Tempting Fate (53 page)

She waited until he opened his eyes to ask the question.

“How did you become knighted by the Queen?”

He chuckled quietly.  “I wondered when you would ask.”

“Does it embarrass you?”

He hesitated a moment as if weighing his answer.  No, he wasn't embarrassed, she realized.  He seemed to take in stride the fact that he'd been given the high honor of knighthood.

“It's a long, very boring story.”

“Tell me anyway.  I love stories.”

The subtle hum of the tires rolling over pavement lulled her.  Jonah stretched his arm across the back of the seat until it was laying just over where her head was pressed against the leather seat.  His fingers dangled down, playing with a lock of her hair and doing unmerciful things to her senses. 

“It was quite by accident, really.  My life would be very different if it weren't for the fact that I hated school.”

Her eyebrows stretched high on her forehead.  “That surprises me.”

“Why?”

“You look so...studious.”  She giggled softly.  “You're always working or looking over paperwork.  Doesn't conjure up images of a rebel kid who hated school.  What'd they do?  Make you wear knickers?”

He tossed her a wry grin.  “It wasn't so much my studies.  I hated being at boarding school.  When all the other kids were there it wasn't so awful.  I got along.  But holidays were rough.  Especially this one holiday when everyone had gone home except for me.”

“Why did you stay?”

His expression grew tight.  “Mother and Dad were traveling.  I don't remember where they were.  I just remember that they weren't coming home, so they saw no reason for me to either.”

He stopped playing with the lock of hair and delicately stroked the stray hairs away from her forehead that had pulled down from her upsweep style.  She found it increasingly hard to concentrate on his words instead of the wonderful sensation of his fingers.

“Anyway, I decided I had a reason for leaving.  I wanted to go home.  So I ran away.  I was thirteen at the time, I believe.”

“You were just a child.  Where did you go?” she whispered.

“I wandered about mostly.  I had a small stash of money with me, but not enough to last long.  No one would give a room to a child, so I slept in the park.”

She gasped softly.  “That's so dangerous.  Anything could have happened to you.”

He shrugged.  “Ignorance is bliss when you're thirteen.”

“Did you ever go back to the boarding school?”

He flashed her a sleepy smirk that she found delightfully sexy.  “Reluctantly.  I'd met a boy a few years younger than myself who'd been living on the streets.”

“Younger than you?  All by himself?”  Maggie's mind immediately raced with thoughts of Brian.  He'd been coming into the
Coffee Drop
every Tuesday and Thursday since that first day without fail.  She couldn't imagine him on the streets alone, taking care of himself and dealing with the kind of danger the streets bring.  It was bad enough he had to go home to an empty house and be responsible for feeding his two younger sisters until his mother came home at ten o'clock.  But to be on the streets without any shelter?  She could only imagine how frightened Jonah must have been.

“Children living in the streets on their own is a dirty little secret most people don't want to discuss.  Like me, the young boy had his reasons.  They all do.”

Jonah pulled off his tuxedo jacket and gently draped it over Maggie's shoulders.  She was engulfed immediately by Jonah's radiant warmth, and the scent of his aftershave mixed with the smell of leather.

“Tell me what happened?”

Jonah shrugged, as if what he was about to say was of nothing of importance.  “When my money ran out I took him to a local shelter to get him a decent meal and inquire about finding him a suitable home.”

“You took care of him.”  Even to her own ears, her voice was breathy, steeped with deep emotion and admiration.  It was so like Jonah, even as a child, to take care of someone less fortunate than him.

“While we were filling our bellies and sleeping in a warm bed for the first time in days, the people running the shelter rifled through my duffel and I was had.  The very next day I was shipped back to boarding school by the ears.”

“By your parents?”

“Mary.  As I suspected, she wasn't too happy about my escaping from school against my parents' order.”

Maggie couldn't help but chuckle.  “I know she must have been frantic, but I can just see her dragging you back by the ears.”

“I'm glad you're getting a rise out of it.  Mary can give quite a good lashing if you cross her.”

“You must love her a lot to bring her all the way to America when you moved here.”

He was quiet.  “She’s been with the family a long time and I needed her services.”

She sat straight up and looked at him in disbelief.  The jacket Jonah so carefully placed on her shoulders, slid down her arm and made a heap in her lap.

“Okay, if that's what you want to go on believing.”

“Are you implying I had some ulterior motive?”

“You could have hired a new house maid when you set up your home here.  But that's not why Mary's here and you know it.  Mary is family and you wanted your family with you.”

“Mary doesn't have any family of her own in England.  She never married and her only sister now lives in Spain.”

“I'm not talking about Mary's family.  She loves you like you were her own son.  Even I can see that.  I'm talking about you.  You pretend she's just a house maid, but deep down you know she's much more.  Why do you deny yourself that?”

He shifted uncomfortably in the seat.  “Is that what I'm doing?”

He looked at her then and the heat in his eyes was unmistakable.  Full of life.  Full of fire.  It was as if she'd just penetrated his soul to the very core and was now allowing her to see a rare glimpse of the man for the first time.  It both excited her and frightened her at the same time. 

Maggie cleared her throat, her heart pounding so loud she was sure Jonah could hear.  Sinking against the back of the seat, she pulled Jonah's jacket back over her shoulders.  The musky scent from his jacket invaded her senses and only fueled the deep longing swelling within her.

“What happened to the boy?” she asked, purposefully changing the subject. 

But the heat in Jonah's eyes remained fixed on her, searing her straight through.  When he began to speak, she noticed his voice was as shaky as hers. 

“He was placed in an orphanage until his father was located.  I'd learned later that his mother had recently passed away, and his father spent most of his time grieving with the bottle.”

A lump formed in her throat that she couldn't swallow down.  “That's so sad.”

Jonah nodded in agreement.  “It does have a happy ending though.  I kept in touch with him and as soon as I was able, I started a foundation for streets kids just like him.  It was because of the work with the Haven House for Young Wanderers that I was ultimately recognized by the Queen and knighted.  It has given a tremendous amount of exposure to the cause.”

“You must feel so proud.”

“It's an honor.  But I'm most proud of the people who work for the Foundation and the work they accomplish.  They're making a difference in the lives of those they help.”

“Whatever happened to the boy?”

Admiration filled Jonah's expression.  “He's all grown up now and works right alongside me.”

Her eyes widened, suddenly seeing the connection.  “Cam?”

“Yes, it was Cameron.  He and his father had some pretty rough times, but they worked out their problems, and got through the pain of losing his mother.  Now Cam gives back every day what was given to him when he was a boy.”

A tear rolled down her cheek, followed by another.  Jonah reached over and brushed the moisture away with his fingers.  He slid next to her and drew her into his arms.

Maggie sniffed, sinking into his warm embrace.  She didn't want to be in his arms, she told herself.  She had no place there if she had any chance of keeping her distance.  She didn't want to need him or find comfort in him like she had with Keith.  But she found herself doing it anyway.

“I never would have told you the story if I thought it would make you cry.”

“They're happy tears.  For Cameron.  For you.  I could tell you had a special relationship.  I'm glad you told me the story.”

“If that's all it takes to keep you happy, I'll be telling you lots of stories for the next year.”

# # #

Chapter Nine

It had been a long time since Maggie allowed herself the pleasure of sleeping late into the morning.  But Virginia had seemed just as excited about “the date” as Maggie had been and insisted Maggie take the day off.  It was a good excuse to have her fourteen year old granddaughter come help out at the shop, Virginia had told Maggie.  Thinking back on her own cherished memories helping her grandmother, how could Maggie resist?

The clock on the nightstand said 9:30.  She hadn't slept this late since she was in high school.  No, probably before that.  She'd begun helping out at the
Coffee Drop
on weekends when she was scarcely twelve.

Rather than indulge too long in luxury, she hoisted her feet off the side of the bed and to the floor, bracing herself in case nausea hit.  Nothing.  Good, maybe now that she was past her morning sickness, she could actually function like a human being again.

Padding across the carpeted floor to the dresser, she yanked at the drawers, and grabbed a fresh pair of underwear, a pair of loose fitting black shorts and an oversized white T-shirt she purposely bought extra-large to last her a few months into her pregnancy.  In a week or two she'd have no choice but to do some serious maternity clothes shopping. 

Twenty minutes later, Maggie crept down the wide stairway, listening for sounds of activity.  She could almost hear her bare feet on the marble floor as she walked, the house was so quiet.  None of the staff was lurking about.  She'd heard the kitchen door close earlier when she was upstairs getting dressed and had taken a peek behind the shade in time to see Mary walking out to the back yard towards the garden, her straw sun hat propped on her head and a large wicker basket in her gloved hands. 

Pushing through the kitchen door, she found it empty.  Part of her was expecting him, but Jonah was nowhere to be found. 

The office.  That's where he'd probably gone.  He'd said last night's charity was a success, and he probably wanted to delve into the paperwork to get things moving.  He was driven that way.  That much she'd seen in him.  In the few weeks she'd been living in his home, he'd come home late most evenings.  That left very little time to get to know the intriguing man she'd married.

Last night in the limousine was one of the first times she'd really gotten a glimpse of the real man.  He wasn't just driven in his quest for the Foundation and for Wiltshire.  He really cared about people.

She pulled a stoneware bowl from the cabinet and poured herself some Corn Flakes, topping it off with cold milk.  The house was oddly quiet, magnifying each move she made; the creak of her stool when she shifted her weight, the clank of the spoon in the empty bowl, and then again as she carefully placed the bowl in the porcelain sink.

She could never live with all this...quiet.  Her family's tenement was two blocks from the turnpike.  The neighborhood was always alive with activity.  Even when the world inside was asleep, there was noise outside.

As if it had a will of its own, her hand moved to her rounded belly.  In a few months, she wouldn't have to worry about quiet no matter where she was living, she thought as a smile tugged at her lips.  Her baby would make sure there was plenty of noise to keep her company.

But today, she had nothing to do.

A mystery book.  Maggie couldn't remember the last time she'd curled up on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon and read a good book cover to cover.  She had seen a library in the other wing when she'd been given the grand tour the day after their wedding, but she usually only ventured into the few of the rooms she felt comfortable in, the kitchen and her bedroom.

The library felt warmer than she remembered.  Bookcases lined the walls of the long room on all sides except the wall dominated by the fieldstone fireplace.  Characteristically it seemed almost out of place with the rest of the house with its casual pillow back sofa and wing chairs angled toward the empty fireplace.  She wondered now why she'd chosen to stay away from this room. 

Her mind ventured forward to the upcoming winter when snow would fall and the bitter cold would hold them captive inside.  Her baby would be here then.  She pictured Jonah sitting in the wing-back chair by the roaring fire, lovingly cradling their baby in the crook of his arms. 

No! she silently reprimanded herself.  That wasn't the way it was going to be.  Her arrangement with Jonah had nothing to do with him loving her baby.  At least, not that way.  How could a man who had such strong ties to his bloodline, a man who would marry a total stranger just to keep his birthright, love a child that didn't share his blood?    

She couldn't make the mistake of daydreaming Jonah would become a real father to her child.  She'd only disappoint herself and it would be totally unfair to Jonah.  She'd told him she had no illusions that their arrangement would be permanent and she meant it.  She'd have to make doubly sure she remembered that.

Standing in the center of the room, her heavy sigh was absorbed by the stacks of hardback books on the shelf.  Maggie spun on her heels and padded to the bookcase, pausing in the center of the room at the grand piano commanding her attention.  She let her fingers glide over the polished wood surface, then tickle across the ivory keys, feeling them sink slightly beneath her touch.

“Do you play?”

Maggie practically jumped out of her skin and took two full steps back, clutching her hands to her hammering heart.

“Jonah!” she gasped, relieved and suddenly full of...something.  She didn't know what, but she was having some kind of unknown reaction that had nothing to do with fear.  She'd felt it last night in the limousine.  In fact, she'd been feeling it a lot whenever she was with Jonah.