Knight Takes Queen (33 page)

‘Yeah I do. The apartment’s still there.’

‘I’m not completely averse, that’s what I meant.’

‘I know what you meant. I’m just not so sure.’

‘Maybe I could change your mind.’ Her voice was a soft purr, her green gaze enticing.

He laughed. ‘Fuck if you couldn’t if you keep looking at me like that.’ Then he glanced down at Rosie and shook his head. ‘We can talk about it later. Not now.’

‘Fine.’ But somewhere in the back of her mind, a lustful little thought remained.
Their days there had been a different
kind of pleasure – ravishing and ravenous, greedy
. He couldn’t have forgotten.

*

When Rosie was ten months old, Kate surprised Dominic by telling him that she’d like to go back to work. So a nursery was set up at the office and they shared child-rearing duties, alternating their schedules to accommodate their daughter. Although when Rosie was tired, only mommy would do. She’d find Kate, climb up on her lap, put her thumb in her mouth and promptly go to sleep.

At times when their meeting schedules overlapped, Dominic would bring his daughter with him and if she’d fuss, he’d whispered, ‘Hush, Rosie, let the nice man talk,’ then rock her or get up and walk her. Even titans of industry took second place to Rosie and were treated to an astonishing view of a domesticated Dominic Knight, the sight eliciting raised eyebrows, the occasional sulk and a continuous flurry of tweets and texts sent round the world.

Dominic Knight as doting father, they’d say. Playing nursemaid – can you believe it? Who would have thought?

Unaware of gossip or complicated schedules, disgruntled colleagues or business activities in the world her parents constructed for her, Rosie prospered. She had all the advantages, including two loving parents at her beck and call. Perhaps it was only natural that she developed into a bright, capable, chatty child.

By the time she was two, she was speaking well, or quickly at least, her pronunciation less than perfect. But
Rosie seemed unaware and talked up a storm to whoever would listen. Kate watched with a smile when Dominic sat listening to his daughter with the same concentration and interest he’d give to any of his business associates. And she often thought that Rosie was likely the best teacher Dominic would ever have when it came to talking about his feelings, because Rosie’s favourite question was, ‘Why, Daddy?’ And when he’d answered, she’d say again, wide-eyed and curious, ‘Tell me why about dat you yike, Daddy.’ And as he answered all her constant whys and more whys, Dominic slowly learned to define his emotions with a simplicity his daughter could understand.

Rosie’s
from the mouth of babes
innocence modulated Dominic’s disciplined restraint. The demons from his past slowly receded, the crushing weight of his memories lightened, he smiled more.

Although on one matter, he was unreformed. He wouldn’t allow his parents anywhere near Rosie.

During Rosie’s toddler years, one of her favourite activities was having tea with Daddy and her toys. The company cafeteria baked a variety of cookies, daily, since Rosie’s tastes varied and like so many small children she wanted what she wanted when she wanted it.

The ritual never changed. She’d arrange her toys in a certain order on the floor of Dominic’s office, point to Daddy’s seat, wait with the calm patience of a stage director for him to sit cross-legged on the floor. Then she’d show the cafeteria lady where to put the tea tray, smile up at her,
say, ‘Tank you,’ and sloppily pour the first tiny cup of tea for her favourite doll.

Dominic’s appointment schedule was always adjusted on those days when Rosie wanted to play teatime. CEOs waited, politicians waited, his managers waited, ambassadors waited.

Rosie was his precious darling.

Dominic taught his daughter to surf before she was three. He came back up to the beach where Kate was waiting that first day because they’d just learned she was pregnant again and Dominic’s protective rules were back in place. He didn’t want her in the water. Not that she minded complying when he’d finally agreed to have another child. He was smiling proudly, his plump wet-suited daughter in his arms. And Rosie called out from ten feet away, ‘Daddy thas I’m a nathur,’ she glanced up at her father.

‘A natural, Rosie,’ he said, bending to kiss her cheek. ‘You’re going to be a great surfer.’

Kate felt a small sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach because her baby was small and the waves weren’t. But she also knew Dominic would safeguard his daughter with his life. In fact, he’d added a security team that was devoted to her.

Each year in August, they stayed in Kate’s hometown. Nana enjoyed having their family around and Kate and Dominic liked the peaceful community and their home on the lake. It was a vacation of sorts, although neither of
them was ever completely free from work. But they deliberately lightened their schedules in August.

One morning, Dominic and his daughter were at the bakery to get their breakfast pastries. In northern Minnesota the weather could be crisp even in August and both Dominic and Rosie wore sweaters. She was sitting on her father’s shoulders, eating a cookie while he paid for the pastries, raining crumbs on his head.

‘We got cookie for my bruuver?’ She tapped Dominic’s head with her half-eaten pink frosted sugar cookie. ‘He yikes cookies.’

‘Jimmy has a sugar cookie and the chocolate one you picked out. Is that enough?’

‘More, Daddy,
more!!
’

Dominic smiled faintly, briefly contemplating what
more
might mean ten years from now when cookies and toys wouldn’t be enough. ‘Pick out some other cookies then. Whatever you think Jimmy would like.’ At six months, it didn’t really matter; the baby put everything in his mouth.

Nor did it matter how many cookies Rosie wanted today or tomorrow or next week. His children could ask for whatever they wanted.

He never said no.

Occasionally, Kate took issue with some wild extravagance, but not often.

Dominic had been denied a childhood. She couldn’t fault him for wanting to make up that deficit and give his
children what he’d never had – unconditional love and the joy of innocence.

But when James was almost a year old, Dominic sat Kate down in the living room one evening after the children were sleeping. ‘I’m a little tense,’ he said.

She been aware of his unease since they’d come home, his restlessness patent. ‘Oh God, you’re sick?’ Panic flared in her voice.

‘No, no, I’m fine.’ He wrapped her in his arms. ‘But I have a serious question to ask you.’

She was so relieved, she overreacted with a quip. ‘If you’re going to ask for a divorce the answer is no.’

His scowl was instant. ‘Don’t joke about that. And don’t ever think you’ll get one because you won’t.’

‘Hey!’

He put his finger on her mouth. ‘I don’t want to argue right now so cool your jets. I want to ask you something important.’

For a flashing moment he sounded like Gramps in one of his solemn moods. ‘Sorry,’ she said, instantly deferring. ‘I’m listening.’

‘How would you feel about not having any more children?’ His voice was ultra-quiet and restrained.

‘How would you feel?’

‘I asked you first.’

She noticed his stark constraint, the way he watched her like he used to in the past, his emotions veiled. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it. You must have.’

He drew in a breath, then nodded. ‘I’d prefer you didn’t.’

‘OK.’

His eyes opened wide. ‘Really?’

‘Yes, really.’ She smiled. ‘I know how hard my two pregnancies have been for you. You’ve been really sweet accommodating me, giving me our two babies. Why shouldn’t I try to make you happy too?’

‘You do every second of every day, Katherine,’ he said, softly. ‘I can’t lose you, that’s all.’ He took a deep breath, briefly shut his eyes. ‘I just can’t.’

‘Then we won’t have any more children.’

He exhaled, felt the earth settle back on its axis. ‘Thanks, baby. I’ll make it up to you somehow if this is a huge concession. Just tell me how and I’ll do it.’

‘I don’t need anything, Dominic. You’ve given me two beautiful children, a beautiful life—’

‘And my heart,’ he whispered.

She smiled. ‘That works out then, ‘cause you have mine.’

He touched her mouth gently, a brush of his finger over her bottom lip. ‘I never knew I could be this happy. I never knew I could be happy at all until you came into my life.’

There was a small silence, the muted TV in the corner flooding the room with a flickering glow, the flashing light on the baby monitor a noiseless pulse beat. The children were sleeping upstairs, the world was humming around them, but if they listened hard, the dizzying beat of their hearts rang sweetly in the room, like a rockabilly chorus of love.

‘We’re lucky, you and I,’ Kate whispered.

Dominic’s eyes were clear blue and very close. ‘I’m going to see that our luck holds,’ he said, quietly, having searched for her too far and wide to doubt how rare their love, how tremulous the balance of happiness against personal disasters. Then quietly wilful, indisposed to failure, his heart in his eyes – this man who had overcome so much, who wielded boundless power, said with unquestioning confidence, ‘I promise we’ll always be happy.’ He grinned then. ‘I can make that happen, you know.’

Her smile was so beautiful it almost stopped his heart.

‘I know,’ Kate said, lifting her hand to his face and stroking away the hair at his temples, the musky scent of his shampoo reminding her of that long ago night in Hong Kong where it all began. ‘You can do anything.’

Two Years Later.
Paris, 2:25 am
.

‘Christ, don’t they know the time here?’ Dominic grumbled, understanding his calls came in from all over the world. Rolling over, he grabbed his phone on the bedside table and hit the answer icon.

‘You’re not going to like to hear this but I just saw your niece, Nicole.’

Dominic recognized Julian Wilson’s LA drawl; they’d run into each other yesterday at a business dinner. ‘So?’

‘At the Chandelier Club.’

‘
What
?’ Dominic sat up, swung his legs over the side of the bed.

‘She’s with some young dude and she looks like a newbie.’

Dominic was striding towards his dressing room. ‘No shit. Look, have Raoul stall them or lock them in if they’re
already in a room. Discreetly. No scene. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.’

Kate had followed him and was standing in the doorway. ‘Be where in fifteen minutes?’

He quickly explained in an edited version while he pulled on boxers and jeans. He called it a nightclub.

‘Nicole’s almost twenty-two, Dominic. Maybe she’s OK.’

He pulled a navy sweater over his head. ‘Nicole has a history of making bad choices.’ He’d quietly bailed her out of a few over the years.

‘Shouldn’t that be her parents’ problem? I’m just saying. She might not like you barging in at some nightclub.’

‘I’m not asking her, and her parents don’t know what she does. How much did you tell your grandparents about your sex life?’

‘There wasn’t a whole lot to tell.’

‘But you didn’t tell them anyway. Right?’ His voice was muffled as he reached into a closet and pulled out some shoes.

‘Gramps would have scared them off.’

‘From what I’ve heard about Roy, I’m guessing he’d vetted them already and just let it go.’ He stepped into burgundy suede desert boots and swiftly tied them. ‘I’ll be back in a less than an hour. Shut the children’s doors, will you? In case Nicole’s screaming at me when we come back.’

‘Be nice, Dominic. She’s not going to like you monitoring her activities.’

‘I’m not. Fuck – although I should have. Thank God
Julian called.’ He grabbed some car keys from the top of the dresser. He didn’t want to take the time for Henri to bring up the car. He stopped for a moment to give Kate a kiss, then patted her bare ass. ‘Close the kids’ doors, then get back into bed, baby. No sense in ruining your sleep.’

When he arrived at the club, he braked hard, cranked the Mercedes coupe nose in, straight up to the door, got out, pocketed his keys, and snarled, ‘Fuck you,’ in French to the valet who started shouting at him to move his car. ‘I’m here to see Raoul.’

The man backed off like he’d been burned. Raoul owned this high-end sex club and ten others in Europe. He was connected and not to the aristocracy. Dominic had known him a long time, had done a lot of business with him in the past. They were friends, acquaintances and, formerly, partners in vice.

Raoul was waiting for him in the foyer.

Dominic smiled tightly. ‘She still here?’ He spoke quietly in French.

Raoul nodded. ‘I didn’t know she was your niece. They wouldn’t have let her in if we’d known.’

‘
I
fucking didn’t know, so don’t sweat it. I don’t suppose you have a robe – just in case. I’m going to walk her out of here in about ten seconds.’

Raoul snapped his fingers and a bouncer rushed over. ‘I need a robe. Meet us at room fourteen. I want you there before us.’ He was speaking to the man’s back at the last.

The club owner and Dominic walked through the luxurious
bar – all glass, onyx, crystal chandeliers and plush carpets – then through the even more richly appointed main salon with muralled walls, antique furniture, and dim lights. Both rooms were packed with clothed and unclothed bodies, everyone high or drunk, sexual exhibitionism graphically on display.

‘You’re happily married now, I hear,’ Raoul said as if people weren’t fornicating all around them.

‘I am,’ Dominic replied, blandly. Having frequented places like this for years, he didn’t react to the spectacle. ‘And damned lucky to be. You’ve got kids, right?’ Raoul was pushing fifty, personal-trainer trim, well-dressed, good-looking. He’d been married for ever, Dominic recalled.

‘They’re in Barcelona with their mother. They’re great kids. Both at university now. Yours are young?’

‘Yes.’ Dominic smiled. ‘And precious.’ He softly sighed. ‘My niece was sugar sweet too not so long ago. Last I heard from my sister, Nicole was at my apartment in Monaco taking a break after university. There’s a fucking snow job,’ he muttered. ‘Goddamn little liar.’

‘Give her a lecture from me too. This is no place for a young girl.’

‘Who brought her?’

‘I didn’t see. We’ll find out. Want me to bar him from the club?’

‘Nah. I don’t care what he does so long as he’s not with Nicole.’

A bouncer was standing at the door to the room when
they arrived, a black silk robe over his arm. ‘Door’s open,’ he murmured.

Dominic nodded, took the robe. ‘Thanks.’ Then he turned to Raoul. ‘I’ll go in alone. God knows what she’s doing. Appreciate your understanding.’

‘Anytime,
mon ami
.’

Dominic turned the knob, pushed open the door, walked in, slammed the door behind him, took one look at the naked couple swiftly disengaging at his intrusion and tossed the robe at the bed. ‘Put this on,’ he growled.

Nicole let out a shriek, scrambled up into a sitting position and pulled the sheet up in front of her. ‘What are you doing here!’ she screamed, all wild huff and indignation.

And zoned out on something
. ‘Shut the fuck up. I’m taking you home.’

She didn’t move, her eyes narrowed, her mouth set.

‘Put the goddamn robe on,’ Dominic snapped, then glared at the bastard lounging naked beside her on the bed, smirking big time. ‘Who the fuck are you?’

‘Who’s asking?’ A languid drawl behind the smirk, a small shrug that rippled the long black hair on his shoulder.

‘Just answer me, asshole.’ But recognition was slowly dawning as Dominic surveyed the man’s tattooed erection. He’d seen that inked dick in Tokyo in the days before Katherine. Even in a group orgy, even concentrating on getting off, you couldn’t help but notice something like that. The young heir to the Swiss pharmaceutical fortune had been a wet-behind-the-ears kid at the time. So he’d be twenty-five,
twenty-six now and he was either on some pharmaceuticals that kept his dick hard or he was turned on by people looking. ‘Actually, I know who you are. So keep your painted dick away from my niece. Got it, douche bag?’

‘And if I don’t?’

‘Don’t push your luck, kid.’

‘Oooh, I’m really scared.’

‘Good,’ Dominic said, ignoring the sarcasm. ‘You fucking should be.’ He shot a look at his niece. ‘Christ, Nicole, how the hell high are you?’ She’d fallen back on the bed, her dark hair a tangle of curls splayed out on the pillows, her eyes half-lidded and unfocused.

Softly swearing, Dominic moved to the bed and manhandled Nicole’s arms into the robe, feeling a major sense of déjà vu, remembering all the times he struggled to get her into her clothes when she was a baby. ‘Jesus, asshole,’ he muttered, glowering at the rich punk who hadn’t moved from his lazy sprawl. ‘You like to fuck dead people?’ Wrapping the robe around his inert niece, he tied the belt, and picked her up in his arms. Then he abruptly stopped and scanned the room for Nicole’s purse – credit cards, phone, ID – all the things you didn’t want to leave in a place like this. Ah – there. Walking over to the brilliant pink sofa, he leaned over, grabbed her purse strap with one finger, then strode to the door. Bending slightly, he flipped the handle, swung the door back hard with his foot and walked out to the echo of wood smashing plaster.

There were two bouncers in the hall waiting to escort
him and following his muscle through the crowd, Dominic reached the front door in record time. The men accompanied him outside, down the steps and after handing Nicole to one of them, Dominic took out his keys, opened the car doors, threw Nicole’s purse on the console and started the car to warm it up. Walking back to the man with Nicole, he took her in his arms, carried her to the car, carefully placed her in the seat, buckled her in and quietly shut her door. With a word of thanks to the bouncers, he moved around the car to the driver’s seat and slid behind the wheel.

As he swung the car back out into the street, he had a quick twinge of alarm.

What if he had to collect Rosie from a place like this someday?

Jesus fuck
.

He shot a glance at Nicole sleeping peacefully and softly sighed.
Who would have thought?

Not that he’d given a flying fuck about the time he’d spent in clubs like Raoul’s. Of course, he hadn’t given a flying fuck about much of anything in those days. Conversely, he had to admit to a rare sense of prudery when it came to Nicole. Maybe it was just that he knew Melanie wouldn’t approve, not to mention Matt who’d probably kill the little rat bastard in bed with her. Bottom line though, Nicole hadn’t lived the life he had, she’d had a normal childhood. Raoul’s club was way the hell too hardcore for her.

She wasn’t ready for a place like that.

He drove slowly, so Nicole’s head wouldn’t slide off the
head rest. He took the steep ramp into the underground garage beneath the apartment building even more slowly to keep her from slipping down the seat. But the low roar of the powerful engine in the confined space echoed off the walls in a loud, pulsating rumble.

Nicole woke up. ‘Where are we?’ she asked in a wispy voice, like she was a thousand miles away.

‘Almost at the apartment. And don’t you dare raise your voice when we get there because the children are sleeping.’ He pulled into his parking space.

‘He’s like you, Nicky.’ Her voice was husky, half asleep or drowsy from drugs.

‘Jeez, don’t say that.’ Dominic turned off the ignition. ‘That’s the last thing I want to hear.’

She turned her head to look at him, her eyes the same blue as his, clearer now as though returning to the world was a possibility. ‘I don’t mean the sex club.’ She raised her hand in a small dismissive gesture. ‘I mean Rafe is smart and funny and he’s good to me.’

Dominic took a deep breath. ‘Nicole, honey, you’re so damned young. You’ll find all kinds of guys who’ll be good to you. Pick someone else.’ He reached over and unsnapped her seat belt. ‘Now, come on, I’m taking you upstairs.’ Dominic owned the building on the Île St Louis, his apartment the entire top floor, the view of Notre Dame stunning. ‘Katherine will find some pyjamas for you. And no one has to know about this. I told Katherine it was a nightclub.’

‘She won’t say anything to Mom, will she?’

‘There’s nothing to say. That particular nightclub was too rough. I brought you home. End of story.’

‘Thanks, Nicky. I mean for not telling anyone.’

‘You better thank me for getting you out of that fucking bed. Your boyfriend is bad news. Take my word for it, Nicole. You don’t know. I do, OK?’

‘OK, Nicky.’ But she’d noticed the faint vibration of the ringer on her cell phone in her small embroidered purse that had slid off the console and lay next to her hip. She looked away and smiled.

It was Rafe calling.

She knew.