Impossible Dreams (30 page)

“Dinner?” he persisted, not letting her off the
hook.

A cautious step on the stairs prevented Maya’s
immediate reply. She’d heard the shower earlier. Stephen never got up
this early. Nervously, she glanced at Axell. He was watching whoever descended
with that narrow, Norse god look, as if he’d shoot thunderbolts at any
person who dared invade his cloud.

His expression turned from anger to wariness. A few months
ago, Maya would have sworn Axell had no expressions, but she recognized the
signs now. She glanced over her shoulder.

“Cleo!” she shouted with joy.

Axell caught the paint pot as Maya leaped from her seat and
ran to embrace her sister. He should never have allowed Maya to leave a key out
for an unknown factor like her sister. Although he could see the resemblance
between them in the redhead coloring and delicate bone structure, the
similarities ended there.

Maya’s sister exhibited a tough, sharp edge that would
cut a man in two if applied deliberately. She wore her dark red hair in a
clipped, rough cut that emphasized the harshness of her cheekbones and the
thinness of her lips. Partially tinted glasses hid her eyes, preventing any
comparison with Maya’s open, honest turquoise. Even as Maya enveloped her
in a hug, Axell could sense Cleo’s cold gaze on him. This was not a woman
he’d like to meet in a dark alley.

“Come meet Axell,” Maya said eagerly, urging her
sister forward. “Axell, this is my sister Cleo.” She didn’t
give either of them a chance to respond but leapt to the next question.
“Why didn’t you call? I wanted to come and get you. How did you get
here?”

“I’ve got friends.” Cleo dismissed the
question curtly.

“You didn’t have trouble finding the key where I
told you it would be? And I fixed everything just like you had it
before.”

“It’s fine, I found it just fine.” She
glanced down at Alexa. “This your kid?”

“Isn’t she beautiful? Would you like to hold
her?” Without waiting for an answer, Maya lifted Alexa from the cradle
and offered her to Cleo.

Axell wanted to grab his daughter and shield her from this
hard-eyed woman. He had to start remembering that Maya had more in common with
this ex-convict than she did with him. Alexa didn’t belong to him in any
form. Stephen had refused to sign any release papers allowing Axell to adopt
her. He bunched his fists at his sides and watched as Maya’s sister
inspected Alexa but refused to hold her.

“Where’s Matty?” Cleo demanded, pulling
back from her niece’s ruffled pink blanket.

Axell thought he ought to leave the sisters to their
reunion, but his stubborn protective instincts wouldn’t surrender to
logic or politeness. He wouldn’t see Maya hurt.

“At the school,” Maya replied happily,
apparently not aware of her sister’s icy distance. “I think kids
benefit from year-round school, and he loves it, so I enrolled him in summer
sessions.” At Cleo’s silence, Maya continued defensively,
“It’s my school. It doesn’t cost anything.”

Cleo nodded, and eyed Axell with suspicion.
“Who’s the turd who tried to climb in my bed last night?”

“Stephen! Oh my gosh, I forgot Stephen!”
Anxiously, Maya handed Alexa to Axell. “What did you do, Cleo? It’s
my fault. I didn’t know you were — ”

Cleo cut her off. “He’s in Matty’s
bed.” She continued staring at Axell. “I want my son back.”

Axell shifted Alexa to a more comfortable position. The more
tense the situation became, the more he relaxed. It was an old defensive
technique he’d learned long ago for defusing situations in the bar.

“That’s up to Social Services,” he replied
blandly.

Cleo turned her glare on Maya. “He’s got your
daughter and my son. What’s he doing, holding them hostage?”

Axell thought it might be time to take his leave, but a
shout from above aroused his curiosity.

“Maya! Maya, are you down there? That bitch stole my
best flannel shirt!”

This could very well turn out better than a Three Stooges
farce, Axell concluded with glee, as he wiped baby dribble from Alexa’s
chin and waited for the next scene in the drama. He used to hate emotional
scenes, but since Maya’s arrival in his life, he’d learned to
observe them with a measure of appreciation for her talent in manipulating
them.

He let Alexa wrap her chubby fist around his finger and
returned Maya’s harried look with equanimity. Her sister was very
definitely wearing a man’s checkered flannel shirt.

Cleo shrugged. “He’s sleeping in my shop. It is
still my shop?” she demanded, narrowing her eyes at Axell.

“The lease papers are ready for your signature.”
He was having second and third thoughts about signing them, but he’d
promised Maya.

That seemed to satisfy Cleo for the moment. She turned her
attention to the man clattering down the stairs, half-naked. “You want
your damned shirt?” she yelled. “Come and get it!”

Lifting an eyebrow, Axell watched Maya for some signal as to
what she wanted him to do now. He shook his head at her irrepressible grin and
dumped Alexa in her arms. “Shall I hire a baby-sitter or a lunatic keeper
for tonight?”

Maya brightened. “That’s ideal! Cleo, you can
come over this evening and stay with the kids so Axell and I can go out for a
while. Social Services can’t object to that.”

That wasn’t ideal in Axell’s book. He
didn’t want a drug addict looking after his kids. Their kids. Whatever.
He opened his mouth to protest, but the blasted musician leaped into the fray
instead.

“I’ll not have this pervert looking after my
daughter!” Stephen shouted. “She nearly took my balls off last
night. Why didn’t you warn me she was coming so I could have bought a
gun?”

Maya’s grin faltered, but Axell thought he really
might get into this scene if he hung around long enough. Watching Stephen and
Cleo duke it out could provide amusing entertainment. Some other time.

“I’ve got a friend on the police force we can
hire for the evening,” he informed them dryly. “I’ll instruct
him to shoot the first one who yells in front of the kids. I want to take Maya
out around seven. Suit yourselves.”

Giving Maya a peck on the cheek, Axell strode out, confident
Stephen and Cleo would kill each other before they intruded on his safe, sane
world. He’d call the baby-sitter and arrange for her to watch the kids
just in case either of the idiots took Maya seriously.

***

“California is too close,” Maya muttered as she
paced Selene’s office at the school. “I’m considering Alaska.
Whatever made me think having a family was a good thing?”

“You didn’t think,” Selene replied
bluntly, hitting the computer key that sent the monthly invoices to the
printer. “You just have this weird idea that because you breathe love and
laughter, everyone does. Well, it’s not so, girlfriend. Grow up.”

“I’m not naive,” Maya responded sharply,
then took a calming breath before continuing. “I know Cleo has problems.
Part of her probation requires she get counseling. What I need is some fairy
dust to send Stephen back to Never-Never Land.”

“He’s not half bad looking,” Selene mused,
watching Maya’s pacing with a foxy grin. “Want me to adopt
him?”

“Your own personal boy toy?” Maya inquired
dryly. “He’s not quite that malleable. He’s moody,
irritating, and bad-tempered. I don’t know what I ever saw in him.”

“He’s talented, sexy, and you hadn’t
developed a taste for hot-blooded Vikings at the time,” Selene concluded.

Maya shrugged. “I always thought Vikings were
cold.”

Selene laughed out loud. “That’s because you
know nothing about men. Axell’s been hot after your bod since the day you
met. The man’s practically slavering. You want to get rid of Stephen,
just mention it to Axell. He’ll have him transported to Siberia before
you can take it back.”

“Stephen’s my problem,” Maya replied
sulkily. She didn’t know when her life had become everyone else’s
business. She was feeling trapped again. The footloose life had some definite
advantages she hadn’t appreciated when she had them.

But even the fleeting thought of losing Axell caused a
full-scale panic attack.

“Pfeiffer’s death is a bigger problem,”
Selene pointed out. “I’ve contacted his lawyers for confirmation
that our lease is still valid, but they haven’t got back to me.”

Diverted, Maya pursued this new path. “How do the
police know he didn’t die a natural death? I can’t believe anyone
would kill that nice old man.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I
was going to visit and ask him about my grandmother. Now I’ll never
know.”

“You said he knew Cleo. Maybe he told her.”
Selene gathered up the printed invoices and handed half to Maya. “Start
folding and stuffing. Until we hear otherwise, this is your bread and
butter.”

No topic would distract her for long from the knowledge that
her “date” tonight with her husband could only have one outcome.
Maya wriggled in nervous anticipation as she stuffed envelopes.

Religious ceremonies had little meaning to her, but after
tonight... Axell would probably expect her to share his bed on a regular basis.
She didn’t know if she was prepared for that kind of commitment. Between
the kids, the school, and the shop, she barely had time for herself. How would
she find time for a husband?

She had to. She’d promised. Maybe he’d be
satisfied with one night a week.

Maybe she wouldn’t.

***

“You didn’t really mean it about the policeman,
did you?” Maya asked anxiously as Axell came home after she’d
finished feeding the kids. “I called Dorothy and she said you’d
already called her. She can look after Constance and Alexa while Matty and Cleo
get reacquainted.” She nodded toward the bedroom wing.
“Cleo’s reading him a book.”

Axell set his briefcase down on the table and glanced around
the miraculously spotless kitchen. “Why am I getting premonitions of
disaster?”

Maya dried her hands and surreptitiously watched him. He
looked calm and reasonable tonight. No slamming doors, no wild looks melting
her like candle wax. He’d combed the wayward strand of hair back from his
forehead and apparently shaved before coming home. She could smell his
aftershave as he approached. Nervously, she eyed his impeccable blue suit.

“I didn’t know how to dress.” She backed
away. “I thought we’d be going somewhere casual. It’s a
weeknight...” That was a stupid thing to say. Did she imagine the flare
of heat in his eyes?

“I’ll order pizza and you can wear nothing,”
he answered calmly, in that bland tone she knew concealed the workings of his
mind.

The suggestion shot a shiver of arousal down Maya’s
spine.

“But I thought we ought to attempt something civilized
like a date first. There’s a place in Charlotte with good jazz. Do you
like jazz?”

That offer fished her thoughts out of the gutter. A date.
She could handle a date. “I don’t know anything about jazz, but
I’ll learn. What do I wear?”

“Black is traditional,” he said solemnly. At her
look of horror, a twinkle developed in his eye. “Anything that makes you
happy is fine.”

Apparently his ability to push her buttons incited
sufficient confidence for him to reach out and brush a recalcitrant curl from
her forehead.

Just his touch ignited smoldering fires. Maya backed off.

Smacking him would make her happy. Getting this over with
would make her happy. Even the spontaneity of last night was vastly preferable
to his pragmatic approach. If it weren’t for the kids, she’d be
tempted to walk into his bedroom and tear her clothes off and have done with
it.

“I’ll only be a minute.” Scooping up
Muldoon for reassurance, Maya fled.

Taking a deep breath to calm his rocky nerves, Axell
wandered into the family room. In these last weeks he’d grown accustomed
to finding Matty and Constance bent over some game together. It felt odd to see
just Constance sitting in front of the TV. He hadn’t realized how much
he’d miss Matty once Cleo took him. Would Maya be interested in giving
him a son?

That was definitely not the direction to follow right now.

Constance threw him one of those suspicious looks he
recognized as one of his own.

“Why can’t I go with you?” she demanded.

Well, at least she was talking to him. “Because
sometimes married people like to do things alone.”

“You and Mama never did.”

He and Angela had few interests in common. Hell, he and Maya
had few interests in common, but this time, he meant to develop some. He was
capable of learning from his mistakes.

“We did sometimes, you just don’t
remember,” he said quietly. “You get Maya all to yourself all the
time. It’s my turn tonight, okay?”

She wrinkled her nose in disapproval and looked away.
“Will the mean lady take Matty away?”

Maybe they shouldn’t go out tonight. Her whole world
had been in a tumult for so long...

It wasn’t likely to get better soon. With a sigh,
Axell stroked her hair as he’d seen Maya do. “Cleo is Matty’s
mama, and Maya’s sister. She’s really sad right now, so maybe she
says mean things. Try to be nice, will you?”

Constance shrugged, and he figured that was the best he
could hope for.

Standing, Axell wondered for the millionth time if
he’d done the right thing in marrying a woman like Maya, a woman a decade
younger and a universe apart from his stodgy, conservative background. Maybe he
should have tried harder with Constance on his own. Maybe he should have
married someone like Katherine with the same background as his. Maybe he —

Maya appeared in the doorway wearing some kind of slinky
blue-green dress he knew he’d never seen before. The hem hit just above her
knees but the slit in the side shot clear up her thigh, revealing a silky,
sparkly glimpse of stockinged leg so tempting his eyes nearly fell out. He
could scarcely tear his gaze away to observe the rest of the...