All distracting and frankly irritating.
So for now, he would enjoy the peace of mind afforded to him as he sat in the VIP dressing area of the top Miami stylist his assistant had scheduled Suki to visit.
A visit he’d accompanied her on simply because his mid-afternoon meeting had wrapped up early. Grabbing a copy of the financial paper he hadn’t been able to finish at breakfast this morning, he tuned out the three attendants’ hushed debate about which signature style to create for Suki.
The woman in question was seated on a chaise longue at the opposite end of the room, her shapely legs neatly crossed at the ankles. She was choosing not to participate in the conversation. Even looked borderline bored, a shrug very much in her expression each time she was asked a question.
Ramon’s irritation grew. Every woman he’d dated previously, without exception, had been an utter slave to shopping, the more exclusive, the more fervent the rhapsody. And the more adoring gratitude had come his way.
Suki looked as if she would have more fun watching paint dry.
Her gaze met his. Her lips pursed and her eyes stayed wide and unblinking. The distinct notion that she was fighting the urge to roll her eyes startled, then amused him.
Fighting the sudden twitch of his own lips, he returned his attention to his paper.
Eventually, the whole ensemble headed for an inner sanctum.
For five minutes he read and re-read the same article on the price of soya. T
he door opened. He tossed the paper aside.
The dress was a bold blood-red, the material a floor-length affair that clung to her body from chest to knees, leaving her shoulders bare and outlining her hourglass figure to perfection. Absently he heard one stylist refer to it as a Bardot-style evening dress.
With her hair caught back, her elegant neck and delicate shoulders gave off a fragile look he knew was false. Suki Langston had a backbone of steel. And as much as the reason for her presence in his life disturbed him, he couldn’t deny the fact that her beauty was enthralling. That the hot tug in his groin that had perturbed and then shamelessly dogged him with each subsequent time they’d met wasn’t going to go away.
He caught her full reflection in the mirror as one attendant stepped out of the way. She was smoothing her hand down her midriff. When it paused at her stomach, the place where his child had briefly been cradled, something hard and agonising pierced his chest.
The need to see his seed grow there, watch her belly expand with his child, filled every cell in his body.
The hell he’d lived in since finding out about his child, and the further agony of losing the family he’d never thought would be taken from him so suddenly, reared up and knocked him sideways.
He didn’t realise he’d made a sound until all four women froze and glanced his way. Suki’s gaze met his in the mirror and he caught the faintest tremble in her lips and sympathy in her vivid blue eyes.
He wanted to reject it, wanted to snarl that he didn’t need it. But his eyes stayed on hers, silently and secretly absorbing the sentiment.
‘She’ll take that one,’ he rasped into the silence.
The innocuous words altered the mood. A flurry of activity ensued. Having achieved success with the first dress, the stylist decided his opinion was needed for every subsequent ensemble.
He approved another half a dozen evening dresses, growled his dislike of a metallic gold cocktail dress that clung a little too tightly and showed off a little too much skin. At some point it was decided she would take her hair down to better judge the true style of one dress. The sight of her free-flowing hair sent another burst of heat through his bloodstream.
He was nodding at her selection of swimsuits and daywear when his phone rang. The doctors’ news sent a bolt of satisfaction through him. Followed closely by ramped-up anticipation.
The next call was to his American pilot to ready his plane.
Suki caught the tail end of the conversation. Enquiring blue eyes met his. He infused purpose in his gaze and watched her swallow.
Rising, he quickly brought the spree to a conclusion and led her out of the boutique with more than a little haste.
‘Any reason why we’re hotfooting it out of here like we’re fleeing the scene of a crime?’ she asked, but the hitch in her voice and the furtive glance his way suggested she already guessed the answer.
‘Our preliminary tests have returned with a green light,’ he answered as they settled into the car.
‘So...?’
‘So we’re returning home, Suki. I’ve waited long enough.’ Once he’d dragged himself from the depths of grief and accepted that only the promise of an heir would assuage him, he’d been planning for this event. He felt zero qualms about the swiftness with which he was moving now success was in his sights. The yearning stamped in his blood needed to be answered. Right now.
He couldn’t bring his brother or parents back, but he could ensure their memories lived on through his child.