His Paris Affair (The Albury Affairs) (26 page)

Her hand over her heart Melody exclaimed, “Jackie, you
scared me!”

Ruiz let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He
hated to admit it, but for a moment he thought it was Allan come to kill him.

“Nanny, I don’t think I can hold her right now. I’m shaking
too much.” She held her hands up as proof and they truly were shaking.

Ruiz made sure the towel around his waist was secure before
he moved to take Esme from Jackie. Holding her against his chest with one arm
with his free hand he took Melody’s arm and led her to the settee by the
window. He settled her down then handed Esme to her.

“Go on, feed her. Jackie will sit with you.” He turned to
the older lady who took that as her cue and moved to sit down next to Melody.
“She’ll protect you from the big bad dragon.”

Melody laughed nervously, parting her robe and giving Esme
who’d already started crying for her breast. “Very funny. I don’t know why I
reacted that way. I knew he was coming—and he’s my brother for crying out loud.
Not the terminator!”

Ruiz wasn’t so sure about that. Allan would probably love to
terminate him but he took care not to say that to Melody. She was panicked
enough. He brushed her wet hair behind her shoulders. “Hey, calm down. You
haven’t seen him for a very long time, its natural to feel anxious, all things
considered.”

He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and he turned to look up
at Riana’s understanding face. He stood and hugged her. “It’s good to see you
baby sister.”

She rubbed his back in that gentle motherly way. “It’s good
to see you to…just not all of you.”

“I’m happy to see all of you,” Loraine piped up.

He shifted his gaze to Loraine. She was still laying on the
bed, but her arms were now lifted out to him. “Come give me a hug…and a little
more.”

“Loraine!” Melody exclaimed.

Ruiz chuckled releasing his sister. “Reno still holding out
on you?”

Her arms dropped along with her leering gaze and provocative
smile. “He’s punishing me, I just know it.”

Riana sighed. “He’s not punishing you, he’s just being
cautious.”

Loraine pushed herself up to a sitting position and glowered
at her. “Cautious? How cautious was Allan when you were carrying AJ?”

Ruiz suddenly felt very uncomfortable. He didn’t like the
direction the conversation was taking. “I’d rather not know about that, thank
you.”

Riana tagged playfully at the towel. “Ditto.”

“Fine.” Ruiz tagged on the tail end of her braid and with a
quick kiss on her forehead rushed to the walk-in closet.

Usually he took just a few minutes to get ready, but today
he was taking longer. He knew what he was doing. He was stalling. Why? Because
he was not looking forward to seeing Allan now that all the cards were on the
table. Sure he may have known about Melody and him and probably right from the
start, but thanks to Reno he’d held off confronting Ruiz. Now it was time for
Ruiz to face the music and without his brother shielding him. It was time for
him to face all his responsibilities. Ruiz lifted his left hand and stared at
his ring. He rotated it with his thumb, amazed at how normal it looked on his
finger. He hadn’t taken it off since Melody handed it to him to wear for his
mother’s benefit. Melody also hadn’t taken off her rings—except her engagement
ring, which she did when she had to. The large stone was a little cumbersome to
work with on her hand, especially when she was tending to Esme. She was afraid
it would cut her like it had cut him when she slapped him. He chuckled, running
his thumb over the skin where the cut had been. He’d bled some and even now if
he touched it lightly he could feel the bump.

The knock on the door drew his attention tight before it
flew open. Loraine stood there with one hand on the door knob and the other on
her belly, clearly disappointed.

“You’re already dressed,” she pouted.

Ruiz chuckled shaking his head as he approached her. He
kissed her cheek. “I would hug you but I’m afraid your hands would wander.”

“No they wouldn’t!” she denied with a conspiratorially smile
and nod.

“Reno is going to get pissed when he finds out you’re trying
to get me into bed.”

She frowned. “So what? It would serve him right for the
torture he’s putting me through!”

“Loraine, you’ve got to understand him. He lost it when he
found you pale, unconscious and bleeding. It was worse when he found out
defending yourself from those two crazies caused it. A new husband and he’d
already failed to protect you and his baby.”

Loraine bit on her lower lip thoughtfully. “I guess you’re
right—but he can’t introduce me to mind blowing sex then put me out to pasture
when he knocks me up!”

Ruiz chuckled at. “Okay. If I promise to speak to my brother
will you stop coming on to me, for my wife’s sake?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Would you make love to your
wife when she’s pregnant?”

He snorted. “Bigger boobs, bigger ass? She’d have to beat me
off her with a stick.”

She beamed up at him. “I knew I liked you the moment I met
you.”

He cocked his brow. “When you met me you offered friendship
and a shallow grave in one breath.”

She winked at him. “What can I say, I’m intriguing like
that.” Then seriously she added, “Don’t worry about Allan. All he cares about
is that his sister is happy.”

He hugged her then. “Thanks sis.”

“Sis? Now I can never hit on you again!” she lamented.

“Thank God.” He pulled out of the hug, sidestepping her hand
and rushing out of the bathroom and the bedroom all together.

“About time you got out here,” Allan said gruffly.

Reno and Matthew were seated causally on the couch, looking
very amused with the whole situation. That’s when Ruiz realized his brother
wasn’t going to have his back this time. He was going to have to face down with
his brother-in-law alone.

And just for a moment, Ruiz entertained the idea of opening
the door and stepping back into the room and using his sister as a shield.
Instead he stepped away from the door, burying his hands in his pockets to hide
his clenched fists and said, “Allan, we have a lot to talk about.”

* * * *

Melody watched as Ruiz rushed out of the room without even a
goodbye. It annoyed her sometimes when he did that. At this crucial moment he
should have said bye, even given her a kiss in case Allan really did kill him.
God why were they early?

She thought she had at least two full days to think up an
explanation a way to appease her brother. She’d even pushed their predestined
first meeting in sixteen months out of her head and concentrated on the launch
party because she was sure she had time to fret and panic later. Unfortunately,
later had arrived sooner than she’d anticipated and her husband had gone off to
brave the storm alone. Why were they here so early?

She turned to Riana and demanded, “Why are you guys early?”

She’d gotten the shock of her life when Loraine, Riana and
Amy busted into the room and attacked her with hugs. Amy only stayed a minute
before Matthew called her out about…Melody couldn’t remember. She was so
stunned by their presence that all she could do was scream.

“You’re two days early, why are you two days early?”

Riana sat on Melody’s other side on the settee, wrapped her
arm around her and rested her chin on her shoulder. “Calm down, no need to
panic. We just thought it would be fun to surprise you.”

Melody snorted. “We are surprised alright.” She shifted Esme
to her other breast. “So surprised I’m sure surprising us isn’t the real reason
you’re here two days early. Who organized this surprise anyway?”

“Allan,” Loraine blurted out, lowering herself on the bed.
She looked so uncomfortable. Melody didn’t miss that part.

Melody’s nervousness grew. If Allan organized the early trip
then something more was definitely going on. She didn’t want to think about
that, not now. She hadn’t seen her ‘sisters; in over a year.

“So, boy or girl?” Melody asked hoping to distract herself
from what was going on beyond the closed door.

Loraine got a content and happy look on her face that made
her glow. The joy she felt beamed through her eyes that it made Melody smile. “It’
a girl. We’re thinking of naming her after our mothers. Cora as her first name
and Susan as her middle name.”

“Cora Susan Albury. It’s beautiful.”

Riana sniffed at her shoulder and Melody patted her hand
comfortingly. She knew how Riana felt. She missed her mother too and having a
daughter only made that ache worse. A girl needed her mother when she was
pregnant and even more when she had a daughter. Boys were different from girls
in a major attitude way and who better to learn from than a woman who’d raised
a daughter, survived the experience and became one of her best friends. Loraine
was lucky she still had her mother to hold her hand through it all.

“Hey, no crying.” Loraine’s voice broke with emotion, tears
gleaming in her eyes. “Oh hell, let’s all cry. Then let’s go to Reno red faced
with running mascaras and tell him we are all crying because of the forced
celibacy he has imposed on me. I might as well join a nunnery at this point!”

They all laughed at that, tears quickly forgotten. Esme
pulled away from Melody, full and content now that she was fed. She went to
pass the baby to Jackie when Riana stilled her.

“Let me. I’ve been dying to hold her since I saw her.”
Melody happily handed Esme to her aunty. “She’s gorgeous Melody,” Riana cooed,
holding Esme over her shoulder and patting her back so that she would burp.

Melody smiled, brushing Esme’s unruly curls away from her
face. “Thanks. She’s our finest work.”

“What’s her name?”

“Esmeralda,” she answered, but she didn’t offer any back
history. She had a feeling no one knew about Esmeralda, Ruiz’s nanny, yet, and
much of his past if at all. Melody believed she only got the cliff notes and
everything else Ruiz either deemed unimportant or unnecessary for her to know.
The meeting with his mother certainly explained a lot about his closed off
nature, especially about his past.

The door opened again and Melody held her breath for just a
second until Amy stepped in. She was truly on edge about finally meeting up
with Allan.

“Hi, Mom!” she cheered rushing to Melody with her arms wide
open. Melody stood to receive the hug. Someone else she’d truly missed.
“Congratulations on the baby and the husband. Too bad we weren’t present for
either.” She pulled away and added with a censure.

Melody felt her cheeks burn. “I’m sorry. Things kind of just
got away from us.”

“Yeah, baby, wedding, break up, make up—I can see how things
could have gotten away from you. Especially since there wasn’t a whole year
somewhere in between that you could have taken five minutes from to call and
tell us,” Loraine said sarcastically.

Melody stuck her tongue out at her. “I called you!”

“Yeah, but you left the gorgeous angel out of the
conversation and the fact that you’re now Mrs. Albury,” Riana pilled it on.

“Sinclair-Albury, I’m a hyphenate.” And to Loraine she said
smugly, “And it was wedding, baby, break up, make up, break up again then
finally make up, thank you very much.”

“Oh, you must be so proud.”

“Such drama, she should write a novel,” Riana added
laughingly.

Melody turned to glare at her. “You are spending way too
much time with Loraine. You’ve caught her annoying sarcasm.” They laughed and
Melody did her best to suppress her smile and act offended. With a dismissive
wave of her hand she said, “Whatever, what’s done is done. Now that you’re all
here maybe we can do something together?”

Amy nodded. “The guys need a time out from whatever they are
discussing. Things are so tense in the living room I didn’t even stop to say hi
to Ruiz.”

The panic was back and in full force. “I’ll get dressed.”

* * * *

 
“So it’s true.
Someone had been using Red Roses Paris to launder money?” Allan spoke in a
dangerously controlled tone.

Ruiz nodded. “He’s been doing it for almost a year.”

“A year?” Allan turned to Matthew, eyes blazing. “And we are
just finding out about this now?”

Matthew turned to Ruiz. “Those transactions weren’t for
running the hotel?”

He shook his head. “I thought so too but Jon Luc—the lawyer
Dante hired—found out otherwise. He’s very effective and efficient at his job.”

He cautiously watched as Allan seethed. “The board was
right. I’ve grown soft, slacking at my job.” He shot out of his chair in barely
controlled anger and turned away from the room.

Reno stood. “Don’t start that again. You aren’t that
ruthless business mogul anymore. Things have changed—you have changed. You have
a wife and children now to think about. Sinclair Enterprise is no longer your
only concern.”

Allan turned on him. “And what’s your excuse? Red Roses is
your responsibility! Why did a year have to go by before you decided to have
someone step in?”

“Because Melody was here. I knew it was struggling but I
chose to trust Melody, to give her time to turn things around,” Reno returned
calmly.

Ruiz had to hold himself down in his seat to keep from
jumping in and defending Melody. If they knew the circumstances, they wouldn’t
be arguing right now.

Matthew stood and moved between Reno and Allan. “Let’s just
calm down. It’s been handled and everything is on track, right Ruiz?” he asked
pointedly.

Ruiz stood too, his tightly clenched fists in his pockets.
“Yes it’s been handled. The bank and the authorities have also been notified.
No one knew the laundering was happening, not even the bank.”

“That’s still no excuse!” Allan barked. “How the hell did
whatever his name even become a signatory?”