Barbara's Plea (8 page)

I looked at my hand. My pointer finger was bent slightly and swelling up. Oh, God! I felt the nausea return and fell to the floor next to the toilet to throw up. My ribs screamed as I heaved, and I forced myself to stop as soon as I could. My brow was drenched in sweat and I could barely stand up.

Somehow I managed to do so, and lifted my blouse to see the skin already beginning to bruise. My hands went to my belly.

“Please, God, whatever I did, I’m sorry. Please, please, protect this child.” I forced the lump in my throat back down and began to clean myself up.

I turned to Grey as I finished speaking. “Luckily Allie was strong enough to survive. He hit me a few more times while I was pregnant, but never as bad as that first time. I knew I was in over my head. I wanted to get out, but he is such a high-profile man in that area, I knew no one would believe me. Why would someone believe me over a well-known attorney?”

I thought about the times I had wanted to call the police, but never had.

“Once Allie was born, I realized that things weren’t going to get better, like I had hoped. They only got worse. I was working on this one marketing plan for the local nonprofit women’s shelter, and I met Peggy. She saw right through my charade and cornered me one day. I confessed everything, and she started helping me figure out how I could get free.

“She opened an account, and we had money siphoned off my paychecks and bonus checks to fund it. We had a goal, and once I reached that goal, we put the rest of the plan in action. She had found Tina, the woman who died in the plane crash.” I paused as I remembered the brief encounter with her in the bathroom. My heart hurt for her, and for Roberta, too.

“Anyway, Tina was an actress that I hired. The day I left, I took Allie to the sitter like I normally would, had a taxi pick me up so I was seen leaving the house with my one bag and went to the airport. After I went through security, I met with Tina in the bathroom; she had a change of clothes for me.” I gasped and Grey’s hand tightened around me.

“Oh, God. Roberta had come into the bathroom and found us.”

Gloria interrupted me, “Who is Roberta?”

“She worked with me. She was going to the conference to help me. I kind of figured she would take my position after I left.” I paused and wondered who would sit at my desk now. I shook my head and resumed my story, “I had to make the quick decision to explain to Roberta and made her promise she wouldn’t tell anyone. She swore she would take it to her grave.” My voice dropped as a new wave of tears raced down my cheeks, “I guess she really did.”

Grey’s arm slipped back around my shoulders, and he pulled my head closer and kissed the side of it. That one kiss almost undid me. So much compassion was conveyed in the small gesture that I wasn’t sure I could handle it.

“They got on the plane, and I walked out the opposite door into another terminal wing and left the airport. My sitter met me at the door, and she drove Allie and me to Las Vegas where we climbed onto the plane under a different name and arrived here.”

I was going to have to admit that I committed identity theft, too. Jesus, I was in trouble.

“We expected Todd to figure out a few days later, when I didn’t come home from the business trip, that I had disappeared. I expected to have a few days to get things in order and find an attorney to file for divorce.”

“You can still do that,” Gigi declared. “I’ll call one of my attorneys and get him over here this morning. We’ll get his advice and see what he suggests.”

I nodded, realizing that I was at a loss here and was going to have to rely on others to help me through. I glanced at Grey. His eyes were filled with compassion, and something else I didn’t understand.

“Thank you, Grey. I don’t even know you, and you have stepped up and helped me so much.”

I leaned forward, my hand bracing against his chest over his heart, as I placed a soft kiss on his cheek. The stubble on his skin brushed my lips and caused a tremor to quake deep inside my stomach. His heart thumped hard against my palm. I pulled back and met his gaze. Why couldn’t Todd have been like this man?

I
held
my breath as she leaned forward. Her lips barely touched the skin of my cheek, but I felt the heat of it all the way to my groin.

I almost groaned. Now was not the time for my sleeping sex drive to wake up. It had been dormant for almost two years. The last thing this woman in front of me needed was my testosterone to come roaring alive with a vengeance—and if she kept looking at me like that, it would.

Gloria cleared her throat, and Barb sat up straight, her hand trailing softly over the top of my chest, and turned away.

I shifted away from her and removed my hand from her shoulder, placing it along the back of the couch—close enough that she knew I was there, but far enough away that I wasn’t touching her—because I really wanted to touch her. Talk about bad timing.

For over a year I hadn’t looked at another woman, hadn’t thought about one either. Gloria adopted me off the street, gave me a job, a place to live, and suddenly parts of me that had been sleeping for a long time were wide awake.

Way to go there, Grey. You should be ashamed, I hissed mentally at myself.

I cleared my throat. “So, Gloria, you can have an attorney come to the house and speak with Barb?”

“Yes, in fact, let me go call Curt right now.” She stood up and looked down at me pointedly, “Can I leave you two alone?”

My eyebrows arched up high, and I laughed, “Yes, ma’am.” Damn, could that woman see any more clearly?

I stood up and returned to the table, needing something to do with my hands that wasn’t putting them on her body, or pulling her close to me and telling her I would protect her.

Jesus.

My coffee was cold, but I guzzled it and poured another cup, “Do you want coffee?”

She shook her head, “No, my stomach is already churning; I don’t need to add coffee to the mix.”

“How about some juice then? You just had a pretty big shock. They say sugar is good for that.”

“How do you know so much about that?” she asked as she stood and approached the table.

I shrugged, “I don’t know. I heard it someplace, I guess.”

“So you like to work with your hands, huh?” It was said innocently enough, but I found myself reading more into it. Oh, yeah, I liked to work with my hands and right now, my hands wanted to work her—or punch myself in the face for even thinking such things.

I swallowed wrong and coughed. “Yeah, I do,” I replied after I had cleared my windpipe of the liquid.

She was grinning, “I guess that didn’t come out right. Sorry.”

I chuckled, “No. I knew what you meant.”

“How long have you been doing wood work?” She sat back in her seat at the table. Obviously, she wanted to talk about something other than her situation. That was probably a good idea, although I wasn’t interested in talking about my life. If it helped to calm her, then I guess I could do it.

“Since I was a teenager. My father had a small area in the basement where he would make things. I fell in love with the feel of the wood and how you only had to think of something before you could bring it to life.”

She let her gaze wander over my face briefly before she turned to the window and closed her eyes. The sunlight highlighted her hair and gave her skin a healthier color. “I like the way you think,” she said softly.

I like the way you look, almost popped out of my mouth as a reply. “And speaking of which, I should get back down to the shop. I have a lot to do now that Gloria has approved the design.”

I moved away from the table, and Barb stood up.

“Grey?”

The sound of her voice stopped me. I turned slowly and found her standing behind me. “Thank you. I can’t believe that you don’t even know me, and yet here you are helping me.”

I wanted to reach out to touch her face, to feel my fingers slide softly over her skin, but I held back. “I can’t seem to help myself when it comes to the women in this house.”

She smiled up into my face, and I knew that if I didn’t turn around and get the hell out of there, that I would be pulling her toward me and finding out how incredibly soft her lips felt.

I let my hand drop and grabbed the wooden backboard for the rocking chair and left.

The whole way back to the shop, I felt her gaze on me. The thought of how bright her eyes were in the sunlight and how she had gazed up into my face like she wanted me to pull her into my arms had me imagining all kinds of scenarios—ones that I couldn’t afford to have, not with a woman like her: abused, broken, rich, and, oh wait, still married.

I entered the shop and went about pulling out wood to make more of the back plates for the chairs.

Barb was a wealthy woman. Obviously, she grew up with money, and the rock on her hand showed that she probably married into more money. She had said he was a well-known attorney, and she was from California, so I could only imagine the kind of paycheck he brought home.

Most likely, I wouldn’t see what he made in a year in ten of mine.

I needed to focus on getting this job done and stop daydreaming about something that would never happen.

I pushed thoughts of Barb out of my head and got back to work. If there was one thing I was good at, it was forgetting about a woman. I had a lot of practice. I barely ever thought about my wife now. She didn’t deserve any thoughts from me anyway—not after what she had done.

For the next three hours, I focused on what I was doing. Amelia called down to ask if I was coming up to lunch, but I begged off. I was in the zone and didn’t want to be distracted by a beautiful woman and a small bundle of happiness.

They weren’t mine to enjoy.

Amelia brought me a plate of food and I scarfed it down in a few bites and got right back to work. By late afternoon, my hands and shoulders were sore, and I figured it was time to call it a day and go take a shower.

When I arrived at the main house, it was almost six, and dinner would be ready soon. I found Gloria in the library; her eyes were closed as she leaned back in a winged-back chair near the fireplace.

I was about to step back out, when she spoke, “Were you working or avoiding today?”

I laughed, “Working.” She gave me a look that told me she didn’t quite believe me.

“Allie seems to be quite taken with you, she kept asking for you this afternoon.” Gloria straightened up in her chair.

“Is that so?” I sat down opposite her.

“She was calling you ‘Him’, but Barbie kept reminding her of your name. She didn’t quite get it.” She laughed.

“That’s fine, I can answer to Him.” Amelia entered the library and handed me a beer. “Thanks, Amelia.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Bloodstone. Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes.”

“Grey, please call me Grey.” I pleaded to her. “Mr. Bloodstone was my father.”

Gloria laughed, “Isn’t it funny that we think that way? I remember saying the same thing when people started calling me Mrs. Withers. I kept thinking they were talking about my mother-in-law.”

“It makes me feel old.” I sipped my beer.

“Ah, yes, it can do that.”

“Speaking of which, how are you feeling?” I queried her.

“Old,” she quipped, and we both laughed. “Tired, having the little one in the house is wonderful, but she wears me out. I don’t have to do anything, just watching her makes me feel like I walked a mile.”

“They do have a lot of energy at that age.”

“That they do. Barb managed to go out and get some shopping done, so Allie has some things that she needs now, like a high chair.”

“Oh, good, that means I won’t have to share my dinner tonight?” I laughed good-naturedly, although I didn’t mind sharing.

“No, you won’t have to share your dinner,” Barb said as she entered the room with Allie.

Allie squealed when she saw me. “Gay, Gay,” she called out, and I glanced at Gloria.

“Gay?” I asked skeptically.

Gloria laughed, “She can’t get the R sound out, that was the best that Barb could do.” She shrugged.

Barb had put Allie down, and she toddled her way over to me. I set my beer on the side table and picked her up as she tried to crawl into my lap.

“Well, hello there, little button. How are you?”

“Gay,” she announced proudly.

“Yes, I’m Grey.”

Barb stood beside Gloria’s chair and watched us. I gave her a quick smile and forced myself not to stare back. I had done a good job of not thinking about her while I had worked, but the moment her voice had reached my ears, the memory of her hand on my chest and her lips on my cheek resurfaced.

“So how did the talk with the attorney go?” I asked to change my line of thought.

“As good as could be expected. He thinks I should go in and talk to the District Attorney about why I did what I did. I have some evidence that can help prove my story, so that will work in my favor.”

She rubbed her hands over the top of the chair Gloria sat in. I watched them move and wondered what they would feel like touching me like that. I cleared my throat and put my attention on Allie.

“That’s good. What evidence do you have?” I asked, not that it was my business.

Her hands paused. “I have some audio recordings of the arguments we had, some of the times he abused me, and copies of the pictures of after.”

Oh, Jesus, I winced. “Why did you record those? Isn’t that illegal?”

“Yes, it is illegal, but I didn’t feel like I had a choice. I won’t ever be able to use them in a court, and I could be charged with doing so if Todd wanted me charged, but having the proof that he was abusing me outweighed the thought of not having evidence. At the time, I was trying to prove that he didn’t want anything to do with Allie.”

“He never came around?” Gloria asked her as she craned her neck up to see her.

Barb shook her head, “No, from the day she was born, he didn’t want anything to do with her. That’s one of the reasons I used her room to hide things. He only came in there to yell at me to keep her quiet, he never stepped foot in there otherwise.”

I couldn’t imagine living that way. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that, Barb.”

She shrugged as Amelia came in and announced dinner. Barb came over and reached for Allie, but she curled up against my chest and hid her head.

“Sorry,” she said softly.

“Don’t worry about it. It feels good to be wanted.” At least by one of the females in the house, I thought silently.

She surveyed me for a full two seconds before her mouth opened and then closed. What had she been about to say? I stood, and she stepped back so I wasn’t standing over her. I followed her and Gloria out of the room, my eyes moving down her back and to her hips as they swayed gently with her stride.

I was going to need a cold shower by the time dinner was over.

Barb took Allie from me and put her in her highchair. She resisted at first, but once she realized she was going to get food, she giggled and banged on her tray. “Eat,” she demanded.

“So how are things coming along down at the shop?” Gloria asked as we ate our salads.

“Good, I got through a few more head plates and ordered supplies for a few of the chairs. I’d like to do them in groups of five. That way I don’t get tired of doing the same thing over and over again.”

“A hundred chairs is a lot of chairs,” Barb remarked. “Are you sure you want to do that many?”

Gloria threw her a glance but didn’t say anything.

“Sure, if you love what you’re doing, it’s easy, and repetition is actually soothing.”

“That makes sense, Grey. Have you had time to work on the design for the toy box yet?” Gloria asked.

“I started sketching, but I haven’t finished it. It’s missing something, but I haven’t figured out what yet. Once I do, then I should be able to show you the design.”

“Can I see the design?” Barb asked. “Maybe I might have an idea.”

“Yeah, sure, stop by the shop sometime and I can show it to you.” Conversation for the rest of dinner moved on to what she had purchased for Allie, and some stories of Allie’s silly behavior as Barb opened up and began to flourish in a household that was not filled with stress.

When dinner was over, I excused myself to return to the shop. I wanted to get one more plate finished, and every time I looked at Barb all I could think about was how damn sexy her lips were and how, when she smiled, her eyes lit up.

I was using the router to etch a design when I felt the air pressure in the room change, and I glanced up to see that it was after nine o’clock. I turned toward the door and found Barb scanning the room.

This was not good. Since I had returned from dinner, all I could think about was the way she sometimes looked at me, like she wanted something from me, and I kept telling myself that I was reading too much into the look.

“What are you doing down here?” I said after I turned off the router and set it down, dusting my hands off on my pants.

“You said I could stop by and see the design. I figured tonight would be as good a time as any, unless I’m interrupting.”

I glanced down at the plate, it was just about finished, but her being here had thrown my working mind into shutdown.

“No, that’s fine. I was about to quit anyway.” I unplugged the router and wound the cord up. “Just give me a second to clean up the mess.

“No problem,” she said as she began to wander around the shop. Pieces of the chairs I was working on were scattered around as well as a few other things I had been playing with when the urge came to me. I grabbed the broom and began to clean up the shavings off the floor.

“Did you make this?” she asked and I turned to find her looking at my surname crest.

“No, my father made that.”

She ran her fingers over the script of the letters, and my hands clenched the broom.

“It’s beautiful. Do you see him often?” That was enough to knock the lust out of my mind. I went back to sweeping.

“No, my father passed away a few years ago, my mom, too.”

“I’m sorry, Grey.” She turned towards me, but I kept my attention on the floor. “I didn’t mean to bring up a sad subject for you.”

“No, that’s alright. It’s part of life. People grow old and they pass away. My parents were in their forties when I surprised them by coming into the world, so by the time I was an adult, they were in their late sixties.”