One Kiss In… Miami

And without a backward look, she fled.

Justice stood unmoving while the house settled into silence, returning to its cold air of detachment. Always a house, never a home. Always cold, never filled with light and laughter and warmth.

“You’re right. There’s no going back,” he whispered. “But what you don’t realize is … I don’t want to go back. I can’t live like that anymore.”

Daisy gritted her teeth, zigging to avoid driving through yet another pothole, this one the size of a large crater. If she ended up staying with Justice for any length of time, she and Justice were going to have words about this road.

“Almost there.” Excitement ricocheted through Jett’s voice, making her sound far younger than sixteen. “Just another one-point-four miles and we should be able to see it.”

“See it?” Noelle parroted. Only it came out more like “feet?”

Dear heavens, if it wasn’t Dora the GPS keeping track of every inch of every mile, it was Jett. And Daisy was willing to bet her last tube of Old Holland Viridian Green oil paint that when Noelle was a few years older she’d be every bit as bad.

“We’re surrounded,” she muttered to Aggie, her housekeeper. “Better get used to it now. There’s worse and you’re about to meet him.”

“I can handle it,” came the calm, seasoned response.

Years ago Aggie had been an elementary school teacher. She’d taken early retirement in order to nurse her husband through a lengthy illness, only to discover their savings exhausted by the time he died. The realization that she had no choice but to return to work coincided with Noelle’s birth and Daisy’s decision that she needed help with cooking and general housekeeping chores, especially after she’d assumed guardianship of Jett. She’d hired Aggie on the spot. To their mutual delight, the four of them had cemented into a cozy little family, one Justice would have to accept—if he wanted them to remain in Colorado.

“Are you sure Mr. St. John won’t mind that you brought all of us along?” Aggie asked with a hint of nervousness.

Daisy started to say she didn’t give a hot damn whether Mr. St. John minded, but aware of a backseat full of big ears, she modified her reply. “The four of us are a family. That means we’re a package deal. Don’t worry. Justice will be cool with it.”

A tiny sigh of relief issued from behind her, making Daisy aware that Jett was also feeling apprehensive. She always appeared so self-assured, it came as a bit of a shock the few times she reverted to the nervous, suspicious girl she’d been when Daisy’s parents had first taken her in as a foster child.

“I can’t believe I’m about to meet the man behind Sinjin,” Jett said.

“Finfin?”

“That’s your daddy, Red.”

“Daddy.”

That word came out clear as a bell. For some reason it caused Daisy to flinch and Aggie shot her a sympathetic look. “I’m sure he’ll make a wonderful father.”

“There’s no question Noelle needs him.” Her own inadequacies threatened to overwhelm her. “Lord knows, I can’t meet all of her needs.”

“No parent can give their child everything they require. It’s not possible,” Aggie was quick to reassure. “If you’re very lucky, you can cover most of it between the two of you and hope that friends and family and teachers cover the rest. Just loving them goes a long way.”

But was Justice capable of love? Was it programmed into his software or had that particular upgrade been wiped from his hard drive? Only time would tell. At long last the car crested the final hill and they coasted down to the sprawling homestead. She parked near the steps leading to the main house and cut the engine.

“Okay, everyone grab something and let’s get inside.” Together they tromped up the steps. She gave the door a tentative shove, relieved when it opened to her touch. At least she wouldn’t have to threaten her way in like last time. That would have been a tad embarrassing. “See?” she said with a reassuring smile. “Let’s head for the kitchen and get something to drink while we wait for Justice.”

It didn’t take long. Within a minute he stepped into the kitchen, his tawny gaze sweeping the group. One look warned Daisy he hadn’t taken the unexpected guests well. He reminded her of the panther she’d immortalized in her storybooks, stalking into the room, looking sleek and predatory and incredibly dangerous. For a man so proud of his restraint and emotional detachment, he certainly gave a fine imitation of someone who’d gotten his tail in a twist.

For a long, almost painful moment, his gaze lingered on his daughter. Tears pricked Daisy’s eyes at the intense longing that ripped apart his expression. It tarnished his eyes and crept deep into the crevices bracketing his mouth. Then his lashes dipped downward, concealing his expression, and he deliberately turned away. She suspected he didn’t have a choice, not if he hoped to maintain even a modicum of self-control.

“You said a week,” he all but growled. “It’s been ten days, three hours and fourteen minutes.”

“Sorry about that. It took longer than I expected to get everyone organized. I did email you about the change in dates.” He swept the assembled group with a look that probably would have decimated everyone on the spot if Daisy hadn’t stepped between Justice and her family to intercept the full blast of it. “Problem?” she asked sweetly.

“A moment of your time?”

His voice had lowered to a threatening rumble, forcing Daisy to spare her family a reassuring smile. “If you’d wait here,” she requested, easing Noelle into Aggie’s arms. “There are drinks in the refrigerator, assuming you can figure out where it’s hidden.”

“I’m on it,” Jett announced brightly, her gaze practically eating Justice alive.

“Behave,” Daisy mouthed to the teen. Though why she bothered, she couldn’t say. She might as well tell a mouse to stay away from the cheese.

Not giving Daisy a chance to issue any further instructions, Justice snagged her arm and drew her from the room. They retraced the path to the front door and continued on in the opposite direction to a large office with a spectacular view of the Rockies. She didn’t think he used this room any more often than any of the others on this level. The same feeling of neglect hung over the few furnishings it contained. But at least the shutters were open.

The early afternoon burned across the mountains, coating them in every shade from deep royal blue to the dense purple of eggplant. Trees, bare and stark, slept beside stands of conifers, the green rich with the promise that life would one day return to the windswept landscape. In the distance snowcapped peaks shoved upward against a remote sky, the pale blue expanse winter-hard and slashed with high streaks of gray cirrus clouds. It made her itch to grab her sketchbook and pencils and have at it. But ever since she’d lost her creative spark, she’d been afraid to do even that much, afraid she’d be forced to concede, once and for all, that she’d lost all artistic ability.

Releasing a sigh, Daisy turned from the view and discovered Justice pacing the room in perfect imitation of a sleek jungle cat. Or, to be precise, an infuriated jungle cat ready to attack at the least provocation. He also held the odd spherical device he’d played with the night Noelle had been conceived, twisting and turning it into shape after shape.

“All right,” Justice announced, bringing her to earth with a thud. “Let’s hear it.”

“What do you want to hear?” she asked. As if she didn’t know.

He regarded her with burning, narrowed eyes. “You know damn well, Daisy. Who the hell are all those people?”

Six

“One of ‘those people’ was your daughter,” Daisy retorted calmly. “And if you’d given me a moment to introduce the others, you’d know who the hell they are.”

Anger flared and the sleek sphere stuttered in Justice’s hands. “Damn it, woman!”

Did he just call her “woman”? She approached, her anger rising to meet his. “Now that I’m here, I think it’s time to discuss my conditions for staying.”

That stopped him dead in his tracks. “Conditions? You never mentioned conditions to me.”

“Well, now I am.” She didn’t give him time to debate the issue. “Condition One. If you want us here for longer than the next five minutes, you’re going to have to adjust your language. Noelle is unbelievably verbal and tries to repeat just about everything she hears. I won’t have her swearing before she even turns one.”

“Hel—” He broke off and then swore again. “Fair enough. I’ll do my best. I can’t promise I’ll be perfect.”

“Condition Two. My name is Daisy. Call me ‘woman’ in that tone of voice or swear at me again, and I’m out the door. And so is your daughter. Got it?”

He clenched his teeth together so tightly it was a wonder they didn’t crack. Even so, he conceded the point with an abrupt nod. “Any other conditions?”

She simply smiled. “Third, Aggie and Jett are members of my household, and where I go, they go.”

He must have picked up on her determination. She could practically see him adjusting his mental paradigm or thought processes or whatever the heck went on inside that amazing brain of his. “Who is Aggie?” he asked, the question so prosaic Daisy almost laughed.

“Aggie’s a former elementary school teacher and currently my cook and housekeeper. Since I’m a disaster in the kitchen and since the four of us need to eat, I hired her to take care of all things domestic.”

He perked up a little over that. “She cooks?”

“And cleans,” Daisy stressed. She eyed the room in open displeasure. “Seriously, Justice, this place is a disaster. I can’t believe you’re comfortable living like this.”

He glanced around, though she suspected he didn’t see the office and surrounding rooms the same way she did. “It’s just a bit of dust, and I don’t live in this section of the house.”

It didn’t take much thought to figure out where he did live. “Mad scientist plus secret location equals mysterious, hidden lab?”

“Something like that,” he conceded.

“A spotless mysterious, hidden lab?”

“Of course.”

“Well, since you now have guests who will be living in this section of the house, we’ll need our accommodations to be as spotless as your lab.”

He examined the room again, this time really looking—this time finally seeing. She could tell from his gathering frown that until that moment he’d been oblivious to the full extent of the problem. “I’ve been focused on a project and didn’t realize how bad …” He blew out a sigh. “I apologize. I should have done more to prepare for your arrival.”

“We’ll handle it.”

The “we” succeeded in returning his attention to his unexpected guests. “You’ve explained Aggie. Who’s the scary Goth girl?” he asked.

Daisy couldn’t help but smile. “That’s Jett.”

“Jett.” He froze. “Not that Jett. Not your computer expert.”

“That’s the one,” she took delight in confirming. “She was my parents’ foster child. After Dad suffered a heart attack, it became clear she’d have to move to a new home. Jett decided she didn’t want to start over somewhere else and asked me to become her foster parent instead.”

“This is November. Shouldn’t she be in school?”

“She received her GED at sixteen. She’s currently considering colleges.”

Justice’s brows shot upward. “How old is she? She looks about twelve.”

“She’ll turn seventeen in a few months. Jett can give you the days, hours and minutes, right down to the seconds if you want a more exact number.”

“She’s smart.”

“Scary smart. Like you, scary smart.” Daisy hesitated. “Like Noelle.”

His gaze sharpened. It didn’t take him long to process her comment and come up with the correct explanation. “That’s why you’re here.”

“One of the reasons, yes.” No point in going into any of the others. Those would become apparent over time. “It’s clear she requires someone who’s going to understand the way she thinks. Right now she has Jett, which is a huge help. But, Jett won’t be around forever. Plus, there’s no male figure in Noelle’s life other than my father and now that he has health issues …”

At the mention of her parents, his expression closed over, turning as cold and bleak as the mountains at his back. “I don’t want them anywhere near Noelle. Not after what they did to me.”

Daisy stared in disbelief. “You can’t keep them out of her life.”

“Watch me.”

“Condition Five.”

“Four.”

“Whatever. My parents are part of my life, the same way Jett and Aggie are. Deal with it.”

A muscle jerked in his jaw and his eyes burned like liquid gold. “Any other conditions?” He bit off each word as though they scorched his tongue.

“You haven’t agreed to my last one.”

“Why don’t we leave that one open for future discussion.”

She refused to allow it. “Why don’t we put that one to rest right now, because if you think for one little minute I’m going to deny my parents access to their only grandchild, you can think again.” She held up her hand. “And before you decide to break Condition One again—”

“Too damn late!”

“I suggest you put yourself in my place. In Noelle’s place. You’re the one who walked away, Justice.” She struggled to conceal her hurt with limited success. “My parents have been with me every step of the way. You haven’t.”

“Only because I didn’t know.”

“You’re a brilliant man. You should have considered that possibility and made sure. At the very least, you should have contacted me after the first dozen letters.” Could he hear the pain bleeding through her words? “Instead, you went out of your way to make certain I couldn’t find you again. That we’d never see each other again.”

“That’s not true. I would have—” He broke off and swung around to face the picture window. “Any other conditions?”

“Do you agree to my last one?”

“Yes.”

He sounded so bleak it almost unnerved her. She took a moment to gather her thoughts before pressing forward. “Condition Ten.”

“Five.”

“I’m holding the others in reserve.” She didn’t give him time to argue the point. “I need a room for a studio. One with windows.” She had no idea whether she’d actually use the studio. She considered it more of a last-ditch effort. Because deep inside she secretly wondered whether she’d ever paint again. And the thought flat-out terrified her. “Unshuttered windows, if you don’t mind.”

He shrugged. “You can take a look around and see if anything suits. Make sure it’s on this level or upstairs. The basement is off-limits to everyone.”

“Is that where your uncle lives?”

“Yes. It’s also where my lab is located.”

Justice faced her once again. The sphere flowed through his fingers, assuming one shape after another. First a cylinder, then a pyramid, then something that twisted in on itself, making her dizzy. “What is that thing?” she asked.

“I call it Rumi. It helps me think.” He’d regained his self-control and regarded her with a calm, icy expression that seemed to lower the temperature in the room by several degrees. She shivered, waiting for snowflakes to start drifting from the ceiling. “My turn,” he announced.

Uh-oh. She hadn’t anticipated this and should have. “You have conditions?”

“You thought you’d be the only one?”

She retreated a pace, even knowing it portrayed a certain defensiveness. “Okay, fine. What are your conditions?”

He took a step in her direction, following in the path of her retreat, all the while the sphere twisted, twisted, twisted. “One. It is your responsibility to keep everyone out of the basement. That includes you. Having you and Noelle here is tough enough for Pretorius. The addition of two more people will be extremely difficult for him. He needs to know that he’s safe in his area of the house. Am I clear on this point?”

“Crystal.”

“Two.” Another step closer. “I have a routine. Disruptions to that routine are unacceptable.”

He couldn’t be serious. “Get real, Justice. We’re talking about a baby. Babies disrupt routines. It’s their nature.”

“In that case, I’ll expect you to keep the disruptions to a minimum.”

She planted her hands on her hips and faced him down. “You’re the one who insisted we come here, remember? If you can’t handle the occasional disruption we’ll leave.”

“It’s too late. We’re about to get snow. A lot of it.”

“I’m sure we can stay ahead of any incoming storms.”

Justice jerked his head toward the window and Daisy’s mouth dropped open. In the short time they’d been talking, ominous clouds had built up, sweeping over the mountain peaks and tumbling down the craggy slopes toward the ranch complex at an unbelievably rapid clip. Where in the world had that gorgeous expanse of pale blue sky gone?

He set Rumi on the table and took a final step toward her. Snagging her collar, he gave a swift tug, propelling her into his arms. “Three. I want to attempt to create a bond with you. To see if we can’t form a family unit.”

A bond. Family unit. How like him to describe something so intimate in such remote terms. “For Noelle’s sake?”

He started to agree, but must have changed his mind at the last moment. “For all our sakes,” he said instead.

“Even though I don’t fit the parameters you created for a perfect apprentice/wife?”

“I suspect we’ll both need to adjust our expectations since I’m certain I don’t fit your parameters, either. I’m willing to make the attempt if you are.”

“And by ‘bond’ I assume that would include—” She started to say “making love” and took a quick verbal detour at the last instant. “Sex?”

Fire kindled in his golden gaze like wildfire. “Sex will be involved since it’s one of the few places we seem able to communicate with perfect accord.”

“Willing or not?” she dared to ask.

“Oh, you’ll be willing. I guarantee it.”

He cupped her face and lifted it for his kiss. She didn’t resist. In truth, she didn’t want to. He’d given her a delicious sample one short week ago, a sample that had reignited a passionate longing, as undeniable as it was overwhelming. She thought it had died long ago, but she’d been mistaken. Every time he reentered her life, he brought with him a want so intense, she didn’t know how she’d survive if he didn’t make her his again.

Beneath the icy exterior a fire burned, one fierce enough to melt any and all resistance. Did he realize what a dichotomy he represented with that ice-cold logical exterior and that white-hot inner blaze? He reminded her of a distant star, an inferno of heat within the cold vacuum of the space it occupied.

His mouth came down on hers and she sighed, opening to him with bottomless enthusiasm. His fingers tightened in her hair as he sank inward and she heard a faint rumble, almost like a cat’s purr. Maybe she hadn’t gotten it wrong in her books. Maybe at heart he really was like her jungle panther creation, Cat. While Cat hid behind a wall of protective foliage, Justice hid behind his icy demeanor and the isolated walls of his compound. Were they truly so different?

“What do you want from me?” Her question was smothered beneath his mouth.

But he caught the words. And he understood. Reluctantly, he pulled back, pressing a searing kiss to the dampness of her lashes before taking her mouth a final time, a bittersweet tribute to the emotions he denied.

His thumbs traced the swollen contours of her mouth. “I want you.”

“It’s not that simple,” she protested. “You treat whatever this is like it’s a simple sexual equation. You plus me equals sex.”

“It’s just that simple.”

She fought free of his hold, some of his iciness invading her own veins. “Is this really how you regard people in your life? Like simple equations? While you skate across the surface, never daring to plumb the depths?”

He turned away from her and reached for Rumi, freezing at the last instant. And that’s when she saw it. Somehow, at some point during their earlier conversation, he’d transformed the device into a flower, one that looked remarkably like a daisy. She started to comment, then stopped, something warning her to tread carefully.

“I didn’t realize it could do that,” she commented, striving to sound casual and offhand.

“It’s only happened once before.” He spoke so quietly she almost didn’t catch the words.

Before she could press him about it, Pretorius’s voice erupted from hidden speakers. “Justice, who are those people in the kitchen?” He sounded almost frantic. “They’re doing things in there. You need to stop them. Now.”

“Take it easy,” Justice replied. “I’ll deal with it.”

“You’ll make them leave?”

“I’ll deal with it.”

At a guess, probably not the answer his uncle was looking for. “Cut communication,” Justice ordered. He took a second to lock gazes with her. “This isn’t over.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “You’re just figuring that out? Well, let’s see if I can put this in terms that your computer-like brain will process …” She fisted her hand in his shirt and yanked until they were practically nose-to-nose. “I’ve known it wasn’t over between us for nineteen months and twenty-five days. You didn’t manage to figure it out until ten days ago and only when I showed up here to draw you a picture. Try to keep up from this point forward, okay?”

With that, she released him and swept from the room, though she could have sworn she heard a snort of laughter. Must have been the wind. Lord knew, it couldn’t have been Justice. Together they returned to the kitchen … and walked in on sheer chaos.

“Son of a—”

She elbowed him. “Condition One alert.”

“Look at what they’ve done to my kitchen!”

She couldn’t blame him for being upset. She would have been, if it had been her home. Aggie had pulled everything out of the huge, walk-in pantry and stacked the contents on every available surface. A bucket of hot soapy water rested on the floor while she swabbed every shelf and cubbyhole.

Jett sat with her back to the doorway, earbuds plugged in and no doubt rocking out music at full blast. She pounded away at her laptop. Next to the laptop sat the cat, Kit, the other half of the inspiration for Daisy’s storybook creations. She’d been freed from her carrier and reclined on the table, busily grooming herself, accepting the craziness around her with her usual equanimity. A computer’s disembodied voice gave incomprehensible updates in a hiccupping voice, competing with Pretorius’s shouted demands, demands that were interspaced with some truly creative obscenities.

And then there was Noelle. Daisy sighed.

All of the cupboard doors stood ajar. And her precious daughter sat buck naked in the middle of the floor surrounded by articles of baby clothing, along with every last pot and pan the kitchen possessed. She busily banged lids against pots adding to the noise level.

For an instant, Daisy thought Justice would explode. “Computer, disengage!”

“Disengaged.”

Abruptly, silence reigned. Noelle paused in her banging, Jett in her typing. Aggie poked her head out of the pantry. One look at Justice and she flinched, knocking over her bucket of soapy water. It swirled in an ever-expanding puddle of suds heading toward Noelle.

Jett’s fingers hovered over her laptop, mid-keystroke and her head jerked around. Her inky dark eyes widened in dismay when she saw Justice standing there. “Uh-oh.”

Daisy hastened to pluck her daughter off the floor before the surge of dirty water reached her. “Darn it, Jett. You promised to behave.”

Jett cleared her throat. “Actually, I didn’t. You told me to. But since I didn’t answer, technically I didn’t promise anything.”

“How many times have I warned you not to get technical with me?”

“Nineteen hundred and fifty-two.”

“Enough!” Justice broke in, glaring around the room. “Someone tell me what the bloody hell is going on and I mean now.”

Noelle beamed from the safety of her mother’s arms and spoke her very first words to her father. “Hell!” she said, clear as a bell.