“You know what I mean.” She loved him more than life but no one had ever gotten under her skin the way Luke could.
“Of course I know what you mean. I also know what you need, Claire. What we need. You haven’t had a real break since before Bella was born. You need to rest, sweetheart, and we need time together.” He paused and she waited him out. Her husband was tenacious as hell when he wanted something but that didn’t mean she’d let him roll over her. “I have to go to Hawaii to look at some property. It’s just for a couple of days,” he said when she didn’t speak. “We fly out, spend two days and fly back home.”
“And do what with Bella?” Surely he wasn’t considering taking a baby on a twelve-hour flight. And he couldn’t expect Claire to leave their daughter at home. There weren’t any loving grandparents to leave her with. Hailey was great but too inexperienced, and there was no way in hell she’d leave her with the old baby nurse.
“I’ll figure it out.”
“I’m not leaving her with someone I don’t trust. I mean it, Masters,” she said, confident he’d never be able to find someone she could trust with their baby girl.
“Like I would,” he said and she could hear the edge of anger sliding into his voice. “Stop underestimating me. It’s getting old. She’s my daughter too. I’d never let anything happen to her.”
She knew that. Luke was protective almost to a fault, with her and their child. That didn’t mean she’d ever be comfortable leaving her baby. Even if it was just for a couple of days. In Hawaii, feeling the waves break around her.
“Fuck, Luke.”
“I’m counting on it, sweetheart.”
LUKE WATCHED CLAIRE pull the seat belt tight across her lap. She’d been pissed at him since he told her he was taking her to Hawaii for a long weekend. Without the baby. That was the sticky bit, but his wife was exhausted and being pulled in too many directions. She couldn’t figure out what came next if she was busy taking care of the baby. He’d thought about bringing Bella along with a sitter to care for her, but he knew Claire well enough to know she’d never leave their little girl alone. Not that he was trying to get his wife to neglect their daughter; he just wanted to help her find her footing again. He hated seeing the purple smudges under her beautiful green eyes.
When the opportunity came up to sneak off for a few days to look at some land he was thinking of developing, he figured he could kill two birds with one stone. Claire could get some rest and perspective and he could get her opinion of the site. He trusted her eye and felt better when she felt good about a project. Of course, none of that would matter if she wouldn’t talk to him and by the looks of her, that was a very real possibility.
The private jet taxied down the runway and he felt the thunk underneath them as the landing gear folded up into the body of the plane. Before they met, Claire hadn’t been out of the state. She loved to travel and had taken to it right away. Taking her to new places and rediscovering them through her eyes had rapidly become one of his favorite things to do, but they hadn’t been anywhere since Bella was born. He’d hoped the lure of a tropical island would appeal to her sense of adventure enough to soften the blow of leaving their daughter behind.
“She’s going to be fine,” he said, but she just looked at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “You know she is, Claire. Becky will take great care of her. We wouldn’t have left her if I wasn’t so sure.”
Becky had been the private duty nurse who’d taken care of Claire’s father until he had to be hospitalized. When he found out about the Hawaii trip, she’d been the first one he’d thought of to keep the baby. Without grandparents or friends with children, there was no one else to ask. He trusted Becky as much as Claire did, and he knew it was the only way she’d even consider going with him. As it was, it had taken some of his best talking to get his wife to agree to four days away from their daughter, and he didn’t need to look at her to know she wasn’t happy about it. He could try to reason it out with her, but he felt pretty sure that her mood had more to do with her emotions than logic. Reasoning wasn’t likely to get him anywhere he wanted to be.
After a few moments, the captain came on the intercom to tell them it was safe to move around the cabin. He unfastened his seat belt and glanced at Claire to see whether she’d done the same. In the time it had taken for them to reach altitude and level out, his wife had fallen asleep, her head tipped uncomfortably to the side. Smiling to himself, he unfastened her seat belt and, careful to get his feet under him, bent to scoop her into his arms.
“Wha…wait,” said Claire, blinking awake. “Put me down.”