There were two kids who deserved a father. It was just their bad luck to have gotten him in the genetic lottery. He couldn’t give them stability. A man to count on. Everything he’d had growing up. Still, he’d do the best he could by them because he owed them that.
“What’re you doing, Colt?” She stared up at him, wariness and pain shining in her eyes.
“What needs to be done,” he ground out, refusing to be swayed by the na**d emotion he saw on her face.
What he had to remember was that she’d kept his children from him. So much for the “honesty” he’d seen in her at the beginning, he thought cynically. Hell, maybe she was really no different from the countless other women who had tried to convince a King that she was pregnant just to be able to dip into his bank account.
But she was different, wasn’t she? She’d made no effort to contact him. Hadn’t asked for money. Hadn’t gone to a tabloid, selling her story to make some fast cash. Hell, she’d gone out of her way to avoid telling him about the twins. Hadn’t once considered him in any of the decisions she’d made in the last couple of years.
Well, all of that was going to change. She might not be interested in cashing in on the King name. Might have no desire at all for him to be a part of her world. But she was about to find out just what it was like having a King in the family picture.
“We have to talk,” he ground out, keeping his voice low and his gaze locked on hers. “The question is, do you want to do it now, with your brother watching us from your front window—”
She shifted a look to the house at his words and huffed out a breath. Colt had noticed Robert the instant he’d parked in front of the cottage. The man looked just as constipated and irritated as he had the day before. But at least now, Colt could understand why he was such a pain in the ass.
“Or do you want to go inside, get rid of the audience and do this in private? Your choice.”
A couple of tense seconds ticked past.
“Fine,” she grumbled, unhooking her seat belt and wincing a bit as she tried to get out of the car. “But this isn’t over.”
“That’s the first thing you’ve gotten right,” he promised, feeling a twinge of sympathy mixed with concern when he watched her trying to move through pain that was clearly bothering her more than she wanted to admit. Irritated at her stubborn independence even in the face of real discomfort, he reached into the car and lifted her out. He should have put her down at once, of course, but he noticed that her face was so pale that the freckles across her nose and cheeks shone like flakes of gold against snow.
“You can set me down now,” she said, tipping her face back to look up at him.
But he didn’t want to. He liked holding her. Hell, it was feeding that need to touch her. She felt...right, cradled against his chest, and that weird thought worried him quite a bit. But at least lust he knew how to deal with.
“I’m perfectly capable of walking.”
“Sure you are.” He shook his head as he looked down at her. His body tightened further and it was his turn to camouflage a wince of pain. “And it’ll take you twenty minutes to get to the front door. This is faster.”
She glowered at him, but Colt paid no attention. Hard to focus on her irritation when every inch of his body was reacting to her closeness. Holding her to him stirred up feelings he’d just as soon leave buried. But it was too late. Her T-shirt and jeans were worn and soft. Her curves fit nicely against him and with every breath she took, she fired the heat already scorching him.
“Just hold still, will you?” Still shaking his head, not sure if he was angrier with her or with his own reaction, Colt took the crooked, flower-lined sidewalk up to the steps. Robert opened the door and Colt carried her across the porch and into the house.
His first impression was that the place had been built for really short people. It was like a dollhouse. Cute to look at but impossible to move around in. He had to duck his head to avoid a low-hanging beam separating the entry from the postage-stamp-sized living room. And suddenly he felt like Gulliver. All that was missing were the ropes tying him down—although there were two tiny ropes somewhere in this house, prepared to do the job.
“You okay, Penny?” Robert asked as Colt deposited her gently on the overstuffed couch.
“She’s fine,” Colt answered for her. “I almost never beat a woman.”
Robert sneered. “Is that supposed to be funny?”
“Not really,” Colton told him. “Nothing about this situation is funny.”
“I’m fine,” Penny said, shooting Colt a look that plainly said I can speak for myself. Then she turned back to her brother. “How are the twins?”
Robert threw a look over his shoulder at the hallway behind him. “Sleeping. We took them for a long walk and the fresh air just knocked ’em out. Maria’s checking on them.”
“Good,” she said, a smile curving her mouth. “Thanks so much for watching the babies. I can’t wait to see them.”
“Me, either.” Colt looked from Penny to Robert and back again and had the satisfaction of seeing her squirm uncomfortably.
“For what it’s worth,” Robert told him, “I’ve been after her from the beginning to tell you about the twins.”
“Too bad you weren’t more successful.”
“She’s too stubborn for her own good,” her brother argued. “Once she makes up her mind, you couldn’t blow her off course with dy***ite.” He glanced at his sister. “And it’s not like I enjoyed going behind her back to tell you the truth. I’m just tired of seeing her struggle when she shouldn’t have to.”
“I understand. And I remember just how stubborn she is.” In fact, Colt recalled plenty about the week he and Penny had spent together what felt like a lifetime ago. He remembered her laughter. He remembered the feel of her curled against him in the middle of the night. The taste of her mouth, the scent of her skin. And he remembered seeing rainbows and promises shining in her green eyes.
It had spooked him, plain and simple. No other woman before her or since had ever gotten so close to him. No other woman had ever made him so drugged on passion that he’d proposed and married her before he could come to his senses.
And no other woman’s memory had stayed with him as hers had.
God knows he’d tried to bury her memory, but it just wouldn’t stay gone. He could be halfway around the world, exploring some new adventure, and hear a soft, feminine laugh—and just for a second, he’d turn and search the crowd for her familiar face. He had dreams that were so clear, so real, that he would wake up expecting to find her lying next to him.