Page 49 of Spirit Island

“Then call him.We are going to need some renovations and extra baby rooms.” Shesmirked.

His voice gothusky. “How many baby rooms?”

“At leastfour.”

Moniquegrinned. “I will make the call.” She darted out of the room, andAndreux blinked.

He met Jane’sgaze. “I would be happy with a total of two.”

“Yeah, but youare good-looking, and I want to keep you on your toes while I work.You taking care of the tea business and the houseful of kids shouldkeep you busy.”

“It doesn’ttake that long to make kids.”

She looked athim and covered Terro’s ears. “It does the way you fuck.”

He grinned andkissed her. “You are very good for my ego.”

She wrinkledher nose. “You are horrible for mine. You are far too pretty.That’s probably why my memory of you was just pieces. I would havelost my nerve if I remembered all of you.”

He frowned.“Are you saying that I am better looking than you?”

“Andreux, I amvery practical. I am me. Standard, brown hair and brown eyes, plainJane. Mother to a very pretty son.”

Andreux set herdown, took Terro and his bottle, and disappeared. He popped backinto the room and scooped her up. “We need to have a talk.”

She blinked.“Why?”

He sat down andkept her close. “Jane, I need you to understand something.”

“Um, yeah?”

“I have neverwanted a woman as much as I wanted you. When you smile, my heartmelts. Your smiles and laughter raise the spirits of those aroundyou, and I have dreamed of you, furious that I could not recallmore for nearly three years. Having you next to me, I didn’t wantto sleep. I wanted to stay awake so that you didn’t turn into adream again.” He kissed her cheek. “My current dream is to stopfearing that you will disappear in my sleep. I don’t think I canlive without you now that I have found you.”

The heavythrobbing of sincerity through their link was unmistakable. Shewinced. “I am not going to disappear again. I am not in a hotelroom with a rutting alpha anymore. That is why I panicked when Iwoke up. Aside from the full body ache.”

He sighed. “So,you woke up next to a strange male, uncomfortable with no memory ofhow you got there. I can see your point. If any of our girls end upin that situation, there is going to be blood spilled.”

She smiled. “Ithink you are going to make a good dad all around. There issomething so calm about you that relaxes me.”

“To theoriginal subject matter. You got picked on a lot?”

“Yeah. Mycousins were a blonde and a redhead.” She inhaled. “I heard aboutmy shortcomings frequently, so when I was eighteen and filed myfirst patent for a game circuit design, my uncle finally stoppedcalling me plain Jane. And it changed to just Jane. Money does thatto my family, so I made sure that I always had a lot of it.”

“Jane, are youwealthy?”

She ducked herhead and shrugged. “Maybe.”

“And youpretend that you have a normal job?”

“I do have anormal job. I was never going to just coast on early success. Iworked for it, and I kept it up. I have enough now to stay withTerro at home until he’s an adult, but that would just be wrong. Heneeds other kids, school, and socialization. Even alpha training.He will have educational needs that I can’t fulfill. I will keep anopen mind for questions, but you were always in the plan. When heentered school, I was going to start DNA searches. If I could get agross location for the gene pool, I would have started looking, andas you know, they pointed me right to you.”

He chuckled.“Yeah.”

“They sawTerro’s mask, and their eyes got huge, and they nearly stumbledover themselves pointing to this island.”

He grinned.“It’s a small community out here. About to get a bit of aboost.”

“I don’t knowhow a dozen babies will make a difference.”

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