“Not amiably, unfortunately,” he admitted. “I would have let them see her, but that wasn’t enough for Dawn’s mother. She wanted all of Bella. No joint custody. No visitation.”
“Why?”
“I have a few ideas, but nothing I could prove and nothing she’d ever admit to. It certainly didn’t have anything to do with quality of care, because that woman works from sunup to sundown, and she had no plans on leaving the Senate.”
“She’s a senator?”
He nodded. “Her current husband, I think he’s number four, travels for business a lot. Bella would have been with a nanny ninety percent of the time. Seaver may have been seeking revenge against me for getting Dawn pregnant. Hell, maybe she blamed me for Dawn’s drug abuse. All I know is that she was as rigid as steel.”
“Was her mother, Dawn, using when she was pregnant with Bella?”
He heaved a sigh and nodded. “The doctors say that’s why she’s behind.”
“I’m so sorry.” Everly floated to the side of the pool again. “That’s a lot to have thrown at a person.”
He shrugged. “I’m tough. I can handle it.”
A quick smile brightened her face. “So the court gave you custody.”
“Yes.” With that answer, he went silent. If he continued with the story, he’d have to say the courts then took custody away. And he’d have to expose a lot of ugly details that really didn’t matter. At least not to Everly.
But she asked, “Are those kidnapping threats you talked about related to Bella’s grandmother? Would she try to steal Bella?”
She already had, but that news might scare Everly off. “I believe she would.”
She pressed a cool hand to his knee. The touch was compassionate, not sexy, but Austin couldn’t take his gaze from the sight of her small, feminine hand on his thickly muscled thigh. “How can you and Bella live with that kind of threat hanging over you?”
Austin covered her hand with his and gave it a squeeze. “It won’t last forever.”
“Eighteen is a long ways away.”
He shook his head. “I’m pretty sure she’ll lose interest in Bella after the next primary. Maybe sooner.”
“You’re saying her interest in Bella is political?”
“Time will tell.” He slid her hand off his knee and pulled his legs from the water. He popped to his feet and offered his hands. “Come on. Time for bed. Bella’s going to beat us both to the breakfast table.”
She took his hands and let him draw her from the pool. She easily gained her footing on the pool deck. And then, there they were, in the warm, dark night, nearly naked, alone, inches away from each other…
For the longest, most sexually charged moment, neither of them stepped away. Austin had a split-second flash of fantasy. A white-hot image of wrapping his arms around her, pulling her against his body, and kissing her until neither of them could breathe.
Some survival instinct kicked on, making him turn and reach for one of the folded towels from a nearby chair. He grabbed one end, let it unroll, and tossed it around Everly’s shoulders. He fisted the ends of the towel, drawing it tight around her shoulders.
Austin’s mind tried to dart in a dozen highly inappropriate directions. But he dragged it back and met her gaze deliberately. “If you want to swim, ask one of the security guards to hang near the deck. You can’t be out here alone at night.” When she didn’t respond, he prodded, “Promise?”
She smirked and shrugged. “I guess Kujo’s not giving me much of a choice.”
6
Everly strolled down an aisle of just-picked fruits and vegetables in the open-air market. After she’d been working with Hix for five days, Sunday finally rolled around and Everly had ventured into town to meet Ian.
Because Decker had followed, she and Ian switched up their plans. They now strolled along with Sunday shoppers, talking with Roman over earphones.
Luckily, Decker thought he was being covert, which meant he didn’t get close enough to hear the conversation between two seemingly unrelated people milling among vendors.
“Ian,” she said, “come in behind me and pick up the floorplan sketches of the house.” She bought a basket of strawberries from the man, then handed him the folded sketch along with a fifty-dollar bill. “¿Podrías darle esto al hombre detrás de mí, por favor?”
The man’s eyes widened. “Si, si. Gracias, señorita.”