Unconditional (3 page)

Thinking about the traits he most loved about her, he suddenly felt the need to be around some of that candor right now. He could do with the dose of reality that Rinah never failed to deliver.

He grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and carelessly slipped into it.

“Where are you going?” Flavia’s shrill voice annoyed the hell out of him, as usual. It was fortunate for her that he admired her work enough to put up with her irritating attributes and behavior.

Ignoring her as he would a minor pest, he quickly shut down his computer and grabbed his briefcase.

“Come home with me,” she pleaded unexpectedly.

He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“Jacintha is cooking her fabulous Bahamian curry. I know it’s your favorite and there’s plenty. We could have a nice chat and whatever else happens, happens.” She smiled her best come-hither pitch.

He forced himself to be courteous. “Not tonight, Flavia.” His senses were already humming at the thought of seeing his wife, touching her again.

“But—”

“Thank you for being such a good friend.” Deftly ignoring her attempt to protest, he quickly gathered his car keys and wallet and was out the door.

Dominic must not have seen the glare in Flavia’s eyes. If he had, he wouldn’t have dismissed her so readily. She wrinkled her brows and tightened her lips in agitation. Anger coiled through her as she saw her chance for an intimate moment end, again, in disappointment. She’d worked too long and hard to let him escape her web so easily. That black bitch he’d married was beginning to piss her off! She wouldn’t allow Rinah to keep him away from her much longer. The half-truths and innuendos hadn’t worked.

Her plan to get the she-monkey to voluntarily leave the marriage would now change to a more forceful exit. She was tired of waiting, as Victor had advised. Now she would do what she should have done a long time ago and send that
trick
back to Trinidad, where she belonged. It was bad enough the local ghetto bitches thought they had a chance at the limited number of white men on the island. But this bitch had to come here and think she could steal one of them, too?
Hell no!

She picked up the phone to up the ante in her campaign to get Dominic Stone permanently in her bed.

Chapter Three

R
inah’s day had
turned out to be a difficult day all around. Ever since she’d come home, two hours ago, she’d been busy with one child or the other. Although Dominic had employed a full complement of staff to run their house, she’d always insisted on taking care of her family at night. She prepared all of their dinners, bathed and put the children to bed, and no staff member worked past six, except when they were entertaining. However, there had been no entertaining at the massive house and grounds since Dominic had left.

Tonight she was having a hard time calming Nikki down and getting her to go to sleep.

The evening had started peacefully enough. After the housekeeper and the nanny had left for the day, Rinah helped Matt with his homework and played with the children in the pool for an hour. She then fed both children, and cleaned up the mess they had made in the kitchen, while setting aside a marinated steak for her own dinner later. Nikki seemed a little more fussy than usual but nothing alarming until she tried to settle them for bed.

The children shared a room, and it was usually a peaceful and fun half hour to read a story and put them to bed for the night. However, Nikki refused to be settled and continued to fuss loudly.

Matthew, noting his mother’s distraction, took full advantage. She alternated between reasoning with him and promising him treats, but still he didn’t go to bed. And then, during negotiations, Nikki emptied what little dinner she’d consumed down the front of Rinah’s blouse.

Why me, Lord, why?

Sighing in frustration, she then took both children to her bedroom. Placing a pajama-clad Matthew in the middle of her queen-sized bed to watch a Disney program, she took Nikki through to the
en-suite
bathroom for a shower.

By now Nikki was really crying in distress and felt hot to the touch. Rinah quickly entered the shower and turned on the lukewarm tap, holding the baby away from her warmth for as much as she dared without dropping her. Moving as quickly as she could, she briskly soaped both of their naked bodies to wash away the sticky vomit. Her movements were frantic as the screams emitting from her daughter’s little mouth escalated.

She was almost deaf in one ear by the time she dried the baby and bundled her in a huge, fluffy towel. Hastily wrapping a towel around her own body while her wet hair dripped onto the carpeted floor, she exited the bathroom. Holding her screaming bundle, she entered the bedroom in time to witness Matthew jumping in the middle of the bed and doing an inspired imitation of Tarzan’s jungle cry.

It was in the middle of this chaotic noisy scene that Dominic walked in.

“What the hell’s going on in here?” He yelled to be heard above the piercing screams of his daughter and the hollering of his son.

Everyone froze in surprise. Rinah could have wept with vexation at the unfairness of it all. She had prided herself on her absolute cool façade at lunch today, and had congratulated herself that at least she looked her best when she’d finally seen him again. But here he had to ruin it all by appearing in the middle of this total mayhem.

She knew the scene couldn’t possibly look worse. With no evidence to the contrary, she probably looked like a mother unable to control two small children, who should have been in bed already.

Now he probably thinks I’m not fit to be anyone’s mother
! If the floor had opened and swallowed her, she would’ve been eternally grateful.
But of course I’m not so lucky. Just shoot me and get it over with
.

“Daddy!” Matt squealed and leaped from the bed in full flight, straight into his father’s waiting arms.

“Whoa! Why aren’t you in bed, little man?” Dominic asked his overly excited son, while turning a disapproving glare at his towel-clad wife.

“Nikki was sick all over Mummy’s shirt and she won’t stop crying,” Matt explained cheerfully.

Dominic looked at the tear-stained face of his baby girl. She had stopped screaming when he’d made his presence known. Now she slumped tiredly on her mother’s chest and continued whimpering pitifully.

“What’re you doing here? And how did you get in my house?” Rinah asked him angrily.

“I used my key. This is still my house as well, isn’t it?” he asked stonily.

“Well, that’s convenient. How is it you’ve only just remembered that fact? Wait, don’t tell me, that skank Flavia finally let you up for air!” She left no doubt of her scorn.

“I would love to stand here and trade insults with you,” he smirked, “but our children could do without that particular lesson.”

Rinah was appalled at her lack of control and ashamed to have forgotten their children were in the room, witnessing their exchange. She never could seem to control her emotions around him. He brought out the worst in her.

“Are you staying with us tonight, Daddy?” Matt piped up. Neither adult answered their son’s question.

“Matt, settle down. I’ll read you a story while Mommy takes care of your sister,” Dom said as he plucked his son from the bed, then turned and stalked out of the room.

Needing to gather a change of clothing for Nikki, Rinah followed in his wake as he strode down the hall.

She watched Dom gently place the wiggling, overexcited boy under the covers. After giving his son an admonishment to settle down, he calmly started reading a story from the open book on the nightstand. Now quiet, Matt knew better than to protest his father’s authority.

Trying to adapt the same nonchalance Dominic portrayed, it took all of Rinah’s concentration to ignore his presence in the house and refocus on her sick baby. Upon retrieving the articles of clothing, she spun around and went back into her bathroom for a children’s liquid medicine for pain and fever. She dried Nikki properly and dressed her in a clean, long, cotton nightgown. She took the baby’s temperature with a digital thermometer before administering the medication. Nikki was exhausted from her screams, and was almost asleep in her arms.

“How high is it?” Dominic asked as he filled the doorway of the bathroom, moments later.

“One hundred and one degrees; she isn’t so hot to the touch after the cold bath, but I still want to call her pediatrician as a precaution.” She whispered, fighting desperately to get a hold on her resentment at his intrusion.

“She can’t be cutting a tooth already, could she? Matt didn’t have fevers unless he was cutting a tooth and had a slight infection, and that wasn’t until he was about six months old. I thought Antoinette said you were breastfeeding her?” Dom inquired softly, looking at his daughter with concern.

“I am breastfeeding, but we had to supplement her milk this week with store-bought formula, because she’s growing so fast and I’m not producing enough milk to fill her.” She continued rocking and soothing her daughter.

“If you hadn’t insisted on going to work so soon after giving birth, this probably wouldn’t have happened. Not to mention, there was no need for you to start working at all,” he pointed out belligerently.

Her temper immediately spiked on his unfair statement and dictatorial attitude. She had her own guilt to appease, not being with her baby full-time any more, and didn’t need him to add to it. Rinah seethed in anger, but immediately slammed down on her escalating temper because now wasn’t the time to deal with her infuriating husband.

He knew nothing of the struggle that decision had cost her. He wouldn’t understand her need to find herself again, and finally begin the process of regaining her independence. She’d given up so much when she’d married him right out of university.

“Would you call Dr. Allen while I get dressed?” Rinah kept her voice calm and devoid of all emotion, not willing to let Dom know how his few careless words had hurt her. She loved her children more than anything in the world and would do nothing to jeopardize their health and well-being. It was frustrating knowing her need to support them on her own terms might just have done that.

Having him in her private sanctuary was not helpful, either. It shattered what little composure she had left. Later, she would have to find a way to eradicate his image from the one room in the house that didn’t remind her constantly of him.

After their separation, she had moved out of their bedroom, from the west wing to a smaller guest room far on the eastern side of the house. In that way, she never had to go near their bedroom, which contained too many sensual, blissful memories. On entering her closet to get a dress, she was appalled by the image reflected in the wall mirrors. She looked a complete wreck, with her hair dripping wet and in complete disarray. The kids probably hadn’t looked much better, either.
Oh, good God!
Turning her back on the offending sight, she quickly made herself a little more presentable.

Dealing with her daughter’s illness came first, and then she would deal with Dominic. Why was he suddenly here? What did he want, after doggedly sticking to their agreement for the past eight months? If she was honest, she would admit she’d never expected him to comply with her wishes and stay away. Dominic only did what he wanted, when he wanted. That told its own story—he was content to leave her, to be out of her life, even missing the birth of their daughter.

Rinah was alarmed she could still be so anguished about that! Her eyes immediately glistened with unshed tears as she remembered the desolation and loneliness during her pregnancy and difficult labor. She blinked rapidly to hide her escalating distress from him.

Three hours later, the doctor had come and gone, and the house was settled, with both children sleeping peacefully in their room. Dominic had left to pick up the antibiotics prescribed by the doctor, and she was putting the final touches on their dinner preparation. It was after eleven, too late to be having dinner, but after the exhausting ordeal of the past few hours, she was famished and thought Dom would be as well.

Rinah contemplated her feelings on their interaction since he’d reentered the house, noting Matt’s obvious happiness at seeing his father and his ready compliance with Dominic’s authority. Her little boy had cried for weeks when he realized his Daddy wasn’t coming back home. Her lashes were wet again on the memory of those first few emotional months. She loved her children so much and wanted to give them the best, but this was one thing she couldn’t give them. She couldn’t force Dominic to love her. Nor could she prevent the emotional turmoil their divorce would have on them, Matt especially. He was old enough to miss his father’s comforting presence but too young to understand why the adults in his life couldn’t remain together.

She never thought she would end up a single parent, and certainly didn’t wish for her children to be brought up in this manner. The decision she made eight months ago hadn’t been made lightly. She had known being a single parent wasn’t going to be easy, but she had no idea it was going to be so difficult on the children. She knew Dom and Matt had a very close relationship; however, being confronted by their father-son bond, after such a long time, was excruciating. But it was the tender, loving relationship he had with Nikki that was so heartbreaking. And added to that, she was reminded once again of what a supportive husband Dom could be. That wasn’t easy to acknowledge. He had known immediately what to do, and hadn’t hesitated to jump in and help when needed. They had always worked as a team when parenting and she had been starkly reminded of that, tonight.

She could barely see what she was doing as her eyes were obscured with tears and her hands trembled with emotion. Her pain was not only for her children, but also for herself. She remembered clearly how happy and in love they had been when they got married. Well, maybe the in-love part was all from her side, but no one could deny they were most definitely in lust. Dominic had made no secret of wanting her above any other woman and wanted her for always. He’d been so sweet at their wedding, flying in the American star Joe in to Trinidad to sing at the reception. Their first dance as a married couple was to Joe’s “I Believe In You”.

Whenever she had doubts about his love, she’d listen to his song to her and gain reassurance. But nothing could assure her, given the repeated evidence stacked against him. She’d never thought that a couple who’d loved so passionately would be where they were today.