Birth of Adam (Artificial Intelligence Book 2) (30 page)

Bastion scowled. “Do not call her that—her head will swell and her talent will suffocate in the hot air. I have seen it before. Anon once showed great promise, and once his head swelled, he ceased to improve. Now he shall be merely good, but never great.”

“Amanda is not Anon,” Adam said. “She takes compliments very well. However, if I perceive any swelling in her head, I will let you know, and you can remove it with one complaint.”

“Shall we eat and stop talking about Amanda as if she isn’t sitting here, starving to death?” she suggested.

After dinner, Andrew announced dessert in his baritone voice and rolled in a dark chocolate fountain with a selection of fruit, caramel, nuts, cheesecakes and ice cream for dipping.

***

By the time Adam carried Amanda to bed, she felt fat, happy, and tipsy.

He took his time undressing her.

His touch caused her to shiver with pleasure. “I could never do it,” she finally said.

“Do what?”

“What, you can’t read my mind now?”

“Say it out loud,” he insisted.

“I don’t want anyone but you.”

“But you do want a baby.”

She remained quiet.

“Admit it.”

“I would like to have a baby, but I want you far more.”

“This isn’t a case of picking A and losing B. You have me. That is a certainty. I was born from your thoughts. Your heart, your feelings gave me life. It is not possible for you to lose me. I am part of you. However, it is inevitable that I will lose you, since you are human, and no matter how well I care for you, your body will someday die. I want—I need—for a part of you to go on. I need your children, Amanda, for without you I will lose my anchor and purpose to exist.”

Struck by the harsh reality of his words, knowing the agony she would feel if she ever lost him, she knew his pain would be the same, and her death was presently inevitable. She pulled him to her. “I will not allow you to lose your purpose! I will give you so many babies you will have trouble keeping track of them all.”

***

With great determination, Amanda began to flirt with her four friends, and discovered Adam was correct. They were not so impervious to her attention as she’d thought.

However, her flirting did have unintended consequences. One day before her wedding, Bresnan begged her to marry him instead.

“Bresnan...” She sighed and caressed his face.

“You love me. I know you do!”

“I do. But I love Adam as well, and he can afford a wife. You cannot.”

Bresnan kissed her with passion, and for Adam she did not resist the responding emotions that echoed inside her, nor did she resist when he pulled her upstairs and into his old room.

“I taped over the security cameras,” Bresnan whispered. “He will not know.”

Amanda removed his shirt and splayed her hands on his chest as he kissed her hungrily, all the while trying to remove her skirt. When he finally had her undressed, he lowered her onto the bed and proved to be a very gentle and considerate lover.

When they were near climax, he begged her again to marry him.

“We will always be lovers,” she whispered. “You will always be welcome in my arms.”

With that promise, he brought them both to climax.

As he pumped his sperm deep inside her, Amanda prayed one would take hold and give Adam his baby.

The wedding was far more lavish than she wished, and filled to the brim with people she’d never met, all claiming to be great friends of Adam’s.

“How do you come to have so many friends?” she demanded.

“From years of performing good deeds.”

That would explain the sincere appreciation she had seen in so many of the guests. She kissed him. “You are so wonderful!”

“If I am, it is to your credit.” He returned her kiss with his own.

A press photographer captured the shot.

He smiled. “I bet that makes the cover of the British tabloids.”

She wished her friends from France could have come, but for some reason they wished to stay and plan a smaller party for her there.

“They do not enjoy traveling, and they absolutely detest British food,” Adam explained.

“Bresnan doesn’t mind traveling.”

“Bresnan is two sheets to the wind. He is quite depressed today, despite your sweet promise to always be his lover.”

“He needed reassurance.”

Adam kissed her. “It was an excellent offer. One which I will help you keep.”

“I cannot keep promises on my own?” she challenged.

He pulled her onto the dance floor. “Not this one. Not without my help. Bresnan likes me too much to continue this affair for long. In fact, he is determined he will never touch you again, even if it means transferring to a different school.”

“No!”

“Don’t worry, I will turn him around.”

“How?”

Adam smiled at her. “You know...I’m considered to have a most formidable charm.”

She smiled. “You do. I cannot imagine how anyone could deny you anything.”

“Well, the question at this moment is whether you wish me to deny you the opportunity to speak to Sean Darmont. He is standing to the side, trying to gather the courage to ask for a dance.”

“I would like to talk to him,” she admitted, then noticed Adam’s worried expression. “Trust me. I will not saddle you with cowardly children.”

He smiled and stroked her cheek. “No child of yours could possibly be cowardly.” Escorting her from the dance floor and into the gardens, he stopped by a bench. “Stay here, and when you tire of his company, I will bring you a drink and chase him away.”

“My savior!” Once Adam left, she sat down on the cushioned bench and removed her shoe so she could massage her toes.

“Allow me to do that.” Sean knelt down and caressed her foot.

“Sean! Why on earth would you come to a wedding? I would think you’d detest such things.”

“I do, but I needed to see you, to apologize for the ass I have been.”

“I was disappointed you didn’t even say goodbye, but then I realized if you truly loved me, which I believe you did, then seeing me so near death might have been too much for you to endure.”

He stared at her. “I’m sorry. When the doctor told Bastion you would never recover, would be an invalid at best, I crumbled. He might as well have declared you dead. I left the hospital to regain my footing, but I couldn’t find it! I spent a week out in the Alps on my own and I still could not recover. I was astounded by the cruel joke life had played on me—to show me true love and then to snatch it away at a moment’s notice.”

“I understand.”

“Do you? When I returned from the Alps, I tried to see you, but there was a list and I was not on it. The fact that I was not on it spoke volumes to me.”

She sighed. “I didn’t write the list. I didn’t even know there was one. I did ask about you. Luke said you left after hearing I was permanently ill, and had not returned. I thought it simply too much for you. You are not a man to love an invalid.”

He stared at her. “And you are not an invalid.”

“No. Adam promised me he would see me well, and he made it happen.”

“Well, he is being amply rewarded for his efforts.” His resentment and anger resonated in his words.

“Funny, I feel like I’m being rewarded.”

Anger flickered in his face. “So you love him?”

“I have always loved him.”

“But are you
in
love with him?”

“Yes, deeply and passionately.”

Sean dropped her foot and stood up. “Then I wish you all the happiness in the world.”

“Thank you, and I wish the same for you.”

He reached out and took her hand. “If you ever need my help in the future—for anything—you will have it. I will not fail you again.”

Amanda stood up and placed her arms around his neck. She smiled and kissed him. She had meant for it to be a sweet friendship kiss, but Sean turned it into one of passion, and he still had the ability to tingle her toes.

“Sean, glad you could make it,” Adam said as he approached them with three glasses of wine.

Sean broke off the kiss and took the offered wine glass as he tried to make his excuses to leave.

“Don’t go yet. I have something you might wish to possess.”

Sean’s eyes went to Amanda.

“Other than my wife—and I cannot fault you there. I would think any man a fool who did not wish to have my wife.”

“There are clearly many foolish men, or you could not have dallied so long before giving her your name.”

“Sean!” Amanda scolded.

“No, it’s a perfectly fair observation. I did drag my feet an abominably long time. I had reasons, but from your perspective, I must look very foolish. You might even think I do not appreciate how wonderful and unique my wife is, but I assure you I do. And my goal in life is to ensure she is always happy.” He noticed her shoe in the grass. “And to make certain she wears shoes,” he added, and knelt down to put her shoe on her left foot.

“You said you had something I might want?” Sean reminded him.

“Yes...a recording of Amanda singing her aria with a group of friends in my house.”

“The quality won’t be sufficient.”

“I don’t intend for you to sell it. In fact, I’ve taken extra precautions to prevent you from doing so. I’m offering it to you in friendship, and because I know it will please my wife to give you this gift. You were once a great admirer of her voice.”

Amanda took his hands. “Please accept it.”

“If you wish me to have it,” Sean replied.

Adam handed the disc to Amanda, who then presented it to Sean.

He took the disc and placed it into his vest pocket. “Don’t forget what I said,” he told Amanda, then looked at Adam. “You are much too cavalier with this diamond,” he warned, and stormed off.

“He is very difficult to please. I thought so when he was flipping between wanting and not wanting to do anything for you, and I think so now. I believe his behavior comes from growing up in boarding schools. I want our children to be raised at home, where we can hug and love them before they meet the cold, cruel world each day, then give them an extra dose of love when they return home.”

***

When Amanda and Adam returned to France, they discovered their house full of guests celebrating their wedding.

She looked up at Adam. “I’m glad our friends didn’t fly over to England. This party is infinitely more fun.”

Mark was there, looking a bit worn, but still handsome with his wavy blond hair and penetrating blue eyes.

He approached them and shook Adam’s hand. “You’re a fool for waiting so long, but Amanda couldn’t have done better in her selection of a husband.”

Adam was so pleased with his kind words that he provided him a copy of their aria and some of her newer works played by Bresnan.

“You will not be able to recopy this disk,” he warned Mark. “This is for you, because you are a good friend. And whenever you are in town, I will be highly insulted if you do not stay here as our guest, as long as you travel alone.”

“I would never bring Beth back into her life,” Mark assured him. “And I would very much like to return to this haven of peace and happiness when I can.”

Adam could see the young man was close to crying. “If you ever want my advice or assistance, you need only ask.”

Mark struggled with his emotions. “Not here and not today, but I am greatly in need of good advice.”

“Then stay tonight and we will talk in the morning.”

***

Bresnan was nearly comatose from drinking, and Amanda was very worried about him. At her request, Adam carried him up to their bedroom and left her to tend to him.

“Don’t be too long, Amanda. You have a room full of people who adore you.”

Amanda promised she wouldn’t, and snuggled up to Bresnan and laid her head on his chest so she could hear the strong thumping of his heart.

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her tighter against him as he spoke her name.

“I’m here, love,” she assured him, and fell asleep.

***

She woke to a gentle stroking of her face. She looked up to find Adam lying on the other side of the bed, smiling at her.

“Am I in trouble?”

“Not with me, but Bastion is most put out that you haven’t spoken to him in hours.”

She stared at Bresnan. “Is he okay?”

“He is, but he’ll probably be sick when he wakes, and he won’t want you to see him in such a state.”

“Will you stay with him and make sure he’s okay?”

“I will take very good care of him,” Adam promised her, and stroked her cheek.

She kissed Adam and hurried downstairs. 

Most of the guests had left, but her cranky taskmaster remained.

“Where have you been?” Bastion demanded.

“I had Adam put Bresnan upstairs and I fell asleep watching over him.”

Bastion place his hand on her forehead. She pulled away at once. “Oh no, the last time you did that, I ended up in the hospital.”

He attempted to feel her head again, and when she resisted, he called for the assistance of Simon and Pinchot.

As they secured her hands, Simon asked where her husband was.

“Upstairs with Bresnan,” she replied.

“Any chance of him coming down to assist us in this exam?” Pinchot teased.

“No, he promised to remain with Bresnan until I returned.”

“Really? Then we’ll just have to do it without him.”

“You are not taking me to a hospital.”

Simon and Pinchot pulled her into the library and suggested Bastion lock the door. “If anyone walked in, they might misunderstand we are only determining the health of our most beloved student.”

Bastion locked the door as his brow furrowed. “I do not believe we should refer to Amanda as our student when we are—” He stopped talking and his frown deepened as he studied her face. “This is... I honestly don’t know what to call this, but it has nothing to do with the school, and you are in no way obliged to participate.”

“Just don’t take me to the hospital and I’ll do whatever you want.”

He approached and knelt down beside her. “Are you certain?”

I told them I was unable to have children and you want them to be the fathers,
Adam explained.

Amanda took a deep breath. She was glad Adam had finally told her how he planned to charm three gay men into making love to her.

“I love each of you. You are kind, intelligent, and incredibly talented, and if you believe you can do this, I would very much like to have your children.”

Bastion smiled. “For my part, I will bow out of tonight’s tom-foolery with these two, and meet you in a more dignified manner.” He leaned in and kissed her. He then rose and walked to the door. “One of you two fools should lock the door when I leave.”

Simon locked the door, then returned with a devilish smile on his face. “Now, let us see if we can find a fever anywhere on our most precious student.”

“You aren’t to call me a student,” she reminded him.

“Well, who is going to tell?” Simon retorted as he slid his hand up her dress. “She feels a bit warm. We are going to need to remove all these clothes for a closer inspection.”