Knight Takes Queen (12 page)

‘Some sleep,’ Dominic said, grinning. ‘But before that, I need,’ and he listed the items Katherine had requested.

He sat at a long stainless steel counter while Quinn assembled the food.

‘You sure nothing’s to be heated?’

‘Those are my orders. Personally …’ Dominic’s voice trailed off. ‘But we’d better not. Do you have children?’ Demands in the middle of the night reminded him of Melanie’s youngsters.

‘I do. They’re grown now. Great kids. My wife raised them. I wasn’t home much.’

‘Do they like you?’ There was something in Quinn’s voice that allowed him to ask the question, or maybe just his own family dynamics prompted the query.

‘They do. We’re good friends. I came home whenever I could.’

‘Is your family in London?’

‘My boy’s in culinary school in Paris, my daughter’s a teacher in Brighton and my wife’s down the hall, sir. She does your household books.’

‘Ah – forgive me for not knowing that. Max takes care of the hiring.’

‘Not a problem. You could be the devil himself for the salaries you pay. There, that’s the last of it.’ The brawny chef delicately arranged the cakes on the tray with his beefy fingers. ‘Tell Miss Hart, the truffle filling is fine, she might want to discard the cake. It’s a bit chewy now.’

‘But it won’t make her sick?’

‘No, I froze the leftover cakes for the staff. And you can eat cake straight from the freezer, but I zapped them for a few seconds. You don’t have to tell her.’

‘I’m good at omission,’ Dominic said with a small smile.

‘Most men are.’

‘Survival.’

‘You nailed it, sir. Would you like help upstairs?’

‘No.’ Dominic picked up the tray. ‘And thank you for your
understanding. I expect this won’t be the last time I’m down here in the middle of the night.’

‘Anytime, sir. And all our best to Miss Hart.’

A short time later, Dominic watched Kate eat, politely refused the leftovers, took pleasure in seeing her devour every last morsel – including the cake – and turned back from setting the tray on the dresser to find her sleeping again.

Christ, had she developed narcolepsy? That might be something to ask the doctor.

*

Sunday, they slept late, read the papers in bed, ate breakfast in bed, then lunch. Kate napped in the afternoon, Dominic powered up his laptop. And as the weekend came to a close, they lay watching a movie on TV – where else – in bed.

‘Really, Dominic, someone should warn you about being constantly tired when you’re pregnant,’ Kate mumbled as he shook her awake on Monday morning. ‘Jeez, you’re dressed!’ Dominic was sitting on the side of the bed in full CEO kit. ‘What time is it?’

‘It’s late, baby,’ he said. ‘I figured with your shower last night I could let you sleep in. But we have to get moving.’ Sweeping the covers aside, he stood, leaned down, consciously averted his gaze or his clothes would be back off, lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bathroom. Seating her on the marble vanity, he put some toothpaste on a toothbrush, kept his eyes on her face, handed the toothbrush to her with a glass of water, and said, ‘Brush. Quinn has already packed your breakfast. You can eat in the car. I’ll wait for you in the dressing room.’

A short time later, he heard the toilet flush, the tap run, then silence. For too long.

He was on his way back to the bathroom when Kate
walked out into the bedroom, a stunning image of soft, pink curves and ripe tits that had Dominic quickly weighing his options.

‘I think I dozed off,’ Kate murmured, rubbing her eyes like a sleepy two-year-old.

Having reined in his libido and curbed his
I can do anything
ego by sheer, bloody-minded will, Dominic smiled faintly. ‘CX Capital might not get their money’s worth today.’

‘Or for the foreseeable future if I can’t shake myself out of this perpetual drowsiness.’

‘Is that my cue to repeat my classic line about working for me? Anytime, baby. Just say the word.’ He opened the door to the dressing room wider.

‘Jeez, if you don’t wear me down, Mother Nature will,’ Kate said, moving past him into the dressing room. ‘I should ask Amanda if she spent the entire nine months sleeping or thinking about sleeping.’

‘We’ll ask the doctor this afternoon. I’ll pick you up at three. Don’t sit down,’ he quickly said, ‘We have to get you dressed and into the car.’

If any of Dominic’s acquaintances had been asked whether they could picture him as person assistant to a woman, they would have stared at the questioner in disbelief. Dominic didn’t go out of his way for women. He never had.

Until Kate.

But she had no way of knowing that Dominic’s thoughtfulness was unique to her, so she accepted his attentions
as normal. And with her energy levels close to zero, thank God, he didn’t mind doing almost everything.

Including feeding her a bacon sandwich in the car so her fingers wouldn’t be all greasy when she got to work. ‘How the hell can you eat bacon in the morning,’ he murmured, as she savoured the sandwich, ‘and not have that make you sick?’

‘Dunno,’ she said, swallowing the last bite. ‘Comfort food? Compulsive behaviour? Some Neanderthal genetic trigger? Maybe—’

‘I’m sorry I asked,’ he said, grinning. ‘Here, baby, have some chocolate milk to wash it down.’ He held out a small thermos.

‘I’ll make this up to you someday,’ she promised, smiling at him as she handed back the flask. ‘I’ll take care of you.’

‘You already are, Katherine. You make each day worth living. So let me do this. It gives me pleasure.’

‘OK then,’ she said, grinning. ‘I guess I’ll let you.’

He laughed, pleased that she made him laugh when he hadn’t had much to smile about in the past. ‘Maybe someone so wiseass needs a spanking,’ he murmured, a husky note in his voice.

She looked at him lounging against the black leather seat, impeccably dressed in an ecru-coloured suit for the spring weather, his hair slicked back, his teasing smile for her alone. ‘And maybe I know someone who could do that,’ she whispered back.

‘Jesus Christ, baby.’ He blew out a breath, dragged in
another, glanced at his watch. ‘Seriously, you have to quit your job,’ he said on a suffocated breath. ‘I need you available for me all the time. Oh, shit.’

The car pulled up to the curb in front of CX Capital.

‘You’re not the only needy one,’ she breathed, her gaze riveted on the explosive rise of his erection, her body instantly responding.

‘Jake will help you out.’ His nostrils flared, his voice was suddenly taut as a bowstring. ‘I’m not touching you with this goddamn raging hard-on. And I mean it, Katherine,’ he said, curtly, his mouth grim. ‘You have to quit this bullshit job.’

‘Because you say so?’ Her voice took on a sudden edge.

‘Pretty much,’ he said through his teeth, then looked up as the car door opened. ‘Thanks, Jake. Give Katherine a hand, will you?’

She moved past him as he swung his legs aside.

‘Three p.m.,’ he said

‘Fuck you.’

‘We’ll do that after the appointment,’ he said, crisply.

As she stalked away, he shoved the Prada lunch cooler at Jake. ‘Catch up to her. If I try she’ll toss this.’

Once in her office, for thirty minutes of pure rage, Kate stared unseeing at her monitor screen while any number of sharp, pithy responses to Dominic’s demand she quit work raced through her mind. Something more creative than
fuck you
. Like a barbed reminder to him that she was an independent woman with a mind of her own. Or perhaps
she would ask him who he thought he was telling her what to do, expressed entirely in dog whistle decibels. Or the real one about her not wanting to be another possession of a man who already had a surfeit of them. While the one about him being a controlling dick always reemerged spotlighted centre stage.

She thought about going back to her apartment. About walking out and never looking back like they do in the movies or in nineteenth-century novels where the women always get screwed in the end.

Just as the image of all those self-sacrificing fictional women who came to a bad end had Kate reconsidering leaving and never looking back, a gangly young man with floppy hair walked into her office struggling under the weight of a large crystal vase filled with beautiful, white, blowsy David Austin roses.

Her anger melted away like snow at the equator. Disappeared in a heartbeat.
Abracadabra – poof – gone
. Jesus, love was a goddamn, crazy inexplicable roller-coaster ride. But, honestly, no matter how angry she got, no matter how opinionated Dominic might be, it always came down to this: only he could make her feel this happy.

When she pointed, the young man set the vase on her desk, then stepped back, and straightened his shoulders as if he were waiting for a reprimand or about to be pinned with some really important medal. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, he opened his mouth, clamped it shut again, his face turned ten shades of red. Just as Kate was wondering
if he was on drugs this early in the morning, he said in a rush, ‘I’m supposed to say, “I’m sorry”. He said you’d know what that meant.’ Then he turned and literally ran from her office.

Kate hoped Dominic had tipped the kid well because that little speech was way out of that youngster’s comfort zone. But Dominic’s sweet gesture warmed her heart. He was good at this or she was super gullible, or maybe this was what love was all about. Forgetting why you were angry in a split second; making concessions you never would have made before. Being thrilled about having a baby when babies had only been in your long-range plans … as in a decade from now.

Leaning forward, she lifted the florist’s envelope attached to the neck of the vase with a bow and pulled out the card. Contemplating Dominic’s uncharacteristically small script on the little card, she read:

A thousand apologies. I’m a total ass. I’ll spank you very, very softly tonight to make up for my bad behaviour
.

Dominic had signed his name and added a happy face for the very first time in his life.

Katherine had no way of knowing he’d never considered the emoticon applicable before, but she smiled when she saw it.

She immediately texted him:
Maybe I’ll let you
. And added an animated happy face that not only smiled, but jumped up and down and waved its arms because that’s the way she was feeling. Super happy.

So … both of them faced the considerable duties of the day in good moods. Kate even gave a pass to a couple of young kids who were hacking way above their pay grade.
Do this again
, she emailed to their personal accounts,
and I’ll have the police knocking on your door. No joke
.

Dominic was so cheerful Max almost asked him if he was high.

‘I know that calculating look,’ Dominic said, smiling at Max across his desk. ‘Don’t ask.’

‘You can’t blame me.’ Max slid lower in his chair and gazed at Dominic from under his brows. ‘I’ve seen you like this … but not at the office.’

Dominic grinned. ‘Get used to it. Personally, it’s better than any eight-ball high.’

‘You’re completely gone then,’ Max said, drily.

‘Flying high, dude. I couldn’t be happier. I might even let fucking Larry off the hook for trying to screw me out of that office building in San Francisco.’

‘He’ll do it again then. He’ll figure you’re soft.’

‘Maybe I am right now.’

‘Hopefully not for long,’ Max muttered. ‘Or your bottom line’s going to suffer.’

Dominic leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms behind his head and gave Max an easy smile. ‘Don’t worry. I can screw Larry later. He’ll try it again. We both know that.’

Max slid upright, his worry frown gone. ‘Good. I thought I’d lost you there for a minute.’

Dominic shook his head, dropped his hands and leaned
forward slightly. ‘I’m not that nice. You know that better than most. Although I’m going to have to alter some of my behaviour or at least be careful where and when I’m a prick. Katherine’s coming aboard, in case that’s news.’

‘I figured. When?’

‘Whenever I can convince her to quit CX Capital.’

‘Joanna has her cheque.’

Dominic’s brows lifted slightly. ‘Did she want much?’

‘Not really.’

‘Send her a thank-you cheque then. Twenty percent.’

‘That should bring a smile to her face.’

‘Not as big as mine when she tells Katherine she can buy her out.’

‘Then it’s happy times all around,’ Max drawled. ‘Since you’re in this don’t-give-a-shit mood though,’ he added more coolly. ‘Just a reminder. Don’t forget the video conference this afternoon.’

‘I’ll come back for it. Katherine and I have an appointment with a doctor at three thirty. A woman this time.’

‘Sounds like the gender matters.’

‘Yeah.’

That was the clipped, curt tone Max was used to. Unlike Dominic’s cheerful blue skies persona from a few minutes ago, where even Larry screwing him didn’t matter. ‘Do you want Helen to stay until your conference is over?’

‘No. She can go home at five. It’s nothing I can’t handle.’

*

Dr Fuller was young, slim, boyish, her long brown hair worn
in a ponytail, her toothy smile attractive. She greeted them at the door to her office and shook hands, with a firm, solid grip. Waving them to chairs in front of her desk, she took her seat behind it and smiled again. ‘This isn’t an emergency, I understand, but pressing.’ She’d been persuaded to make the time for this appointment by two prominent doctors she knew; Dominic Knight had been in a hurry and had called in some major hammers.

‘We don’t know anything about pregnancy,’ Dominic said, with a polite smile. ‘So we have some urgent questions.’ He shrugged faintly. ‘Or at least urgent to us.’ He glanced at Kate, lightly touched her hand where it lay on her chair arm; his voice took on a tender note. ‘Do you want to start?’

Kate smiled. ‘Sure.’

Nothing more was said, not another word exchanged.

But the doctor suddenly felt de trop at the open display of affection, startled as well with Dominic Knight involved. She’d met him once; he didn’t remember and she wasn’t surprised. Although she
was
surprised to see he was capable of tenderness. He had a reputation for something quite different.

Dominic noticed the doctor’s unease. H wasn’t embarrassed by his feelings and Katherine seemed unaware, but the doctor was waiting. ‘Ask your questions, baby.’ He touched Kate’s hand again.

‘Sorry.’ Kate started. ‘Was I dozing? Lord,’ she muttered. ‘That’s my first question. Is it normal to be tired all the
time? Other than that, I feel fine. Well – except for some morning sickness.’ She grimaced. ‘It’s getting better but it’s not completely gone. How long can I expect it to last?’

The doctor answered Kate’s questions, then Dominic’s that had to do with Kate’s lack of appetite and his concerns about how much sex was too much sex. Neither of his questions garnered any hard or fast guidelines which wasn’t very helpful to his peace of mind. But the doctor added at the end, ‘You needn’t feel alone in your ignorance. Everyone does the first time.’ She smiled. ‘It’s quite a learning curve. Now if you don’t have any more questions.’ She waited a moment than came to her feet and waved towards the door. ‘Shall we?’

Dominic went with Kate into the exam room, standing beside her and holding her hand once she was on the examining table.

The doctor smiled at Kate. ‘Now, tell me if you’re uncomfortable.’ And she began the examination. ‘Everything looks normal,’ she said a few moments later and Dominic helped Kate sit up. ‘We’ll send you home with some vitamins and a pamphlet with suggestions for mitigating morning sickness. And sleep when you’re tired if you can. It’s nothing to worry about. Some women just need more sleep when they’re pregnant. And we’ll see you in a month.’

As the doctor left the room, Dominic leaned over and spoke to Kate. ‘I’ll settle up at the front desk while you’re dressing. OK?’

Quickly exiting the examining room, he caught up with
the doctor in the hall. ‘I have a question I didn’t want to bring up in front of Katherine.’

Dominic Knight would have been a stunning man even without the trappings of wealth and power. Her brother-in-law, who aspired to prominence as an MP in Parliament as well as sartorially, would have been in awe of Mr Knight’s exquisite tailoring. ‘Would you like to go back to my office and speak privately?’

Dominic shook his head. ‘This is fine. I just wanted to ask about the effects of Depo-Provera on the foetus. The information online is all over the place. Anecdotal and otherwise. Kate had the injection not long before falling pregnant.’