Regret sifted through him. “How much did you hear?” Chase asked.
Mitzy looked at him, a mixture of temper and resentment simmering in her pretty aquamarine eyes. “If I say ‘everything’ versus ‘not much,’ will it change your answer?”
Secrets were bad news. He had always known this. “I didn’t ask to be put in the middle of this.”
She set her cell phone and glass of champagne down with a great show of irritation, then turned back to him, the hem of her dress swirling around her showgirl-fine legs. “Keep going.”
He set his glass down, too, and stepped toward her, determined to see out his responsibility. “Your dad called me before he died, and asked me to meet him at the hospital. He had just learned that he was terminal and wasn’t expected to live out the spring.”
Grief drained the color from her face. “And he didn’t,” she whispered, tearing up. “He died in May.”
Forcing himself to be as strong as she needed him to be, Chase closed the distance remaining between them. He took her in his arms and continued to hold her, despite her mute resistance. “Gus wanted to make sure that you were protected.”
Mitzy inhaled sharply, the soft luscious curves of her breasts rising against the shimmering fabric of her red dress.
Chase pushed his reaction away. Gazing frankly down at her, he continued, “Your dad told me he had tried to talk to you about the business, about selling it even before he died, since that—along with your small general welfare trust he had set up when you were a kid, and his house—was going to be your inheritance. But you were adamant that his legacy be continued, that you could run MCS in his absence.”
Mitzy flattened a hand over Chase’s chest and pushed him away.
Resolutely, Chase went on. “He said he knew that you equated giving up MCS with giving up on life.”
Mitzy gripped both ends of her white cashmere evening wrap. “With good reason,” she retorted fiercely, lifting her chin. “MCS was the only thing that kept him going that last year.”
Chase watched her go back to get her glass. Her graceful strides were as mesmerizingly feminine as the rest of her. It was all he could do to keep from making love to her again, then and there.
But sensing she needed more from him than that right now...a hell of a lot more...he walked over to get his glass, too. Reminding gently but firmly, “That’s not true, Mitzy.”
She stopped in midsip.
“It wasn’t the company he lived for. You were what kept him going.” Dammit, now he was getting choked up, too. “Your dad loved you more than anything. And because he did, he wanted to make things as easy as he could on you after he passed.”
Chase quaffed half his glass. Resolved to give her the support she needed, he looked her in the eye and continued seriously, “So your dad asked me to quietly watch over you, from afar, and to buy the business from you, when the time was right, preferably before the end of the year.”
Mitzy moved to one of the stone benches. She started to sit down on it, then stopped, and spread out her wrap first. Looking as if her knees would no longer support her, she settled on the bench in thoughtful silence. “That’s why you came to see me before Thanksgiving.”
The promise to Gus had been only part of it. Sensing she wasn’t ready to hear that, though, Chase merely nodded.
He sat down beside her and took her hand in his. “Gus knew it was going to be tough on you to let MCS go. He thought, given a little time and effort, that I could convince you it was the right thing.”
“So all this,” Mitzy said, jumping to her feet once again. “You coming by nightly...helping me with the boys...even coming with us to Dallas for all this ridiculous pageantry tonight,” she cried, “was all a means to an end?”
Chase figured there was no reason to pretend otherwise. “You’re damn right it was,” he said gruffly, taking her all the way into his arms. He smoothed the hair from her cheek and looked down into her face.
She blinked in astonishment. Obviously not used to such gut-wrenching honesty.
Loving the warmth and softness of her as much as he loved the way she looked in that pretty shimmery cocktail dress, he brought her closer still. She surged against him as their bodies merged, and everything that had been wrong between them righted. He shook his head, finally pushed to admit just how much he wanted her, had always needed her. “How else was I going to find my way back into your heart and your life?”
He lowered his mouth to hers and gave her a full-on kiss, filled with everything he felt, everything he had suppressed. She gasped in surprise, caution mingling with the yearning in her gaze. “Chase...”
He grazed her earlobe with his teeth, touched his mouth to her throat, her cheek, her temple, before once again moving to her lips. And this time, when he fit his lips over hers, she was ready for him. She made a sexy little murmur in the back of her throat, and then her hands were coming up to cup his head. She opened her mouth to allow him deeper, wider access and rose on tiptoe, pressing her breasts against his chest, her thighs against his...
Mitzy had meant to read him the riot act, not kiss him, but now that she was in his arms again, she couldn’t think of any place she would rather be. It wasn’t so much the soft, sure feel of his mouth over hers. Although that was tantalizing. Or the way his tongue dallied provocatively with hers, finding every sweet spot with ease.
It was the way he constantly took charge and dominated the moment, and her. She might not need his protection, but she welcomed it. Just as she welcomed the notion that she was no longer meant to go through this life constantly strong, fiercely independent. Alone.
She could lean on someone.
She could lean on him.
She wanted to lean on him. To the point, who knew what might have happened next had it not been for the insistent ping of her cell phone.
Chase immediately halted the kiss. The amazing intimacy ended. She felt stunned and elated, bereft and confused. With a stifled oath, she broke away, went to retrieve her still-pinging phone and read the text message on screen. Oh, no. She whirled back to Chase, in full Mommy Mode. Grasping her wrap and half-empty glass, she said, “I’m needed upstairs. Right now.”
* * *
Chase went with her and, for once, Mitzy did not try to dissuade his assistance. He was as good with her four boys as she was, and it sounded like the little ones needed them both.
Mitzy rushed into the second-floor hallway of the mansion’s east wing, where all four nannies and the babies were waiting. She took in the red tear-streaked faces and heartrending howls of distress. Her heart ached. “How long have they been crying like this?”
All four nannies talked at once. “Since shortly after you left. We gave them all bottles, which they drank, but they absolutely refuse to be put down. They don’t want to be rocked. Or held. Or walked around.”
“Well, no wonder,” Mitzy said, gazing around at the four separate “nurseries” that had been set up in four different guest rooms. She reached for Joe, who was crying the hardest, and then Gabe, who had big fat tears running down his chubby little face.
Chase stepped in to take Zach, who for once was not the least bit calm, and then Alex, who’d been trying to twist himself out of his nanny’s arms.
“What happened to the temporary setup in the playroom?” That she had personally supervised?
“Judith ordered it all disassembled and put away when the party started. She wanted the boys sleeping in regular cribs, not Pack ’n Plays.”
Mitzy gaped. “But the cribs are all in different bedrooms!”
“Judith felt it would be better if they didn’t disturb each other.”
Oh, Mother, Mitzy thought, distressed. You may have meant well, but...
With as much patience as she could muster, Mitzy explained, “The boys need to see each other to feel safe.” The same way they needed to be held by her and Chase now.
“That didn’t help before you got here,” Nanny Gwen said.
Mitzy looked over at Chase, who appeared as concerned as she felt. She had never been more glad to have his strong, steady presence. “Where are the Pack ’n Plays now?” she asked.
Nanny Belinda shrugged. “I don’t know. The storage room in the attic, I think.”
Mitzy groaned. That was at the other end of the mansion, on the fourth floor.
“Do you want me to go and retrieve them?” Chase offered.
Mitzy shook her head.
He looked around, considering. “I could try to disassemble three of the four cribs and put them all in one room.”
A task like that would require tools and take hours.
Again, Mitzy shook her head. “I want to take them home. Now,” she said.
Chase did a double take. “You want to drive all the way back to Laramie.”
So much.
Mitzy edged close enough to inhale his brisk soap-and-man scent. She looked up at him persuasively. “It’s just a little after nine. If we leave now, we could be back by midnight.”
“And if they get carsick again?”
“We’ll deal with it, the same way we dealt with it this morning.” The most important thing was getting them home, where they felt safe and secure.
He wanted to go, too. She could see it in his expression. Still, he hesitated. Mitzy guessed what was bothering him. “We’re not going to be able to attend any more of the party if we want the boys to stay calm.”
Chase’s brow furrowed. “Your mother...”
“Is just going to have to understand. Besides, her soiree is going to go on until at least two a.m. If not later. So it’s not like she would be spending all that much time with her grandchildren. Or us.”
“She’ll be upset,” Chase predicted.
“I know.” Mitzy sighed.
But right now she was more concerned about the comfort and emotional security of her four boys.
Mitzy turned to the four nannies, who were unfortunately still dressed like elves at her mother’s request. “Would you-all mind helping us get everything out the staff entrance, to my SUV? And then you-all will be able to leave.”
Nanny Gwen looked all the more worried. “You don’t want us to say anything to Judith or Walter?”
“No. I’ll take care of that after we’re on the road.” Mitzy paused momentarily to direct the packing up, as did Chase. Finished, they moved in tandem down the back stairs. “...I promise you. You’ll get your full fee and won’t be blamed for this.”
Fifteen minutes later, the boys were safely strapped into their car seats, the luggage was loaded and they had a to-go meal of finger foods from the caterers in their possession. Chase climbed behind the wheel, while Mitzy elected to take the center place in the middle row of her eight-passenger SUV, where, if need be, she could reach the two babies beside her, and the two infants in back of her, too.
Uniformed valets moved the cars that were in the way.
Chase put on some soothing Christmas music and drove sedately through the elegant neighborhood. By the time they neared the highway, all four boys were fast asleep.
For the first time in hours, Mitzy relaxed.
Aware she was starving, and he had to be, too, she opened up the yuletide feast that had been packed for them. “We’ve got country ham biscuits with cranberry marmalade.”
“Sounds good.”
Aware how domestic—and comfortable—this all suddenly was, she reached across the back of the driver’s seat and handed one to him. Her forearm nudged his broad shoulder in the process.
Warmth filtered through her at the brief contact.
She savored the sensation. “And beef tenderloin on sourdough with horseradish.”
Their fingers brushed again. He downed the finger food in two bites. “Also delicious.”
And on they went, with Mitzy handing across various finger sandwiches, cookies and tarts.
Finished, and feeling much better, now that at least one of her appetites was sated, she opened up a bottle of chilled water and handed that to him, too.
He glanced at her over his shoulder. “Thanks, darlin’.”
His low gravelly voice was intensely sexy. It reminded her of the kisses they had shared in the gazebo, and the intensely physical longing that welled up within her whenever they were alone.
Mitzy tugged the hem of her skirt over her knees and settled more comfortably in her seat. “Actually, I should be saying that to you. It’s been quite a day and it’s not over yet.”
He shrugged, his broad shoulders flexing against the starched fabric of his shirt. His jacket lay on the seat next to him. “We’ll be back in Laramie in another hour.”
Mitzy glanced at the sweet cherubic faces of her children, thought of how much they meant to her, and were coming to mean to Chase, too. “Hopefully, they’ll continue sleeping.”
He turned his head in her direction, giving her a brief view of his handsome profile. “At least they’re not spitting up.”
Mitzy chuckled, as he meant her to. “Amen to that,” she said with heartfelt emotion. The trip to Dallas had been horrendous! But Chase had taken the calamity in stride, as always. A fact that showed yet again what a good daddy he was going to be someday. Husband, too...
Hers, maybe?
Or was she getting way, way ahead of herself here?
As the pensive silence continued, he caught her glance in the rearview mirror. Briefly, tenderness and an understanding that seemed to go soul deep reverberated between them. “You doing okay?”
Yes. And no. Maybe because whenever they were together like this, she found herself wanting to erase the years they had spent apart, and simply pick up where they left off. Madly in love and about to get married.
And how foolish was that? Given the things, like their attitudes about business and succeeding at all costs, that still kept them apart?
“Mitzy?” he pressed softly. “Are you doing all right?”
Aware her insides were suddenly trembling, she took a deep energizing breath. “In what sense?” In the sense that although I know you still desire me and like hanging out with me, and my boys, but that I don’t know if you will ever love me again? Or if you ever really did?
What if it had all been infatuation on his part, then and now? She knew how she felt, but was that enough to build a family on?
Oblivious to the real reason behind her uncertainty, he prodded in concern, “About what we talked about in the gazebo.”
So many questions. So many answers she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Deciding there was no better time to finish hashing this issue out, she replied, “What did my mother and Walter have to do with everything that’s happened the last few weeks?”
His hands gripping the wheel, he exhaled roughly. “I thought I was the only one who knew about the promise I made to Gus. But today, out by the pool, I learned that Judith and Walter knew, too.”
Mitzy took a moment to absorb that. “You were shocked?”
“Speechless.”
It wasn’t all that hard to imagine the rest of the poolside conversation. Mitzy shook her head in bemusement, guessing, “My mother wants you to get on with the purchase of Martin Custom Saddle, whether it is done by you or someone else.” She jerked in a breath, pushed on. “So she was pressuring you. And you told her you were handling it. And me.”
“Bingo. Although,” Chase added wryly, “I’m not sure the latter is quite true. Since no one really ‘handles’ you, Mitzy Martin.”
She laughed, as he meant her to. “True.”
“I understand where your mom’s coming from, though.” Chase turned onto the farm-to-market road that led straight to Laramie. “She wants you to have less extraneous stuff to deal with right now, given the fact you have four sons to raise on your own.”
It was a lot, Mitzy admitted. Except it didn’t seem like so much when Chase was by her side. Then it all seemed quite manageable.
“And you...?” she asked, more curious than ever about what her ex was thinking and feeling. “What do you want, Chase?”
Once again, he caught her glance briefly in the mirror. The corners of his sensual lips turned up enticingly. “I want you to be happy, too,” he said sincerely.
The question was, where did her happiness lie?
With the boys? With Chase? With the family business? Or some combination of all three?
* * *
They arrived home at midnight, just as Mitzy had predicted they would. The boys woke long enough to get their diapers changed, sleep suits on, bottles of formula emptied.
Chase burped them. Mitzy swaddled.
By twelve thirty all were fast asleep again in their cribs.
“What a day,” Chase whispered, squeezing her hand, as the two of them paused next to the four cribs for one last long, loving look.
Mitzy shook her head in overwhelming affection that included the tall, handsome man beside her, too. “No kidding,” she whispered back.
Together, they eased out of the nursery. Aware she must look ridiculous in her shimmery red evening gown and favorite fluffy spa slippers, Mitzy turned to him. He looked incredibly dapper in his starched white shirt and dark trousers. His tie was long gone. The collar of his shirt was open, sleeves rolled up partway to the elbow. He looked sexy and disheveled, and ardent as all get-out.
His gaze drifted over her, pausing on her lips before returning with slow deliberation to her eyes. The desire she’d felt earlier came roaring back.
And, if the dark hue of his smoky-blue eyes was any indication, he was feeling mighty amorous, too.
“Nevertheless, I think we managed the bedtime routine in record time,” he murmured. He caught her hand and pulled her against him in the upstairs hall. One hand drifted lazily down her spine, eliciting tingles of warmth. The other tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“So,” he said, his gaze roving over her before returning ever so slowly to her lips. Then her eyes. “Kicking me out?”
Mitzy inhaled the familiar soap-and-man scent of him. Beneath that, the lingering hint of his masculine cologne. She knew if she wanted to keep her heart intact she should do just that.
She also knew it had been a very long time since she had felt this close to him. Her bedroom was just steps away. The fragrant scent of evergreen added to the magic of Christmas in the air. And what was this season about, really, but giving. And she had so much she wanted to give to him.
Realizing there was only one way to figure out how he felt about her, too, Mitzy wound her arms around his neck. Allowing her heart to guide her, she leaned up, threading her fingers through his hair, guiding his lips down to hers as she looked into his eyes and whispered, “Not unless you really want to go...”
“I don’t.”
Yearning spiraled through her as he moved his hands over her shoulders, down her spine, to her hips. He pressed her against him, so she could feel how much he wanted her. Their lips met in a melding of heat and need. She kissed him back, sweetly, deeply. Tingles surged through her, tautening her nipples, pooling low in her tummy. Damn but she wanted him. So very much.
And still they kissed and kissed, the feel of his mouth on hers filling her with the kind of love and tenderness she had wanted all her life. An emotion that was so much more than what they had shared before.
He tunneled his hands through her hair for a moment, breathing hard, resting his forehead against hers. “But I want you to be sure...”
“Then stay.” She kissed him again, aware it was past time they took this most important next step. “The entire night...”
He let out a low growl of assent. Still kissing her, danced her backward into the master, all the way to her bed. She turned on the twinkling lights still strewn across the headboard. Kicked off her slippers and pulled him flush against her, opening her lips to the investigating pleasure of his. His hands cupped her breasts through the thin fabric of her dress and he kissed her again, a deep, giving kiss that had her entire body going soft with yearning, senses spinning, heart soaring.
She undid the buttons on his shirt while he released the zipper at her spine. Her dress was eased off. His shirt, too. Chase grinned as both garments fell to the ground.
He admired the curves spilling out of the lacy décolletage of her bra, the gentle slope of her tummy, the angle of her hips. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered.
“You, too, cowboy,” she said, reaching for his fly, cupping his velvety hardness with her hand.
He moaned in satisfaction, his lips forging a burning trail down the slope of her neck, across the curve of one breast, then the other. She quivered at the long sensual strokes of his tongue, the light scrape of his teeth, the soothing feel of his lips. Need spiraled—and then blossomed—deep inside her.
She guided him back to the bed, pushed him down, removed her panties and his pants, and climbed astride him.
She ran her hands across the width of his shoulders, over his chest, luxuriating in the satin smoothness of his skin, and the flex of solid muscle. Reaching over to the nightstand for a condom, she quickly sheathed him. Impatient, she lifted and positioned herself, aware nothing had ever felt as right as this.
Chase hadn’t expected Mitzy would have the energy to make love after the day they’d had, but he was glad she was as hot for him as he was for her. Giving way to the primal possessiveness he felt whenever he was near her like this, he took his time, touching and tantalizing, stroking and adoring, until her head fell back and her body shuddered with pleasure.
He held her through the aftershocks. Satisfaction rumbling through him, he continued undressing her.
When they were both naked, he eased her onto her back. Found a condom and, nudging her legs apart, slid between her thighs. She gasped as his lips crossed her abdomen, forged a trail up and down her inner thighs. She surrendered even as she arched, catching his head between her hands, until the climax she’d experienced earlier came roaring back.
She moaned as he shifted over top of her. Caught her to him in the ultimate closeness. She trembled. He dove deep. And then all was lost in the incredible welling passion between them. They were pushing toward the edge. Surging, racing, feeling. Climaxing together. Floating freely. Coming back down. Holding each other. Loving. Kissing. And starting all over again.
* * *
They woke to change and feed the boys around four in the morning. When they’d all been tended to and put back to bed, Mitzy turned to Chase.
Wrapped in a white spa robe and slippers, her hair tousled, cheeks pink from sleep, she looked as delectable as ever.
He followed her down to the kitchen and watched her bypass the coffeemaker and pour them both a glass of orange juice. Mitzy tilted her head at him, intuitive as ever. “Something on your mind?”
So this was how new parents felt... Doing his best to quell his unprecedented anxiety, Chase asked, “Is everything okay with the little fellas?”
She paused, glass halfway to her lips. “Yes. Why?”
Clad in trousers and a T-shirt, Chase shrugged. “I thought they were starting to sleep through the night.”
Mitzy smiled and, still sipping her juice, tucked her free hand into his. “If you call five or six hours at a time ‘through the night,’ then yes,” she admitted, setting her empty glass aside, “they have started sleeping from midnight until nearly dawn most of the time. I imagine they didn’t tonight because they’re off schedule from the trip.”
It was still dark outside. She looked tired and in need of cuddling. Tenderness sifting through him, Chase finished his drink and asked, “Want to go back to bed for a while?”
Mitzy yawned. “Please.”
Together, they headed back to her bedroom.
Chase dropped his trousers and, clad in boxer briefs and a T-shirt, went around to get in on the other side of the bed. Then paused, his gaze drifting to the fabric-covered box she’d left on the chaise in the corner. The lid was half-off. The ribbon edge of a homecoming mum was sticking out. Recognizing his high school colors—not hers—he went back to investigate. “What’s this?”
Mitzy flushed. “Just a box of old mementos.”
He sat down on the chaise. “Is this the one I gave you my senior year?”
Mitzy perched on the opposite side of the chaise, facing him. The sentimental items rested between them. “You convinced me you couldn’t get a date to the dance, and I needed to rescue you—as a friend, of course—so I grabbed the dress I had worn to my own dance and came into town to visit my dad.”
The memory was a good one. Chase smiled nostalgically, too. “I remember you came to the football game to see me play.”
“Which is where that homecoming mum comes in.” A tradition in Texas, the huge corsage was decorated with two feet of satin ribbons and all sorts of bling.
Chase took the lid all the way off. “What else is in here?”
Mitzy ducked her head shyly. “Other random things.”
Pleased, Chase noted, “Other random things that involve the two of us.”
Movie ticket stubs, concert programs, the take-out menu from their first trip to a popular San Angelo drive-in restaurant, with their choices circled. Several mixed tapes of music he had made just for her.
And it wasn’t just ancient keepsakes. Amazed, he looked at her. “The programs from the Christmas concert in the town square are even in here.”
Mitzy shrugged, her eyes dancing merrily. “I needed some place to put them.”
“Do you have stuff from other boyfriends, too?”
“No!” She seemed offended. “Do you keep anything to remind you of your old girlfriends?”
He shook his head, just as adamantly. “Of course not.”
Her relief was as palpable as his. “Do you have anything that belonged to the two of us, when we were together?”
“No,” he admitted regretfully.
She nodded and put the lid back on the box.
“Then, we broke up,” he continued in an effort to explain. “So I figured maybe it was just as well I didn’t have anything sentimental except our engagement photos to look at.”
Hurt came and went in her aquamarine eyes. She stepped into her closet and came out a couple of minutes later wearing a pair of flannel menswear-style pajamas. “Did you keep those?” she asked, almost too casually.
He went back to what had become “his side” of her bed and climbed in. He sat up against the pillows. “I was so ticked off when you told me it was over, I tried to throw them away.”
“But...?” she prodded.
Usually, he was the one hiding his feelings. Not tonight. “Every time I took the pictures out to the trash, something stopped me. I just...couldn’t do it.” He threw back the covers to welcome her. She came around and climbed in bed beside him.
“Lulu knew it. And offered to take custody of them for me until I decided what I wanted to do with them.”
Still sitting up, her arms wrapped around her raised knees, she studied him. Her brows knit together in a frown, confirming his nagging sensation that this was dangerous territory. “And?”
Chase exhaled. “I never decided. She mentioned to me the other day that she still has them, so I guess that tells us something, too.” Like Gus, his family hadn’t quite given up on them, either.
“And now?” she prodded, as if much depended on his answer.
He kissed the back of her wrist, aware it was never too late to make amends. “I wish I had kept stuff from when we first got to know each other, back in high school, and we were trying to figure out how to date each other without actually dating each other.” He flashed a crooked grin at the caution they had exhibited then—and now. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he admitted gruffly, “It would have been nice to add to the memorabilia we’re collecting now.”
Mitzy did a double take. She twisted around to better see his face. “What memorabilia?”
He retrieved his cell phone from the nightstand and showed her a dozen photos of her and him and the quads. “You-all are always with me.”
Her eyes suddenly shimmering, Mitzy reached over and wordlessly showed him her phone, too. The screen saver on hers was the photo of the six of them, taken at the holiday concert. “You’re with me, too,” she admitted thickly.
Once again they were on the same path.
Hot damn. Talk about a merry Christmas!
He put both phones aside and took her in his arms, ready to give her the love she yearned for. “Speaking of memories,” he proposed softly, reveling in the sweet and gentle yearning he saw in her eyes, “what do you say...let’s make some new ones...”
And because it was the season, they did.