Crimson and Clover (21 page)

“Let me have it, then.” She glanced up at him through her lashes, an action always guaranteed to make him melt.

He shook his head, his mouth set in a firm line. “So much for keeping out of it, eh?”

Flirting hadn’t worked, so she shook her hair back with a defiant toss. “Well, someone had to do it. In any case, I’ve got him off your arse, haven’t I?”

Nicky’s stern expression didn’t abate. “You’ve definitely managed to shift his anger from himself to you.” He shook his head and sighed. “I damn sure hope you think it was worth it.”

Jay rushed down the stairs and out the front door, keeping his gaze away from Katie’s flat. He’d avoided the building and any chance encounters since he’d returned to London, but had let himself be suckered into this fucking dinner by Maureen’s relentless nagging. And only to be attacked by her for something which he was helpless to change.

He threw himself into his car and slammed the door. A few moments of pounding his fists against the steering wheel helped to abate some of the rage that had built with every accusation Maureen had slung his way. Did the woman honestly think he’d just tossed Katie aside with no feelings? If she knew how badly it had messed him up she wouldn’t have gone on the way she did. He was shaken at how close he’d come to hitting her.

Closing his eyes, he leaned back and sighed, but he couldn’t get the things Maureen had said out of his head.
Exalted loins
.
Sacred sperm
.
Fully blooded Carey children
. Is that what she thought of him?

A low growl came from deep in his throat. He’d thrown at her that she didn’t understand, and that was true. She didn’t. How could she when he didn’t really understand it himself?

He raked his hair back and clasped his hands behind his head. To say he’d been surprised by his reaction to Katie’s suggestion of adoption was to put it mildly. But when she’d uttered the word he’d felt … wounded, almost insulted. He’d latched onto the notion of his children being his own with the ferocity a starving dog would a discarded bone.

Why the bloody hell was it so important to him? Although he wasn’t sure of his family’s origins, he assumed the first Carey in his line had been nothing more illustrious than an Irish potato farmer. Was it worth losing the only woman he’d ever loved to continue such a sterling blood line?

I’m just asking Jay how much joy his fully blooded Carey children will bring him if Katie’s not their mother!
He winced at the memory of Maureen’s salvo, and couldn’t get the words out of his mind. Would it be worth it to have a house full of children when he’d never get over the regret of letting Katie go because of it?

He wasn’t aware he’d left the car until he found himself standing outside the door to Katie’s flat with no memory of how he got there. This was stupid; to see her again would only prolong the pain for both of them. But the thought of her being just the other side of that door was too urgent to ignore. With no idea of what he would say or do, he reached out for the doorknob.

• • •

The fact that someone entered her flat without knocking didn’t surprise Katie at all. She’d become used to her friends coming and going as they pleased. But when her visitor didn’t speak or call out, she felt a finger of apprehension slide down her spine. She took the cast iron skillet from where it sat on the cooker and tiptoed across the kitchen, wondering if she’d have the guts to really bean someone over the head with it.

Pressing her back against the wall, she took a deep breath and stuck her head around the doorjamb to peek into the living room.

The sight of Jay striding toward the kitchen was the last thing she’d expected to see. All thoughts of stealth fled as she stepped into the doorway. The skillet fell from her hand, leaving a divot in the floor she wouldn’t discover until the following day.

Jay came to a halt at the sound and Katie’s heart flew into her throat. She’d never seen him so disheveled and ragged. He’d always taken great pains with his appearance, but the man before her looked as though he hadn’t slept in a month.

“Jay?” Her voice bore a startling resemblance to someone strangling a goose. “What are you doing here?”

For a moment he was silent, and Katie watched with fascination as his face went through a number of expressions ranging from complete confusion to utter consternation. Whatever he struggled with seemed to be resolved when a look of peace transformed his face. He gave her a crooked smile.

“You said if I ever changed my mind to come round. Well … ” He shrugged one shoulder.

It was Katie’s turn to have her emotions run the gamut, and she could only gape at him hoping she didn’t look as stupid as she felt. At last she voiced the thought that was uppermost in her mind. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” He crossed the short distance between them and took her face between his hands. “One day you and I are going to have a large, lovely family. We’ll adopt a dozen children and buy a big house in the Berkshires where they can grow up.” He put gentle fingers over her lips when she would have spoken. “I’m sure.”

Whipsawed by emotions, Katie tried to shake her head. “I never expected you to come back. What changed your mind?”

Jay’s soft laugh held no amusement. “Katie, I have no idea why I reacted the way I did. I don’t understand it at all. But when I weighed the thought of having my own children against the thought of having you in my life, I knew what was important. And you are the most important thing to me. Always will be.”

The warmth of his hands against her skin melted the ice that had encased her since she heard him walk out the door and thought she’d never see him again. With a sigh, she leaned her face into his hand and closed her eyes to hide the tears that flooded them.

“It’s really okay that I can’t give you your own children?”

“They will be mine; yours and mine.” His arms gathered her close and his lips were warm against her forehead. “I don’t care how I get children as long as you’re their mother.”

She nodded and had just enough time to see his smile before he covered her lips with his.

It was only nine o’clock in the morning, but the heat was already oppressive. The rotary fan on the kitchen counter whirred, moving the muggy air from one side of the room to the other. At least the air was in motion and Katie stood in front of the fan as she drank her coffee. Beads of sweat broke out on her forehead as she took another sip and she wondered if she couldn’t turn the coffee into caffeine-infused popsicles since she was incapable of going without it in some form.

The door to the bathroom opened with force and Jay stepped naked into the hall. “It’s too hot in here to breathe!” Water dripped from his hair onto his shoulders and ran in rivulets down his chest. “Get your things together, because we’re going to my house.”

Nodding, Katie poured her coffee down the sink and went to pack a bag. Jay had central air conditioning and she wasn’t about to turn down an offer to spend a hot summer day relaxing in his cool, dark house.

Jay drove with his usual disregard for speed limits and other cars that had the audacity to get in his way, and they arrived in record time. Rushing into the house, they collapsed with twin sighs of relief on the floor of his living room. The heavy draperies were closed and the room was cool and dark as a cave. Silent, they lay on the rug, listening to the muted hum of the air conditioner.

Revived by the cool air, Katie rolled over and propped herself on Jay’s chest. “You know what you need?”

“Tell me.” Jay crossed his arms behind his head and smiled.

“A swimming pool.”

“A swimming pool!” he exclaimed with a laugh. “Baby, we’re in London. You’d only use a pool a couple months out of the year.”

Katie shrugged. “And this is one of those months. If you had a pool, I’d strip off my clothes and go skinny-dipping every day.”

“I’ll have construction started immediately.” He grinned. “I suppose you had a swimming pool growing up?”

“Mm-hm.” Katie nodded. “Of course, we used it a lot more than two months a year. In Birmingham, it’s hot and muggy like this from May through September.”

Jay’s eyes sprang wide. “Are you having me on?” His brow furrowed as he did some quick calculations. “For five bleedin’ months? How do you stand it?”

“The pool helped,” Katie replied, unperturbed. “Plus, our house was one of the first in Birmingham to have central air conditioning. That was one of the few things my parents agreed on, and I’m glad they did. I played softball and it was really groovy to come home to a house full of ice-cold air.”

“You played ball?” Jay’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I can’t see you running round in the heat getting all sweaty chasing a ball.”

“You’d be surprised,” Katie told him. “Softball, basketball, volleyball. I was a real tomboy until I was about fourteen. Then I started chasing different kinds of balls.”

Jay sighed and grinned at her. “I wish I’d known you when you were fourteen. I’ll bet you drove all the boys wild.” He snorted. “Of course, since I would have been, what? Twenty-one? I’d have probably ended up in prison.”

Biting her lips, Katie let her eyes roam over his long, dark lashes, his cherubic face with its rounded cheeks and full lips, and his cloud of black, curly hair. Under her, she could feel his long, lean body and she grinned, thinking of his firm, rounded ass. “I’ll bet they’d love you in prison.”

Jay froze in surprise. “Why, you perverted woman! Don’t even think such a thing,” he demanded, shuddering.

“You wouldn’t be there a whole day before you were snapped up,” Katie continued, running her finger over his lips. “By some big, bald con named Bubba. He’d call you ‘Muffin’ and make sure you had all the cigarettes you wanted for, um, services rendered.”

Glaring at her with narrowed eyes, Jay exhaled strongly through his nose. “It appears I got you into the air conditioning in the nick of time because you’ve obviously gone daft with the heat. You don’t hear me talking about what would happen to you in a women’s prison. Although … ” A devilish light made his eyes brighten. “Now I think about it that might be interesting.”

“I’d let you watch.” Laughing, Katie tumbled sideways onto the rug as Jay sat up.

He stared down at her, shaking his head. “What kinds of chemicals have you been ingesting while I’ve been gone? It’s rather disconcerting to come home and find the sweet girl you left behind turned into a raging pervert.”

Katie grinned and crossed her arms behind her head, assuming the position he’d held before sitting up in shock. “What, you don’t want to watch?”

“I didn’t say that.” Jay reclined on his side and regarded her with an unfocused look. “I could see you in the middle of a prison pillow fight.”

Katie roared with laughter. “Oh, yeah, I’m sure that’s how problems are solved in prison! You can forget those fantasies. I’m pretty sure baby doll pajamas aren’t standard prison issue.”

“That’s okay,” Jay assured her. “Just your plain gray jail knickers would work fine.”

Katie snorted. “Right. Industrial-strength bras and granny panties.”

“Thanks a lot. You’ve shot my naughty dreams to hell.” Grinning, he chucked her under the chin. “Since you were quick to put me with a large, bald convict, I suppose I should think of you with a muscular woman called Big Mamma.” His smile grew broad at Katie’s look of outrage. “She’d have you at her beck and call in no time.”

“Hardly,” Katie said dismissively. “I’d break her down like a rifle.”

Shaking with laughter, Jay rolled on top of her. “Your Southern accent is pronounced today. I like that.”

“Must be the humidity bringing it out.” She regarded him with interest. “So you like it? Should I start turning on the moonlight and magnolias on a regular basis?”

Laughing, Jay kissed the tip of her nose. “Although I don’t know what moonlight and magnolias is, it sounds interesting. How will I know if you’re doing it?”

Katie bit her bottom lip and looked at him through her lashes. Her voice softened and the vowels turned to molten honey. “Oh, darlin’, you’ll know.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “Oh, that
is
nice. I’m glad the heat brought it out of you.” He propped his elbows on either side of her head, his hair falling around them like a wavy black curtain. “But before I leave for the continent again, I’m going to arrange to have that swimming pool installed, even if it will cool you down a bit.”

Katie’s eyes opened wide. “What? Jay, I didn’t mean for you to … ”

“I know,” he interrupted. “I want to, though.” He placed a feather-light kiss on her lips. “Anything that makes you happy, I intend to do. Swimming pools, acres of pink tulips, a coffee plantation — anything.” Ignoring her sputters of protest, he hooked a finger under the chain around her neck and pulled the pendant he’d given her from under her blouse. “I’m going to shower you in rare and beautiful things.”

She shook her head. “You’re the only rare and beautiful thing I want.”

Still looking at the pendant, Jay smiled. “You already have me.”

Bliss flooded her. “Yes, I do, don’t I?” She wriggled in delight. “And I’m going to do anything I can to make you happy, too.”

His eyes met hers again, intent and serious. “Actually, there is one thing you could do that would make me deliriously happy.”

Curious, she nodded. “Name it.”

“Move in with me.” Not waiting for her reaction, Jay rolled onto his back. “I love you, baby, but if we keep meeting at your flat we’re going to melt, or freeze to death during the winter.”

Katie sat up in haste. Her mind was running like a hamster in a wheel, moving fast, but not getting anywhere. Realizing her mouth was opening and closing with no sound, she shut it with a snap, thinking she must look like a landed fish.

Jay didn’t seem to notice. His gaze was fixed on the ceiling and he went on speaking in calm, measured tones, as though he were really discussing the weather. “I know you’ve been dying to do all sorts of decorating in here since you first saw the house.” He must have seen the amused quirk of her lips because he smiled. “If you move in, you can do whatever you like and I won’t say a word.”