The Greek Bachelors Collection. Rebecca Winters

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      A knock sounded and Jaya lowered her phone to motion at Theo. “That will be the bellman with the things I asked him to bring up. Take Androu to the bedroom while he brings everything in.”

      Evie was rapt with her princess movie, dark head below the sofa back. He stepped out of the main room and continued to watch her as he listened to Jaya direct a pair of young men to leave everything inside the door. She continued her call as they left.

      After hanging up a moment later, she walked him through his first diaper change, then briskly began moving objects to higher ground and double checking that doors were locked, particularly the one to the pool deck.

      “We could swim with them later. They’d like that,” she murmured, sounding distracted, her nervous tension palpable. Maybe because he was hovering, but he couldn’t help himself. He told himself it was the new experience of child-minding. Androu still clung with determined little fists and tight legs which was a disturbing feeling that reinforced to him how inadequate he was with the task of reassurance. All Theo could do was hold him and follow Jaya around.

      He wasn’t used to her taking an avoidance tack, though. In Bali, she had looked him in the eye and smiled every time he caught her eye, then blushed and shied maybe, but she’d never refused to meet his gaze. Her brisk movements around the flat were as much about putting distance between them as securing the space for the children.

      Aware he was seeking his own sort of reassurance, he made himself halt in one spot and quit tagging after her like a lost puppy, but he couldn’t stop himself from watching her slender limbs and smooth efficiency. He couldn’t help remembering that her skin had smelled like cloves and almonds and her hair had been a cool weight of silk that had warmed against his bare chest.

      She paused to scan the equipment littering the entrance.

      “That seems like a lot of stuff. Two highchairs and a booster?” It looked like there were three portable cots, not that he was an expert on baby furniture.

      “We can deal with this later. What did your brother-in-law say?”

      He brought her up to speed and she nodded jerkily. “So a couple of days. You’re really sure you want me here? I’ll have to spend the night. That means—”

      “It’s an imposition, I realize. Do you—” He swore under his breath, unable to put off asking. He didn’t even want to know, but it might help control his still thriving attraction. “Is there someone in your life this will affect?” he forced himself to ask.

      She stilled, not looking at him. After a long second, she nodded. Then she lifted an expression that was frozen between tortured and fretful.

      He swallowed, surprised how deeply the knife thrust and twisted even though he’d braced for it. Even though she had every right to get on with her life. He certainly had no right to possessiveness. This situation was going to be unbearable.

      Let her call an agency.

      Before he could work up the will to make the concession, soft, pitiful whimpers rose over a lullaby being sung on screen. Evie’s sobs turned into a heart-wrenching wail that made Jaya’s eyes pop. She rushed toward the girl.

      “Baby, what happened? Did you hurt yourself?”

      Theo lowered his lids in a wince. “I didn’t realize what you’d put on. That’s Rowan’s voice as the fairy godmother.”

      Jaya gathered up the toddler in a cuddle and murmured words of comfort. Her swift loving care to a child she barely knew struck into his toughened heart like an axe, leaving a wound that gaped and ached. He’d just realized how perfect Jaya was on the heels of learning she belonged to another man. She should be with someone. She deserved to be happy.

      He still hated himself for never calling her back. He’d never felt so alone and lonely—and he knew loneliness like other people knew the lyrics to a favorite song.

      With his breath burning his lungs, he asked, “What should we do?”

      He meant, Should we call in someone else? But she only rocked Evie and said, “There’s nothing we can do. Little ones need their mamas.” Her brow flinched before she tried to distract Evie with a cheerful, “But we could go swimming. Do you like to swim?”

      The bait and switch worked and after waiting for swimsuits and special diapers, they all climbed into the pool. Again Jaya was a natural, showing him how to hold Androu and coach him to kick while Evie proved to be part mermaid, pushing herself free of Jaya’s grip and swimming to the edge where she came up to grin proudly.

      It was a surprisingly conflict-free hour as he shifted his focus onto the moment and the safety of the children. Okay, he was also pretty damned aware of Jaya’s nipples poking against the wet cups of her modest one-piece black swimsuit, but thankfully the cool water kept his libido from responding too wildly. She was way off-limits, even further than when she’d worked for him, so he suppressed his interest as best he could.

      They were back to their Bali roles, polite and capable of basic camaraderie as they discussed neutral topics like the children, the weather, and Marseilles.

      Until she said, “Theo,” with surprising gravity behind him.

      “Yes?” he prompted, keeping his back to her as he boosted Evie toward the edge.

      Ah, hell, he had his back to her. Inner tension came on so fast he felt like he solidified and fractured in the same breath.

      The scars should have become less of an issue for him in the last year. His whole family had started coming to terms with their childhood, but he’d spent so many years clenching his teeth against it all that he couldn’t bring himself to open up to any of his siblings about what was plain as the stripes on his back. There didn’t seem any point and they were still so awkward with each other. He wanted to be friends with his older brother, but making that happen was easier if they both pretended the ugliness in their early lives hadn’t happened. Maybe it was counterproductive, but all of them had been raised to be polite and ignore. They very easily fell back on that coping strategy.

      Jaya was private and quiet, but she was soft. Anything that moved her started at heart level. If she asked him about this, it would be because she was concerned.

      Knowing that made the cracks in him extend to even deeper places, touching into areas that were raw and sensitive. Thank God he had a baby to keep an eye on and didn’t have to turn and face her pointed silence. He waited with ears that felt stretched and hollow, not ready for this conversation, not imagining he could ever be ready, but he didn’t know how to avoid it.

      After a long interminable moment, she asked, “What happened to your back?”

      Ensuring Evie was out of the water and sitting safely on the edge, he kept a hand on her tiny frame and glanced at Jaya, dreading her pity.

      Her anxious frown was so kind it made him want to shudder, like he’d had too big a taste of sugar. He swallowed back a thickness in his throat and was left with the bitter residue of a bleak time when he’d been insignificant and helpless.

      “Exactly what you imagine happened,” he answered in as controlled a tone as he could manage. Maybe he should have seen a counselor by now, but why? The emotional scars were as permanent as the physical ones. All he could СКАЧАТЬ