An Heir to Bind Them by Dani Collins

Author:Dani Collins [Collins, Dani]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Women
ISBN: 9780373132546
Google: 7WAXAwAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 19302569
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-12-31T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

THE WORDS CAME between them in an eclipse-like flash. For a second Jaya couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see.

No. She’d already told him no. Hadn’t he heard her? But what she’d really been refusing was a marriage of convenience. If he loved her... Did he?

And how could he just announce it like that to his sister without consulting—without even asking her first?

“I haven’t convinced Jaya yet,” Theo said, taking the weight of his penetrating stare back to his sister.

Oh, sure, put it all on me, Jaya thought, working to keep a scowl off her face. Her instinct was to protest, but she didn’t want to draw Adara into it. Given the look exchanged between Nic and Rowan as they returned from the kitchen, they’d heard Theo, adding to her feeling of being outnumbered.

No one needed to know her reasons for refusing to marry except maybe Theo and she’d share that only if and when it felt right.

“We haven’t had much time to talk about anything except whose turn it is to change a bottom,” Jaya murmured, stroking a hand over Androu’s tousled hair as he toddled after Evie to their play area in the lounge.

“Understood,” Nic said. “And we’re incredibly grateful for your help. If you ever need anything, please let us know.”

“I expect we’ll be seeing a lot of each other regardless,” Rowan said with a warm smile. “Evie’s forever begging for Androu and seems equally rapt with Zephyr. I expect a few tears when we leave, to be honest. Brace yourself. She has a tender little heart.”

It was true. After thirty minutes of letting the children have a last play together while the adults gathered up toys and clothes, they congregated at the door. Evie broke into pieces when she realized the other children wouldn’t be coming with her to Greece.

“Peas, Papa,” she begged through her tears.

“I’m sorry, but they have to live with their own mamas.”

She wasn’t trying to manipulate; she was genuinely heartbroken, weeping into his shoulder with loss.

Her suffering twisted Jaya’s heart so badly she found herself promising to bring Zephyr for a visit.

After a tearful kiss and hug from the girl, she said goodbye and was emotionally wrung out as she and Theo moved into the quiet lounge.

“Did I just promise a two-year-old I’d fly to Greece to see her?” Jaya collapsed into a chair. “I can’t afford that.”

Theo gave her a dry, are-you-kidding look. “Nic has his own plane and so do I.” He leaned back on the sofa, hands behind his head, gaze lifting from where Zephyr sat on the floor rattling the stuffing out of a toy bear. “I’ll take you as soon as we work out a convenient time.”

Her heart lifted while her stomach swooped. The word honeymoon blinked like a lighthouse flash in her mind, but she turned away from it. She stared at their baby rather than looking at Theo, nervous of the masculine energy he was projecting. He might appear relaxed, but they were alone now, the buffer of activity gone.

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