The Unexpected Bride (Montana Born Brides) (15 page)

“Ready?
Okay, let’s hit the bear trail.” Laurent led the way out of the house with Jerome piggy-backing on his shoulders, clutching both Pierre and his new wooden model of Bobo, and Emma and Evie following. Evie carefully bore the box containing the egg, arms outstretched in front of her, like one of the Wise Men following the Eastern Star. “C’mon, crazy dog.”

The party set off and walked slowly through the pastureland of Paradise Valley to the forest at the foot of Copper Mountain, the children chattering excitedly and Bobo barking and circling in the lush new green grass.
Emma inhaled the crystal-fresh air. She saw Laurent glance at her out of the corner of her eye.

“I’d like to bottle it,” she said quietly.

Laurent just raised an eyebrow and gave her a rueful grimace. She and he hadn’t talked much since that night in the study, beyond discussing the selection of the new nanny.

They reached the bottom of a rocky slope peppered with boulders and pine trees.

“I think this would be a good place to leave the egg,” Laurent said, pointing at a small cave in the cliff side. “I reckon the bear takes his afternoon naps in there.”

“Bears sleep in trees,” Evie announced.

“Oh, sweetheart, you know that’s not true,” Emma said, laughing. “Remember we read that storybook where the bear lived in a cave?”

Evie squinted at her thoughtfully.
“I remember. The bear slept in the cave and he wouldn’t play with the rabbit, until the rabbit brought him a gift.”

“That’s right,” Emma encouraged.
“So, if you leave the Easter egg in the cave, maybe the bear will come out to play.”

Evie seemed very gratified by that prospect and walked carefully towards the mouth of the cave, still carefully holding the egg in its box with outstretched arms.
Everyone watched her; even Bobo sat silently. Evie gingerly laid down the box and stepped back. “Happy Easter, Mr Bear. Now you can come out to play with the rabbit and you won’t be lonely anymore.”

Emma couldn’t help glancing at Laurent, who kept a fairly straight face, save for a wry quirk of his mouth.
“Hurray!” she cried, clapping her hands, and Jerome clapped his too, though against the sides of his dad’s head.

“Hey!” Laurent lifted the toddler from his shoulders and placed him down on the ground,
tickling him under his jacket as a punishment. Jerome wriggled and giggled with delight, and Evie rushed over to join them, hurling herself into what had become a group hug. Bobo, not wanting to be left out, jumped and barked around their feet. Emma found herself having to turn away to hide the emotion welling within her.

By the end of the week, a new British nanny—Belinda—had been found, and she was to arrive at Copper Creek the following Tuesday, to spend a few days with Emma learning the ropes and acclimatizing with Evie and Jerome.
Emma and Laurent had agreed that the children should be told about Emma’s departure on Saturday afternoon.

Laurent brought them into the den, Bobo trotting behind them.
Emma sat pensively on one of the couches. “Hey, lovelies, come and sit with me.” She reached out her arms for Jerome, who settled himself on her lap, while Evie cuddled up next to her. Laurent sat on the opposite couch and stroked Bobo, who had leapt up to sit beside him.

Emma and Laurent had discussed what was going to be said, but still Emma couldn’t help looking over to him for reassurance.
He gave her a small nod. She took a deep breath.

“Guys, you know how I told you that I come from a faraway land called England?”

“That’s why you talk funny,” Evie interrupted.

“Yes, that’s why I talk funny.” Emma gave her a squeeze.
“Well, I’ve got to go away, to England.”

“Will you be coming back?” asked Evie.

“No, sweetie, I won’t be coming back.”

“Who will look after us?”

Emma picked up the photo that the agency had sent of Belinda, along with her resume and references. “A lovely lady called Belinda. She comes from England too, and talks funny like me.”

Evie studied the picture for a few seconds.
“She’s pretty!” she pronounced.

Emma felt the tenseness in her shoulders ebb slightly.
“Yes, she is. And she’s very nice, too.”

“When’s she coming?”

“In a few days. I’ll be here too for a bit after she arrives, while you get to know her.”

“Okay.”
Evie slid off the couch and went to pick up one of her toys, which lay nearby, and play with it. Though she seemed to have taken the news in her stride, Emma could tell the little girl was processing it, and wondered if there might be more of a reaction later.

Jerome, however, did his familiar burrowing into her shoulder, his thumb in his mouth.
“Don’t like Blinda!”

“Oh, honey,” Emma comforted him, stroking his hair.
But Jerome just burst into noisy sobs. “Ssh. It’s okay.”

There was a silence, punctuated only by the sound of Jerome’s hiccupping.
Emma looked over at Laurent, intending to give him a supportive smile, but her heart sank when she saw the loneliness in his eyes—the same loneliness that had been there when she’d first arrived.

Over the next twenty-four hours, it seemed to Emma if she’d slipped through a time-warp to nearly three months earlier, when she’d arrived at Copper Creek in January.
Certainly, the Fletcher family had gone backwards when it came to their behavior. Laurent had morphed right back to his withdrawn self, practically taking root in his workshop. Evie’s table manners had disappeared. Jerome had lapsed into baby talk and bad dreams when he was put to bed. She felt close to despair. She didn’t really want to go but felt she had no choice. She felt guilty, yet she couldn’t accept the terms on which she might stay. And Laurent looked at her now with a kind of indifference that told her she’d
really
hurt his pride.

Linda didn’t come in at weekends, so then the cooking fell to either Laurent or Emma, unless they went over to the senior Fletchers’ ranch for a meal.
This particular Sunday, Emma undertook to cook an early dinner, choosing to make a traditional roast. The meal didn’t go well, with Evie refusing to eat her food and throwing lumps of meat onto the floor for Bobo to devour, while Jerome picked his up with his hands to put it in his mouth.

“Jesus!”
Laurent threw down his fork in frustration. He got up and pushed his chair away with a sudden movement and an abrasive scraping noise along the granite-tiled floor.

Emma gave him a pleading look.
“I think we’re all tired. Perhaps I ought to take these two up for a bath and then bed.”

Laurent raked his hand through his hair.
“Sure. I’ll clear away and load the dishwasher. Come back down when you’ve got them settled and I’ll make us tea.”

“Thanks,” Emma said, wondering if he might try to persuade her to halt her impending departure.

Jerome seemed to calm down a little when he was bathed, though he was teary and clingy when Emma came to tuck him up in bed with Pierre. Bobo came and curled up in the corner or the room, as though he sensed that Jerome needed a friend, and she decided to let the little dog stay. She sat down on Jerome’s bed and sang quietly to him, stroking his downy blond head until he fell asleep. Her heart actually hurt as she thought about having to leave him and his sister in a few days’ time. Though she’d only been at Copper Creek for three months, she’d come to love these two motherless children.

Laurent was waiting for her in the kitchen with tea brewing when she came back downstairs.
“Let’s go sit in the den,” he said, and led the way to the family room, shutting the door behind them.

Once they were settled on one of the couches, she with her tea and Laurent with coffee, she braced herself for him to ask her again to stay.
But the request didn’t come. Instead he said, “I’m hoping that Belinda will get a grip pretty quickly on the kids.”

“Well, she’s very experienced.”

“She needs to be,” Laurent said ruefully. “I guess it helps that she’s nearly forty and obviously married to her career.”

Emma felt a sting as she took in that last remark, but she suppressed a retort.
“I have a feeling that she’ll be great.”

“Do you plan to keep in touch with us, Emma?” Laurent asked.

“That’s a tricky one. I don’t want to undermine Belinda’s efforts to settle in, but I don’t want the children to feel abandoned either. What do you think?”

Laurent raised an eyebrow.
“I was hoping that we could set up for you to talk to the kids by webcam every once in a while. I would of course expect you to reinforce Belinda’s methods to them.”

He sounded like he did when she first came to Copper Creek—formal and a little stiff.
But she wanted to hug him. It was his way of keeping his feelings to himself, and she loved him for it. He looked so serious, but so gorgeous too, with a couple of days’ worth of stubble, his denim shirt open by a couple of buttons from the collar and betraying a glimpse of dark body hair. Before she could stop herself, she leaned over and slid her arms around him. She felt him go rigid, but she didn’t care: she just couldn’t help herself, hide her emotions from him anymore. After a few moments, his body responded and relaxed, and his arm went around her shoulders and pulled her against him.

She tucked her head under his chin, listening to his breathing and feeling his hand rhythmically stroke her hair.
It was such a
relief
to be here in his arms, be herself, showing what she really wanted. She could stay here, like this, forever. But then he shifted his position slightly and his lips touched the side of her head. Her heartbeat quickened. She turned to look up at him and was met by his whiskey gaze, hooded by lowered lids. He bent to stroke her cheek with one hand and suddenly his mouth was on hers, parting her lips with its pressure. She welcomed him with every fiber of her being. She turned her body so that she could satisfy the urge she had to press and rub her breasts against his chest, and his hand rose to tangle in her hair as his kiss intensified and his tongue explored. His other hand sought her breast and cupped its heaviness, his fingers kneading and questing, then down her body to her waist and the hem of her top. He pushed the material up, his palm making contact with her skin, cool and firm against her body heat. She took a sharp intake of breath when he reached her bra and touched beneath it, making contact with her erect nipple, circling and squeezing with his thumb.

He pulled his mouth away from hers and his eyes looked down into hers, his lids lowered and heavy with desire, then his head dived and he
laved and sucked at her nipple, while his hand continued to cup and caress her breast.

“Oh, Laurent…” she groaned into his shoulder.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.” He pushed her back against the couch and his mouth went back to hers, kissing her with renewed passion, while his hand sought the waistband of her jeans and swiftly undid them, his fingers finding the junction at her thighs, causing her to buck her hips towards his touch.

“Do you want me inside you, baby?” he whispered into her mouth.

“Mmm…” Emma couldn’t articulate her need in words.

His finger dipped into her cleft, and then probed deeper into her slickness.
“You’re so wet, baby, so wet for me.”