograph between them—the two of them waiting for the others behind the stadium, the sounds and smells of the rodeo, the August evening heat, the way he’d grinned and tilted her chin up with a curved finger, then bent slowly to touch his warm lips to hers, the way the world had melted around them.

And then the others had come charging around the corner and they’d pulled apart. Mitch was quickly talking and laughing with his friends. But Darcy was in a dream, and she stayed there all the way home.

“So I suppose you’ll both be working on the Heartland Project we’ve been reading so much about in the papers?”

Darcy’s mind snapped back to the present. She and Mitch would be working on finishing up the Bermuda Woods assignment, but she knew it was possible it could flow seamlessly into this new project. She hadn’t considered that before.

Mitch was looking at Mimi questioningly. “The Heartland Project? What’s that?”

“You haven’t heard of it? It’s going to be huge. A planned community out in the Sargosa Hills. The whole town is buzzing about it.”

Mitch raised an eyebrow as he looked at Darcy. She nodded. “We’re bidding on a portion of it. But I don’t think Mitch and I will be working on it, except in a peripheral way. I’m sure the old-timers have dibs on it. People like Ned Varner,” she added for emphasis, naming the senior vice president of the firm.

Mitch looked thoughtful and Darcy wondered what he was thinking. It would indeed be interesting if he decided he wanted to get in on the biggest project ACW had ever been involved in. If they did win the bid.

“Let me get you something to drink,” Mimi was saying, rising expectantly. “Some nice iced tea? Some lemonade?”

Realizing what Mimi had said, Darcy’s heart sank. If he accepted refreshment, he’d be here forever. But Mitch quickly revived her hope as he started rising from the couch.

“Oh, no. I’d really better get going. I just wanted to stop by and say ‘hi'. And to let you know I’m around if you need anything.”

Mimi reached out and warmly took his hand. “I hope you’ll come by and see us often.”

His smile to her was just as warm. “I will.”

Darcy sprang up. Inside, she was exalting. He was going! Great. All she needed was some time to get her thoughts together. Tomorrow he would know the truth.

“Yes, well, it’s been awfully nice seeing you.”

She pulled open the door and smiled, waiting for him to make his way out onto the porch, mentally urging him forward.

And for just a moment, it looked like she was going to get her wish. He started toward the door. As he came even with where she was standing, he looked at her sideways. She gave him a tiny shrug and he shook his head just enough for her to see. She wanted to reach out and plant the palm of her hand between his shoulder blades and push him out the door, but she resisted, gritting her teeth with the effort. He was almost gone.

And then Mimi spoiled it all.

“Well, wait a minute,” she said, frowning. “You can’t go yet. You haven’t even met the babies.”