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Not after that hug. Not after her unexpected reaction to Drew Connelly’s arms wrapped around her.
For the first time in years, she’d experienced true chemistry. And she couldn’t help but think Drew had experienced it, too. Or at least she thought he had.
Heaven help her, one innocuous hug and she was already considering things she had no cause to consider. Not until they knew each other better. Then whatever happened, happened. Still, she couldn’t stop thinking about him, what it would be like to kiss him…
“Do you like my daddy?”
Amanda’s sudden query drew Kristina out of her stupor. “Well, honey, so far I like your daddy, but we don’t really know each other all that well. That’s why I’m here.”
Amanda nodded. “And to play with me.”
She touched the tip of Amanda’s upturned nose. “Yes, sweetie, and to play with you.”
Amanda brought out the second case full of doll clothing and rummaged through it. “My mommy died,” she said, sounding almost matter-of-fact.
Drew had told Kristina in the e-mails that he was a widower, but he’d provided no details other than that his wife had passed away years ago. “Do you remember your mommy, Mandy?”
She shrugged. “No. But Nana Lilly says I look like her.”
Kristina reached out and brushed back the fringed bangs resting on Amanda’s forehead. “Do you think so?”
She shrugged again. “I don’t know what she looks like.”
“You haven’t seen any pictures?”
“Daddy doesn’t have any pictures.”
Kristina’s chest constricted with sadness. Obviously Drew’s wife’s death had been so painful that he’d tucked away the reminders. But had he tucked away the memories? Was he still pining for Amanda’s mother? Was that the reason for his loneliness?
Still, Amanda deserved to know such an important part of her history. Not knowing couldn’t be good for a child, yet Kristina realized it wasn’t her place to remind Drew of that fact. Not yet, anyway. “Maybe you should ask Daddy to see a picture, Mandy.”
Amanda handed Kristina a tiny wedding dress. “It’s okay. You can be my mommy now.”
Kristina sighed. What had she gotten herself into? What if this didn’t work out with Drew? A woman Amanda considered to be a mother figure, when she seemed to need one so badly, would once again leave her.
But it didn’t have to be that way.
Despite her concerns, Kristina chose to be optimistic and hope that things would work out between her and Drew. And if they did, then perhaps she could be a mother for Amanda and a wife to Drew. If only she felt more confident that would happen.
Amanda held up the boy doll, now dressed in a miniature tuxedo. “This is Drew.”
Amanda was a daddy’s girl, through and through, Kristina realized. Not surprising since he was all that she had, and vice versa.
Kristina finished dressing her unrealistic curvaceous doll in a white satin bridal gown. “And what shall we call her?”
“Kristina. She’s going to marry my daddy.” Amanda made the declaration with certainty and a sweet smile, with optimism afforded by her youth. If only Kristina could be so sure.
Amanda took both of the dolls, held them up, and said, “I announce you man and wife,” then pressed them face-to-face and made kissing noises.
“Short ceremony,” Kristina said with a laugh.
“Maybe Barbie and Ken are ready for the honeymoon.”
Drawn to the sound of the compelling voice, Kristina glanced toward the door to find Drew leaning against the frame wearing a navy polo shirt and white casual pants, his wavy dark hair combed neatly into place. He also wore a grin, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement. Kristina immediately responded to his presence with warmth, with wistfulness when she realized his smile was for his daughter, not for her.
“They’re not Barbie and Ken, Daddy,” Amanda said, sounding thoroughly put out. “It’s Drew and Kristina.”
Drew strolled into the room, hands in pockets. The scent of woodsy cologne caressed Kristina as he crouched beside Amanda. “I’ve got to go to the office for a while, so give Daddy a kiss, sweetheart.” He pointed at his now clean-shaven cheek, and it took everything in Kristina not to comply, though she knew he was talking to his daughter.
Amanda frowned. “Can’t you play with me and Kristina, Daddy?”
He centered his blue-flame eyes and knowing grin on Kristina. “Maybe we can play later tonight.”
Kristina’s pulse did double time over the double entendre. He kept staring at her, as if awaiting a response she wasn’t capable of giving. From the sexy look on his face and the sensual promise in his voice, she could tell his idea of playing had nothing to do with dressing dolls. More like undressing each other. Or maybe she was simply wishing…
He finally broke their shared gaze and turned his attention to Amanda. “I’ll be back after lunch.”
“Okay, Daddy. But hurry.” Amanda finally gave in and gave him a loud smack on his cheek.
Drew straightened and addressed Kristina again, this time with a noncommittal expression. “If you don’t mind feeding her lunch, there’s some sandwich fixings in the fridge. Make yourself at home.”
“I will,” she said, although plain Kristina Simmons from Wisconsin doubted she’d ever feel at home with the oh-so-sexy Drew Connelly.
This was the one time Drew had had no choice but to leave for the office when it wasn’t completely job-related.
Blowing out a frustrated sigh, he kicked back in the chair at his desk in the seventeenth-floor office at Connelly Towers, home to the textile-manufacturing corporation his grandfather had established and his father had molded into a prestigious multi-million-dollar business. Two hours before, Kristina Simmons had given him a simple hug that had set his body to blazing. One hour before, she’d looked entirely at home in Amanda’s bedroom, playing dolls with his daughter. She’d also looked entirely too sexy with her legs crossed and her skirt hiked up, inadvertently giving him a nice glimpse of tanned thigh, the reason why he’d hightailed it out of there at breakneck speed, trying hard to escape the images of running his hands up those thighs—and higher.
Thanks to that scenario, he was unable to get his mind on the recent deal he’d sealed in Europe involving a lucrative shipment of lace. The only lace he cared about at the moment was the kind that covered a woman intimately. See-through lace covering Kristina Simmons, his presumed fiancée. He needed to get that image out of his head and fast. Easier said than done.
He still couldn’t believe the way she had breezed into his life that morning, turning his world upside down, turning his libido into a time bomb in a matter of minutes. Thanks to his grandmother’s scheming.
Drew still had no idea how he was going to put an end to this farce, especially since his daughter seemed so taken with Kristina. He couldn’t blame Mandy, but he didn’t have to join her. As long as he remained objective, kept his head in the game, his hands to himself, and came up with ways to convince Kristina it would never work between them, then eventually he could go back to his life the way it was before he’d met her this morning.
And that was a life that included a few superficial women who demanded nothing more from him than an occasional escort and meaningless sex for the sake of physical gratification. No ties, no tear-filled goodbyes. Nothing complicated. Nothing that warranted any emotional commitment. Nothing but loneliness.
Now he sounded like Lilly. He didn’t need anything more. He didn’t need a steady relationship, a woman in his life. But Amanda did. She deserved that much. And Kristina Simmons deserved a man who could give her a commitment. He wasn’t that man, at least not at present.
For that reason, getting involved with Kristina was out of the question. Maybe someday, when the old wounds began to heal and the scars began to fade, Drew might consider settling down again. Maybe after the guilt over Talia’s death subsided. Maybe when he felt that he could give a woman all of himself—if and when that ever happened.
Until then, he’d go about his business, giving Amanda his unconditional love, exactly what she gave him, despite his many flaws. He’d let this thing with Kristina play out for a month, and by that time—if not before—she would come to realize that she was better off without him.
The sound of a voice coming from the hallway dragged him back to the situation at hand. His father’s voice, to be exact. “I’m telling you, something’s going on with Charlotte. Tom Reynolds told me she’s been acting very mysteriously, coming into the office while we’ve been at the lake on the weekends, avoiding people…”
Drew listened carefully, curious to find out what Tom Reynolds had said about Charlotte Masters, Drew’s father’s trusted assistant. The detective, along with another named Lucas Starwind, had been hired by the Connellys when Drew’s oldest brother, Daniel, now ruler of the kingdom of Altaria—his mother’s homeland—had been the victim of an assassination attempt. The investigation had widened, putting everyone under suspicion, including all of the Connelly clan. So far everyone in the family had been cleared, much to Drew’s relief. Still, the circumstances behind the attempt on Daniel’s life remained a mystery.
But Charlotte Masters a suspect? Surely not, Drew thought. Then something dawned on him. When Drew had been outside the building with his brother Rafe not long ago, Rafe had tried to talk to Charlotte and she’d avoided him like the plague. Drew had found that odd, since Charlotte and Rafe had always enjoyed engaging in friendly and sometimes acerbic banter. But that day she’d seemed aloof, as if something was bugging her.
“Grant, dear, think about it…”
Drew’s gaze snapped to the door when he recognized the feminine voice. What was his mother doing here? Must be something really serious, he decided.
“You know exactly what I mean,” Emma Connelly continued. “Having a baby can make you somewhat stressed. You should realize that after living with me through seven pregnancies. I’m certain that’s the case with Charlotte.”
Charlotte Masters pregnant? He’d spoken to his father on numerous occasions, and he couldn’t recall Grant saying a word about Charlotte’s pregnancy. That didn’t make any sense. But then his father had been rather distracted lately over the problems with Drew’s brother, Daniel. Still, the news came as quite a shock to Drew since Charlotte wasn’t involved with anyone, at least not that he knew of. But stranger things had happened.
Drew smiled when he thought about his twin brother and the rude awakening Brett was in for with a baby about to arrive in a matter of weeks. Drew couldn’t imagine his one-time playboy brother changing diapers, doling out bottles. He also couldn’t stop the little nip of envy over Brett’s good fortune in finding a loving wife in former police investigator Elena Delgado, a woman who would no doubt be a good mother.
Funny, he and Brett had reversed roles. Drew had become a father at twenty-one because he’d been a careless kid; Brett had spent years actively playing the field with women numbering close to the national debt. Now Brett had settled down with the woman of his dreams and Drew had been unexpectedly thrust into the dating scene. He never had been, or ever would be, as good at it as Brett.
The continuing conversation outside his door caught Drew’s attention once again. His mother was close to shouting, or as close as the genteel Emma could get.
“I don’t care if he’s working, Grant. We have to settle this with Drew now. And you’re coming with me to do that.”
Uh-oh, Drew thought. This couldn’t be good.
The door opened to his mother, former Princess Emma Rosemere of Altaria, dressed to the nines in Dior, elegant and regal as she stepped into the office with a grace be-fitting her royal status before his father had whisked her away to America to become a Connelly.
“Hello, Drew,” she said, nervously patting blond hair pulled up in a twist, the way she’d worn it for as long as Drew could remember.
Drew tossed his pen aside and straightened. For some reason he always came to attention in her presence like one of her royal subjects. “Hello, Mother. What brings you down to the office on a Saturday?”
She glided to the edge of his desk, her delicate features stern. “Your father and I need to speak with you.”
Drew leaned to one side and looked around her, toward the open door. “Fine, but I don’t see Dad.”
Emma glanced over her shoulder. “Where did that man go?”
“I’m right here, Emma, so don’t get your corset in a kink.” His father slipped in, looking decidedly uncomfortable. He tugged at the collar on his lucky green golf shirt then slicked a hand through his black hair.
Drew figured he might as well get it over with, although he had no idea what “it” was. “So to what do I owe this pleasure, playing audience to my parents?”
Emma’s eyes misted, indicating this was serious business. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us.”
“Tell you what?”
“That you’re engaged.”
Good news traveled fast in the Connelly family. So did the bad and the bizarre. “How did you find out?” As if he didn’t know.
“Your grandmother told us.”
Lilly, Mouth of the Midwest, strikes again.
“It came about rather suddenly.” An understatement of the first order.
“Where did you meet her, son?” his father asked.
In my hallway this morning.
Nope, Drew couldn’t say that. The fewer people who knew about the scheme, the better. Not to protect Lilly, but to protect Kristina. “At a singles’ club.” That sounded logical and a modified version of the truth.
“A singles’ club?” His mother sounded exasperated and looked as though she might actually lose her composure. “What do you know about her? Is she suitable?”
Drew couldn’t contain his sarcasm over the third degree. “Well, Mom, actually she’s a stripper I picked up in some dive off Michigan Avenue. I tipped her good and she came home with me.”
Emma paled and laid a hand on her chest beneath the string of cultured pearls. “Oh…my…goodness.”
“I think he’s kidding, Emma,” Grant said. “If you’ll recall, Lilly told us she’s a kindergarten teacher.”
“She is?” Drew blurted out, then cleared his throat. “I meant, yes, she is. A very good one. Amanda loves her.” That was the absolute truth.
Emma sank into the chair across from Drew’s desk. “I hope you know what you’re doing this time, Drew.”
In other words, Drew thought, don’t make the same mistakes you made with your first wife. “I know what I’m doing, Mother. I’m not some college kid caught in the throes of hormones.”
Emma once again composed her features. “What is this woman’s name?”
At least he knew that much. “Kristina Simmons.”
“Does she live in the city?”
Obviously Lilly had left out a few important details when she’d spilled the beans. “She lives very close to me.”
Emma’s smile was tentative. “In your neighborhood?”
No way around the truth since his parents would eventually find out. “Not just in my neighborhood. She lives with me.”
Emma’s eyes went wide. “Oh, Drew, that shouldn’t be going on with Amanda in the house.”
Little did his mother know, that wasn’t going on at all, at least not beyond Drew’s imagination. “Don’t panic, Mother. She has her own room. We decided on the living arrangement since we thought it best to get to know each other better, to make sure we’re compatible before we take the plunge.”
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