Page 31 of Baby Perfection

“His bedroom is opposite mine. Ours,” he corrected himself. “You’ll find everything you need in there.”

She located the room without any trouble. Before Mikey’s advent it had been used as an office. A crib occupied one corner of the room, while a huge mahogany desk had been transformed into a changing table, the surface boxed in with a wooden topper to prevent the baby from rolling off. His pitiful wails eased off the instant she stripped him of his sopping disposable diaper. She’d have been a bit more uncertain about the process if she hadn’t had the opportunity to help out with Mikey’s care over the past dozen weeks. She hadn’t been called on to assist often, just enough to refresh her memory from her babysitting days. With luck, Lucius wouldn’t pick up on the fact that she wasn’t quite as experienced as her résumé claimed.

To her amusement, she found sleepwear in a gorgeous mahogany file cabinet that matched the desk, clearly repurposed to serve as Mikey’s dresser. Fighting flailing limbs, she managed to get him snapped together. Then she scooped him up and carried him into the living room.

A couple minutes later, Lucius entered with a baby bottle. “Want me to take him?”

“I don’t mind feeding him.” She took a seat on the couch and smiled down at Mikey. “I don’t often get the chance.”

“That’s about to change.” He tested the temperature of the milk a final time and handed her the bottle. “A lot of things are about to change.”

Mikey latched onto the nipple and she chuckled at his greedy enthusiasm. “At least we got the hard part over with. Now that the Ridgeways know about our engagement, maybe they’ll hold off suing for custody.”

He turned off the overhead lights, allowing the illumination from the city to bathe the room in a soft glow. “They might hold off. Especially if we follow it with a wedding as soon as possible.”

It took a moment for his words to penetrate. The instant they did, her head jerked up and she looked across the room at him. He stood in front of the bank of windows that marched along one full wall of the room, his forearm braced against the glass. He kept his back to her while he stared out at the city. Even though his stance gave the impression of casual indifference, she caught a line of tension sweeping across his shoulders and a dangerous stillness that usually came before the predatory pounce.

“As soon as possible?” she repeated uneasily. “What sort of time frame are we looking at?”

He shrugged, a swift, restless movement. “Days. No more than a week or so.”

Angie lifted the baby to her shoulder and rubbed his back, struggling to pinpoint the quality in his voice that sounded off. “Why the rush?” she asked.

He turned to face her. Even then she couldn’t read him, his expression buried within the thick shadows consuming the room. “I want this tied up. A done deal.”

This time she didn’t need to read his expression. She could hear the fierce determination in his voice, the intent lurking beneath the words. “You mean, you wantmetied up.”

“If that’s how you prefer we do it next time.” A blatantly sexual undertone rippled through his dark voice. “I’m sure I can accommodate you.”

“Cut it out, Lucius.”

“I don’t think I can.” He approached, his movements as sleek and graceful as a lion on the prowl. “I want you tied up, tied down, tied to me. I don’t want to give you room to escape.”

She stared at him in bewilderment. “Who said I planned to escape?”

“I’m committed, Angie.We’recommitted. We just made the big announcement to the Ridgeways. There’s no going back now and I can’t take the risk that you might change your mind.”

What in the world was going on? “I understand that, and I have no intention of going back or changing my mind.”

“I intend to make certain of it. Tomorrow the ring. Monday, we’ll apply for a marriage license. I have no idea if there’s a waiting period. If so, we wait. If not…” He shrugged. “No point in wasting the opportunity. We can have it over and done with right then and there.”

“Over and done with?” She felt her temper slip and slowly stood. Mikey had fallen asleep once again, and without a word, she set the bottle aside and carried him to his crib. She sensed Lucius following, and turning, found him leaning against the doorjamb. “Lights on or off?” she asked crisply.

“Off. There’s a night-light that comes on automatically when the sensor registers the darkness.”

Sure enough, it flickered to life, a cute little teddy bear, holding its paw to its muzzle in ashhgesture. Without a word Angie brushed past Lucius and returned to the living room. There, she spun around to face him.

“I realize I entered this devil’s bargain with my eyes wide open when I agreed to take on this new job.” She used the final word deliberately, because despite everything he’d said, that’s really how he saw it. “And that our marriage isn’t what anyone would remotely consider normal. But it isn’t something I plan to get over and done with. I won’t be rushed. Nor will I be treated with such casual indifference.”

“So you do want a few ribbons and bows, despite what you claimed.”

It hurt. His callous disregard hurt more than she could possibly express. And it was her own fault. He’d been totally up-front about what he wanted from their marriage. He hadn’t pretended to love her or have any feelings for her other than pure sexual desire.

Anger warred with hurt. “I need you to back off and stop rushing me. I need time to get used to this crazy idea I’ve agreed to. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since you asked me to marry you. I’m not sure it’s even been six! It’s all happening too quickly. I need you to slow down, give me time to adjust.”

Frustration flashed across his expression and he paced the length of the room. “Benjamin isn’t well. Fortunately, it’s not his heart, but it’s clear the stress of losing Geoff is affecting him. Affecting them both. If we marry—soon—they may realize they can’t argue I’m unfit or that Mikey won’t have a stable home life. In addition, they like you. They may conclude that, although it’s not what they originally wanted, they can live with our retaining custody if I grant them liberal visitation rights. Maybe they’llfinally realize trying to take on a baby at this stage in their life would be too much for them, particularly after Benjamin’s anxiety attack.”

“All excellent points. That doesn’t mean we need to marry first thing Monday. We have time.”

---