Beauty And Her One-Night Baby (Once Upon a Temptation, Book 2) by Dani Collins

Author:Dani Collins [Collins, Dani]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mills & Boon Modern
Published: 2020-05-28T12:44:53+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

SCARLETT STRUGGLED TO find a routine over the next while. Locke developed full-blown colic, which had her feeling incompetent as a mother. Paloma seemed to agree, making judgmental asides every chance she got. Scarlett rode that out, too tired to fight back and having enough trouble concentrating on work. When she did lie down for a nap, her mind raced with everything she ought to be doing and she couldn’t sleep.

Her doctor thought she had a case of baby blues and recommended she let the nanny do more, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave her son with anyone, not even Javiero. Locke sounded too distressed for her to do anything other than hold him, even though she felt helpless when she did.

She would have talked it out with Kiara, but her friend was in the throes of her Paris show. All Scarlett could do was send a hideously expensive gift, express her regret that she couldn’t celebrate with her and wistfully read about Kiara’s explosive success in the days afterward.

Scarlett was so proud of her she wound up crying over it, which flummoxed Javiero.

“You’re still upset you couldn’t attend?”

“I’m just really happy for her.” She laughed off her overreaction, but melancholy had taken hold of her lately, swamping her at different times. She didn’t understand how she could feel as though a rain cloud hung over her when things with Javiero had improved. She ought to feel happier, but she was so afraid that this tentative truce between them could end at the least wrong word, she was filtering everything she said.

Her tension was off the scale and when a package turned up a week after Kiara’s show, she had no choice but to talk about her friend.

She clasped her hot cheeks when Javiero called her to his study, and she recognized the shape. “I completely forgot about that.”

“What is it?” Javiero asked.

“A painting. Of me.”

“By Kiara?” The light went out of his eye and even though he didn’t move, he retreated.

“Yes.” She shrugged self-consciously and would have opened it in private, but he used his pocketknife to release the bands of tape, starting the process.

She carefully worked the rest of the packaging off the framed oil, revealing herself in a summer dress, pregnant, reading a book.

“It’s one of the last ones she finished before Niko passed. She promised it to me, but wanted to display it at her show. It turned out well, don’t you think?”

She peered up at him, anxious for approval on her friend’s behalf. Don’t hate me for loving her.

“It’s beautiful,” Javiero said with surprised appreciation as he studied the expression of concentration Kiara had caught on her face, one that conveyed both the excitement and angst of becoming a new mother. The fact the book was a self-help on motherhood injected a poignant irony to the composition, but Kiara’s deep affection toward her and the affinity all mothers felt toward one another imbued the image as well.

“She’s very talented,” Javiero said after a long minute.

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