The Christmas Baby (11 page)

His arm tightened and he uttered a brief, violent oath. “Where is the son of a bitch?”

Faith cursed herself for letting go of her jacket for even a moment. After the night she’d had, Brian going ballistic was the last thing she needed. “The bartender told you. The bouncer threw him out. Some time ago. So don’t think you’re going all macho on me and beating the hell out of him. I want to go home.”

“He left you here. In this dive. After he—” He broke off and swore again, longer, harsher and even more explosively. “What did he do to you, Faith?”

“It’s not as bad as it looks. Can we please go to your car? I’d really like to get out of here.” She didn’t know if he heard the quaver in her voice, but she knew it was there. “Please, Brian.”

He didn’t answer but walked her to the car. He’d brought his ’Vette and it looked as sleek and classy and out of place in the parking lot as its owner had inside the seedy bar. She huddled in her jacket, waiting for him to unlock the door, but instead he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him.

He’d parked beneath the single light in the lot. His eyes were dark jade-green, serious and full of concern as he searched her face. His hands slid down her arms, then up again to cup her shoulders gently through the jacket. “Do I need to call the cops? Or take you to a hospital?”

“No.” He didn’t move and she added, “It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it looks. I swear.”

“Will you tell me what happened?”

She would, but she was afraid she’d cry. And it was silly, really. Other than a ripped blouse she hadn’t come to any harm. Nevertheless, she still felt like crying.

“I’ll tell you, but only if you promise not to say I told you so.”

His jaw tightened but his hands on her shoulders stayed gentle. “I wouldn’t do that, Faith. Just tell me.”

“T
ELL ME
,” Brian repeated. The bastard had ripped her shirt. He wanted to strangle the man for that alone. But what else had happened? Was a torn blouse the worst of it as she claimed, or had the man hurt her?

He gazed down at her and saw her lip tremble, her eyes fill with tears. His heart sank. “Damn. He did hurt you.”

Tears slid down her cheeks in a slow trickle. She shook her head, tried to dash them away but then she started crying in earnest. He gathered her to his chest, put his hand on the back of her head and just held her. “Go ahead and cry, baby. It’s okay. You just cry it out.” He’d have time later to track the rat bastard down and make him pay.

Her hair smelled sweet and felt so soft, as soft as she did in his arms. He couldn’t resist kissing the top of her head. Her arms had gone around his waist and her hands bunched in his shirt, holding on to it as if it were a lifeline. She said something against his chest, but the words were muffled by her sobs and from being pressed up against him. He continued to murmur reassurances until, finally, she lifted her head.

Her eyes were huge in her face, a deep chocolate-brown and wet with tears. His heart turned over and he wanted to hold her, protect her, forever.

Protect her? Forever? He’d never felt this way before. Not about anyone. Was it the circumstances…or was it Faith?

She raised her chin and a hard gleam came into her eyes. “I’m not hurt. I’m mad.”

“Mad is good. Much better than hurt.”

“He ripped my blouse—” she sniffed “—and it was b-b-brand-new.”

“Faith, tell me the truth. Did he do anything more than rip your blouse?” If he had, they didn’t need the police. Brian was going to kill the pervert himself.

“No. He would have. At least, I think he would have. But I stopped him.”

“What did you do?”

“He followed me to the bathroom. He grabbed me from behind, and then turned me around. When I tried to get away, he grabbed me again and ripped my blouse. He tried to kiss me, which, obviously, I didn’t want him to do. So I jabbed him in his carotid and then kneed him. Then I went to the bar and asked the bartender to have him thrown out.”

She smiled. “Joe told Carlos—that’s the bouncer, who’s about seven feet tall—to take care of it. Which he did. Brent just went sailing through the air and landed in the dirt at the bottom of the stairs.”

Though his lips twitched he was still too worried and far too angry, to be sidetracked. “Is that the whole story?”

She released him, stepped back and wrapped her arms around herself. “Most of it. I just want to get out of here, okay?”

His arms felt curiously empty without her in them. She wrapped her coat back around herself, covering up the ruined blouse. Which was a very good thing. After that first glance he’d tried his best not to look any lower than her face. He felt as slimy as the man who’d ripped her blouse in the first place, but he could hardly manage to tear his eyes away from the sight of those beautiful, full breasts barely concealed by the lacy bra. That wasn’t the way he’d wanted to catch his first glimpse of Faith’s lingerie.

Forget Faith’s lingerie,
he lectured himself.
And forget
first glimpse
because you’re never getting a second one.

“You were right,” she said after they pulled away from the club. “Brent was a jerk and I should never have gone out with him.”

Brian drove through the streets toward the highway. “He could just as easily have been a decent guy. You had bad luck, that’s all.” He wanted her to stay home and not date, but that wasn’t fair to her. So he added, “Maybe next time you should try dating someone one of your friends knows.” That way the guy wouldn’t be a totally unknown quantity anyway.

“Another blind date?” She snorted derisively. “No thanks. Been there, done that. Maybe I should stay home and forget about dating for a while.”

Sounded like a good plan to him. But again, he felt obliged to protest. “You’re just upset about tonight. You’ll change your mind.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” she said and lapsed into a silence that lasted until they reached the highway.

Her voice was low when she spoke again. “The night started out okay. The place he took me for dinner was all right. Not great, but not bad. But he kept trying to refill my wineglass and got really annoyed when I didn’t want more than one glass. I finally got fed up with him and told him to take me home.”

“Except he didn’t.” He concentrated on shifting in an attempt to curb his temper. Fourth…fifth…sixth. The ’Vette was smooth and driving was second nature, but it still gave him something else to focus on other than how much he wanted to get the guy alone for just five damn minutes.

“No, he went straight to the Rusty Nail. He wouldn’t listen to anything I said. When we got there, he said he’d have just one drink and take me home, but by that point I didn’t believe him. I just wanted to be rid of him.”

Brian shot her a glance. She’d turned her head to look out the window, but he noticed her hand was clenched in a fist on her lap. He didn’t speak, only waited for her to continue.

She shrugged. “You know the rest. One more lousy date.”

“It was a little more than lousy, Faith. The man assaulted you. You should report him to the cops.”

“Because he ripped my blouse? Come on, Brian. It’s my word against his. He’d say it was an accident or deny doing it altogether.”

It went against the grain to admit it but she was probably right. “No one else saw?”

“I don’t think so. And I don’t think I’d get a very credible witness anyway from a place like that.”

They didn’t speak for a while, and then shortly before they reached Aransas City, Faith broke the silence. “There’s something else…. I know this is stupid but I can’t help thinking about it.”

“What? You said he didn’t do anything else.”

“He didn’t. But tonight…It’s my birthday. And I wanted to have fun and instead I ended up with the worst date ever. And a ripped blouse.”

Why hadn’t she told him her birthday was the day after Will’s? “That’s a pretty miserable birthday.”

“I know,” she said, and he thought he heard her sniffle.

A little while later they pulled into the driveway. “Faith, wait.” He put a hand on her arm when she was about to get out. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I’m sure.” She looked into his eyes and smiled. “Thanks for coming to get me.”

“Anytime you need me, I’ll be there.” He just hoped like hell she never needed him again for the same reason.

“I know.” She leaned across and kissed his cheek. Her lips a light, gentle flutter on his skin, her scent subtle yet haunting. “Thank you, Brian,” she said softly.

The next moment she was gone. Brian dropped his forehead down on the steering wheel. Oh, God, he was in deep trouble. She’d kissed his cheek—his cheek, for God’s sake. And that innocent contact had touched him more than an entire night of hot, crazy sex with another woman ever had.

F
AITH HAD A RESTLESS
night, not entirely due to what had happened to her on the date.

The person who had disturbed her rest—again—was Brian. Why had she kissed him? Doing so had only increased the temptation to do more. She had no business kissing his cheek or any other part of him. But, oh, she wanted to. She wanted so badly to kiss him, really kiss him.

She thought about his mouth. How it hardened in anger. How it curved into that lady-killer smile. How it softened into tenderness when he looked at his son. What would it be like to feel those lips against hers? To have him hold her, put his hands on her? Make love to her.

She suspected she knew. Just as she knew that nothing like that could happen between them. Not only because she was his employee but because she and Brian didn’t want the same things out of life.

Brian loved his son. He wanted to make a home for him and raise him. But he would never trust a woman with his heart. His childhood had seen to that. And she couldn’t be with a man she knew could never fully commit to her.

Faith was not cut out for casual relationships. And Brian wasn’t cut out for anything
but
that type of “relationship.”

Faith wasn’t ashamed of being traditional. That was who she was and she was comfortable with herself. She wanted love. She wanted marriage. She wanted a man who would love Lily and be a father to her.

Yet no matter how much Brian cared about her and Lily, no matter how much Faith cared about Brian and Will, the four of them were not meant to be a family.

She knew it. Brian knew it, too.

“I
STILL DON
’
T UNDERSTAND
why we had to go Christmas shopping today,” Faith said for about the third time since Brian had hustled her out the door Saturday afternoon. “We could have gone Tuesday during Mothers’ Day Out and then Ava and Jack wouldn’t have had to stay with the babies.” She smiled. “Although, they really didn’t seem to mind.”

“Are you kidding? They couldn’t wait to get their hands on those kids. You know they’re trying to adopt, right?”

“No, I didn’t. Oh, that’s wonderful.”

“Yeah. Ava said neither of them are looking forward to the empty nest when Cole goes off to college so they decided to adopt. And then when I mentioned babysitting, they jumped at the chance.”

Brian congratulated himself on successfully diverting her. Not to mention, getting her out of the house in the first place. Faith had balked until he’d told her he really needed her help choosing the presents for all the kids in the family.

“It’s still very nice of them. We shouldn’t be too long, though, if you have your list ready. We’re going to the discount store this time, right?”

Brian returned a noncommittal answer. He’d let her know he didn’t mind shopping at the discount store for the kids’ toys this time. Faith had been so bent out of shape over the prices in the other store after Will’s birthday, he decided to humor her today. But where they ate dinner would be his choice. Not that Faith knew they were staying in Corpus Christi for dinner.

“Do you have
your
list ready?” he asked her. “You might as well get the gifts you need while we’re out.”

“I don’t have many to get. I just have Will and Lily to buy for. And you.”

He should tell her she didn’t have to get him anything, but he didn’t. He was curious about what she would buy for him. And he couldn’t wait to see her reaction when she opened her birthday present. Earlier that morning he’d gone out and bought her what he always bought women. Jewelry. Brian had never known a woman who didn’t like jewelry.

It wasn’t a big deal, he rationalized. He’d given lots of women jewelry. Of course, he’d been dating them when he’d done it and he wasn’t dating Faith. But he wanted to give her a gift and nothing else had occurred to him. He’d asked the store to deliver it to the yacht that he’d reserved for a dinner cruise. It should be waiting for her when they boarded.

He couldn’t make Faith forget what a terrible birthday she’d had, but he could at least show her a good time tonight. Which was why he’d arranged for a private dinner cruise on
The Crystal Ship
. He’d called first thing that morning and had to sweet-talk—and when that didn’t work, bribe—them into taking his reservation on such short notice. He’d wanted to take her someplace special and he’d heard good things about this dinner cruise.

But it wasn’t a date. He was simply being a friend, trying to make up for how bad the night before had been for her. If it had been a date, he could think about kissing Faith. Touching her. Making love to her. But it wasn’t a date, so he wouldn’t think about kissing her. Touching her. Making love to her.

“Brian, you missed the exit.”

“Sorry. I’ll take the next one.”
Pay attention to your driving and quit fantasizing about Faith
, he told himself. Fantasizing was dangerous in more ways than one.

“What time is your date tonight?”

“My date?” he repeated blankly.

“Yes, your date with the incredibly beautiful former model. Marissa, wasn’t it? Surely you haven’t forgotten.”

Oh, shit. “Oh, that. Yeah, she broke it. And her name’s Virginia.” Corinna was not going to be happy with him, but she’d get over it.

“Why?”

He parked and shot her an annoyed glance. “How do I know? She said she had to wash her hair.”

Faith stared at him. “You’re kidding. Did she really say that?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t paying attention. She went into some long explanation but I stopped listening after I heard ‘break the date.’”

“That doesn’t bother you? That she not only canceled on you but gave you such an obviously lame excuse?” she asked curiously.

“No.” He picked up his cell phone from the compartment in the dash and slipped it into his pocket. “It was just a date. Not a big deal.”

“You acted like it was the other night.”

“Are you going to get out of the car or are we going to sit here all day while you give me the third degree about a woman I’ve already forgotten?”

“Don’t be grumpy at me.
I
didn’t break the date.”

God, how did he get himself into these things? He pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was nothing ever simple with Faith? “Sorry.”

He handed her his list of names that went on for half a mile. How in the hell did he end up with such a big family? “Why don’t you go on in and I’ll meet you in the toy department. I have to make a phone call. To a client,” he added.

“All right.” She gave him a puzzled look, but she got out and walked across the parking lot.

He’d never watched Faith walk before. She walked very…gracefully. She was wearing jeans. Not too tight. As if there were such a thing. But Faith’s jeans were just tight enough to look really, really fine on her. He stared after her for a minute before he remembered the call he needed to make.

Fortunately, he reached Corinna’s answering machine. “Hey, it’s Brian. I have to cancel tonight. Something came up with work. Sorry. I’ll, uh, call you.” He intentionally didn’t say
when
he’d call her.

He snapped the phone closed. Something told him that he’d seen the last of Corinna. He’d not only broken their date; he’d left the message on the machine. Oh, well. Easy come, easy go.

It worried him a little that he’d rather be with a woman he knew he couldn’t take to bed than the hot number he knew he could. But then he shook it off. He was doing something nice for his son’s nanny. No big deal. Nothing to worry about.

Right.

B
RIAN WAS ACTING
strangely. He was up to something, she was sure of it. What, she didn’t know.

But I mean, really,
Faith thought. What was all that about the broken date with Ms. Lingerie Model? That was bizarre in itself. And now they’d gone through his shopping list and taken care of nearly everyone on it. Except one last present he’d been dragging his feet about.

“You know, Max is five, Brian. He won’t care if you give him the ultimate toy or not. He’ll like whatever you get him.” And if what she’d seen and heard about the adorable little boy was any indication, he’d probably break it within the day. Brian had considered and rejected a remote control car for that very reason.

Brian checked his watch. Something else he’d been doing often. “All right, all right.” He reached for a toy. The very one she’d suggested he get for Max in the first place. Twenty minutes and seventy-five toys ago.

“So, you think he’ll like this one?”

She barely swallowed a shriek. “Yes, Brian,” she said, trying not to grit her teeth. “I think you should buy him that one.”

“You sound a little grumpy.”

She gave him a dirty look but didn’t answer directly. “It’s getting late. It will be dinnertime before too long. Shouldn’t we get home?”

He stacked the last item precariously on top of the pile in the cart and began pushing it toward the checkout, while she followed with her own cart. Given the number of children they were buying for, they’d needed two carts.

“I think we should have dinner in Corpus. I mentioned to Ava that depending on when we finished the shopping, we might do that and she said they’d get a pizza delivered or something.”

“But Ava and Jack have already been there all afternoon. And if we stay out much later then they’ll have to bathe the children and put them to bed.”

“I think two adults should be able to handle bedtime for Will and Lily. Besides, it will give them some practice for when they have their own baby. I know I would have appreciated some of that.”

She wavered. “I don’t know. I haven’t left Lily this long since I worked full-time at the leasing office.”

“If you want to check on the kids, give Ava a call.”

“Okay.” She pulled out her cell and dialed the house. Ava answered and assured her the kids were fine and that she and Jack were happy to stay as long as they needed them.

“And I want to hear all about dinner,” Ava added.

“What?” They’d reached the front of the line and the clerk was ringing up all their purchases. “Wait, those are mine.” She retrieved a couple of the items that she wanted to buy for Will and Lily and set them aside to pay for separately. “I’ve got to go, Ava, before your brother pulls one over on me.”

“Okay, have fun. Don’t worry about the kids, we’re loving staying with them.”

She hung up and grabbed several other items that were hers. With only two children to buy for, she had splurged a little. She could afford it and it was Lily’s first Christmas and Will’s first with his dad, after all.

“I could have gotten those,” Brian said.

“No, you couldn’t. These are my gifts to the children. You don’t need to pay for my presents.”

“It’s a few toys, Faith.”

“Which I’m paying for.” He shrugged but he didn’t argue anymore. “Brian, why did Ava say she wanted to hear all about dinner? Did you plan to have dinner out before we left?” And if he had, why hadn’t he told her?

“You must have heard wrong,” he said, and handed the clerk his credit card.

She didn’t think so, but she let it drop. She paid for her purchases and they took the carts to the car and stuffed all the sacks of toys inside. “Wow, that was an experience,” she said as she buckled her seat belt. “I wonder what it’s like on Christmas Eve?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t plan to find out. How does seafood sound?”

“I love seafood. And I’m starving.”

“Good. I know just the place.”

Faith didn’t pay attention to where he was going until they reached the harbor. “We can’t go any place fancy, you know. I’m wearing jeans.” Besides, she knew he wouldn’t let her pay for dinner and she didn’t want him to have to buy her an expensive meal. Not that Brian cared, but it didn’t seem right.

“You look fine. Don’t worry, we can go to this place just like we are.”

Maybe he could. He was wearing nice khakis and a long-sleeve, baby-blue, button-down shirt. He looked perfect, as usual. She didn’t, as usual. She could put on some lipstick, at least. She rummaged around in her purse, found her hairbrush and brushed her hair. When he stopped, she pulled down the visor to look in the mirror and apply her lipstick. There, it would have to do. She pressed her lips together, added a dab more lipstick and turned to find Brian staring at her.

“What?” She glanced back in the mirror but didn’t see any problems.

He cleared his throat. “You don’t usually wear lipstick. I’ve never seen you…put it on.”

She stuffed the lipstick and brush back in her purse. “I don’t ever wear it at home. Just if I go out.”

Brian got out and came around to open her door. For the first time, Faith noticed where they were. In the harbor marina by the big boats. “Where’s the restaurant?” Puzzled, she looked around, but she didn’t see a likely looking building.

“We’re having dinner on that boat right over there.” He motioned to a yacht named
The Crystal Ship
.

He took her arm to walk with her, but she stopped and stared at him with her mouth open. “That’s a yacht, not a boat.”

“Whatever.” He started walking again, moving her along with him. “It’s a dinner cruise. Goes up and down the canals and along the Laguna Madre.”

“You booked a dinner cruise? When? Why?”

“This morning.” He stopped at the gangplank leading to the yacht and smiled at her. Her heart fluttered. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“You succeeded.” Surprise? Stunned was more like it. “Brian, I can’t—we can’t eat here. On this—this yacht.” Go on a cruise, a romantic cruise with Brian? It was such a thoughtful gesture. But she couldn’t possibly accept. Could she? Oh, what was he doing to her poor, silly heart?

“Sure we can.” He caught her hands and held them. “I know it’s not your birthday, but I thought since you had such a crappy time on your actual birthday that maybe we could do something fun tonight.”

Something fun? She’d never done anything like this in her life. Oh, she’d had dates take her nice places. And Lily’s father had occasionally taken her to a fancy restaurant, but nothing like this.

“I thought you said you were starving?”

She’d just had a taste of that legendary smooth charm of his. And fool that she was, she was falling for it just as hard as she imagined all those other women had. All those women he’d dated and dropped.

“Faith, it’s just dinner. Not a seduction.” His voice was deep and amused.

She flushed. Of course he wouldn’t seduce her. She wasn’t his type and she knew that as well as he did. Just because he might be a little attracted to her didn’t mean he wanted…anything. It didn’t mean he intended to do…anything. She sucked in a breath, her stomach fluttering.