Rush of Redemption (Rush Series #2) (4 page)

“I’m not ready. I don’t
want to get married while I’m pregnant. Why the big push all of a sudden?” she
asked.

Rush sighed audibly. “I
love you. I want you with me all the time. I want you to sell your condo and
come and live with me.”

“We’re together all the
time. What does it matter?”

Rush ran a hand through his
short-cropped, dark hair. “It matters to me. I need to know you’ll always be
mine,” he admittedly softly.

She swallowed at the
intensity of his words. “I am yours. It doesn’t matter where I live.”

He moved to her and ran his
large palms up under her maternity blouse to gently caress their unborn son.
“You don’t understand. I’ve already missed so much. I don’t want to miss even
one minute of this little guy’s life. I need to know that both of you are safe…
happy… healthy.”

She turned slowly away from
him at his words. She knew he meant them in the best possible way, but twinges
of her father’s prior control spiraled around her. Raising a hand to her brow,
she sighed heavily at the words that triggered such revulsion within her.

“We 
are
 all
those things,” she said quietly.

He eyed her warily. “Have
you changed your mind about us?”

“No, of course not!” she
said emphatically.

Placing his hands lightly
on her hips, he tilted his gorgeous head and studied her face
intently.  “Marry me,” he implored.

She studied his face for a
moment. Memories of the last few days filled her mind. The many calls he’d made
to her office just to say he was thinking of her, the flowers he’d sent every
day, the nights of being held with love within his arms as she drifted asleep.
She really had no defense against him. “Will it relieve your mind if I say
yes? 
Even if I don’t want to get married right away?”

“I’ll agree to the first
part and work on changing your mind on the last part. How about that? I think
that’s what they call a compromise,” he said with a devilish grin, knowing he’d
gotten his way, yet again.

She was lifting a hand to
place it against his cheek when a sharp pain crept around her middle,
tightening into an almost unbearable pain. She took a deep breath and blew it
out.

“What is it?” he asked
anxiously. “Is it the baby?”

“I don’t think so, it’s too
soon.”

~*~

“A son… you have a son,” Andrew Drayton, Rush’s grandfather,
exclaimed as he slapped Rush on the shoulder. “He looks like a fine boy. You
should be proud.”

“I am,” Rush said softly,
still not believing that the tiny wonder in the window was his.

“So does the tiny prodigy
have a name?”

“Blake Andrew Drayton.”

Andrew Drayton gave a small
gasp at the words. “You named him after your father. I’m pleased… very pleased.”

“I thought it was fitting
somehow,” Rush said with a catch in his voice.

“So what are you going to
do about the girl?”

Rush tensed at the question
and the tone in which it was asked. “I’m going to marry her.”

His grandfather shoved his
hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Well that’s one way to
handle her, I suppose.”

Rush’s face stiffened. “I’m
not trying to ‘handle’ her.”

His grandfather’s lips
twisted wryly. “Women are fickle creatures, Rush. You should have learned that
from your own mother. While you might be able to turn a blind eye to 
her
 father’s
past transgressions, I can promise you the girl won’t be able to forget 
yours
.”

Ignoring his grandfather’s
words, he turned his head, and said, “You should congratulate me, 
Boppa
. Today, I’ve gotten engaged and became a father.”

His grandfather’s jaw
tightened fractionally before he slid his eyes to Rush’s. “I hope you don’t
live to regret both.”

Two days later, Rush Drayton stood outside the massive window with his hands
shoved deep in his pockets. His son had come into the world kicking and
screaming. While the doctors had been concerned with him being several weeks
premature, he’d come in at a respectable weight of six pounds, two ounces. He
was the most amazing thing Rush had ever seen, with a shocking cap of dark hair
and his inherited hazel eyes. And today was the day he would be able to take
his family… or almost family, home. His lips thinned as he still didn’t know to
which home they would be going. This was exactly the reason he’d pushed so hard
to get her to marry him before the baby was born. He was trying to meet her in
the middle. He’d known how she’d react if she felt she was being controlled or
dictated to, but dammit, it was his nature. She needed to try and understand that.
Because of his wealth and prominence, she and the baby would always be targets,
couldn’t she see that? Didn’t she understand that he would do anything to
protect what was his?

With a sigh, he turned and
walked to the other love of his life. He pushed the door to her hospital room
open quietly so as not to wake her if she 
were
 still
sleeping. She was lying, facing away from the door. From his position, he
couldn’t tell if she was awake. He moved stealthily across the room and stood
for a moment at the foot of the bed. His heart clenched at the sadness etched
into her face. She was staring unseeingly through the window as she fingered
the gold locket around her neck, the locket which had belonged to her mother,
she’d told him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She swiped a quick hand
across her face and cleared her throat. She forced a smile onto her lips before
turning to face him.

“Nothing.”

Stepping to the side of the
bed, he sat on its edge. He cupped her face in one hand before leaning down to
press his lips gently against her forehead.

“Tell me,” he demanded
softly.

She gave him a
dismissively, watery smile, before taking his hand between her own. She lifted
her sad, dark eyes to his. “I… I just wish my mom could have been here. What do
I know about being a mother?”

“You’re going to be a great
mom,” he said confidently.

“How do you know? I’ve
never even been around a baby before. What if I do something wrong?”

Rush leaned forward and
brushed her dark hair away from her face. “Would you feel more comfortable if
we hired a nanny?”

Her head jerked up at his
words. “No! I don’t want strangers raising our son.”

“Good. I didn’t want that
either.” Leaning forward once more, he pressed his lips tenderly against hers.
“I just want you happy and will do anything to make it so.”

With a mirthful laugh, she
said, “Besides, where would I put her? My only other spare room has my
worktable in it. I don’t think she’d like sleeping on the couch.”

His lips pursed at her
words. “So… you want to take the baby to your condo?” he asked softly.

“Of course,” she answered
as her eyebrows rose in confusion. “Where else would we go? All the baby’s
things are in the condo: his crib, bassinette, changing table, clothes, and
just everything.”

“We could have it all
brought over to my house. I’d prefer it. I want you both with me.”

He watched her jaw clench.
“Why can’t 
you
 stay with us?”

“You’re being unreasonable,”
he said lightly, trying to stem his rising irritation.

Dropping his hand, she said
icily, “Why is it unreasonable to want to go to my home? The home I’ve been
planning on taking my child to since the beginning?”

He flinched at her words
and she immediately felt ashamed. It wasn’t entirely his fault he’d missed the
beginning of her pregnancy. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I shouldn’t have said
that. I’m just feeling out of sorts today and I guess I wanted to take it out
on you.”

He rose from the bed and walked
to stand facing the window, his back stiff. He shoved his hands deep into the
trousers of his very expensive navy suit. Finally, he said quietly, “Trinity, I
don’t know what to do here. No matter what I say, you’re going to make it seem
as if I’m manipulating you like your father did. I love you and our son. I want
to be with you. I need to know that when I’m not there, you both will be safe.
I don’t have to tell you the world is a very dangerous place. Please reconsider
and come with me. Let us be a family… together.”

“I’ve only just gotten my
independence. I’m just not quite ready to give it up yet. Can’t you understand
that? For my entire life, I’ve had someone telling me how to be, how to dress,
and how to act. Is it so wrong to want to enjoy my freedom for just a little
while longer?” she asked pleadingly.

He didn’t answer for a long
while. “If it were only about you, I might agree. But there is our son to
consider and what’s best for him,” he answered quietly.

When she didn’t answer, he
turned his head to find her lips drawn into grim lines. “If I don’t agree, are
you going to try and take him from me?” she asked. “I’ll fight you, Rush, I
swear I will.”

He moved to her and wrapped
his arms around her resistant body. “I would never do that. I told you that
before. I just want us together. I love you both so much.” He brushed his lips
against her hair.

As she struggled to rein in
her emotions, she said, relenting, “Just let me stay at my condo until we’re
married, okay?”

He tensed at her words.
“When will that be?”

“Soon.
 
When we have time to arrange it.”

“Good, then tomorrow it
is,” he replied in relief.

She gave a small
laugh. 
“No, not tomorrow.
 I’m expecting a
proper honeymoon and we can’t do that for six weeks at least.”

“A proper
honeymoon?
 You are a demanding
little thing, aren’t you?” he said with a grin.

“I just gave you a son. I
think it’s the least you can do,” she replied wryly.

Cupping her face within his
palms, he whispered against her lips, “The very least….”

~*~

Rush stood with his suit jacket flung over his forearm, leaning
against the doorjamb of his son’s room. They’d been home for two weeks and he’d
been forced to stay longer than he’d intended at the office. He’d come home to
find the condo quiet and had gone in search of his family. He’d found them
here. As he’d imagined on the first night he’d been in her condo, Trinity was
sitting in the white rocker, slowly rocking back and forth with their son
pressed gently against her shoulder. She was facing at such an angle that she
didn’t know he was there. She was singing softly as she gently patted little
Blake’s back. Rush’s heart was filled to overflowing at the sight of them. He’d
never known love such as this. Sometimes, he didn’t think he could contain it.
The feelings were so overwhelming.

He let his jacket slip to
the floor. The soft thud it made had her turning her gaze to him. She gave him
a happy little smile. He moved to them quickly and dropped to his knees.

“Hi,” he whispered as he
nuzzled her hair. He wrapped his arms around the two most important people in
his life.

“Hi,” she whispered in
return.

He pulled back to look at
the baby nestled against her shoulder.

“How’s our boy doing
today?” he asked softly.

“He’s… just wonderful,” she
replied.

Rush pressed his lips
gently against his son’s head before rising to his feet.

“Have you eaten?” he asked
her.

“Not yet.”

“I’ll order in something.
Maybe Chinese?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Probably take twenty
minutes, okay?” he said.

Rush was pulling multiple square boxes out of a larger box when
she finally dragged herself away from the baby. She inhaled deeply as she drank
him in. He was still wearing his grey suit trousers and white dress shirt. He’d
removed his tie and had rolled his sleeves up to reveal his tanned forearms.
Warmth coated her insides. She went immediately to his side and wrapped her
arms around him. He stopped his task and turned to bring her firmly up against
his muscular chest. She lifted her face up for his kiss and he didn’t
disappoint.

“Hi,” she parroted his
earlier greeting.

“I missed you today,” he
said.

“You did?”

“I had the hardest time
concentrating on such mundane things such as spreadsheets and profit and
losses. I’d have much rather been here with you and little Blake.”

Rising to brush her lips
once more against his jaw, she pushed him gently towards the chair. “Sit down
and I’ll get some plates. You must be exhausted,” she said, turning towards the
cabinets.

After filling their plates
with noodles, vegetables, and pork, they sat quietly as they ate. He watched
her as she absently lifted a hand to the locket around her neck. He noticed she
pushed the food around her plate more than she actually ate.