The Watson Brothers (16 page)

As if he’d read her mind, Gil put a hand on her shoulder. “We decided to let you sleep. You were pretty wiped out.”

Anabel nodded. After all her worries, she’d finally felt safe enough to sleep soundly. She didn’t doubt that if Nicki had wanted her, she’d have come awake in a rush. But Gil had handled things, proving he was not only a sensitive, astounding,
tireless
lover, he was also considerate beyond belief.

She felt lost, unsure what to do next.

Very gently, Gil smoothed her hair. “If you’ll throw blinders on the little monkey there, I think I’ll escape into the bathroom to shave and dress. Then we can start on breakfast.”

“Stay put,” Anabel told him. “We’ll head out and give you your privacy.”

She rose from the bed, but rather than follow, Nicki threw herself against Gil and said, “I want pancakes.” She ensured obedience by giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek and a tight hug. Only after finishing that did she allow Anabel to lead her from the room. Gil, the sop, looked ready to rush off in search of his griddle.

She had just finished helping Nicki dress when a knock sounded on Gil’s front door. He hadn’t come out of his bedroom yet, so with Nicki racing beside her, Anabel went to the living room. Before she could reach the door, a key rasped in the lock and it opened.

In stepped two big men. One looked to be in his late thirties. He had hair as black as Gil’s, but the bluest, most piercing eyes she’d ever seen. He seemed startled to see her, then in one quick sweep, he took in all the changes to Gil’s home. One glossy black eyebrow shot up.

Another man, this one a younger version of Gil, pushed his way in past the first with a grin. “Hey. You must be the mystery lady, huh?”

Painfully aware of her mussed hair, slept-in clothes, and lack of makeup, Anabel cleared her throat. “I’m Anabel Truman. I take it you’re Gil’s brothers?”

The friendly one nodded. “That’s right. I’m Pete and the thundercloud is Sam. He’s thundering, by the way, because he wanted to bring Gil’s car back here without me, only I was too curious to wait. Sam hates it when things don’t go his way.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Is Gil around?”

“In the bathroom. I’ll just go get him…”

Nicki, who didn’t like to be ignored, stepped forward and mimicked Sam’s pose by crossing her arms over her chest and bracing her feet apart.

Both men stared down at her.

Clearing her throat, Anabel said, “Nicki, these are your uncles, Pete and Sam. They’re your daddy’s brothers.”

“Daddy’s brothers,” Sam repeated, somewhat poleaxed.

Pete nudged him with an elbow. “Uncle Sam. Now ain’t that a kicker?”

Anabel urged Nicki forward. “You want to say hi to them, rat?”

Nicki scrunched up her face, thinking about it for some seconds before saying, “’kay.” She marched forward—and sat on Sam’s foot. “You do the horsie.”

“Do the—?” Sam looked at Anabel for help.

Pete started snickering uncontrollably while Anabel rushed to explain. “She rides on my foot sometimes. It’s a game we play.”

Sam said, “Oh,” while standing there with that one leg stuck out comically, as if he feared he might hurt her if he moved.

Gil chose that moment to appear. He was freshly shaved, smelled wonderful, and wore only jeans. He scooped Nicki up with a grin. “You’re terrorizing my brother, sweetheart. Look at him.”

“I want pancakes.”

“All right.” Gil tucked her up against his hairy chest and turned to Anabel. “Why don’t you go do…whatever you have to do and I’ll take the brood into the kitchen.”

That sounded like a fine idea to Anabel. Not only was she hung over from too much sex the night before, but now she had two family members to face. “Do you think you could produce some coffee?” Caffeine would hopefully kick-start her thinking processes.

“It’ll be ready when you are.”

As Anabel made her escape, she heard Nicki ask, “Are you as whiskery as Daddy?” She didn’t know which brother Nicki addressed, and she didn’t wait around to hear the answer.

What would Gil’s brothers think of her? She was an interloper, a deceiver, and now a seducer. She knew she loved Gil, that she’d been in love with him almost from the day she’d met him. But they didn’t know that.

In record time, Anabel washed her face, brushed her teeth, applied her makeup, and chose clean jeans and her most conservative tee to wear. Barefoot, she hurried back to the kitchen. She’d barely been gone ten minutes.

Sam and Pete were sitting at the table and Gil was at the stove. Nicki, bless her heart, was perched on Gil’s foot, getting hauled around as he prepared her pancakes. No one noticed Anabel looming in the hall outside the room.

“So she showed up, asked you to marry her, and now you’re sleeping with—”

Gil cut Sam off with a pointed look at Nicki. “That’s about it.”

“What are you going to do?” Pete asked.

“I’m taking legal measures to make sure Nicole is financially noted as my daughter. There shouldn’t be any question of custody, but I’m addressing that, too, just in case.”

“I meant about the woman.”

Gil shrugged while measuring out batter onto a hot griddle. “I’ve known Anabel for three years, and I’ll admit I’ve thought about her in a lot of different ways.”

Pete bobbed his eyebrows and Sam grinned.

“But not once did I ever consider her the type of woman to marry.”

“Why not?” Pete asked.

“Did you see her earrings and that damn tattoo?”

“Damn tattoo,” Nicki repeated, making Gil groan and giving both Pete and Sam a chuckle.

“Sweetheart, you can’t say damn.” Nicki just stared up at Gil until he sighed. “Do you want to go look out the patio doors at the birds?”

“Birds!” Like a flash, Nicki left the dubious enjoyment of Gil’s foot to study the backyard. He’d have finger and nose prints on the glass, but Anabel knew he wouldn’t mind.

From his position at the stove, Gil could still see Nicki, but now that she was out of hearing range, he had more freedom to talk to his brothers—much to Anabel’s discomfort.

Gil shook his head. “The thing is, I kept thinking about the influence she might have on Nicole. She’s not like any mother I’ve ever seen before, that’s for sure.” And then, with a thoughtful frown: “She even has a belly button ring.”

“Yeah?” Pete’s interest rose. “Those are sexy.”

“You think everything on a female is sexy,” Sam pointed out.

“And you don’t?”

Ignoring Pete, Sam said, “You don’t have to marry her to keep your own child.”

“I have to do something with her. But it’s a complicated situation, so I’m not going to rush things.”

They discussed her like an inanimate object instead of a person. Anabel had heard enough. Pasting on a smile, she stepped into the kitchen. “My
damn
tattoo is part of a business agreement.”

Spatula in hand, Gil jerked around to face her. His gaze was cautious, concerned. “You were listening in?”

“Nasty habit of mine, I know. Almost as bad as wearing body jewelry.”

“Anabel.” He sounded very put out with her.

She turned to Pete and lifted her shirt a bit. “There it is, that offensive belly button ring. Disgraceful, isn’t it?”

Pete’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. His gaze stayed glued to her stomach. “Um, cute.”

“Thanks, but don’t you mean sexy?”

Chagrined, he said, “Somehow I think it’s in my best interest not to answer that.”

Sam crossed his arms over his chest and rested back in his chair. “And you all thought my romance was entertaining.”

Gil wasn’t amused. “Put your shirt down, Anabel.”

“Why? Am I embarrassing you?” She dropped her shirt, but only because she saw no point not to.

“No, but Pete is bright red.”

She rolled her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was explain herself to Gil and his brothers, but her situation didn’t afford her the luxury of pride. “I do web page designs. It was about the only thing I could figure out that’d pay enough and still let me work from home so I could be with Nicki. Most of my work is for small businesses, and those include some that are just starting out. I let Dixon, the guy opening the tattoo shop, practice on me. He tattooed my arm, took pictures, and we used those to put up at his shop and on the website that he hired me to do. Same thing with the jewelry. Dodger gave me the earrings and the belly button ring to advertise his business. He didn’t have to hire a model, and I got paid to design his website.”

“So you didn’t even want the tattoo?” Sam asked.

“I had never really thought about it, but no, I wouldn’t have spent the money on a tattoo because my budget was too tight.” She traced a fingertip over the delicate flowering vine. “But now I kinda like it. It suits me. And we know it helped Dixon get new business because it’s his most requested design.”

Pete said, “Got anything else pierced?”

She shook her head at the same time Gil said, “
No
, she does not.”

Sam leaned over to Pete. “Gil’s going to serve you for breakfast if you don’t pipe down.”

Gil turned off the stove. In very precise terms, each word carefully enunciated, he said, “You’re telling me that pictures of your belly are on the
Internet?
”

Anabel couldn’t help but laugh. “Is that the only part you heard?”

“Are they?”

“Yep. I got body parts flashing all over the Web.”

Gil fell back against the sink counter. “Dear God.” He looked incapable of doing or saying more.

Sam pushed from his seat and relieved Gil of the spatula. “You’re burning our breakfast.” Like an expert chef, he began filling the plates that Gil had set out. “And for the record, I like her tattoo, too. It’s not like she’s got a giant rattlesnake or the words ‘I love Killer’ emblazoned on her arm. It’s tasteful and feminine.”

“Maybe I’ll suggest that Ariel get one.”

“Try it, and I’ll kick your ass.” Sam turned to Anabel. “Ariel is my wife, and she’s dying to meet you and Nicole. In fact, I’d be surprised if she and my mother didn’t finagle an invite for later today.”

Pete interrupted to ask, “What’s the url for the sites where you’re at?”

Gil rounded on him. “Forget it, Pete.”

“All right, all right. Sheesh. No reason to breathe fire on me.”

Sam began serving up breakfast. “Hey, Nicki, Uncle Sam has your pancakes ready.”

Gil glared at him. “Way to hog all the credit.”

“Hey, I gotta make a good impression while I can.”

Nicki came barreling back into the kitchen, jabbering ninety miles a minute about the birds and pancakes and uncles who cooked.
She
felt right at home with Gil’s brothers, so Anabel gave up. After all, it was just her feelings that were hurt, and she had to get over that real quick because it was bound to happen a few more times. She’d known from jump how Gil felt about her. Just because he enjoyed sex with her didn’t mean he’d suddenly have a personality transformation. They were as different as night and day—except in bed. And Gil could certainly find another woman to fill that role if he chose to.

She’d have liked to tell him to go to hell—but she couldn’t. She couldn’t even really argue with him because it might mean she’d lose Nicole. An ominous dread had skated down her spine when he said he planned to take legal action to bind Nicole to him. If she didn’t make headway soon, he’d probably kick her out and she’d lose Nicole as well as Gil. She couldn’t let that happen.

But what could she do?

Suddenly Gil was beside her, the consummate gentleman, holding out a seat for her with one hand and offering a cup of coffee with the other.

Anabel would never understand him. “Thank you.”

He kissed her forehead, saying very softly, “You’re welcome.”

Nicki grinned and reached up for him. “Tank you.”

Gil lifted her into her high chair, then kissed her, too, before reaching for his own seat. When he turned around, Pete puckered up as if waiting his turn, but Sam wielded the spatula like a weapon, saying, “Keep those lips on the females.”

Nicki thought they were hilarious; Anabel just thought they were nuts. Breakfast, she discovered, was a circus—and quite thoroughly enjoyable. The brothers were anxious to hear all about Nicole’s preferences and peccadilloes, but they asked just as many questions about Anabel. As far as she could tell, Gil’s brothers had no problem with her at all. Now if only Gil would feel the same.

After his brothers had gone and the kitchen was cleaned, Gil pulled Anabel into his arms. “Hi.”

She blinked at him. Gil knew she was very uncertain, that she had no idea what the future might bring. Well, she’d just have to go on wondering for a little longer. He was no dummy; he’d already decided that Anabel deserved more than a trial run, and more than a marriage of convenience. How to convince her of that was the question plaguing his mind. He didn’t want her to feel like a convenience, not when she was so much more. He had a plan and he’d stick to it.