“Thank you,” Rome said, his amusement deepening, and Claire flushed. She cuddled the little boy to her, loving the feel of his sturdy, wriggling little body. He smelled of baby powder, and she wanted to bury her face in his fat little neck.
“Here you go sweetheart,” Max said, holding out his hands to the little girl, and with a giggle she, too, abandoned her father. She hugged Max around the neck and kissed his cheek. Max settled her comfortably on his arm and carried her into the house, keeping his other hand at Claire’s back.
“The little tank you’re holding is Jed,” Rome said, reaching out to tickle his son. “The flirt around Max’s neck is Missy. She’s three, and Jed is almost one.”
Claire was gently rubbing the baby’s back, and he had nestled down against her as if he’d known her all his life. He was incredibly heavy, but his weight felt good in her arms. “You darling,” she crooned to him, kissing his soft black hair.
Max looked up from the game he was playing with Missy, and his eyes flickered as he watched Claire playing with the baby.
A low laugh reached them, and Claire turned as a slim, delicate woman with white-blond hair came into the room. “I’m Sarah Matthews,” the woman said warmly, and Claire looked into the most serene face she’d ever seen. Sarah Matthews was lovely and fragile, and when her husband looked at her it was with an expression in his dark eyes that made Claire want to turn away, as if she had witnessed something terribly intimate.
“Sarah, this is Claire Westbrook,” Max said, his hand warm on Claire’s arm.
“You have beautiful children,” Claire said sincerely, and Sarah beamed with pride.
“Thank you. They’re quite a handful. Your arrival has given Rome a rest,” Sarah replied, slanting a teasing look at her husband. “They’re always wild when he first gets home, especially Jed.”
At that moment Jed was lying adoringly against Claire, and Rome laughed at his son. “He can’t resist a pretty woman. He’s the biggest flirt ever born, except for Missy.”
Missy was perfectly content in Max’s arms, and Claire noticed the tenderness with which he handled her, and the calm capability. She had noticed his skill with children before, soon after they had met. It had been while he was playing with Martine’s children at the cookout that she had fallen in love with him. It had been that simple, that easy and that irrevocable.
“Enjoy the peace,” Sarah advised, breaking into Claire’s thoughts, and Jed chose that moment to lift his head from Claire’s shoulder and look down at the scattered toys on the floor. With a grunt he pushed himself out of her arms. Claire gave a gasping cry and grabbed for him, and Rome did the same, leaping to snag his son out of the air. Sighing, he placed the baby on the floor. His attention completely on his toys, Jed toddled over to the red plastic truck he’d selected.
“He has no respect for gravity, and no fear of heights,” Rome said wryly. “He’s also as strong as a mule. There’s no holding him when he decides he wants down.”
“He scared me to death,” Claire gasped.
“He’s been scaring me since he learned to crawl,” Sarah said with a chuckle. “Then he started walking when he was eight months old, and it’s been even worse since. All you can do is chase after him.”
It was impossible to believe that such a delicate woman had given birth to such a sturdy little boy who showed every sign of inheriting his father’s size. The children resembled Sarah very little, except for Missy’s delicate stature, and something in the shape of her soft mouth.
It was such a relaxed household, filled with the high-pitched giggles of happy children, that Claire forgot to be intimidated by Rome. Here he was a husband and a father, not an executive. It was evident that Max was a close friend who visited often, because the children climbed over him as enthusiastically as they did over their father, and he not only tolerated it, he seemed to enjoy it.
The children were fed and put to bed, then the adults sat down to dinner. Claire couldn’t think when she had enjoyed an evening more; she didn’t even shrink when Rome teased her. “I had to check you out this morning,” he said, his hard mouth quirked in amusement. “Sarah was dying of curiosity.”
“I was not! Max had already told me all about you,” Sarah told Claire. “It was his own male curiosity Rome wanted to satisfy.”
Rome shrugged lazily, smiling as he looked at his wife. Claire wondered what Max had said about her, and why he would talk about her, anyway. She glanced at him and blushed when she found him watching her intently.
It was late when Max drove her home, and Claire was sleepily curled in the corner of the seat. “I really liked them,” she murmured. “I can’t believe he’s the same man who terrified me so this morning!”
“Sarah tames him. She’s so incredibly serene.”
“They’re very happy together, aren’t they?”
Max’s voice roughened a little. “Yes. They’ve gone through some rough times. If they hadn’t loved each other so much, they wouldn’t have made it. Rome was married before and had two children, but his wife and sons were killed in an automobile accident. He was terribly scarred by it.”
“I can imagine,” Claire said, pain grabbing at her. She had never even held her child—it had been gone almost before she had been able to do more than dream of its existence. What would it have been like to have had two children taken from her in such a tragic way? She thought of the way Jed had nestled against her, and tears burned her eyes. “I miscarried. Right before my divorce,” she whispered. “And losing the baby nearly killed me. I wanted it so badly!”
Max’s head jerked around, and he stared at her in the dim, flickering glow of the streetlights they passed. An almost violent jealousy filled him because she had been pregnant, and it hadn’t been with his child. He wanted her to have his baby; he wanted his children to be her children. She was a natural mother, so loving with children that they instinctively clung to her.
When they reached her house, he went inside with her and quietly locked the door behind him. Claire watched
him, her dark eyes becoming enormous as he came to her and caught her hands in his.
“Max?” she whispered, her voice shaking.
His face was both tender and wild, and his eyes glittered. He put her hands around his neck, then drew her close to lie full against him.