Tied Up, Tied Down (9 page)

“Your sweet girl hasn’t slept for more than fifteen minutes at a time all day.”

“Maybe that means she’ll sleep all night for a change.” He nuzzled Eliza’s pudgy neck. “Which ain’t fair because it’s your night to be up with her.”

“My night? I thought we were taking turns?”

“Me too, sweetheart. But I took all the turns last night. You didn’t move when I got out of bed. At midnight. At two. And at four.”

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Dee chuckled. “Oh. I get it now.” Still smiling, she said, “Nadia wants to talk to you before you leave. She says it’s important.” Dee disappeared around the corner.

Skylar withheld a groan. She liked Nadia. She liked that Nadia wasn’t afraid to talk to her when she kept her distance from everyone else. She liked that Nadia wasn’t a drama queen. But it bugged the heck out of her Nadia was so fickle, and Sky didn’t have to guess what Nadia wanted to talk to her about. Again.

“Lemme take Eliza home so you can get back to work.” Kade lifted her from Skylar’s arms. “Come on, girlie. You and me gotta date with a warm bottle and a hot bath.”

“Do you want to drive my car? Or just take the car seat out of it?”

He frowned. “I have a car seat in my truck.”

“Since when?”

“Since the day after I moved in. I bought one, figurin’ it’d be easier if we had two.”

“I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t ask. You assumed. I’m findin’ you do that a lot with me, Skylar.” His eyes met hers. “See you at home.”

Why was everyone acting so weird today?

The second Sky returned to her office, Annie, a forty-something, no-nonsense native Wyoming cowgirl, descended on her like a rabid coyote. “So Eliza wasn’t an immaculate conception as you’d led all of us to believe?”

Sky snorted.

“Granted, that spectacular hunk of a man is pretty damn close to god-like.”

No argument here.

“Not that he had eyes for anyone but you. Lord, with the hot way he was eatin’ you up, we all thought he was gonna nail you right there in the main room next to the coffee pot.”

Her cheeks heated.

“Eliza’s daddy is living with you, and you couldn’t mention it to me? For godsake, you’re
sleeping
with him and you’ve kept it to yourself?”

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Damn. News traveled fast around here. “It’s not what you think.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Then you are an idiot, Sky. A freakin’ idiot.” Annie tossed up her hands and stormed out.

What was wrong with everybody today?

Thirty minutes later Nadia knocked and Skylar motioned her in.

Dark-haired, dark-eyed Nadia was a refugee from Bosnia who’d immigrated to the United States through a local church.

Last year during the interview process, Nadia had referred to herself as the perfect peasant. Ugly, stick-thin, strong as an ox, uneducated, and an “eyes forward, no-talking”

kind of worker. The description haunted Skylar, as did the occasional evidence of physical abuse on Nadia’s arms and face.

Despite repeated attempts of her coworkers to convince Nadia to ditch her husband, and Nadia’s promises to follow through with it, Nadia stayed with the abusive man. A sad fact of life in rural America. With the lack of financial and social resources, many women didn’t have a choice but to stay in a bad relationship.

The whole situation worried Skylar, and quite frankly, she’d nearly called the damn sheriff herself, but as Nadia’s boss, she couldn’t interfere. The one time she’d approached Nadia to offer whatever support she’d needed, the woman tearily told her to mind her own business. And as much as it pained her, Skylar had done as Nadia asked.

So far, Nadia’s son, four-year-old Anton, hadn’t shown signs of abuse and was a well-adjusted little boy who played well with the other kids in the daycare program.

Instead of standing in front of the desk like she was facing a firing squad as she usually did, Nadia paced. “What’s up, Nadia? Dee said it was important.”

“It is.” She paced to the far wall and back. “I like working here. It is good for Anton, it is good for me.”

“I like having you here. I’m not flattering you when I say you are a great employee.”

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“Thank you.” Nadia stopped and looked at Skylar with haunted eyes. “When I’m here I work hard.” She clenched her hands at her sides. “I need to ask you a favor.”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“If my husband calls, I’d like you to tell him I’m not here.”

A thick silence hung in the air.

Sky’s stomach churned. How many times in the last year had Nadia asked for this favor? A dozen, probably. The very next day Nadia would recant her request, claim she’d been stressed out or tired and she hadn’t meant it. Then she’d vehemently deny her husband had anything to do with her decision. Skylar had suffered through this type of wishy-washy behavior before with her sister. India promising to get clean. To get sober.

To stop using and abusing her body and take control of her life.

Nadia was in the same holding pattern. It might be cynical, but Sky didn’t think this was the time Nadia would stick to her declaration either and she tried damn hard to keep the doubt out of her voice. “I know you’re a private person, Nadia, but honesty is necessary for me to understand what’s going on. Why should I lie to Rex?”

“Because I’m leaving him. For real this time. A friend is letting us stay with her. I need this job and this is the first place he’ll try to find me.”

“As happy as I am that you’re taking a positive step, do you think he’ll believe you just up and left town? Especially when he knows how much you like working here?”

“He thinks I hate this job.”

That was a new twist. “Excuse me?”

Nadia thrust out her chin. “It’s not true. I lied to him. In the last couple of weeks I started complaining to him about this place and how bad it’d gotten. How I hated everyone who worked here. I even hinted I was looking around for something else and I’d found another daycare for Anton.”

Smart woman, laying the groundwork, but it made Sky absolutely sick that Nadia had to go to this much trouble to get out of a horrid, unsafe situation.

“When he realizes we’re gone, hopefully he’ll think I’ve moved to Denver. I told him I have cousins there.”

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“Do you?”

“No. I don’t have any friends there either, so there’s no way he can trace me. Except through here.”

Skylar stayed calm and professional even as she wanted to ask more detailed questions on why Nadia was convinced this outlandish ruse would work. She tapped the pen on her calculator, contemplating issues Nadia might not have considered, but ones that affected everyone in her employ. “Is the woman who’s hiding you out another employee?”

“No. I’d never ask that of someone or put such a burden on you. You’ve been very good to me, which is why I hate to ask such a big thing. Again.”

Helpless to say no, Sky said, “Okay. I’ll inform Annie since she fields most of the phone calls. But you have to promise me one thing, Nadia.”

“What?”

“If anything changes, if you decide to return home, or if he threatens you, you have to tell me right away. I can’t be flying blind in this situation when I have a business to run and other employees—including children—to consider.”

“I promise. But this time it’s for real.”

Sky wanted to ask what’d happened to force the change. She wanted to know if Nadia had enough money. If Anton had his favorite toys. If Nadia was scared. However, Sky did none of that. It’d make Nadia even more self-conscious and might make her reconsider her plan if Sky questioned it.

She pretended to squint at the clock when she was trying to hold it together and follow Nadia’s lead, remaining brusque and businesslike. “Ten minutes until quitting time. Maybe you’d better fill in your coworkers on what’s going on before you take off.”

Nadia nodded.

Just as Skylar took a breath and dropped the mask of hard-ass boss lady, Nadia stopped at the door and turned around.

“That man who was here earlier? Is he Eliza’s father?”

“Yes.”

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“Why wasn’t he around before, when you were pregnant?”

Wow. That was an intensely personal question from mind-your-own-business Nadia.

“That’s a long story and one I’d rather not get into. Why do you ask?”

“Because he reminds me of my husband. A stubborn cowboy. A big man who’ll use his fists to prove himself.”

“Kade is not like that.”

“Don’t kid yourself. They’re
all
like that,” Nadia said, and slipped out the door, leaving Skylar in stunned silence.

An hour later, Skylar entered the quiet house. No sign of Eliza or Kade in the living room. Maybe they were napping upstairs.

She rooted around in the freezer and threw a boxed casserole in the microwave. She set the plates and silverware on the ruffled placemats and poured two glasses of tea.

The stairs creaked and a freshly showered Kade entered the kitchen with an empty bottle. “She’s scrubbed, fed and sleepin’. I ain’t gonna claim sleepin’ like a baby, ’cause I’ve learned that sayin’ is a total lie. But she’s out.”

“Great timing. Dinner’s done.”

“Good. That looks mighty tasty. Thanks for cookin’.”

“You’re welcome.” Weren’t they civilized and polite? What happened to the heated looks and his suggestion of taking her to bed? Why didn’t he suggest they skip supper and head straight for dessert?

Why don’t you take a chance and tell him what’s really on your mind?

Kade shoveled in a forkful of rice and chewed. “This is good. What’s the spice?”

“I added fresh savory.”

“Mmm. That it is.”

He ate. She ate. They finished the meal in uncomfortable silence.

She started to clean up the dishes and declined his offer to help.

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Finally, he said, “You gonna tell me what’s wrong?”

She slammed the cupboard door. “I don’t know.”

“Could you at least give me the courtesy of lookin’ at me when we’re talkin’, sweetheart?”

Skylar wheeled around. “We aren’t talking, Kade.”

“Is that the problem?”

“Maybe.”

“Only one way to rectify that, Skylar. If you have some to say to me, spit it out.”

“Fine. For lack of a better term, we’ve been playing house for over two weeks.”

“Playin’ house? Is that what you think we’re doin’?”

“Isn’t it? And despite the fact you’re living with me, you’re in my bed, today you came into my plant and tried to charm the pants off me in front of my employees.”

Kade lifted both brows. “Does that make you mad?”

“Yes, it does. I sound like a total idiot, but yeah, it makes me wonder why you don’t use that silver tongue on me when we’re alone.”

“Where exactly do you want me to use my tongue on you, darlin’?”

Everywhere
. “You know that’s not what I meant. And it doesn’t help my self-image when I realize we’ve been sleeping in the same damn bed for almost three weeks and…”

“And what?”

Just say it
.
Calmly. Confidently. With dignity
. She blurted out, “And why haven’t you so much as laid a single hand on me?”

He blinked several times. “Come again?”

“You heard me. You asked for honesty, there it is.”

“Yeah? Well, I asked you to marry me, remember?”

“And I said no. That doesn’t answer my question.”

Kade wiped a cloth napkin across his mouth with deliberate slowness. “The reason I haven’t done anything more than sleep next to you in that bed is because I’m followin’

your lead, Sky. You never indicated that’s what you wanted.”

“You haven’t acted like you’re interested, McKay.”

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“Wrong. I would’ve fucked you on the couch the first night I moved in. I would’ve spread you out on every goddamn surface in this kitchen morning, noon and night. I would’ve banged you on the concrete floor of your herb room until my knees bled the second I saw you today, in another one of them sexy-assed dresses you always wear.

“I want you like crazy. It don’t matter to me where, but it sure as hell matters when, because I ain’t gonna start nothin’ with you until you’re ready to get into an intensely physical relationship with me.”

Skylar’s belly flipped at the words
intensely physical relationship
. “Being a true cowboy gentleman, are you?”

“I’m sure as hell tryin’, because that’s what
you
told me you wanted from the get-go.

It ain’t easy as I thought it’d be.”

Rather than admit she was wrong for demanding his stupid gentlemanly behavior, she taunted, “So is that why I caught you jacking off in the shower this morning?”

His eyes glittered. “Me jackin’ off was in direct response to the show you were puttin’ on in the middle of the damn bed about five minutes before that.”

“What show?”

“I’m not supposed to react when you’re diddlin’ yourself in your sleep?” Kade leaned forward. “I watched you come. It was hot as the Fourth of July. Made me hard as a fuckin’ brick. And rather than risk wakin’ up Eliza and goin’ all caveman on you, poundin’ your luscious body clear through that mattress, I took matters into my own hands. Because sweetheart, I’ve had a lot of experience with that in the last year.”

Kade thought her body was luscious? Skylar stared at him. Turned on, turned inside out. “You haven’t been with anyone?”

“Not since you…not since the night Eliza was conceived in my truck in Ziggy’s parking lot.”

She whispered, “Me either.”

Kade stood so fast the chair crashed to the floor.

“No one has touched me since that night.” As he stalked her, she backed up until her lower back connected with the counter edge. “Well, I mean, I’ve been touched. I had to 74

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