CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
After more than a year, he could still reduce her to a puddle of hormones. Swallowing the bitter truth like a pill, and before her mind started to churn over all the “what ifs and maybes”, which would surely get her heart broken again, Olivia left the nursery. At the bottom of the stairs, Nathaniel waited for her.
“Pumpkin finally asleep?”
Olivia smiled. Not only did Nathaniel love her, he loved Karin as well. And her daughter had taken a liking to her future stepfather. There were times when she didn’t want anyone else to feed or hold her except for him.
“I left her drifting off to sleep.” Olivia’s gaze drifted past him to their remaining guests.
“He and his brother are gone. They left as soon he came downstairs.”
Olivia patted herself on the back. Even though Khalid’s absence left a bewildering emptiness, her expression gave nothing away.
“Awkward?” she asked, gauging his temperament. Tonight had surely affected him as well.
“I expected Karin’s father to turn up one day, just not at our engagement party.” Nathaniel rested his arm on the banister and smiled. His chocolate brown eyes remained humorless and distant. “I hope this was the only secret you’re keeping from me.”
“It’s the only thing I’ve kept from you.” Well…that and the fact she’d been in love with Khalid. No one, not even her brother, knew she’d fallen for her abductor.
“Truly?”
Suddenly remembering her and Khalid’s conversation she amended, “Khalid wants to change Karin’s last name to his.”
Nathaniel grabbed her arm and tugged her into the hallway leading to the back of the house, affording them some privacy. Unintentionally, Olivia compared his touch to Khalid’s. It left her cold, while the latter’s kiss had made her want to splay her legs for him.
“Did you tell him I planned to adopt Karin once we wed?”
Olivia cringed. While in Khalid’s company, she’d forgotten completely about Nathaniel. “I-I forgot.”
“I hope you didn’t forget you’re engaged.”
“What are you trying to imply?” she snapped, neither liking his snide tone nor his roundabout way of digging for dirt.
“I’m not implying anything. But I will say he was up there long enough more than one guest remarked about it.” Nathaniel reached up and ran his palm over his head. His handsome dark looks were amplified by a fresh haircut and shave.
As if reading her mind he said, “If you want out, I’ll give it to you. Just don’t make a fool of me.”
Riddled with guilt, Olivia slumped against the wall. “Nothing’s changed, Nathaniel. Khalid doesn’t love me. I was only a possession to him. Still, it wouldn’t be right to deny him his daughter.”
Nathaniel placed his hand on the wall above her head, the other toyed with an errant lock by her ear. Once again, he proved to be a catalyst for comparison, and her body remained as dead as a fish at the market on Canal Street.
“Are you sure Karin’s the only thing he wants?”
“Even if he did and that’s a big if, I would be pretty stupid to hang my hopes on someone who will never love me.”
Nathaniel pushed away from her. Jaw set in a hard line, he shoved his hands in his trouser pockets. “Yeah, pretty stupid,” he gritted out.
“Nathaniel I—” Olivia’s sentence remained unfinished because he turned on his heel and walked away.
***
The ride back to the Walcott Hotel was somber. And neither Khalid nor Iz?l spoke as they took the elevator to the presidential suite.
“How was your evening?” Eugene asked, greeting them at the door.
“A complete disaster.” Loosening his tie, Iz?l headed to one of the suite’s three adjoining bedrooms.
“The best night of my life,” Khalid slapped his faithful assistant on the shoulder as he passed. “I’m a father.”
Eugene adjusted his spectacles. “And you’re happy about that, sir?”
Khalid flounced onto a black leather club chair and kicked up his feet. He couldn’t blame his man’s underwhelming reaction. In the not so distant past, he’d vocalized his distaste for parenthood more than once. Now, he couldn’t understand why he’d waited so long. Even though they’d just met, he loved his daughter with all his heart.
“I’m ecstatic. The mother of my beautiful little girl is Olivia Bryant.”
Eugene folded his hands before him. “Is she happy about that?”
Heat blasted Khalid’s cheeks. “Probably not at first, but she seems to adore her.”
“That’s good to hear. Now if there is nothing else, I need to finish packing your trunks.”
“About that…I’m not leaving.”
Eugene cocked his head and looked at him as if he’d fallen onto the pipe again. “What about the Grand Prix in Madrid?”
“I’m withdrawing from the race.”
“What do you mean you’re withdrawing?” Jacketless, Iz?l burst from the bedroom. Eugene took that as his cue to give them some privacy. “But our ship leaves in two days.”
“I’m staying.”
Iz?l glared down at him. “Is this a permanent move?”
“Indefinite.”
“She’s marrying someone else, Kal.” Iz?l plunged his hands through his hair, mussing the brown waves. “Please don’t be a fool.”
“My staying in New York has nothing to do with Olivia.” Iz?l shot him a dubious look, and Khalid backpedaled. “Okay, I’m still in love with her, but my feelings for her have nothing to do with my decision to stay behind. I have a daughter now. I’m not going to allow her to grow up like us, shuttled back and forth between two stubborn parents living on separate continents.”
Iz?l sat down on the arm rest with a heavy sigh. “It was nice living in two places, but I eventually grew to hate it, and our parents as well for their stubbornness.”
“Me too. That’s why I’m staying.”
“What about the company?” Iz?l unsnapped the platinum cuff links to his shirt and removed them. “You’re an active partner.”
Eyes alight with the plan he’d formed in his head during the ride home, Khalid sat up. “We’ve always wanted to start a division in the States. No time comme le présent.”
A smile quirked Iz?l’s lips as he shook his head. “So you’ve got this all worked out?”
“It’s a done deal.”
“I can’t believe you’re not upset she hid your child from you.”
It was a low blow, but Khalid knew his baby brother was only trying to protect him from further damage.
“I was hurt. Seeing her at the top of the stairs holding my child was like a kick to the nuts. But I wasn’t the only one kept in the dark. Harry didn’t know the identity of Karin’s father, either. Olivia must have kept our daughter a secret to spare him. He and I were more than college roommates. We were like brothers.”
“Well…you have quite a few relationships to salvage.” Iz?l stood. “Good thing your stay is indefinite. You’re going to need as much time as possible to repair all the damage you’ve caused.”
Khalid shrugged off his brother’s premonition. If anything he’d learned in the past year, he realized every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carried with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.
***
Olivia couldn’t get home fast enough. She was fairly bursting with the laundry list of questions she’d prepared to bombard Meredith with regarding Khalid’s morning visit. Did father and daughter get along? How long was his visit? Would he be sticking around? Had he asked about how she fared on her voyage home?
Olivia wrinkled her nose. Khalid’s return in her life was about Karin not her. And she better remember that or she’d find her heart broken all over again.
“Are we walking home together or racing?” Harry asked, several steps behind her. Winded, his forehead glistened with sweat.
Olivia took pity on her brother and slowed her pace. “Just anxious to get home and see Karin.”
Harry pulled out a white handkerchief and dotted his brow. “He didn’t take her. I had Schilling sit with them.”
Olivia’s mouth dropped open. “You what?”
“Do you honestly think I would allow that man to come into our home, and visit with my niece without any of us there and only Meredith to protect her? I know you’re trying to extend the olive branch to your child’s father, and I’m working on forgiving him myself, but what a foolish move.”
Olivia nibbled the pad of her thumb. Harry was right. What if Khalid had taken Karin? With his means, he could’ve disappeared and she would’ve never seen her daughter again.
She glanced down at her hands. “I’m shaking,” she whispered.
“Don’t beat yourself up, baby girl.” Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered them home. “Khalid can be a charmer. I’ve seen him in action.” They turned on their block, and out of habit he pulled out his house keys. “In all honesty, I’m rather surprised you didn’t fall in love with him out there in the desert. When we were in school, all Khalid had to do was look at some innocent coed, spout some of that “voulez-vous coucher” crap, and he’d have them begging him to do any and everything to them.”
“B-begging?” Olivia hugged her middle. It was almost summer and yet it felt like her blood had turned to ice.
Chuckling, Harry nodded. “Oh, he loved wrapping girls around his finger. Getting them so worked up till they accepted him under his terms, which was nothing but a roll in the sack. The dummies were so in love with him, they didn’t realize they meant nothing to him.”
“Yeah…dummies.” Olivia was thankful they’d finally arrived home. After Harry’s little diatribe, all she wanted to do was curl up in a corner for a couple of hours and feel sorry for herself.
“We’re home!” Harry announced as he opened the door.
Meredith poked her head out the dining room. Smile affixed, her gaze slid to the living room across the hall and then back again. “You two are home early.”
Harry took off his hat and rested it on the rack next to the front door. “Sister dear was pretty much useless all day. So, we closed shop early and ran home…quite literally.” Harry smacked his hands together. “What’s for dinner? Her mad dash home has me starving.”
Meredith’s mouth widened into what looked like a smile. “Pot roast with all the fixings you like Mr. Harry. Macaroni and cheese, fried okra, glazed carrots, yeast rolls and pecan pie.”
“Glazed carrots and pie?” Harry planted his hands on his hips. “Are you trying to ask me for another loan? I swear, Meredith, you need to get your brother some help instead of bailing him out all the time.”
Obviously taking offense at Harry’s unsolicited advice, Meredith lifted her chin. “Thought I should cook something nice for our guest.”
“Guest?” Both Olivia and Harry asked in unison.
Smiling, Meredith nodded toward the living room. She left them to investigate, and disappeared into the dining room.
With Karin napping in his arms, Khalid lay sprawled on the couch. Head thrown back and mouth ajar, he remained oblivious to the two people standing over him and the detective keeping vigil on the other side of the room.
“Good evening, Mr. Bryant.” Schilling tucked the evening Post under his arm as he stood. “Since you’re both home, I’ll head out.”
“You’re welcome to stay for dinner,” Harry offered.
“I don’t eat with clients. Blurs the line between me and my mark.”
“Good enough excuse. At least let me see you out.” Harry turned back to Olivia. “You got this?”
“Piece of cake. I left him and made my way across an ocean, didn’t I?”
Harry’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you said he sent you packing.”
Caught in her lie, Olivia’s pulse raced. “Whether he sent me packing or I left on my own, does it change the fact that I was kidnapped?”
“It shouldn’t,” Harry’s gaze drifted to Khalid, and his expression darkened. “But now everything that’s transpired has taken on an all new meaning.”
Like the pressure in a tea kettle threatening to boil over, Harry seemed to strain against the confines of his suit.
Olivia leaned down and unwrapped Khalid’s arms from around their daughter. “Walk Mr. Schilling to the door, Harry. Like us, he’s had a long day.”
“A very long day,” Harry muttered. He opened his mouth as if to say something more, but he shut it and did as he was told.
Drying her hands on a kitchen towel, Meredith appeared in the doorway. “Dinner will be served as soon as you all are ready.”
“We’ll be ready to eat shortly, let me put Karin to bed.” Smiling, Olivia gently lifted her daughter.
“Why do you insist on protecting me?” Olivia looked down into Khalid’s pale green eyes. All this time they thought he’d been asleep.
“Playing possum?” She was neither surprised nor upset by his ruse. On more occasions than she could count, he’d pretended to be asleep so he could catch her unawares and pounce on her.
A sleepy, lopsided smile curled his lips, and a dull ache settled in her breast. At that moment, Olivia suddenly realized how much she’d missed him lying beside her every morning.
“More or less,” he confessed, pulling her out of the past. “Good thing, because your brother sounded like he wanted to hang me from the nearest tree.”
“More or less,” she parroted. Olivia cradled Karin in her arms. With all the activity around her, Pumpkin hadn’t awakened. “Go wash up. Meredith invited you to dinner.”
Olivia moved to take Karin upstairs. The touch of his hand on her arm stopped her.
“Do you want me to stay?”
The combination of their shared past and the gentleness of his touch startled a gasp out of her. Olivia stumbled out of his reach for fear of doing exactly what Nathaniel had accused her of less than twenty-four hours ago, and falling into the same trap her brother had unsuspectingly made fun of.
“I don’t see any harm in having you as our guest.” With each word, her confidence returned. Their current relationship was now on her terms. “It just means we’ll have a full table.”
Khalid’s eyes narrowed as he sat forward, his forearms resting on his knees. “Who else is coming to dinner?”
“My fiancé, Nathaniel. He always joins us.”
“How is he with our arrangement?”
“After we were married, he was going to adopt Karin.”
“How noble,” Khalid sneered.
“That and he loves Karin.” As if sensing the conversation had turned to her, their daughter stretched her arms out and yawned.
Smiling, Khalid reached out and touched her foot. “Have you set a date?”
“A date for what?”
“For your wedding.”
Olivia’s pulse fluttered. The fact that she’d avoided setting a date for her nuptials had become a source of contention between her and Nathaniel. “We haven’t decided on a date.”
Khalid stood. “Why the delay?” he asked, while tucking the tail ends of his shirt in his pants. The top three buttons of his white shirt were unbuttoned as well, exposing a spattering of black hair.
“I just opened the clinic and…and…Karin is such a handful,” she floundered.
That cocky smile of his played along his lips again. “When you’re with your fiancé, do you throw out all these lame excuses?”
Olivia stiffened. “Nathaniel is a gentleman. He takes my feelings into consideration. He respects my wishes,” she said, defending her fiancé.
Khalid’s smile widened.
“What?” she squeaked, the silence grating on her nerves.
“You two haven’t been intimate, have you?”