An Heir to Bind Them

Chapter FOUR


Present day...

AS HE SETTLED onto the tarmac Theo eyed the waiting limo. Jaya was smart enough to wait for the blades to slow before leaving the car, but he was anxious to see her. He told himself it was the babies he was worried about, and whether he’d have the help he needed in caring for them. It had nothing to do with the gnawing ache that had stayed with him during the eighteen months since he’d made love to her for hours before she’d hurriedly dressed so she wouldn’t miss her flight.

His gut knotted. She’d seen him with his defenses blown apart by the family strife he’d been trying all his life to wall off. He’d never been as unguarded with a woman as he’d been that night, usually focusing strictly on the physical pleasure of his encounters and saying as little as possible.

With her, he’d reveled in the cessation of emotional pain. When she’d left him to the silence of the suite, he’d blamed his plummet back into misery on the return of his dark memories from childhood, but there was more to it. He used to look forward to Bali; he hated it there now. He missed her.

And he couldn’t imagine how she’d react to this. He glanced back to the passenger cabin, able to see through the open door that his nephew had fallen asleep. His niece stared wide-eyed from a tear-stained face, startled into silence by the return to solid ground and the new noises of shutting down the chopper.

“I’ll be right back,” he told her, not sure if his words had any impact. He dropped outside to tether the machine. He’d fueled here in the past, so the hangar wasn’t unknown. He still didn’t like leaving his machine without prior arrangements. Choice, however, had been pitched into the Med when he’d flown out to the new Makricosta cruise ship only to see a gunner boat approaching from the horizon.

His brother-in-law, Gideon, had been all smiles on his arrival, bringing the babies to have a look at uncle’s helicopter. The second Theo had delivered the news he hadn’t wanted to share over the radio, Gideon’s hand had bit into his arm. “You have to get them off this ship.”

Not only did Theo have no idea what would happen to his sister and older brother, or their spouses, but what in hell would he do with two babies? Especially if this turned into a permanent situation?

Forget the worst-case scenarios, he reminded himself. Deal with the moment at hand. By his estimation, he had to perform triage for twelve to twenty-four hours before he’d receive new information that would allow him to make a fresh decision.

The limo driver came around to open the back door. Jaya emerged.

Until he saw her and his tension bled away, he hadn’t realized how fearful he’d been that she wouldn’t come.

The rotors had slowed to listless circles, but he was still struck by a sensation of wind gusting him off his feet. She was wearing her hair shorter, just long enough to touch her shoulders and it had a wave in it he’d never seen before. He liked it better than the tight, sleek bun. She looked younger and more carefree.

Sexy.

Not to say she wasn’t looking professional and confident at the same time. Her suit was tailored and chic, the scarf at her throat familiar. A deliberately distancing touch, he wondered, since it was not Makricosta colors?

Are you going to tie me up with it?

Do you want me to?

She’d run her fingers through his hair and he’d almost died. Hell, he’d been so needy it was demoralizing.

She smoothed her hands down her jacket, the navy and ice-yellow smart and flattering on her slender figure. Her big, round sunglasses stayed firmly in place as she waited by the open door of the car, not approaching.

He motioned her to come into the interior of the helicopter. After a brief hesitation, she walked forward.

“Mr. Makricosta—”

He paused with one foot on the step and looked back at her, his ghostly reflection in her lenses a picture of one shielded face confronting another.

“Theo,” he corrected, tempted to stand here until she said it, which was inane. If he’d had one plan when—if he ever saw her again, it was that he’d pretend they’d never slept together. Unfortunately, he kept hearing her whispery gasps of his name, lightly accented, in his dreams and wanted to know if he remembered it right.

“Would you please tell me what is going on?” A hitch of panic entered her tone as he let her question launch him up the steps and into the helicopter. She followed, protesting, “I can’t go anywhere. I have commitments. Work and....”


She didn’t finish, making him wonder what other commitments, but he didn’t press her. “You got my text. You know I need a room. Somewhere no one will expect me to hole up. When I said this was an emergency—”

He indicated the two babies. He’d had the white leather seats outfitted with child harnesses so he could transport his siblings and their children, but the babies looked ridiculously tiny in the first-class armchairs.

“You have kids?” she screeched, standing taller in the low-ceilinged inner lounge of the Eurocopter.

Androu jerked awake and began to wail. Evie broke down into renewed tears.

“Nice going,” he shot at Jaya.

She stared at Androu, seeming to go yellow beneath her natural mocha tone. “How old is he?” she hissed.

“They’re not mine,” he ground out, resisting a weird guilt attack even though he’d taken pains—and it had been painful—to ignore her messages and reinforce to her that she didn’t have any claim on him. “Help me get them into the car.” He handed her Androu and turned to unstrap Evie.

She took the boy into her arms like a natural, which he’d known she would be, even though her lips were so pale and frozen he wondered if she’d ever smile again.

It wasn’t in her to take out her feelings on a child, though. The first time he’d seen her, a blond German boy’s pale hand clutched in hers, he’d recognized her strong maternal instinct and liked her for it. Today she soothed Androu as she carried him outside where the change of scenery calmed him.

Evie remained stiff in his arms, inconsolable. They slid into the limo like bank robbers after a heist and the driver pulled away.

“You might have told me so I could have had proper car seats installed. This is dangerous, Theo.”

Damn. His name sounded better than he remembered and made him hunger to hear it against his ear.

“So?” she prompted. “Who are they?”

“Can he be trusted?” he asked in a murmur, nodding at the driver. “Because I couldn’t risk a phone call that might have been heard over the radio. I was texting one-handed—” He was interrupted by Jaya’s sudden query to Evie.

“Pyaari beti, do you have to use the potty?”

Evie’s distressed face nodded vigorously.

For the second time today, Theo’s mind blanked with panic. She was on his knee!

“Oscar—” Jaya turned to say, but the driver was ahead of her, already slowing outside the terminal building.

“Wait—” Theo said as Jaya plunked Androu onto the cushion beside her and scooped up Evie.

“There’s no waiting at her age. What is she, two?” She was out the door as the limo halted, the little girl wrapped onto her hip like a monkey.

Theo clenched his teeth and did the math on discoverability. He didn’t dare let himself calculate the odds on Jaya stealing the toddler. He made himself believe he knew her better, even though he didn’t. Not really. Not when he’d treated her the way he had.

Sleeping with Jaya had been wrong.

He wasn’t a man who got anything wrong. Mistakes were a luxury he had never been able to afford.

Something about Jaya eroded his discipline, however. Two years ago, he’d started allowing himself to fantasize about an employee. Then he’d begun finding reasons to stay an extra day in Bali, to review reports he could generate himself. He’d rationalized a one-night affair and taken her to bed knowing it was not just unwise and bordering on unethical, it was downright stupid. She was sweet and generous, not the worldly, here-for-a-good-time kind of woman who would forget him as quickly as he forgot her.

God, he wished he could forget her.

The best he’d managed was not to return her tentative few calls. It had been a cruel-to-be-kind favor in her best interest. Not that he expected her to see it that way, but he had warned her they had no future. Surely she wouldn’t hold a grudge when he’d been honest about that much?

Skipping his gaze between Androu, who was turning himself and scooting backward off the opposite seat, and the terminal doors that remained closed and reflected the black windows of the limo, he evaluated how much of a chance he was taking letting Jaya whisk Evie into public.

This airstrip catered to private aircraft belonging to celebrities and Europe’s high society, which meant most people would have very little interest in anyone but themselves. It was a tempting place for paparazzi to hang around looking for the shot of their career, though. Evie’s parents were scrupulous about keeping her out of the limelight. Dressed in her hotel uniform, Jaya would be dismissed as a flight attendant or a nanny. Since Evie’s almond eyes and black pigtails didn’t match either her adoptive father’s blond hair or her mother’s green eyes, the chances of anyone recognizing her were narrow.

It was still an interminable wait as Androu rocked his still learning feet across the short expanse to clutch at Theo’s knee. “Mama,” he said.

Oh, hell. Theo stared into innocent eyes that could have belonged to his little brother, Demitri, at that age. “I know, buddy,” he said, even though he didn’t know a damned thing except that Adara had done this surrogate parenting at a far younger age than he was, so he had to man up and make this work.

Adara had had Jaya’s instincts, though. Somehow she’d hung on to them through the war ground that was their childhood and look what she’d made: Androu was a happy little cub who’d eaten fistfuls of his first birthday cake a few months ago.

“Papa,” Androu said, making his request in that polite yet firm way his father had.

“Not here, either, sport.” Theo eyed the driver who was circumspectly keeping his eyes forward. Discreet, he’d said in his text to Jaya. Emergency. I need discreet transport and accommodation. He’d told her where and when to pick him up and she’d come through for him. Surely that meant she’d bring back his niece.

Androu picked at the seam on Theo’s jeans, absorbed, allowing Theo to train his X-ray vision on the terminal doors, willing them to open.

What in hell was taking so long? A tiny thing like Evie couldn’t have much liquid in her, especially when she’d cried most of it out. Thank goodness he’d had the sense to call Jaya. Putting a little girl on a potty was not something he would think to do, let alone know how to make happen. He was completely unprepared for this situation, like he’d been dropped on a deserted island with two little gremlins.

And Jaya.

God, she looked more incredible than ever. He still dreamed of that mouth, wide and full and feminine. Her body was better than ever. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was holding onto a few more pounds, filling out her slender figure to voluptuous perfection. Her breast would probably overflow his hand when—

If.

Hell, never.

It couldn’t happen. Best to cut those thoughts short now.

Seriously, what was she doing?

He couldn’t go after her, no matter how much he was tempted. He wasn’t a movie star, but the Makricosta siblings had been featured in upscale magazines recently, promoting the cruise ship currently being taken over by pirates. Was it targeted? Were high seas criminals after a hefty ransom by kidnapping some of the richest people in the world? The inaugural cruise had drawn a very elite crowd.

One thing at a time, he ordered himself. Gideon would protect Adara at all costs and he, Theo, had removed the only distraction Gideon might have had. Once the tots were safely stationed, he’d check in with Gideon and the authorities Gideon had raced off to advise.


A sharp pain in his thigh had him jerking his knee from the source, jostling the boy who’d bent to taste denim with his newly cut teeth. Startled by his near fall, the corners of Androu’s mouth went down and his eyes filled again.

“Wait. It’s fine. Go ahead and use me as a chew toy. You just startled me.”

Outside, the terminal doors slid open and Jaya appeared with Evie still on her hip. She clutched an overstuffed bag in her free hand and wore a harried look.

Theo moved faster than the driver, pushing open the door as she reached the car.

“Seriously? Shopping?” He took the bag and steadied her under an elbow as she crawled in, catching a full inhale of her exotic sandalwood and almond scent. It hit him like a drug that weakened his muscles and teased him with euphoria.

Unless he was very careful, coming to her would turn into another mistake. He couldn’t let it happen. He released her to pull the door shut behind her.

“Funny,” Jaya said tartly, then, “Thank you, Oscar. Directly to the hotel now, please. The underground entrance.” She pressed a button to close the privacy window and steadied Evie beside her on the seat as the car began to glide forward.

Theo picked up Androu and settled him on his thigh, catching a look on Jaya’s face that might have been stunned hurt, but she looked away. Better that she was hurt and hated him. It would be easier for both of them.

Turning a gentle smile to Evie, she said, “You’ve been very patient. Would you like your drink now?” She brought a bottle of water out of the bag and opened it, helping Evie to sip.

Androu put out a hand and made a noise of imperative.

“I bought one for him, too. Do you know if they have any allergies?”

“I don’t think so.” Not Androu anyway. Adara was always prattling on about every little thing Androu ate, touched or said. Theo only listened with half an ear, but he would remember if she was worried about something like that.

There were bananas in the bag with yoghurt cups and a bag of vanilla cookies. Food. Right.

“Good call,” he told her as he spilled water all over himself trying to keep the greedy Androu from drowning. The kid didn’t have the first clue about the physics of tipping a water bottle and ended up coughing it all down his chin. “I think he uses a special cup for this.”

“Really? Perhaps you should have stolen it when you kidnapped him.” She brought out a banana and broke off pieces, making everyone sticky but quiet and happy.

“This is Androu, my nephew, Adara and Gideon’s boy.”

“Oh, of course.” Everything in Jaya changed, softening as her gaze hooked onto Androu’s little face with as much fixation as her first stare, but with a touch of wistfulness now. “I’d heard gossip about a miscarriage when I was in Bali. I’m happy for them. He’s beautiful.”

Her tone was sincere, moved almost. Or maybe he was reading into it. His emotions had been stripped to their rawest form the last time he’d been with her. Today wasn’t much better. He hadn’t planned ever to see her again and when he had indulged in imagining he might, he’d pulled himself together.

“It’s been an eventful couple of years,” he couched, trying to gloss over all the inner tearing down and rebuilding he’d been forced to do without betraying how brutal it had been. “Look, Jaya. I came to you because I figured I could trust you. We’ve kept some family business out of the papers for my mother’s sake and even though she’s gone now, we prefer not to air our dirty laundry, but...” He shrugged. “Are you aware that Nic Marcussen is my older brother?”

“No, I didn’t even know your mother had died. I’m so sor— Wait. Marcussen Media? That Nic Marcussen?”

“Yes.”

“Married to Rowan Davidson, the actress? Who adopted a baby from—” She looked at Evie who tilted her almond-shaped eyes up curiously.

“Where’s Mama?”

“She’s coming to get you soon,” Jaya reassured her, handing Evie another piece of banana. “Isn’t she?” she prompted Theo.

“I sincerely hope so, but from what I saw from the air, they have to evade pirates first.”

“Where? On the Med? You can’t be serious!”

“I know what I saw and the authorities have been notified, but there’s every chance we’ll be looking at ransom negotiations. The last thing we need is a media circus, especially around the babies. Hell, they’re kidnap targets. You were the closest person I could think of who could provide me a place to stay that was off the radar.”

Completely practical, exactly as it was supposed to be, he assured himself.

“You knew where I was working?” Her clipped challenge held dual notes of hurt and ire, suggesting that if he had known, he should have called.

He bit back a sigh. “I was contacted as a reference,” he lied, adding politely, “Congratulations.”

“Oh, um, thanks,” she dismissed with a self-conscious shrug. “It’s a boutique hotel, very well respected even before the upgrades. They’re looking to bring in a higher clientele and hired me because of my experience with Makricosta’s. I guess I’m indebted to you...again.” Her voice trailed off. The way she bit her lips together suggested she would rather be run over by this limo than face him after referencing their night together.

He pretended they’d left it at the point where she’d thanked him, as if the rest hadn’t happened. “As I said then, the hoteliers here got lucky.”

Her eyelashes flinched in a way that seemed to say, Did you really just say that?

He had. It was unkind, but he wasn’t about to acknowledge how lucky he’d been that night. If his insensitivity toward her made his gut knot with sick self-hatred, so be it. He was here for only one reason.

Jaya visibly pulled herself together. “I’ve arranged the Presidential Suite. It’s yours as long as you need it. I’ll talk to the staff, keep housekeeping out of there, tell them you’re antisocial.” Her tight smile said, It’s not even a lie, and the churning rolled in his stomach again. “My new boss isn’t nearly as hands-on as you were. You’ll be long gone before he asks who was in there.”

Hands-on?

Her cool delivery let him know that two could play this game.

Androu curled his banana-coated fingers into Theo’s shirtfront and tried to wriggle down to his feet, forcing Theo to break their stare.

“I need more than a safe place to hide,” Theo said, tentative in his struggle with Androu, afraid of hurting his tiny body, but not wanting him hurting himself by trying to walk around in a moving vehicle. Androu grew frustrated and started arching with temper. “I don’t know what to do with babies. I need your help.”

“Like a nanny? I can call an agen—”

He shook his head, impatient that she was being obtuse. “I can’t trust strangers. That chauffeur hearing my name is bad enough. I need complete discretion, at least until I know the situation on the ship. Twenty-four hours, maybe forty-eight, then we can reassess.”

“We? You’re suggesting me? No.” She shook her head. “Definitely not. I can’t.” Her eyes grew big, panicked maybe, but she shielded them with a downward sweep of her lashes. “I really can’t. It’s impossible. No. Sorry.”

Because of their history. Because he’d just been a bastard about it. Damn it. There was a reason he didn’t make promises to women: he couldn’t keep them, not the emotional kind. He didn’t have it in him to fulfill and make happy. Not in a romantic way. In other ways...


He thought fast. “Look at what you gain. This is the son of the Makricosta chain of hotels and resorts. Do you recognize how much favor will be bestowed on the person who keeps him from harm? How do you feel about working cruise lines? Gideon has another ship launching next fall. You’re climbing ladders so I assume your career is still very important to you. You’ll be able to write your own ticket, Jaya. Anything you can’t do, Adara will pay for you to learn. Hell, name your price and I’ll pay it to know that I’ve got someone I can trust for the next few days.”

“To babysit.” Her mouth stayed in a flat, grim line of disgust.

“They’re the toughest guests to please. Free dinner goes nowhere with them.”

“Am I supposed to be laughing? Because I don’t find this funny.”

“Look, I know it sounds sexist. That’s not why I’m asking. You’re good with kids. Or does it bother you that I’d offer you money to help me?”

“Your being here bothers me, Theo,” she snapped, turning her face away. “This is...” Her brow flinched into anguish.

Her anxiety was a kick in the chest, especially as he sensed that her refusal wasn’t coming entirely from being scorned. There was a fear component. Something more emotional. It occurred to him there might be a man in her life making her hold back.

His insides shrunk to knotted pieces of rawhide. He couldn’t bring himself to ask if that was the problem. He didn’t want to know.

“It’s a big favor, I realize that,” he managed.

She choked out a laugh. “Is that what this is? A favor? A professional courtesy?”

“It’s an appeal to your better nature. Think of the children.”

“Are you serious right now?” She pursed her mouth in a furious white line.

“Jaya, I can’t afford mistakes. Letting a stranger look after these kids would be wrong. I need you. Tell me what it will cost. I’ll pay it.”