His Paris Affair (The Albury Affairs) (27 page)

Ruiz rolled his shoulders and begged for patience. “Melody
was pregnant then. She trusted the new general manager and its clear now her
trust was misplaced.”

“Clearly!” Allan huffed.

“Where is he now?” Reno asked.

Ruiz prepared himself for the explosion before he said, “The
cops can’t track him down.”

“What!” Allan roared.

Sparing him a glance Ruiz faced his brother. “Worse, there
is no record of him. Antonio Otorin does not exist, anywhere.”

Allan’s laugh was harsh and lacked amusement. “Perfect! Just
perfect! No one bothered to do a background check on this guy?” He paced a few
steps then stopped. “I thought we all had to agree on the general manager
before he or she was made a permanent hire?”

“Yes, we do,” Matthew responded. “But remember we gave Ruiz
and Melody power of attorney to make decisions on behalf of the Red Roses board
of directors during their tour.”

“Yeah, and we ended up with a money laundering bastard as
general manager,” Allan turned on Ruiz, then, “What the hell were you two doing
back then, besides the obvious?”

“You mean besides getting married and breaking up a month
after?” he retorted angrily then quickly took a deep breath when Reno shook his
head at him, warning him off. “All this yelling is beside the point. The
problem has been fixed and I’ve made sure it won’t happen again.”

“How do you know it won’t happen again?”

“Just trust me on it.”

“Trust him, he says to trust him. We trusted you with Red
Roses Paris and it’s been bled dry and then used as a front for criminal
activity. I trusted you with my sister and she ended up pregnant and alone. You
weren’t there when your daughter was born, what if something happened to one or
both of them? If it wasn’t for Reno’s cockamamie ploy to not get involved and
let you two solve your own problems I would have had her home before her first
trimester was done. Then this awesome plan to send you here and ‘kill two birds
with one stone’, you’d still be in his guest room drinking and mopping around.
If you truly cared about my sister, there shouldn’t have been a plan to get you
here and be with her!”

“Allan! That’s enough,” Reno ordered curtly.

Ruiz took a deep breath and said, “Allan, I know why you’re
angry. There is nothing you can say to me that I haven’t already said to
myself. I left my wife alone when she was pregnant, worse vulnerable to a
criminal with a false identity. I wake up in cold sweats just thinking about
all that could have gone wrong.”

“Good!”

“But if you want to assign blame, you should add yourself to
that list.”

“What?”

“Antonio Otorin or whoever he truly is hates the
Sinclairs—you in particular.”

Allan’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits as he approached
Ruiz with the grace of a jaguar ready to pounce. “What are you talking about?”

Ruiz suddenly wished he hadn’t said that because now he
would have to get into something he wasn’t fully prepared for, but hell he was
tired of being judged!

The door opened behind him and a panicked Melody made her
presence known. “We are off to brunch all of us. Whatever you are fighting
about can wait an hour.” She stopped next to Ruiz and faced her brother with
her shoulders back and pushed her chin stubbornly out, but Ruiz could feel her
shaking like a leaf next to him. He gave her credit for her bravado. Ruiz stood
where he was, his fisted hands in his pockets tightening as he waited for
Allan’s reaction.

Allan glanced at him like a bulldog would a puffing
Chihuahua and snorted dismissively before he turned to his sister. “Come here
rug rat.”

Melody ran and launched herself into her brother’s arms, her
own winding around his neck. Allan hugged her tight and Ruiz could see him
visibly relax. Having her in his arms after so long, confirming that she was
okay—maybe that had been his problem all along and not how they’d dropped the
ball with Red Roses Paris.

“I’m so sorry.” Ruiz heard Melody’s strangled whisper.

“You and I have a lot to talk about young lady. For now,
don’t do that again, ever!” he ordered sternly before he placed her on her
feet. He smiled down at her as he tenderly wiped her cheeks dry with his thumb.
“A wife and a mother at twenty-five. The brat is all grown up.”

Melody turned to Ruiz with a radiant smile before she faced
Allan again. “Did you see her? Isn’t she beautiful?”

“Why do you think I was so eager to hold her in the room?”
Riana commented, moving to stand beside them, “Allan wouldn’t let her go until
she started fussing.”

“She looks just like you when you were a baby, but she’s got
the Albury eyes,” Allan added with a lopsided smile.

“They all do,” Loraine added as she walked with a slight
waddle in her step to stand by her husband. “I’m sure this one will too,” she
added patting her belly.

Riana wrapped her arms around Allan’s waist. “Are you okay?”

He released Melody who stepped back into Ruiz’s waiting arms
and wrapped his arms around his own wife and said, “I’m better now.”

“Okay then. Time for food. I’m starving, let’s go!” Loraine ordered
already heading for the door.

“And the kids?” Reno asked following his wife.

“Jackie is going to call her daughter and granddaughter to
help out. I wish they weren’t sleeping. I really wanted to see them, I miss
them!” Melody whirred.

Ruiz rubbed her arms from shoulder to wrist. “We’ll see them
when we get back. They should be awake by then.” Then when the others began to
shuffle out, he held her back.

Melody turned to face him. “We need to call room service to
get the rooms ready and to move all my stuff into your room. Although, I have a
feeling that’s not why you held me back.”

“Mel, we’re going to have to tell them about Antonio.”

Melody shook her head her eyes wide with fright. “Allan is
going to lose it!”

“There is no helping that. We need to find out what this guy
has against your brother.”

“Ruiz, I’m scared,” she whispered fearfully, cuddling
against his chest.

Me too
, he
thought. Ruiz hugged her tight. “It will all turn out fine. Let’s go before
someone comes back for us.”

Chapter Twelve

Ruiz sat on the bed doing up the cuffs of his shirt as he
half listens to Melody’s nervous chatting. He’d tried to pay attention at
first, respond when he was required and make all the right conversation noises
until he realized her mouth was stuck on a loop. She said the same thing twice,
asked the same questions five times and finally asked him what went with what
so many times he stopped answering, but she kept on talking. He chuckled softly
shaking his head wondering if Esme would inherit her mother’s nervous chatter
or his quiet watchful nature. Well he didn’t care which. The chatter was
endearing and he usually just listened to the sound of Melody’s voice and not
her words these days and the quiet watchful nature would make her wiser. With
this weird wacky world she would need to be slower in action and quick in
thinking.

Melody stuck her head out of the bathroom. “Are you
listening to me?”

He stood, tucking his shirt in his open tux pants, “Are you
still talking about the launch party and how nervous you are that all goes
well, that the food tastes great and we attract some big clientele to make it
up to Allan for letting him down the first time?”

She raised a freshly shaped brow. “Yes.”

“Then no, I wasn’t paying attention.”

She stepped out of the bathroom, hands on her hips glaring
at him accusingly. “Ruiz!”

He raised his hand to stop her as her mouth parted to speak.
Beautiful red lips that matched her red lace underwear and strapped sandals
with golden six inch heels. She looked like she’d stepped out of one of his
fantasies. Right out of his head into the real world to have her wicked way
with him.

His eyes travelled back up and he caught the smug look on
her face. “Guess who’s not getting any of this for ignoring me?”

“Really?” He took one step closer to her, making sure she
saw how turned on her little outfit had him. “What if I promise to do very
wicked things to you?”

He could feel her eyes touching him as she stared at his
chest then slowly lower and settle on his crotch for so long it actually twitched
in greeting. She swayed forward then quickly took a step back shaking her head
as if to clear it of the desire he was burning in her eyes.

“No, stop trying to seduce me. I don’t have the time to redo
my makeup or fix my hair after you mess it up. So stop it!” she ordered,
pointing a red manicured finger at him.

“That color on you does weird things to my libido. What if I
promise not to mess up your face and hair?”

She looked tempted for a moment but quickly shook her head.
“Turn around!”

“Why?”

“Because these panties barely cover my ass and I don’t want
you watching me walk away.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her his best
wolfish grin.

“Fine, I’ll just back peddle.”

“Fine, I’ll just stare at those magnificent breasts.”

“I just fed Esme.”

Ruiz gagged. “Why the hell did you have to go and say that?”

Melody laughed, strutting into the bathroom. “You’ll never
look at my boobs again if you think you’re defiling your daughter’s source of
food.”

Ruiz gagged again. She was right. His fantasies would have
to take a back seat until Esme stopped breast feeding. Even then he wasn’t sure
he could look at them the same way knowing his next child would feed from them.
Good thing he wasn’t too grossed out about her vagina. Now that would be one
hell of a problem, for them both.

He finished dressing and was shrugging on his jacket when
Melody stepped out of the bathroom dressed in a floor sweeping red gown held up
with the tiniest shoulder straps he’d ever seen and a shy smile on her face.

“I love the theme today. You’re gorgeous.”

“Thank you.” He wasn’t sure if the red on her cheeks was
makeup blush or natural blush.

“And keeping up with the theme.” She walked to him—the way
the dress danced around her feet she looked like she was floating—with
something red in her hand.

“What’s that?”

She smiled up at him as she tucked something in his front
jacket pocket. “A red silk handkerchief. It stands out well with your black tux
and black shirt. Where is your bowtie?”

He raised an eyebrow daringly. “You like your hair all neat
and swanky?”

She rolled her eyes. “If you don’t tie it too tight it won’t
chock you and no one has gotten beaten up for wearing one. It’s not just geek
fashion you know. A bowtie and a tux is just how the fashion is. How many times
do we have to go through this?”

“Until you get it that I’m never ever going to wear one. And
where I grew up, I saw enough guys get beat up for being
fashionable
.”

She stared at him thoughtfully still fussing with the
handkerchief and he could tell that she wanted to ask him something, but she
wasn’t sure how he would take it.

“By the time I hit twelve, I had been kicked out by so many
private schools the others already knew to say no before I even applied.
Clarissa thought it would be a fitting punishment for me to attend public
school for the year. And not just any public school, the worst one she could
find in the city, so that I would learn to appreciate what I had. Except, she
didn’t tell me that. She just surprised me by dropping me off at the gate and
driving away after her big speech. She also surprised me that morning by
picking out my clothes.” He tilted his head to the side. “You see where I’m
going with this?”

She nodded keeping her eyes leveled with his chest. As she
ironed the lapels flat with her hands she said, “You wore a bowtie to school.”

“And got my ass beat right there on the curb. It’s a good
thing I was good with my fists then. They were impressed a dandy could hold up
his own…and then a few months later they branded me.”

Her head shot up then, her eyes filled with worry. “That’s
how you met them?” Her eyes darted and she lightly ran her tongue over her red
lip. It amused him how subconsciously aware she always was of not ruining her
makeup or clothes. “I want to ask, but I’m not sure if I should,” she said full
of uncertainty.

Well, it was about time he came clean about his past, all of
it, except, it wasn’t the right moment for that conversation. He took her hands
and kissed her knuckles, lingering on her left hand where his ring sat next to
her mother’s diamond.

“You can ask, just not yet.”

She nodded with understanding that amazed him. Not many
wives would be so patient especially with a past like his. He expected her to
freak out, to always worry if he would harm her because of the monster he used
to be, but Melody…she was an enigma.

“Come on, I want to see what the others are wearing,” she
said excitedly, pulling him out of the room.

“Are they themed too?” Ruiz teased.

“Yes, apparently we all are,” Reno responded dryly as he
stared down his wife who had one hand on her hip and the other held out to him
with what looked suspiciously like a bow tie, a purple one to match her dress
and his handkerchief.

“What’s the matter bro, don’t want to be fashionable?” Ruiz
jeered laughingly. Melody smacked his chest, but her suppressed laugh gave her
away.

Reno glared at him, “You don’t have one on.”

“Well, if I was given an option right now between that
purple and my red, I would wear the red.”

“It’s not purple, it’s eggplant!” Loraine half yelled.

“Eish! Even worse. Didn’t you tell her you hate eggplant
Reno?”

Melody pinched his fleshy side and he jumped with a yelp.
“If she starts crying you are staying back with her,” she whispered harshly.